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VERITAS
SCIENTIA
OF THE
| UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN |
يران
QUACRIS PENINSULAM AMDENAMU
CIRCUMSPICE

...
THE HISTORY
OF
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.
BY
2060
B88
1864
THE HISTORY
OF THE
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
OF THE
SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH, EIGHTEENTH, AND
NINETEENTH CENTURIES,
CONTAINING
ACCOUNTS OF THE PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE VARIOUS
MISSIONARY SOCIETIES OF ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND, AND AMERICA;
ALSO THOSE OF AN EARLY DATE BY THE SWISS, SWEDES, DUTCH, DANES
MORAVIANS, ETC., ETC., AND OF THEIR VICISSITUDES AND SUCCESSES IN
THE EAST AND WEST INDIES, NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, SOUTH AND WEST
AFRICA, THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, CHINA, TARTARY, PERSIA, CEYLON,
TURKEY, GREECE, EGYPT, ABYSSINIA, RUSSIA, LAPLAND, GREENLAND,
AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, SOUTH SEA ISLANDS, AND
MANY OTHER PORTIONS OF THE GLOBE.
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
A LIST OF THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES INTO
THE LANGUAGES OF HEATHEN AND MOHAMMEDAN NATIONS.
BY THE
REVEREND WILLIAM BROWN, M.D.
SECRETARY OF THE SCOTTISH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
THIRD EDITION,
Greatly Enlarged and Improved.
WITH CONTINUATION BROUGHT DOWN TO THE LATEST PERIOD.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
THOMAS BAKER,
20, GOSWELL ROAD,
Over against Charterhouse.
1864.
!
PREFACE.
THE propagation of Christianity in the world is the
most important subject which can engage the attention
of a historian. The rise, the progress, and the down-
fal of empires; the discovery of unknown countries;
the lives of philosophers, of senators, of princes; the
improvements of the arts and sciences, may furnish
useful and interesting materials for history; but nothing
is so momentous as the diffusion of the gospel in the
world, which at once brings. glory to God in the
highest, peace on earth, and good will toward man.”
The transcendent importance of this subject is stamped
by no less than Divine authority. In the New Testa-
ment, we have only two branches of history; the Gos-
pels, containing the life of our Lord and Saviour Jesus.
Christ, and the Acts of the Apostles, exhibiting a view
of the propagation of Christianity in the world.
66
During the interval which has elapsed between the
publication of the last and the present edition of this
work, the Author has spared no pains in improving it.
The preparation of the present edition has been the
labour of many years, and he trusts it will be found
277103
iv
PREFACE.
vastly improved as compared with the preceding edi-
tions. The history of the previously existing missions,
is not only brought down to the latest period, but
accounts are now given of numerous missions which had
formerly no existence, or which had been only lately
begun. Among these are some of the most interesting
and important missions now in the world. Though
much of the old materials of part of the work remain,
yet the alterations and additions are so many and so
great, that the present edition is, to a large extent, a
new work. With respect to alterations, it may be
proper to state, that though in some instances they refer
to very material points, he has made them without call-
ing the attention of the reader to them, not because he
was ashamed to confess former errors, which no man
ought to be ashamed to do; but simply for the sake of
brevity, being anxious not to lengthen out the work by
any unnecessary statements or discussions, and also not
to interrupt the course of the narrative.
Missionary Societies, and especially individual mis-
sionaries, will, perhaps, be disappointed on finding in the
following work so general and brief an account of their
labours. Many circumstances which, in the minds of
those more immediately concerned, excited the deepest
interest, they will here find passed in silence; even the
names of many useful missionaries they will seek in
vain in the following work. Sensible as the Author is
of its imperfections, he is apprehensive that some, in
consequence of this, may deem it much more imperfect
than it really is. He believes, indeed, he has more fre-
quently erred in being too minute than too general.
PREFACE.
V
There are so many things common to all missions, that
in a History of the Propagation of Christianity, it is
necessary to omit innumerable circumstances, which it
would be natural to introduce in the life of the indivi-
dual missionaries, the narrative of a single mission, or
even the account of a particular Society. In a general
History of Missions, it must be the object of the writer
to avoid as much as possible circumstances which are
common to all, and to seize on those which are, in some
degree, characteristic of each.
As there are many things common to missions in ge-
neral, there are also some which are common to missions
in the same country; and hence when considerable de-
tails have been entered into in regard to the earlier
missions established in a country, for example, as to the
Danish and the Baptist missions in India, the London
Society's mission in China, the Church Society's mission
in New Zealand, it is often unnecessary to go into much
detail in regard to other missions subsequently esta-
blished in the same country. To do so would only be
to repeat over and over again the same or similar facts.
To avoid such repetitions is one of the special difficulties
which attends the writing of a general history of mis-
sions, and notwithstanding all the care which the his-
torian may employ, he will often find it impossible to
avoid it altogether.
It has not been for the sake of ease to himself that the
Author has given so general and so brief an account of
many missions. The truth is, it would have been incom-
parably more easy for him to have given a detailed and
minute history of the various missions which have been
vi
PREFACE.
established throughout the world, than the account which
he has given of them. It would have been far more
easy for him to have written the History of Missions in
three volumes folio than in three volumes octavo. As
some evidence that it was not with a view to his own
ease that he has given so brief a notice of many missions,
he
may mention that he has expunged or generalized, in
the present edition, the accounts which he had given in
the former editions of a number of missions, particularly
in South Africa and in the East and West Indies; and
he has also left out a number of missions which have
since been established, of which he had, with consider-
able labour to himself, drawn up an account.
Of many
of the missions, however, which are merely enumerated,
or perhaps even not named at all, general accounts will
be found in the Concluding Chapter, particularly of those
in India, China, and South Africa.
In preparing the following work, there is nothing in
regard to which the author has been so anxious as TRUTH.
His object has been to present to his readers a correct
and faithful picture of missions. He has not concealed
their faults and imperfections; he has been as ready to
state unfavourable as favourable circumstances, to mark
failure as to note success. He will probably, however,
be censured by some for having brought out so broadly,
and in so much detail, the errors and defects of particu-
lar missions; but he may be allowed to say, that in giving
such statements he has not been actuated by a love of
detraction, nor yet by any sectarian spirit. Many of the
statements now referred to, though painful, are highly
instructive, and he trusts they will be useful in checking
PREFACE.
vii
similar evils in time to come. He is convinced that the
friends of missions often draw much too glowing pictures
of their triumphant progress, of their past success, and
of their future prospects, and that by this means they
produce fallacious impressions on the public mind, and
excite hopes which can terminate only in disappoint-
ment. The Author is sensible that by such a system
important purposes are served, but he is no less con-
vinced, that by an impartial statement of facts, inexpres-
sibly greater advantages would ultimately be gained. The
common observation that honesty is the best policy, is
applicable to truth in general. It may be attended with
temporary inconveniences, but on the whole, the advan-
tages will far more than counterbalance the disadvan-
tages. Missionary Societies might by such a system be
rendered less popular, but they would probably be more
useful. Fewer individuals might offer themselves as
missionaries, but those who came forward would, it is
likely, be more select. Less money might be raised,
but less also would be spent by the employment of un-
suitable agents. Besides, were more correct pictures
drawn of the nature of the missionary work; were its
difficulties and discouragements, its trials and disap-
pointments, its imperfections and its failures, faithfully
portrayed, we trust, that the spirit of prayer would be
awakened among Christians in another manner than it
is at present, in behalf of missionaries, that men may
be raised up, endowed with all those gifts and graces
which so great an undertaking requires,-that they
may be preserved from falling in the hour of temptation
and trial,—that they may not only preach the gospel
viii
PREFACE.
with their tongues, but in their daily conduct exhibit a
living picture of Christian principle and Christian prac-
tice, that they may be zealous, and active, and faithful
in their work, and that they may behold the fruit of
their labours, in the conversion of multitudes to the
Saviour. Christians in general, know but little of the
difficulties, the trials, and the temptations to which mis-
sionaries are exposed; and hence, it cannot be expected
that they should bear them in any suitable manner on
their hearts before God in prayer. There is in fact an
unhallowed confidence in that magnificent apparatus of
means, which is at present in operation, as if it must
produce a mighty change in the state of the world; a
confidence which, there is reason to fear, may prove an
occasion of the influences of the Holy Spirit being with-
held from our exertions, until we are humbled to the
dust before God, and brought to renounce every thing
like self-sufficiency and self-dependence, and to trust
with simplicity of heart to the divine blessing, as that
without which all human endeavours will be utterly
fruitless.
If it were necessary to state any thing further in vin-
dication of the course which the Author has pursued,
he would appeal to the example of the sacred historians.
They tell the simple truth; they give us an unvarnished
story; they write without exaggeration and without con-
cealment. If one of the disciples of Christ betrays him
into the hands of his enemies, they tell it. If another
denies him, and that with imprecations and oaths, they
tell it. If the rest forsake him and flee for their safety,
they tell it. If even men of the highest rank in the
PREFACE.
ix
church, as Paul and Barnabas, quarrel with one another,
the fact is related with all the simplicity of truth, "The
contention was so sharp between them, that they de-
parted asunder one from the other." If Peter is charge-
able with bigotry, and pusillanimity, and dissimulation,
another apostle candidly tells us that he "withstood him
to the face, because he was to be blamed." From these
simple statements of truth, the sacred writers appre-
hended no injury to the great cause in which they were
engaged, the propagation of Christianity in the world;
and the result has shewn the wisdom of the principles
on which they acted, for the honesty of their represen-
tations has not only furnished most instructive lessons
to the Church in all ages, but forms an irrefragable
proof of the truth of the Gospel history itself.
Though the Church of Rome carried on missions on
an extensive scale during the period to which the fol-
lowing work relates, it was no part of the Author's design
to give any account of them. The history of them would
not be without interest nor without instruction; yet it
is well that the fact should be known, that there would
often be no possibility of distinguishing between truth
and falsehood in the narrations of the missionaries.
This is a heavy charge, and ought not to be made except
on adequate grounds. It is, however, not only alleged
by Protestant writers, but is supported by Catholic
authorities of so high an order, that even members of
the Church of Rome can scarcely question the fact.
"It seems," says M. Cerri, Secretary to the Congrega-
tion de Propaganda Fide, in a Report which he gave of
the state of the Roman Catholic Religion throughout
VOL. I.
b
X
PREFACE.
the world to Pope Innocent XI. in the latter part of the
seventeenth century, "It seems to be the constant opi-
nion of ALL the members of the Congregation, that little
credit is to be given to the Relations, Letters, and Soli-
citations that come from the missionaries. Hence it is,
that the usual answer of the Congregation consists only
in asking further information, which often proves of no
use. For besides the time lost in expecting a reply
from the missionaries, they frequently send back the
same informations without giving a new light into the
matter. I add, that the Nuncios and other persons re-
ceiving those informations from the parties concerned,
are not able to give a better account of things than what
the Congregation had before. These inconveniences
have often moved that Society to send Visitors into the
missions, who being disinterested and impartial men,
have given a true relation of the state of those missions,
by which means several disorders have been effectually
removed. Give me leave, Most Holy Father, to repre-
sent to your Holiness, that this remedy is now more
necessary than ever in many Provinces and Kingdoms, as
I have intimated in several parts of this Discourse."
Account of the State of the Roman Catholic Religion
throughout the World, written for the use of Pope Inno-
cent XI., by Monsignor Cerri, Secretary of the Congrega-
tion de Propaganda Fide, London, 1715, p. 182.
Duddingston, April 20. 1854.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
CHAPTER I.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE SWISS.
Page
1
Brazil,
CHAPTER II.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE SWEDES.
Lapland,
7
CHAPTER III.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE DUTCH.
SECT. I. Ceylon,
·
II. Java,
III. Formosa,
IV. Amboyna,
CHAPTER IV.
10
22
•
25
28
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
SECT. I. Massachussets Colony,
II. Martha's Vineyard,
III. New Plymouth Colony,
·
IV. New Stockbridge,
•
V. New Jersey,
VI. Oneida,
CHAPTER V.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE DANES.
SECT. I. East Indies,
II. Greenland,
31
45
·
53
57
80
120
133
177
xii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
Page
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE UNITED Brethren,
198
202
SECT. I. Greenland,
·
II. West Indies,—
236
PART I. Danish Islands,-
ART. 1. St Thomas,
2. St Croix,
Tb.
249
252
3. St Jan,
PART II. English Islands,
III. North America,
257
•
259
·
348
IV. South America,-
PART I. Berbice,
II. Surinam,—
ART. 1. Sharon,
2. Hope,
3. Bambey,
4. Paramaribo,
Ib.
Tb.
352
355
361
366
368
V. Tartary,
375
VI. Persia,
VII. Egypt,
VIII. Labrador,
IX. Nicobar Islands,
X. South Africa,
XI. General Statements,
380
395
•
410
•
423
•
435
CHAPTER VII.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE METHODIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
SECT. I. West Indies,
ART. 1. Antigua,
2. St Vincent's,
3. St Eustatius,
4. Barbadoes,
5. Tortola,
6. Jamaica,
7. Bermuda,
8. Bahama Islands,
•
·
II. Ceylon,
9. St Domingo,
III. South Africa,
IV. South Sea Islands,-ART. 1. Friendly Islands,
2. Fiji Islands,
V. General Statements,
441
442
447
450
•
•
452
460
463
502
504
505
511
515
·
523
541
544
HISTORY OF MISSIONS.
CHAPTER I.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE SWISS.
BRAZIL.
Ar the Reformation, the light of the Gospel burst forth on the
nations of Europe, like the sun in the morning, after a long and
darksome night. By degrees, it spread from country to country,
and dispelled the shades of ignorance and error, in which they
had been enveloped for a series of ages. Fired with a sacred
zeal for the cause of religion, the Reformers followed Super-
stition to her most secret haunts, brought her forth to the view
of the world, and exposed her in all her native deformity. In
the prosecution of this object, they were appalled, neither by
difficulties nor dangers: they triumphed while stretched on the
rack; they sung in the midst of the fire. By the vigorous
efforts which they made, the authority of the Pope was shaken
to its centre; his throne was seen to totter; and ever since
that period, his influence has been diminished, even in those
countries which continued to acknowledge his spiritual sway.
Engaged in propagating the light of the Gospel through
the benighted kingdoms of Christendom, the Reformers could
scarcely be expected to direct their attention to the Heathen
world. But notwithstanding the magnitude of their other
exertions, this object was not entirely overlooked by them.
In September 1556, Philip Corguilleray, Peter Richer, William
Chartier, Peter Bourdon, Matthew Verneuil, John du Bordel,
Andrew de la Fond, Nicholas Denis, John Gardien, Martin
VOL. I.
A
2
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
On his ar-
David, Nicolas Raviquet, James Rousseau, Nicolas Carmieau,
and John de Lery, took their departure from Geneva with the
view of proceeding to Brazil on the coast of South America.
A colony had been sent to that country the preceding year, by
Henry the Second, King of France, under the command of
Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon, a man of distinguished talents
and high in the French naval service. The Admiral de Coligni
had promoted this measure with all his influence at Court, in
the hope of providing in a distant country an asylum for his
Protestant brethren, who were at that time persecuted and pro-
scribed in their native land. Villegagnon himself had embraced
the Reformed religion, and was eager to co-operate with the
Admiral in accomplishing so desirable an object.
rival at the Rio de Janeiro, he wrote to Coligni, requesting
further re-enforcements, particularly some good divines from
Geneva, to plant the Christian faith in the New World. He
addressed a letter to the same effect to Calvin, the Genevan
reformer; and in consequence of the prospects he held forth,
the individuals now mentioned resolved to proceed to America,
in the hope of establishing the doctrines of the Reformation on
that extensive Continent, and of introducing them among the
Natives. On their way through France, they were joined by a
considerable number of other persons, who, in consequence of
the influence of Coligni, and the uneasy situation of the Pro-
testants in that country, resolved to accompany them, and esta-
blish themselves in the new colony. The whole company em-
barked from Harfleur in three ships, furnished by the crown ;
and on arriving at the Rio de Janeiro, they were received by
Villegagnon with the greatest demonstrations of joy. Scarcely,
however, had they landed, when they began to experience the
difficulties and hardships which commonly attend a new settle-
ment, in a distant and uncultivated country. Before they had
recovered from the fatigues of their voyage, they had to engage
in severe manual labour, in order to complete the fort which the
first settlers had begun; and they had, at the same time, to live
on the hardest fare, their only food consisting of a little meal,
which they had either to eat dry, or to boil in dirty water.'
¹ Histoire Generale des Voyages, tom. xiv. p. 185; Thuani Historia, tom. i. p. 500 ;
Southey's History of Brazil, vol. i. p. 270, 275.
BY THE SWISS.
تن
3
During their residence in Brazil, the Geneva divines appear
to have had some intercourse with the Natives; but as they
were ignorant of their language, their means of communication
with them were very imperfect. They endeavoured, however,
to convey to them some ideas concerning the principles of Na-
tural and Revealed religion; but though the savages expressed
great astonishment at what they heard, it does not appear that
any of them manifested the slightest disposition to embrace the
Christian faith. Some of them, indeed, promised to become
worshippers of the true God; but there is no reason to suppose
that their understandings were enlightened, or their hearts im-
pressed by the Gospel.'
In the mean while, Villegagnon, won over, it is supposed, by
the Cardinal of Lorraine, began to express doubts concerning
some articles of the Reformed Church, particularly with respect
to the nature of the Sacraments, and the manner of their ad-
ministration. From the protector he became the persecutor
of the Protestants; they were obliged to hold their assemblies
for divine worship without him, and even, like their brethren
in France, to celebrate the Lord's Supper during the night.
Incensed at these proceedings, he declared he would not suffer
a Protestant within the fort; and he accordingly obliged them
to leave that very place, which they had assisted in building for
their mutual security, and to retire to the open country. But
as others of the people, provoked by his tyranny, deserted to
them, he resolved, from dread of further revolt, to hasten their
departure out of the country. With this view he gave permis-
sion to the captain of a vessel, which was lying in the river,
to carry them back to France; but with a baseness seldom
paralleled, he delivered to the master a small coffer, containing,
among other articles, a formal process against them, with orders
to the first judges in France to whom it should be presented, to
seize them as heretics, and commit them to the flames.
In January 1558, they embarked from Brazil, after a resi-
dence in that country of only about ten months; but scarcely
had they sailed, when they began to experience fresh disasters.
After being tossed about for seven days, the vessel was dis-
1
¹ Lerii Historia Navigationis in Brasiliam, p. 221, 230.
* Thuani Historia, tom. i. p. 501; Histoire Generale des Voyages, tom, xiv. p. 192, 196.
4
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
covered to have sprung a leak, and appeared to be sinking so
rapidly, that there seemed nothing before them but a watery
grave. Happily the sailors succeeded for the present in stop-
ping the principal leaks; but the carpenter stated, she was so
old, and worm-eaten, that she was quite unfit for so long a
voyage. The master, however, afraid that, should he again
land, he might be abandoned by his crew, declared his resolu-
tion to prosecute the voyage; but offered to grant a boat to any
who might wish to return to America, from which they were
as yet only nine or ten leagues distant. It was at the same
time stated, that as the voyage was likely to prove much longer
than ordinary, there were not provisions on board for the whole
of the passengers and crew. On learning these circumstances,
several of them, among whom were Peter Bourdon, John du
Bordel, Matthew Verneuil, and Andrew de la Fond, returned to
Brazil; but after escaping the dangers of shipwreck, the first
three were, by the orders of Villegagnon, thrown into the sea
and drowned.
In the mean while, the vessel proceeded on her voyage to
France; but for weeks together she was driven about by inces-
sant storms, and she was at the same time so leaky, that had
she not been cleared of water a hundred times a day, she must
inevitably have been swallowed up by the waves.
Night and
day the crew were employed at the pump; yet with all their
exertions, they scarcely saved her from sinking. One day as
the carpenter was mending a place which needed repair, a plank
suddenly gave way; the sea in a moment gushed into the ship
with the impetuosity of a torrent; the sailors rushed upon deck
exclaiming in terrible consternation, "We are lost! we are lost!"
Meanwhile the carpenter, who maintained more presence of
mind, thrust his coat into the hole, and treading on it with all
his might, resisted the force of the torrent; then crying to the
sailors as loud as he was able, to bring him other articles, he
succeeded in stemming the water, until he prepared a board to
fill up the gap. On another occasion, some powder which was
drying took fire; the flame ran from one end of the ship to the
other, and communicated to the sails and the cordage. Four
men were burnt, one of whom died a few days after. Had the
ship taken fire, the whole of the passengers and crew must
BY THE SWISS.
5
10
either have been burnt alive, or drowned in the midst of the
ocean.
Meanwhile the apprehensions of famine, which had been
entertained soon after their embarkation, began to be realized.
Even at an early period of the voyage, it was agreed that part
of the monkeys and parrots which they carried home with them
as curiosities should be killed and eaten, in order to spare their
provisions. Worms and excrements of rats were at length found
in greater abundance in the storeroom, than particles of food;
yet they collected the sweepings together, and made them into
a kind of pottage, which, though black and bitter as soot, they
were glad to use. Such as possessed bucklers of the skin of the
Tapiroussou, an animal peculiar to South America, cut them to
pieces and devoured them. Others ate the coverings of their
trunks, the leather of their shoes, and even the horn of the ship
lanterns. They hunted the very rats and mice, which, as they
had now nothing to eat, ran up and down the vessel in great
numbers dying of hunger, and being so enfeebled, became an
easy prey to their pursuers. Such was the value set on these
repulsive animals, that a single rat sold for three and four
crowns. Could the famished crew have obtained grass or hay,
Lery supposes, they would have eaten them, like the brute crea-
tion. Nothing now remained to them except Brazil wood,
which is represented as the driest of all woods. They were,
however, so pressed with hunger, that to satisfy the cravings of
nature, they endeavoured to gnaw it with their teeth. One day
Philip Corguilleray, on putting a piece of it in his mouth, said
to Lery with a sigh: "Alas! my friend, I have 4000 livres due
me in France; yet I would gladly give a discharge for the
whole, for a glass of wine and a pennyworth of bread." Peter
Richer, one of the ministers, lay extended in his little cabin, so
deprived of strength, that he was scarcely able to raise his head
in prayer to God, though while thus prostrate, he was almost
constantly engaged in that sacred exercise.
Meanwhile five or six of the crew died of absolute starvation,
and from the disposition of the survivors, as well as the neces-
sity of their circumstances, it seems truly wonderful that they
did not devour the bodies of their unfortunate companions.
They had now, as often happens in cases of famine, acquired
such a degree of ferocity, and such an irritability of temper,
6
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
that they could scarcely speak to each other but in passion, and
without a particular cast of the eye, as if they were ready to
devour one another.
After a voyage of near five months, they at length discovered
the coast of Bretagne; but as they had already been often
deceived by the pilot, they scarcely believed the person who
first announced the joyful tidings. Nothing could be more
seasonable than this discovery, for the master of the vessel
declared, that had they remained another day in the same
wretched condition, he had resolved to kill one of the ship's
company, not by lot, as has sometimes been done by persons in
similar circumstances, but by stealth, in order to provide food
for himself and his fellow-sufferers. Having steered for the
shore, they landed at Blavet near Henbonne, where the rela-
tion of their sufferings, excited, as might be expected, the tender
sympathy of the inhabitants. They were warned not to indulge
freely in food at first; but to repair by degrees their wasted
strength. This salutary caution many of the sailors neglected;
but they paid dearly for their folly, for of twenty who arrived
in port, more than one half died in a short time. Others were
affected with various complaints, as swellings over the whole
body, weakness of stomach, diarrhoea, partial deafness, and blind-
ness; but by the use of suitable remedies, they gradually
recovered. As to the process against the Geneva divines, it so
happened that the judges to whom it was delivered were not
unfavourable to the Protestants, and, instead of executing the
treacherous designs of Villegagnon, they treated with kindness
the unfortunate victims of his malignity.'
Such was the termination of the first attempt of the Protes-
tants to plant the Christian faith in the New World. The
primary design of the undertaking appears, indeed, to have been
the securing an asylum to the Reformed from persecution in
Europe: the conversion of the natives was only a secondary
object. The colony itself was of short duration. The Portu-
guese who had previously settled in Brazil, and who at first,
had allowed the French to remain unmolested, soon afterwards
attacked them, and expelled them from the country.2
'Lerii Historia, p. 267, 275; Histoire Generale des Voyages, tom. xir. p. 196 ;
Laval's History of the Reformation in France, vol. i. p. 106.
2 Southey's History, rol. i. p. 278.
BY THE SWEDES.
7
CHAPTER II.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE SWEDES.
LAPLAND.
In the year 1559, Gustavus Vasa, King of Sweden, sent a mis-
sionary of the name of Michael into Lapland, with the view of
extending Christianity in that country; for though it had been
introduced some ages before the Reformation, yet most of the
inhabitants were still sunk in the depths of Pagan ignorance
and superstition. That prince, therefore, issued a royal man-
date, ordaining them to assemble at a certain period of the
winter, in order to pay their annual tribute, and to receive in-
struction in the principles of religion. His successors on the
throne of Sweden followed his example in promoting Chris-
tianity in Lapland; and about the beginning of the seventeenth
century, they were at the expense of erecting churches in differ-
ent parts of the country, for the accommodation of the inhabit-
ants. Hitherto, however, the labours of the missionaries had
been of little use, as they preached in the Swedish language,
which the people in general did not understand; while the
Lapland youth, who were sent to the University of Upsal, died,
either in Sweden, or soon after their return to their own country;
and thus the hopes which were formed of them proved abortive.
Gustavus Adolphus, therefore, who ascended the throne in
1611, began to establish schools, in the country itself; and in
order to encourage the people to send their children to them,
he allotted a certain sum of money for the maintenance of the
scholars, as well as for the support of the teachers. Besides
establishing schools for the education of the young, he ordered
some useful books to be translated from the Swedish into the
Lapponese language; and these were afterwards followed by
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
others of still greater importance. In 1648. a Manual was
printed at Stockholm, containing the Psalms of David, the Pro-
verbs of Solomon, the book of Ecclesiasticus, Luther's Catechism,
Sacred Hymns, and the Lessons from the Gospels and Epistles,
with the History of Christ's Passion, and of the Destruction of
Jerusalem, the Ritual, and various forms of prayer. translated
into the Lapponese language by John Tornæus, minister of
Torna In 1669, Olaus Stephen Graan, a native minister of
Lapland, published a work under a similar title. containing the
Lessons from the Gospels and Epistles, the Collects, the Ritual,
the History of Christ's Passion, and some prayers. It differs
from the other chiefly in this, that the language is nearer the
dialect of the Lapınark of Uma and Pitha'
In the eighteenth century, some new measures were adopted
for the spread of Christianity in Lapland. In 17358. the Swedish
diet resolved. that the whole Bible should be translated into
the Lapponese language; that a contribution should be made
throughout the kingdom. for the support of the missionaries
and the schools; and that the superintendence of the work
should be committed to a College, consisting of some of the
principal dignitaries in the kingdom. To this object the inha-
bitants of Sweden contributed so liberally, that, in a short time,
no less a suin was raised than 300.000 rixdollars. In 1755, the
New Testament was published in the Lapponese language: part
of the impression was sold. and part given away, to encourage
the people to diligence in reading'
The inhabitants of Swedish Lapland, when young, are in
general, it is said, taught to read; but afterwards, for want of
books, they often forget what little learning they acquired in
early life. In order, therefore, to supply the want of the Holy
Scriptures in that country, the British and Foreign Bible
Society, published, in 1811, a large edition of the New Testa-
ment in the Lapponese language, consisting of five thousand
copies. One half of the impression was immediately sent to
the different ports in the vicinity of Swedish Lapland, from
whence, by the special orders of Government, copies were for-
› Scheffer's History of Lapland, 1704, p. 60, 64, 65, 67, 72. Fabrich Lux Salutars
toti orbi exoriens, p. 466.
་
• Beck Missions Geschicht, p 267. Miss. Mag. rel. x P
æir p. 377.
ET THE SWEDES.
9
warded, free of expense, by inland carriers, and distributed in
fair proportions among the various parishes of that extensive
country.
But though it is now near three centuries since the Swedes
began to extend the gospel in Lapland, it has hitherto made
little progress. The inhabitants. It is true, are professed Chris-
tians; but their Christianity is merely nominal, and among
some of them the form of it may be sought in vain. Traces of
their having offered sacrifices to the gods of their fathers are
occasionally discovered among them. Few of them reside in
the neighbourhood of the churches; and, indeed. they seldom
attend them, unless on the solemn festivals, or at a fair, when
they have the sacraments administered to them. To ensure
their attendance, they are subjected to a heavy fine and a se-
vere penance, if they neglect the appointed festivals. The clergy,
such as they are. go little among them, except during their
short summers: they are careful, however, to attend the winter
markets to receive their pay, and to sell them spirituous liquors,
of which the Laplanders are immoderately fond, and of which.
it is said, they can drink an enormous quantity without being
intoxicated.'
• Miss. Mag. vol. air. p. 377: Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society,
1812 2. Appendix. p. 43, 65.
Miss Mag. vol. xiv. p. 419: Periodical Accounts relate to the Missions of the
United Brethren, vol. ii p. 203: Schofer's History, p. 53: Lizza us Tour in Lap-
land, rul à p. 114, 156.
10
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
CHAPTER III.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE DUTCH.'
SECT. I.-CEYLON.
2
In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the inhabitants
of the United Provinces, after having thrown off the yoke of
Spain, carried their victorious arms into the East, and wrested
from the crown of Portugal some of her most valuable posses-
sions in that quarter of the world. Among these were the mari-
time parts of the Island of Ceylon. In 1636, the King of
Kandy sent a letter to the Dutch Governor of Palliacatta, on
the coast of Coromandel, in which, after recounting the violent
and dishonourable acts of the Portuguese, he invited the Dutch
to enter into an alliance with him for the purpose of expelling
them from off the Island. In carrying out this design, however,
the Dutch were guilty of an act of perfidy, not less flagrant
than any which had been committed by the Portuguese. In
open violation of the express terms of their engagement, they
retained possession of their conquests, and precipitated a fresh
war with their ally, who had called them to his assistance.
They established themselves at Galle, Colombo, and Jaffna,
and having driven the Portuguese from all their fortresses,
they laid claim, by right of conquest, to the whole of their
possessions on the coast; but the interior of the island still
remained subject to the King of Kandy.
'It is not unworthy of mention, that, so early as 1612, a Missionary Seminary was
formed at Leyden, for the purpose of preparing missionarios for the East and the West.
It was projected by Antonius Walæus, Professor of Divinity at Leyden, who was also
the first Principal of the Institution.-Grant's Bampton Lectures, 1843, p. 389.
2 Baldæus' Description of the Coasts of Malabar, Coromandel, and Ceylon, in Church-
hill's Collection of Voyages, vol. iii. p. 703.
3 Tennent's Christianity in Ceylon, p. 39.
BY THE DUTCH.
11
1
The population of Ceylon consisted chiefly of two distinct
classes. The northern part of the island was occupied by the
same race as inhabited the opposite coast of India: they were
of the Hindu faith, and spoke the Tamil language. The southern
parts of the island were inhabited by a people called Cingalese :
they professed the Budhist faith, and their language, like them-
selves, was named Cingalese. In all accounts of efforts for the
propagation of Christianity in Ceylon, it is of importance to
bear in mind this distinction in the character, religion, and lan-
guage of its inhabitants.
As the Portuguese, while the country was in their possession,
had sought to bring over the natives to the Church of Rome,
so the Dutch now attempted to convert them to the Protestant
faith, and they early established the Reformed Church of Hol-
land as the religion of the country. In October 1642, the first
Dutch minister, Antony Hornhonius arrived in Ceylon, and in
the course of a few years, he was followed by others, who were
employed by the Government in establishing and organizing
schools and churches on the island. In the northern part of the
island, they took possession of the Roman Catholic Churches,
some of which were noble and spacious stone buildings; and
great numbers of the people were brought over to the profes-
sion of the Protestant faith. But while the Dutch endeavoured
to bring the natives to the profession of Christianity, the quali-
fications they required in the catechumens were so very slender,
that most of them, it is probable, were little superior, either in
knowledge or practice, to the Romish converts in heathen
countries. Nothing more was required of them, than that they
should be able to repeat the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Command-
ments, a Morning and Evening Prayer, and a Grace before and
after meat. When the ministers, in the course of their visita-
tions, were certified by the schoolmasters that the poor people
had committed these things to memory, they proceeded to bap-
tize them without further ceremony!
Among the Budhist population in the southern parts of the
island, the Dutch did not find the same readiness to come over
to the Protestant faith, as among the Hindus in the north.
With the view of overcoming their objections, a Proclamation
was issued, ordaining that no native should be raised to the
12
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
rank of a Modeliar, or admitted to any employment under
Government, or even be permitted to farm land, unless he joined
the Reformed Church, and subscribed the Helvetic Confession
of Faith. This absurd and impolitic order, so well calculated
to make the people hypocrites not Christians, was attended with
the desired success. Many of the chiefs, who had been baptized
by the Portuguese, came forward and abjured the errors of the
Romish Church. The landowners, and those who aspired to be
petty headmen and police vidahus in the villages, were equally
ready to qualify themselves for enjoying these civil advantages.'
The Dutch ministers laboured under great disabilities in
communicating instruction to the natives. With a few excep-
tions, they never acquired a knowledge of the Tamil or the
Cingalese languages, and consequently were very imperfectly
qualified for instructing the people; while the smallness of their
number, combined with the extent of their districts and the
variety of their duties, devolved upon them an amount of work
which it was scarcely possible for them to overtake.2
The education of the Natives was an object to which the
Dutch directed considerable attention. The country having
been divided into parishes, their plan was to establish a school
in each parish, and in some there were two or more, according
to the extent of the population. The education given in the
village schools was but limited, seldom amounting to more than
reading and writing. It was also gratuitous; but the attend-
ance of the scholars was compulsory, and was enforced by fines.
In the southern parts of the island, and especially at Matura,
which has always been a stronghold of Budhism, the opposition.
of the people was manifested more openly and strongly than in
most other places; and the evil was aggravated by an edict of
the Dutch, prohibiting the marriage of the professors of Chris-
tianity with the worshippers of Budhu. Where religious pre-
judices did not interfere, the natives, in general, shewed a desire
to have their sons educated; but it required many years to
Tennent's Christianity in Ceylon, p. 43, 45; Cordiner's Description of Ceylon,
vol. i. p. 155; Conferences of the Danish Missionarios, p. 347; Mather's History of
New England, book iii. p. 195.
* Hough's History of Christianity in India, vol. iii. p. 75, 80, 103.
Valentyn gives a Catalogue of 97 ministers, botween the years 1642 and 1725, but
he statos that of all those, only eight acquired the native languages, four the Tamil, and
four the Cingalese.--Hough's History of Christianity in India, vol. iii. p. 103.
BY THE DUTCH.
13
overcome the aversion even of the nominal Christians to the
education of their daughters, and especially to their being taught
to write. According to some accounts, the education of the fe-
males was entirely neglected. It was deemed enough for them
if they were able to repeat certain Prayers, and to explain the
Catechism and Creed before they were allowed to be married.'
Besides these Common Schools, the Dutch established two
Seminaries of a higher order, one at Jaffna, the other at Co-
lombo, for the education of Native youths of promising talents
in the Dutch language, in order that, by obtaining through it
more extensive knowledge, they might be better qualified to la-
bour as schoolmasters, catechists, and preachers among their
countrymen. Some were even sent to Europe, where they re-
¹ Hough's Hist. vol. iii. p. 75; Tennent, p. 43, 46, 69.
Baldæus, who was a number of years one of the Ministers in this Island soon after it
fell into the hands of the Dutch, informs us, in his "Description of the Coasts of Mala-
bar, Coromandel, and Ceylon," a work published at Amsterdam in 1672, that in the
province of Jaffnapatam, there were thirty-four Native churches, besides those of the
Dutch and the Portuguese. Of most of these, he has given an Engraving in that
splendid work; and as they served alternately, as a place of worship on the Sabbath,
and a school-house during the week, he has given us the following statement of the
number of the hearers and scholars who attended them ::
Churches.
Hearers. Scholars,
olar
Churches.
Hearers Scholars.
Telipole
2000 1000
Mallagam
600
200
Warranni
Tenmarache
2500 800
1150
650
Maylette
1550
750
Achiavelli
800 450
Catavelli
Ureputti
1100
600
•
•
850
690
Oudewil
950 600
Paretiture
3000
1000
Batecotte
2000
850
Pælepolay
600
300
Paneterpou
1250
600
Mogonale
500
450
Changane
700
Tambamme
900
500
•
Manipay
750
560
1
Mulipatto
350
215
Vanarpone
550
200
Alleputti
Nalour
590
Welane
2600
800
Sundecouli
400
450
Ourature
Copay
Caradwa
1050
490
800
Pontour
Pongardwa
800
200
•
Navacouli
Chavagatzory
Cathay
750
400
Analativa
2500
1000
Nainatwa
300
70
1150
550
Nindundiva
This Table we have drawn up from Baldæus; and where he has stated different
numbers, we have taken the medium between them. These churches, or at least most of
them, were originally built by the Portuguese: some of them were noble buildings. To
most of them was attached a house for the minister, with, in some cases, a garden. There
were at that time only two or three Ministers for all these churches: so that they were
obliged to travel from place to place, and to preach three sermons every Sabbath, and
once on a week day, besides constantly visiting the congregations in the country.
Most of the Churches being by this means without a Minister on the Sabbath, the
14
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ceived a more complete education, and returned to the island or-
dained to the ministry.
The Dutch Government, and also the Ministers and the Con-
sistories, appear to have been at all times ready to exercise
coercion in matters of religion. Severe measures were adopted,
from the very first, against the Roman Catholic priests: the ob-
ject appears to have been nothing less than the extinction of the
Romish religion in the island. Measures of a similar kind were.
resorted to for the suppression of Budhism. In compliance with
the wishes of the Consistory, the Government issued an edict, im-
posing penalties on devil-dances and other heathenish ceremonies.
When the King of Kandy, in 1688, sought permission to erect
a temple to Budhu in the Dutch territories, his request was re-
fused. The proscription both of Popery and of Budhism having
attracted the attention of the Clergy in Holland, the Classis of
Amsterdam, in 1700, addressed a remonstrance to the Con-
sistory of Colombo, in which they reminded them that such
measures were not of Christ, nor calculated to advance his
kingdom; that compulsion can never produce conviction, nor
penalties induce belief; and that those who are constrained
by such means to call themselves Christians, were still in heart
the enemies of Christ. Measures of coercion, however, still
continued to be employed. The schools having been found in
a very defective state, the parents were made responsible for
the better attendance of their children, on pain of being heavily
fined, employed as convicts in the public service, or even cast
into prison. The local authorities were also directed to keep
the Jogees, Brahmans, and other pilgrims, as much as possible,
from going at the annual festivals to Ramnadkovil, and other
places of resort out of the island; because the example of these
Schoolmaster, to supply this want, used to read a Sermon to the people in their own
language, for which purpose a certain number of Discourses was allotted to each of the
Churches. With regard to the schools, Baldæus informs us, that, in 1663, there were
in the province of Jaffnapatam alone, 15,012 children who attended them, exclusive of
those in Manaar and the country of the Waniar, where, in 1665, there were 1315. At
the time of his departure from the Island, the children in the Schools had increased to
18,000.-Baldæus' Description of the Coasts of Malabar, Coromandel, and Ceylon, in
Churchhill's Collection of Voyages, vol. iii. p. 713, 719. The gross number of
scholars in the Cingalese districts, varied from 30,000 to 40,000, and at the close of tho
Dutch Government in Ceylon, the number of children in all parts of the Island, was
little short of 85,000.-Tennent, p. 48.
1
Hough's Hist. vol. iii. p. 96, 99.
BY THE DUTCH.
15
pilgrimages was found to have an injurious influence on the
minds of the Christians, and were also the occasion of consider-
abie sums of money being carried out of the Dutch territories.
A Proclamation was even issued, declaring a Christian con-
victed of participating in any of the ceremonies of heathenism,
liable to be publicly whipped, and imprisoned in irons for the
space of a year.'
In 1722, the number of Native Christians connected with the
Dutch Church in Ceylon was as follows:-
Tamil Christians in Jaffna,
189,388
Christians in other places,
179,845
Christians in the Galle District,
55,159
424,392
Besides these numbers, there were 2799
young men, and 1493
young women, candidates for baptism. After the accounts,
however, which we have already given, no one will be sur-
prised to find that the generality of these professed adherents
of the Reformed Church, were Christians only in name.
In 1730, the Consistory of Galle took occasion to place on
record their views of the character and condition of the Cin-
galese Converts to the Reformed Church. The Native chiefs,
who had assumed the name of Christians in compliance with
the wishes of the Government, they state, were still incorrigible
Budhists, and, in their pride of Caste, they required separate
churches to be erected specially for themselves, to which even
their own wives were not to be admissible. The Christians
generally adhered secretly to idolatry, notwithstanding their
profession of Christianity. Every action of their lives was re-
gulated by the precepts and practice of Budhism.
"When a
child is born they still consult the astrologer; when it is sick,
they hang charms around its neck. Even after baptism, they
discontinue the use of its Christian name; and a heathen name
is, according to the usual custom, given to it on the first occa-
sion of its eating rice. They will undertake no work, without
ascertaining a lucky day for commencing it; and when sick or
¹ Tennent, p. 39, 50, 54; Hough's Hist. vol. iii. p. 91, 95, 99.
• Valentyn Keurlyke Veschryving van Choromandel, Pegu, Arrakan, &e., C. 17, in
Hough's Hist. vol. iii. p. 100.
16
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
in adversity, they send for the devil-dancer in preference to
their minister. When they marry, it must be in a propitious
hour; and when they die, their graves are decorated with the
leaves of the tree sacred to Budhu, and cocoa-nuts and rice are
piled around as food for the departed. They make offerings to
the idols at Kattragam; they bestow gifts on the mendicant
servants of the temple; and, in short, the highest benediction
they can pronounce on their friends is, May you become a
Budhist."
If any further proof were necessary of the low state of Reli-
gion among the Dutch Converts in Ceylon, we might state the
small number of them who were communicants. In 1760, of
182,226 Natives who were enrolled as Christians at Jaffna, only
64 were members of the Church; of 9820 at Manaar, there
were only 5; and at Galle and Matura not more than 36.2 We
do not consider great numbers of communicants as any sign of
the spiritual prosperity of a Church; but certainly such small
numbers do shew that religion is at a low ebb.
With a view to the instruction of the Natives, the Dutch pub-
lished a considerable part of the Holy Scriptures in the Tamil
language, which is spoken in the north of Ceylon; and also in
the Cingalese, which is the common language of the island. In
1743, the New Testament in Tamil was printed at Colombo,
under the auspices of the Dutch governor. Previous to this,
the Four Gospels were translated into Cingalese; and in 1783,
the whole of the New Testament, with the books of Genesis,
Exodus, and part of Leviticus, was published in that language.
at Colombo. These, with a version of the Psalms of David, are
the whole of the sacred writings which the Dutch printed in
Cingalese; but there was a version of a number of other books.
of the Old Testament left in manuscript by cne of their minis-
ters. The New Testament in Portuguese by John Ferreira
d'Almeida, a Romish priest who joined the Dutch Church in
Ceylon, was also printed; and he likewise prepared a version
of the greater part of the Old Testament in the same language.”
ii.
1 Tennent, p. 56.
2 Tennent, p. 65.
Le Long Bibliotheca Sacra, Edit. Maschii, tom. i. part ii. p. 201; tom. ii. part
p. 210. Rep. Bib. Soc. 1810, App. p. 86. Ibid. 1813, App. p. 18. Niecampii
Historia Missionis Evangolica in India Orientali; Hough's Hist. vol. iii. p. 76.
BY THE DUTCH.
17
In 1795, the Dutch possessions in the island of Ceylon sur-
rendered to the arms of the British; and for a considerable
time, the religious instruction of the natives occupied no part of
the attention of their new masters. The European ministers
became prisoners of war; the native catechists and schoolmas-
ters no longer received their salaries; the duties of public wor-
ship, and the education of the young, were either feebly dis-
charged, or entirely neglected; thousands of the natives, who
had once called themselves Christians, relapsed into heathenism;
and the prohibition of the Dutch against erecting any new Pagan
temples being no longer in force, the number of them was, in a
short time, greatly augmented.'
After some time, however, the schools were re-established at
the expense of Government; the Dutch ministers resumed the
charge of their congregations; several new preachers were edu-
cated in the island; and others still better qualified were brought
over from the coast of Coromandel. There was also a very
flourishing academy at Colombo, consisting of three different
classes of young men, Cingalese, Tamil, and European. They
were all taught the English, as well as the native languages.
The Cingalese scholars were the sons of the Modeliars, and of
the people of the first rank in the island, and made respectable
progress in learning.2
In baptizing the Natives, the old system of the Dutch was
still pursued; or perhaps it was even still further corrupted.
The Government native preachers, called Preponents, sometimes
baptized two or three hundred infants and elder children at a
time, while making the circuit of their districts, and took any
one whom they might happen to find as sponsors. Persons
passing along the road, and never seen before by the parties
bringing the children, were often called on to be godfathers and
godmothers; persons as ignorant of Christianity, as if there
were no such religion in the world, and who perhaps had never
been baptized themselves; though almost all the Budhist priests
in the maritime provinces, were persons who had been baptized
in their infancy."
¹ Cordiner's Description, vol. i. p. 159.-Proceedings of the Church Missionary So-
ciety, vol. i. p. 231. Rep. Bib. Soc. 1815, App. p. 24.
' Cordiner's Description, vol. i. p. 165.-Proceed. Ch. Miss. Soc. vol. iii. p. 415,
3
* Selkirk's Recollections of Ceylon, p. 515.
VOL. I.
B
18
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In 1812, a Bible Society was instituted at Colombo, under the
patronage of Sir Robert Brownrigg, the Governor, and other
distinguished persons, with a particular view to the supply of
the natives with the Holy Scriptures. Of such an Institu-
tion, the need was most urgent. There were scarcely, it was
supposed, twenty copies of the New Testament on the whole
Island. To supply this want, a new edition of the Cingalese
New Testament was printed, for the use of the Native Christians;
but as the translation was deemed very incorrect, a new version
both of the Old and the New Testament was executed. If, how-
ever, the old translation was often so low as to disgust Cinga-
lese of moderate literary attainments, the new version was so
high as not to be intelligible by ordinary readers. In a second
edition, however, it was revised, and the language was brought
nearer to that in ordinary use.'
With regard to idolatry, the British Government pursued an
opposite course to that of the Dutch. The Dutch sought to
suppress it; the British, at first, tolerated, and after some years,
countenanced and supported it. In the maritime parts of the
island, which were originally possessed by the British, there was
little or no encouragement given to idolatry by the Govern-
ment; but, in 1815, when the kingdom of Kandy was subjected
to the Crown of England, the following article was introduced
into the Treaty with the Kandian chiefs: "The religion of
Budhu, professed by the chiefs and inhabitants of these pro-
vinces, is declared inviolable; and its rites, ministers, and places
of worship, are to be maintained and protected." In compliance
with this Treaty, the British Government appointed the princi-
pal Budhist priests in the interior provinces, and the lay chiefs
of the principal Dewalas or demon temples, granted monthly
allowances for the support of Budhist priests, and was also
at some expense for various festivals, both Budhist and Hindu.
The Maligawa or great temple at Kandy, was guarded by sol-
diers in the British service; and the Delada or Tooth of Budhu,
with all its rich appendages, was in the keeping of the Govern-
ment agent, and could not be exhibited without his permission.
Though nothing more than a piece of discoloured ivory, slightly
curved, nearly two inches long, and one inch in diameter at its
¹ Rep. Bib. Soc. 1813, App. p. 59, 61. Ibid, 1824, p. 54. lbid, 1831, p. 55.
BY THE DUTCH.
19
base, it is worshipped by the Budhists with the most intense
devotion, and is considered by them as the palladium of their
country. In 1828, during the government of Sir Edward
Barnes, this precious relic was publicly exhibited by order of
Government, and vast crowds of devoted worshippers collected
from all parts of the Island to witness the sight. It had not
been exhibited for fifty years before. In 1843, it was again
publicly exhibited by the authority and under the auspices of
the Government, on occasion of the presentation of offerings by
a number of Siamese priests, who had come to the island on a
kind of pilgrimage, as a deputation from the King of Siam.'
¹ Selkirk's Recollections, p. 100, 102, 532; Quarterly Review, vol. lxxxviii. p. 100;
(Wesleyan) Missionary Notices, 1844, p. 418; (Baptist) Missionary Herald, 1846,
p. 293; Ibid. 1849, p. 170.
Of this precious relic, the Rev. Mr Selkirk gives the following account in his Jour-
nal:- Oct. 19, 1838. The third Adigar, the highest native at present in the Kan-
dian country, and the lay head of Maligawa, called to pay me a visit a few days ago.
I then said that I should like to see the Maligawa, and went for this purpose, this
evening, at the time he was making his offerings. On my arrival about seven o'clock,
I was led up stairs, and the Adigar, by special favour, admitted me into the very pene-
tralia, where the Ran Karandura, or golden case is, in which is contained the precious
relic of Budhu. This relic is enclosed in the seventh of a set of Karanduwas, which
are put one into another. It is only taken out on great occasions. The small Dagoba
in which the six Karanduwas are enclosed, is about a yard and a half high, and, as nearly
as I can guess, about a yard and a half round the case. There is a beautiful bird made
of precious stones, set in gold, hanging over it; and the front of the Dagoba is covered
with gold and precious stones. I was told it was worth two or three lacs of rupees,
(£20,000 or £30,000). The Asana, or table for offerings, on which it is placed, is covered
with plates of gold and edged with silver, beautifully eut and worked. Near the Asana,
in front, are the altars on which are presented the offerings of flowers that are made,
morning and evening, by the Adigar. When I went in, there was a large table before
the altar, which was covered with a white cloth, and on which were placed by the Adi-
gar and the servants of the temple, about fifty small silver cups, each having a spoon
in it, and containing honey or lime juice, or other small things as offerings. After
remaining here for some time, these were removed, and the contents became the por-
tion of the priests, and would be used by them when they ate their rice and curry.
They thus eat things offered to idols.' A small silver salver was then placed on the
table, with all the little implements made use of, by persons accustomed to cat betel.
These were all of gold. The plates on which flowers were brought by the Adigar's
attendants, were of gold. The large massy doors, which opened into the splendid
Adytum, were gilt with gold. The door frames were inlaid with ivory, beautifully
carved. In short, every thing is of the greatest richness and splendour, and is well
calculated to impose upon the senses of the worshippers.
"After leaving this place, I went to another temple, still within the precincts of the
Maligawa, where is an image of Budhu in a sitting posture, about four feet high,
covered with gold, and a great number of other images of Budhu, some an entire pre-
cious stone, others of gold or silver. On one of those made of silver, is the following
Cingalese inscription, which I copied while the image was before me : Awayana
20
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
The connection of the Government in Ceylon with the reli-
gion of the Kandians, having been brought under the conside-
ration of the Government in England, it resolved that this
connection should entirely cease; that full protection should
be afforded to them in the exercise of their religion; but that
they should be left to manage their own religious matters; that
every facility should be afforded to them for this purpose; and
that they should retain the whole of their property, and enjoy
every other immunity which previously belonged to them. But
this was a scheme which the Kandian chiefs and priests were
not disposed to agree to voluntarily, nor indeed on any terms
that could be proposed or suggested to them. As they knew it
could not be carried into effect without a breach of the treaty
made with them, they were exceedingly difficult to deal with,
probably believing that if they were firm in starting objections.
to every plan that was proposed to them, the convention would
not be broken at all. There were, however, positive instruc-
tions from Earl Grey, the Colonial Secretary, that the connec-
tion of the Government with the idolatry of Ceylon should
terminate forthwith, whatever might be the cost to England.
The dissolution was accordingly announced, to the great annoy-
ance of both the Kandian chiefs and the priests. The Delada
was placed under their own custody, and thus matters remained
until there happened to be an insurrection in the country, when
it was unhappily resumed, not, however, as a trophy of war,
desayehi Rakkaduwe maha Dagoba Wihara Sthanayen gat me Pilima wahanse Barnes
Kumarikawa wisin Dalada Mandiriyata pradanayakale warusha ek dahas ata siya
wisi hatediya, i. e., 'This image of Budhu, taken from the Great Dagoba and Wihara
at Rakkaduwa, in the country of Ava, was presented to the Dalada Mandiriya (temple)
in the year 1827, by Miss (the princess) Barnes.' Miss Barnes was the daughter of
Sir Edward Barnes, who held the Government of Ceylon from 1823 or 1824 to 1831.
The priests shewed me two other images made of silver, presented to the Temple by
the Maha Modeliar, the highest Native in the maritime provinces, and a Christian.
In this place were also several images of gold, some in splendid cases, with small glass
doors.
The number of priests attached to this temple is forty. There are also twenty
persons in daily attendance to collect flowers, &c., for offerings, and who wait upon
the Adigar when he goes morning and evening. On festival occasions, there are 150
or 200 priests in attendance. The chief revenues of this temple arise from lands left
by various Cingalese kings. The twenty persons just mentioned are changed every
month, so that in the year there are nearly 250 persons engaged in the performance of
the services of this one temple, in addition to the priests."—Selkirk's Recollections of
Ceylon, p. 529.
BY THE DUTCH.
21
but for its safe keeping. Thus the question was thrown back
again. Sir G. W. Anderson, the Governor, afterwards resumed
the practice of appointing the priests; an oppressive system of
service on the Temple estates was thereby once more introduced,
and the temples themselves were adorned by forced labour.²
With respect to the number of Christians in Ceylon, it is not
easy to form any opinion, the accounts are so very contradic-
tory. In 1801, the native Protestant Christians on the island,
according to the general returns in the Ecclesiastical depart-
ment, amounted to upwards of 342,000. In 1811, the Protes-
tant Christians were estimated at about 250,000, and the Roman
Catholics at 85,000; in this instance, the computation of the
Protestants was founded on the returns from the schoolmasters
of the several districts. In 1813, according to similar returns,
the native Protestants amounted only to about 146,000, and
the Roman Catholics to 37,469, exclusive of children under
seven years of age. What is still more singular, the Christian
inhabitants of Jaffnapatam had fallen below 5000, though not
more than twelve years before, there were said to be in that
district 138,896 Protestants, 9632 Catholics, and only 11,362
Pagans; and about twenty years before that, the Christian
inhabitants of this province were still more numerous, amount-
ing to no fewer than 186,877, besides 5201 heathen slaves under
instruction. This great diminution in the number of professed
Christians in Ceylon, we apprehend, is to be attributed partly to
numbers of them having relapsed into paganism; but chiefly to
the circumstance, that vast multitudes of them differ so little
from the heathen, that in one enumeration, the same persons
may have been reckoned Christians, who in another, were
¹ Lord Torrington, who was then Governor, expressed the following opinion on the
subject in one of his despatches to the Home Government :-"In itself the Budhist
religion is a mild and harmless one, and had as few objectionable points as any heathen
doctrine. Unless we interfere with it, it will be destroyed before another and a purer
one is built upon its place; and I am sure, I need not point out to your Lordship, the
danger and misery that must overtake a country divested of any spiritual control.”—
(Bapt.) Miss. Her. 1852, p. 54. Budhism, of which all this is spoken, let it be re-
membered, is a system of Atheism.
• Calcutta Review, vol. xii. p. 200. (Bapt.) Miss. Her., 1852, d. 19.
• Cordiner's Description, vol. i. p. 193.
Rep. Bib. Soc. 1815, App. p. 24.-Christian Observer, vol. i. p. 329.
Neure Geschichte der Evangelischen Missions-Anstalten in Ostindion, tom. iii.
P. 144.
22
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
accounted Pagans. The fact is, that a large proportion of those
who are called Protestant Christians, are in reality heathens;
for though they may have been baptized in their infancy, they
are entirely ignorant of the principles of the Gospel, and are
worshippers of the idol Budhu. Not a few avow themselves
both Christians and Budhists, and are willing to be sworn as
either in a court of justice.
1
Though the Dutch ministers, who remained in Ceylon after
it was taken by the British, have all either died or left the
island, yet a number of missionaries, of various denominations,
have settled upon it, so that the natives are no longer so desti-
tute of Christian instruction as they were some years ago. To
some of them grants were made by Government of the ancient
churches; but many of these are now in a state of dilapidation
and decay. In the province of Jaffnapatam may be seen, here
and there, the mouldering remains of a forsaken church or
house, inaccessible from the surrounding jungle, and now the
undisturbed habitation of wild beasts and noxious reptiles.
There appears, in general, only a ruinous pillar, or a desolate
wall, over which grows spontaneously the aged ivy, as if to
bespeak the compassionate inquiries of the Christian traveller;
while to heighten the melancholy of the scene, hosts of images,
mosques, and pagodas, rear their heads, the monuments of the
ignorance, superstition, and idolatry of the wretched natives."
SECT. II.-JAVA.
IN 1619, the Dutch established themselves on the Island of
Java, and they soon afterwards founded the city of Batavia, the
capital of their possessions in the Eastern Archipelago. One
of the first objects to which their attention was directed, was
the religious instruction of the inhabitants. In obedience to
the Governor's orders, the ministers took immediate steps for
the introduction among them of the Doctrines of the Dutch
2
1 Transactions of the Missionary Society, vol. ii. p. 265.
? Proceed. Ch. Miss. Soc. vol. iii. p. 414.
3 Missionary Register, vol. vi. p. 4.-Report of Methodist Missions, 1817, p. 9.
BY THE DUTCH.
23
Reformed Church.
The Island was divided into districts, and
in each district, a church was erected and a school established.
After some time, the most promising Converts were employed
as catechists; and a selection was made of the scholars to take
charge of the schools, though it does not appear that they had
all embraced Christianity. These teachers were distributed
over the districts, and Dutch ministers were appointed to su-
perintend the whole.'
In 1721, the number of Christians on this island was stated
to be upwards of 100,000; in Batavia, there were two churches,
in which public worship was performed in the Dutch language;
two in which the Portuguese was employed; and one or two
in which the Malay was used. The number of ministers at
Batavia, when the list was full, amounted to twelve; but, some
years ago at least, they were men nowise distinguished either
by their learning or their piety."
In propagating Christianity in Java and the neighbouring
countries, there is nothing for which the Dutch were more dis-
tinguished than by their efforts to furnish the natives with
the Holy Scriptures. Not many years after the commencement
of their labours on this island, the Gospels and other parts of
the Sacred writings were published in the Malay language,
which is spoken not only in Malacca, but through all the adja-
cent islands. In 1668, the New Testament was printed in that
language at Amsterdam, at the expense of the East India Com-
pany; and, in 1733, a translation of the whole Bible was pub-
lished in that city, in Roman characters. This version was
afterwards printed in 1758, at Batavia, in five volumes, in the
Arabic alphabet, with the addition of the letters peculiar to
the Malay, under the direction of the Governor-general of the
Dutch possessions in the East. Besides the Malay translations,
the Dutch printed editions of the Sacred writings in the Portu-
guese language, a corrupt dialect of which is spoken by many
of the inhabitants of Java, and of the neighbouring islands, in
1
¹ La Croze Histoire du Christianisme des Indes, p. 521, 522. Hough's Hist. vol. iii.
P. 54.
2 Millar's History, vol. ii.; Fabricii Lux Salutaris, p. 594.
* Stavorinus' Voyages to the East Indies, vol. i. p. 305, 306.
* Le Long Biblioth. Sacra, Ed. Maschii, tom. i. part ii. p. 193; Asiatic Researches,
vol. x. p. 183.
24
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
consequence of their having once been subject to the Crown of
Portugal.'
In June 1814, a Bible Society was instituted at Batavia, with
a view to the circulation of the Holy Scriptures throughout
Eastern Asia, and particularly among the native Christians of
this island. Large editions of the Old and New Testament, in
the Malay language and the Arabic character, were printed.
But as this version was in the high Malay, which is spoken in
the interior of the island, and is not understood in Batavia,
the Java Bible Society procured also a translation of the New
Testament into the low Malay, the dialect that is used in that
city, and in the neighbouring country. Two translations of the
New Testament were also made into the Javanese language,
and a small volume of Extracts from the Old Testament.²
In 1816, the Island of Java, which had been taken by the
British a few years before, was restored to the Dutch, and
though they had in former times promoted measures for Chris-
tianizing the Natives, yet of late years their policy has been
to discountenance efforts for that end; and the regular clergy
were unwilling to do any thing without the sanction of the
authorities.³
3
In 1834, the Rev. Mr Wentink was stationed by the Govern-
ment at Depok, near Batavia, as minister of two small native
congregations at that place and Togoe; but there was no other
minister known to be employed by it among the native popula-
tion. Imperfectly instructed as the Javanese converts originally
were, and neglected as they have long been, it is not surprising
that they should be found unworthy even of the Christian
name. Their moral character is awfully depraved; they in-
dulge in the grossest vices, and possess as little of Christianity
as their Heathen and Mahommedan neighbours."
'Propagation of the Gospel in the East, part ii, p. 15; Fabricii Lux Salutaris,
p. 591; Niecampii Hist. p. 275.
* Rep. Bib. Soc. 1815, App. p.'116; Ibid. 1816, App. p. 27; Ibid. 1818, p. 26, App.
p. 22, 236; Ibid. 1832, p. 42; Ibid. 1842, App. p. 90; Ibid. 1849, p. 47, 51, 59.
Calcutta Christian Observer, 1839, p. 435; Missionary Register, 1835, p. 146, 147.
• Netherland's Missionary Society, 1841; Ms. penes me, p. 26.
1
Baptist Periodical Accounts, vol. vi. p. 239.
BY THE DUTCH.
25
SECT. III.-FORMOSA.
IN 1626, George Candidius was appointed minister to a set-
tlement which the Dutch had lately formed on Formosa, where
they had taken possession of a harbour on the south side of the
island, and for the purpose of protecting it, they built a fort
which they called Fort Zealand. It is stated that he took great
pains to introduce Christianity among the inhabitants, and that
he was successful in bringing a considerable number of them to
embrace it.¹
In 1631, Mr Robert Junius' was sent by the Senate of the
United Provinces to Formosa, with the view of carrying on
the same good work. He endeavoured for about two years to
instruct the natives through the medium of the Dutch language;
but as they were in general ignorant of it, he at length acquired
the Formosan language, which enabled him to convey his in-
structions with better effect. Many of them, particularly in the
northern parts of the island, acquired, it is said, a considerable
knowledge of the principles of Christianity; and were led to
profess themselves Christians. Mr Junius baptized no fewer
than 5900 adults, besides numbers of children. He also insti-
tuted schools, in which, in the course of a few years, about six
hundred of the natives learned to read; and besides a few
Dutchmen, whom he had employed as teachers, there were
about fifty of the converts, whom he trained to the same office.
He collected the principal heads of religion, wrote some prayers,
and translated several Psalms into the Formosan language. It
was chiefly in the northern parts of the island that he carried
on these operations; but he also planted churches in twenty-
¹ Chinese Repository, Canton, 1834, vol. ii. p. 410; vol. vi. p. 587.
• Robert Junius is said to have been of a Scotch family which had settled in Holland,
whose name was Young. In the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum, there is a draft
of a Letter from James I. King of England, to the Emperor of Abyssinia, one great ob-
ject of which was to recommend to that prince a certain Robert Junius, probably the indi-
vidual who afterwards went to Formosa. After making requests in reference to trade,
his Majesty particularly desires that he may be allowed to examine the great library
"on the mountain Amhara," and to make a Catalogue of the Books, especially of the
early Fathers of the Church.-Edinburgh Review, vol. lxvi. P. 331.
26
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
three towns in the south. After labouring about twelve years
on this island, he returned to Holland; but the work was car-
ried on by other ministers from that country or from Batavia.'
The Gospels of Matthew and John, translated into the Formo-
san language, by David Gravius, and also a Catechism, were
printed at Amsterdam; but it is probable these works never
reached Formosa, or at least were never of much use to the in-
habitants, as about the period of their completion, the Dutch
were expelled from the island, under circumstances of peculiar
barbarity.
2
In May 1661, Koxinga, a noted Chinese pirate, appeared off
Formosa with a force of 20,000 men, and after a severe engage-
ment with the Dutch, effected a landing on the island.
In a
short time the fort of Province was compelled to surrender to
him; but the Dutch in the fort of Zealand, resolved to defend
themselves to the last extremity. Koxinga now laid siege to
that place; but as he was unsuccessful in all his attacks, he
turned it into a close blockade. In the meanwhile, he laid
waste the open country, took the Dutch inhabitants prisoners,
and treated them in the most barbarous manner. Anxious to
bring the war to a close, he sent Mr Hambrocock, one of the
ministers, whom he had taken captive, to the governor of the
fort, to persuade him to surrender, promising to allow the gar-
rison to depart with the whole of their property; and threaten-
ing, in case of a refusal, to revenge himself upon the prisoners.
With these instructions, Mr Hambrocock, repaired to the fort,
leaving his wife and children behind him as hostages; but
though he knew that, if the negotiation failed, he had nothing
to expect but death, he was so far from persuading the garrison.
to surrender, that he encouraged them to make a brave defence,
assuring them that the tyrant had already lost many of his best
soldiers; that he began to be weary of the siege, and was afraid
lest they should obtain succours from Batavia. After hearing
his statements, the Council of war left it to his own choice,
either to remain in the fort, or to return to the camp of the
enemy. Some entreated him to stay; but with singular mag-
nanimity, he turned a deaf ear to all their solicitations. Two
1 The Conversion of 5900 East Indians in the Isle of Formosa, London, 1650, p. 3, 12.
2 Fabricii Lux Salutaris, p. 595.
BY THE DUTCH.
27
of his daughters who were in the fort, hung about his neck,
overwhelmed with grief, and bathed in tears, at seeing him
ready to commit himself into the hands of a merciless tyrant,
to whose fury he was likely to fall a sacrifice. He represented
to them, that as he had left his wife and two other children as
hostages in the camp of Koxinga, nothing but immediate death
would await them, if he did not return. He, therefore, tore
himself from their arms, and left the fort, exhorting the garri-
son to make a resolute defence, and expressing his hope, that
he might be useful to his unfortunate fellow prisoners.
On his arrival in the camp, Mr Hambrocock informed Koxinga,
that the besieged would not treat with him, unless the posses-
sion of the fort was secured to them, and that, rather than sur-
render, they would defend it to the last extremity. As some
of the Formosans had killed several of his followers, the tyrant,
under the pretext that they had been incited to insurrection by
the prisoners, ordered all the men among the Dutch, to the
number of five hundred, to be massacred. Among the slain,
were Mr Hambrocock, two other ministers, and a number of
schoolmasters, all of whom were beheaded. Many, even of the
women and children, were put to death; others were reserved
for the use of the principal officers, or sold to the common
soldiers.
In the mean while, the fort of Zealand made a resolute resist-
ance; but it was at length forced to surrender to the enemy,
after sustaining a siege of nine months, during which upwards
of sixteen hundred persons perished by famine, by disease,
or by the sword. Agreeably to the terms of capitulation, the
besieged returned to Batavia, where the governor, and the
members of the Council, notwithstanding the brave defence
they had made, and the aggravated sufferings they had endured,
were thrown into prison, and their property was confiscated.
The Governor was even condemned to perpetual imprisonment
in the Isle of Ey; but through the intercession of the Prince
of Orange, he was at length set at liberty.' The grandson of
the Pirate who expelled the Dutch from the Island of Formosa,
was afterwards obliged to surrender it to the Emperor of China;
Nieuhoff's Voyages in Churchhill's Collection, vol. ii. p. 160.
28
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
and as it has ever since remained in his possession, it is proba-
ble no traces of Christianity are now to be found among the
inhabitants.¹
2
SECT. IV.-AMBOYNA.
IN 1647, the Dutch, who had obtained possession of Amboyna
some years before, began to introduce Christianity into this
island. The inhabitants, both Heathen and Mahommedans,
submitted to baptism in great numbers. In 1686, one of the
ministers in the capital town, had, it is said, no fewer than
30,000 of the natives under his pastoral care, who had been
converted by him to the Christian faith. Few Romish mission-
aries could boast of a more splendid triumph!
3
The Government of Amboyna included several Islands, al-
most all of them within sight of each other. The number of
churches on these islands, according to Captain Hamilton, was
no fewer than fifty; and the inhabitants shewed a great readi-
ness to embrace Christianity, especially after some of the Native
youths, who were sent to Holland for their education, returned
ordained to the ministry, and instructed them in the principles of
religion. Such of the inhabitants as professed themselves Chris-
tians, lived in distinct villages; and in each of these there was
a church, where they assembled for Divine worship. They
were obliged to attend the church and the catechetical exer-
cises, otherwise their absence was reported to the person in
authority, a practice which is continued to the present day.*
In 1775, when Stavorinus was at Amboyna, public worship
in the Malay church, was confined to the reading of a sermon
in that language by one of the visitors of the sick, as the minis-
ter did not understand it, and had little inclination to learn it.
It had lately been ascertained by a church visitation, that the
number of Christians in a part of the places under this Govern-
4
¹ Modern Universal History, vol. viii. p. 507.
2 Nieuhoff's Voyages in Churchhill's Collection, vol. ii. p. 156.
Millar's History, vol. ii. p. 475.
• Hamilton's New Account of the East Indies, vol. ii. p. 142; Bapt. Period. Accounts,
vol. v. p. 493, 616.
BY THE DUTCH.
29
ment, amounted to 21,124; but of these only 843 were mem-
bers of the church. Indeed, the superstitious respect which
they paid to the ministers, together with a few external forms
of religion, were the chief circumstances which distinguished
them from the rest of their countrymen. Few of them had a
tolerable knowledge of the doctrines of Christianity, or even of
the ordinary duties of morality. Unchastity was universal
among the women as well as the men; theft was extremely
common, and was generally managed with great dexterity; and,
like all the Malay tribes, they were distinguished by a peculiar
malignity of character. The superstitions of Heathenism, ap-
peared still to maintain their original sway over their benighted
minds. When they sailed past a certain hill on the coast of
Ceram, they used to propitiate the Evil Spirit, who, they be-
lieved, had his dwelling in that quarter, by setting afloat a few
flowers, and a small piece of money in cocoa-nut shells; and if
it was the evening, they also put oil into them with little wicks,
and set them to burn on the water. After presenting this offer-
ing to the Demon of the hill, they proceeded on their voyage,
satisfied that he would do no harm to them or their vessels.'
2
3
Besides the converts in the islands already mentioned, the
Dutch made a multitude of others in Sumatra, Timor, Celebes,
Banda, Ternate, and the neighbouring Molucca Islands; but
they were left for many years in a great measure destitute of
the means of religious instruction. Churches were still stand-
ing on some of these islands; but they were without ministers.
The schoolmasters were not paid their salaries, and hence many
of them neglected their schools, and turned their attention to
husbandry. Copies of the Scriptures were so extremely scarce,
that some even of the schoolmasters possessed only a few leaves
'Stavorinus' Voyages, vol. ii. p. 365, 388.
* In 1718, Jacob Vischer, a Dutch minister at Batavia, wrote that, in the island of
Sumatra, and at the Castle of Badan, he was employed to administer the Sacraments;
and that many came to be baptized, presenting, at the same time, offerings of great
value unto the Lord; that they received the Lord's Supper only once in two years, and
that he was very acceptable to them; that he ordained elders and deacons, provided
golden cups for administering the communion, and obtained teachers from the neigh-
bouring islands to instruct the young; that ships full of heathens came there to be
baptized, who willingly embraced the Christian religion, bringing gifts in gold and
precious stones, which, on their knees, they offered to the ministers of the gospel.-
Bib. Hist. Phil. Theol. Classis Tertia, p. 917, et seq. in Hough's Hist. vol. iii. p. 60.
Fabr. Lux Salut. p. 594; Niecampii Hist. p. 275; Paget's Christianographie, p. 275.
30
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
of the Bible, though it was part of their duty to read it to the
people. In some of the villages, which were left without school-
masters, it is said the best educated boys used to read a portion
of the sacred volume in the church every Sabbath.'
Within the last thirty years, however, the Dutch have re-
newed their efforts for bringing over the natives of Amboyna,
and of the neighbouring islands, to the profession of Christianity;
and if the numbers baptized by them were to be held as a cri-
terion of their success, it might be admitted they had been
eminently successful; but there is reason to believe that most
of the converts were Christians only in name, and were little
improved by the change in their character or conduct. It is
to be feared, indeed, that the practice of the Dutch in bap-
tizing the natives without any proper instruction, and without
any evidence of piety, has inflicted a deep and lasting wound
on the cause of Christianity in the East India Islands, which
there is no likelihood will soon be remedied, thus presenting to
Missionaries a solemn warning of the evil and danger of not ex-
ercising due discrimination in the admission of heathens into the
Church of Christ.
Before closing our account of the efforts of the Dutch for the
propagation of Christianity in the East, it is proper to state, that
their labours extended also to the Continent of India. In 1630,
we are told, they had a congregation of Native Christians at
Pulicat, twenty-five miles north of Madras. In 1660, Philip
Baldæus proceeded from Ceylon to Negapatnam on the coast of
Coromandel, with the view of introducing the Reformed reli-
gion; and while there he preached both in Dutch and Portu-
guese. One of his successors, Nathaniel de Pape, made consider-
able progress in the Portuguese and Tamil languages, and by
the encouragement, and under the protection of Cornelius.
Speelman, the Governor, spread a knowledge of the gospel in
the neighbouring villages. Thus the Dutch had the honour of
being the first Protestants who made any efforts for the evan-
gelization of India.
1
3
Evangelical Magazine, vol. xxii. p. 296; Miss. Trans. vol. v. p. 280, 283, 285.
"Methodist Magazine, 1832, p. 340.
Baldæus in Churchhill, vol. iii. p. 587.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
31
CHAPTER IV.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
SECT. I.—MASSACHUSSETS COLONY.
AFTER the House of Stuart ascended the Throne of England, the
tyranny of the government, both in Church and State, was so
intolerable, that numbers of the people left their native land,
and sought an asylum in the Wilds of America, in the hope of
enjoying that liberty of conscience among savages, which was
denied them by their own countrymen. Having left their
friends and their country, chiefly for the sake of religion, they
could not behold with indifference, the Indians living without
God, without Christ, and without hope in the world.
Considerable interest in their conversion was also felt by
many in England. Among others, Dr Lake, the Bishop of Bath
and Wells, had the object so much at heart, as to declare that
nothing but his old age hindered him from going to America
and devoting himself to the work. Even the Government pro-
fessed to be zealous for the conversion of the Indians. James
I., in a proclamation which he issued in 1622, declared that the
special motive which led him to encourage the plantations in
the New world, was his zeal for the extension of the gospel ;
and his son, Charles I., in the Charter which he granted to the
Colony of Massachussets in 1628, gave directions that the peo-
ple from England "may be so religiously, peaceably, and civilly
governed, as their good life and orderly conversation may win
and incite the Natives of the country to the knowledge and
obedience of the only true God and Saviour of mankind and
the Christian faith, which in our Royal intention, and the Ad-
venturers' free profession, is the principal end of the Plantation.'
It is also not unworthy of mention, that the device on the seal
رو
32
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
of the Massachussets Colony, was an Indian with a label at his
mouth, containing the words "Come over and help us."
For some years, however, the difficulties attending a new
settlement in a wild uncultivated region, the quarrels in which
the settlers were unfortunately involved with the Indians, the
disputes that arose among themselves, and various other circum-
stances, prevented them from making those early exertions for
evangelizing the natives, which the nature and importance of
the object demanded. A few of the savages, indeed, in differ-
ent parts of the country, were instructed in the principles of
our holy religion; but there were no systematic efforts made
to convert them to the Christian faith. In 1646, the General
Court of Massachussets passed the first act encouraging the
Propagation of the Gospel among the Indians, and recommended
to the Elders of the Churches to consider the means by which
this might best be effected.'
In October 1646, Mr John Eliot, minister of Roxbury, in the
neighbourhood of Boston, who by assiduous study had acquired
some knowledge of the Indian language, proceeded, with two or
three of his friends, to visit some Indians, at a place about four
or five miles from his own house, to whom he had previously
given notice of his design to come and instruct them in the
Christian faith. As they approached the place they were met
by a Chief named Waban, and others of the Indians, and were
conducted by them to a large wigwam, where a great number of
their countrymen were assembled, to hear the new doctrine
which the English were to teach them. After a short prayer,
Mr Eliot delivered a discourse to them in the Indian language,
which lasted upwards of an hour, and comprehended many of
the most important articles of Natural and Revealed religion.
He spoke to them of the Creation of the world, and the Fall of
man; of the greatness of God, the maker of all things; of the
Ten commandments, and the Threatenings denounced against
the transgressors of them; of the Character and Office of Jesus
'Winslow's Glorious Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England.
London, 1649, p. 1; Collection of the Massachussets' Historical Society, 1st Series,
vol. vii. p. 223, 2d Series, vol. vi. p. 650; Francis' Life of John Eliot in Spark's Li-
brary of American Biography, vol. v. p. 36; Hazard's Historical Collections of Stato
Papers, &c. as Materials for a History of the United States, vol. i. p. 252; Hutchin-
son's History of tho Colony of Massachussets Bay, vol. i. p. 151.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
33
Christ; of the last Judgment, the Joys of heaven, and the tor-
ments of hell. Having finished his discourse, he desired them,
us was afterwards his ordinary practice, to ask him any ques-
tions they might think necessary with regard to the sermon.
To the inquiries which some of them proposed, he then en-
deavoured to give as plain and simple answers as possible; and,
after a conference of about three hours, he and his friends re-
turned home highly delighted with their visit. Mr Eliot after-
wards repeated his visits to the Indians, and on these occasions,
they not only listened to him with great attention, but some of
them appeared deeply affected with what they heard.'
Encouraged by these auspicious circumstances, the General
Court of Massachussets, on the application of Mr Eliot, gave the
Indians in that neighbourhood some land on which to build a
town, where they might live together, enjoy the privilege of
religious instruction, and cultivate the arts of civilized life.
Having now the prospect of settling in one place, a number of
them met together to form some laws for the government of
their little community, and agreed on the following regulations,
some of which are singular enough:
1st, If any man be idle a week, or at most a fortnight, he
shall pay a fine of five shillings.
2dly, If any unmarried man lie with an unmarried woman,
he shall pay twenty shillings.
3dly, If any man beat his wife, he shall be carried to the
place of justice with his hands tied behind his back, and severely
punished.
4thly, Every young man who is not a servant, and is unmar-
ried, shall be obliged to build a wigwam, and to plant some
ground for himself, and not shift up and down in other houses.
5thly, If any woman shall not have her hair tied up, but
shall allow it to hang loose, or to be cut as men's hair, she shall
pay five shillings.
6thly, If any woman go with her breasts uncovered, she shall
be fined in two shillings and sixpence.
1
7thly, If any man wear long hair, he shall pay five shillings.
Gookin's
Day-breaking of the Gospel in New England, London 1647, p. 1, 7, 18.
Historical Collections of the Indians in New England in Collections of the Massachus-
sets Historical Society, vol. i. p. 168.
VOL. I.
34
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Lastly, Whoever shall kill their lice between their teeth,
shall be fined in five shillings.'
Though to us some of these fines may seem inconsiderable,
yet to the Indians they must have appeared very heavy, con-
sidering their general poverty, and the value of money at that
period. Some of the regulations, indeed, are frivolous enough,
and certainly had better have been omitted; but let it be re-
membered, every age has its follies.
The seat of the town, which they called Noonatomen, or
Rejoicing, being marked out, Mr Eliot advised them to sur-
round it with ditches and a stone wall, promising to furnish
them with spades, shovels, mattocks, and iron crows, for this
purpose; and he likewise gave money to such as wrought
hardest. The wigwams which they erected, were in a consider-
ably improved style; they were built not with mats, as for-
merly, but with the bark of trees, and were divided into several
apartments. The women also began to learn to spin, to make
various little articles, and to carry the natural productions of
the country to market for sale. In spring they sold cranberries,
strawberries, and fish; in summer, whortleberries and grapes;
in autumn, venison; in winter, brooms, staves, baskets, and
turkeys. Besides, several wrought with the English in hay-
time and harvest; but it was observed, they were not so indus-
trious, nor yet so capable of hard labour, as those who had been
accustomed to it from early life. It is worthy of remark, that
Mr Eliot, while he laboured for the conversion of the Indians,
was fully sensible of the importance of, at the same time, civiliz-
ing them. "I feel it absolutely necessary," he says, "to carry
on civility with religion.""
Influenced by the example of their countrymen, the Indians
in the neighbourhood of Concord expressed a similar desire of
uniting together, in a regular society, of receiving the Christian
faith, and of learning the arts of civilized life. With this view
they requested Mr Eliot to come and preach the Gospel to them;
and they begged the Government to grant them a piece of land,
on which they might build themselves a town, in the neighbour-
1
Day-breaking of the Gospel, p. 22.
2 Shepard's Clear Sunshine of the Gospel breaking forth upon the Indians in New
England, London 1648, p. 28, 32.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
35
hood of the White people. Several of their Sachems and other
principal men met at Concord, and agreed on the following
regulations for their government in civil and religious matters:
1st, That no powawing or conjuring should be allowed among
them, under a penalty of twenty shillings for each offence.
2dly, That whoever should be drunk, should pay a fine of
twenty shillings.
3dly, That whoever should be convicted of stealing, should
restore fourfold.
4thly, That whoever should profane the Sabbath, should be
fined in twenty shillings.
5thly, That whoever should commit fornication, should pay
twenty shillings if a man, and ten shillings if a woman.
6thly, That wilful murder, adultery, and lying with a beast,
should be punished with death.
7thly, That no person should beat his wife, under a penalty
of twenty shillings.
8thly, That they would lay aside their old ceremonies of howl-
ing, greasing their bodies, adorning their hair, and follow the
customs of the English.
Lastly, They agreed to pray in their wigwams, and to say
grace before and after meat.¹
1
Among the evils prohibited by these laws, it will be remarked,
was the vice of drunkenness. The North American Indians,
previous to their intercourse with the English and other Euro-
peans, had nothing among them of the nature of intoxicating
drinks; but these, which have long been proving their bane
and ruin in all parts of the country, were, even thus early,
found to be a hinderance to the success of the gospel among
them. In Massachussets, indeed, the sale of spirituous liquors
to the Indians was prohibited, or at least restricted, by the Go-
vernment, under the penalty of heavy fines; yet, says Gookin,
"Some-ill disposed people, for filthy lucre's sake, do sell unto
them secretly, though the Indians will rarely discover these
evil merchants; they do rather suffer whipping or fine than
tell;" and Mr Eliot says, "These scandalous evils greatly
blemish and intercept their entertainment of the Gospel, through
1 Shepard's Clear Sunshine of the Gospel, p. 2.
36
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the policy of Satan, who counter-worketh Christ that way, with
not a little uncomfortable success.
Though Mr Eliot still retained the pastoral charge of the
church at Roxbury, he usually went once a fortnight on a Mis-
sionary excursion, travelling through the different parts of
Massachussets, and of the neighbouring country, as far as Cape
Cod, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom to as many of
the Indians as would hear him. Many were the hardships and
dangers which he encountered in the prosecution of his Evan-
gelical labours. In a letter to Mr Winslow, he says, "I have
not been dry, night nor day, from the third day of the week to
the sixth, but have travelled from place to place in that condi-
tion; and at night I pull off my boots, wring my stockings, and
on with them again, and so continue. The rivers also were
raised so as that we were wet in riding through them. But
God steps in and helps me. I have considered the exhortation
of Paul to his son Timothy, Endure hardness as a good soldier
of Jesus Christ, with many other such like meditations." When
travelling through the Wilderness, without a friend or com-
panion, he was sometimes treated very harshly by the Indians,
and, in some instances, they even threatened his life. Both
the Sachems and the Powaws were greatly opposed to the gos-
pel; the chiefs were jealous of their authority, the priests of
their gain. Sometimes the Sachems thrust him out from among
them, saying, It was impertinent in him to trouble himself with
them or their religion, and that should he return again, it would
be at his peril. To such threatenings he used only to reply,
That he was engaged in the service of the Great God, and there-
fore he did not fear them, nor all the Sachems in the country,
but was resolved to go on with his work, and bade them touch
him if they dared. To manifest their malignity, as far as pos-
sible, they banished from their society such of the people as
were called Praying Indians; and in some instances, it is said,
they even put them to death. Nothing, indeed, but the dread
of the English prevented them from murdering the whole of
the converts; a circumstance which induced some to conceal
¹ Gookin in Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 151; Francis' Life of Eliot in Sparks' Lib.
Amer. Biog. vol. v. p. 351.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
37
their sentiments, and others to fly to the colonists for protec-
tion.'
While Mr Eliot, in the course of his labours among the In-
dians, had to encounter so many hardships and dangers, he
sought to win the confidence and affections of the savages, by
manifold acts of kindness. There is something very simple, yet
very pleasing, in the account which he gives of his way of
treating them: "The work of converting the Indians," says he,
"is difficult not only in respect of the language, but also on ac-
count of their poverty and barbarous course of life: there is
not so much as meat, or drink, or lodging, for them that go to
preach among them; but we must carry all things with us, and
somewhat to give unto them. I never go unto them empty,
but carry somewhat to distribute among them; and when they
come to my house, I am not willing they should go away with-
out some refreshment. Neither do I take any gratuity from
them unrewarded; and indeed they do account, that they have
nothing worth the giving unto me: only once, when I was up
in the country, a poor creature came to me, as I was about to
take horse, and shaking me by the hand, with the other thrust
something into my hand. I looked what it was, and found it
to be a pennyworth of wampum, upon a straw's end. I seeing
so much hearty affection in so small a thing, kindly accepted it,
only inviting him to my house, that I might shew my love to
him.'
193
It is delightful to observe the spirit of humility in which Mr
Eliot carried on his labours. Mr Winslow having given him the
appellation of Indian Evangelist, he declared it to be a “redun-
dancy," and protested against its use with the greatest earnest-
'Whitfield's Light appearing more and more towards the Perfect Day, London
1651, p. 21, 37. Neal's History of New England, vol. i. p. 249.
A wampum is a small cylinder, about one-third of an inch long, with a bole drilled
through the middle of it, and is made of the shell of some sea fish, polished very smooth.
A number of these strung together on threads, is called a belt of wampum. Some of
them are black, others white; but the former are reckoned most valuable. They were
the only Money used by the Indians before the country was visited by Europeans;
they were also used as ornaments about their necks, wrists, and other parts of their
bodies; they are uniformly employed in all their treaties as a confirmation of them,
and are the only records kept by the savages. Without a belt of wampum, a messago
a a
or an agreement would be reckoned null and void.—Hopkin's Memoirs relating to the
Housatunnuk Indians, p. 4.
3 Winslow's Progress of the Gospel, p. 10.
38
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
1
ness. "I do beseech you," he writes, "to suppress all such things
if ever you should have occasion of doing the like. Let us
speak and do and carry all things with all humility. It is the
Lord who hath done what is done; and it is becoming of Jesus
Christ to lift up Christ and ourselves to lie low." Well were
it for the cause of Christian missions, if they were generally
carried on in this spirit of humility and self-emptiness. Few
things are more closely connected with their success: "God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble."
In 1651, a considerable number of the Indians, who had em-
braced the Gospel, united together in building a town, which
they called Natick, on the banks of Charles' river, about
eighteen miles from Boston. This village consisted of three
long streets, with a piece of ground for each family. A few of
the houses were built in the English style, but most of them
were after the Indian fashion; for, as the former were neither
so cheap nor so warm as their wigwams, they generally preferred
their own mode of building. There was, however, one large
house in the English style; the lower room was a great hall,
which served for a place of worship on the Sabbath, and a
school-house during the week; the upper room was a kind of
wardrobe, in which the Indians deposited their skins and other
articles of value, and in one of the corners there was an apart-
ment for Mr Eliot, with a bed for his use. Besides this build-
ing, there was a large fort of a circular form, palisadoed with
trees; and a small bridge over the river, the foundation of
which was secured with stones."
2
In 1660, the Converted Indians were formed into a Christian
church, and had the Lord's Supper administered to them. The
Churches of New England, were at that period extremely strict
in the admission of persons to church fellowship, and required
of them decided evidence of personal religion; but in the case
of the Indians, they rather increased than abated their usual
strictness. After Mr Eliot had himself heard several of them
make confession of their sins, and give an account of their
knowledge of the principles of religion, and of their Christian
I Whitfield's Light appearing, p. 18.
2 Strength out of Weakness, London 1652, p. 17. Gookin in Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i.
p. 180.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
39
experience, the ministers of the neighbouring churches assem-
bled by his desire, on a day appointed for the purpose, when
several of the converts made similar declarations before them.
With these the hearers were not only highly pleased, but much
affected. Mr Eliot afterwards published their Confessions, in
order to obtain the sentiments of the good people in England
and America with respect to them. After a considerable time
had elapsed, the ministers of the neighbouring churches held
another assembly, for the purpose of examining the Indians;
and on this occasion, the converts gave most satisfactory an-
swers to the questions which were proposed to them. Having
passed through this severe ordeal, several of them were at length
baptized and admitted to the Lord's Supper; but as so much
strictness was exercised in receiving them, the number was
never very great. About ten years after their little church was
incorporated, it consisted of only between forty and fifty mem-
bers.¹
Soon after the formation of the church at Natick, Mr Eliot
had the pleasure of completing a work on which his heart had
long been set, and which was intimately connected with the
success of his labours, the translation of the Holy Scriptures
into the Indian language. In 1661, the New Testament was
printed at Cambridge in New England; and two years after, it
was followed by the Old Testament. This was the first Bible
ever printed in America. Besides the Old and New Testament,
he translated into the Indian language various other useful
works, as Primers, Catechisms, Baxter's Call to the Unconverted,
the Practice of Piety, Shepard's Sincere Convert, and Shepard's
Sound Believer. He also published a Grammar of the Indian
language; and at the close of it wrote these memorable words,
Prayers and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will do any
thing."2
(
Besides instituting schools, where many of the Indians learned
to read and write, Mr Eliot and the other gentlemen who had
1 Tears of Repentance, London 1653, p. 1. Eliot's Further Manifestation of the
Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians, London 1655, p. 3, 20. Mather's History
of New England, book iii. p. 197. Hutchinson's Hist. of Massachussets Bay, vol. i.
P. 167.
* Mather, book iii. p. 197; Holmes' American Annals, vol. i. p. 318, 327. Works of
the Hon. Mr Boyle, vol. i. P.
ccxii.
40
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the superintendence of the mission, were at much expense in
educating some of them for the work of the ministry, with the
view of employing them as preachers among their own country-
men. This plan, though highly laudable, was not so successful
as might have been expected. Several of the youth died, after
being some years at their education; others relinquished their
studies when they were nearly ready for the college; some,
however, persevered, acquired considerable knowledge of the
Latin and Greek languages, and were qualified for being em-
ployed as schoolmasters and teachers among their own country-
men. At Cambridge in New England, a building was erected
at an expense of between three and four hundred pounds, under
the name of the Indian College. It was large enough to ac-
commodate about twenty persons with convenient lodgings;
but for some years, at least, it was occupied chiefly by English
students, on account of the death and failure of the Indian
youths.¹
In 1674, the number of towns, within the jurisdiction of
Massachussets colony, inhabited by Praying Indians, had in-
creased to no fewer than fourteen, to all of which Mr Eliot
appears, in a greater or less degree, to have extended his labours.
Of these, seven were of considerable standing; the other seven
had begun to listen to the Gospel only within the last three
years. Many of the Congregations in these places had pastors,
elders, and deacons of their own nation, settled among them.
It is necessary, however, to remark, that under the appellation
of Praying Indians were included all who merely submitted to
be catechised, attended public worship, read the scriptures, and
prayed in their families morning and evening, even though they
were not admitted either to Baptism or the Lord's Supper. Es-
timating each family in these towns to consist on an average of
five persons, the whole number of individuals enjoying the
means of Christian instruction was supposed to amount to
about eleven hundred; but among them there were as yet only
two churches.2
In 1675, Philip, one of the principal chiefs of the Indians,
'Gookin in Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 172, 175, 176, 217.
"Gookin in Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 182, 189, 195. Eliot's Brief Narrative of the
Progress of the Gospel among the Indians in the year 1670, London 1671, p. 6.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
41
commenced war upon the English, and being joined by the
Natives in various places, he was at first generally successful in
his attacks, and spread terror and dismay throughout the whole
country. Many were killed on both sides: the Indians in some
instances' exercised great cruelties on the White people; they
laid waste their plantations, and burnt their houses to the
ground. Though the great body of the Praying Indians remained
true to the English interest, and on many occasions rendered
good and faithful service during the war, yet there were some
who went over to Philip. Many of the English who had long
indulged in unfriendly feelings toward the Indians, not except-
ing the Praying Indians, now became much exasperated against
the latter, and treated them in many cases with great inhu-
manity, in some instances even putting them to death. After
a severe struggle of about a twelvemonth, the war was brought
to an end by the death of Philip, who was killed by one of the In-
dians in the interest of the English. This war was a heavy blow
to the cause of the gospel. Many of the towns of Praying In-
dians were broken up, and a feeling of discouragement weakened
those that remained. Mr Eliot was called to lament the total
defection of some whose professions had previously cheered his
heart, to observe that the love of others had waxed cold, and
to mourn over the premature death of others who had promised
to be useful in advancing the cause of Christ among their own
people. It does not appear, indeed, that they ever entirely re-
covered the blow. In 1684, their stated places of worship in
Massachussets were reduced to four; but occasional meetings
were held in other places, when numbers of them came together
to fish, hunt, or gather chestnuts.'
Notwithstanding these discouraging circumstances, Mr Eliot
persevered in his labours among the Indians as long as his
health and strength would permit; but being, at length, worn
out with the infirmities of age, he was scarcely able to visit them
oftener than once in two months, instead of every fortnight, as
had been his ordinary practice. Even at Roxbury he was no
longer able to perform the duties of the pastoral office to his
'Mather's History of the War with the Indians, London 1676, p. 2, 20, 26, 29, 46.
Wilson's Life of John Eliot, p. 193. Francis' Life of Eliot in Spark's Lib. Amer. Biog.
vol. v. p. 274, 277, 282, 286. Boyle's Works, vol. i. p. cexii.
42
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
own satisfaction; and, therefore, he very disinterestedly urged
his people to call another minister, as he could not die with
comfort till he saw a good successor settled among them.
"'Tis
possible," he said, "you may think the burden of maintaining
two ministers too heavy for you; but I deliver you from that
fear. I do here give back my salary to the Lord Jesus Christ;
and now, Brethren, you may fix it on any man whom God shall
make pastor for you." His church, much to their honour, as-
sured him, that they would consider his very presence among
them worth a salary, when he should no longer be able to do
any further service among them. Having obtained an excellent
young man, Mr Nathaniel Walter, for his colleague, Mr Eliot
cherished him with all the care and affection of a father toward
a child. For a year or two before his death, he could hardly
be persuaded to undertake any public service in the congrega-
tion, humbly pleading, that it would be wrong to the souls of the
people for him to do any thing among them, when they were
otherwise so much better supplied. One day, (Dr Mather thinks
it was the last time he ever preached,) after a very distinct and
useful Exposition of the eighty-third Psalm, he concluded with
an apology to his hearers, begging them, "to pardon the poor-
ness, and meanness, and brokenness of his meditations; but,"
added he, with great humility, "my dear brother, here, will by
and by mend all."
Being, at length, attacked with some degree of fever, he ra-
pidly sunk under it, combined as it was with the infirmities of
old age. During his illness, when speaking about the evange-
lizing of the Indians, he said, "There is a dark cloud upon the
work of the gospel among them. The Lord revive and prosper
that work, and grant that it may live when I am dead. It is a
work I have been doing much and long about. But what was
the word I spoke last? I recall that word, My doings. Alas!
they have been poor, and small, and lean doings; and I will be
the man who will throw the first stone at them all." One of
the last expressions which were heard to fall from his lips were
these emphatic words: "Welcome joy." He at length expired,
20th May 1690, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, and has
}
Mather, book iii. p. 180, 194, 206.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
43
?
since been known by the honourable, yet well earned title of
THE APOSTLE OF THE INDIANS.¹
1
Previous to the death of Mr Eliot, the church at Natick had
a Indian minister, named Daniel Takawompbait, settled among
them; but it appears to have been in a languishing state.2 In
1698, there were at that place about a hundred and eighty per-
sons, a number greater than what they were estimated to be
upwards of twenty years before; but the church was reduced
to ten members, namely, seven men and three women.³
In 1721, Mr Oliver Peabody was settled as Missionary at
Natick. There was then no church at that place, nor even a
single individual among the Indians, who was known to have
been baptized. The church formed by Mr Eliot was now totally
extinct. Besides labouring to Christianize the Indians, Mr Pea-
body endeavoured to promote civilization among them. He was
anxious to induce them to abandon their barbarous modes of
life, and he happily lived to see numbers of them, possessed of
comfortable houses, cultivated fields, and flourishing orchards.
Many of them were much impressed with divine things, and
a number of them, it was hoped, became partakers of divine
grace. During the thirty years that Mr Peabody laboured
among them, about one hundred and ninety of the Indians were
baptized; but of these, only thirty-five were admitted to full
communion with the church."
In 1763, according to a census then taken, there were in
Natick only thirty-seven Indians; but in this return, it is pro-
'Mather, book iii. p. 173, 194, 207.
Mr Eliot had several sons, and it was his earnest wish that they might all be em-
ployed in his favourite work of evangelizing the Indians. His eldest son was not only
the pastor of an English church, at a place now called Newtown, but, for several years,
he regularly preached to the Indians once a fortnight at Pakemitt, and sometimes at
Natick, and other places. He was highly esteemed by the most judicious of the Chris-
tian Indians, but died in early life, twenty years before his venerable father. Indeed,
most of Mr Eliot's children left the world before him; but not until they had given
satisfactory evidence of their conversion to Christ. Hence, when some person asked
him, how he could bear the death of such excellent children, the good old man replied,
"My desire was that they should have served God on earth; but if he choose rather
that they shall serve him in heaven, I have nothing to object against it: His will be
done."—Gookin in Mass. Coll. vol. i. p. 171. Mather, book iii. p. 174.
* Mather, book iii. p. 194; book vi. p. 61.
3
Holmes' American Annals, vol. ii. p.37.
4
Panoplist, vol. iv. (N. S.) p. 50, 53.
+4
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
bable, the wandering Indians were not included. Indeed, they
so frequently change their place of abode, and are so inter-
married with Blacks and Whites, that it is next to impossible
to ascertain the precise number who may still remain. In
1797, it was supposed that there were about twenty of the
Natick Indians who were of pure blood, and either resided in
that town, or belonged to it. Few of them, however, attended
public worship; none of them were remarkable for piety; and,
indeed, only two or three of them were members of a Christian
church. There were none among them who retained the know-
ledge of their original language, so as to be able to speak it,
though one old woman said she could understand it when
spoken by others. We notice these circumstances, minute as
they are, because it is interesting to know the history and the
ultimate fate of the Indian flock of the excellent John Eliot.
Since that time, the Natick Indians may be said to have entirely
disappeared. In 1836, one miserable hut or wigwam, inhabited
by three or four persons of mixed Indian and Negro blood, was
the only remnant of a settlement which its venerable founder
probably hoped would prove a lasting source of Christian and
social blessings to the Aboriginal inhabitants of the country,
and even this one hut, it is likely, may now be sought in vain.
Besides the Indians at Natick, there were, in 1764, eight or
ten families at a place called Grafton; and in 1792, there were
still about thirty persons who retained a part of their lands,
and received an annual quitrent from the White inhabitants.
These, with a few other Indians at Stoughton, it was believed,
were all the remains of the once numerous and powerful tribes
which inhabited the colony of Massachussets; and it is not
improbable that the whole are now extinct."
¹ Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 195, vol. v. p. 43; Francis' Life of Eliot in Spark's Lib.
Amer. Biog. vol. v. 297.
2 Before leaving this part of our history, we cannot help noticing a curious specimen
given by Dr Mather, of the method of instruction employed by the Roman Catholics
in converting the Indians of America. It was extracted by him from the Manuscript
of a Jesuit missionary, containing a Catechism relative to the principles in which they
were to be instructed, and Cases of conscience with regard to their conduct in life.
From the Chapters concerning Heaven and Hell, we shall select a few particulars :—
Q. How is the Soil made in Heaven?
A. It is a very fair soil. They want neither for ment nor clothes; we have only to
wish and we have them.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
45
SECT. II.-MARTHA'S VINEYARD.
IN 1642, Mr Thomas Mayhew senior, who had obtained a
grant of Martha's Vineyard, Nantuket, and Elizabeth Isles,
placed his son, a young man of considerable learning and piety,
with a few other English people, in Martha's Vineyard. Being
invited by his fellow-settlers to become their pastor, young Mr
Mayhew was not satisfied that his labours should be confined
to so small a handful of his countrymen, but acquired the
Indian language with the view of Christianizing the natives,
Q. Are they employed in Heaven?
A. No. They do nothing. The fields yield corn, beans, pumpkins, and the like,
without any tillage.
Q. What sort of trees are there?
A. Always green, full and flourishing.
Q. Have they in Heaven the same sun, the same wind, the same thunder that we
have here?
A. No. The sun ever shines; it is always fair weather.
Q. But how are their fruits?
A. In this respect they excel ours, that they are never wasted.
plucked one, but you see another hanging in its room.
You have no sooner
In this manner the Catechism goes on with regard to Heaven. Concerning Hell
there are, among others, the following questions :
Q. What sort of a Soil is Hell?
A. A very wretched soil; it is a fiery pit in the centre of the earth.
Q. Have they any light in Hell?
A. No. It is always dark: there is always smoke there: their eyes are always in
pain with it; they can see nothing but devils.
Q. What shaped things are the devils?
A. Very ill shaped things; they go about with vizards on, and terrify men.
Q. What do they eat in hell?
A. They are always hungry; and the damned feed upon hot ashes and serpents.
Q. What water have they to drink?
A. Horrid water. Nothing but melted lead.
Q. Do they not die in hell?
A. No. They eat one another every day; but God immediately restores and re-
news those that were eaten, as a cropt plant in a little time shoots out again.-Mather,
book iii. p. 203.
Such is a specimen of this singular work. Had not Dr Mather assured us, that a
copy of it in the Iroquois language, with a translation annexed to it, had fallen into his
own hands, we could scarcely have believed, that even Jesuit missionaries would have
had recourse to such artifices for alluring the Indians to the profession of the Romish
faith.
46
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
who were numerous on this and the neighbouring islands. He
began by endeavouring to win their affections by kind and gentle
usage; and, in a short time, he had the pleasure of witnessing
the good effects of this plan on one of the Indians, named
Hiacoomes. This young man having come one day to the
plantation of the White people, Mr Mayhew invited him to his
house, entertained him in a very friendly manner, and conversed
with him concerning the excellence of the Christian religion,
as compared with the Indian mode of worship. Hiacoomes was
much impressed by this conversation; in a short time he re-
nounced the religion of his country, and made frequent visits
to Mr Mayhew with the view of obtaining further instruction
in the principles of the gospel.'
The revolt of Hiacoomes from the religion of his fathers,
alarmed the whole island. All his countrymen were roused
with indignation against him; they loaded him with insults
and reproaches, with hatred and contempt. By degrees, how-
ever, they cooled in their resentment; and, at length, their
indignation was changed into reverence, their hatred into
respect. Hiacoomes and his family happening to escape a parti-
cular disorder which spread over the whole island, his country-
man began to conceive a more favourable opinion both of him.
and of the Christian religion; and after holding a consultation
together, the inhabitants of a neighbouring town sent a mes-
senger to him, desiring him to hasten to them, and tell them of
the God whom the English worshipped. On his arrival, he
found the chief and a great number of the people assembled
together, and when he stated to them some of the leading prin-
ciples of Christianity, they listened with great attention; and
appeared in some degree convinced of their sinfulness.2
In 1646, soon after this event, the chief sent for Mr Mayhew,
and requested him to establish a meeting among them, and to
make known the word of God to them in their own language.
"Thou shalt be to us," said he, as one that stands by a run-
'Whitfield's Light appearing towards the Perfect Day, p. 3; Neal's Hist. New Eng-
land, vol. i. p. 262; Mayhew's Indian Converts, p. 280.
2 Whitfield's Light appearing towards the Perfect Day, p. 6; Neal's Hist. New Eng-
land, vol. i. p. 263; Mayhew's Ind. Con. p. 282.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
47
ning stream, filling many vessels; even so shalt thou fill us
with everlasting knowledge." These proceedings were not, in-
deed, equally agreeable to all the Indians. Numbers, on the
contrary, opposed them with the utmost bitterness and zeal.
They mocked and derided such as attended the meetings, and
blasphemed the God whom they worshipped. The chief who
had invited Mr Mayhew, was in a particular manner the object
of their indignation and rage. An attempt was even made
against his life, on account of the attachment he shewed to the
new religion; but this, instead of frightening him from his pur-
pose, only strengthened his resolution, and increased his zeal.
((
:
In 1649, at a meeting of the Indians, both of such as opposed
and of such as favoured Christianity, the authority of the
powaws was publicly debated, many asserting their power to
hurt and kill their enemies, and alleging numerous stories of
this kind, which they said were plainly undeniable. Some of
them stood up and asked, "Who does not fear the powaws?"
To this, others answered, "There is no man who does not fear
them." The eyes of the whole assembly were now turned to
Hiacoomes. He therefore rose from his seat, and boldly said,
Though the powaws may hurt such as fear them, yet he
trusted in the Great God of heaven and earth, and therefore
all the powaws in the world could do him no harm he feared
them not." The whole assembly were astonished at this bold
declaration, and expected some terrible judgment to overtake
him immediately; but finding that he remained unhurt, they
began to change their views, and to esteem him happy in being
delivered from the power of their priests, of whom they all
stood in such awe. Several even declared they now believed
in the same God, and would fear the powaws no more. Being
desired to tell them what the Great God would have them to
do, and what were the things that offended him, Hiacoomes
began to represent to them a number of the sins of which they
were guilty and, at the close of the meeting, no fewer than
twenty-two of the Indians resolved to renounce the religion of
their fathers, and to embrace that of the White people. En-
raged at these proceedings, the powaws threatened to kill the
praying Indians; but Hiacoomes and his friends challenged
:
48
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
them to do their worst, telling them they would abide their
power in the face of the whole island.'
Encouraged by these auspicious circumstances, Mr Mayhew
now pursued his labours with more zeal and energy than ever.
He spared not himself, neither by day nor night, travelling
among the Indians in different parts of the island, lodging in
their smoky wigwams, and partaking of their homely fare. He
possessed singular sweetness and affability of manners, by which
he wonderfully gained their affections. Besides catechising
their children, he preached to them every fortnight; and after
sermon, he usually spent more time than in the discourse itself,
reasoning with them in a plain familiar manner, answering
their questions, removing their doubts, silencing their cavils,
and resolving cases of conscience put to him. Every Saturday
morning, he also conferred privately with Hiacoomes, who
preached to his countrymen on the Sabbath, directed him in
the choice of his subject, and furnished him with materials for
illustrating it.²
About 1650, a circumstance occurred which amazed the whole
island, and wonderfully promoted the progress of Christianity
among the Indians. This was the conversion of two of the
powaws. These poor creatures, who had been the slaves of
Satan from their infancy, now professed themselves the servants
of God, revealed the mysteries of their diabolical art, and ex-
pressed the utmost abhorrence of their past conduct.
It re-
joiced the Christian Indians to behold the powaws beginning
to turn to the Redeemer, and it no less confounded their Ica-
then countrymen. Many of them, and even the powaws them-
selves, it is said, began to acknowledge, that since the gospel
was preached among them, they had been singularly foiled in
their conjurations; and instead of curing, had often killed
their patients."
In 1657, Mr Mayhew undertook a voyage to England, with
the view of giving a more particular account of the state of the
Indians than it was possible to do by letters, in the hope of
'Whitfield's Light appearing towards the Perfect Day, p. 9; Neal's Hist. Now Eng.
vol. i. p. 264; Mayhew's Ind. Con. p. 282, 284.
2 Neal's Hist. New Eng. vol. i. p. 266; Mayhew's Ind. Con. p. 285.
3 Strength out of Weakness, p. 23; Mayhew's Letter in Tears of Repentance; May-
how's Ind. Con. p. 287.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
49
=
But,
thereby promoting the cause of religion among them.
alas how mysterious are the ways of Providence! Neither
the ship nor any of the passengers were ever heard of more.
It was, therefore, concluded that she had foundered at sea, and
that all on board had perished. Thus came to a premature and
melancholy end, Mr Thomas Mayhew, a man so justly and so
affectionately beloved by the Christian Indians, that for many
years after his death, they seldom named him without shedding
tears.¹
The Indians of Martha's Vineyard were not, however, left
to wander as sheep without a shepherd. His venerable father,
Thomas Mayhew, Esq., the patentee of this and the neighbour-
ing islands, though he had hitherto taken no active part in
evangelizing the Indians, had yet felt a deep concern for their
welfare, and had, in various ways, promoted their interest.
After the gospel had made some progress in the island, he per-
suaded the chiefs to admit into the council some of the most
judicious of the Christian Indians; and in cases of more than
ordinary difficulty, to introduce trial by jury. By means of his
exertions, a regular civil government was established among
them; and records were kept of the proceedings of their courts
by some of themselves, who had learned to write. But as he
now saw no probability of their obtaining a regular minister,
he was induced, by zeal for the glory of God and the salvation
of souls, to undertake the oversight, not only of their temporal,
but of their spiritual concerns. Though about seventy years of
age, he began with unwearied diligence to perfect himself in
their language, of which he had already some knowledge; and
though a governor, he was not ashamed to become a preacher
among them, sometimes travelling on foot near twenty miles
through the woods to visit them. The Indians were so pleased
and edified with his ministrations, that, a few years afterwards,
they requested him to accept of the pastoral office among them;
but, apprehending this would not correspond so well with the
chief place which he held in the civil government, where they
also greatly needed his assistance, he advised them to choose
such of the Indian preachers as he thought most judicious, and
promised to be most useful among them. Agreeably to his ad-
Mayhew's Ind. Con. p. 291.
VOL. I.
D
50
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
vice, they made choice of Hiacoomes and John Tackanash, who
accordingly were both ordained to the work of the ministry
among them, while old Mr Mayhew continued to labour as an
evangelist, both in Martha's Vineyard, and in the neighbouring
islands.¹
In 1674, the whole number of native families on Martha's
Vineyard was about three hundred, of whom more than three-
fourths were Praying Indians. Among these, there were fifty
in full communion, whose exemplary life bore favourable testi-
mony to the inward work of grace in their hearts. It may also
be proper to add, that there were ten Indian preachers, seven
jurisdictions, and six meetings, every Lord's day.'
At Nantuket, an island about twenty miles distant, which
was often visited by Mr Mayhew, there was also a church of
Christian Indians. The whole number of families in that quar-
ter, at the period now mentioned, was also estimated at about
three hundred. Among these there were about thirty indivi-
duals in full communion, forty children who had been baptized,
and about three hundred persons, including both old and young,
who prayed to God and observed the Sabbath. They had
meetings in three different places, and four Indian teachers
among them."
In 1680, the venerable Mr Mayhew died, in the ninety-third
year of his age, to the great grief of the inhabitants of the island.
Previous to his death, however, one of his grandchildren, Mr John
Mayhew, was settled as the pastor of the English families, and
the Indians would not be satisfied until he became a preacher to
them likewise, even though his grandfather still laboured with
great acceptance among them. After the death of that good man,
as he had now both the Indians and the English under his pastoral
care, it became necessary for him to redouble his diligence and
zeal, especially as some erroneous opinions threatened to spread
in the island. His course on earth, however, was short. Dur-
ing his last sickness, he expressed a wish that, "if it were the
will of God, he might live a little longer, and do some more
service for Christ in the world." Such, however, was not the
¹ Mather, book vi. p. 57: Mayhew's Ind. Con. p. 298.
• Gookin in Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 205; Mather, book iii. p. 200.
3 Gookin in Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 206, 207.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
51
appointment of Heaven. After a few months' illness, he died,
in the thirty-seventh year of his age, and the sixteenth of his
ministry. ¹
1
In March 1694, Mr Experience Mayhew, his eldest son, suc-
ceeded him as a missionary among the Indians. They were
now greatly diminished in number on Martha's Vineyard, as
well as in all the English settlements; yet, such was the pro-
gress of the gospel among them, that, a few years afterwards, out
of a hundred and eighty families who still lived on that islan!,
there were only two individuals who continued heathens. As Mr
E. Mayhew was considered one of the greatest masters of the
Indian language that had appeared in New England, having
been familiar with it from his infancy, he was employed to
make a new version of the book of Psalms, and of the Gospel
of John. Besides this, he published a small volume, entitled
Indian Converts, in which he gives a particular account of a
considerable number of the Natives who had embraced the
gospel, and appeared to adorn their Christian profession. It is
written with great candour, and evidently with a strict regard
to truth; and though the examples of piety which it records
are not so distinguished for holiness, nor so free from imperfec-
tions as might be wished, yet, on the whole, it may be consi-
dered as affording pleasing evidence of the power of the gospel,
in changing the hearts of savages, and conforming them to the
divine image.
In November 1758, Mr E. Mayhew died of apoplexy, after
labouring among the Indians for the long period of nearly sixty-
five years. He was succeeded by his son, Mr Zechariah Mayhew,
who continued to labour among them until near his death,
which took place March 6. 1806, in the eighty-ninth year of
his age. With him terminated the missionary career of the
Mayhew family, which had been distinguished for five successive
generations, during upwards of a century and a half, by their
labours for the conversion of the heathen, an honour which,
perhaps, no other family has enjoyed since the first promulga-
tion of Christianity.”
To this account of the Mayhew family, it may not be uninterest-
Mayhew's Ind. Con. p. 802.
2 Ibid. p. 306; Millar's History, vol. ii. P. 461.
› Biblical Magazine, vol. ii. p. 365; Mass, Hist. Coll. (2d Series) vol. iii. P. 69.
52
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ing to add what little information we possess respecting the In-
dians under their care. In 1720, there were on Martha's Vine-
yard six small towns, containing a hundred and fifty-five families,
and about eight hundred souls. In each of these villages there
was an Indian preacher. There was also a small meeting on
Winthrop's Island; another, composed of twelve or fourteen
families, on Tucker's Island and Nashaun, which lie adjacent to
each other; and a third, consisting of a few Baptists, at Gayhead.'
About the middle of the eighteenth century, there were still
five small congregations on Martha's Vineyard; but in 1800
they were reduced to three, two of which had countrymen of
their own as pastors over them. The whole number of persons
in full communion with these different churches was about
forty. Most, if not all, of the Indians on the island were professed
Christians, but many of them appeared to have nothing more
than a form of godliness; yet still there were a few who, it was
hoped, were no strangers to vital piety.²
With regard to the Indians on the Island of Nantuket, the
accounts are still less favourable. Soon after the settlement of
the English among them, they greatly decreased in number, and
now the whole race is nearly extinct. In 1694, the adult per-
sons on that island were reduced to about five hundred. Even
then not a single powaw was to be found among them; but
there was a great decay of vital religion. Many of the most
pious Indians had died; and such as remained regarded more
the form than the power of godliness. Numbers of them were
sadly addicted to the use of spirituous liquors. Some, however,
appeared of a serious character; and they had still five assem-
blies and three churches among them, two of them Congrega-
tional and one Baptist."
3
In 1763, there were still three hundred and fifty-eight Indians
on the Island of Nantuket; but a fever, which attacked them
about that period, committed such terrible ravages among them,
that, in the course of a few months, no less than two hundred and
twenty-two of them died. In 1807, there were only two Indian
men and six Indian women left on the island.*
¹ Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. 2 Bib. Mag. vol. ii. p. 366; Miss. Mag. vol. vi. p. 384.
3 Mather, book vi. p. 56.
• Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 207, vol. iv. p. 66, vol. iii. (2d Series) p. 36.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
53
In 1831, Mr F. Baylies was labouring as teacher and missionary
to the several Indian tribes on Martha's Vineyard, the Island
of Nantuket, and at Narragansett in Rhode Island. The Indians
on Martha's Vineyard were estimated at 340, and at Narra-
gansett at 420.
SECT. III-NEW PLYMOUTH COLONY.
ANIMATED by the example and exhortations of Mr Eliot,
some ministers and others in the colony of New Plymouth, en-
gaged in the same noble undertaking, the christianizing of the
Indians. Among these was Mr Richard Bourne, a man of some
property, in the vicinity of Sandwich. Having, with great
industry, acquired a knowledge of the Indian language, he be-
gan to preach the gospel to some of the savages in his own
neighbourhood; and, meeting with considerable encouragement
and success among them, he extended his labours to those in
other quarters, and succeeded in bringing numbers of them to
the profession of the Christian faith.
Sensible, however, of the importance of the Indians possess-
ing some territory of their own on which they might fix their
residence, in order both to the evangelizing and civilization of
them, Mr Bourne, about the year 1660, procured for them a
grant of land at Mashpee, a place about fifty miles from Boston;
and, not content with the Indian deeds according to the forms.
usual at that period, his son afterwards obtained a ratification
of them by the Court of Plymouth, and an entailment of the
property to the Indians and their children for ever; so that no
part of it could be sold to any White person without the con-
sent of all the Indians, not even by an act of the General Court
itself. Never, perbaps, was a place better chosen for an Indian
It was situated on the Sound, in sight of Martha's Vine-
yard, and not only lay contiguous to the sea, but was watered
by three rivers and three lakes, in the centre of the territory.
In the bays were abundance of fish of every description; in the
town.
1
(American) Missionary Herald, vol. xv. p. 292, vol. xxi. p. 87, vol. xxix. p. 69.
2 Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. ii. p. 189; Gookin in Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 196.
54
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
rivers were trout, herring, &c.; in the woods were plenty of
game; and adjacent to the rivers and lakes, were otters, minks,
and other amphibious animals, the furs of which furnished the
Indians with a valuable article of commerce.'
In 1666, Mr Eliot, accompanied by the governor and several
other magistrates and ministers, and a great multitude of peo-
ple, held a meeting at Mashpee, when a considerable number
of the Indians made a public profession of their faith in Christ,
and their obedience to him, with such understanding and seri-
ousness, as proved highly gratifying to the pious auditory. Yet
such was the strictness of the good people in this affair, that
they would not countenance the admission of them into Chris-
tian fellowship, until their confessions were written and circu-
lated among all the churches in the colony, and had obtained
their approbation. As these, however, were highly approved
of, the Indians were afterwards formed into a church, and Mr
Bourne was ordained as their pastor.2
The Indians among whom Mr Bourne laboured, appear to
have been scattered through a number of towns and villages.
In 1674, they amounted to about five hundred, who lived in
upwards of twenty different places. Of these, ninety were bap-
tized, and twenty-seven were in full communion; no fewer than
one hundred and forty-two were able to read Indian, seventy-
two had learned to write, and nine could read English. Besides
these, there were upwards of a hundred children, who had lately
begun to read and write, but were not included in this enume-
ration. Some of these Indians, by their general conduct,
afforded pleasing evidence of a work of grace in their hearts;
but many of them, on the other hand, were very loose in their
behaviour, and occasioned their best friends much sorrow.3
During the eighteenth century, the inhabitants of Mashpee
continued to enjoy, in a greater or less degree, the means of reli-
gious instruction. They are still called Indians; but very few
of the pure race are now left: there are Indians, Negroes,
Mulattoes, and Germans. In 1808, the Indians, Negroes, and
Mulattoes amounted to 357. Notwithstanding the care which
1
Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. iii. p. 189, 190.
2 Mather, book iii. p. 199; Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 198, vol. iii. p. 190; Eliot's
Narrative of the Progress of the Gospel, p. 3.
3 Gookin in Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 196; Mass. Hist. Coll, vol. iii. p. 191.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
55
was originally taken to secure to the Indians their lands in per-
petuity, part of them have been alienated to the White people.
Neither the lands nor the persons of the Indians in Mashpee,
Martha's Vineyard, or in any part of Massachussets, are taxed,
nor are they required to perform services to the Government
in any way. They are not, however, a free people. The
Government views them as children who are incapable of
taking care of themselves: they are placed under guardians
and overseers, who will not permit them to do many things
which they wish, and who in particular will not allow them to
sell their lands to any one. Religion was at a low ebb among
them. In the seventeenth century, the converts were called Pray-
ing Indians; but this is a name which could not now be applied
to the inhabitants of Mashpee, for family prayer was almost,
if not altogether, unknown among them. Very few of the chil-
dren were baptized, and there were among them not more than
ten or twelve communicants. Even the state of morals among
them was low. Though there were some who were industri-
ous, yet, in general, they were not distinguished for their in-
dustry they were at the same time very improvident, and
many of them were addicted to drinking. If they were left to
themselves (and the remark may be extended to the Indians
of Martha's Vineyard), they would soon divest themselves of
their land and spend the capital. The women were more tem-
perate than the men; but not a few of the young women, the
married as well as the unmarried, were unchaste. Some of the
women led a vagabond life in. the country, where they at last
found Negro husbands, whom they brought home to enjoy all
the privileges and immunities of Mashpee. Considering how
generally the Indians in other parts of the country have melted
away before the White people, it may appear surprising that
Mashpee should keep up its numbers; but this admits of an
easy explanation. In consequence of its enjoying many pecu-
liar privileges and immunities, in particular that those who
dwell there are sure of a living by their labour, if they are
willing to work, and from the charity of their guardians if
they are not, it has, during a great number of years, been an
asylum for lazy Indians from all parts of the country.' This, too,
•
Mass. Hist. Coll. (2d Series) vol. iii. p. 4, S.
56
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
will help to explain the low state of religion and morals among
the inhabitants.
Besides the missionary efforts of which we have given an ac-
count, there were various other attempts made in the course of
the seventeenth century to christianize the Indians in different
parts of New Plymouth Colony. In this important work, seve-
ral of the ministers honourably distinguished themselves by their
activity and zeal, as Mr John Cotton of Plymouth, Mr Samuel
Treat of Eastham, Mr William Leverich of Sandwich, and Mr
Thomas Tupper, and some of them beheld their labours crowned
with considerable success. In 1685, the number of Praying In-
dians in this colony amounted to no fewer than 1439, exclusive
of children under twelve years of age, who were supposed to be
more than three times that number. Since that period, however,
the Indians have greatly diminished in number; and, except at
Mashpee, there is at present no native church in the whole district.¹
In Connecticut several ministers, as Mr Abraham Pierson
and Mr James Fitch, were likewise employed in evangelizing
the Indians; but their labours were attended with little success.
Though some individuals embraced the gospel, yet no church
of Indians was collected in that colony. Some efforts were also
made in Rhode Island, Long Island, New York, and even in
Virginia; but, so far as we know, with no particular success.2
'Mather, book iii. p. 200, book vi. p. 50, 60; Strength out of Weakness, p. 2;
Millar's History, vol. ii.; Hutchinson's History, vol. i. p. 349; Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i.
P. 201.
'Trumbull's History of Connecticut, vol. i. p. 494; Tracy's History of the American
Board for Foreign Missions, p. 8; Wilson's Life of John Eliot, p. 172, 233, 239, 280,
294, 297.
In 1649, an Ordinance was passed by the English Parliament for the erection of a
Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, and a collection was
appointed to be made for it throughout England and Wales. The ministers were re-
quired to read the Ordinance from their pulpits, and to exhort the people to contribute
liberally in aid of it. The Universities of OXFORD and CAMBRIDGE also addressed let-
ters to the ministers, calling upon them to stir up their congregations to the good
work. But notwithstanding the weight of these high authorities, the collection pro-
ceeded heavily and slowly. In fact, it met with warin opposition. The whole plan of
converting the Indians was alleged by many to be merely a scheme to raise money by
an appeal to the piety of the nation. So discouraging was the prospect of contribu-
tions from the people, that an effort was made to raise something from the ARMY.
After all, however, a very considerable sum was collected and lands were purchased
with the money to the value of between five and six hundred pounds a year. On the
restoration of Calcs H. the Con oration being considered dead in law, Colonel Bed-
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
57
SECT. IV.-NEW STOCKBRIDGE.
IN October 1734, Mr John Sergeant proceeded among the
Indians, on the river Housatunnuk, in the province of Massa-
chussets, who had lately agreed to receive a minister among
them, to instruct them in the principles of religion. Previous
to this, the zeal of Mr Sergeant for the conversion of the hea-
then was not unknown, as he had freely declared in conversa-
ingfield, a Roman Catholic, who had sold to it an estate of £322 per annum, basely
repossessed himself of it, and refused, at the same time, to repay the money which he
had received for it. In 1661, however, the Corporation was revived by a new Charter
from His Majesty, the estate which Bedingfield had so unjustly seized was restored to
it, and the Hon. Mr Boyle, a man distinguished at once as a philosopher and a Chris-
tian, was chosen Governor, an office which he held for about thirty years. (Hazard's
Hist. Col!, vol. ú. p. 147, 175, 311.—Gookin in Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 211.—Francis'
Life of Eliot in Spark's Lib. Amer. Biog. vol. v.-Boyle's Works, vol. i. p. 68, 151.)
It was this Society which supported the various missionary undertakings in New Eng-
land during the seventeenth century; and as an illustration of the nature and extent
of its operations, as well as a specimen of the expense attending exertions of this kind
at that period, we shall here subjoin a copy of the Accompt sent by the Commissioners
of the United Colonies to the Corporation in London, of the Expenditure for the year
1661 :
.
September 12: 1661
To John Latimore a messenger sent from New hauen to Boston to cary
letters to bec sent to the Corporation the ship being Reddy to sett sayle
To six coates given to the Pequott Indians for theire encurragement
To mistris Bland of the vinyards for her paines and care amongst the In-
dians there and for Physicke and Surgery not brought to account last
year
To mr. Mayhew that hee distributed to well deserueiug Indians
2 10 00
3 02 06
05 00 00
02 10 00
To sundry Disbursments upon the account of printing as appears by ac-
196 19 01
08 17 11
count now sent
To scuerall bookes deliuered to the Indian Scollers and Mathew Mayhew
as by accounts appeers
To the Gouernor of Newhauen in lue of fiue pounds alowed him in our
last yeares account to distribute amongst well deserueing Indians which
was sent to him from Boston by Joseph Alsop whoe was cast away att Sea
To Mr. James of Easthampton for his paines in Instructing the Indians
att Long Iland and fitting himselfe for that worke the last yeare end-
ing September (60) but not brought to account till now
To Mr. Peirson for extreordinary paines attending publicke meetings of
the Indians in the bay, &c. which was not brought to account; which
was allowed him the last yeare
•
To him for his Sallery this yeare ending September 1661
To Mr. John Elliot senr. for his Sallery now duo
To Job his interpreter and 4 scoolmasters viz. Robert sometims a scool-
05 00 00
10 00 00
10 00 00
30 00 00
50 00 00
58
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
tion, he would rather be employed as a missionary among the
Indians, than settle in any English congregation; and long
before he had any prospect of being engaged in that capacity,
it had been a petition in his daily prayers, that God would send
him to these unenlightened Pagans, and render him instru-
mental in turning them from the error of their ways to the
wisdom of the just. He had already finished his course of
master att Cambridge, John Magus, Ponanpam and vpaco willin ten
pounds a peece
40 00 00
To Mr. John Elliot Junr. for his Sallery for the yeare past cuding Sep-
tember 61
25 00 00
To Mr. Joseph Elliot for the like
10 00 00
To Mr. Thomas Mayhew of the vinyards for his sallery
30 00 00
More for his extreordinary paines charge and trouble for the time past
amongst the Indians there
10 00 00
To 8 Indian Scoolmasters and Teachers of the Indians there viz: To
Sakomas Memeekeen Takanah Kisquich Samuell Manaso James and
Annawanitt
30 00 00
To wheele Cards and Cotten woole to Imploy the Indian weemen att the
vinyards to bee kept as a comon Stocke for them
10 00 00
To mistris Mayhew the Relicte of Mr. Thomas Mayhew for her Incurrage-
ment and support
To Fesenden of Cambridge for the Dictt of Mathew Mayhew
To Peter Folger a Teacher att the vinyard
10 00 00
08 00 00
·
20 00 00
To mistris Bland for her paines care and Physicke for the Indians att tho
Vinyard for this yeare and to satisfy her for what was short of her ex-
pectation and expence the last yearo
05 00 00
To mr. Danforth of Cambridge for the Diett and Clothing of 4 Indian
Scollars for one yeare ending att October next att 15lb. a peco
To the clothing of Mathew Mayhew for the yeare past
60 00 00
05 00 00
To woode to the Scoole
To clothing an Indian att his first coming
•
To mr. Corlett for teaching 4 Indians and Mathew Mayhew
00 18 00
1 00 00
12 00 00
To mr. Weld of Rocksbury for the Diett Clothing and Teaching of 2
Indians Boyes one year ending the 10th December next
30 00 00
To mr. Bourne of Sandwich for his constant Teaching and Instructing
the Indians in those parts
25 00 00
To mr. Willam Tompson for teaching the Indians thero
20 00 00
·
To major Atherton for keeping courts amongst the Indians and instruct-
ing them
15 00 00
To the Gouernors of Plymouth Connecticott and Newhauen to distributo
amongst well deserueing Indians 5lb a peeco
15 00 00
To Thomas Staunton for his sons maintenance according to former agreo-
ment
25 00 00
The totall is
733 08 01
It is proper, however, to add, that besides the monies remitted from England for
the propagation of Christianity among the Indians, considerable sums were raised in
the Colonies for promoting this important object.—Hazard's Hist. Coll, vol. ii. p. 442,
459, 495, 508.—Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 213.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
59
ર
study at Yale College, and was now employed as a tutor in that
seminary; but no sooner was he invited to go as a Missionary
among the Housatunnuk Indians, than he consented to the
proposal, cheerfully exchanging the pleasures of a College life,
which to him was no small sacrifice, for a residence among
savages. "I should be ashamed," said he, "to call myself a
Christian, or even a Man, and yet refuse to do what lay in my
power to cultivate humanity among a people naturally inge-
nious enough, but who, for want of instruction, live so much
below the dignity of human nature, and to promote the salva-
tion of souls perishing in the dark, when yet the light of life is
so near them.
Scarcely, however, had Mr Sergeant entered on his labours
among the Indians, when the Dutch traders in the neighbour-
hood endeavoured to frustrate his exertions, and to ruin his
character by the basest and most artful insinuations. As they
derived great profits from selling the Indians rum, and by strik-
ing bargains with them when they were in a state of intoxica-
tion, they were justly apprehensive that, should Christianity
prevail among them, they would be able to make gain of them
no longer. They, therefore, told them, that the religion which
Mr Sergeant taught them was not a good religion; that the
friendship he professed for them was merely pretended; and
that his design was to make slaves of them and their children.
By these and similar insinuations, they so prejudiced the minds
of the Indians, that many of them were greatly incensed against
him. By his friendly behaviour and prudent representations,
he succeeded, however, in allaying their resentment, conciliat-
ing their affections, and regaining their confidence."
But it was not long before there arose a new source of un-
easiness. Among the Indians, it is customary not to conclude
any affair of importance, without consulting the several branches
of the nation; but as the Indians of Housatunnuk had accepted
of a missionary without the consent of their brethren, they
were now apprehensive lest their conduct should be condemned
at the general meeting of the tribe, which was soon to take
'Hopkin's Memoirs relating to the Housatunnnk Indians, and to the ministry of
the Rev. John Sergeant, 1753, p. 2, 5. §, 149.
Hopkin's Memoirs, p. 15.
60
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
place, especially as it was reported that the Indians of Hud-
son's River were highly incensed against them on this account;
and that there was even a design on foot to poison their two
principal men. Happily, however, when the assembly met,
they were so far from condemning the measure, that they ex-
pressed themselves thankful on account of it, and even gave
some ground to hope that the whole nation would submit to
religious instruction.
This meeting, however, was concluded with a frolic and a
drinking match, agreeably to the custom of the Indians. Their
dancing, on these occasions, is not only a laborious, but a dan-
gerous exercise; and it is a striking proof of the power of habit
over the human frame, that it is not more frequently followed
by fatal consequences. They dance round a large fire till they
are nearly ready to faint, and are completely drenched with
sweat. They then run out of the house, strip themselves naked,
expose their warm bodies to the cold air; or, if there be snow
on the ground, roll themselves in it, till they are perfectly cooled.
They then return to the dance; and when they are again hot
and tired, cool themselves in a similar manner. This operation.
they repeat, probably, four or five times in the course of the
night, concluding the whole with excessive drinking; and when
they are drunk, they often fall asleep in the open air, perhaps
buried in snow.
Soon after this meeting, several of the Indians were taken
ill, and two of them died suddenly of a violent fever. Easy as
it was to account for their death from natural causes, especially
as, at the time of their dance, the weather was extremely cold,
and there was a deep snow on the ground, the savages were
persuaded it was the effect of poison, and resolved to apply to
the invisible powers for the discovery of the murderers. Mr
Sergeant was then absent; but Mr Woodbridge, his assistant in
the Indian school, having heard of their design, rode to the
place of their meeting. On his arrival, he found upwards of
forty of the Indians assembled in the wigwam of one of the
chiefs. The house was swept clean, large fires were kindled,
and they were sitting round them from one end of the hut to
the other; only in one quarter, a space of about five or six feet,
was left for the powaws or conjurers. Each of the Indians had
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
61
two sticks, about a foot and a half long, one of them split at
the end, which he held under his legs. When Mr Woodbridge
arrived, they were all prepared for the exercise; but had not
as yet begun it. He asked them, whether they would allow
him to be present at the ceremony; but before they returned
him an answer, the oldest priest lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and spoke with great earnestness, after which they told him he
might remain. They then began to sing and rap with their
sticks; and in the mean while, the eldest powaw was sitting,
and talking, and acting a different part from all the rest. This
lasted about an hour. The priest then rose from his seat, threw
off all his clothes, except a flap about his middle, and in this
naked state passed from one end of the hut to the other, with
his eyes closed, to appearance in exquisite agony, and employ-
ing the most frightful and distorted gestures it is almost possi-
ble to imagine. This continued about another hour. The first
powaw being exhausted, at length retired; a second then rose
and acted the same part; afterwards a third, and finally a
fourth. In this manner they spent the whole night, except a
few short intervals, during which they either smoked a pipe, or
they all rose up in a body and danced. They did not appear,
however, to gain their object; and on Mr Woodbridge repre-
senting to them the folly and criminality of such a mode of
worship, they promised never again to have recourse to it, and
some of them even seemed extremely sorry for the step they
had taken.¹
In the course of a short time, Mr Sergeant's hearers greatly
increased in number; many of them appeared to be seriously
impressed with religion; and within a few months, he baptized
upwards of fifty of them, among whom were the two principal
men with their wives and children. Most of them appeared
anxious to obtain religious instruction; a remarkable reforma-
tion of manners ensued among them; and vice, especially
drunkenness, the sin to which, of all others, they were most ad-
dicted, seemed for the present nearly banished from among
them. They themselves were surprised at the change; and ex-
pressed the difference between their former and their present
Hopkin's Memoirs, p. 21.
62
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
state, by the terms infancy and manhood, dreaming and wak-
ing, darkness and light, and other similar metaphors.'
Even at an early period of his labours, Mr Sergeant had per-
ceived, that the plan he was at first obliged to adopt of preach-
ing to the Indians through the medium of an interpreter, would
answer his purpose very imperfectly, being not only a slow, but
a very uncertain method of communicating instruction. He
was himself unable to judge of the accuracy of what was de-
livered to them; and he had even reason to fear, that the
truths which he sought to teach them were conveyed to their
minds in a very inadequate manner; for the best interpreter
he could then find, possessed but an imperfect knowledge of
the principles of religion, as well as of the English terms by
which they were expressed. Influenced by these considera-
tions, he had early engaged in the study of the Indian lan-
guage, and prosecuted it with the utmost assiduity. It was ex-
tremely difficult to learn, being entirely different from every
other language with which he was acquainted. After about
three years' study, however, he attained so much knowledge of
it, as to be able to pray with his people in their own tongue,
and even to preach in it with some little assistance from his
interpreter. He at length became so great a master of it, that
the Indians used to say: "Our minister speaks our language
better than we do ourselves."
>> 2
With the help of his interpreter, Mr Sergeant translated
some prayers into the Indian language for the use of his
people, and Dr Watts' First Catechism for the instruction of
the children. Besides these small pieces, he afterwards trans-
lated a great part of the Bible into their language; namely,
such portions of the Old Testament as appeared most useful
and necessary, as the history of the creation, of the fall of man,
of the call of Abraham, of the conduct of Providence to the
patriarchs and the children of Israel, the prophecies concerning
the coming of Christ; and the whole of the New Testament,
unless we are to except the book of Revelation, which we are
uncertain whether he ever finished.³
Pleasing as were Mr Sergeant's prospects in the early period
'Hopkin's Memoirs, p. 10, 28, 34, 42, 54.
2 Ibid. p. 59, 154.
3 Ibid. p. 59, 156.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
63
of his labours, he afterwards met with no small trials from the
Indiaus, as well as from other quarters. The Dutch traders in
the neighbourhood, though they had failed in fomenting the
jealousy of the savages, never relaxed in their endeavours to
corrupt them with rum; and though the Indians passed strong
resolutions against drinking, and even kept them for a con-
siderable time, yet some of them relapsed into that and other
vices, even after they appeared to be completely weaned from
them. One of the chiefs, who had been peculiarly zealous
against drunkenness, and seemed firmly established in the ways
of godliness, conducted himself for a year or two in a very dis-
orderly manner, was frequently intoxicated, and in other re-
spects extremely troublesome. Afterwards, indeed, he was re-
claimed from his apostasy, acknowledged his guilt, was restored
to the communion of the church, and walked like a Christian
till the day of his death. These painful occurrences were a
source of much distress to Mr Sergeant. Nothing, he said, af-
fected him with such pungent grief, his own sins excepted, as
the disorderly and wicked conduct of his poor people. Many
were the days he spent on this account in fasting and prayer;
many the tears he shed; sleep departed from his eyes, and he
forgot to eat his bread.'
But while Mr Sergeant's expectations were often miserably
blasted with regard to the elder Indians, he still cherished the
hope of better success among the children. The Rev. Mr Hollis,
a Baptist minister near London, having generously offered to
be at the expense of educating and supporting twelve Indian
boys, he had accepted the proposal with joy, and was now
anxious to extend the plan, by establishing a charity school for
a still greater number of youth, in which they should be taught
not only to read and write, but also the more common arts of life.
Experience had convinced him, that the opinions and habits
of the Indians were a powerful hinderance to the progress of
Christianity, as well as of civilization among them. Extensive
success could scarcely be expected, among a people who thought
it a disgrace to follow any employment except hunting or war,
while the men, at other times, indulged in absolute indolence
and inactivity, and the women were obliged to perform all the
¹ Hopkin's Memoirs, p. 159.
64
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
manual labour, as gathering wood, planting, hoeing, &c., yet
never learned the common arts of housewifery. Mr Sergeant's
plan, therefore, was to take their children when young, to train
them from their early years to habits of industry, and to instruct
both sexes in such employments as were suitable to the station
they ought to occupy in society. By this means he hoped they
would not only be enabled to provide more comfortably for
themselves and their families, but would be preserved from the
numerous and powerful temptations to which they were ex-
posed by their present mode of living. He was apprehensive,
indeed, that the prejudices of the Indians would prove a strong,
if not even an insuperable obstacle, in the way of the execution
of his plan; but their aversion to it by degrees unexpectedly
vanished. '
In 1743, Mr Sergeant circulated a more particular account of
his plans, which display very enlarged and comprehensive views.
He proposed to procure about two hundred acres of land in
that quarter of the country; to erect upon it a building large
enough to contain a number of young persons, not under ten,
nor above twenty years of age; to place these youth under the
care of two masters, one to take the oversight of them in their
hours of labour, the other in their hours of study; and to have
the day divided in such a manner between these employments,
as to render the one a recreation from the other, that so as
little time as possible might be lost in idleness. In the school,
he proposed that they should not only all be taught to read and
write, and such other branches of learning as were useful in
common life; but that some, at least, should be prepared to
receive an academical education, with the view of being at
length employed in spreading the gospel among the more distant
tribes. He also proposed, that the produce of their labour
should be appropriated to their maintenance and to the general
purposes of the Institution; that, with the view of lessening
the expense, all kinds of provisions should be raised, and a
stock of cattle, sheep, hogs, and other animals, kept on the
farm; and that, if they could be afforded, premiums should
occasionally be distributed among the youth, as a reward and
as an incitement to industry. If this plan succeeded, he pro-
Hopkin's Memoirs, p. 55, 63, 83, 95.
1
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
65
posed to extend the establishment so as to take in girls as well
as boys; for he was fully sensible of the vast importance of the
female sex in society, of the power they possess over the men,
and of the influence they have in formning the character of their
children. He therefore designed that they should receive an
education suited to their situation and circumstances, that they
should be placed under the care of a skilful matron, who should
instruct them in housewifery, and that they should be employed
in manufacturing the wool, flax, milk, and other articles raised
on the farm. By cultivating both the sexes, he thought they
would have a natural and reciprocal influence in further im-
proving each other. In this manner, he hoped that, after some
time, they would, in a great measure, support the Institution
by their own labour, that they would be formed to habits of in-
dustry from their early years, acquire the English language,
learn our manners, and when arrived at a suitable age, be able
to manage farms of their own.¹
Such is a sketch of Mr Sergeant's plan for the conversion
and civilization of the Indians. With the view of carrying it
into execution, a subscription was begun in England, and met
with considerable encouragement from the friends of religion,
and even from some members of the Royal family; but the
whole sum raised was by no means adequate to carry Mr Ser-
geant's plan into execution, even on the smallest scale. Thus
were his fond hopes again threatened with disappointment.3
Mr Hollis, however, with singular generosity, requested Mr
Sergeant to take other twelve boys from nine to twelve years of
age, and engaged to be at the whole expense of their education
and support. But war having soon after broken out with France,
and Stockbridge, as the Indian settlement was now called, being
Hopkin's Memoirs, p. 97, 139, 141.
2 The Prince of Wales was applied to through the medium of the Rev. Dr Ayscough,
Clerk of the Closet, and First Chaplain to his Royal Highness. When that gentleman
was informed that Mr Sergeant was not a minister of the Church of England, but a
Dissenter, he replied, "What though he be a Dissenter? He is a good man; that is
every thing. It is time such distinctions were laid aside, and the partition wall thrown
down, that so Christians may love one another. For his part, he loved all good men
alike, whether they were Churchmen or Dissenters." Dr Ayscough, accordingly, con-
tinued to the last a distinguished friend of Mr Sergeant, and of the School among the
Indians.-Hopkin's Mem, p. 119, 122, 140, 146.
* Hopkin's Memoirs, p. 113, 117, 122.
VOL I.
E
66
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
much exposed to the depredations of the enemy, it was deemed
expedient to defer the execution of this proposal till the return
of peace.
In consequence, however, of the remonstrances of
Mr Hollis,¹ Mr Sergeant, notwithstanding the war with France,
prepared to carry into execution, on a small scale, the plan
which for some years had lain so near his heart. With this
view he obtained from the Indians at Stockbridge about two
hundred acres, as a situation for the building, and as a planta-
tion to be cultivated by the children. Here he erected a house,
containing a number of apartments adapted to the purpose for
which it was designed, and removed to it some Indian boys,
whom, on account of the war, he had previously committed to
the care of a person in Connecticut. But while he was pleasing
himself with the hope of beholding the consummation of his
favourite plan, the establishment of an Indian Charity School,
a period was unexpectedly put to his valuable life.²
In July 1749, this excellent man died after an illness of about
four weeks, in the thirty-ninth year of his age, and the fifteenth
of his labours as a missionary among the Indians. His success
among them, though not equal to his desires, was not inconsi-
derable. When he first visited them, their whole number, in-
cluding old and young, was under fifty; they lived in miserable
huts, were scattered over the country, and often moving from
place to place, and were all sunk in the depths of heathen ig-
norance and barbarity. When he died, they amounted to two
hundred and eighteen, were collected together into a town, and,
"If my
'On being informed of these circumstances, Mr Hollis wrote Dr Coleman of Boston,
insisting that his proposal should be carried into effect without further delay.
money," says he, "lie unemployed till the conclusion of the war, it may be a long time
indeed. Do you see the least prospect in the world of it? Would you not wish to be-
hold the Redeemer's work carried on while you live? I am not willing to have my
money of £350 your currency, lying useless till the war is ended." In a subsequent
letter, he says, "I request that the £300 of my money in your hands may be employed
in the education of twelve new boys, of heathen parents, with all convenient speed.
Yea, I absolutely insist upon it, and promise hereby to make a remittance for further
charge of education aud maintenance, my estato being very much increased of late, as
I have had a great deal left me by a relation deceased. As to the war with France,
let not that hinder it. I request it may be done speedily, if there are Indian parents
willing to bave their children educated."-Hopkin's Mem. p. 131. Such was the zeal
of Mr Hollis in this good work. How few are so anxious to have their money expended
in promoting the glory of Christ, and the salvation of souls!
2 Hopkin's Mem. p. 114, 131, 133, 143.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
67
instead of bark wigwams, possessed twenty houses built in the
English style. In the course of his labours, he baptized one
hundred and eighty-two of the Indians; of whom, a hundred
and twenty-nine were still alive, and resided at Stockbridge ;
and forty-two were communicants. At a small distance from
the town there were also twelve or thirteen English families,
who were encouraged to settle there, with the view of promo-
ting, by their example, the arts of industry among the Indians.¹
In June 1751, the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, of Northampton,
removed to Stockbridge, having been appointed to succeed Mr
Sergeant at that place. Though a man of distinguished talents
and piety, his connection with the church, of which he was
pastor in the former town, had some time before been dissolved,
on the ground of a difference of sentiment between him and
them, concerning the qualifications necessary to the admission
of persons to communion with the church, which, along with
some other circumstances, had, for several years past, excited
violent opposition to him on the part of many of the people.
When Mr Edwards entered on his labours at Stockbridge, there
appeared a fair prospect of usefulness at that place. In conse-
quence of an invitation which had been sent to the Mohawk In-
dians, then residing about forty miles west of Albany, to bring
their children to be educated at the Charity School, a number of
them had lately come thither with their children; and the Pro-
vincial Legislature, on learning this fact, made provision for the
maintenance and support of the children. Besides the Mohawks,
a number of the Oneida Indians from Onohquaga, near the head
of the Susquehanna river, came and settled at Stockbridge.
There appeared, in fact, at this time, a fair prospect of a large
and flourishing colony of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, being
established at this place, drawn thither for the education of
their children, of which they appeared very desirous. But
their hopes were entirely blasted through a train of circum-
stances of a very harassing and extraordinary nature.
One of the most wealthy of the English settlers appears to
have removed to Stockbridge, with the view of still further im-
proving his circumstances by forming a large trading establish-
'Hopkin's Memoirs, p. 143, 147.
"Edwards' Works, London 1839, vol. 1. p. clvi, clxxvii.
68
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ment in the neighbourhood of the Indian settlement.
In con-
sequence of his wealth and locality, affairs of some moment re-
lating to the Indians at that place were, on various occasions,
entrusted to his management; but, while he amassed consider-
able wealth, he acted in a manner so injurious to their interests,
that he entirely lost their confidence, and also alienated so com-
pletely the English inhabitants, that every family in the place,
his own excepted, was opposed to him.
Immediately after his settlement at Stockbridge, Mr Edwards,
in consequence of the misunderstandings and jealousies which
subsisted between some of the principal inhabitants of the town,
and of the confusion in which the Indian affairs were involved,
was led to recommend the appointment of two or more Trustees,
"men perfectly impartial, and no way interested in, or related
to, the contending parties," to superintend the affairs of the
place. The necessity of some such measure to the welfare of the
Mission, and of the Indian schools, soon became apparent. In
consequence of the growing importance of the Indian Establish-
ment at Stockbridge, the funds appropriated to it were greatly.
augmented, and were likely to be still further enlarged. By the
increased numbers of the Housatunnuk Indians, and the acces-
sion of the Mohawks, it had become the principal mission of the
Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England,
and appeared destined to receive the chief portion of its revenues.
Mr Hollis had increased his annual grant to £160 sterling for
the support of thirty-six boys in the school; another gentleman,
Mr Paine, was proposing to support a female boarding-school ;
the Legislature of the Province had just voted £500 currency for
the school-house, and would probably assist in supporting the
schoolmistress; adequate support was now given to the teacher
of the Housatunnuk school; an annual stipend was given to the
Housatunnuk Indians, to be expended at Stockbridge for their
benefit; a similar stipend was to be paid for the Mohawks, if
they removed in considerable numbers to that place; a school
to be supported by the colony for the education of their chil-
dren was not only pledged but actually begun; and hopes
were entertained that the yearly stipend of £500 sterling,
granted by the King of England to the Mohawks, might be ex-
pended under the direction of an agent residing at Stockbridge,
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
69
and not, as before, at Albany. It required no great discernment
to foresee, that the prospect of engrossing the agency through
which such large sums would pass, and of converting this into
a source of private emolument, might excite the cupidity of in-
dividuals, and lead them to adopt every means in their power for
securing so great an advantage to themselves. Accordingly, the
person already referred to, whose influence in the town had long
been nearly extinct, was, through the recommendation given of
him by his nephew, while in London, to the Corporation for the
Propagation of the Gospel in New England, appointed one of
the Board of Commissioners of that Society; the nephew him-
self was another of the same Board; one of his family was,
through the same recommendation, appointed teacher of the
female school, provided the Commissioners at Boston approved
of the nomination; one of the Trustees of the Indian esta-
blishment was about to connect himself with the family; and if
the nomination was confirmed, it was his intention to remove
to Stockbridge, in order to take the superintendence of Indian
affairs, which, in the absence of his colleagues, would be nearly
sole and exclusive. Such were the prospects, at this time, of
these individuals engrossing the direction and the profits of the
whole establishment, that they threw off their wonted caution,
and did not conceal their purpose of removing every obstacle
in the way of the fulfilment of their designs.
Mr Edwards knew that the influence of these individuals was
most formidable, two of them being now members of the Board
of Commissioners, on which, as Indian missionary, he was depen-
dent; one of them being one of the Trustees for the Indians at
Stockbridge; one of them being personally acquainted with the
Directors in London; and two of them having considerable in-
fluence with the Provincial Government. Yet he saw just as
clearly, that if they succeeded in their designs, the funds appro-
priated to the improvement of the Indians would be perverted
to the purpose of their personal aggrandisement. The Indians.
too had, as already mentioned, the strongest prejudices against
the head of that family, in consequence of his having often mo-
lested them in regard to their lands and other matters, and, as
they thought, treated them very unjustly. These prejudices were
extended to the family, and that to such a degree, that though an
70
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
offer was made to feed and clothe such of their children as should
be sent to the school, which was attempted to be established,
only four could be procured, and even their parents complained
loudly of the manner in which they were treated. The monics
contributed by Mr Hollis were shamefully misapplied. He had
made large remittances, but to no good purpose, and he was
kept in entire ignorance of the actual state of things at Stock-
bridge. Capt. Kellogg, an illiterate man, originally a farmer
and afterwards a soldier, about sixty years of age, very lame,
and wholly unaccustomed to teaching, and utterly unqualified
for it, who had previously been engaged temporarily in instruct-
ing the Indian children, was employed as teacher. He had re-
ceived the money, and boarded and professed to instruct the
children; but he had never established a regular school, and
had never kept any proper accounts of his expenditure. He
taught the boys only occasionally and incidentally, employing
them chiefly in cultivating his own land. The Mohawk Indians
were so dissatisfied with the neglect of their children, that the
whole scheme was in danger of miscarrying; but having been
assured that a regular school would be established speedily, and
a competent teacher procured, they were again conciliated.
Mr Gideon Hawley, a young man of liberal education, and of
great prudence, firmness, and integrity, having accordingly been
appointed teacher, they, after his arrival, took away their chil-
dren from Kellogg; but the captain wishing to have some pre-
text for still drawing the money of Mr Hollis, and not being
able to procure any of the Indian boys to form a school, went
regularly into Mr Hawley's school, and proceeded to treat the
children as if they were under his care, alleging that he was the
superintendent of the school. No one had been louder in speak-
ing of his unfitness and uselessness as a teacher, and in declaring
that it was high time he should be removed, than the resident
Trustee; but he now suddenly changed his tactics, and declared
he must be retained. In like manner, though he had for many
years professed the highest respect for Mr Edwards, yet now
his whole conduct in reference to him was suddenly altered,
and he took part in all measures of opposition to him.
Singular management was also employed as to Mr Hawley.
Before his coming, dark representations were carried to him of
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
71
the state of things at Stockbridge, in order to discourage him
from accepting the appointment of teacher; and after he came
thither, it was openly given out that he would soon be removed.
The resident Trustee warned him not to depend on Mr Edwards,
and challenged to himself the whole authority of directing the
schools and the affairs of the Indians.
But
Still more strange were the arrangements as to the school for
girls. When the Corporation in London recommended the teacher
proposed to them, they could not be aware that her nearest kins-
men were to be the committee to examine her accounts.
the state of matters grew to be still more preposterous. She
being the schoolmistress, her nearest relatives were to be her
council, and her husband the only auditor of her accounts, and
also the person who was to make a report to the Legislature.
During the spring of 1752, the state of affairs at Stockbridge,
instead of improving, grew worse. The interference of Captain
Kellogg with Mr Hawley's school produced so much confusion,
that one-half of the Mohawks left Stockbridge in utter disgust
with him and his friends, fully resolved never to return. A
few days after their departure, an intimate friend of Kellogg
and his associates, when visiting the school, struck a child of
the chief Sachem of the Oneidas on the head with his cane, with-
out any cause or provocation. This roused the general indig-
nation of the remaining Iroquois, and all of them appeared re-
solved to pack up their effects immediately and be gone. At
length the aggressor, in order to pacify them, was persuaded to
pay them a sum of money. But the resident Trustee was so
angry at what had been done in reference to this matter, that
he came to the school and proceeded to abuse Mr Hawley before
the whole of the children, in a very violent manner, telling him
he was a man of no judgment and of no prudence, and that he
was unfit for his office; and continued his attack for three
hours together. As he was very loud in his abuse, the Iroquois
heard him, and came to the spot expressing their fears for the
personal safety of Mr Hawley, to whom they had become very
much attached; and apprehending that, in consequence of this
attack, he might be led to leave Stockbridge, they declared in
a body, that if he went away, they would go also. By these oc-
currences, the Indians were as completely alienated from the
72
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
resident Trustee, as they had previously been from his new
friends.
In consequence of these measures, and of a settled determina-
tion on the part of the resident Trustee to take, in the absence
of his colleagues, the whole management of Indian affairs on
himself, they also were disgusted. One of them relinquished all
connection with the concern, and gave up visiting Stockbridge
altogether. The other openly announced his utter discourage-
ment in regard to the establishment, and declared that he would
do his utmost to induce the Government to withdraw its patron-
age from it. This led to an attempt to procure the dismission
of the latter, and the appointment of a connection of the resi-
dent Trustee, which, however, proved unsuccessful. At the same
time, it was announced that Mr Edwards himself would be re-
moved from the mission. The firm and undeviating course pur-
sued by him with regard to the Indian schools and the general
concerns of the mission, had convinced the resident Trustee
and his friends that they had nothing to expect from him, but that,
on the contrary, he would be in the way of the accomplishment
of their designs. With the view, therefore, of effecting his re-
moval from Stockbridge, that person repaired to Boston and en-
deavoured in conversation, not only with the Commissioners,
but with some of the principal men in the Government, to pro-
duce on their minds very unfavourable impressions concerning
him, particularly that he was a man of an unyielding temper,
and unwilling to be reconciled to those from whom he had dif
fered, and that in consequence of this he was likely to ruin the
Indian mission. But happily the attempt utterly failed. Mr
Edwards' character was too well established to be undermined
by such insidious measures.¹
Of the selfishness and unblushing impudence with which the
resident Trustee carried on his designs, we have the following
striking illustration in a letter from Mr Edwards; they are in
fact so gross, that had not the statement rested on the authority
of a man who was so careful in forming his opinions, and so strict
in his regard to truth, we would scarcely have ventured to quote
it. "The resident Trustee," he writes, "has plainly discovered
many designs tending to bring money into his own pocket,
' Edwards' Works, London 1839, vol. i. p. clxx, clxxvii, clxxxiii,
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
73
namely, a design of taking care of Mr Hollis's boys himself; a
design of being steward of both boarding-schools" (i. e. the one
for boys the other for girls), "by which he will have the oppor-
tunity of supplying the Indians out of his own shop, and of
getting his pay from the British funds; a design of introducing
his son as the master of the boarding-school, under the idea
of a present supply, another person not appearing; and an ex-
pectation of diverting the King's bounty of £500 sterling to the
Six Nations from New York. The former schoolmaster has
given hints of an agreement between himself and him to resign
the care of Mr Hollis's scholars to him when things are ripe for
it; he providing for their maintenance and taking care of their
instruction by his son. Besides these things, his wife is to be
mistress of the female school; and two of their sons to be
maintained and educated at the public expense, and two of
their girls, in like manner, to be maintained in the female
school; and one of his family to be his wife's usher; and his
servants to be paid for, under the character of servants employed
in the affairs of the female school; and the house for the
boarding-school set on his wife's land; and then the farm to be
bought by the country for the school, with the advantage of
selling it at a high rate; and yet the family in a great measure
to be maintained on the produce of it; besides the advantage
of carrying on a trade, both with the Stockbridge Indians and
the Mohawks. A man had need to have a great stock of as-
suredness, to urge a public affair under so manifold temptations.
of private interest." 1
Of the boldness, if not the wisdom, with which the original
head of the party could act, we have scarcely a less striking illus-
tration in the following singular fact. Differences had long sub-
sisted between him and Mr Woodbridge, the teacher of the
Housatunnuk school, and perhaps no one circumstance had been
more mortifying to him, or had a more direct tendency to defeat
all his schemes, than the fact that the White inhabitants of the
town (his own immediate family connections excepted), as well
as the Indians of both nations, were to a man opposed to him-
self and friendly to Mr Woodbridge. This discouraged every
attempt to carry through his pians at the public meetings of the
¹ Edwards' Works, vol. i. p. elxxxri, clxxxiii.
74
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
town.
For the purpose, therefore, of meeting this difficulty, and
with a special view to the removal of Mr Edwards from Stock-
bridge, he made the extraordinary attempt to change the Eng-
lish inhabitants of the town, by suddenly and unexpectedly buy-
ing out the old inhabitants. "To this end," writes Mr Edwards,
"he rose very early one morning, and went out before day and
called some of them out of their beds, offering to buy their
farms. In this manner he went from one to another, until he
had been to almost all the inhabitants of the town that fore-
noon, offering them very high prices and cash in hand, vehe-
mently pressing that the bargain should be immediately closed
and the writings drawn, and the affair completed without delay,
urging it most pressingly on each one. One of the inhabitants
completed the affair with him. Some others came to a verbal
agreement on conditions. But notwithstanding the great and
extraordinary vigour with which this matter was carried on,
the design was discovered before it could be completed, and so
was disappointed, and then his friends, and himself too, were
glad to ascribe his conduct to distraction." "
The chagrin and mortification, and entire loss of influence
and respect, consequent upon the complete discomfiture of this
shameless attempt to drive Mr Edwards away from Stockbridge,
had, in connection with the infirmities of age, such an effect
upon the individual referred to, that he was induced soon after
to part with his property in the town and remove to a distance.
His children, however, though somewhat disheartened by the
defeat of the scheme, and though they perceived that if help
came to them, it must be from some other quarter than Stock-
bridge, appear to have resolved that they would not lose all
their labour, nor give up all their hopes without a vigorous
struggle. The Commissioners at Boston of the Corporation in
England, were now to a man firmly opposed to them; but their
kinsman, who was a member of the Society in London, was
well acquainted with its Board of Directors, and had written
to them in behalf of his cousin. He had also applied to Mr
Hollis to secure to her husband the management of his bene-
factions. The latter gentleman also, and the brother of the
former, had considerable influence at Boston, and this influence
1 Edwards' Works, vol. i. p. exe.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
75
they had exerted for a considerable period to procure the re-
moval of Mr Edwards from Stockbridge. At the opening of the
General Court in the autumn, all the influence and all the
efforts of the family and of its friends had been brought to bear
on this one point, and representations most unfavourable to his
character and qualifications were made to many of the principal
men of the Province. The annual report of the resident
Trustee was also drawn up with a direct and immediate refer-
ence to this object, and was read to the Legislature when Mr
Edwards knew nothing of its contents, and, being at the distance
of 150 miles, had no opportunity of answering it. Mr Wood-
bridge, however, was on the spot, as were also the Commissioners
of the Corporation, and they made such counteracting state-
ments as were required by the circumstances. Mr Woodbridge
was likewise now informed, that the author of the report had
solicited Sir William Pepperell, the Governor of the Province,
to write to England, and to use his influence with the Corpora-
tion in London, that Mr Edwards might be removed from the
office of missionary, and that Sir William had engaged to do it.'
¹ Mr Edwards, on learning this fact, addressed a letter to Sir W. Pepperell in his
own vindication, in which, after referring to the great disadvantage under which he
lay, in attempting to defend himself at such a distance, and when he did not so much
as know what had been said to his prejudice, he states among other things the follow-
ing :-That since the revival of religion in 1734, the family with which the writer of
the report was now connected had discovered an unceasing hostility towards himself
and his family, notwithstanding the best endeavours he could use to remove it; that
they deeply engaged themselves in the controversy at Northampton on the side of his
opponents, upholding, directing, and animating them in all their measures; that two
of them especially had been the confidential advisers of the opposition, in procuring
his dismission; that when his removal to Stockbridge was proposed, the whole family
there and elsewhere opposed it with great vehemence, though when they saw an entire
union and general engagedness in all the rest of the inhabitants, both English and
Indians, for his settlement there, and that, when there was no hope of preventing it,
they appeared as though their minds were changed; that the author of the report, dur-
ing the whole controversy at Northampton, in direct opposition to the family with which
he was now connected, had remained his zealous friend and advocate; that he warmly
advocated his removal to Stockbridge, and expressed a strong desire of living under
his ministry; that this confidential friendship lasted until his connection with that
family, and then was suddenly changed, first into secret, and afterwards into open
opposition; that he had personally blamed him for preaching to the Mohawks, as inter-
meddling with what was none of his business, although Mr Edwards produced the note
of the Commissioners expressly desiring him to preach to them, until a distinct mission-
ary was appointed over them; that the reason openly assigned for the very great re-
sentment of the author of the Report, and that of his friends, against Mr Edwards, was
his having opposed the appointment of the wife of that gentleman as teacher of the
76
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
But notwithstanding these and other efforts to ruin Mr Ed-
wards, his character for integrity was too well established to be
shaken by unsubstantiated statements and covert attacks, and
the replies which were made to the charges brought against him.
completely unmasked their falsehood. The attack made thus
directly upon him, and indirectly on all his associates in the
mission (for had they succeeded in removing him, it was ex-
pected the removal of the others would be easily effected), not
only failed of its design, but, by leading to a manifestation of the
mercenary scheme of their opponents, for diverting to the pur-
pose of private emolument the charities of the Province and
of benevolent individuals, recoiled with increased violence on
its unprincipled authors.'
The Mohawks, however, who had manifested much patience.
under the disappointments and vexations to which they had
female school, although he neither said nor did any thing respecting it, until his opi-
nion was expressly desired in writing by the Commissioners, and then, that he opposed
it on the ground that it was impossible for an individual who had the caro of two nume-
rous families of children, to instruct and govern the children of an Indian school; aud
that, as to his qualifications for the office of a missionary, his communicative faculty, &c.,
which were now denied, he could only appeal to those who had the best opportunity
of judging from their own experience, particularly to every man, woman, and child in
Stockbridge, that had any understanding, both English and Indian, except the families
of the opponent of Mr Woodbridge, and of the author of the report. Mr Edwards
then added, “Now, sir, I humbly request that if you had resolved on endeavouring to
have me removed from my present employment here, you would once more take the
matter into your impartial consideration. The ruin of my usefulness, and the ruin of
my family, which has suffered greatly in years past, for righteousness' sake, are not in-
deed things of equal consideration with the public good. Yet certainly I should first
have an equal, impartial, and candid hearing, before I am executed for the public good.
I must leave the matter, dear sir, to your justice and Christian prudence; committing
the affair to Him who knows all the injuries I have suffered, and how wrongfully I now
suffer, and who is the Great Protector of the innocent and oppressed, beseeching him
to guide you in your determination, and mercifully to order the end.”—Edwards' Works,
vol. i. p. excvi.
'Edwards Works, vol. i. p. exevi, eciv.
We have entered into these details regarding this unhappy contest, partly on
account of their extraordinary nature, and partly as forming an interesting and in-
structive chapter in the life of one of the greatest and best men who have appeared in
the Church of Christ. It is one of the mysteries of Divine Providence that such a man
as Jonathan Edwards, whose talents and piety so admirably fitted him for usefulness,
and whose heart was so much set on being useful, should have for so many years been
harassed, first at Northampton, and afterwards at Stockbridge, with incessant opposi-
tion and contention, instead of being allowed to pursue his labours in peace and quiet-
Yet how frequently have been severely tried the greatest and the best men in
every age. Even so. Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight,"
ness.
"
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
77
been subjected, were at last wearied out, and the greater part
of them gave up their lands and settlements at Stockbridge,
and returned to their own country, never having been able to
obtain a redress of their grievances. Thus were blasted, through
the selfish and unprincipled conduct of these individuals, the
fair prospects which appeared, two or three years before, of
establishing a large and flourishing colony of the Iroquois
Indians, and of extending among them the blessings of educa-
tion, for which they then manifested a great desire.'
In 1754, the war, which then raged between France and
England, proved very disastrous to the British Colonies, and
Stockbridge, in common with the other frontier settlements of
New England, was subjected to unceasing anxiety and alarm,
being constantly exposed to an attack from the Indians in the
interest of France. Several of the inhabitants of Stockbridge
were killed by these marauders; it was judged necessary to
garrison the town, and every family had quartered upon it a
part of the soldiers required for its defence. The Indians,
in consequence of various occurrences, had their minds greatly
alienated from the English; and there was an apprehension,
that should the Iroquois, or Six Nations, go over to the French,
the Stockbridge and other Indian tribes in North America.
would follow their example. This, in fact, seemed to be the
most critical period of the British dominion in North America,
since the first settlement of the colonies.
In January 1758, Mr Edwards removed from Stockbridge to
Princetown, to undertake the Presidency of New Jersey Col-
lege. His success at Stockbridge, especially among the Indians,
was not great. Few of them appear to have been brought under
the power of religion through his labours among them. Nor is
this wonderful. During nearly the whole period of his ministry
among them, the Indians were placed in circumstances very
unfriendly to their moral and religious improvement.
when the proposal was first made to him to become the head of
a college, he was struck with the greatest astonishment and
concern, for though he was a man of distinguished talents and
learning, he was no less remarkable for his modesty and humi-
lity. He considered himself as so unqualified for this important
¹ Edwards' Works, vol. i. p. excix, cei, ceiv.
Yet
Ibid. vol. i. p, cevi, cevii, ccviii.
78
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
station, that he wondered how gentlemen of so much judgment,
and so well acquainted with him, as some of the trustees were,
should have thought of him for a moment. He did not, how-
ever, positively reject the invitation, but agreed to take the
advice of some of his friends in the ministry on the subject.
By his desire, a number of them met at Stockbridge, and after
hearing his representation of the matter, and the objections of
his people to his removal, they determined that it was his duty
to accept of the presidency of the college. When they made
known this opinion to him, Mr Edwards was uncommonly
moved, and burst into tears, a thing very unusual with him in
the presence of others. He soon after said to them, it was mat-
ter of wonder to him, how they could so easily get over the
objections he had made against his removal to be the head of a
college; but as he thought it was incumbent on him to be
directed by their advice, he should now endeavour cheerfully
to undertake the office, believing that he was in the path of his
duty.' Scarcely, however, had he arrived at Princetown, when
it was thought necessary to inoculate him with the small-pox,
as he had never had that disease, and it was then prevailing in
the town. He had it in a favourable form, and was even
considered as out of all danger; but the secondary fever was
accompanied by alarming symptoms, and put a period to his
invaluable life, about two months after his removal from Stock-
bridge.2
In June 1759, the Rev. Stephen West was ordained pastor
of the church at Stockbridge; and like his predecessor, he had
under his care not only the Indians, but the English inhabi-
tants of the settlement. He preached to the Indians through
an interpreter, but as the animosities which had so long threat-
ened the ruin of the mission, still subsisted and clouded his
prospects of usefulness, and as the number of the English
rapidly increased, by the coming of families from different parts
of the country, and became able to support a minister for them-
selves, he, in 1775, gave up the Indians to the care of Mr John
¹ It is a fine though a quaint observation of a Scotch preacher, "It's a braw thing
for a man's face to shine, and him no to ken it." Of this Jonathan Edwards was a noble
example.
2 Edwards' Life and Character, prefixed to Eighteen Sermons, p. 88, 93; Miller's
Life of Jonathan Edwards in Spark's Library of American Biography, vol. viii. p. 140.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
79
Sergeant, the son of the original founder of the mission, who
possessed the rare qualification of understanding their language,
while he himself continued the minister of the White people
until his death.'
During the war of Independence which now commenced,
the Indians suffered materially, both in their temporal and
spiritual interests, by serving a few campaigns in the army
of the United States. A large proportion of their most promis-
ing young men were killed in battle, while the others were
confirmed in their habits of idleness and intemperance.
In 1785, the Indians removed from Stockbridge to the country
of the Oneidas, in the western part of the State of New York,
they having there granted them lands on which to settle. Here
they built a town, which was called New Stockbridge. By
their removal to this part of the country, they were materially
benefited in a temporal point of view. They possessed more
territory than before, having a tract of land six miles square;
they were, for some time, less exposed to temptations, in con-
sequence of their greater distance from the White people; they
made a division of their lands, so that each held his property
as his own individual right; and they became more industrious
sober, and comfortable."
During the last thirty years, the Stockbridge Indians have
been in a very unsettled state. In consequence of the White
people settling around them, they found themselves obliged to
remove from New Stockbridge: successive parties accordingly
left that place, and proceeded to the westward.
The great
body settled near Green-bay, on the western shore of Lake
Michigan; but within a few years, they were once more over-
taken by the tide of American emigration, and found them-
selves obliged to retire before it. By a new arrangement with
the United States Government, they now removed to a part of
the country on the east of Lake Winnebago."
¹ Spirit of the Pilgrims, vol. iii. p. 382.
3 Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. i. p. 195; vol. iv. p. 55; vol. v. p. 26; vol. vi. p. 69.-
Fraser's Sermon before the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge,
App. p. 46.
3 Maclagan's Sermon before Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Know-
ledge, 1831, p. 65; Report American Board for Foreign Missions, 1833, p. 120, 122.
Ibid. 1836, p. 104.
80
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In 1844, the number of Indians residing at Lake Winnebago
did not much exceed 200. Death, and emigration to other parts
of the country, had for some years past been diminishing their
numbers. They might be called an industrious community,
and their moral and social condition was much improved.
Nearly all of them enjoyed the necessaries, and most of them
the comforts of life. Though some of the characteristics of the
Indian were found still to cleave to them, yet they may be
regarded as substantially a transformed people. There have,
however, for many years been much dissension and party strife
among them, arising chiefly out of questions connected with
their repeated removals and other political matters, a state of
things which proved very injurious to their peace, good order,
and social and religious improvement.¹
SECT. V.-NEW JERSEY.
WE now come to the history of a mission which exhibited a
singular display of the power of divine grace among the Indians;
and which has justly commanded the admiration of the Chris-
tian world, on account of the faith and patience, the zeal,
the self-denial, the elevated piety displayed in the conduct of
it, as well as by the remarkable success with which it was at-
tended.
In April 1743, Mr David Brainerd entered on his labours as
a Missionary among the Indians, under the patronage of the
Society in Scotland for propagating Christian Knowledge, at a
place called Kanaumeek, about twenty miles from Albany, in
the province of New York. The situation was extremely lonely:
it was in the midst of a wilderness, surrounded by woods and
mountains, about twenty miles from the nearest English inha-
bitant. Here he lodged with a poor family who had lately come
from the Highlands of Scotland, sleeping on a bundle of straw,
and living on the coarsest fare; while almost the only language
(American) Missionary Herald, vol, xxx. p. 416; Rep. Board For. Miss. 1831,
p. 9; Ibid. 1839, p. 151; Ibid. 1840, p. 184; Ibid. 1844, p. 224; Ibid. 1847, p. 197;
Ibid. 1848, p. 271
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
81
he heard was Gaelic or Indian, neither of which he understood.
As he was naturally of a melancholy temper, the dreariness of
the country, the solitariness of the place, and the uncomfortable-
ness of his circumstances, contributed not a little to cherish that
unhappy state of mind. After he had been about three months
in this quarter, he drew the following gloomy picture of his
views and feelings: "My soul is and has been for a long time
in a piteous condition, wading through a series of sorrows of
various kinds. I have been so crushed down sometimes with
a sense of my meanness and infinite unworthiness, that I have
been ashamed that any, even the meanest of my fellow-creatures,
should so much as spend a thought about me; and have wished
sometimes when I travelled among the thick brakes, as one of
them to drop into everlasting oblivion. In this case, sometimes
I have almost resolved never again to see any of my acquaint-
ance, and really thought I could not do it and hold up my face;
and have longed for the remotest region for a retreat from all my
friends, that I might not be seen or heard of any more. Some-
times the consideration of my ignorance has been a means of
my great distress and anxiety. And especially, my soul has been
in anguish with fear, guilt, and shame, that ever I had preached,
or had any thought that way. Sometimes my soul has been in
distress, on feeling some particular corruptions rise, and swell
like a mighty torrent with present violence; having, at the same
time, ten thousand sins and follies presented to view, in all
their blackness and aggravations. These things, attended with
such external circumstances as mine at present are :—destitute
of most of the conveniences of life, and, I may say, of all its
pleasures; without a friend to communicate any of my sorrows
to; and sometimes without any place of retirement, where I
may unburden my soul before God, have greatly contributed to
my distress. Of late more especially, my great difficulty has
been a sort of carelessness, a kind of regardless temper of mind,
whence I have been disposed to indolence and trifling. And this
temper of mind has constantly been attended with guilt and
shame, so that sometimes I have been in a kind of horror, to
find myself so unlike the blessed God; and have thought I
grew worse under all my trials; and nothing has cut and
wounded my soul more than this. Oh! if I am one of God's
VOL. I.
F
82
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
chosen, as I trust through infinite grace I am, I find of a truth
that 'the righteous scarcely are saved.'”
The place where Mr Brainerd lodged being at some distance
from the Indians, he found this extremely inconvenient, as it ob-
liged him to travel backward and forward, almost daily, on foot;
and notwithstanding his utmost endeavours, he could not be with
them in the morning and evening, the seasons when they were
most generally at home, and when they were most at liberty to
attend to instruction. He, therefore, took up his residence
among them, and lodged at first in one of their wigwams, until he
succeeded in building a small cottage for himself. Here he lived
quite alone, and though his situation was far from agreeable, yet
it was much more comfortable than before. He blessed God that
he had given him a little cottage where he might live alone and
enjoy a happy retirement, free from noise and disturbance, and
could at any hour of the day lay aside all his studies and lift up
his soul in prayer to God for spiritual blessings. He one day thus
writes in his diary: "Was enabled in secret prayer to raise my
soul to God with desire and delight. It was indeed a blessed
season to my soul. I found the comfort of being a Christian. I
counted the sufferings of the present time not worthy to be com-
pared with the glory of divine enjoyments even in this world. All
my past sorrows seemed kindly to disappear, and I remembered
no more the sorrow for joy.' O how kindly and with what filial
tenderness the soul hangs on, and confides in the Rock of Ages
at such a season, that he will never leave it nor forsake it,'
that he will cause all things work together for its good.' I
longed that others should know how good a God the Lord is. My
soul was full of tenderness and love even to the most inveterate
of my enemies: I longed they should share in the same mercy.
I loved and longed that God should do just as he pleased with
me and every thing else. I felt exceeding serious, calm, and
peaceful, and encouraged to press after holiness, as long as I
live, whatever difficulties and trials may be in the way. May
the Lord always help me so to do! Amen and amen.
amen.”²
Mr Brainerd was often in a poor state of health, and this was
probably greatly aggravated by the toils and privations which he
underwent. Two days after he thus writes: "Spent most of
'Brainerd's Life, Edinburgh 1798, p. 89, 294, 550.
• Ibid. p. 91, 92, 550.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
83
the day in labour to procure something to keep my horse on
in the winter. Enjoyed not much sweetness in the morning.
Was very weak in body through the day, and thought this frail
body would soon drop into the dust had some very realizing
apprehensions of a speedy entrance into another world. And
in this weak state of body, was not a little distressed for want
of suitable food. Had no bread, nor could I get any.
I am
forced to go or send ten or fifteen miles for all the bread I eat ;
and if I get any considerable quantity, it is sometimes sour and
mouldy before I eat it; and then, again, I have none for some
days together for want of an opportunity to send for it, and
cannot find my horse in the woods to go myself. This was my
case now; but, through Divine goodness, I had some Indian
meal, of which I made little cakes and fried them. Yet felt
contented with my circumstances, and sweetly resigned to God.
In prayer I enjoyed great freedom; and blessed God as much
for my present circumstances, as if I had been a king, and
thought I found a disposition to be contented in any circum-
stances: blessed be God."¹
Of Mr Brainerd's deadness to the world, and of his spiritual
enjoyments, we have many interesting examples. One day he
writes: "In the morning, felt exceedingly dead to the world
and all its enjoyments. I thought I was ready and willing to
give up life and all its comforts as soon as called to it; and yet
then had as much comfort of life as almost ever I had. Life
itself now appeared but an empty bubble; the riches, honours,
and common enjoyments of life appeared extremely tasteless.
I longed to be perpetually and entirely crucified to all things
here below by the cross of Christ. My soul was sweetly resigned
to God's disposal of me, in every regard; and I saw there had
nothing happened to me but what was best for me. I confided
in God that he would never leave me,' though I should walk
through the valley of the shadow of death.' It was then 'my
meat and drink' to be holy, 'to live to the Lord, and to die to
the Lord.' And I thought that I then enjoyed such a heaven,
as far exceeded the most sublime conceptions of an unregene-
rate soul; and even unspeakably beyond what I myself could
conceive of at another time. I did not wonder that Peter
¹ Brainerd's Life, p. 93.
84
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
said, 'Lord, it is good to be here,' when thus refreshed with
Divine glories.
"My soul was full of love and tenderness in the duty of
intercession; felt especially a most sweet affection to some pre-
cious godly ministers of my acquaintance. I prayed earnestly
for dear Christians, and for those I have reason to fear are my
enemies; and could not have uttered a word of bitterness, or
entertained a bitter thought against the vilest man living. I
had a sense of my own great unworthiness. My soul seemed
to breathe forth love and praise to God afresh, when I thought
he would let his children love and receive me as one of their
brethren and fellow-citizens; and when I thought of their treat-
ing me in that manner, I longed to lie at their feet, and could
think of no way to express the sincerity and simplicity of my
love and esteem of them, as being much better than myself."¹
In labouring among the Indians, Mr Brainerd studied to
instruct them chiefly in those principles of religion which he
deemed most important, and most calculated to promote their
conversion to the Redeemer, endeavouring, at the same time,
to make them level to the comprehension of the weakest and
most ignorant of them. The knowledge of Christianity which
some of them acquired, was far from contemptible; and there
were even several on whose consciences the word appeared to
make a serious impression. Some of them came to Mr Brainerd
of their own accord, to converse with him about the things
which belonged to their eternal peace; several inquired with
tears in their eyes, "What they should do to be saved?" He
could not, indeed, say that he had satisfactory evidence of the
conversion of any of them, but there was a considerable refor-
mation of manners among them. Their idolatrous sacrifices
were entirely abolished; their heathenish dances were, in a
great degree, abandoned; their habits of drunkenness were, in
some measure, corrected; and the observation of the Sabbath
was established among them and their children. By his advice,
most of them, after he had spent about a year among them,
removed to Stockbridge, which was only about twenty miles.
distant, and placed themselves under the care of the excellent
Mr Sergeant.'
2
1 Brainerd's Life, p. 123.
2
* Ibid. p. 551.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
85
In May 1744, Mr Brainerd, who was now at liberty to pursue
his labours among the Indians in some other quarter, proceeded
to the Forks of Delaware, in the province of Pennsylvania.
Here the number of his hearers was at first very small, often
not exceeding twenty-five, and even afterwards, they seldom
amounted to more than forty. The Indians in this quarter
were now greatly diminished, most of them being either dis-
persed, or removed further back into the country. There were
not more than ten houses which continued to be inhabited, and
some of these were several miles distant from the others, so
that it was very difficult for his little congregation to assemble
together as often as he wished.'
Among these Indians Mr Brainerd pursued his labours with
unwearied diligence and zeal; but, as he was deeply sensible that
no human exertions could command success, he combined with
his endeavours earnest and constant supplications for the divine
blessing upon them. Of his importunity in prayer, we have an
interesting example in the exercises of his mind, one day soon
after his arrival in this part of this country. "This morning,"
says he, "I was greatly oppressed with guilt and shame, from
a sense of my inward vileness and pollution. About nine
o'clock, I withdrew to the woods for prayer, but had not much
comfort. I appeared to myself the meanest, vilest creature
upon earth, and could scarcely live with myself; so mean and
vile I appeared, that I thought I´should never be able to hold
up my face in heaven, if God, of his infinite grace, should bring
me thither. Towards night, my burden respecting my work
among the Indians began to increase much; and was aggravated
by hearing sundry things that looked very discouraging; in
particular, that they intended to meet together the next day for
an idolatrous feast and dance. Then I began to be in anguish.
I thought I must in conscience go and endeavour to break them
up; and knew not how to attempt such a thing. However, I with-
drew for prayer, hoping for strength from above. And in prayer,
I was exceedingly enlarged: my soul was as much drawn out as I
almost ever remember it to have been in my life. I was in such
anguish, and pleaded with so much earnestness and importu-
nity, that when I rose from my knees, I felt extremely weak
1 Brainerd's Life. p. 129, 555.
86
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
cause.
and overcome; I could scarcely walk straight; my joints were
loosed; the sweat ran down my face and body; and nature
seemed as if it would dissolve. So far as I could judge, I was
wholly free from selfish ends in my fervent supplications for
the poor Indians. I knew they were met together to worship
devils and not God, and this made me cry earnestly that God
would now appear and help me in my attempts to break up
this idolatrous meeting. My soul pleaded long; and I thought
God would hear, and would go with me to vindicate his own
I seemed to confide in God for his presence and assist-
ance. And thus I spent the evening, praying incessantly for
Divine assistance, and that I might not be self-dependent, but
still have my whole dependence upon God. What I passed
through was remarkable, and indeed inexpressible. All things
here below vanished, and there appeared to be nothing of any
considerable importance to me, but holiness of heart and life,
and the conversion of the heathen to God. All my cares, fears,
and desires, which might be said to be of a worldly nature,
disappeared, and were in my esteem of little more importance
than a puff of wind. I longed exceedingly that God would get
to himself a name among the heathen; and I appealed to him
with the greatest freedom, that he knew I preferred him 'above
my chief joy.' Indeed, I had no notion of joy from this world:
I cared not where or how I lived, or what hardships I went
through, so that I could but gain souls to Christ.""
On another occasion he thus writes: "In the evening God
was pleased to help me in prayer, beyond what I have experi-
enced for some time; my soul was especially drawn out for the
enlargement of Christ's kingdom, and for the conversion of my
poor people; and my soul relied on God for the accomplish-
ment of that great work.
Oh, how sweet were the thoughts of death to me at this
time! Oh, how I longed to be with Christ, to be employed in
the glorious work of angels, and with an angel's freedom, vigour,
and delight! And yet how willing was I to stay a while on
earth, that I might do something, if the Lord pleased, for his
interest in the world! My soul, my very soul, longed for the
ingathering of the poor heathen; and I cried to God for them
1 Brainerd's Life, p. 143.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
87
most willingly and heartily; and yet because I could not but
cry. This was a sweet season; for I had some lively taste of
heaven, and a temper of mind suited, in some measure, to the
employments and entertainments of it. My soul was grieved to
leave the place; but my body was weak and worn out, and it
was near nine o'clock. Oh, I longed that the remaining part
of my life might be filled up with more fervency and activity
in the things of God! Oh, the inward peace, composure, and
God-like serenity of such a frame! Heaven must needs differ
from this only in degree, not in kind. Lord, ever give me this
bread of life." ¹
Though Mr Brainerd was now settled at the Forks of Dela-
ware, he did not confine his labours to the Indians in that part
of the country. Having heard of some of these poor people at
a place about thirty miles distant, he proceeded to visit them;
but as they were then on the point of removing to the river
Susquehannah, he had an opportunity of preaching only twice
to them. In general, they appeared sober, friendly, and atten-
tive. Two or three of them, indeed, suspected he had some ill
design upon them, urging that the White people had maltreated
them, and taken their lands from them: it was not reasonable,
therefore, to think they were now concerned for their happiness,
but rather that they designed to make them slaves, or to carry
them on board their ships, and cause them fight with the peo-
ple over the water, meaning the French and Spaniards. But
notwithstanding these insinuations, most of them appeared to
entertain no jealousy of Mr Brainerd's design, and invited him
to visit them after their return home, and to instruct them in
the principles of religion.²
Encouraged by this invitation, Mr Brainerd proceeded shortly
after to visit these Indians on the Susquehannah, accompanied
by the Rev. Mr Byram, a neighbouring minister, his interpreter,
and two of his principal people from the Forks of Delaware.
After the first day's journey, they had nothing before them but
a vast and dreary wilderness. Here they had by far the most
difficult and dangerous travelling any of them had ever experi-
enced, having to make their way over lofty mountains, through
deep valleys, and among hideous rocks. One evening Mr
¹ Brainerd's Life, p. 185.
2 Ibid. p. 557.
88
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Brainerd's horse hung one of its legs in the rocks, and fell under
him; but through the kindness of Providence he escaped with-
out injury. The poor animal, however, broke its leg; aud be-
ing in such a dreadful place, near thirty miles from any house,
nothing could be done to preserve its life: He was, therefore,
obliged to kill it, and to prosecute his journey on foot. At night
they kindled a fire, cut up a few bushes, and placed them over
their heads as a shelter from the frost; and after commending
themselves to God in prayer, they lay down on the ground and
slept till morning. On the fourth day, they arrived at an Indian
town on the banks of the Susquehannah, called Opeholhaupung,
where were about seventy people, including men, women, and
children. Mr Brainerd remained among them several days,
preaching regularly when they were at home, while they, in
order to hear him, delayed their general hunting match, which
they were just about to begin. Before leaving them, he gave
them to understand, that he would visit them again the follow-
ing spring; a proposal to which they readily assented.'
Many were the fatigues, the dangers, and the distresses which
Mr Brainerd experienced in the course of his frequent journeys
among the Indians; and no less singular were the faith, the
patience, and the self-denial he manifested under trials of this
description. One day in travelling from the place of Mr By-
ram's residence to the Forks of Delaware, a distance of about
forty miles, he lost his way in the wilderness, wandered over
rocks and mountains, down hideous steeps, through swamps,
and other dangerous places. The night was dark and cold, and,
to add to his misfortune, he was troubled with a pain in his
head, accompanied with sickness at stomach, which rendered.
every step he took distressing to him. He had little or no ex-
pectation for several hours but that he would have to lie out
all night in the woods in this melancholy condition. Provi-
dentially, however, about nine o'clock, he found a house, and
was kindly entertained by the people. Yet trying as was hist
situation, no expression of discontent, no murmur of complaint,
dropt from his lips. His reflections on this occasion are not un-
worthy of an apostle. "Thus," says he, "I have been frequently
exposed, and sometimes have lain out the whole night; but
¹ Brainerd's Life, p. 149, 558.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
89
Such
hitherto God has preserved me, and blessed be his name.
fatigues and hardships serve to wean me more from the earth,
and, I trust, will make heaven the sweeter. Formerly, when I
was thus exposed to cold, rain, &c., I was ready to please my-
self with the thoughts of enjoying a comfortable house, a warm
fire, and other outward comforts; but now, through the grace
of God, these have less place in my heart, and my eye is more
to God for comfort. In this world, I expect tribulation; and
it does not now as formerly appear strange to me. I do not in
such seasons of difficulty flatter myself that it will be better
hereafter, but rather think how much worse it might be; how
much greater trials others of God's children have endured; how
much greater, perhaps, are yet reserved for me. Blessed be God,
that he makes the thoughts of my journey's end and of my dis-
solution a great comfort to me under my sharpest trials; and
scarce ever lets these thoughts be attended with terror or melan-
choly; but they are attended frequently with great joy.”
1
In May 1745, Mr Brainerd, agreeably to his promise, renewed
his visit to the Indians on the river Susquehannah, accompanied
by his interpreter from the Forks of Delaware. In travelling
through the wilderness, he suffered, as usual, great fatigues and
hardships. After lodging one night in the woods, he was over-
taken by a north-easterly storm, in which he was in danger of
losing his life. Having no kind of shelter, and not being able
to kindle a fire on account of the rain, he resolved to prosecute
his journey in the hope of finding some place of refuge, without
which, he thought it was impossible he could survive the night.
But, unfortunately, the horses, both of Mr Brainerd and of his
interpreter, having eaten poison for want of other food, now be-
came so sick, that they could neither ride nor lead them, but
were obliged to drive them on before, and to walk themselves
on foot. Providentially, however, in the evening, they came to
a bark hut, where they took up their lodgings for the night.
Having at length reached the Susquehannah, Mr Brainerd tra-
velled about a hundred miles along that river, visited many of
the Indian towns, and preached the gospel to some of different
tribes through the medium of interpreters. He was sometimes
greatly disheartened by the opposition which they made to
1 Brainerd's Life, p. 156,
90
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Christianity; and sometimes he was much encouraged by the
disposition which some of them manifested to hear the word.
He spent about a fortnight among the Indians in this part of
the country, and suffered considerable hardships, frequently
sleeping on the cold ground, and sometimes in the open air.
He was at last taken very ill as he was riding in the wilderness,
being attacked with an ague, accompanied with violent pains in
his head and bowels, and with a great evacuation of blood, so
that he thought he would have perished by the way. Having
reached, however, the hut of an Indian trader, he obtained
liberty to stop there; and though without medicine or food pro-
per for one in his situation, he so far recovered, that after about
a week's illness, he was able to resume his journey homeward.'
After his return from the Susquehannah, Mr Brainerd was
ready to sink into the depths of despair. As his body was ex-
tremely feeble, in consequence of his late illness, so his hopes
of the conversion of the Indians were scarcely ever so low. He
even began to entertain serious thoughts of relinquishing the
undertaking, not that he was weary of the toils and trials of a
missionary life, nor because he had freedom in his own mind to
settle among the White people, but simply on account of the little
hope he had of success among the Indians. But as the night is
often darkest before the dawn, so it was from the midst of this
thick cloud that the prospect began to brighten around him.
Having heard of a number of Indians at a place called Cros-
weeksung, in New Jersey, about eighty miles from the Forks of
Delaware, he proceeded to visit them; but, on his arrival, he
found them scattered in small settlements, at a considerable
distance from each other, and not more than two or three families
residing in the same place. He preached, however, to the few he
found, consisting of only four women and some children. So in-
considerable was the congregation, and so inauspicious the spot
which was soon to be the scene of a most remarkable work of di-
vine grace. After hearing Mr Brainerd, these poor people set off
and travelled ten or fifteen miles to give notice to their friends that
a minister had arrived among them, by which means their little
company was in a few days increased to between forty and fifty,
including both old and young. No objections, no opposition was
Brainerd's Life, p. 177.
1
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
91
heard among them, though in time past they had manifested as
strong a dislike to the gospel as any Indians whatever, and even
lately several of them had been much enraged at his interpreter
for telling them something about Christianity. Now, however,
they were very anxious to obtain instruction; they asked Mr
Brainerd to preach to them twice a day, that so they might
learn as much as possible during his stay; and they appeared
to listen to his instructions with the utmost seriousness and
attention. This favourable disposition in these Indians he
attributed to the exertions of one or two of their own people,
who having heard him some time before at the Forks of Dela-
ware, had on their return endeavoured to shew their friends
the evil of idolatry, and of other practices common among
them a circumstance which may afford the Christian mis-
sionary some consolation under the greatest of all his trials,
the want of success; for though no success should, for a season,
crown his labours in his own neighbourhood, yet, perhaps, some
who have heard the gospel from his lips, may, in the mean while,
be instrumental in preparing the way for its introduction even
among distant tribes.¹
After spending about a fortnight at Crosweeksung, Mr
Brainerd returned to the Forks of Delaware, and from this
period these two places were alternately the principal scene of
his labours. Soon after his arrival, he had the pleasure of bap-
tizing his interpreter, together with his wife, the first of the
Indians whom he received into the bosom of the church. When
Mr Brainerd first employed him as his interpreter, he was in
some respects well qualified for the office, as he was not only
acquainted with the Indian and the English languages, but had
a strong desire that his countrymen should abandon their hea-
thenish notions and practices, and should adopt the manners
and customs of the White people, particularly as to their mode
of living. But he had little or no impression of religion on his
mind, and on this account was very unfit for his work, being
incapable of communicating to others many truths of the first
importance, for want of an experimental, as well as a more
doctrinal knowledge of the gospel. Now, however, there was
a material improvement in his performances as interpreter.
¹ Brainerd's Life, p. 180, 363, 405.
92
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Though it might naturally be supposed that a discourse, in
passing to the audience through the medium of a second per-
son, would lose much of its force and meaning, yet Mr Brainerd's
sermons did not ordinarily lose any thing of their original energy,
unless it was sometimes owing to the want of suitable expres-
sions in the Indian language, a defect which his own knowledge
of it could not have supplied. His interpreter addressed the
Indians with admirable fervency; he scarce knew when to give
over; and sometimes when Mr Brainerd had concluded his dis-
course, and was returning home, he would stay behind to repeat
and enforce what had been spoken; nor did this appear to arise
from spiritual pride, or from an affectation of being a public
teacher; but from a spirit of faithfulness, and an honest con-
cern for their souls. As his indifference to religion was for-
merly a source of great distress to Mr Brainerd, so now his zeal
for the salvation of his countrymen was no small comfort to
him.'
On visiting the Indians at Crosweeksung a second time, Mr
Brainerd was happy to find them not only still favourably dis-
posed toward Christianity, but a number of them under serious
concern for their souls, their convictions of their sinfulness and
misery having been much promoted by the labours of the Rev.
William Tennant, to whom he had advised them to make appli-
cation. Scarcely had he returned among them, when these im-
pressions increased and spread in a surprising manner.
In two
or three days, the inquiry was general among them, "What
they should do to be saved." Such was their sensibility of heart,
that a few words concerning their souls would make the tears
flow in streams down their cheeks; in their public assemblies,
a dry eye was often scarcely to be seen; it was astonishing how
they were melted with the love of the Redeemer, and with the
invitations of the gospel, when not a word of terror was spoken
to them.2
It must not, however, be supposed that Mr Brainerd neglected
to instruct the Indians concerning their sinfulness and misery:
this he at first inculcated in almost every discourse, as he knew
well that no sinner will come to the Saviour unless he feel his
need of him. Still, however, the awakening among the Indians
2 Ibid. p. 373.
¹ Brainerd's Life, p. 367, 407, 510.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
93
was not produced by the terrors of the law; but by the grace
of the gospel. Christ crucified was the grand theme of his
preaching; this was the point in which all his sermons centred.
It was often matter of wonder to himself, that whatever was
the subject of discourse, he was naturally led, after having ex-
plained it, to speak of Christ Jesus, and of its relation to him.
If he treated of the existence and attributes of God, he took
occasion to represent Christ as the only way to the Father. If
he illustrated the sinfulness and misery of man, he proceeded
to shew the need we had of Christ, to atone for our guilt, and
to save us from everlasting woe. If he discoursed of the law of
God, he did not forget to recommend Christ as "the end of the
law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Sometimes
when he designed to say only a few words on a subject, he was
insensibly led, by the view of its connection with Christ, to
speak of his incarnation or satisfaction, of his qualifications as
a Saviour, or of the gracious invitations which he addresses to
sinners, to "come to him, and take of the water of life freely.'
The awakening, in short, was always most remarkable when he
discoursed of the condescension and love of a dying Redeemer;
of the ample provision he has made for the salvation of man,
and of the free offers of mercy, which he makes to guilty, miser-
able creatures.¹
This was strikingly displayed one day, when Mr Brainerd, in
preaching on the parable of the Great Supper, exhibited to the
Indians, with uncommon fervour and freedom, the unsearchable
riches of divine grace. During the sermon a deep concern was
visible among them, and afterwards, when he was speaking
with such individuals as were under concern about their souls,
the Spirit of God appeared to descend on the whole assembly,
and, with astonishing energy, overpowered all opposition like a
mighty torrent, which, with irresistible force, sweeps before it
whatever comes in its way. Almost the whole congregation,
the old, the middle-aged, and the young, were overwhelmed
with its influence. Even the most stubborn hearts were made
to bow. One of the principal Indians, who previously had felt
secure in the armour of self-righteousness, because he possessed
more knowledge than most of his countrymen, and who, only
1 Brainerd's Life, p. 408. 472.
94
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the day before, had asserted, with the utmost assurance, that
he had been a Christian for upwards of ten years, was now im-
pressed with deep concern on account of his sinful, miserable
state; his tears flowed in streams down his cheeks; his self-
confidence vanished like a vision of the night. There was also
a young woman who was so thoughtless and ignorant, that she
seemed scarcely to know she had a soul, but who having heard
of something strange among the Indians, came to see what was
the matter. As she called at Mr Brainerd's lodgings by the
way, he informed her of his design to preach immediately, at
which she laughed and seemed to mock. She came, however,
to hear him, and before he had concluded his discourse, not
only felt she had a soul, but was so impressed with her sinful-
ness and misery, that she seemed like one pierced through with
a dart; she could neither walk, nor sit, nor stand, without be-
ing supported. When public worship was over, she lay pros-
trate on the ground, praying in the most fervent manner, and
neither took notice of others, nor returned them any answer
when they spoke to her. The burden of her cry was, "Have
mercy on me, O God, and help me to give thee my heart."
In this manner she continued most importunate in supplication
for several hours together; thus she who came to mock, returned
to pray.
The whole assembly, indeed, appeared as it were transfixed
to the heart with concern for their souls. Almost all of them
were crying for mercy, either within or without the house. So
overwhelmed were they with a sense of sin, so absorbed in seri-
ous thought, that none appeared to observe another; but each
prayed as freely, and probably, in his own apprehension, as
secretly, as if he had been in the midst of a desert, far removed
from every human eye. Such as had been awakened for some time,
it was observed, complained chiefly of the corruption of their
heart; those who were newly impressed, of the wickedness of
their life. It is also worthy of notice, that they who had lately
obtained relief, appeared, on this occasion, calm and composed,
rejoicing in Christ Jesus as their God and Saviour. Some of
them took their weeping friends by the hand, telling them of
the love of Christ, and of the comfort which is enjoyed in him ;
and on this ground invited them to come and give him their
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
95
tr
hearts. The whole scene, in short, presented a striking and
interesting illustration of that prediction of the prophet Zecha-
riah, "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the in-
habitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications;
and they shall look on me whom they have pierced, and they
shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and
shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his
first-born. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; and
their wives apart."
This was not merely a transient scene, but lasted, in a greater
or less degree, for a considerable time. Every sermon seemed
now productive of good; some were newly awakened, some
further impressed, or some comforted. No sooner did any
come from remote places, than they were seized with concern
about their souls. It was common for strangers, before they
had remained a day, to be convinced of their sinfulness and
misery, and to inquire, with the utmost solicitude, "What
they should do to be saved." Others, who previously had
experienced only some slight emotion of their passions, were
now wounded to the heart; their tears and sighs and groans,
bore witness to the inward anguish of their souls. On the
other hand, such as had obtained comfort, appeared humble,
serious, and devout, endowed with remarkable tenderness of
conscience, and concerned to regulate their life by the laws of
Christ. Observing a woman one morning very sorrowful, Mr
Brainerd inquired into the cause of her grief, and found she had
been angry with her child the evening before, and was now
afraid lest her anger had been immoderate and sinful. This
had so vexed her, that she awoke before daylight, and continued
weeping for several hours. A man, who some time before had
put away his wife, and taken another woman, a practice com-
mon among the Indians, was now much concerned about this
circumstance in particular, being fully convinced of the evil of
his conduct, and anxious to know what was his duty. Inquiry
being made into the cause of his leaving his wife, it appeared
she had given him no just occasion to desert her; and, as it
was found that she was willing to forgive his past misconduct,
and to live peaceably with him in future, he was told it was his
indispensable duty to renounce the woman he had last taken,
96
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
and to receive back the other, who was properly his wife, and
to cleave to her alone as long as she lived. With this advice
he readily complied, a striking proof of the power of religion on
his mind; for it is likely, a few weeks before, the whole world
would not have induced him to conform to the law of Christi-
anity on the subject of marriage. Mr Brainerd was apprehen-
sive lest this decision should prejudice some of the Indians
against the gospel, when they saw the strictness it enjoined,
and the sacrifices it required; but so far was it from having
any bad effect in this respect, that most of them acknowledged
the reasonableness of the regulation.'
As there was now a considerable number of the Indians, who
gave satisfactory evidence of the sincerity of their conversion,
Mr Brainerd, after explaining to them the nature of baptism,
administered that ordinance to twenty-five of them in one day,
namely, fifteen adults, and ten children, in the presence of a
large congregation of White people. After the crowd of spec-
tators had retired, he called the baptized together, and discoursed
to them in particular. He warned them of the evil and danger
of indifference in religion, after making so public a profession
of it; he reminded them of the solemn obligations under which
they had come, to live devoted to God; he gave them some
directions respecting their conduct in life; encouraged them to
watchfulness, stedfastness, and devotion; and set before them
the comfort on earth, and the glory in heaven, which await the
faithful followers of the Lamb. To all of them, this was a most
interesting and delightful season. The baptized Indians ap-
peared to rejoice in the solemn dedication they had that day
made of themselves to the service of God; love reigned among
them, and displayed itself in the most simple unaffected manner.
Several of the other Indians, when they saw and heard these
things, were much affected, weeping most bitterly, and longing
to be partakers of that comfort and happiness, which their
Christian countrymen appeared to enjoy.
On the following day, Mr Brainerd, after discoursing some
time to the Indians, addressed himself to those in particular,
who hoped they were partakers of divine grace, representing
to them the happiness which Christ confers on his people on
¹ Brainerd's Life, p. 376, 405.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
97
earth, and the glory he prepares for them in heaven. Scarcely
had he begun to speak in this strain, when the Christian
Indians appeared to dissolve in love to the Redeemer, mingled
with desire after the full enjoyment of Him, and of a state of
perfect holiness of heart and life. They wept abundantly, yet
joyfully. Their tears, and sobs, and sighs, were accompanied
with inward peace and comfort; a circumstance which seemed
to manifest, that the whole was the effect of a spirit of adop-
tion, not of that spirit of bondage, under which many of them
had so lately groaned. The sacred influence spread over the
whole assembly, which now consisted of nearly one hundred
Indians, including both old and young, almost all of whom
were either animated with joy in Christ Jesus, or impressed
with concern for an interest in Him.
Having now been nearly a month in this quarter, Mr Brain-
erd proposed undertaking a new journey to the Susquehannah,
as this was the best season of the year for finding the Indians
at home. After informing his congregation of his design to
leave them for the present, and to go to their countrymen far
remote, to preach among them the glad tidings of salvation, he
asked them, Whether they would not employ the remainder of
the day in prayer for him, that God would crown the attempt
with his blessing, and render it effectual for the conversion of
their brethren? Having cheerfully agreed to this proposal,
they soon after began the exercise, and continued praying the
whole night till near the dawn of day, never apprehending it
was past their usual bedtime, until having gone out and viewed
the heavens, they beheld the morning star a considerable height
in the horizon; so earnest and unwearied were they in their
devotions.
In his way to the Susquehannah, Mr Brainerd visited the
Forks of Delaware, where he now found the Indians much
more impressed with religion, and more deeply affected in
hearing the word than before. Some of them had been at
Crosweeksung, and had there beheld, and, it was hoped, felt
the power of divine truth. In this part of the country, how-
ever, there were several Indians who had always refused to
hear Mr Brainerd preach, and even manifested an inveterate
hatred to those who attended his ministry. These now be-
VOL. I.
G
98
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
came more violent in their opposition than ever, scoffing at
religion, and asking the converts insulting questions, as, "How
often they had cried? Whether they had not cried enough to
do the turn?" Thus the Christian Indians soon began to have
"trial of cruel mockings," the uniform reward of serious piety
in every age, and in every part of the world.'
Leaving the Forks of Delaware, Mr Brainerd proceeded on
his journey to the Susquehannah, directing his course toward
an Indian town named Shomokin, about a hundred and twenty
miles to the westward. Here there were upwards of fifty
houses, and, it was said, about three hundred inhabitants,
though he never saw much above the half of that number.
They were reckoned a most worthless, drunken, mischievous
race, but yet they received him kindly, listened to the gospel
with great attention, and expressed a desire for further instruc-
tion. Leaving this place, Mr Brainerd travelled down the
river to Juneauta, an Indian town through which he had
passed in his last journey. At that time the inhabitants ap-
peared extremely friendly, and less under the influence of pre-
judice against Christianity than most of their countrymen, but
now they seemed quite rooted in their Pagan notions, and
strongly averse to the gospel. They were at this time busy
making preparations for celebrating a great idolatrous feast on
the following day. Having provided no fewer than ten fat
deer for this purpose, about a hundred of them assembled in
the evening, and danced round a large fire which they had
previously kindled. During the dance, they threw the fat into
the fire, which sometimes raised the flame to a prodigious
height, while, at the same time, they yelled and shouted in a
most hideous manner. After continuing this exercise nearly
the whole night, they devoured the flesh of the animals, and
then retired to their huts. Such a scene was extremely dis-
tressing to Mr Brainerd; it pierced him like a dagger to the
heart. After walking about till he was almost overwhelmed
with grief and fatigue, he crept into a little crib made for corn,
laid himself down on the poles, and slept in this situation. As
soon as the Indians rose next morning, he attempted to collect.
them together, with the view of instructing them in the truths.
¹ Brainerd's Life, p. 386.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
99
sue.
of religion; but he soon found they had other business to pur-
About noon, they assembled all their powaws, in order
to discover, by their charms and incantations, the cause of the
sickness which at that time raged among them, many of thein
being attacked with flux, attended with fever. In this exer-
cise, they made all the wild, ridiculous, frantic motions it is
almost possible to imagine; sometimes singing; sometimes
howling; sometimes extending their arms to the utmost,
spreading their fingers, and seeming to push with them; some-
times stroking their faces with their hands, then spurting
water as fine as mist; sometimes sitting flat on the earth,
then bowing their faces to the ground, wringing their sides as
if in the utmost anguish, distorting their faces, turning up
their eyes, puffing, grunting, &c. Some of them appeared
much more earnest in these exercises than others; they chant-
ed, peeped, and muttered with such ardour and such energy,
as if they were determined to awaken the infernal powers, and
extort the secret from them. After continuing these hideous
charms and incantations, with some intervals, for upwards of
three hours, they were completely exhausted, and broke up the
meeting without appearing to have received any satisfaction on
the subject of their inquiry.
In this quarter of the country, Mr Brainerd met with a
zealous reformer of the Indian religion, or rather a restorer of
what he considered the ancient mode of worship. But of all
the spectacles he ever saw, none appeared so horrible, none
excited such images of terror in his mind, none corresponded.
so nearly with the common idea of the infernal powers. He
presented himself to Mr Brainerd in his pontifical garb, consist-
ing of a coat of bearskins hanging down to his toes, a bearskin
cap on his head, and a pair of bearskin stockings on his feet; a
large wooden face, the one half painted black, the other of a
tawny colour like the Indians, with an extravagant mouth, cut
extremely awry. In his hand was the instrument he employed
for music in his idolatrous worship: it was a tortoise shell with
some corn in it, fixed on a piece of wood for a handle. As he
came forward he beat to time with his rattle, and danced with
all his might; but allowed no part of his body, not even his
fingers, to be seen. His appearance and gestures were so un-
100
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
like all that was human, that when he came near, Mr Brainerd
could not help shrinking back with horror, though it was then.
noonday, and he knew perfectly who it was. It appears he
had a house consecrated to religion; in it were several images,
and the ground was beaten as hard as a rock by his frequent
and violent dancing. Mr Brainerd conversed with him about
the principles of Christianity; some of them he liked; others
he disliked. "Gcd," he said, "had taught him his religion;
and he never would turn from it. He was anxious, however,
to find some who would cordially join with him in it, for the
Indians were grown very degenerate and corrupt. He had
thoughts, therefore, of leaving all his friends, travelling
abroad, and searching for some who would join with him;
for he believed God had some good people in the world, who
viewed things in the same light as himself. He had not al-
ways felt as he now did: formerly he was like other Indians:
but about four or five years before, he became greatly dis-
tressed in his mind: he could no longer dwell among his coun-
trymen, but retired into the woods, and lived there alone for
some months. At length God comforted his heart, and shewed
him what he should do: since that time he had known God,
and endeavoured to serve him; he also loved all men, whoever
they were, in a manner he never did before." It further ap-
peared from the accounts of the Indians themselves, that he
was a great enemy to their drinking spirituous liquors, and
when he could not dissuade them from that ruinous practice,
he used to leave them and go crying into the woods. Some of
his sentiments, indeed, were rational and just; Mr Brainerd
even informs us, there was something in his temper and dispo-
sition more like true religion than any thing he ever beheld in
a Pagan. He appeared to be sincere, honest, and conscien-
tious in his own way; and on this account, was derided by his
countrymen as a precise zealot, who made a needless noise
about religion.'
Having again failed in his attempts to introduce Christianity
on the Susquehannah, Mr Brainerd returned to Crosweeksung;
and, on his arrival, was much struck with the vast difference
between the Indians in that quarter, and his congregation at
¹ Brainerd's Lifo, p. 396.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
101
this place. To dwell with the one was like being banished
from God and all his saints; to live with the other, like being
received into his presence and his family. Yet only a few
months before, these were as thoughtless, as barbarous, as
averse to Christianity, as those on the Susquehannah; but
now, instead of engaging in idolatrous feasts and drunken revels,
they worshipped the God of heaven, received his word, and
lived devoted to his glory. Such is the power of divine grace!
Such the transforming influence of the gospel!
On resuming his labours at Crosweeksung, Mr Brainerd be-
held the same powerful and happy effects attend his ministry
as before. He was often wonderfully assisted in his public
discourses, being enabled to accommodate his sentiments and
his expressions to the understanding of the Indians, in such a
way as he never could have done by the most careful study;
yet he spoke with as much ease and freedom, as if he had been
addressing an ordinary congregation, who had been instructed in
the principles of Christianity from their early years. A dry eye
was often scarcely to be seen in their assemblies; yet there was
no disturbance of the public worship. A deep impression was
made on their hearts; but there was no boisterous agitation of
their passions. All was powerful and efficacious; yet calm
and peaceful. One day, after a sermon on the Transfigura-
tion of Christ, Mr Brainerd asked a woman, whom he observed
weeping most affectionately, What she now wanted. To this
she replied: "Oh! to be with Christ: She knew not how to
stay." On another occasion, when a number of them were
assembled in Mr Brainerd's house, a woman burst forth in
prayer and praises to God before them all, with many tears,
crying sometimes in English, and sometimes in Indian, “O
blessed Lord, do come, do come! O do take me away; do let
me die and go to Jesus Christ. I am afraid, if I live I shall
sin again! O do let me die now; do come! I cannot stay, I
cannot stay! O how can I live in this world! do take my
soul away from this sinful place! O let me never sin any
more! O what shall I do, what shall I do!" In this ecstacy
she continued for some time, incessantly uttering these and
similar expressions, and employing as her grand argument with
God to enforce her prayer, that if she lived she would sin
102
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
against him. When she had recovered a little, Mr Brainerd
asked her, If Christ was now sweet to her soul. Turning to
him, she replied, with tears in her eyes, and with the deepest
tokens of humility, "I have often heard you speak of the
goodness and the sweetness of Christ; that he was better than
all the world. But, O, I knew nothing of what you meant; I
never believed you; I never believed you. But now I know it
is true." Mr Brainerd then asked her, If she saw enough in
Christ for the greatest of sinners. "O, enough, enough!" she
replied, "for all the sinners in the world, if they would but
come." On hearing something of the glory of heaven, particu-
larly that there was no sin there, she again fell into the same
kind of ecstacy, and employed similar expressions as before :
O dear Lord, do let me go! O what shall I do! what shall I
do! I want to go to Christ! I cannot live! O do let me die."
In this pleasing frame she continued more than two hours, be-
fore she was well able to go home.¹
One day after a sermon on the New Birth, by which a gene-
ral and deep impression was made on the minds of the Indians,
many of them followed Mr Brainerd to his lodgings, and beg-
ged to be further instructed in the way of salvation; but he
had not spoken long, when they were so affected with what he
said, that the house was filled with their cries and groans.
Almost all whom he apprehended to be still in an unconverted
state, were seized with concern for their souls; it seemed as if
none, whether old or young, would now be left. No pen can
describe the interesting scene. Numbers might be seen rejoic-
ing that God had not taken his Holy Spirit from them, and
delighted to behold so many of their countrymen "striving to
enter in at the strait gate." Others, both men and women,
both old and young, might be seen dissolved in tears, some of
them so overwhelmed with anguish, that they seemed like
malefactors on the way to execution. The whole scene exhi-
bited a striking emblem of the day of judgment; of heaven and
hell; of infinite joy and of inexpressible misery.2
Here it may not be improper to remark, that the concern of
the Indians about their souls, was not only very great, but per-
fectly scriptural and rational. Though some, like the jailor,
2 Ibid, p. 427.
'Brainerd's Life, p. 399, 417, 443.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
103
were made to tremble under a sense of their sinfulness; though
others were forced to cry out from a view of their perishing
condition; though many were for a time deprived in a great
measure of their bodily strength, through the anguish of their
minds; yet the awakening among them was singularly free
from those disorders, corporeal and mental, which often accom-
pany remarkable revivals of religion. For a considerable time
there was no appearance of convulsions, screamings, swoon-
ings; no pretences to visions, trances, revelations; no symptoms
of censoriousness, ostentation, or spiritual pride; no tendency,
in short, to any thing like display. Afterwards, indeed, when
the awakening became so general, and acquired such universal
credit among the Indians, that Satan could have little hope of
counteracting it, in the garb of the spirit of darkness, he trans-
formed himself into an angel of light, and made some vigorous
efforts to introduce turbulent commotions of the passions, in
the room of genuine convictions of sin, and imaginary notions
of Christ appearing to the mental eye in particular forms and
postures, instead of spiritual discoveries of his glory and excel-
lence. Some individuals, who had been deeply impressed with
divine things, wished on that account to be thought truly con-
verted, and manifested considerable resentment against Mr
Brainerd, when he expressed his doubts and apprehensions
about their spiritual state. There were one or two persons
whose concern seemed in a great measure affected; and there
were one or two more, who discovered an undue disposition to
become teachers of others. But though some disagreeable
things of this kind made their appearance, they never acquired
any footing among the Indians. Mr Brainerd, than whom few
men were ever more free of enthusiasm, was careful to observe
the first symptoms of these evils, and to check them in their
commencement.'
With the view of improving the Indians in Christian know-
ledge, Mr Brainerd now began a catechetical exercise among
them. Sometimes he examined them on some important point
of divinity; sometimes on the discourses he had delivered to
them; but most commonly on the Assembly's Shorter Cate-
chism. In these catechetical exercises, he had much satisfac-
Brainerd's Life, p. 409, 483.
1
104
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
tion. It was truly surprising to see how readily and scripturally
the Indians answered the questions proposed to them: their
knowledge of the principles of religion was found on trial far
more extensive and correct, than could reasonably have been
expected. When Mr Brainerd began this exercise, he was ap-
prehensive it would necessarily prove of so doctrinal a nature,
as merely to enlighten the understanding, without impressing
the conscience or affecting the heart. But in this he was mis-
taken, for it was remarkably blessed for promoting their pro-
gress in experimental as well as in theoretical knowledge. The
serious attention, the tender affection, the many tears which
often appeared at these catechetical meetings, would have been
deemed very extraordinary, had not these things been now so
common that they ceased to excite surprise.'
In February 1746, a school was opened for instructing the
Indians in the English language, and other useful acquirements,
under the care of an excellent schoolmaster, whom Mr Brainerd
had procured for this purpose. About thirty children imme-
diately entered it, and made such surprising progress, that the
teacher remarked, he never had English scholars who, taking
them in general, learned so rapidly. Though some of them
were very young, there were not more than two or three who
failed in making themselves master of all the letters of the
alphabet within three days after the opening of the school;
several in that short time even made some progress in spelling,
and in less than five months were able to read the New Testa-
ment. Besides the children, there were about fifteen or twenty
of the old people, who attended the school at night, when the
length of the evenings would admit of it."
Besides attending to the religious and moral improvement of
the Indians, Mr Brainerd was anxious to obtain for them a
fixed settlement, and to form them to habits of industry. Many
of them having in time past run themselves in debt by their
excessive drinking, and several of them having been arrested
by the White people on this account, he was apprehensive they
might be deprived of a great part of their lands; and being
convinced that they could not remain in that quarter of the
country, nor maintain the order of a Christian congregation,
• Ibid. p. 436, 483.
Brainerd's Life, p. 421, 427, 432, 448, 452, 494.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
105
should their grounds be taken from them, he prevailed on the
gentlemen who had the superintendence of the mission, to ex-
pend a considerable sum of money in discharging the debts of
the Indians, and thus averted the danger which threatened them.
Having by this means secured their lands to them, he was anx-
ious to excite and to cultivate in them a spirit of industry. By
his advice they fixed on a spot at Cranberry, about fifteen miles
from the place of their present residence, and proceeded to
form a regular settlement upon it. Here they began to clear
and to plant their lands; and in little more than a twelve-
month, they had upwards of forty acres of English grain in the
ground, and nearly as many of Indian corn. In general, they
followed their secular occupations as well as could be expected,
considering that during the whole of their life, they had been
habituated to idleness and sloth. Much of the burden, how-
ever, of their temporal affairs devolved on Mr Brainerd, as they
were utterly incapable of arranging and managing them with-
out the constant care and advice of others.¹
Apprehending that a number of the Indians were now quali-
fied to become partakers of the Lord's Supper, Mr Brainerd,
after instructing them more particularly in the nature and de-
sign of that holy ordinance, resolved to administer it to them.
He accordingly appointed a day of fasting and prayer, for the
purpose of humbling themselves on account of the partial with-
drawment of that spiritual influence which had of late been so
prevalent among them, and on account of the appearance of
carelessness, vanity, and vice, among some who not long before
seemed impressed with a sense of their sinfulness and misery,
as well as for imploring the presence and blessing of God in the
sacred service which they had in prospect. On the following
Sabbath he administered the Lord's Supper to twenty-three of
the Indians; and there were several absent, who would other-
wise have been admitted along with them. The exercise was
attended with great solemnity, with singular devotion, and with
a sweet, yet powerful melting of their affections. During the
administration of the ordinance, especially in the distribution
'Brainerd's Life, p. 434, 450, 452, 461, 482; Account of the Society in Scotland for
Propagating Christian Knowledge, prefixed to a Sermon by Robert Walker, 1748,
P. 74.
106
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
of the bread, they were affected in so lively a manner, that it
seemed as if "Christ Jesus had been set forth crucified among
them." Mr Brainerd afterwards walked from house to house
to converse with the communicants; and he was happy to find
that almost all of them had been refreshed "as with new wine."
Never did he witness such an appearance of Christian love
among any people. It was so remarkable, that one might
justly have exclaimed, "Behold how these Indians love one
another!" Even among the primitive Christians, there could
scarcely be greater tokens of mutual affection, than what ap-
peared among these poor people. In the evening, he preached
on the design of Christ's death, "that he might redeem his peo-
ple from all iniquity." On this occasion, many of the Indians
were much refreshed. So delightful was their frame of mind;
so full were they of love, and peace, and joy; so ardently did
they long to be delivered from the power of sin, that some of
them declared they had never felt the like before. It seemed
almost grievous to them to conclude the exercise; and even
when it was closed, they appeared loath to leave a place which
had been so endeared to them by the sacred services of that
day.'
A few days after the administration of the Lord's Supper, Mr
Brainerd baptized a man, who had been a most notorious sin-
ner, a drunkard, a murderer, a conjurer; but who now appeared
to be an illustrious trophy of the power and the riches of divine
grace.
He lived near the Forks of Delaware, and occasionally
attended Mr Brainerd's ministry, but, like many others of the
Indians, was nowise reforined by the means of instruction which
he enjoyed. About that very time, he murdered a promising
young Indian, and he still followed his old trade of conjuration,
being held in high reputation among his countrymen. Hence,
when Mr Brainerd told them of the miracles of Christ, and re-
presented these as a proof of his divine mission, and of the truth
of his religion, they immediately mentioned the wonders of the
same kind which this man had wrought by his magical charms.
As he was, in this way, a powerful obstruction to the progress
of the gospel among the Indians, Mr Brainerd often thought it
would be a great mercy if God would remove him out of the
Brainerd's Life, p. 455.
1
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
107
world, for he had little or no hope that such a wretch would
ever himself be converted; but He "whose thoughts are not
as man's thoughts," was pleased to take a more gracious and a
more effectual method with him.
tr
Having been impressed, by witnessing the baptism of Mr
Brainerd's interpreter, he followed him to Crosweeksung shortly
after, and continued there several weeks, during the season of
the most remarkable and powerful awakening of the Indians.
He was now brought under deep concern for his soul, and,
upon feeling the word of God in his heart," as he expressed
it, his spirit of conjuration entirely left him; and from that
time, he had no more power of that description than any other
man; and he afterwards declared, that he no longer even knew
how he used to charm and conjure, and that he could not do
any thing of that kind though he were ever so desirous of it.
These circumstances we simply state; how they are to be ac-
counted for we do not pretend to explain.
His convictions of his sinfulness and misery became by de-
grees more deep, and the anguish of his mind was so increased,
that he knew not what to do, nor whither to turn.
One day
he was in such extreme distress, that he trembled for several
hours together, and apprehended he was ready to drop into hell,
without any power to escape or help himself. Soon after this, in-
deed, he became quite calm and tranquil, his trembling ceased,
his burden vanished; but yet, in his own apprehension, he had
little or no hope of mercy. Observing him so remarkably com-
posed, Mr Brainerd asked him, "How he did?" To this he
replied, "It is done, it is done, it is all done now." On being
asked what he meant, he answered, "I can do no more to save
myself; it is all done for ever, I can do no more. "But," said
Mr Brainerd, can you not do a little more, rather than go to
hell?" My heart," he replied, "is dead; I can never help
myself." Being asked if he thought it right that God should
send him to hell, he answered, "Yes, it is right. The devil has
been in me ever since I was born. My heart has no goodness.
in it now, but is as bad as ever." Mr Brainerd says he scarcely
ever saw a person more completely weaned from dependence on
his own endeavours for salvation, or lying more humbly at the
foot of sovereign mercy, than this poor Indian conjurer.
<<
c.
"
108
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
He continued in this frame of mind for several days, pro-
nouncing sentence of condemnation upon himself, and acknow-
ledging the justice of his punishment; yet it was evident he had
a secret hope of mercy, though probably it was imperceptible
to himself. During this time, he repeatedly inquired at Mr
Brainerd when he would preach again, and seemed desirous of
hearing the gospel every day. On being asked why he wished to
hear the word, seeing, according to his own account, "his heart
was dead, and all was done for ever." He replied, "Notwith-
standing that, I love to hear about Christ." But," said Mr
Brainerd, "what good can that do you, if you must go to hell at
last?" "I would have others,” replied he, "come to Christ, if
I must go to hell myself." It is not unworthy of notice, that,
at this very time, he appeared to have a great love to the
ple of God, and nothing affected him so much as the thought
of being for ever separated from them; this seemed a very
dreadful ingredient in the hell to which he considered himself
as doomed. He was likewise exceedingly diligent in the use
of the outward means of grace, though he had at the same time
the clearest views of their insufficiency to afford him help. “All
he did,” he would frequently say, "signified nothing;” yet never
was he more constant in attending to the ordinances of religion,
not excepting even secret and family prayer.
peo-
After continuing in this state of mind upwards of a week,
he obtained, one day as Mr Brainerd was preaching, such a
lively and delightful view of the excellency of Christ, and of
the way of salvation through him, that he burst into tears, and
was dissolved in admiration, and gratitude, and praise. From
that time he appeared an humble, devout, affectionate Chris-
tian; serious and exemplary in his behaviour; often complain-
ing of his barrenness and his want of spiritual life; yet fre-
quently favoured with the quickening and refreshing influences
of the Holy Spirit. In short, he appeared, in all respects, to
possess the character and the disposition of one who was
"created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works."
"1
Many as were the difficulties which Mr Brainerd had to en-
counter, and great as were the hardships he had often to endure,
yet so far was he from being weary of the life of a missionary,
'Brainerd's Life, p. 376, 436, 162.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
109
that now when he had the prospect of settling as the pastor of
the Indian flock which he had collected in the wilderness, he
looked forward to it with apprehension, and considered it as a
kind of trial. So ardent, so unabated was his zeal for the con-
version of the heathen, that it was still his desire to spend his
life in preaching the gospel from place to place, and in gather-
ing souls afar off to the Redeemer. We envy not that man,
however distinguished he may be for birth, or talents, or learn-
ing, who can read the exercises of his mind on this occasion,
without admiration, mingled with self-abasement; they display
a disinterestedness, a zeal, a deadness to the world, which per-
haps have scarcely a parallel in modern times.
"Had appre-
hended for several days before, that it was the design of
Providence I should settle among my people here, and had in
my own mind begun to make provision for it, and to contrive
means to hasten it. My heart was somewhat engaged in it,
hoping I might then enjoy in several respects more agreeable
circumstances of life; and yet was never fully determined,
never quite satisfied with the thought of being confined to one
place. Nevertheless, I seemed to have some freedom in that
respect, because the congregation I thought of settling with,
was one which God had enabled me to gather from amongst
Pagans; for never since I began to preach, could I feel any
freedom to enter into other men's labours,' and settle down in
the ministry where the gospel was preached before; I never
could make that appear to be my providence. When I felt any
disposition to consult my ease and worldly comfort, God has
never given me any liberty in that respect, either since or for
some years before I began to preach; but he having succeeded
my labours, and made me instrumental in gathering a church
for him among the Indians, I was ready to think it might be
his design, to give me a quiet settlement and a stated home of
And this, considering the late frequent sinking and
failure of my spirits, and the need I stood in of some agreeable
society, and my great desire of enjoying conveniences and oppor-
tunities for profitable studies, was not altogether disagreeable
to me; and though I still wanted to go about far and wide, in
order to spread the blessed gospel among benighted souls far
remote, yet I never had been so willing to settle in any one
my own.
110
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
place for more than five years past, as I was within the last few
days. But now these thoughts seemed to be wholly dashed in
pieces, not by necessity but of choice; for it appeared to me,
that God's dealings towards me had fitted me for a life of soli-
tariness and hardship; it appeared to me I had nothing to lose,
nothing to do with earth, and consequently nothing to sacrifice.
by a total renunciation of it; and it appeared just right, that
I should be destitute of house and home, and many comforts of
life, which I rejoiced to see others of God's people enjoy. And,
at the same time, I saw so much of the excellency of Christ's
kingdom, and the infinite desirableness of its advancement in
the world, that it swallowed up all my other thoughts, and
made me willing, yea even rejoice, to be made a pilgrim or a
hermit in the wilderness to my dying moment, if I might
thereby promote the blessed interest of the great Redeemer.
And if ever my soul presented itself to God for his service,
without any reserve of any kind, it did so now. The language
of my thoughts and disposition (although I spoke no words)
now were, 'Here am I, Lord, send me; send me to the ends of
the earth; send me to the rough, the savage Pagans of the
wilderness; send me from all that is called comfort on earth;
send me even to death itself, if it be but in thy service, and to
promote thy kingdom.' At the same time, I had as quick and
lively a sense of the value of worldly comforts as ever I had,
only I saw them infinitely overmatched by the worth of Christ's
kingdom, and the propagation of his blessed gospel. The quiet
settlement, the certain place of abode, the tender friendship I
had the prospect of enjoying, appeared as valuable to me as ever
before, considered absolutely and in themselves; but, consi-
dered comparatively, they appeared nothing; compared with the
enlargement of Christ's kingdom, they vanished like the stars
before the rising sun. And sure I am, that although the com-
fortable accommodations of life appeared valuable and dear to
me, yet I did surrender and resign myself, soul and body, to
the service of God and promotion of Christ's kingdom; though
it should be in the loss of them all. And I could not do any
other, because I could not will or choose any other. I was con-
strained, and yet chose to say, 'Farewell, friends and earthly
comforts, the dearest of them all, the very dearest, if the Lord
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
111
calls for it. Adieu, adieu! I'll spend my life to my latest mo-
ments in caves and dens of the earth, if the kingdom of Christ
may thereby be advanced.'-Oh! with what reluctance did I
find myself obliged to consume time in sleep! I longed to be
a flame of fire, continually glowing in the service of God,
preaching and building up Christ's kingdom to my latest, my
dying moment.”¹
With Mr Brainerd, these were not empty words. Though his
constitution was now broken by the toils and hardships he had
endured; though he already harboured in his breast the seeds
of a disease which would certainly soon prove mortal; and
though his journeys to the Susquehannah had hitherto been
attended with little success, yet he shortly after proceeded on
a new visit to the Indians in that quarter, accompanied by
several of his congregation, whom he judged best qualified to
assist him in his labours. In the course of this journey, he
suffered not a little from a cough, cold night sweats, and spitting
of blood; yet, alarming as were these symptoms, he was often
obliged to sleep in the woods. One evening he was so extremely
faint, that he was apprehensive that should he lie out in the
open air, it would prove fatal to him; and yet as some of his
companions were absent, and the others had not an axe, he
had no resource but to climb up a young pine-tree, to lop the
branches with his knife, and so make some kind of shelter from
the dew. Exposed, however, as he was to all the coldness of
the night, he perspired so profusely, that his linen was com-
pletely drenched with sweat. He was now, indeed, so extremely
feeble, that he was scarcely able to ride: sometimes he felt as
if he would fall from his horse, and have to lie in the woods.
With this remarkable weakness of body, was combined uncom-
mon depression of spirits, which, as it unfitted him for exertion
among the Indians, gave rise to the most humbling reflections
upon himself. "I was scarcely," says he, "ever more ashamed
and confounded in myself than now. I was sensible that there
were numbers of God's people who knew I was then out on a
design (or at least a pretence) of doing something for God and
his cause, among the poor Indians; and that they were ready to
suppose I was fervent in spirit; but, oh, the heartless frame of
'Brainerd's Life, p. 211.
112
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
mind I felt, filled me with confusion. Oh, methought, if they
knew me, as God knows me, they would not think so highly of
my zeal and resolution, as perhaps they now do. I could not
but desire they should see how heartless and irresolute I was,
that they might be undeceived, and 'not think of me above
what they ought to think.' And yet I thought, if they saw
the utmost of my flatness and unfaithfulness, the smallness of
my courage and resolution for God, they would be ready to shut
me out of their houses, as unworthy of the company or friend-
ship of Christians."
After being absent upwards of a month, Mr Brainerd again
arrived among his own people, and though very ill, resumed his
labours among them, as far as his exhausted strength would
permit, often discoursing to them even from his bed. His dis-
order now rapidly increased, and he was at length obliged to
leave them altogether. Being recommended to ride about for
his health, the loss of time which this occasioned was a severe
trial to him, and often contributed, with other circumstances,
to inspire him with very gloomy reflections. But though he
was at first troubled with melancholy, he afterwards became
more cheerful, especially as the prospect of death drew near.
One evening, when he was attacked with a slight degree of
diarrhoea, which he rightly considered as a symptom of the
fatal progress of his disorder, he exclaimed, "Oh, the glorious
time is now coming! I have longed to serve God perfectly;
now he will gratify these desires." As new symptoms of ap-
proaching dissolution made their appearance, he became still
more animated and cheerful. When he spoke of the period of
his death, he used to call it "that glorious day;" nor was this
because he should then be delivered from sorrow and pain, and
raised to dignity and honour, for he thought that a compara-
tively low and ignoble consideration, but because he should then
be able to glorify God with a pure and perfect heart. One
evening, when he was attempting to walk a little, he writes in
his diary, he thought with himself, "How infinitely sweet is it
to love God, and to be all for him. Upon which it occurred
to me: 'You are not an angel, not lively and active.' To this
my whole soul immediately replied: 'I as sincerely desire to
¹ Brainerd's Life, p. 226, 231.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
113
love and glorify God, as any angel in heaven.' Upon which it
was suggested again, 'But you are filthy, not fit for heaven.'
Hereupon instantly appeared the blessed robes of Christ's right-
eousness, which I could not but exult and triumph in, and I
viewed the infinite excellency of God, and my soul even broke
with longings that God should be glorified. I thought of dignity
in heaven; but instantly the thought returned, 'I do not go
to heaven to get honour, but to give all possible glory and
praise.' Oh, how I longed that God should be glorified on earth
also. Bodily pains I cared not for; though I was then in ex-
tremity, I never felt easier. I felt willing to glorify God in that
state of bodily distress, as long as he was pleased to continue me
in it. The grave appeared really sweet, and I longed to lodge
my weary bones in it; but oh that God might be glorified!
This was the burden of all my cry." The extraordinary frame
of mind he was in that evening could not be hid. Among
many remarkable expressions which he then uttered were such
as the following:-"My heaven is to please God, to give all to
him, to be wholly devoted to his glory. That is the heaven I
long for; that is my religion; that is my happiness, and always
was, ever since, I suppose, I had any true religion.-I do not
go to heaven to be advanced, but to give honour to God. It is
no matter where I shall be stationed in heaven, whether I have
a high or a low seat there; but to love, and please, and glorify
God is all. Had I a thousand souls, if they were worth any
thing, I would give them all to him; but I have nothing to
give when all is done. I long to be in heaven, praising and
glorifying God with the holy angels; all my desire is to glorify
God. My heart goes out to the burying ground; it seems to
me a desirable place; but, Oh, to glorify God! that is it, that
is above all.—It is a great comfort to me to think, that I have
done a little for God in the world. Oh! it is but a very small
matter; yet I have done a little, and I lament I have not done
more for him. There is nothing in the world worth living for
but doing good, and finishing God's work,-doing the work that
Christ did. I see nothing else in the world that can yield any
satisfaction besides living to God, pleasing him, and doing his
whole will.'
VOL. I.
¹ Brainerd's Life, p. 235, 243, 255, 272.
H
114
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Mr Brainerd was now daily growing worse; yet ill as he was,
he eagerly employed the little strength which still remained, in
some attempts to promote the glory of the Redeemer and the
salvation of souls. It greatly refreshed him amidst all his bo-
dily sickness and pain, that he was enabled to contribute a
little towards these important objects. Nature, however, was,
at length, exhausted. He gradually sunk under the ravages of
his disorder, and after a severe struggle, breathed his last, 9th
October 1747, in the thirtieth year of his age.²
Thus died David Brainerd, a young man, whose extraordinary
worth and piety entitle him to the warmest admiration and re-
spect of the Christian world, and whose memory deserves to be
embalmed to the latest generations. He possessed, according
to President Edwards, uncommon natural talents, a quick per-
ception, a ready invention, a strong memory, a clear, correct,
penetrating judgment, a sound and vigorous understanding,
much natural eloquence, and a peculiar facility of communica-
ting his ideas to others. He had an extraordinary knowledge
of men, as well as things, and a happy faculty of accommoda-
ting himself to the capacities, tempers, and circumstances of
those whom he wished to instruct. His gift in prayer was al-
most inimitable: there was such a propriety in his petitions,
such a weight in his expressions, such an appearance of sin-
cerity, reverence, and solemnity in his manner. His learning
was very considerable: he excelled in knowledge, in general,
but, particularly, in the knowledge of theology. He was truly,
for one of his age, an extraordinary divine, especially in all
matters relating to experimental religion. Grace in him appears
to have been, with scarcely any interruption, in sensible and
vigorous operation. He was distinguished by the purest and
most ardent love to God; by a most abasing sense of his own
vileness, particularly of the depravity of his heart; by deep
contrition of spirit, on account of his small attainments in
piety, and fervent longings after perfection in holiness; by in-
tense desires to promote the glory of God, and the extension of
the kingdom of Christ in the world; by singular spirituality of
mind, and entire deadness to earthly things; by clear and im-
pressive views of eternity, as if he were actually out of the
'Brainerd's Life, p. 258, 270, 285.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
115
body, and beheld with his eyes the grand realities of the other
world.¹ The chief defect in his character, perhaps, was a dis-
position to melancholy; but this was, no doubt, much increased
by the unfavourable circumstances in which he was placed.
In his labours among the Indians, Mr Brainerd, as we have
seen, was most unwearied, and his success on the whole was
considerable. The whole number whom he collected together
amounted to about a hundred and fifty, though, when he first
visited that part of the country, they did not amount to ten.
Of these, near ninety were baptized, about one-half of whom
were adults, and near forty were communicants. It is proper,
however, to observe, that he baptized no adults, but such as
gave satisfactory evidence of their sincere conversion to Christ.
There were many others of the Indians who possessed consider-
able knowledge of the principles of Christianity, and manifested
deep concern about their souls; but as they appeared to be
merely under convictions of their sinfulness and misery, and did
not give sufficient evidence of a change of heart, he very pro-
perly delayed their baptism."
After this excellent man was obliged to leave his Indian
flock, he was succeeded in the charge of it by his younger
brother, Mr John Brainerd. Under him the mission continued
for some years to flourish in a pleasing manner. The number
of the Indians increased to about two hundred, including old
and young, notwithstanding there was for some time a consi-
derable mortality among them. Most of those who appeared
to have been converted under the ministry of his excellent
brother, not only persevered in the profession of religion, but
adorned it by a holy and exemplary conversation, though several,
as might be expected, were guilty of grievous backsliding. Some
of those who had lately joined the settlement were brought un-
der serious concern for their souls; and others of the congre-
gation appeared to be made partakers of divine grace. Besides,
they made considerable progress in civilization, and in the arts
of life. The men cultivated the ground; the women learned to
spin; and both, in a great measure, abandoned that idle sloth-
ful course of life which is so habitual to all the tribes of Indians.
1
¹ Edwards' Sermon on the Death of Mr Brainerd, p. 27.
* Brainerd's Life, p. 450, 481, 225, 240.
116
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
The school also was in a flourishing state; even the old people
were so anxious to learn to read and understand the Scriptures,
that many of them attended it in the evening, among whom
were some of forty or fifty years of age. Several of the boys
were put out to trades, and it was proposed to erect a working-
school for the girls.'
Besides labouring among his own congregation, Mr John
Brainerd occasionally made journeys among the Indians in dis-
tant parts of the country, though with no other material effect
than inducing some of them to come and settle with his people.
In one of his visits to the Susquehannah, he had to encounter
a difficulty of rather an extraordinary nature. On his arrival,
the Indians pretended they had just received a revelation from
heaven, which, after representing the evil of some particular
vices, and recommending the sacrifice of a deer, and certain
other superstitious practices, concluded by telling them, that
God made two worlds, one for the White people, the other for
the Indians; that the White people had no business to come.
into the Indian country, much less to persuade them to embrace
their religion, for that he had commanded them to worship him
in their own way, and their Red brethren to worship him in
another; that though the White people made some pretences of
instructing them, yet they had no design of doing them good,
but merely to put money into their own pockets. In conse-
quence of this revelation, the production, probably, of some
interested Indian, Mr Brainerd was able to do little amongst
these poor people, though in other respects they seemed more
civilized than any he had hitherto seen.²
In 1759, Mr John Brainerd settled with his congregation
upon a tract of land, which was purchased on their account by
the government of New Jersey. Among the many difficulties
attending the christianizing and civilization of the Indians,
their living in small villages, scattered through the wilderness,
¹ Brainerd's Life, p. 249, 283, 341; Edward's Works, vol. i. p. cxlvi, cxlviii, clxxii. ;
Letter from Mr John Brainerd, London 1753, p. 4, 12; Account of the Soc. in Scot-
land for Prop. Christ. Know., prefixed to a Sermon by Robert Walker, p. 71; Blair's
Sermon before the Soc. in Scotland for Prop. Christ. Know. p. 44; Plenderleath's Ser-
mon, ditto, p. 75.
2 Letter from Mr John Brainerd, p. 5, 9.-Bonar's Sermon before the Soc, in Scot-
land for Prop. Christ. Know. p. 50.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
117
was none of the least. Hitherto this evil had been only par-
tially corrected; but it was now proposed to collect them
together in one place, and to fix them in regular habitations.
The extent of country under Mr Brainerd's charge was a hun-
dred miles east and west, and near eighty north and south.
The land for the use of the Indians consisted of about four
thousand acres, and was situated near the centre of the country,
between the river Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean. The soil
was suitable for Indian corn, rice, beans, potatoes, clover, and
various kinds of fruit-trees, and wanted nothing but cultiva-
tion, to supply the Indians with plenty of vegetables. It does
not appear, however, that this new arrangement was attended
with that success which was expected or desired.
1
In 1774, Mr Thomas Rankin, a methodist preacher, met with
Mr John Brainerd, and received from him a very unfavourable
statement with respect to the Indians under his care.
"What
an unpleasing account," says he, "did he give me of the remains
of his excellent brother's labours, as well as of his own, among
the Indians! When his brother died, there was a large com-
pany of Indians who regularly attended the preaching of the
word, and above sixty who were communicants. The number,
however, who attended his ministry, was now small, and there
were not above ten or twelve who were qualified for admission
to the Lord's Supper. On asking him the reason of this declen-
sion, he observed, that some were dead, and died happy in the
Lord; others had grown careless and lukewarm; and many
had wandered back among their Pagan countrymen, several of
whom had even returned to their idolatrous customs. Some,
also, had yielded to the love of spirituous liquors, from which
they seemed once completely weaned. Thus the gold had be-
come dim, and the most fine gold was changed.' We have
given Mr Rankin's account at large, but do not pledge ourselves
for its accuracy. It is obvious he was mistaken with regard to
the number of communicants at the time of Mr David Brainerd's
death, for, instead of being upwards of sixty, they did not
amount to forty; and it appears from an official statement pub-
<
¹ Macqueen's Sermon before the Society in Scotland for Prop. Christ. Know. p. 67.
—Account of the Society in Scotland for Prop. Christ. Know., 1774, p. 15, 18.
118
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
lished about this very period, that the number of Indians under
the pastoral care of Mr John Brainerd, instead of being small,
amounted to about 150 or 160, which is equal to what they
were when he succeeded his brother; and it is stated by the
same authority, that, "as to their morals, they were in general
rather reformed, and many of them even supported an unblem-
ished character." Perhaps, therefore, Mr Rankin, in the picture
he has drawn, may undesignedly have overcharged the colouring
in some other particulars; yet still, we fear, his representation
was by no means without foundation.'
During the American War, Mr John Brainerd's correspond-
ence with the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian
Knowledge was suspended, and toward the close of it he died.
In 1783, he was succeeded in the charge of his congregation, by
Mr Daniel Simon, an Indian, who had been ordained to the
ministry; but it was soon found necessary to suspend him from
his office, on account of drunkenness and other irregularities.
No missionary was appointed to succeed him; but the congre-
gation was occasionally supplied by the neighbouring ministers."
In July 1802, some Commissioners from New Jersey con-
ducted eighty-five Delaware Indians, the remains of Mr John
Brainerd's congregation, to New Stockbridge, to place them
under the ministry of Mr Sergeant, the missionary in that
town. For many years past they had been left entirely to
themselves, having no spiritual shepherd to watch over them,
no meetings for divine worship on the Sabbath, and no school
for their children. Hence, they in general grew very wicked,
and had been long in a very miserable state, scattered through
the country, and excessively addicted to drinking. To this,
however, there might be some exceptions: mention, at least, is
made of one old woman dying after they removed to Stock-
bridge, who dated her conversion from the time of the great
awakening under Mr David Brainerd, and who was distin-
guished for her piety to the day of her death."
Such a result of those bright and pleasing prospects, which
¹ Methodist Magazine, vol. xxxiv. p. 445; Account of the Soc. in Scotland for Prop.
Christ. Know. 1774, p. 18.
"American Correspondence, among the Records of the Society in Scotland for Pro-
pagating Christian Knowledge, MS. vol. i. p. 48, 49, 72, 122, 123.
* Religious Monitor, vol. i. p. 189; Massachussets Missionary Magazine, vol. iii. p. 387.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
119
1
once dawned on this tribe of Indians, is truly deplorable. Few
of these individuals, however, could have belonged to Mr David
Brainerd's congregation, and such as did, must, in general, have
been little more than children at that time. Indeed, though
there certainly was an extraordinary work of grace among his
people, yet it was never supposed they were all converted. Of
adults, he baptized only between forty and fifty, and though
there were many others, as we have already mentioned, under
deep concern for their souls, yet as they did not give satisfactory
evidence of a saving change, he judged it expedient to delay
their baptism. Now, as the Christian Indians, in general, con-
tinued for several years at least to adorn their profession by a
holy and exemplary conversation; as some of them died happy in
the Lord; as twenty-seven years after Mr Brainerd's death,
there were still, even according to the most unfavourable ac-
counts, ten or twelve who were considered as fit for admission
to the Lord's Supper, it is probable there were as many, or even
a greater number than he ever supposed, who were truly con-
verted to Christ, maintained a Christian deportment to the last,
and now join with him in heaven, in celebrating the praises of
God and of the Lamb. It gives us much pleasure to state, that
the late Dr Witherspoon, president of New Jersey College, in
referring to these Indians, assures us that it was fully attested,
that they had persevered, with scarcely any exceptions, in their
profession of religion, and even adorned it by their exemplary
conversation. Still, however, it is melancholy to think, that
our hopes with respect to so many others of the Indians, as well
as with regard to the extension and the permanence of the
mission, have been so miserably disappointed. Let us learn not
to be too sanguine in our expectations, even when appearances
are of the most promising nature; and especially, not to be so
intoxicated by the most promising appearances, as to cease to
"watch unto prayer.”
2
1 Brainerd's Life, p. 340.
* American Correspondence, MS. vol. i. p. 171.
120
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
SECT. VI.-ONEIDA.
IN November 1764, Mr Samuel Kirkland proceeded, under
the auspices of the Rev. E, Wheelock of Lebanon in Connecticut,
to the country of the Seneca Indians, with the view of learning
their language, in order to qualify himself for labouring as a
missionary among them. It was considered at that time as a
bold and perilous adventure, for the distance was great, and no
missionary had before penetrated their forests, and there being
room for the imagination to work, they were pictured as a wild
and ferocious race. After a long and toilsome journey, he, under
the guidance of two of the Indians, reached their principal
town, Kanadasega, near Seneca Lake, and met with a very
friendly reception from them, having been strongly recom-
mended to them by Sir William Johnson, the General Agent
for Indian affairs. Within a few weeks after his arrival,
he was, by authority of the council, formally adopted as a mem-
ber of the family of the head Sachem; but the chief's house
being much exposed to company, it was arranged that he should
live in a neighbouring house, occupied by a small family; the
man was one of the best in all the town, sober, temperate, in-
dustrious, honest, and telling no lies." Here he was treated
very kindly; every thing, in fact, appeared exceedingly promis-
ing. The scene, however, was soon changed. He was but a
short time in his new abode, when his host died suddenly in the
night, having been in perfect health the day before, and never
"sick in his life." Early in the morning, the whole village
was aroused; crowds came pouring in to look at the corpse;
their countenances as they turned towards Mr Kirkland were
very forbidding;" and messengers were despatched to six or
seven villages to communicate the tidings and to summon a
council. The head Sachem came in at a later hour in the morn-
ing, and addressed a few words of consolation to the bereaved
widow, and then said to Mr Kirkland, "A dark morning, my
son; but possess your mind in peace. It may be we shall see
good by and by. You must know that the Great Spirit, in very
deed, must do as he pleases."
(6
te
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
121
The next day at noon, great numbers having assembled, they
began to hold a council. It soon appeared that a large party
were disposed to charge the sudden death of the Indian upon
Mr Kirkland, maintaining that either he wrought it by magic, or
that it was an intimation of the displeasure of the Great Spirit
at his visit and residence among them, and that he must be put
to death. "My adopted father," he says, "came out of the
council before night to speak to me. He wished me to possess
my mind in peace; assured me that he would not quit the
council till all was settled and done well. He smiled and ap-
peared cheerful, or at least tried to do so; but I plainly saw
that he had a weight upon his mind."
On the third day, about an hour before sunset, the corpse
was interred. The funeral, however, did not interrupt the
sitting of the council. About one hundred and fifty women and
girls followed the body to the grave; but no male person ex-
cept Mr Kirkland, and one other, the grave-digger. The de-
ceased was neatly dressed in a clean white shirt, black shroud
blanket, scarlet leggins, a pair of new moccasons, his face curi-
ously painted. His pipe, tomahawk, tobacco pouch, flint, steel
and punk, were put into the coffin, and placed on both sides of
his head. While carrying the body to the grave, "they sang
the most mournful strain of music ever heard, interspersed with
the most savage yells and screams." The night of the funeral,
Mr Kirkland slept with "his elder brother" (for the children of
the head Sachem were reckoned his brothers and sisters), in a
blockhouse formerly erected by Sir William Johnson, with the
design of stationing a company of soldiers in it, which however
the Senecas would not permit. Here "one of his sisters"
brought him a bit of venison, and a dish of samp-pottage, which
was very acceptable to him, as he had been fasting for thirty-
six hours. He saw plainly that the family into which he had
been adopted, and all his friends, felt great anxiety for his
safety, which increased and became more apparent the next
day, when "his youngest brother" put a gun into his hand, and
took another himself, and under the pretext of shooting par-
tridges, invited him to take a walk into the woods, and led him
by a circuitous course a considerable distance from the village,
to a solitary sugar hut, where they remained for several days
122
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
one of his sisters bringing him food at night, about ten
o'clock."
After passing several days in this concealment, during which
he was not allowed to leave the hut, or to speak but in a very
low voice, he returned to the village, the council having broken
up and the members dispersed. He was received by the whole
family with marks of joy, and was saluted by them and others
who came to see him, with the welcome words, "All is now
only peace." From this time, he took up his residence in the
blockhouse, his elder brother and his family living there with
him. He was of course very anxious to learn the proceedings
of the council; but from policy, he suppressed his curiosity,
manifested no anxiety, and asked no questions, hoping that some
information would be given to him. Several weeks, however,
passed before he learned any particulars of its proceedings, and
he finally obtained them, not from any of the Indians, but from
a Dutch trader who passed several days at the village, and who,
through his long acquaintance with several of the chiefs, easily
gained the desired information. It appears that while the head
Sachem earnestly pleaded the cause of Mr Kirkland, another
famous chief of great influence among the Indians, proposed
that he should be put to death; but the advice of the former
prevailed, being assented to by all except a small minority of
fifteen, and after a general shout of applause, which made the
council-house ring, the meeting broke up.'
Mr Kirkland, however, was soon subjected to severe suffer-
ings from another source. Provisions were exceedingly scarce
in that part of the country. There was little Indian corn left.
White oak acorns suitable for food, could not easily be found.
Game too was not plentiful at that season of the year, and the
little they killed, they were obliged to husband very carefully.
It was often kept till it "almost came to life again," and what
was worse, had to be eaten in that state. Two months he
lived without bread, flesh, or salt, except once that he eat part
of a bear, though in a most unpalatable condition. His chief
food was small fish, roots, acorns, and a handful of pounded corn
boiled in a large quantity of water. His peace too was again
Lothrop's Life of Samuel Kirkland in Spark's Lib. Amer. Biog, vol. xxv. p. 151,
155, 157, 165, 168, 169, 182, 282.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
123
disturbed by his old enemy in the council, who came to the
village to induce some of the young warriors to join him in an
expedition against the Cherokees. But as they generally de-
clined his proposal, he attributed this to the influence of Mr
Kirkland, who he said had poisoned the minds of the young
warriors with White men's notions; and he gave it out as his
fixed purpose to kill him if he did not go away. One day
shortly after, as Mr Kirkland was riding home in the evening,
an Indian, a sort of lieutenant in the troop of this chief, at-
tempted to shoot him; but he set off his horse at full speed,
and happily made his escape.'
In May 1766, Mr Kirkland left the Seneca country, and after
being ordained in New England to the office of the ministry, he
set off for Kanon warohare, the chief town of the Oneida Indians,
about fifteen miles south of the east end of Oneida lake. A
school had already been established in that village; the chil-
dren who attended it made great progress in learning; and the
inhabitants in general were very anxious to have a minister
settled among them. Taking advantage of this circumstance,
Mr Kirkland, soon after his arrival, assembled them together,
and told them, that if they would all solemnly engage to aban-
don drinking, and enable him to carry their determination into
execution, by appointing six or eight of their principal men
to assist him, with full power to seize all spirituous liquors, and
destroy them, or dispose of them as he should think fit, he then
would remain with them; but if they would not agree to this,
he would then leave them. After four days' consideration, they
unanimously appointed eight persons, whom Mr Kirkland nomi-
nated, as his assistants, who proved very active and faithful in
carrying the measure into effect. Such, indeed, was its success,
that though in a short time about eighty casks of rum were
carried through the town, and offered to the Indians for sale,
and even in some cases as a present, yet in no instance were
they prevailed on to accept of it. For about three months, only
two were guilty of intoxication; and one of these was the only
person in the town who opposed Mr Kirkland's measures."
¹ Lothrop's Life of Kirkland in Spark's Lib. Amer. Biog. vol. xv. p. 183, 193; Nar-
rative of the Indian Charity School at Lebanon, Connecticut, p. 53.
2 Lothrop's Life of Kirkland in Spark's Lib. Amer. Biog. vol. xxv. p. 199, 200, 202,
206. Narrative of the Indian Charity School, p. 35, 38, 43, 55.
124
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In the summer of 1767, Mr Kirkland, and the Indians under
his care, suffered much distress from the scarcity of provisions.
For two years past the frost had destroyed their corn, and this
season the worms threatened to lay waste at least one-half
of the crop which was then in the ground. "From week to
week," says Mr Kirkland, "I am obliged to go with the Indians
to Oneida lake, to catch eels for my subsistence. I have lodged
and slept with them till I am as lousy as a dog. Flour and milk,
and a few eels, have been my only living. Such diet, with my
hard labour abroad, is not sufficient to support nature; my
strength, indeed, begins to fail. My poor people are almost
starved to death. There is one family, consisting of four persons,
whom I must support in the best way I can, or they would cer-
tainly perish. Indeed, I would myself be glad of an opportu-
nity to fall upon my knees for such a bone as I have often seen
cast to the dogs. Without relief I shall soon perish. My con-
stitution is almost broken; my spirits sink: yet my heart still
bleeds for these poor creatures. I had rather die than leave
them alone in their present miserable condition."
Mr Kirkland's necessities were no sooner known than they
were relieved by his friends. But he had not long escaped from
danger of perishing by hunger, when he was in no small hazard
of his life from one of the Indians, in consequence of his endea-
vours to execute the law regarding spirituous liquors. Having
learned that two or three women were drinking near the town,
and that they had a great quantity of rum, he went immediately
to them; and though they had concealed the liquor for fear of
him, yet he soon discovered it, and destroyed it without further
ceremony. One of the poor creatures afterwards fell upon her
knees, and with bitter cries and tears mourned over the loss of
her beloved liquor, and even licked up what was not soaked
into the earth, uttering many imprecations against him for his
cruelty. The husband of the woman to whom the spirits be-
longed, (a man who, by his own confession, had murdered no
fewer than fourteen persons,) was so enraged, that he threatened
to kill Mr Kirkland, and even brought some Indians, from a
neighbouring town, to assist him in executing his bloody design.
"The matter," said he, "is now settled; the minister shall never
see another rising sun." Being apprized of his danger, Mr Kirk-
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
125
land was persuaded to leave the village that night, and to retire
to a sugar-house about a mile and a half distant. He returned,
however, to the town the next morning; and though some of
the Indians were still much enraged against him, yet most of
them seemed more than ever attached to him, and expressed
the utmost concern for his safety. One of them even offered
three times to die in his stead.
Soon after this event, Mr Kirkland visited the neighbouring
town of Old Oneida, the inhabitants of which had manifested
the utmost aversion to the gospel, and were so violent against
the new regulations regarding spirituous liquors, that they em-
ployed every artifice to check the progress of the reformation;
and even near relations, such as brothers and sisters, would not
visit each other after the agreement was made. Now, however,
they were much impressed by the word; and the inhabitants
of the two villages not only came to hear the gospel with each
other, but their mutual differences were completely removed, and
a formal reconciliation was effected between them. The people
of Old Oneida even expressed their determination to enter into
the same engagement as their brethren with regard to spirituous
liquors; and it was agreed among them, that Mr Kirkland should
preach at the two places every alternate Sabbath. This change
in the temper of the inhabitants of that town was the more ex-
traordinary, as only a few months before they were loading Mr
Kirkland with imprecations, and wishing he was dead. The
whole transaction was remarkably solemn. The tears flowed
from many an eye which formerly was seldom known to weep.
The mission among the Oneidas now assumed a most pro-
mising aspect; it seemed as if "the wilderness would soon re-
joice and blossom as the rose." The Lord's day was observed
by the Indians with the utmost strictness; drunkenness was in
a great measure banished from among them; and there were a
number who appeared to be sincere converts to the faith of
Christ. Even the poor wretch who had lately sought Mr Kirk-
land's life was under deep convictions of sin, and made a public
confession of his guilt in a most humble manner.¹
In June 1773, the Society in Scotland for propagating Chris-
tian Knowledge took Mr Kirkland under its patronage, and
¹ Continuation of the Narrative of the Indian Charity School, p. 1, 3, 11, 17, &c.
126
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
agreed to pay his salary in conjunction with the Corporation of
Harvard College in New England. During the American war,
which began not long after, Mr Kirkland was much interrupted
in his labours among the Indians, as the country was in a very
distracted state. His mission, indeed, though not absolutely
abandoned, was virtually discontinued, as he was often and for
a long time absent, and at a great distance from Oneida, serving
as a chaplain in the American army, or acting as an agent for
Congress, in negociations with the Indians, for the purpose of
securing their friendship, and maintaining their neutrality in
the war which was then carrying on between England and the
Colonies. With this view, he took long journeys among the
Indian tribes in all directions, attended several councils that
were held at the German Flats, Albany, Oneida, and' Onondaga,
and put forth all his personal influence with them. He had at
first great hopes of success; but the machinations of the agents
of England prevailed in drawing these bloodhounds of war into
the contest, and ultimately some were ranged on the side of the
British, and others on that of the Colonies.
Mr Kirkland took a warm interest in the cause of his country,
and, even when at his post among the Oneidas, was much em-
ployed in procuring, through friendly Indian scouts, intelligence
from Niagara and the lake frontier, of the plans and purposes
of the enemy in that quarter."
During the war, the Oneidas were severe sufferers. A few of
them joined the British; but the greater part adhered to the
Americans. Many of their warriors were killed in battle; and
after the destruction of their villages and churches by the Eng-
lish, they removed to the plains of Schenectady, or wandered
among the neighbouring towns, till the cessation of hostilities
permitted them to return to their own settlements."
After the conclusion of the war, the Oneidas made a grant of
land to a considerable number of other Indians of different
tribes, that they might come and settle in their neighbourhood;
and they expected that in a short time there would be upwards
¹ Account of the Soc. in Scotland for prop. Christ. Know. 1774, p. 17.
3 Fraser's Sermon before the Soc. in Scotland for prop. Christ. Know. p. 43.
3 Lothrop's Life of Kirkland in Spark's Lib. Amer. Biog. vol. xxv. p. 238, 246.
• Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. iv. p. 69; vol. v. p. 16.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
127
of a thousand of their countrymen in their vicinity disposed to
listen to the Word of God, and to cultivate the arts of civilized
life. Having now the prospect of being again settled in their
own country, they earnestly invited Mr Kirkland to return and
take up his residence among them. "We have been attending,
said they, "for many years to the vast difference between
White people and Indians. We have laboured much to investi-
gate the cause; for the one are in prosperous circumstances,
the other are indigent and wretched. The one appear to be the
favourites of heaven, and honourable in the sight of men; the
other are despised and rejected of both. We Indians, therefore,
must alter our conduct. We must give up our Pagan customs.
We must unite with all our wisdom and strength, to cultivate
the manners aud civilization of the White people, who are thus
distinguished by the favour and protection of the Great Spirit
above, and embrace the religion of Christ, or we shall, before.
many years, be not only despised by the nations of the earth,
but utterly rejected by the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of the White
people.
"We entreat our Father to make one trial more for chris-
tianizing the Indians, at least for one, if not for two years; and
if there be no encouragement after this that we shall be built
up as a people and embrace the religion of Christ, he may leave
us, and we shall expect nothing but ruin."
About the same time, the Indians addressed a letter to the
Commissioners in Boston, who were invested by the Society in
Scotland with the superintendence of the mission; and in this
letter, they beseech them to send Mr Kirkland among them, in
the following energetic language:
(C
Fathers, attend to our words!
"It is a long time since we heard your voice. We hope you
have not forgotten us. The Great Spirit above hath preserved
us, and led us back to our country, and rekindled our fire in
peace, which we hope he will preserve to warm and refresh us
and our children to the latest posterity.
"Fathers, we have been distressed by the black cloud that
so long overspread our country. The cloud is now blown over.
Let all thank the Great Spirit, and praise Christ Jesus. By
means of his servants, the good news of salvation have been
128
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
published to us. We have received them. Some of us love the
Lord Jesus, who hath preserved us through the late storm.
Fathers, our fire just begins to burn again. Our hearts rejoice
to see it. We hope it will burn brighter and brighter than
ever, and that it will enlighten the Indian nations around us.
"Fathers, we doubt not but your hearts will rejoice in our
prosperity; and as the Great Spirit above hath given us the
light of
peace once more, we hope he will, by your means, send
to us the light of his holy word; and that you will think of our
father Mr Kirkland, and enable him to eat his bread by our
fire-side. He hath for several years laboured among us, and
done every thing in his power for our good. Our father Mr
Kirkland loves us, and we love him. He hath long had the
charge of us, hath long watched over us, and explained the
Word of God to us. Fathers, we repeat our request, that you
will continue our father to sit by our fire-side, to watch over us,
to instruct us, and to lead us in the way to heaven."
In the autumn of 1785, Mr Kirkland, agreeably to the request
of the Indians, returned and settled among them. In several
villages, particularly Kanonwarohare, Old Oneida, and Kana-
desko, he found the people so desirous of religious instruction,
with the exception of only two or three who were professed
Pagans, that they would assemble for that purpose at almost
any time of the day. On the Sabbath, he generally performed
divine service at Kanonwarohare, as it was not only the prin-
cipal village, but the most central of the whole. Here the In-
dians collected in such numbers from the other towns, which
were four, six, ten, and even near thirty miles distant, that
there was no house sufficiently large to contain them, and there-
fore they were often obliged to assemble for public worship
under the trees in the open air. The order, attention, and
solemnity which appeared in their meetings, were often truly
delightful. They never seemed tired of hearing the Word of
God; their applications for instruction were frequently so inces-
sant, that Mr Kirkland had scarcely leisure to take his food.
Upwards of seventy appeared to be under serious impressions.
of religion. Their views of divine truth were, in general, scrip-
tural and rational, though some appeared to have a tincture of
¹ Fraser's Sermon before the Soc. in Scotland for Prop. Christ. Know. p. 46.
+
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
129
enthusiasm. Their convictions of sin were deep and pungent;
and in many instances, the sense of its evil seemed to rise higher
than the fear of punishment. There was, at the same time, a
remarkable reformation of manners among them. Many who
had been guilty of the foulest crimes, and had led an extremely
dissipated life, now became sober, regular, and industrious: for
some months there was not a single instance of intoxication in
two of the villages; but this fair prospect was afterwards over-
cast; religion declined among them, and even sunk to a very
low ebb.
In the summer of 1796, the Rev. Drs Morse and Belknap
proceeded, by desire of the Society in Scotland for Propagating
Christian Knowledge, to the Oneida country, in order to inquire
into the state of the mission among the Indians. By their re-
port, it appears, that the number of Indians, including men,
women, and children, under the care of Mr Kirkland, amounted
to six hundred and twenty-eight. For some years past, how-
ever, there had been no pure Oneidas. There was scarcely, in-
deed, an individual among them who was not descended on one
side or other from English, Scotch, Irish, French, German, or
Dutch parents, and some also from Negroes. Among them there
were only eight persons who were professed Pagans; but though
the others called themselves Christians, the greater part of them
appeared to have nothing of Christianity but the name.
the women, there were thirty-six who were reputed sober, and
among these Mr Kirkland reckoned twenty-four to be serious.
Christians. Of the men, there were only three or four who
were of a sober character; and at the last communion only one
attended. Mr Kirkland baptized no children except those
whose parents, or at least one of them, were members of the
church. But the others were at little loss on this account, as
they carried their children thirty or forty miles to the Dutch
or German plantations, where, on paying the usual fee of half
a dollar, they found no difficulty in obtaining baptism for them,
and then they were perfectly easy about their salvation.
Of
Though the number of professed Pagans was small, yet the
whole nation, notwithstanding their opportunities for religious
improvement, were still influenced in a great degree by their
Rippon's Baptist Register, vol. ii, p. 233.
VOL. I.
I
130
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ancient mythology. They were all firm believers in witchcraft
and the agency of invisible beings; they paid great regard to
dreams and omens, and attributed the most common events to
causes with which they could not have the most distant connection.
Some time before, an Indian was drowned in one of the Oneida
creeks, which were annually visited by salmon. When the fish-
ing season returned, they imagined that no salmon would be
found in that stream, until a gentleman from Albany, who hap-
pened to be in the neighbourhood, persuaded them that he had
put something into the water to purify it; upon which, they
resorted to the creek, caught the fish as formerly, and thought
themselves much indebted to the gentleman for his kindness.
In the savage state, it was usual for the men to attach them-
selves to no particular woman, but to rove at large among the
females till they had passed the vigour of youth, and then they
confined themselves to one as their wife. The Oneidas now
married young, and were said to be more continent than for-
merly.
Murders were said to be less frequent than formerly; but
still they were by no means uncommon. A melancholy instance
of this kind, which happened a few days before the arrival of
Drs Morse and Belknap, exhibits a striking proof of the re-
laxed state of society amongst them. Two young Oneidas having
had a quarrel, the one shot the other dead. The father of the
deceased immediately went and despatched the murderer, and
no further notice was taken of the matter.¹
With respect to drinking spirituous liquors to excess, they
were generally addicted to it, when they had them in their
power, except the few individuals already mentioned. The
chiefs, indeed, had frequently attempted to prohibit the intro-
duction and sale of that pernicious article; but from the small
degree of power they possess, and the unquenchable thirst of
the people for ardent spirits, these efforts had hitherto proved
ineffectual.2
As to agriculture, it was yet in its infancy among the Onei-
das, and the labour of cultivating the fields was still performed
chiefly by the women. Idleness was the sin that easily beset.
them, and was the natural parent of many other of their vices.
2 Ibid. vol. v. p. 20, 21.
¹ Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. v. p. 12, 15, 17.
BY THE ANGLO-AMERICANS.
131
"Indians cannot work," was a saying often in their mouths.
They had an idea, that to labour in cultivating the ground is
degrading to the character of a man, who, they say, "was
made for war and hunting, and holding councils; and that
women and hedgehogs were made to scratch the earth." It
was also a proverbial tradition among them, that "the Great
Spirit gave the White man a plough, and the Red man a bow
and arrow, and sent them into the world by different paths,
each to get a living in his own way." Among the Oneidas the
land was still held in common, which necessarily proved a pow-
erful obstacle to its improvement. Not more than two or three
families procured a subsistence entirely by agriculture; and
these had little encouragement to proceed, as their neighbours
used to live upon them as long as they could find any thing to
eat. The Oneidas, in general, procured a miserable subsistence,
by fishing and fowling; by raising a little corn, beans, and po-
tatoes; and by means of an annuity of 3552 dollars from the
Legislature of New York, as the price of lands purchased from
them; but this money, instead of proving an incitement, was a
check to industry; for as long as an Indian can procure a living
in any other way, he will not work.'
Such was the very unfavourable account which Drs Morse
and Belknap gave of the mission among the Oneidas. The zeal
and perseverance, the piety, faithfulness, and benevolence, which
Mr Kirkland displayed in promoting Christianity and civiliza-
tion among the Indians, had afforded the highest gratification
to the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge;
but after receiving this Report, the Directors felt much dissa-
tisfied with him, and came to a resolution dissolving his con-
nection with it. It appears that after the restoration of peace
with England, he was a good deal engaged in assisting in confe-
rences and negotiations with, or relative to, the Indians; and
his biographer states that he rendered them various and im-
portant services in settling their affairs with the United States.
His health at length began to fail, and the infirmities of age to
come upon him, and he was no longer equal to his former exer-
2
¹ Mass. Hist. Coll. vol. v. p. 19, 22, 26, 28.
2 American Correspondence among the Records of the Society for Propagating
Christian Knowledge, vol. i. p. 259, 279, 316, 317, 327, 349, 378, 385.
132
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
tions. In consequence, too, of the failure of his youngest son,
who was extensively engaged in business speculations, and for
whom he was in several instances security, he was stripped of
nearly all his property, and was involved in pecuniary embar-
rassments, from which, during the remainder of his life, he had
to struggle to relieve himself. At length, after having been en-
gaged for upwards of forty years as a missionary among the In-
dians, he died, after a brief but severe illness, February 28.
1808.¹
In 1825, the Oneida Indians consisted of about 1150 persons.
A few years before this, the Pagan party of the Oneidas ad-
dressed a letter to the Governor of New York, containing a for-
mal renunciation of heathenism and a solemn profession of Chris-
tianity. Through the benevolent exertions of the Quakers, or
Friends, this branch of the Oneida tribe had made considerable
improvement as regards industry and sobriety. With a few ex-
ceptions, they appeared to be weaned from the use of spirituous
liqours, and they were making considerable progress in agri-
culture. A few of them had enclosed large farms, and so im-
proved them as to produce plentiful crops. But notwithstand-
ing their professed renunciation of heathenism, there was little
appearance of true religion among them. Part of the Oneida
Indians removed some years ago from the State of New York
to near Green Bay, on the western shore of Lake Michigan.
The Rev. Eleazar Williams, the son of an Indian chief, laboured
among them as a missionary of the Board of Missions of the
Episcopal Church in the United States.²
¹ Lothrop's Life of Kirkland in Sparks' Lib. Amer. Biog. vol. xxv. p. 257, 260, 287,
290, 297, 301, 305, 316, 321, 331, 339, 350, 362,
2 New York Christian Herald, vol. ii. p. 361, vol. iv. p. 148, vol. v. p. 461; Report
American Board for Foreign Missions 1829, p. 88; Account of Measures pursued by
the Friends of New York for the Civilization of the Indians, p. 7, 10, 14, 20, 25.
BY THE DANES.
133
CHAPTER V.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE DANES.
SECT. I.-EAST INDIES.
SOON after the commencement of the eighteenth century,
Frederick the Fourth, King of Denmark, in consequence of the
recommendation of the Rev. Dr Lutkens, one of his chaplains,
resolved to make an attempt for the conversion of the heathen
on the coast of Coromandel in the East Indies. In November
1705, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plutcho, two young
men who were educated for the ministry at the University of
Halle in Upper Saxony, and whom he had engaged with this
view, embarked at Copenhagen; and, after an agreeable voyage
of seven months, they arrived in safety at Tranquebar, the prin-
cipal town belonging to the Danes in that quarter of the world.'
In commencing their labours among the heathen, the mis-
sionaries were anxious to lose no time. As a corrupt dialect
of Portuguese, which had been introduced into India about two
centuries before, was now spoken and understood by great num-
bers of the natives, they had begun to learn that language dur-
ing the voyage, and on their arrival they proceeded to study
with unwearied diligence, the Tamil, which is the vernacular
language of that part of the country. Impressed with the im-
portance of instructing the young, they early opened charity
schools, in which the children were not only educated, but fed
and clothed. With the natives, they had frequent conversa-
tions on the subject of religion, and in a short time, they bap-
tized a number of them.2
'Niecampii Historia Missionis Evangelicæ in India Orientali, p. 2.
2 Ibid. p. 126, 128, 129, 133, 139; Hough's Hist, vol. iii, p. 113.
134
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
While the missionaries prosecuted their labours with much
diligence and zeal, they were not without their difficulties and
discouragements. Besides meeting with many powerful ob-
stacles from the prejudices of the natives, they experienced
great opposition from the Europeans resident in the country,
who, instead of being their friends and supporters, proved their
enemies and persecutors. The hostility they manifested, was
not only keen, but of long continuance; nor was all the autho-
rity of the King of Denmark, able for some years to suppress it.
Order followed order in favour of the missionaries; but their
enemies, among whom was the Danish Governor of Tranquebar,
disregarded the commands of His Majesty, and continued to
molest them in their labours. Ziegenbalg was even at one
time arrested, and kept in confinement for four months.'
The missionaries at the same time suffered great embarrass-
ments from the want of pecuniary support. The first subsidy
of two thousand Imperial pieces which was sent to them from
Europe, was lost in the sea near Tranquebar. The mission was
now so enlarged, that forty or fifty Imperial pieces were required
monthly for its support; but where to raise so large a sum, the
missionaries could not tell. They were ready to endure the
greatest privations themselves; but they could not bear the
thought of their children and domestics suffering want. While
they were harassed with these painful apprehensions, they pro-
videntially obtained a supply of money. A person from whom
they could have little expected it, offered them forty Imperial
pieces to keep in trust for him until the arrival of the ships.
from Europe; and when this sum was expended, others offered
them two hundred Imperial pieces on similar conditions. At
length, when they had scarcely two oboli left, a ship arrived
from Europe which brought them a large supply of money,
together with three assistants in their work, John Ernest
Grundler, John G. Boeving, and Polycarp Jordan."
In 1710, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,
which was established a few years before in London, began to
patronize the mission on the coast of Coromandel, and from
that time, it was a chief instrument of supporting and extend-
1
Niecampii Hist. p. 96, 141, 154; Propagation of the Gospel in the East, part i.
p. 32, part iii. p. 18.
2 Neicampii Hist. p. 140, 143.
BY THE DANES.
135
ing the undertaking. As the missionaries had often complained
of the great trouble and expense they were at, in getting books
transcribed for the schools, and for distribution among the
natives, the Directors of that Society, not only printed an edi-
tion of the Portuguese New Testament, chiefly for their use,
but sent them a printing press, a fount of Roman and Italic
characters, and a quantity of paper. A fount of Tamil types
was afterwards cast at Halle in Saxony, according to a speci-
men sent home by the missionaries, and was forwarded to them.
But as it was very inconvenient for them to depend on Europe
for all their printing materials, they at length erected a type
foundry at Tranquebar, and built a paper-mill to supply them-
selves with paper.'
Having now a press of their own, the missionaries began to
employ that powerful engine for the spread of Christian Know-
ledge through the country. From this period, great quantities
of books were every year printed by them, and widely circu-
lated among the natives, who not only received them with great
eagerness, but read them to their neighbours, and held conver-
sations concerning them, both among themselves and with the
missionaries, so that a general stir was excited in the country
about religion. Some malicious persons, indeed, endeavoured
to stop this important part of their operations, under the pre-
tence that, according to law, the missionaries had no right to
print any work until it had passed through the hands of the
censor. But His Majesty the King of Denmark soon settled
this point, by transmitting orders to the governor and council
at Tranquebar, to allow the missionaries to publish whatever
books they should judge necessary, for promoting Christianity
among the natives.
In 1715, the New Testament, translated into Tamil, by
Ziegenbalg, issued from the press at Tranquebar. The trans-
lation of the Holy Scriptures into the language of the natives,
was an object on which the heart of this indefatigable man had
been early fixed; but, lest he should produce an inaccurate
version, he delayed entering on this important undertaking,
until he was able to write the language with perspicuity and
I
Niocampii Hist. p. 155, 158, 163, 171, 199; Propagation of the Gospel, part i.
p. xxxvi, part iii. p. 33.
* Niecampii Hist. p. 163, 170.
136
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
correctness. Upwards of two years, therefore, elapsed after his
arrival in India, before he began this work; and notwithstand-
ing the many difficulties which attended the attempt, he finished
the translation of the New Testament in about two years and
a half. Various circumstances, however, combined to delay the
publication of it for several years longer, among which was the
advice of his friends in Europe to review it carefully before he
put it to the press; an advice, which, no doubt, contributed
materially to the correctness of the version."
In February 1719, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg, who had the
honour of originally establishing the mission, and who pos-
sessed, in no ordinary degree, those qualifications, which exalt
and adorn the character of a Christian missionary, died in the
thirty-sixth year of his age. In the mean while, Benjamin
Schultze, Nicholas Dal, and John H. Kistenmacher, three new
missionaries, had embarked for India, and though on landing
they were deeply affected to hear of the death of Ziegenbalg,
yet their arrival was a source of no small consolation to Grundler.
After the loss of his excellent colleague, he was for two months
in so weak a state of health, that in conducting public worship,
he was obliged to sit in the pulpit. It was truly affecting to
hear him supplicating God with many tears, not to afflict the
little flock which they had gathered from among the heathen,
by depriving them of both their pastors, before other mission-
aries should arrive in the country and be prepared for the work.
His prayers were heard and answered. Accordingly, upon the
arrival of the new missionaries, he was at particular pains to
prepare them for entering upon their labours among the heathen;
and having gained so far the object of his wishes, he was soon
called to follow his departed colleague to the grave.*
Thus, within little more than a twelvemonth, the mission.
lost its two principal pillars in the eastern world. Both Ziegen-
balg and Grundler were men admirably qualified for the import-
ant station in which Providence had placed them; yet they
were taken away at a time when their continuance seemed of
peculiar importance, and promised the most extensive useful-
ness. These severe and successive blows threatened the very
extinction of the mission, and afforded the enemies of the under-
1 Niecampii Hist. p. 141, 153, 182,
2 Ibid. p. 213, 217, 222.
BY THE DANES.
137
taking a temporary triumph. The Roman Catholics in India
pleased themselves with the hope, that the Danish mission was
now at an end; and even among the Protestants in Europe,
there were not wanting some who held similar language. By
the false reports which they industriously circulated concerning
the failure of the undertaking, they even succeeded, to a cer-
tain extent, in diminishing its pecuniary resources, and by this
means involved it in considerable difficulties.
Meanwhile, Schultze and his fellow missionaries endeavoured
to encourage themselves by faith in God; and though the cir-
cumstances under which they commenced their labours were so
very unfavourable, yet the mission, instead of declining in their
hands, was not only continued, but extended by them. On ac-
count of the smallness of their number, they were at first under
the necessity of giving up the practice of making journeys into
different parts of the country, and preaching the gospel to the
inhabitants, but after some time, they were again able to re-
sume this important part of their work."
With the view of paving the way for the progress of Christi-
anity among the natives, they resolved to augment the number
of schools for the education of children; and the governor,
about the same time, issued an order that all the inhabitants
of the Danish territory, should have their children instructed
in reading, writing, and arithmetic. The schools, in conse-
quence
of this, were increased from five to twenty-one; and
though only four of them contained Christian children, while
the other seventeen consisted of Pagan and Mahomedan chil-
dren, yet they were all under the inspection of the missionaries,
who appointed two catechists to visit them regularly. The
whole number of youth attending these schools, amounted at
one period to no fewer than 575; but the management of them
was attended with so many difficulties, that after some time, it
was found necessary to withdraw the salary of several of the
teachers.2
In 1727, the Old Testament in Tamil issued from the press,
thus completing the translation of the Holy Scriptures in that
language. To this, it is to be regretted, was shortly after added
the Apocrypha. Previous to his death, Ziegenbalg had pro-
1 Niceampii Hist. p. 223, 231.
2 Ibid. p. 253, 285.
138
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ceeded in the translation of the Old Testament, as far as Ruth :
the remaining books were completed by Schultze. Besides con-
sulting the Hebrew original, and the German translation of
Luther, he was able to make use of the Spanish, Italian, French,
Danish, and Dutch versions, and other useful works; he like-
wise enjoyed the assistance of a learned Brahman and of others
of the natives, some of whom understood the German and
Portuguese languages. To this work he usually devoted six
hours a day; and at length, after about two years' assiduous
study, he was so happy as to finish it. The joy which the con-
verts expressed at having the whole Bible in their own language,
amply compensated him for all the labour and toil he had em-
ployed upon it. Indeed, while he was engaged in this work,
he enjoyed so much pleasure in studying the Holy Scriptures,
that his soul daily fed, as it were, in green pastures.'
In 1728, Schultze, who had removed two years before from
Tranquebar to Madras, was taken under the patronage of the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which was anxious
to establish a mission in that city. The attempt was attended
with many difficulties; but yet, it was not long before he suc-
ceeded in forming a church at this place. Numbers of the con-
verts had previously been Roman Catholics, a circumstance
which mightily enraged the Popish priests against the mission.
Some, who resided at St Thomas' Mount, proceeded to such ex-
tremities, that they rushed violently on one of the congregation,
and after beating him severely, designed to carry him bound to
Goa, and deliver him into the hands of the Inquisition. But
the governor of the place, though a Mahomedan, took the part
of the poor man, and ordered his persecutors to be punished.
On another occasion, some of the Catholics beat one of the con-
verts most unmercifully, assigning this ridiculous reason for
their conduct, that he was of the religion of the Turks. The
missionaries advised the catechists not to enter into disputes with
the Papists on controverted points of religion, but to content
themselves with stating the simple truths of the gospel, that so
they might afford them as little occasion as possible for their en-
mity. But though the catechists acted, in this respect, with
1
¹ Niecampii Hist. p. 234, 255, 287, 311.
BY THE DANES.
139
great prudence and moderation, the Papists continued to mani-
fest the same rancour as ever against them.'
Besides preaching four times on the Lord's day, in the Tamil,
the Telinga, and the Portuguese languages, Schultze translated
the whole of the Old and New Testament, and the Apocrypha,
into Telinga; but though he was anxious to have them printed,
it does not appear that this was ever accomplished. He also
wrote a Grammar of that language, and translated into it several
works on the subject of religion. He afterwards translated into
Hindustani, the New Testament, the first four chapters of Gene-
sis, the Psalms of David, the Prophecy of Daniel, and some books
of the Apocrypha. He likewise compiled a Grammar of that
language. The whole of these, with the exception of the Apo-
cryphal books, were printed at Halle, in Saxony, after his re-
turn to Europe.²
2
In August 1737, John A. Sartorius, and John E. Geister, who
had been labouring for several years at Madras, proceeded from
that city to Cuddalore with the view of establishing a branch
of the mission in that place, under the auspices of the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Here the inhabitants at
first shewed little or no inclination to hear the word; but
afterwards, numbers of them not only heard, but embraced the
gospel.
3
In the course of their labours among the Heathen, the mis-
sionaries had many difficulties to encounter. To reason with
them was scarcely possible, as there were so few common prin-
ciples admitted by them: or the force of them was evaded by
the grossest subterfuges. The Brahman imagined himself in-
sulted, when told that he was a sinner; other persons of high
caste, thought their present rank in life was a token of their
future happiness. The inferior orders, on the contrary, consi-
dered their miserable condition in this world, as a proof of their
entire reprobation, and would not be persuaded it was possible
for them ever to be happy. Nothing was more common, than
1
¹ Niecampii Hist. p. 276, 312, 321.
Niecampii Hist. p. 296, 365; Meier Missions Geschichte oder Auszug der Evange-
lischen Missions-Berichte aus Ostindien, von 1737, bis 1767, p. 63, 74, 109, 140, 160, 478;
Bibliographical Dictionary, vol. i. p. 285, vol. vi. p. 222.
→ Meier Missions-Geschichte, p. 45, 65, 165; Abstract of the Reports of the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, p. 70.
140
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
to hear them acknowledge that the doctrines taught by the
missionaries were truth; that the representations of the Brah-
mans were lies; and, that the Hindu religion was nothing more
than outward pomp and useless show. They even wished, they
said, to embrace the gospel: but how could they? It was not
so written in their forehead, meaning that it was not so deter-
mined in the book of fate. On some occasions, they would say,
"It is all very right: but who can live so?" In this idea they
were confirmed, by considering the example of their gods, to
whom the most impure and unrighteous deeds are ascribed in
their sacred books; and they naturally enough thought, that
what was done by their gods could not be criminal in them.
Many were so engrossed with the care of the body, that they were
scarcely able to form any idea of the necessity of concern for
the soul. Some would say, "What shall I do with my children?
I shall get no wife for my sons, and no husband for my daugh-
ters: my relations and friends will cast me off, and your govern-
ment will not protect me." Others raised objections to the truth
of Christianity: "Who can tell," said they, "whether your reli-
gion will at last prove true? Who hath seen God? Who hath
visited heaven or hell? You cannot shew us that the Christians
have gone to heaven. Indeed, we see no difference in the lives
of your own countrymen. They are wicked as well as we. Go
and convert them first." Some insulted the missionaries in
various forms, assailed them with nicknames, threatened to beat
them, or made a jest of the most sacred truths of religion; others
refused to listen to them, rose up, and went away.'
But notwithstanding the many obstacles which the mission-
aries had to encounter, they were encouraged in their labours,
by witnessing, in many instances, the fruit of their exertions.
Not a year passed without a considerable number of the natives,
both Hindus and Mahomedans, embracing the gospel. Such
of the converts as resided beyond the territory of Tranquebar,
especially those who were Sudras, were under no small restraints
in regard to the profession and exercise of their religion. Many
of them were in the service of heathen masters, and were often
obliged to work even on the Lord's day. Few of them, com-
¹ Neure Geschichte der Evangelischen Missions Anstalten in Ostindien, tom. i. p. 99,
123, 132, 243, 262, 264, 410.
:
BY THE DANES.
141
paratively, were able to read, and hence they could derive no
improvement from books. They lived dispersed through the
country, and as there was a want of suitable labourers, they
could not obtain that regular instruction which was so necessary
to persons in their situation. The missionaries, indeed, visited
them as often as possible, but they had not yet liberty to settle
among them. The native pastors who were ordained over the
country congregations, travelled regularly among them; the
catechists, who were appointed to assist them, went each over
his own district once or twice a month; and they so arranged
matters among them, that on the Sabbath divine worship was
performed in all the principal places.¹
In September 1746, the French, under the command of M.
Labourdonnais, captured Madras, after a short siege of six days.
The new governor having ordered several streets of the Black
Town to be razed to the ground, with the view of placing the
city in a better state of defence, the house of the missionaries
was demolished among others, and the church was converted
into a magazine. As long as Madras remained in the hands of
the French, Mr Fabricius, the missionary, carried on his labours
at Palliacatta, a town in the neighbourhood, to which he had
previously removed the children; but on the restoration of
peace, he returned to that city, after an absence of near three
years. In consequence of the destruction of the mission build-
ings, they were for some time very ill accommodated; but they
at length obtained a grant from government of an excellent
dwelling-house, a fine spacious church, a large garden, and a
burying ground in the neighbouring village of Vepery, which
had belonged to the Catholic missionaries, but which, on account
of their treasonable practices, had been taken from them, and
confiscated.2
In 1752, and several of the following years, the missionaries,
particularly at Cuddadore, were materially hindered in their
labours, as they were unable to perform their usual journeys
through the country in consequence of the war which still raged
between the French and English in India, and in which several
of the native princes took an active part. The Marathis or Mah-
rattas, in particular, who sided with France, made frequent in-
1
¹ Niecampli Hist. p. 454.
* Meier Missions-Geschichte, p. 249, 165, 353.
142
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
roads into the country, and spread terror and devastation wher-
ever they came. The whole land, in fact, was ruined by them.
With their fleet horses, they made sudden eruptions into the
country, surprised the defenceless inhabitants, and cut them in
pieces without distinction of age or sex. Terrified by their dread-
ful atrocities, the people on the first notice of their approach,
abandoned their houses and fled. Parents sometimes killed
their infant children when they would not hold their peace,
lest their cries should discover them to the merciless foe. In
some villages not a creature remained: all were either killed,
or had fled, or were carried away prisoners. To these calamities,
were, at length, added the horrors of famine. For several years
the husbandman enjoyed little or no return for the corn which
he sowed, as the enemy either destroyed the whole, or reaped
it as soon as it was ripe. Besides, in one year, there was a de-
ficiency of rain; and afterwards, it fell in such torrents, and
was accompanied with such violent winds, that it proved no
less destructive than the previous drought. In these calamities
the Christian converts deeply participated; many of them were
destitute not only of the comforts, but even of the necessaries.
of life. Cuddalore, at length, fell into the hands of the French
and the missionaries retired with most of the congregation to
Tranquebar. Madras was once more besieged by the enemy,
and the missionaries in that quarter were completely plundered
by them.¹
In September 1758, Mr Kiernander, one of the missionaries
who had lately retired from Cuddalore, proceeded to Calcutta,
with the view of establishing a branch of the mission in that
city, under the auspices of the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge. Here he prosecuted his labours with great zeal,
and with considerable success, among the descendants of the
Portuguese, who were generally Roman Catholics, and also
among the Hindus.
In May 1762, Christian Frederick Swartz visited Trichino-
poly, and from this period, began to make it the principal place
of his residence. This distinguished man, who for near half a
century was one of the brightest ornaments of the cause of
Christ in India, came to Tranquebar about twelve years before.
¹ Meier Missions-Geschichte, p. 361, 368, 379, 395, 445, 448, 451.
BY THE DANES.
143
Entirely devoted to the work in which he had embarked, he
early resolved on a life of celibacy, that he might not be encum-
bered with domestic cares, and might direct his sole attention
to the duties of his office. He appears, indeed, to have been
decidedly hostile to the marriage of missionaries, especially dur-
ing the first years of their ministry, as being likely to interfere
with the acquisition of the language, and with the diligent per-
formance of the duties of their office; and though we know
that in this sentiment Mr Swartz stands somewhat alone, yet
assuredly, the opinion of such a man is well deserving of the
serious consideration of candidates for missionary labours, espe-
cially when viewed in connection with the doctrine of the
Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians vii.) on the subject of marriage.¹
In November 1768, Manuel Jotze da Costa, a friar of the
Dominican order, was received into the congregation at Madras,
after making a public recantation of the errors of Popery, and
a solemn profession of the Protestant faith. He was a native
of Portugal, and after spending near seven years at Goa, he
proceeded to Diu on the coast of Gujarat, where he was in-
vested with the authority of an inquisitor. Having been after-
wards sent to Siam, he began to entertain doubts respecting
some of the dogmas of the Church of Rome, particularly the
prohibition to read the Word of God. Here he became ac-
quainted with Antonio Rodrigues, a Father of the Jesuit order,
who felt a similar dissatisfaction with the faith in which he
had been educated. He now for the first time in his life, got
into his hands a copy of the Bible in Latin; and after some
time, he procured among other books, a Catechism published at
Tranquebar, which afforded him much light relative to the
agreement of the doctrines of the Reformation with the Word
of God.
Meanwhile, Father Rodrigues was so convinced of the errors
of the Church of Rome, that he withdrew from her communion,
and placed himself under the protection of the Dutch, who at
that time had a factory in Siam. In consequence of this, he
was excommunicated by his brethren, and an order was received
from Goa to deliver him up to the Inquisition. This commis-
sion was addressed to Father Costa; but as his friend was now
Meier Missions-Geschichte, p. 318; Missionary Register, vol. i. p. 305, 346.
144
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
connected with the Dutch, he had a plausible apology for not
carrying it into execution. Afterwards, when Rodrigues was
dying, one of the Jesuits visited him, and promised him the re-
moval of the sentence of excommunication, and plenary absolu-
tion, if he would return to the Church of Rome, and submit to
extreme unction. This offer, it was reported, he rejected;
nevertheless the Fathers pretended that he had returned to the
bosom of the church, and buried him with great pomp.
Hitherto, Father Costa had carefully concealed the change in
his sentiments, but notwithstanding all his caution, it was dis-
covered by his brethren. One day as he lay sick in bed, another
friar of the Dominican order came upon him by surprise, and
opening his writing table, found a paper, in which were noted
many of the errors of the Church of Rome. This manuscript
he took with him, together with his heretical books; and as in
the absence of a bishop, every Father is invested with autho-
rity to deliver up an apostate brother to the Inquisition, he
sent him on board a vessel bound to Goa. Father Costa, how-
ever, found means to leave the ship, and afterwards came to
the coast of Coromandel; but though he wished to join the
Protestant Church, he wanted the decision of mind necessary
for so important a step. His intercourse with the missionaries
was only occasional, and was long carried on in a covert manner.
After many struggles, however, he broke through all difficul-
ties, and joined the congregation at Madras. He was now
anxious to return to Siam, with the view of taking charge of a
number of Portuguese whom he had secretly instructed in the
principles of evangelical religion, and in the hope of extending
still farther the light of divine truth in that heathen country.
In consequence, however, of the infirm state of his health, he
was unable to prosecute his design, and after a lingering illness
of near a twelvemonth, he died at Calcutta.
Besides Father Costa, there were three other Catholic priests,
who about this period renounced the errors of Popery, and
joined the congregation at Calcutta. One of them had been
upwards of fifteen years a missionary in Bengal, and another
about four years at Bussora. These facts are the more worthy
of notice, because they induce a hope, that among the mission-
1
1
Neure Geschichte, tom. i. C5, 299, 771, 1074, 1363.
+
BY THE DANES.
145
aries of the Church of Rome, there may have been numbers of
others, who by reading the Scriptures, amidst the privations
and trials which they suffered in a heathen land, and at a dis-
tance from the pernicious influence and example of their brethren,
may have acquired somewhat correct views of the fundamental
doctrines of Christianity, and may have disseminated among
the inhabitants, not the fooleries of Popery, but the principles
of evangelical religion.
To shew the extensive scale on which the mission was now
carried on, it may not be improper to give in this place, a gene-
ral view of the different stations about this period.
In 1775, there were in the TRANQUEBAR station, six mission-
aries, three native preachers, twenty-four catechists and assist-
ants, ten schoolmasters, and three schoolmistresses. In the town
and neighbourhood there were three churches, and in the
country six places of worship. The different congregations
were this year increased with 421 new members, including the
children of the converts, and proselytes from the Church of
Rome. The number of schools was ten, in which were 355
boys and girls, who were not only educated but clothed and
supported by the missionaries, besides other children, who were
maintained by their friends, and merely enjoyed the benefit of
instruction.
At MADRAS there were two missionaries, who had under
their care two congregations, the Tamil and the Portuguese.
In the course of this year, they were augmented with 141 new
members. In the school there were 40 children, who were not
only educated, but supported at the expense of the mission.
At CUDDALORE there were two missionaries: the congregation
was this year increased with 74 new members; and in the
school there were 64 children.
At CALCUTTA there were two missionaries, who had under
their care two congregations, the English and the Portuguese.
In the course of this year, they were augmented with 67 new
members. In the schools there were 104 children, many of
whom were maintained as well as educated at the expense of
the mission.
At TRICHINOPOLY there was only one missionary; but with
him were associated no fewer than eleven catechists, school-
VOL. I.
K
146
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
masters and other assistants, two of whom were Europeans.
The congregation was this year increased with 206 new mem-
bers. In the English and Tamil schools, there were 70 chil-
dren.
At TANJORE no missionary as yet resided; but there had long
been a congregation in that city. It was frequently visited by
Mr Swartz and his catechists; and within a few years, it became
the principal place of his residence.
From this statement, it appears that the mission consisted of
five principal branches; that in the different stations, there
were thirteen missionaries, and upwards of fifty native assist-
ants; that the several congregations were in one year aug-
mented with no fewer than 909 new members, and that in the
schools there were 633 children.¹
In 1779, Mr Swartz received an unexpected summons to re-
pair immediately to Madras, and on his arrival, he was informed
by Sir Thomas Rumbold, the governor, that the British govern-
ment were anxious to maintain peace with Hyder Ali; but
that he, from misconceiving their views, appeared to entertain
hostile designs toward them; that it was their wish he would
proceed in a private manner to Seringapatam, and undeceive
him by a fair declaration of their pacific sentiments, while at
the same time, he should endeavour to ascertain what were his
intentions. Mr Swartz was surprised at this proposal, and
begged some time for consideration and prayer. As the only
object of it appeared to be the preservation of peace, he, after
some reflection, acceded to it, especially as he hoped, in tra-
velling through the country, to have an opportunity of making
known the gospel to multitudes who had never before heard of
the Saviour.
Having proceeded to Seringapatam, Mr Swartz was received
by Hyder Ali in a friendly manner. Agreeably to his in-
structions, he stated to him the pacific views of the Madras
government. The usurper in return, explained his own sen-
timents with apparent frankness, complained of the treachery
of the English, and charged them with having broken their
most solemn engagements; but declared that he was still
willing to maintain peace with them. After Mr Swartz had
1 Neure Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 3, 256, 329, 461, 470.
I
BY THE DANES.
117
taken leave of him, Hyder sent to his palanquin, a bag contain-
ing three hundred rupees to pay the expenses of his journey;
but as he had been provided with whatever was necessary by
the Board at Madras, he delivered it to them, and when they
urged him to keep it, he asked their permission to employ it as
the commencement of a fund for an English charity school at
Tanjore, in the hope that some benevolent individuals might
increase it with their contributions.¹
But though Mr Swartz had undertaken this journey to the
court of Hyder with the view of averting from the country the
calamities of war, he soon perceived from the conduct of the
governor of Madras, that peace would be of short continuance,'
a circumstance which shews with what extreme caution a Chris-
tian missionary should interfere in political affairs, lest, while
he flatters himself that he is the instrument of promoting the
happiness of nations, he should prove merely the tool of unprin-
cipled designing men.
In July 1780, Hyder Ali, provoked by the perfidy and aggres-
sions of the Madras government, invaded the Carnatic at the
head of an army of a hundred thousand men. In the course
of the conflict which ensued, the most dreadful atrocities were
committed by both the belligerent powers. The whole country
was laid waste: the towns and villages were burnt to ashes;
the inhabitants plundered and put to the sword. To the cala-
mities of war, were, in a short time, added the horrors of famine.
As the sluices which supply the country with water were de-
stroyed by Hyder's troops; and as the inhabitants had no secu-
rity for the crop, they did not sow their fields, and of course
they could reap no harvest. The people, indeed, forsook the
country, and fled to the larger towns, particularly to Tranque-
bar, which was so full of strangers, that a moderate lodging for
a family, cost a thousand rix-dollars a year. Here the scarcity
rose at length to such a height, that people died daily of hunger
in the streets; the government was obliged to appoint some
persons to carry the dead bodies out of the town and bury them.
Before the doors and windows of the inhabitants, stood crowds
of people famishing for want, and crying for rice. To alleviate.
1
Neure Goschichte, tom. iii. p. 283; Rep. Christ. Know. Soc. p. 224.
2 Neure Geschichte, tom. iii. p. 515.
148
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the general distress, the missionaries and other benevolent indi-
viduals, distributed provisions among them. The whole street,
on such occasions, was filled with hundreds of these miserable
victims of famine, whose impetuosity could be restrained only
by a guard of sepoys, laying about them with blows: in the con-
fusion they threw one another to the ground, and seized the
rice out of each other's hands. No individual benevolence,
however, could relieve the general distress. A subscription was
therefore raised among the more wealthy inhabitants for the
relief of the poor: one of the missionaries was appointed to re-
ceive the contributions: two of the native Christians were.
chosen to oversee the distribution of the rice; and some sepoys
were present to maintain order. At one time, the number of
poor amounted to twelve hundred, many of whom were little
better than skeletons, covered only with a slender skin. Scarcely
able to stand on their feet, and to preserve their balance, they
tottered like children along the street. Many sunk down from
absolute weakness, remained under the rays of a burning sun,
or lay in the rain and died. Some were led or carried to the
spot where the provisions were distributed: the sick and weary
lay at the place, and received their miserable pittance twice a
day. It was truly deplorable, to behold the bodies of the dead
lying in the streets, many of which were devoured by dogs, and
birds of prey, and other ravenous animals, before they were
found and buried by those appointed to collect them. One day,
one of the missionaries saw within about two hundred feet, no
fewer than sixteen dead bodies lying in the streets. More died
of unwholesome food, than even of absolute hunger. Here and
there might be seen some of these wretched creatures, sitting
on dunghills, picking up any little particles of food they could
discover. Others might be seen devouring bones, shells, horns
of young animals, the leather of palanquins, the leaves of trees,
grass, roots, and even pure earth. In Pondicherry and Nega-
patnam, there were examples of mothers eating their own chil-
dren: others, scarcely less cruel, abandoned them in the streets,
and left them to perish, without ever inquiring after them, or
allowing them a particle of that food which they procured for
themselves. In this season of universal distress, even the dis-
tinction of castes was little regarded. The Brahmans mingled
BY THE DANES.
149
with the Pariars: persons of all religions flocked together to
the same spot, Christians, Mahomedans, and heathens. Many
begged to be taken as slaves: parents of the highest classes,
offered to sell their children for a mere trifle, but offered them
in vain.
These horrid scenes were general over the whole country,
particularly in all the larger towns, to which the people flocked
for safety. All business was at an end: whole families perished;
it seemed as if the country would be entirely depopulated by
disease, by famine, and by war.¹
In April 1782, the town of Cuddalore capitulated to the ene-
my; and on this occasion, Mr Gericke, the missionary at that
place, rendered some essential services to the cause of humanity.
He prevailed with the French General not to deliver up the
town to the troops of Hyder Ali, and thus was instrumental in
preserving it from the devastations of these infernal marauders.
He concealed in his own house seven of the English officers,
whom Admiral Suffrein had engaged to surrender to the tyrant,
and by this means saved them from imprisonment, and from
all that horrid train of miseries, in which many others were in-
volved who fell into his hands. The Admiral's secretary, who
had been severely wounded in a late naval engagement, he kept.
for a considerable time in his own house, and took care of him,
at great expense to himself, as if he had been his friend or
brother. In the mean while, however, the church was converted
into a magazine, and the mission-garden was entirely destroyed.
Mr Gericke, therefore, performed divine worship in the school,
or in his own house; but after a few months he proceeded to
Madras; and though he wished to return, yet for the present
he could find no opportunity. From that period, Cuddalore
ceased to be one of the principal branches of the mission: there
was still a small congregation at that place; but it was only
occasionally the residence of a missionary."
These were not the only instances in which the missionaries.
were useful in alleviating the calamities of this dreadful period.
The services of Mr Swartz in this respect, place the utility of
1 Memoirs of the late War in Asia, vol. i. p. 134, 138, 172, 413; Neure Geschichte,
tom iii. p. 59, 76, 118, 130, 258, 320, 406, 423, 453.
2 Neure Geschichte, tom. iii. p. 334, 409, 698.
150
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the mission, even in a political view, in a very striking light,
and furnish a fine example of the influence of Christian integ-
rity in commanding the respect and confidence of mankind.
Soon after the commencement of hostilities, the fort of Tan-
jore was reduced to the greatest distress. A powerful enemy
was at hand, the people in the fort numerous, and not provi-
sions even for the garrison. The sepoys dropped down dead
emaciated with hunger; the streets were every morning lined
with corpses; the condition of the place was truly deplorable.
There was grain enough in the country; but the inhabitants
would neither bring it themselves, nor send in their bullocks,
as when they formerly brought paddy into the fort, the rapa-
cious dubashes denied them full payment. In vain did the
Rajah order; in vain did he entreat them to come to his assist-
ance. They had no confidence in either him or his courtiers. He
at last said to one of the principal English gentlemen who were
with him: "We have all lost our credit with the people: let us
try whether they will trust Mr Swartz." Being empowered by
the Rajah to treat with the people, Mr Swartz immediately sent
letters to the whole of the surrounding district, promising to
pay every man with his own hands, who should come to the
relief of the fort, and to indemnify them for any bullock that
might be taken by the enemy. Having in the course of one or
two days obtained upwards of a thousand bullocks, he sent
some of the Christian converts into the neighbouring country
to purchase corn. It was at the risk of their lives that they
went, yet such were their exertions, that in a short time they
brought into the fort 80,000 kalams. By this means, the place
was saved, and the miseries of the inhabitants relieved for the
present. Having accomplished this important object, Mr Swartz,
agreeably to his promise, paid the people with his own hands,
made them a small present, and sent them to their homes.
The following year, the fort of Tanjore was reduced a second
time to the same miserable condition, as the enemy always in-
vaded the country when the harvest was nigh at hand. Mr
Swartz was desired to repeat the experiment, and succeeded as
before. Knowing they would be regularly paid, the people.
came with their cattle; and though the danger was now greater
than formerly, as the enemy was just at hand, yet the Chris-
BY THE DANES.
151
tians conducted the inhabitants of the country to proper sta-
tions, and in this manner supplied the fort with grain.'
112
It is a circumstance not unworthy of notice, that even Hyder
Ali, in the midst of this cruel and vindictive war, gave orders
to his officers "to permit the venerable Father Swartz to pass
unmolested, and to shew him respect and kindness, for he is a
holy man, and means no harm to my government. Such, in-
deed, was the estimation in which he was held, that Colonel
Fullarton assures us, "the knowledge and integrity of this ir
reproachable missionary had retrieved the character of Euro-
peans from the imputation of general depravity. These tes-
timonies from a Mahomedan prince, and from a military offi-
cer, given under circumstances which preclude every idea of
partiality or prepossession, convey a eulogium on the charac-
ter of Mr Swartz, which far exceeds the highest panegyric we
could bestow.
193
In 1784, several of the native assistants were sent by the
the missionaries to Palamcotta, with the view of spreading Chris-
tianity in the southern part of the peninsula of India. Several
years before, when Mr Swartz was in that quarter of the coun-
try, the widow of a Brahman applied to him for baptism; but
as she then lived as the concubine of an English officer, he in-
formed her, that as long as she maintained that criminal con-
nection, he could not comply with her request. It appears,
however, that the officer had privately promised to marry her;
and in the mean while, he instructed her in the English lan-
guage, and even in the principles of Christianity. After his
death, she renewed her application to Mr Swartz, and as her
conduct was now perfectly correct, he baptized her by the name
of Clarinda. She continued to reside in the South of India ;
but about the time of the conclusion of the war, she and two
Roman Catholic Christians from the same quarter of the coun-
try, came to Tanjore to visit Mr Swartz. One of these persons
had obtained a copy of the New Testament, and of the Ecclesi-
astical History published by the missionaries, which he read
with so much effect, that he was not only convinced himself of
Rep. Christ. Know. Soc. p. 402.
2 Buchanan's Apology for promoting Christianity in India, p. 196,
• Fullarton's View of English interests in India, p. 183.
152
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the errors of the Church of Rome, but testified against them so
strongly among his neighbours and acquaintances, that many
of them were much impressed by his representations. He and
his fellow-traveller now visited Tanjore, in order to beg, in the
name of these poor people, that a missionary, or one of the
country priests, might come and instruct them more perfectly
in the principles of religion. In consequence of this applica-
tion, several of the native assistants successively proceeded to
that part of the country, and in the course of a short time, they
received into the church, upwards of a hundred people in the
neighbourhood of Palamcotta, some of whom were previously
heathens, others Roman Catholics. Such was the commence-
ment of the congregations in the South of India, which since
that period have become so numerous.¹
Though peace was now restored to the country, the kingdom
of Tanjore was still doomed to suffer fresh calamities. The in-
habitants were so terribly oppressed by their rulers, that they
emigrated from the country in great numbers: whole towns
and villages were left desolate; few people remained to culti-
vate the land. The operations of agriculture should commence
in the month of June; but nothing was done, even in the begin-
ning of September. Sir Archibald Campbell, the governor of
Madras, dreading that this emigration would end in a famine,
appointed a Committee of four gentlemen to examine into the
management of the country, and requested Mr Swartz to act as
one of the members. This excellent man had already mani-
fested his anxiety for the welfare of the people by entreating
the Rajah to take pity upon them; and though his entreaties
were disregarded, he now shewed an equal concern for the in-
terests of the prince. Perceiving that if the Committee pro-
ceeded to issue orders in their own name, the authority of the
Rajah in the country would be lessened, he begged them not to
enter on business, until he should represent to him the absolute
necessity of adininistering justice to his people, and of removing
those oppressions under which they groaned. The Rajah was
now alarmed, and yielded to Mr Swartz's representations, though
it was evidently with extreme reluctance. He himself had
sent notice to the people, that justice would be done them; but
1 Nouro Geschichte, tom, iii. p. 756, 773, 789, 1025, 1628.
BY THE DANES.
153
they placed no confidence in his promises. He therefore en-
gaged to Mr Swartz to treat his subjects with kindness, and beg-
ged him to invite them back, not in the name of the Committee,
but in his own name, as one who was the common friend of the
prince and the people. With this request Mr Swartz was happy
to comply, and such was the confidence of the people in his in-
tegrity, that they returned immediately: seven thousand men
came back in one day, and others in a short time followed their
example. When he exhorted them to make the utmost exer-
tions in cultivating their lands as the season was almost lost,
they replied, "As you have shewn kindness to us, you shall not
have reason to repent of it: We intend to work night and
day to manifest our regard to you." They accordingly exerted
themselves to such a degree, that, though the season was now
so far advanced, they had a more abundant crop than the year
before.¹
In January 1787, the Rajah of Tanjore, who had lost all his
own children, adopted as his successor a youth of a noble family,
who was only nine or ten years of age. A few days before his
death, he called for Mr Swartz, and pointing to the prince, said,
"My adopted son, I deliver up to you: I appoint you to be his
guardian." Such an appointment an ambitious man would
have accepted with joy; but Mr Swartz, with his usual disin-
terestedness, replied, "You know, Sir, my willingness to serve
you, according to my small ability; but to comply with this,
your last request, is beyond my power. You have adopted a
child of nine years of age, and you now leave him as a garden
without a fence. You know there are different parties in your
palace, who aspire to the government of the country. The boy
will be in danger of his life, and the kingdom will be involved
in confusion. I may see him once or twice in a month; and
may give him my best advice; but I can scarcely do more.
What poor guardianship will this be! It is necessary you adopt
some other plan." By the advice of Mr Swartz, the dying prince
accordingly appointed his own brother the guardian of the child;
but this arrangement was overruled by the British government.
Ameer Sing himself, the brother of the Rajah, was for the pre-
sent invested with the sovereign authority; but his government
Rep. Christ. Know. Soc. p. 254, 405; Neuro Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 1154, 1157.
154
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
having proved very oppressive, he was, after some years, remo-
ved, and Serfogee, the young prince, was raised to the throne.'
In 1793, when a bill for the renewal of the East India Com-
pany's charter was under the consideration of the British Par-
liament, Mr Wilberforce brought forward a series of resolutions
in the House of Commons, with a special view to the promo-
tion of Christianity among the natives of India. These were
agreed to in Committee; and Mr Dundas, who was then Presi-
dent of the Board of Control, promised to give them his official
support. But the Directors of the East India Company, and
the Court of Proprietors being found strongly opposed to them,
the whole of the clauses were, with his consent, struck out on
the third reading of the bill. In the course of a debate on this
2
¹ Neure Geschichte, tom. iii. p. 1101, 1390; Rep. Christ. Know. Soc. p. 258.
Though Mr Swartz declined the request of the late Rajah to be the guardian of
Serfogee, his adopted son, yet the government of Madras afterwards appointed him
guardian to the youth, in order to protect him from the oppressive treatment which he
met with from Ameer Sing. Mr Swartz was even much consulted by the Madras go-
vernment in regard to the affairs of the Tanjore country, and he laid before it his views
on various points, such as the administration of justice, the collection of the revenue,
the treatment of Serfogee, &c. Indeed, it was chiefly through his efforts, that the
right of the latter to the throne was cleared up, and that he was, at length, raised to
the Rajahship in 1798.-Pearson's Memoirs of Swartz, vol. ii. p. 177, 179, 189, 201,
205, 211, 213, 221, 249, 315, 379; Memoir of the Rev. Joseph D. Jænicke, p. 51.
2 Calcutta Review, vol. iii. p. 219, 222.
Considering the opposition which was long manifested by the Government of India
to missionaries, it is not unworthy of mention, that by the charter granted by William
III. in 1698 to the East India Company, it was expressly provided that the Company
"shall maintain one minister in every garrison and superior factory" which they may
have; and "that all such ministers shall be obliged to learn, within one year after
their arrival, the Portuguese language, and shall apply themselves to learn the native
language of the country where they shall reside, the better to enable them to instruct
the Gentoos that shall be the servants or slaves of the Company, or of their agents in
the Protestant religion."-Calcutta Review, vol. iii. p. 225. The records of the Com-
pany, both before and after that time, furnish various instances of the countenance
which they gave to efforts for the spread of the Christian faith in India.-Auber's Rise
and Progress of the British Power in India, vol. ii. p. 491.
Though we have no sympathy with the views of the men who opposed Mr Wilbor-
force's proposals, yet it was well for the cause of pure and scriptural Christianity that
they were rejected. They were no doubt well-meant; but it is impossible now to read
them without astonishment, mingled with shame. The following were the clauses of
the bill before the House of Commons, which were struck out on the third reading:
"And whereas such measures ought to be adopted for the interest and happiness of
the native inhabitants of the British Dominions in India, as may gradually tend to
their advancement in useful knowledge, and to their religious and moral improvement:
Be it therefore further enacted, that the said Court of Directors shall be, and are
hereby empowered and required to appoint and send out from time to time, a sufficient
BY THE DANES.
155
subject, Mr Montgomery Campbell threw out some severe reflec-
tions on the character of the converts on the coast of Coro-
mandel, and even reprobated the idea of converting the Hindus.
Missionaries, he said, had made proselytes of the Pariars; but
they were the lowest order of the people, and had degraded the
religion they professed to embrace. Mr Swartz, whose character
number of fit and proper persons for carrying into effect the purposes aforesaid, by
acting as schoolmasters, missionaries, or otherwise; every such person, before he is so
appointed, or sent out, having produced to the said Court of Directors a satisfactory
testimonial or certificate from the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London
for the time being, or from the Society in London for the Promotion of Christian Know-
ledge, or from the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, of his suf-
ficiency for these purposes.
"And be it further enacted, that the said Court of Directors are hereby empowered
and required to give directions to the Governments of the respective Presidencies in
India, to settle the designation, and to provide for the necessary and decent mainte-
nance of the persons so to be sent out as aforesaid; and also to direct the said Govern-
ments to consider of and adopt such other measures, according to their discretion, as
may appear to them most conducive to the ends aforesaid.
Provided always, and be it further enacted, that if any person so sent out as afore-
said, shall at any time prove to be of immoral life and conversation, or shall be grossly
negligent or remiss in the discharge of the duties of the station to which he shall have
been so appointed, or shall engage, directly or indirectly, in any trade whatsoever, or
shall accept of and hold any office, or employment, public or private, other than that to
which he shall have been so appointed, the Governments of the respective Presidencies
shall be empowered, and they are hereby required to remove him from his employment,
and send him back to Great Britain; and the act of Government in so doing shall be
final and conclusive, and shall not be examinable in any court of law whatsoever.
And that due means of religious worship and instruction may also be provided for
all persons of the Protestant communion in the service or under the protection of the
said Company, be it enacted, that the said Court of Directors shall be, and are hereby
empowered and required, from time to time, to send out and maintain in their several
principal garrisons and factories, a sufficient number and supply of fit and proper
ministers; and also to take and maintain a chaplain on board every ship in the service
or employment of the said Company, being of the burthen of 700 tons or upwards: and
that every charter-party to be entered into by the said Company for any ship of the
burthen aforesaid, or any greater burthen, shall contain an express stipulation for the
said Company to nominate and send on board such ship a chaplain, for the purposes
aforesaid, at their nomination and expense. Provided always, that no such minister
or chaplain shall be so appointed or sent out, until he shall first have been approved of
by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London for the time being."—Cal-
cutta Revier, vol. iii. p. 222.
This was truly strange legislation-to turn the Court of Directors of the East India
Company virtually into a Missionary Society; and the Governments at the three Presi-
dencies into its Corresponding committees. Sad work they would have made of it!
The generality of them were men indifferent to, and some of them were violently op-
posed to, efforts for the conversion of the natives of India. In the hands of such propa-
gators, what success could Christianity be expected to have? It was vain to think
that an Act of Parliament would inspire them with holy zeal. To say nothing of the
important part which the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London were
156
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
was so deservedly high, had no reason to boast of the purity of
his followers: they were proverbial for their profligacy. An
example occurred to his recollection perfectly in point. Mr
Swartz had been preaching for many hours to some of his pro-
selytes on the heinousness of theft; and in the heat of his dis-
course had taken off his stock, when it and his gold buckle
were stolen by one of his virtuous and enlightened congrega-
tion. Such was the description of natives who embraced Chris-
tianity. Men of high caste would spurn at the idea of renounc-
ing the religion of their ancestors.
This story we should scarcely have thought worth noticing,
unless as an example of the little dependence which is to be
placed on the accounts given of missionaries, by persons who
are indifferent or opposed to the propagation of Christianity
among the heathen. There was not a word of truth in the
whole statement. It may not, therefore, be improper to give a
correct version of the story which Mr Campbell considered as
so perfectly in point, but which he so grievously misrepresented.
Early one morning as Mr Swartz was travelling to Tanjore,
he arrived at a village called Pudaloor, which was inhabited
by Collaries, a set of men so infamous for stealing, that the
name Collary, signifies a thief. They were even a kind of li-
censed robbers, as they paid annually 750 pagodas to the Rajah
as a compensation for the outrages they committed. Having
taken off his stock, and laid it on a sand-bank, he advanced a
short way to look for the man who carried his clothes. In the
mean while, the stock disappeared; it was stolen by some boys
ez omeio, without regard to the personal character of the men, to act in the matter, it
is plain that the Church of England, then in a lamentably low condition, was to be tho
main, probably the sole, instrument employed. The Church of Scotland might pos-
sibly furnish agents; but all other denominations of Christians were passed over as of
no account; there was not so much as provision of liberty to them to go out to con-
vert the Hindus, not even if some Bunyan, or Baxter, or Doddridge had been ready to
embark on this errand of mercy.
Here we may mention, that in 1796, Robert Haldane, Esq., a gentleman of consider-
able property in Scotland, projected a mission to India on a large scale, and engaged,
among other associates, the Rev. David Bogue of Gosport, the Rev. Greville Ewing of
Edinburgh, and the Rev. William Innes of Stirling, to take part in it. Mr Haldano
undertook to bear the whole expense of the mission, and with this view, he sold his
beautiful estate of Airthrey, near Stirling; but tho Directors of the East India Com-
pany refused to grant them permission to go out, and so the scheme was broken up.-
Memoirs of Robert Haldane, and of James A. Haldane, p. 97. 113.
BY THE DANES.
157
belonging to the village. The elder inhabitants had no concern
in the theft, and on hearing of it, they even desired Mr Swartz
to confine all the boys, and to punish them as severely as he
pleased; but he did not think the trifle he had lost worth so
much trouble. It is surely not wonderful, that boys, whose
fathers were professed robbers, should commit a paltry theft of
this description. There was not one Christian family in the
whole village: all the inhabitants were heathens. The trifle of
a buckle, therefore, Mr Swartz did not lose by any of the Chris-
tian converts, as Mr Campbell asserted, but by some heathen
boys. Neither did he preach at that time, though that gentle-
man alleged, he preached many hours, and that too, on the
heinousness of theft. He did not so much as converse with any
man on the subject of religion. Mr Campbell, on finding that
Mr Swartz had so completely confuted his misrepresentations,
wrote an apology to him, and excused himself by saying, that
his speech had been erroneously reported in the newspapers! ¹
It is not unworthy of observation, that only a few months
before Mr Campbell brought forward these charges against the
converts on the coast of Coromandel, a considerable reforma-
tion had been effected through the instrumentality of Mr Swartz,
among that very class of people whom he had stigmatized as
Christian thieves. As the Collaries had of late committed ter-
rible outrages in their plundering expeditions, government, after
sending among them a number of sepoys without effect, applied
to Mr Swartz to inquire into their thievish transactions. By
his desire, the chiefs of the robbers appeared before him, and
not only agreed to make restitution of the stolen property, but
promised in writing to steal no more. This engagement they
kept faithfully for eight months; but they then commenced
their old trade, though not to the same extent as before.
desire of some of them, Mr Swartz at last began to instruct
them; and when they had acquired a tolerable knowledge of
the principles of Christianity, he baptized them. He now ex-
horted them to steal no more, but to work with their own
hands; and when he afterwards visited them, he was happy to
find their fields under excellent cultivation. "Now," said he,
one thing remains to be done: You must pay your tribute
(C
Rep. Christ. Know. Soc. p. 306, 164.
By
158
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
readily, and not wait till it is exacted by military force." Such
had hitherto been their ordinary practice; but now they paid.
it without compulsion. The only complaint against them was
that they refused to go on plundering expeditions, as they had
done before. The Pagan Colleries even assembled together, and
formed an encampment, threatening to extirpate Christianity
out of the country; but after this commotion had lasted four
months, they returned to their homes in peace, and began to
cultivate their fields with more diligence than ever. As the
water-courses in that part of the country had not been cleansed
for fifteen years, in consequence of which, the cultivation of the
land was impeded, and the crop diminished, Mr Swartz had of
late proposed that the collector should advance money to clear
them, and promised to send people to inspect the work. This
was attended with so much success, that the inhabitants, instead
of one kalam of corn, reaped four. In that district alone, the
people raised near a hundred thousand kalams more than they
had done before.¹
In February 1798, died the venerable Christian Frederick
Swartz, in the seventy-second year of his age, and the forty-
eighth of his labours as a missionary in India. Hitherto, he had
enjoyed almost an uninterrupted state of good health; but of
late, his strength had been visibly on the decline, and he at
length sunk into such a state of debility, that he was obliged
to be lifted and carried about like a child. Though the pain
he suffered was very severe, yet no murmuring word escaped
from his lips; and at length, after exhibiting an interesting
example of Christian faith, and hope, and joy, he expired with-
out a struggle or a groan.
On the following day, the remains of this venerable man were
interred in the chapel erected by him in the garden near his
house. Serfogee, the young prince of Tanjore, came to see his
corpse before the coffin was nailed down. He even bedewed it
with his tears, covered it with a piece of gold cloth, and accom-
panied it to the grave. His fellow-missionaries designed that
a funeral hymn should be sung on the way to the chapel; but
the lamentations of the multitude, who had crowded into the
garden, prevented it. At the funeral, the servant of Mr Swartz,
}
Rep. Christ. Know, Soc, p. 386, 406.
BY THE DANES.
159
in a deep tone of sorrow and despondency, exclaimed, "Now
all our hopes are gone." Nor was this the sentiment of a soli-
tary individual; it was the feeling of multitudes, both Chris-
tians and heathens, both great and small. On examining Mr
Swartz's will, it was found that, with his usual benevolence, he
had appointed the mission at Tanjore, the poor, and the esta-
blishments belonging to it, the principal heirs of his property.
Though he had spent large sums on the mission during his life,
yet he now left to it not less than between eight and ten thou-
sand pounds.¹
To mark their high sense of Mr Swartz's worth, and of the
important services which he had rendered the country, the East
India Company erected in Madras a monument to his memory,
executed by the celebrated Mr Bacon. As the apostolic labours
of this illustrious man were already well known in India, it was
thought unnecessary to represent him, as that distinguished
artist first intended, in his official character as a missionary.
It was judged more expedient to represent the correspondence.
of his dying moments with the general tenor of his life.
The PRINCIPAL compartment of the monument is occupied
with an alto-relievo representation of Mr Swartz, in the closing
scene of his life. He is surrounded by a group of his infant
pupils, to whom he afforded an asylum in his house, and by
several of his fellow-labourers, who attended him in his last mo-
ments. One of the children is embracing his dying hand, and
one of the missionaries is supporting his head; but the eyes of
Mr Swartz are directed, and his hand is raised, toward an ob-
ject in the upper part of the bas-relief, namely, the cross, which
is borne by a descending angel, implying, that the death of
Christ, the grand subject of his ministry, was now the chief
support of his soul, "when flesh and heart were ready to faint
and fail."
OVER the bas-relief, is the ark of the covenant, which was
peculiarly the charge of the priests, and was a striking emblem
of the constant theme of his preaching.
UNDER the bas-relief, are further emblems of the pastoral
office, namely, the crosier; the gospel trumpet, with the banner
Rep. Christ. Know. Soc. p. 473; Neure Geschichte, tom. v. p. 640, 790; Pearson's
Mem. of Swartz, vol. ii. p. 412.
160
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
of the cross attached to it; and an open Bible, on which is in-
scribed our Lord's commission to his disciples, "Go ye into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”¹
On this beautiful monument was engraved the following
honourable yet characteristic inscription:
SACRED
To the Memory
of the REVEREND FREDERICK CHRISTIAN SWArtz,
Whose life was one continued effort to imitate the example of his
BLESSED MASTER.
Employed as a Protestant Missionary from the Government of
Denmark,
And in the same character by the Society in England for the
Promotion of Christian Knowledge,
He, during a period of Fifty Years, "went about doing Good,"
Manifesting, in respect to himself, the most entire abstraction
from temporal views,
But embracing every opportunity of promoting both the temporal
and eternal welfare of others.
In him Religion appeared not with a gloomy aspect
or forbidding mien,
But with a graceful form and placid dignity.
Among the many fruits of his indefatigable labours,
was the erection of the Church at Tanjore.
The savings from a small Salary were, for many years, devoted
to the pious work,
And the remainder of the Expense supplied by Individuals
at his solicitation.
The Cbristian Seminaries at Ramnadporam and in the
Tincvelly province were established by him.
Beloved and honoured by Europeans,
He was, if possible, held in still deeper reverence by the Natives
of this country, of every degree and every sect:
And their unbounded confidence in his Integrity and Truth
Was, on many occasions, rendered highly beneficial
to the public service.
The Poor and the Injured
Looked up to him as an unfailing friend and advocate ;
The Great and Powerful
Concurred in yielding him the highest homage ever paid in this
Quarter of the Globe to European virtue.
The late HYDER Ali Cawn,
In the midst of a bloody and vindictive war with the Carnatic,
1
Evan. Mag. vol. xv. p. 8.
BY THE DANES.
161
Sent orders to his officers "to permit the venerable Father Swartz
to pass unmolested, and shew him respect and kindness,
For he is a Holy Man, and means no harm to my Government."
The late TULJAJA, Rajah of Tanjore,
When on his deathbed, desired to entrust to his protecting care
His adopted Son, SERFOJEE, the present Rajah,
With the administration of all affairs of his Country.
On a spot of ground granted to him by the same Prince,
Two Miles east of Tanjore,
He built a House for his Residence, and made it an
Orphan Asylum.
Here the last 20 years of his life were spent in the Education
and Religious instruction of Children,
Particularly those of indigent parents, whom he gratuitously
maintained and instructed ;
And here, on the 13th of February 1798,
Surrounded by his infant flock, and in the presence of several of
his disconsolate Brethren,
Entreating them to continue to make Religion
the first object of their care,
And imploring, with his last breath, the Divine Blessing
on their labours,
He closed his truly Christian Career, in the 72d year of his Age.
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY,
Anxious to perpetuate the Memory of such transcendent worth,
And gratefully sensible of the Public Benefits which resulted
from its influence,
Caused this Monument to be erected, Ann. Dom. 1807.1
Such testimonies of respect to the memory of Mr Swartz
were not confined to Europeans, or even to Christians. The
Rajah of Tanjore placed his portrait among the pictures of the
princes of that country, in his principal hall of audience.” No
son, indeed, could have a greater veneration for his father, than
Serfogee had for Mr Swartz. In token of his respect for him, he
ordered from England a monument of marble, which he erected
in his capital, in the church where the good man preached, with
a view, he said, to perpetuate the memory of Father Swartz,
and to manifest the high esteem he had for the character of that
great and good man, and the gratitude he owed him, as his
1 Buchanan's Apology for promoting Christianity in India, p. 196.
"Buchanan's Researches, 3d edition, p. 63; Relig. Mon. vol. v. p. 278.
VOL I.
L
162
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
1
father, and his friend, the protector and guardian of his youth.'
The Rajah, at the same time, gave proofs of his respect and at-
tachment for Mr Swartz of a more substantial nature, and which,
to the generous soul of that excellent man, would have afforded
far higher satisfaction. Having erected a Charitable Institu-
tion for the maintenance and education of Hindu children of
different castes, his affectionate regard for the memory of his late
guardian induced him to form a similar establishment for the
benefit of fifty Christian children; and, besides them, there
were thirty poor Christians maintained and clothed in this
Institution. He also gave orders that his Christian servants,
civil and military, should not be denied liberty by their officers,
of attending divine worship on the Sabbath, or on festival days,
and that they should be excused from all other duty on these
occasions.2
In May 1799, died at Calcutta the Rev. Mr Kiernander,
aged eighty-eight years, nearly sixty of which he had passed in
India. He was twice married, and by both his wives he came
into the possession of large property, but with that disinterest-
edness which formed a striking feature of his character, he em-
ployed his wealth in supporting and extending the mission,
which had hitherto struggled with considerable pecuniary diffi-
culties. Besides exercising great liberality to the poor and
needy, he built a dwelling-house for two missionaries, a church
for the congregation, and a school-house for the children. On
these and other objects of a missionary and benevolent nature
he expended upwards of a hundred thousand rupees of his pri-
vate fortune. But when old age came upon him, he was over-
taken by worldly calamity. His son, who had also married a
lady with a considerable fortune, lived in high style, and as a
The inscription on the monument may be found in Le Bas' Life of Bishop Mid-
dleton, vol. ii. p. 399. Over the stone which covers the grave of Swartz, there is also
an inscription in English verse, which is the more curious and interesting as it was the
composition of the Rajab himself.-Ibid. vol. i. p. 215.
2
Rep. Christ. Know. Soc. p. 496, 499, 504, 561, 565.
We regret to find the following statement by Mr Winslow, one of the American Mis-
sionaries, who visited Tanjore in 1828: "The Rajah has become very unfriendly to
missionarics. He has yielded himself up to dissipation, and given immense sums to
the Brahmans and to the temples, to make himself a Brahman. His only son is grow-
ing up in ignorance, making no steady application to any study or science."—(Amer.)
Miss. Herald, vol. xxv. p. 140.
BY THE DANES.
163
means of supporting it, was drawn by various parties, in accord-
ance with the prevailing spirit of the times, into schemes for
making money. He began especially to speculate in building
houses, which was then a very lucrative way of employing money.
Ready cash, however, was necessary to a considerable amount,
and this was raised by means of bonds. To these bonds Mr
Kiernander put his name as security, and thus the safety of his
own property was risked upon the success of his son's projects.
He had in his hands 80,000 rupees belonging to a lady who
was his ward, and she having married a worthless attorney, he
at once demanded her fortune, and would not wait for it. It
was shewn distinctly, that if he waited three months, all the
houses, finished and unfinished, with the materials, could be
sold, and that after paying the sum due to his wife, and all
other debts, Mr Kiernander would have remaining a surplus of
two and a half lakhs of rupees. He still refused; and others of
the creditors having taken the alarm, the whole property was
attached by the Sheriff, and was sold at a ruinous loss. The
mission property, which cost 100,000 rupees, was valued at only
10,000; a house which cost 30,000, was sold for 5000; and so
of the rest. No writ was issued against the person of Mr Kier-
nander or his son; but as it was expected, they left the whole
of their property in the hands of their creditors, and retired to
the Dutch settlement of Chinsurah.
Here Mr Kiernander was received very kindly by an excellent
lady, and lived in her house. The Dutch Governor appointed
him chaplain to the settlement, on a small salary of 60 rupees
a month. In the wreck of the family fortunes, young Mrs
Kiernander's dowry, which had been settled on her and her
children, was invested profitably; and on the proceeds of it, the
whole family lived very comfortably Mr Kiernander was fond
of botany, and at Chinsurah he had two gardens in which he
delighted to cultivate his favourite science. The son having
died, his family returned to Calcutta ; but the good old man
remained behind, provided with many comforts, suitable to his
age, by his affectionate daughter-in-law. Notwithstanding his
The Church, School, and Burying-ground were purchased by Charles Grant, Esq.,
and were invested by him in trust for the use of the Mission, and given over to the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.—Calcutta Review, vol. vii. p. 175.
164
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
fallen condition, he still retained his friends, and both visited
and was visited by them. Finding himself, when eighty-five
years of age, unable to discharge his duties as chaplain, he re-
signed the office, and retired to Calcutta, where he was welcomed
most affectionately by his daughter-in-law's family. Such was
the quiet and even course of his days in the evening of life.
His spirit, chastened by affliction, had greatly profited by it.
His character was just such as we love to see an old man ex-
hibit, and which none display but they whose treasure is laid
up in heaven. His heart was full of gratitude, and overflowing
with love. His fortune was gone; he had had many trials, but
he was full of peace. Even previous to his removing to Chin-
surah, the mission in Calcutta had sunk into a languishing state;
and, though various attempts were made to maintain it in exist-
ence, it was at length abandoned about the period of his death.'
In July 1802, Mr Gericke proceeded on a visit to Palamcotta,
and the other southern districts, with the view of collecting
and comforting the converts in that quarter of the country, who
had of late suffered great distress in consequence of the rebel-
lion of the Polygars. On arriving near the extremity of the
peninsula, he found whole villages of heathens anxiously wait-
ing for his arrival, in order to be further instructed and bap-
tized by him. They had got acquainted with the native Priests,
the Catechists, and the Christians, in that part of the country,
and had already learned from them the Catechism. On hear-
ing of Mr Gericke's arrival, they broke their idols to pieces, and
converted their temples into churches, in which he instructed
and baptized them by hundreds in a day. He afterwards formed
them into regular congregations, procured for them catechists
and schoolmasters, and made them choose, in each place, four
elders. These examples awakened the whole country, and when
he was about to leave it, the inhabitants of many other villages
sent messages to him, requesting him to remain some time longer
among them, and perform in their towns the same good work
which he had executed in those of their neighbours. With this
request it was not in his power to comply; but he recommended
them to the care of the native priests and catechists. In the
1 Neure Geschichte, tom. v. ; Rep. Christ. Know. Soc. p. 278, 445.; Calcutta Re-
view, vol. vii. p. 136, 155, 164, 167, 172, 177, 184.
BY THE DANES,
165
course of this journey, Mr Gericke baptized about thirteen hun-
dred persons; and after he left the country, the native teachers
formed eighteen new congregations, and baptized two thousand
seven hundred people, so that the whole number amounted to
no fewer than four thousand.¹
Highly as we respect the character of Mr Gericke, we cannot
but express our deep regret at the course he pursued on this
occasion. Had the most of these people afforded such evidence
of their sincere conversion to the Christian faith as to warrant
their baptism, this might have ranked among the most extra-
ordinary events in the history of the church in ancient or
modern times. But there are no grounds for forming such an
exalted idea of it. Most of these people, indeed, possessed little
knowledge of Christianity, and still less of its spirit: their chief
inducement for professing themselves Christians, was a hope
which they foolishly entertained, that they would then be ex-
cmpted from the public burdens, or gain other worldly ends.2
In 1806, the Rev. Dr Buchanan visited the principal mis-
sionary stations on the coast of Coromandel, and has presented
us with an interesting account of his journey, and a general
view of their state at that period.
"Tranquebar," says he, "was the scene of the first Protestant
mission in India. There are at present three missionaries here
superintending the Hindu congregations. Yesterday I visited
the church built by Ziegenbalg. His body lies on one side of
the altar, and that of his fellow-missionary Grundler on the
other. They laid the foundation for evangelizing India, and
then departed, 'having finished the work which was given them
to do.' I saw also the dwelling-house of Ziegenbalg, in the lower
apartment of which the registers of the church are still kept.
In these I found the name of the first heathen baptized by him,
and recorded in his own handwriting in the year 1707. The
missionaries told me that religion had suffered much at Tran-
quebar of late years from European infidelity.. French princi-
ples had corrupted the Danes, and rendered them indifferent to
their own religion, and consequently hostile to the conversion
¹ Relig. Mon. vol. i. p. 236. ; Rep. Christ. Know. Soc. p. 514: Neure Geschichte,
tom. vi. p. 6.
2 Miss. Trans. vol. iii. p. 100, 101, 105, 118, 133, 140, &c.
166
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
of the Hindus. 'Religion,' said they, 'flourishes more among
the natives of Tanjore, and in other provinces where there are
few Europeans, than here or at Madras; for we find that Euro-
pean example in the large towns, is the bane of Christian in-
struction.'
"On the day after my arrival at Tanjore, I visited the Rajah
in company with Major Blackburne, the British resident. When
the first ceremonial was over, his highness conducted us to the
grand saloon, which was adorned with the portraits of the kings
of Tanjore. All around there was a display of gold, and silver,
and mirrors, English paintings, musical instruments, orreries,
portfolios of oriental drawings, and many other curiosities both
of nature and art. Finding that I wished to hear the music of the
vina, he ordered up the chief musician. He has a band of twenty
performers, twelve of whom play on the vina, and one on the
harp.
"My visit to the Rajah was very long. Our chief conversa-
tion related to Mr Swartz. When I first mentioned his name,
his highness led me up to the picture of the reverend apostle,
which is placed among the portraits of his predecessors. I
smiled to see Swartz's picture among these Hindu kings, and
thought with myself many would consider such a combination
scarcely possible. While the harp and the vina played, I con-
versed with the Rajah about that good man, and of his present
happiness in the heavenly state. I afterwards thanked him in
the name of the Society in England for Promoting Christian.
Knowledge, and of all Mr Swartz's friends in India, for his
kindness to that excellent man, and to his successors, and par-
ticularly for his recent acts of benevolence to the Christians
within his dominions. Before my departure, a servant came up
with four pieces of gold cloth of different kinds, which the
Rajah presented to me. He then, agreeably to the usual eti-
quette, put a chaplet of flowers around my head, and a bracelet
of flowers on my arms, and leading me and the resident, one in
each hand, to the steps of the hall, he bowed and retired.
"Last Sunday was an interesting day at Tanjore. It being
rumoured that a friend of Mr Swartz had arrived, the people
assembled from all quarters. Three sermons were preached that
day in three different languages. At eight o'clock in the morn-
BY THE DANES.
167
ing we proceeded to the church built by Mr Swartz within the
fort. From the pulpit of that venerable man I preached in
English from these words, 'And the gospel must first be pub-
lished among all nations.' The English gentlemen attended,
civil and military, with the missionaries, catechists, and British
soldiers. When this service was ended, the congregation of
Hindus assembled in the same church, and filled the aisles and
porches. The Tamil service commenced with some forms of
prayer, in which all the congregation joined with great fervour.
A chapter of the Bible was then read, and a hymn of Luther's
sung. After a short extempore prayer, during which the whole
congregation knelt on the floor, Dr John delivered an animated
discourse in the Tamil language, from these words, 'Jesus stood
and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and
drink." As Mr Whitfield, on his first going to Scotland, was
surprised at the rustling of the leaves of the Bible, which took
place immediately on his pronouncing his text, (so different from
any thing he had seen in his own country) so I was here sur-
prised at the sound of the iron pen engraving the palmyra leaf.
Many persons had olas in their hands writing the sermon in
Tamil short-hand. Mr Kolhoff assured me that some of the elder
students and catechists will not lose a word of the preacher, if
he speak deliberately. It is an old regulation of the mission,
that the sermon of the morning should be read to the schools in
the evening, by the catechist, from his palmyra leaf.
“There is another custom among them which greatly pleased
me. In the midst of the discourse the preacher sometimes puts
a question to the congregation, who answer it, without hesita-
tion, in one voice. The object is to keep their attention awake,
and the minister generally prompts the answer himself. Thus,
suppose he is saying, 'My brethren, it is true that your profes-
sion of the faith of Christ is attended with some reproach, and
that you have lost your caste with the Brahmans. But be of
good cheer and say, Though we have lost our caste and inheri-
tance amongst men, we shall receive in heaven a new name and
a better inheritance, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' He then
adds, 'What, my beloved brethren, shall you obtain in heaven?'
They answer, 'A new name and a better inheritance, through
Jesus Christ our Lord.' It is impossible for a stranger not to
168
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
1
be affected with this scene. Children of tender years inquire
of each other, and attempt the responses. This custom was in-
troduced by Ziegenbalg, who proved its use by long experience.
"After the sermon, I returned with the missionaries into the
vestry or library of the church. Here I was introduced to the
elders and catechists of the congregation. Among others came
Sattianaden, the Hindu preacher. He is now advanced in years,
and his black locks have grown grey. As I returned from the
church, I saw the Christian families going back in crowds to
the country, and the boys looking at their olas. What a con-
trast, thought I, is this to the scene at Jagganath! Here there
is becoming dress, humane affections, and rational discourse.
Here I see no skulls, no self-torture, no self-murder, no dogs
and vultures tearing human flesh! Here the Christian virtues
are found in exercise by the feeble-minded Hindu, in a vigour
and purity which will surprise those who have never known the
native character but under the greatest disadvantages, as in
Bengal. It certainly surprised myself; and when I reflected
on the moral conduct, upright dealing, decent dress, and deco-
rous manners of the native Christians of Tanjore, I found in my
breast a new evidence of the peculiar excellence and benign in-
fluence of the Christian faith.
"At four o'clock in the afternoon, we attended divine service
at the chapel in the Mission Garden, out of the fort. Mr Horst
preached in the Portuguese language. The organ here accom-
panied the voice in singing. I sat on a granite stone which
covered the grave of Swartz. In the evening Mr Kolhoff pre-
sided at the exercise in the schools: on which occasion the Ta-
mil sermon was repeated; and the boys' olas examined.
"In consequence of my having expressed a wish to hear Sat-
tianaden preach, Mr Kolhoff had given notice that there would
be divine service on the Monday. The chapel accordingly was
crowded at an early hour. Sattianaden delivered a discourse full
of fire in the Tamil language, with much natural eloquence, and
with visible effect. In quoting a passage from Scripture, he de-
sired a lower minister to read it, listening to it as to a record 1;
¹ Dr Buchanan had visited the temple of Jagganath in Orissa, on his way to the
South of India, and had witnessed the horrid scenes which are connected with the wor-
ship of that colebrated idol.
BY THE DANES.
169
and then proceeded to the illustration. The responses by the
audience were more frequently called for than in the former
discourse. After the sermon, I went up to Sattianaden, and ad-
dressed him in a few words, expressive of my hope that he would
be faithful unto death. The aged Christians crowded around
us and shed tears. He said he was unworthy to preach before
his teachers.
"I had long conversations with the missionaries relative to
the present circumstances of the Tanjore mission. It is in a
languishing state at this moment, in consequence of the war on
the Continent of Europe. Two of its sources have dried up, the
Royal College at Copenhagen, and the Orphan-house at Halle,
in Germany. Their remaining resource from Europe is the sti-
pend of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, whom
they never mention but with emotions of gratitude and affec-
tion. But this supply is by no means commensurate with the
increasing number of their churches and schools. The chief
support of the mission is derived from itself. Mr Swartz had
in his lifetime acquired considerable property, through the kind-
ness of the English government and of the native princes.
When he was dying, he said, 'Let the cause of Christ be my
heir.' When his colleague, the pious Mr Gericke, was departing,
he also bequeathed his property to the mission. And now Mr
Kolhoff gives from his private funds upwards of a thousand
pagodas a year; not that he can well afford so large a sum, but
the mission is so extended, that he gives it, he told me, to
preserve the new and remote congregations in existence.
1
"Leaving Tanjore, I passed through the woods inhabited by
the Collaries, many of whom are now humanized by Christianity,
and proceeded to Trichinopoly. The first church built by
Swartz is at this place. It is a large building, capable of con-
taining perhaps two thousand people. The aged missionary,
Mr Pohle, presides over this church, and over the native con-
gregations at this place. Christianity flourishes; but I found
that here, as at other places, there is a famine of Bibles."
¹ Mr Gericke left to the Vepery Mission 15,000 Star Pagodas, besides the reversion of
a considerable sum and a large dwelling-house, on the demise of his widow,
2 Buchanan's Researches, p. 61; Pearson's Memoirs of Dr Buchanan, vol. ii. p. 28,
32; Christian Observer, vol. vi. p. 335.
170
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
1
In 1825, the missions at Madras or Vepery, Trichinopoly,
and Tanjore, which had hitherto been supported chiefly by the
Society in London for Promoting Christian Knowledge, were
transferred to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts. These stations, and also that at Tranquebar,
had for many years been in a state of lamentable and increas-
ing decay. In consequence of the decline of doctrinal purity,
and of vital piety in the churches of Germany during the latter
part of the eighteenth century, few or no successors worthy of
Swartz and Gericke were to be found. Of the small number of
missionaries who were sent out, some, by their unworthy con-
duct, helped to injure and destroy what they were employed to
preserve and extend. Others, more recently, fell early victims
of the climate, or of the opposition which they encountered in
their earnest endeavours to repair the mischiefs which, from
this and other causes, had been so long in unresisted operation;
while the few venerable survivors of the ancient German School
were quite unequal to the burdens of their situation, and to the
care of the several missions. Great numbers of the native
Christians in the Tinnevelly district, relapsed into heathenism;
and, indeed, all accounts agree in representing the state of
morals and religion, even at the principal stations, as exceed-
ingly low. Much of this melancholy state of things may, we
doubt not, be traced to the laxity of the missionaries in the ad-
mission of the natives into the church, under the common but
mistaken idea, that if they were once brought to an outward
profession of Christianity, they would be more likely to be
afterwards brought to the saving knowledge of the gospel.2
Such was the state of these missions when they were trans-
ferred to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts. Under its auspices, they were much extended,
and were carried on with greatly increased vigour. New mis-
sionaries, chiefly belonging to the Church of England, were pro-
vided; numerous stations were formed in various parts of the
¹ Miss. Reg. 1825, p. 199, 327.
2 Pearson's Memoirs of Dr Buchanan, vol. ii. p. 26, 43; Strachan's Examination of
Mr Grove's Brief Account of the Tinnevelly Mission, p. 50; Hoole's Personal Narra-
tive of a Mission to the South of India, p. 229; Momoir of the Rov. C. T. E. Rhenius,
p. 197, 219, 242, 280. Quarterly Chroniclo of London Miss. Soc. vol. iii. p. 503, 504;
Hough's Hist. vol. iii. p. 469, 502, 506; vol. iv. 217, 219, 223.
BY THE DANES.
171
country, and great numbers of converts were made from among
the natives, both Hindus and Roman Catholics; but we fear
that the fallacious principle to which we have just adverted,
was now acted on more largely than ever. Many villages in the
south of India, entered into an agreement to renounce their
idols, and to place themselves under Christian instruction. The
inhabitants of a village often came over in a body, and in some
instances, they gave up their temples and their idols.' In such
wholesale conversions, we confess, we have no confidence. They
arise generally not from knowledge or conviction, but from
worldly views and motives. Such converts, instead of adorn-
ing their Christian profession, often bring disgrace upon it, and
prove a main hinderance to the conversion of others.
In July 1833, Dr Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta, addressed a pas-
toral letter to the missionaries in his diocese, and to the congre-
gations under their care, requiring them to give up the distinc-
tion of castes, so far as it affected religious practice, with par-
ticular reference to the Tanjore and other missions in the south
of India, in which it had been tolerated ever since their com-
mencement. The means employed by his predecessors to abate
the evil having proved unavailing, he felt himself constrained,
as the pastor and bishop of souls in that diocese, to prescribe
to them what seemed to him essential to the preservation of the
purity of the Christian faith." "The distinction of castes," he
wrote, "must be abandoned decidedly, immediately, finally;
and those who profess to belong to Christ, must give this proof
of their having really 'put off, concerning the former conversa-
tion, the old, and having put on the new man in Christ Jesus.'
In issuing this order, the Bishop referred simply to usages aris-
ing out of caste in the church, so far as religious ordinances
were concerned. Civil and domestic relations he exempted
from express censure, trusting that these would be corrected by
degrees, or find their proper level. The evils referred to by
him were unquestionably very great; they had been far too
2
Miss. Reg. 1844, p. 176; Ibid. 1845, p. 141, 152; Ibid. 1846, p. 138.
* The following list of evils which arose out of the toleration of caste in the missions
in the south of India, was given by the Bishop of Calcutta :—
"As to religious services, (1.) The different castes sat on different mats, and (2.) on
different sides of the church, (3.) to which they entered by different doors. (4.) They
approached the Lord's table at different times; and (5.) had different cups, or managed
172
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
long tolerated, and called loudly for a remedy. The authority
assumed by the Bishop, was, we doubt not, in perfect confor-
to get the catechists to change the cup before the lower caste began to communicate.
(6.) Even the missionary clergyman was persuaded to receive the Holy Supper last.
(7.) They would allow no sponsors at baptism of an inferior caste. (8.) They had
separate divisions in the burial grounds; and (9.) none of inferior castes could perform
the service; (10.) after which they were all compelled to bathe as being unclean; and
(11.) for eight days the howling women continued their heathen custom of mourning.
(12.) The country priest or catechist would not reside in a village of Pariars; nor (13.)
receive them into his house for instruction; nor (14.) would a Sudra congregation
receive a Pariar teacher; and (15.) when a congregation was convened, the inferior
classes were all excluded. (16.) Separation between the children after eight years of
age was insisted on.
"In the domestic circle, (17.) The wife was not allowed to sit or eat with her husband,
but was treated as his slave, or rather as part of his goods and chattels. Nor (18.) was
she permitted to sit with her husband at church. (19.) No intermarriages were allowed
between different castes; but (20.) illicit connections, intemperate feasts, &c., were
connived at fast enough; and the Christian married his daughter to a heathen of his
own caste rather than to a Christian of a lower one. (21.) The widows of Sudras
were not allowed to marry again; (22.) Virgin-widows of betrothed husbands were sub-
ject to the same law. (23.) Brahmans were consulted as to the lucky time for marry-
ing. (24.) The Christian put away a Christian wife he did not like, and took a second
heathen one.
(25.) The ill effects of their going to a Christian church to be married
were removed by charms, and (26.) by the custom of Tom-Toms and heathen proces-
sions after they left the church. (27.) Ceremonies of purifications as to females were
retained as among the heathen. (28.) The children were marked with various heathen
insignia; (29.) These marks they wore when among heathens, and obliterated them in
Christian society. (30.) So they had Christian names, but also heathen ones, for pass-
ing current in the world, often after heathen gods.
;
"As to general society, (31.) they considered themselves as of a superior race; and
(32.) the Pariars born to be their slaves. (33.) They would not drink of the same well
nor (34) live in the same street; nor (35.) take food from the same vessel. But (36.)
broke all the earthen vessels a Pariar had touched as being defiled; (37.) they would
not receive from him even the sacred waters of the Ganges to save their own lives.
(38.) The touch of a Pariar made them unclean. (39.) Christians who retained caste
were admitted to the festivities, often indecent, of the heathens, (40.) paid reverence
to their gods, (41.) made vows at the Pagodas, (42.) and called for the Brahmans to
exorcise the sick.
"As to the laws of caste, they proceeded (43.) from the Shasters or pretended
Sacred Books; (44.) the initiation was according to the Shasters; (45.) the determina-
tion of offences was according to the Shasters; (46.) the caste tribunals judged accord-
ing to the Shasters. (47.) These tribunals were sometimes held in Christian churches;
and (48.) upon their decision the condemned Christian was forbidden to partake of
the Lord's Supper.
Finally, as to the due order of society, (49.) the lowest vagabond, a filthy, drunken
beggar or thief, might contemn the most pious, learned, respectable man, à possessor of
land and property, attired in the most becoming manner, and sustaining the office of a
catechist perhaps, if of an inferior rank; and (50.) all this was unchangeable from age
to age, from generation to generation."-Two Charges delivered to the Clergy in the
Diocese of Calcutta, by D. Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta, in Christian Intelligencer, vol. v.
'. 270.
BY THE DANES.
173
mity with episcopal claims and usage; and though he expresses
himself with greater moderation in some of the details into
which he enters for the abolition of particular practices, than
is manifested in the general order, yet it may be questioned
whether the attempt to destroy the usages arising out of the
distinction of castes with so high a hand, was an advisable
measure, or likely to prove effectual in accomplishing the end in
view. At the same time, it is probable that the exercise of some-
what of authority was necessary in order to put down the evil.'
This question of the abolition of caste proved an occasion of
much trouble. Some of the natives addressed the Governor of
Madras on the subject. Much misapprehension and misrepre-
sentation appear to have been excited in regard to it. In Tan-
jore and the out-stations, upwards of 1200 persons, including
two of the native priests, seceded, rather than submit to the
new regulations; but the latter, after some time, submitted.
Years passed away without the opposition being subdued; nor
is it yet at an end. In Madras, there was still a large class of
professed Christians who were determined to uphold caste, and
who sought to stir up the converts in other missions to main-
tain it. It would almost seem as if the efforts to put it down
had infused new vitality into it. On this subject, the converts
manifested a resolution and perseverance quite unusual with
Hindus. Still, however, the measures adopted for putting down
caste, were attended with considerable success. Though some
refused to receive the communion, except on condition of being
protected from the contact of Pariars, and on this not being
yielded to them, walked out of the church when it was admi-
nistered, yet persons of different castes might now be seen re-
ceiving the Lord's Supper together. Even, however, of those
who yielded, some acted more from submission to the authority
of man, or with a view to retaining or regaining their situa-
tions, than from conviction of duty, or the exercise of the spirit
of the gospel. Though legislation may regulate outward acts,
it cannot change the inward feelings, and these will ever be
ready to shew themselves when it can be done with impunity.
We accordingly find that in private life, and in all that regarded
social intercourse, caste still maintained its influence among
'Miss. Reg. 1834, p. 178; Ibid. 1835, p. 459.
174
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the congregations in Southern India. The spirit and power of
caste were still to be found among native Christians, who yet
had professedly renounced it.¹
2
With regard to the total numbers received into the congrega-
tions connected with the several missions, we are not able to
state them up to a recent date; but we find that up to 1802 (ex-
clusive of a few years, for which we have not the returns), they
amounted to about 34,824. This includes not only converts
from heathenism, but many Romanists, who came over to the
Protestant faith, and children baptized in their infancy, many
of whom, it is to be feared, by their conduct in after life, for-
feited all title to the name of Christians. In the course of the
¹ Miss. Reg. 1836, p. 207; Ibid. 1837, p. 131; (Amer.) Miss. Her. vol. xlii. p. 20,
131; Ibid. vol. xliv. p. 260; Sum. Orient. Christ. Spect. vol. i. p. 272, 280; Bp. Cor-
rie's Memoirs, p. 579; Cal. Christ. Observer, vol. xiii. p. 6; vol. xix.
p. 203.
* In 1802, the whole numbers received in the Tranquebar Mission from its commence-
ment, including converts from Romanism and children baptized in their infancy (ex-
clusive of those in the year 1799, for which we have not the returns,) amounted to
20,126,-Neure Geschichte, tom. v. p. 157; Hough, vol. iii. p. 355.
In 1802, the whole numbers received in the Madras or Vepery Mission from its com-
mencement (exclusive of those for 1780, 1782, and 1787), amounted to 4,838.-Neure
Geschichte, tom. i. p. 1181; Hough, vol. iii. p. 444, 450, 460, 473.
In 1802, the whole numbers received in the Trichinopoly Mission (exclusive of those
for 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, and 1798), amounted to 2343.-Hough, vol. iii. p. 514, 530,
535, 541, 548.
In 1802, the whole number of persons received into the congregation at Tanjore from
1773 (excepting those for 1777, which were wanting in the church books), amounted to
3775, namely,
Pagans,
Roman Catholics,
Children born in the Congregation,
2225
863
687
-Neure Geschichte, tom. v. p. 944; Rep. Christ. Know. Soc.
Up to about 1804, the number of baptisms at Negapatam, amounted to 435.-Hough,
vol. iii. p. 506.
In 1806, the whole numbers received in the Cuddalore Mission from its commence-
ment (exclusivo of those for 1753, 1757, 1758, 1759, and 1768), amounted to 2105.—
Hough, vol. iii. p. 480, 486, 494, 499, 508.
"On a
In 1786, the whole numbers received in the Calcutta Mission from its commencement
was 1202, Hough, vol. iii. p. 17, 34, 39; but in this number there were probably in-
cluded many English, who formed what was called the English congregation.
careful examination," says a well-informed writer in the Calcutta Review, "we find
that Mr Kiernander baptized at least 209 adult heathens, and received into the congre-
gation 300 papists.-Cal. Rev. vol. vii. p. 172.
Several of the years for which we have
The above numbers amount in all to 34,824.
not the returns, were years of war and of great distress in the country; and the num-
bers received in them were probably small. In the above-mentioned numbor the 4000
baptized by Mr Gericke and his assistants in 1802, are not included. See
P. 164.
BY THE DANES.
175
present century great numbers were added to these; but we are
not able to make even an approximation to the amount.
In June 1846, the following were the numbers connected
with the congregations of the Propagation Society in the south
of India:

Men.
Women.
Children. TOTAL.
Baptized,
Catechumens,'
4158
5129
7330 16617
2035
2099
3010
7144
6193
7228 10340
23761
The congregations and the numbers of the baptized have
greatly increased of late years. They are scattered over a large
extent of country; but the greatest numbers are found in Tin-
nevelly.2
The external establishment of the Tanjore Mission, its
churches, mission-houses, schools, and Christian villages, has
been pronounced superior to every thing of the kind connected
with any Mission or any Society in the country. Yet Tanjore
'Unbaptized persons under Christian instruction.
* Sum. Orient. Christ. Spect. vol. i. p. 440.
The numbers connected with the Tranquebar Mission are not included in the above
table. It was all along a Danish Mission, but during the present century it was in a
very declining condition, and it, at length, became extinct or nearly so.-Malcolm's
Travels in South-Eastern Asia, vol. ii. p. 68. In 1841, the Royal Danish College of
Missions formed a connection with the Dresden Missionary Society for the express pur-
pose of reviving it. But when in 1845 Tranquebar was ceded to the East India Com-
pany, that connection was dissolved, and the mission is now carried on exclusively by
the Dresden Society, which has also stations at Vepery, Mayaveram, and Puthucotta.
The missionaries of the Dresden Society are now the only missionary body which is
favourable to the maintenance of caste. This may partly be accounted for by the pe-
culiar character of that Society. It is supported chiefly by what is known as the Old
Lutheran party in Germany, which was called into being in its present form by the ill-
judged and arbitrary proceedings of Frederick William III. King of Prussia, who la-
boured to form a union between the Lutheran and the Reformed Churches in his do-
minions. One effect of these proceedings was to produce in the minds of multitudes a
powerful re-action in favour of Lutheranism, including its doctrines of the ubiquity of
the body of Christ and of the real presence in the Lord's Supper, and its semi-popish
ceremonies, such as placing a crucifix and burning tapers on the altar. They sympa-
thize extensively with the Tractarian movement in England, though they would not
perhaps be found willing to return to Rome.-Calcutta Christian Observer, vol. xix.
p. 198, 203. It is probably this spirit of the olden times which leads them to look with
a favourable eye upon caste.
176
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
is from many causes an unfavourable soil for the growth and
progress of Christianity. Hinduism and Mahomedanism are
under the special patronage of the Court. Temples and sacred
structures of various kinds are seen rising in every street. A
continual round of festivals, processions, and spectacles, occupy
the heathen mind and exclude all serious thought. Every one
almost whom you meet is directly or indirectly connected with
the court or employed in its service; and being in some way or
other dependent upon it, they are, like all dependents of native
courts, of the court religion. No one who is unacquainted with
Tanjore, can conceive how powerful, and apparently how youth-
ful, heathenism is in that city, and how difficult it is, in the
face of opposition and scorn from every caste and every quarter,
there to propagate or to embrace Christianity.'
Before we conclude our account of this important mission, we
cannot help noticing the remarkable fact of the longevity of
many of the missionaries, especially as compared with the early
death or return home of English and American missionaries.
Though some died soon after their arrival, while others did not
live longer than is common in other missions, yet there was a
much larger proportion than is usual in India, who attained to
a good old age. Whether this is to be ascribed to original con-
stitution, or to a more simple style of living, or to any other
special cause, we are not able to say; but the subject is not un-
worthy of inquiry.2
'Sum. Orient. Christ. Spect. vol. i. p. 280.
2 Of the missionaries who came out in the course of the eighteenth century, we have
taken down the principal names, fifty in number; and we find that of these sixteen,
or nearly one-third, attained to old age, some of them indeed to extreme old age, as
will be seen by the following list :-
Period of Service.
Names.
Caemmerer,
Swartz,
Poriod of Service.
Names.
Huttemann,
31 years.
46 years.
Cnoll,
35
48
Breithaupt,
36
Fabricius,
50
Gericke,
36
Kolhoff (Father),
53
Zeglin,
40
Kolhoff (Son, born in
*Pohle,
41
John,
43
India),
*Rottler,
57
58
Klein,
44
Kiernander,
59
Those marked # woro still living at the age wo have given.
Schultzo after being twenty-four years in India returned to Hallo, and it appears ho
lived till 1799, when he must probably have been upwards of 100 years of age, as ho
came out to India in 1719.-Niecamp. Meier, Hough, and Miss. Reg. passim, Grinfield's
Sketches of the Danish Mission, p. 138.
BY THE DANES.
177
SECT. II.-GREENLAND.
IN 1708, Mr Hans Egede, soon after he was settled in the
ministry at a place called Vogen, in Norway, recollected having
read of Christians, and churches, and other monuments of our
holy religion, in Greenland.' Anxious to learn the present state
of that country, he applied for information to a friend in Ber-
gen, who had been engaged in the whale-fishery, and in conse-
quence of the accounts he received, he began to feel a deep
concern for the inhabitants, who, he apprehended, must now,
from want of Christian instructors, have relapsed into a state of
absolute heathenism. He thought his countrymen were bound
in a particular manner to carry the gospel to them, as they were
not only descended from Christian ancestors, but were of the
same extraction as themselves, and were considered as subjects
of the same government. He himself had a strong desire to go
and make known the gospel to them; but on reflecting upon
the subject, he was exceedingly perplexed. On the one hand,
the concern which he felt for the glory of God, and the salva-
tion of the Greenlanders, urged him forward to the work; on
the other, the consideration that he was already settled in the
ministry, the necessity of providing for his family, and the diffi-
culties and dangers of the attempt, deterred him from it. He,
therefore, prayed to God, that he would deliver him from this
temptation, and preserve him from plunging himself and his
family, by any rash project, in misfortune and ruin.
In 1710, Mr Egede, with the view of relieving his mind, re-
solved to address an humble memorial concerning the conver-
sion of the Greenlanders, to His Majesty the King of Denmark,
The Norwegians or Icelanders settled in Greenland early in the eleventh century.
We have accounts of their bishops for about three hundred years afterwards; but since
the beginning of the fifteenth century, little or nothing has been heard of them; and
for a considerable time, Greenland itself was almost entirely forgotten. Many ruins
of churches and other buildings, however, are still found in the country.-Crantz's His-
tory of Greenland, vol. i. 249, 252, 264; Cranz Fortsetzung der Historie con Gronland,
p. 342; Egede (Hans) Nachricht der Gronlandischen Mission, p. 67, 83; Graah's Nar-
rative of an Expedition to the East Coast of Greenland in search of the Lost Colonies,
p. 1, 7. 36, 33, 43.
VOL. I.
M
178
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
in the hope that the work would be undertaken by some others,
who might engage in it more conveniently than himself. He
was afraid, however, that such a proposal from so obscure an
individual would meet with little attention, and that, as it
would require a considerable sum of money to carry it into
effect, there was little hope of its being done while the war
lasted in which Denmark was then engaged with Sweden. He
forwarded, however, a copy of his memorial to the Bishop of
Bergen, the port from which the trade to Greenland was chiefly
carried on, and to the Bishop of Drontheim, to whose diocese he
belonged, entreating them, at the same time, to recommend to
government his proposal for the conversion of the Greenlanders.
The bishops, in reply, commended his zeal, and promised to
forward his memorial to court with the view of its being laid
before His Majesty. The mind of Mr Egede was now in some
measure set at rest: he committed the whole affair into the
hands of God, in the hope that he would overrule every thing
for his own glory.
Hitherto the whole plan had lain concealed in his own
bosom; he had not mentioned it even to his wife, as he was
apprehensive she would be completely adverse to it. It could
now, however, be no longer concealed. Some of their friends
who about this time visited Bergen, having heard of his pro-
posal, wrote to him on their return, censuring in the strongest
terms his fool-hardy project. His own, and his wife's mother,
now endeavoured to divert him from his purpose, representing
to him in the most affecting manner the dangers and distress
into which he would plunge himself and his family. Mrs Egede
was confounded by their representations, and even he himself
was so overcome by the entreaties and the tears of his friends,
that he repented of his rashness in ever proposing to go to
Greenland, and promised to remain at home in the situation
in which he had been already placed by Providence. He
thought he had now done his utmost for the conversion of the
Greenlanders, and that God could not require from him more,
as he was withheld from the attempt chiefly by his relations,
and in such an undertaking it was impossible for him to act
and suffer alone. He even became quite easy in his mind, and
thanked God that, through these circumstances, he had delivered
BY THE DANES.
179
•
him from this temptation. His tranquillity, however, was of
short duration that solemn declaration of the Redeemer struck
his conscience, and destroyed all his peace: "He that loveth
father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he
that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of
me." His mind was now thrown into a state of terrible pertur-
bation he had no rest night or day. His wife observed his
deep distress, and did her best to comfort him; but all in vain.
Growing at length impatient, she called herself unfortunate in
having given her heart, and been united in marriage, to a man
who wished to plunge himself and her in all manner of misfor-
tunes. These circumstances drove him almost desperate; he
now desired death rather than life. In the mean while, various
little occurrences, particularly the hatred and envy, the lies and
calumnies of some wicked people, rendered their situation at
Vogen very uncomfortable. Mr Egede submitted it to the seri-
ous consideration of his wife, whether they might not view this
as a punishment on account of their unwillingness to deny
themselves, and to endure hardships for the sake of Christ. By
his advice, she referred the matter to God in humble prayer,
and she at length so completely changed her views, that instead
of a rooted aversion, she felt a strong desire to go to Greenland.
Having gained the consent of his wife, Mr Egede thought he
had vanquished all his difficulties. He again sent an humble
memorial respecting the conversion of the Greenlanders, to the
College of Missions at Copenhagen, and to the new Bishop of
Bergen. He also wrote letters to him and to the Bishop of
Drontheim, entreating them to recommend his proposals as far
as lay in their power; but they, in reply, informed him that he
must wait with patience until the return of peace, as in the
present distressed state of the country, nothing of importance
could be undertaken by the court. In this manner, Mr Egede
was disappointed, year after year; yet such was his zeal for a
mission to Greenland, that nothing could divert him from his
purpose.
As, however, there was little appearance of the return of
peace, Mr Egede's patience was at last exhausted. He therefore
resolved to go and prosecute the object of his memorial in per-
son, especially as he was doubtful whether the individuals to
180
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
whom he had entrusted it were zealous and active in promot-
ing it. Meanwhile a report was circulated that a ship from
Bergen had been wrecked in the Greenland seas, and that the
crew, on escaping to land, were not only murdered, but de-
voured by the savages. Mr Egede was at first considerably
alarmed by this account, particularly as many people took occa-
sion from it to represent the Greenlanders in a most frightful
light, and to rouse the fears of his wife. They both, however,
consoled themselves with the thought, that God is able to pre-
serve his people under all circumstances when in the path of
duty. Before proceeding on his journey, Mr Egede had wished
to resign his charge, on condition that his successor would grant
him a small annuity until he was provided for in Greenland or
in some other quarter; but as the bishop wrote him that no
person would accept of so inconsiderable a benefice on such
terms, he relinquished it without any provision of the kind.
In July 1718, Mr Egede set off with his family for Bergen,
and on his arrival was viewed by the inhabitants of that town
as a kind of wonder. Many alleged he must have had visions.
and revelations to induce him to embark in so wild an enter-
prise; yet some, when they understood his design, regarded him
in a more favourable light. With the view of carrying his plan
into effect, he endeavoured to find persons who would embark
in the trade to Greenland; but as the traffic of the Norwegians
with that country had of late been destroyed by the Dutch, no-
body would hear a syllable from him on that subject, at least
while the war lasted. Some, however, said that if peace were
restored, and if government would assist them, they might per-
haps make the attempt. As the unexpected fall of Charles the
Twelfth, at the siege of Frederickshall in Norway, gave rise to
hopes of a speedy peace, Mr Egede seized the opportunity, re-
paired to Copenhagen in person, and presented to the College
of Missions various propositions relative to a mission to Green-
land. His Majesty Frederick the Fourth, who appears to have
taken a special interest in the propagation of Christianity among
the heathen, was friendly to the design; and even did Mr
Egede the honour of conversing with him on the subject of his
proposals.
In consequence of these communications, orders were trans-
BY THE DANES.
131
mitted from His Majesty to the magistrates of Bergen to make
inquiry, Whether the trade to Greenland could be carried on
with advantage from that port, and whether any of the inhabi-
tants were disposed to embark in it? In obedience to these
orders, the captains and pilots who had been engaged in the
whale-fishery, were assembled in the council-house, to give their
opinions concerning the state of the country, and the prospects
of the trade: but as they were afraid that if their testimony
were favourable, they might be required to go thither, and even
to remain for some time, they deviated entirely from the repre-
sentations which they had previously given to Mr Egede, de-
scribing the country as most inhospitable, and the navigation
as most dangerous. His hopes of assistance from man now
vanished, and his heart even began to murmur against God, who
had for so many years cherished in his breast an unquenchable
desire to make known the gospel in Greenland, while yet he blasted
all his schemes for carrying it into effect. Depressed as he
sometimes was with such distressing thoughts, he still poured
out his heart to God in prayer, in the hope that he might yet
crown his endeavours with success.
He now applied to individuals of some property, and urged
them by all the arguments he could devise, to risk a portion of
it on the trade to Greenland. Influenced by his earnest repre-
sentations, several of them began to listen to him, and about
the same time, a gentleman from Hamburg, who had heard of
the proposal, offered to invest a considerable capital in a com-
pany for trading to that country. Mr Egede now flattered him-
self with the expectation of seeing his plans effected at last;
but scarcely had he begun to indulge this hope when the gen-
tleman in Hamburg withdrew his engagement, and information
was at the same time received from the College of Missions,
that the privileges asked by the company could not be granted
by the Crown. In consequence of this the merchants were dis-
pirited; and every thing was once more thrown into confusion.
But notwithstanding these difficulties and disappointments,
which must have damped the ardour of any ordinary mind, Mr
Egede did not desist from his purpose. Having renewed his
applications to the merchants without success, he at last per-
suaded several piously-disposed persons in Bergen to meet to-
182
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
gether, that he might lay before them some propositions relative
to Greenland. Moved by his indomitable zeal and his unwearied
exertions, they promised, that if he could prevail with others,
they would assist him to the utmost of their power in carrying
his plans into effect. With the view of making a beginning, Mr
Egede subscribed as his share three hundred rix-dollars; some
of those who were present contributed two hundred; and others
one hundred. Having presented this document to the bishop
and clergy of Bergen, and various of the merchants, he now ob-
tained subscriptions from them, notwithstanding the little suc-
cess which had attended his previous applications. In this
manner a capital of between eight and ten thousand rix-dollars
was raised, and though it was not equal to the expense of the
undertaking, Mr Egede determined to make the attempt without
further delay. With this view a ship was purchased to carry
him and the other settlers to Greenland, and to remain in that
country during the winter. Two other vessels were freighted,
one for the whale-fishery, the other to bring back an account
of the colony. Meanwhile he was informed by the College of
Missions, that His Majesty most graciously approved of the un-
dertaking, and had appointed him a salary of three hundred
rix-dollars a year, and a present of other two hundred to assist
in his equipment. Thus, after an arduous struggle of no less
than thirteen years, Mr Egede had now the prospect of carrying
his plans into execution.'
In May 1721, Mr Egede sailed from Bergen, with his wife
and four children, and a number of other persons as settlers.
On reaching the Greenland seas, they met with so much ice,
which not only floated around them in frightful forms, but
stretched along the whole coast, that the captain in despair of
finding a passage was almost induced to return. After sailing
about for nearly three weeks, they one morning discovered an
opening, and ventured into it; but they had not proceeded far,
when their progress was checked by the ice encompassing the
shore. They, therefore, endeavoured to escape from amongst
it, and to run out into the open sea; but the attempt was vain,
for the wind was contrary as well as stormy. Nothing seemed
¹ Egedo (Hans) Nachricht vom Anfange und Fortgange der Gronlaudischen Mission,
}'. 1.
BY THE DANES.
183
now before them but inevitable destruction. The ship which
accompanied them struck on the ice and sprung a leak; and,
though the crew stopped it with clothes and whatever else was
most at hand, it was apprehended that both the vessels would
soon be dashed to pieces. The captain sprung into the place
where Mrs Egede and her children were, and told them to
prepare for death, as there was now no hope of escape. The
feelings of Mr Egede on this occasion, it is more easy to conceive
than describe, when he saw before his eyes that very event of
which he had been so often warned in vain, the destruction of
himself, his wife, and his children. To increase their alarm
there was such a thick fog during the whole day, that they
could see nothing before them; but yet they were surprised to
find, that the ship gradually gained more and more room; and
when the mist disappeared after midnight, the quantity of ice
was so inconsiderable, that they could scarcely believe they had
been in such imminent danger. The same storm which threat-
ened them with destruction had rid them of the ice; but this
circumstance had escaped their notice owing to the thickness of
the fog.¹
After a voyage of about eight weeks, they landed in Green-
land, at Balls River, in 64° North Latitude, and immediately on
their arrival began to erect a house of turf and stone on one of the
islands. The Greenlanders appeared at first very friendly to them,
and even assisted the workmen in their operations, imagining
that it was a ship they meant to build; but when they disco-
vered it was a house, they made signs that the vessel would be
crushed to pieces by the ice, and the house buried in the snow;
they pointed to the sun and to the horizon, shivered, closed
their eyes, and laid their hands under their head, intimating by
all this, that when the winter came, they would be frozen to
death, and therefore they had better take their departure with-
out delay. But as the colonists shewed no disposition to follow
their advice, the savages began to manifest considerable dread
of them. They could not conceive for what purpose the Kablu-
naks, as they call Europeans, had come to their land, unless it
were to revenge the death of their countrymen, whom the ancient
Greenlanders were said to have murdered. They therefore em-
1
Egede (H) Nachricht Gronlandisch. Mission, p. 20,
184
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ployed their Angekoks to harass and destroy them by their in-
cantations; but as the conjurors found that all their arts were
of no avail, they reported that the strangers would do them no
harm, and that the priest himself was an Angekok. In a short
time the fears of the savages subsided; they readily received.
the colonists into their houses when they went among them;
and they were not backward to visit them in return. They fre-
quently applied to Mr Egede to heal their sick by blowing on
them like their Angekoks; and on one occasion, they even con-
ducted him to a grave and entreated him to raise the dead.'
Anxious to enter on his work of instructing the Greenlanders,
Mr Egede, as he was still unable to speak their language, em-
ployed his eldest son to draw pictures of various Scripture facts,
such as the creation of the world, the fall of man, the deluge, the
miracles, death, and ascension of Christ, the resurrection of the
dead, and the last judgment. These drawings he shewed to the
Greenlanders who visited him, and explained to them, as well
as he was able, what they were intended to signify. The figures,
however, were so extremely rude, that even the savages used to
laugh every time they were catechised upon them.2
The aspect of the trade was at first very unpromising. The
Greenlanders possessed few articles of traffic, and what little
they had, they did not choose to barter with the Danes, as they
had been accustomed for many years to dispose of it to the
Dutch, who knew the commodities most acceptable in Green-
land, and could afford them at a cheaper rate. A ship from
Holland, which ran into Balls River, bought more in half an
hour than the colonists had been able to buy during the whole
winter.3
In May 1722, the colonists, as there was no appearance of
any vessel from Norway with supplies, resolved to leave the
country in the ship which had wintered with them, alleging,
that with only the provisions which remained, they would soon
be reduced to want. Mr Egede was now involved in fresh per-
plexity. On the one hand, he could not think of deserting a
¹ Egede (Paul) Nachrichten von Gronland von 1721, bis 1788, p. 18; Egedo (H.)
Nachricht Gronlandisch. Mission, p. 23, 25, 28, 32, 36, 44, 48, 50, 81.
* Egede (H.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 36; Egede (P.) Nachrichten von Gronlaud, p. 25.
* Egede (H.) Nach. Grou. Miss. p. 27, 34, 37.
BY THE DANES.
185
post which be had attained with so much difficulty, and after
the labour of so many years; on the other, he could not stay
alone with his wife and children only to see them perish of hun-
ger or murdered by the savages. He endeavoured to persuade
the colonists to wait till the end of summer for the arrival of
the ship; but though they were under no necessity of departing
sooner, they would not listen to his proposal. He was obliged
to agree to be ready to sail within fourteen days. Still he hoped
a vessel might arrive to their assistance; yet his hopes were
mingled with many fears. The colonists were happy at the pro-
spect of leaving so inhospitable a country, and returning to their
own land; but to him the thought was bitter as wormwood and
gall. Amidst these trying circumstances, Mrs Egede was won-
derfully composed. She not only would make no preparations
for the voyage; but when the colonists were packing up their
goods, she told them they were giving themselves unnecessary
trouble; God would yet put them to shame for their distrust of
his gracious providence. Three weeks however elapsed, and
still there was no appearance of any vessel. At last when all
hope had nearly vanished, two ships arrived; and brought them
not only a supply of provisions and other necessary articles, but
intelligence that the Company at Bergen was resolved to prose-
cute the trade and His Majesty to support the mission.¹
Encouraged by these assurances, Mr Egede resolved to spare
no pains in prosecuting the great object of his settlement in the
country. With the view of acquiring the language, he made
frequent visits to the Greenlanders in the neighbourhood; and
though the stench and dirtiness of their houses were extremely
noisome, yet to this and other inconveniences he cheerfully sub-
mitted, in the hope of ultimately being useful to them. Two
or three of the young Greenlanders were at length induced to
take up their residence with him, which saved him the trouble
of going to live with the savages, as he endeavoured, by con-
versing with them, to acquire a knowledge of the language.
He at the same time instructed them in reading and in the
principles of religion. At first, they did tolerably well, and
even strove with each other who should be the best scholar, as
they had a fish-hook for every letter they learned; but they
Egede (H.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 38, 40,
1
186
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
soon grew weary of the employment, and said, They knew not
the use of sitting every day, looking at a piece of paper, and
crying A, B, C; whereas to go to sea, to hunt seals, and to shoot
birds, was attended with both profit and pleasure. On the re-
turn of summer, they accordingly stole away, one after another,
so that all the pains he had taken with them proved of no
avail.¹
In July 1723, Mr Albert Top arrived in Greenland as an as-
sistant to Mr Egede in his labours among the savages; but
neither of them met with much encouragement in their attempts
to instruct them. Though the Greenlanders listened to them
with wonderful attention, yet from their extreme stupidity
they understood little of what was told them; though they ap-
proved of all they heard, yet they felt no personal interest in it.
They were so credulous, that they were ready to believe any
thing; they never questioned nor contradicted what they were
taught; they seldom offered any objections, or desired any ex-
planation of difficulties; but at the same time, the truths of
religion made no impression on their hearts; they heard them
with perfect coldness and indifference. It is, however, not un-
worthy of notice, that the immortality of man was a favourite
doctrine with the Greenlanders. It pleased them to hear that
the spirit did not die with the body; that even the body would
be restored to life at the last day; that friends would meet to-
gether in another and a better world; and that they would be
no more subject to sickness and sorrow.²
Much as we admire the zeal of Mr Egede, it must be acknow-
ledged that in some instances he employed means for influ-
encing the minds of the savages which were inconsistent not
only with the spirit of Christianity, but even with common ve-
racity. Having one day found that some of the Greenlanders
in the neighbourhood, had in a great measure forgotten his in-
structions, he gave them to understand that unless they were
more attentive, the king of the country from which he came,
would take them away in ships and carry them to that distant
land, and instruct them there. On another occasion he told.
Egede (H.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 51, 53, 66, 72.
* Egede (I.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 53, 62, 73, 85, 92, 153, 213; Egede's Description
of Greenland, Edit. 1818, p. 214.
BY THE DANES.
187
them, that if they would not pay attention to his instructions,
more people would come to the country and punish them for
their stubbornness, and even put them to death. Mr Egede was
not content with mere threatenings; he sometimes proceeded
to inflict corporal punishment on such of the Greenlanders as
offended him. Being told that one of the Angekoks had been
saying, it would be an easy thing to root the Kablunaks out of
the country and to seize on their property, he proceeded with
seven or eight armed men to the place of his residence, seized
him, and brought him to the colony, where he gave him some
corporal chastisement, with which the poor man seemed happy
to escape, as he anticipated nothing less than death. Into
these errors the good man was probably betrayed by consider-
ing the Greenlanders in the light of children, like many a pa-
rent who not only administers correction to his offspring, but
endeavours to keep them in awe by threatenings which he never
means to execute.¹
In 1726 the colonists were reduced to great distress for want
of the necessaries of life. Their food had of late consisted
chiefly of seals' flesh; but as this affords only slender nourish-
ment, they became so extremely weak, that in rowing they were
almost ready to drop the oars from their hands. One evening
several of them came to some Greenlanders, who treated them
with flesh and eggs, which proved a most seasonable repast to
them, as they had eaten nothing since the day before, and in
the meanwhile had been exposed in the country to the storm.
On another occasion, they obtained from them two tons of the
spermaceti of a Caschalot whale, the train of which they used
instead of butter to their seal flesh, and with it and a little
meal they baked pancakes. Mr Egede, on whom the care of
the temporal as well as the spiritual interests of the colony
chiefly devolved, set off on a dangerous voyage to a place about
two hundred and fifty miles distant, in the hope of finding the
Dutch ships employed in the whale-fishery, and of procuring a
supply of provisions from them. There he found twelve Dutch
vessels; but necessitous as were the circumstances of the colony,
he obtained from them very scanty relief. Eight men had now
Egede (H.) Nach. Gron, Miss. p. 95, 105, 116, 120, 128, 142, 184, 209: Egede
(P) Nach. von Gron. p. 37.
188
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
to live on the portion of bread which would have been needed
by one. These circumstances were a severe trial to Mr Egede.
As to himself, he had learned with the Apostle Paul, "in what-
soever state he was therewith to be content;" but to see his
wife and children suffering the miseries of want, wrung his
heart with anguish; while at the same time, the daily mur-
murs and impatience of the colonists contributed still further
to embitter his situation. In the midst of these trying circum-
stances, a ship arrived from Norway with a supply of those
articles which they so much needed. Still, however, Mr Egede
was much distressed to learn that another vessel had sailed
from Bergen; but as she had not been heard of, he felt serious
apprehensions for her safety; and the event shewed that his
fears were not without foundation.'
Besides labouring for the conversion of the Greenlanders, Mr
Egede exerted himself to the utmost of his power in promoting
the temporal interests of the colony, being sensible that the ex-
istence of the mission might ultimately depend on the success
of the trade. With this view he undertook many long and
hazardous voyages, in the course of which he suffered no small
hardships, and was even in danger of his life. But notwith-
standing all his exertions, the trade proved so unsuccessful,
that the Company at Bergen relinquished the undertaking.²
In 1728, Frederick the Fourth, who had now taken upon him-
self the whole concern, adopted new and more vigorous mea-
sures for extending both the trade and the mission. With this
view he sent out several ships, one of which was an armed ves-
sel, with materials for the erection of a fort, and a small garri-
son of soldiers for the protection of the colony. Major Paars
was appointed governor, and Captain Landorp commandant.
Besides the military, there were a number of artificers, masons,
carpenters, and smiths, some of whom came voluntarily, others.
were taken out of confinement, and were married to females
from the house of correction, with the view of peopling the
country and establishing a permanent colony. There came also
two new missionaries, Messrs Ohle Lange, and Henry Miltzoug,
to assist Mr Egede in instructing the Greenlanders. As the
2
Egede (P.) Nach. von Gron. p. 49; Egede (H.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 146.
Egede (H.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 65, 71, 78, 89, 95, 123, 127, 134, 163.
BY THE DANES.
189
colony was in an unfavourable situation, it was now removed
from the island on which it had hitherto been established, to a
place on the mainland, some miles distant. This new settle-
ment was called Good Hope. A second colony, which had been
begun at Nepisene, about two hundred miles to the northward,
and which was afterwards abandoned, was again established by
the new settlers.'
Scarcely had the winter commenced, when many of the colo-
nists were taken ill, partly, it was supposed, in consequence of
the wetness of the summer, when they were obliged to live in
tents, and partly from the dampness of their new dwellings.
So general was disease that there was often scarcely a sufficient
number well to attend the sick and to manage the household
affairs. The soldiers and artificers died rapidly one after
another in the course of the winter no fewer than forty were
laid in the grave. As a natural consequence of this, great dis-
contents arose among the colonists, particularly against Mr
Egede, whom they considered as the principal cause of their
being sent to so inhospitable a region. The conduct of many
of them, especially of the women, was so reprehensible, that
even the Greenlanders were offended by it.²
In 1731, the ministry of Christian the Sixth, who had now
ascended the throne of Denmark, thinking there was no proba-
bility that the money expended for so many years on this under-
taking would ever be reimbursed by the trade, sent orders to
Greenland that the colonies should be abandoned, and that all
the settlers should return home. This was like a thunderbolt
to Mr Egede. It was left, indeed, to his own choice to return.
with the others, or to remain in the country; and in the latter
case, he was allowed to retain as many of the colonists as were
willing to stay, and as much provisions as would be sufficient
for a year; but he was expressly informed that he had no fur-
ther assistance to expect from government. Some of the Green-
landers having been told as a reason for the recall of the colo-
nists, that the King had heard they were little the better of all
the instructions they received, and that they would not seek
¹ Egede (H.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 108. 126, 163, 175, 197; Egede (P.) Nach. von
Gron. 53.
* Egede (H.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 179, 182, 194; Egede (P.) Nach. von Gron. p. 53.
190
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
after God, but still followed their old courses, they alleged that
whoever had said so to his Majesty was a great liar; and they,
at the same time, entreated Mr Egede not to leave them, but to
let-the King know what a well-behaved people they were. As,
however, it was impossible for him to remain in the country
alone, and as none of the colonists were willing to stay, he pe-
titioned the governor and the other officers who constituted the
council, to appoint eight or ten men to stop with him during
the winter in order to preserve the buildings, and other pro-
perty of the colony which the ships could not carry away that
season, and which would otherwise be seized by the Green-
landers, or by foreigners in the spring. With this request, the
council, after some difficulty, complied. Mr Egede now beheld
the governor, the officers, the rest of the colonists, and even his
two colleagues, take their departure, while he himself, with a
few sailors, remained behind in a cold inhospitable country, sus-
pended for a whole year between the hope of assistance, and the
fear of being abandoned for ever.'
In 1732, His Majesty Christian the Sixth, in consequence of
Mr Egede's urgent representations, was pleased to send a ship
with supplies to Greenland; but without giving him any assur-
ance of further assistance or support. Meanwhile, the blubber
trade was more successful than usual, and a larger cargo was sent
home this season than in any of the preceding years, when it
was carried on with so much trouble and expense. Encouraged,
probably by this circumstance, His Majesty resolved to renew
the trade to Greenland, and to prosecute it with more vigour
than ever, and he was graciously pleased to order the sum of
two thousand rix-dollars to be devoted to the support of the
mission. After so many disappointments, this intelligence af-
forded Mr Egede some gleam of hope, but the prospect was
quickly overcast, and even became darker than ever.2
In 1733, two of the Greenlanders who had been taken to
Denmark by the colonists when they left the country, were sent
back to their native land, as they did not keep their health in
Europe. One of them, a girl, died at sea; the other, a boy,
came home to all appearance perfectly well. It was not long,
however, before he was seized with an eruptive disorder, and
2 Ibid. p. 235, 243.
1
Egede (II.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 221.
BY THE DANES.
191
after wandering up and down among his countrymen, he fell
a victim to it. One of the next who was taken ill was the
Greenland youth, Frederick Christian, who was a particular
favourite of Mr Egede's, whom he employed as a kind of cate-
chist among the children. Nobody at first knew the nature
of the disease, nor any remedy for it; but at length Mr Egede
discovered that it was the small-pox. With the view of check-
ing its progress, he sent intelligence to different parts of the
country, warning the Greenlanders of the danger, desiring them
to remain in their own habitations, as those who were already
infected could not escape, and advising those among whom the
disease had not made its appearance, to allow no strangers to
visit them, lest they should bring the contagion with them.
To these friendly admonitions, however, they lent a deaf ear.
Such as had caught the disease, but were not yet confined by
it, fled to other parts of the country, and as the Greenlanders
never refuse to receive strangers, it spread among them with
amazing rapidity.
As this was the first time the small-pox had made its appear-
ance in Greenland, the inhabitants were entirely ignorant of
the way of treating it; and as it was at the same time under a
very malignant form, it committed terrible ravages among them.'
Few of those who were attacked by it lived beyond the third
day. Some, in despair, stabbed themselves, or plunged into
the sea to put an end to their sufferings. One man whose son
and daughter died of it, stabbed his wife's sister, and threw
her into the sea, under the idea that she had bewitched them
to death. Such, indeed, was the general consternation and
distress, that the living did not as usual bewail the dead, not
even their nearest and dearest relations.
The distress of the Greenlanders deeply affected Mr Egede,
and notwithstanding the feeble state of his own health, he went
about from place to place, sometimes alone, and sometimes in
company with the Moravian missionaries who had lately come
from Germany, or he sent his son among them in order to in-
struct and comfort the poor dying creatures. In many places,
It has been observed that when diseases of an infectious nature are first introduced
into a country, they are often of a peculiarly virulent type, and commit fearful ravages
among the inhabitants.
192
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
they found nothing but empty houses and unburied corpses,
some within and some without doors, lying in the snow. Besides
travelling among them, Mr Egede and the new missionaries
kindly lodged all the sick who fled to them. They laid as many
of them in their own houses, and even in their bedrooms, as
the places would hold; and attended and nursed them as well
as they were able, though the stench of the sick and the dying
was so insufferable, and the toil they had with them was so
great, as materially to affect their own health. Many of the
Greenlanders were sensibly touched with these acts of kindness;
and among others, one who when in health had often derided
Mr Egede, said to him as he was dying: "Thou hast done for
us what our own countrymen would not have done; thou hast
fed us when we had nothing to eat; thou hast buried our
dead, who would otherwise have been devoured by the dogs,
the foxes, and the ravens; thou hast instructed us in the know-
ledge of God, and told us of a better life to come." On the
other hand, as Mr Egede had often informed the savages, that
if they prayed to God, he would grant them the good things
they asked, some of them now alleged that God did not hear
them; that though they cried to him for help, yet he answered
them not; and therefore they would pray to him no longer, a
circumstance which should teach the Christian missionary not
to speak in too general or too absolute terms with respect to
the efficacy of prayer, as an ignorant untutored heathen is apt
to interpret that of temporal which is true only of spiritual
blessings; and even, as to them, the answer is often not im-
mediate, nor in that form which we desire.
In this manner did this virulent disorder rage among the
poor Greenlanders for about twelve months, if not even still
longer, spreading its devastations at least forty leagues north-
ward, and nearly as far to the south. When the traders after-
wards went into the country, they found all the houses empty
for thirty leagues north. Mr Egede calculated that in the
neighbourhood of the colony, upwards of two thousand persons
fell victims to this malignant disease, an immense number, con-
sidering the small population of the country.'
¹ Egede (H.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 243, 246, 253, 255, 258, 261, 263; Crantz's His-
tory of Greenland, vol. i. p. 333; Egede's Description of Greenland, p. 120.
BY THE DANES.
193
In 1734, Mr Martin Ohnsorg, Mr Andrew Bing, and Mr Paul
Egede, our excellent missionary's eldest son, who had been at
Copenhagen prosecuting his studies, were sent to Greenland, to-
gether with materials for erecting a new colony in Disco Bay.
Mr Egede had been greatly rejoiced on receiving His Majesty's
promise that the undertaking would be carried on with fresh
vigour; but when only three missionaries arrived, he felt ex-
tremely disappointed, as he considered so small a reinforce-
ment as totally inadequate for the accomplishment of this de-
sign. He himself was now so much enfeebled, both in body and
mind, by the exertions he had made, and the anxieties and hard-
ships he had suffered, that he was no longer able to discharge
the duties of a missionary with his former vigour and alacrity.
He considered himself, indeed, as bound before God to promote,
as long as he lived, the interests of religion in Greenland; but
this he apprehended he could do more effectually by leaving
the country than by remaining in it. He, therefore, resolved
on returning to Europe, with the view of communicating full
information as to the state of the mission, and of explaining
the means by which it might be prosecuted with the greatest
prospect of success.¹
In December 1735, died Mrs Egede, a woman who well de-
serves to hold an honourable place among those "daughters
who have done virtuously." Notwithstanding the entreaties of
her friends and the scorn of the world, she magnanimously ac-
companied her husband to the inhospitable shores of Greenland,
and though the difficulties and trials which befel them in that
country were so many and so great, yet she not only endured
them with patience and cheerfulness, but often supported and
comforted him when ready to give way to discouragement and
disappointment.2
After the death of his wife, Mr Egede's health, which had of
late been on the decline, was still further impaired, and his
spirits were at the same time so depressed, that he was some-
times like a man on the brink of despair. One Sabbath in par-
ticular, he tells us, he felt such hatred of God in his heart, and
¹ Egodo (H.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 266, 287.
VOL. I.
* Ibid. p. 278.
N
194
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
such dislike to hear his word,' that he absented himself from
public worship the whole day, spending it in private, in deep
distress, without making known his situation to any. In the
evening as he was going to bed, he was struck with great horror
of mind. His body began to shake; his tongue he could not
move; he felt as if he were beset with the bands of death, and
encompassed with the pains of hell. After he had so far re-
covered as to be able to speak, he burst forth in expressions of
despair, as if the Lord had forsaken him. His children and his
fellow-labourers, on hearing his moanings, came to his assistance.
and sought to console him; but he refused to be comforted.
His own conscience condemned him, and he thought there was
no help for him in God. His mind, indeed, became at length
more calm; but yet for some time he was more or less subject
to these paroxysms of despondency."
He now prepared to take his departure from a country where
he had laboured upwards of fifteen years, amidst innumerable
privations, hardships, and dangers, yet apparently with little
or no success. He preached his farewell sermon from these
solemn and affecting words: "I said, I have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain; yet surely
my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God."³
In August 1736, Mr Egede sailed from Greenland with his
youngest son and two daughters; and after a voyage of about
seven weeks, he arrived at Copenhagen. He had soon afterwards.
an interview with His Majesty, to whom he gave a representation
of the state of the mission in Greenland. By his recommenda-
tion, a seminary was instituted for the education of catechists
and missionaries for Greenland, in which they might acquire
the language, as well as other branches of learning, that so they
might enter on the work of instructing the natives immediately
on their arrival in the country, whereas hitherto, they had been
obliged to pass several years, amidst great trials and privations,
before they were able to commence their labours. Of this semi-
nary Mr Egede was appointed the superintendent, with a salary
of 500 rix-dollars a year.*
¹ Here I literally translato his own words: "Ich fuhlte erstlich solchen hass gegen
Gott in meinem hertzen, und solchen abscheu, sein wort zu horen."
Egede (H.) Nach. Gron. Miss. p. 280, 282.
a Ibid. p. 287.
4
Ibid. p. 288; Egedo (P.) Nach. von Gron. p. 257.
BY THE DANES.
195
In August 1740, Mr Paul Egede, who had remained in Green-
land after the departure of his father, sailed from that country
for Denmark. He appears to have possesssd the entire con-
fidence of the Greenlanders, and to have been greatly beloved
by them. Previous to his departure, he translated the first
three books of Moses into the Greenland language; but as
Ulphilas, bishop of the Goths, when he translated the Bible into
German, omitted the books of Kings, lest they should foster in
his countrymen their disposition to war, so the two Greenlanders
who assisted Mr Egede in this undertaking, expressed many
objections to the book of Genesis; apprehending it would be
better to leave their countrymen ignorant of some of the facts.
mentioned in it, such as the murder of Abel by his brother
Cain; the imposition practised by Jacob on his father and
brother; the polygamy of the patriarchs; and particularly, the
perfidy of Simeon and Levi in massacring the inhabitants of
Shechem. A selection of the most important passages, they
thought, would be more useful to their countrymen. Mr Egede
himself appears to have formed a similar opinion as his native
assistants, and regretted that he had spent so much time in
translating the books of Moses. He, therefore, began a version
of the New Testament a short time before he left Greenland,
and after his return to Europe he completed the work.'
In 1750, Mr Paul Egede published a dictionary of the Green-
land language, with an explanation of the words in Danish and
Latin. Ten years after, he printed a Greenland grammar: he
also published his translation of the New Testament.
It was
not, however, approved of by the missionaries who were settled
in Greenland. After his death, Mr Fabricius, who had also left
the country a great many years, made another translation of
the New Testament into the Greenland language. This, however,
was no better than the other: it was exceedingly incorrect,
and was not even understood by the people. Besides these
works, the Danish missionaries printed one or two spelling
books, a catechism, a hymn book, and various other small
pieces in the Greenland language.*
¹ Egede (P.) Nach. von Gron. p. 146, 166, 180, 196, 213, 246, 258.
* Edinburgh Encyclopædia, vol. x. p. 502; (Moravian) Periodical Accounts, vol. xv.
p. 271; MS. Accounts penes me.
196
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
New Colonies were established from time to time at various
places on the western coast of Greenland, from the 59° to the
73° of North Latitude, for the purposes of trade, and missionaries
or catechists were settled in most of them. They were divided
into two Inspectorships, the northern and the southern. The
following were the chief of these establishments, commencing
with the most northerly:-
Founded.
Founded.
NORTHERN.
SOUTHERN.
Upernavick.
1756
Holsteinburg.
1758
Umanak.
1755
Rittenbenk.
Kirgurtursuk.
Omanarsuk.
Klokkerhuk.
1755
Zukkertop.
1773
Good Haven.
1721
Good Hope.
1778
Crown Prince Island.
1754
Fisher Point.
Dog Island.
1742
Frederick's Hope.
1759
Egede's Memorial.
1775
Juliana's Hope.
1741
Jacob's Haven.
1797
Nennortalik.¹
1752
Claus Haven.
1734
Christian's Hope.
Formerly there were ten missionaries in the Danish colonies
in Greenland, and double that number of catechists and school-
masters. But since 1792 the number of missionaries has been
reduced to about one-half, in consequence of which one mis-
sionary had to serve several colonies. The most populous
among them was generally the place of his residence; from
whence he paid visits in the summer to the other settlements,
administered the Lord's Supper to the inhabitants, baptized
their children, and performed the other duties attached to his
office. On the whole coast there were five churches, namely,
at Good Hope, Jacob's Haven, Frederick's Hope, Claus Haven,
and Holsteinburg. The missionaries appear to go out for a
term of years, as a stage in their professional course, and, on
1 Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. i. p. 4; Egede (P.) Nach. von. Gron. 272, 282; Edin.
Encyclop. vol. x. 482; Period. Accounts, vol. viii. p. 84; Hans Egede Saabye's
Green. p. 68.
It is a curious geological fact, that coal is found both at Umanak and at Good
Havon, on Disco Island. The vein of coal on Disco Island is said to extend far into
the son.—Saabye's Greenland, p. 69, 72.
BY THE DANES.
197
completing it, they return to Denmark to enter on what is
called a living. The catechists are generally natives of the
country, sometimes of a mixed race; but they appear to be
very imperfectly qualified for their office. Indeed, it may be
questioned, whether either the missionaries or the catechists
feel much interest in their work.'
The number of Greenlanders who are connected with the
Danish colonies, and who are said to be under Christian instruc-
tion, has been estimated at about 4000. There are scarcely any
heathens to be found in them: the people generally are bap-
tized; but most of them, we fear, are Christians only in name.
Many of them, however, have obtained some knowledge of the
gospel; and its beneficial influence is obvious in promoting
civilization among them; there is a marked difference between
their manners and customs, and those of their heathen coun-
trymen. They are said to be almost all able to read and write;
but here as in other countries, the conduct of the colonists is a
great hinderance to their improvement. Many of these carry
moral corruption along with them, and Greenlanders are like chil-
dren, who readily follow the examples which are set before them.
With regard to the arts of life, it is necessary to leave them to
the occupations of the country, as the catching of seals, the
chase of birds, and the hunting of the reindeer, by which means
they not only provide for the subsistence of themselves and
their families, but are able to sell seal-bacon, seal-skins, and
other articles to the colonists, for which they receive in return
implements for seal-fishing, and other kinds of European goods.
¹ Egede (P.) Nach. von Gron. p. 316; Saabye's Green. p. 53, 59, 107; Edin. Ency-
clop. vol. x. p. 482; MS. Accounts penes me.
"Saabye's Greon. p. 50, 52, 64; Period. Accounts, vol. xii. p. 480; MS. Accounts
penes me.
198
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
CHAPTER VI.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
THE United Brethren, or, as they are more commonly called,
the Moravians, are generally supposed to have taken their rise
from Nicholas Lewis, Count Zinzendorf, a German nobleman,
soon after the commencement of the eighteenth century. They
themselves, however, trace their origin to the churches of Bo-
hemia, which, even previous to the Reformation, maintained
the principles of Christianity in considerable purity, and were
distinguished by giving birth to those two well-known martyrs,
John Huss and Jerome of Prague.'
Early in the seventeenth century, the churches of Bohemia
were reduced to the brink of ruin, through the oppressions and
persecutions of their enemies. Multitudes of the people were
driven into exile, and took refuge in other countries, where they
were soon lost in the mass of the population. In the beginning
of the eighteenth century, a number of the Ancient Brethren
were still to be found in Moravia; and some of them having
been awakened by the conversation and exhortations of Chris-
tian David, a native of that country and a carpenter by trade,
they besought him to direct them to a place inhabited by
Christian people, where they would not, as in their own land,
be exposed to persecution, and would enjoy the means of reli-
gious instruction. Having failed in his first attempts for this
purpose, he applied to Count Zinzendorf, who, on learning the
circumstances of these poor oppressed people in Moravia, offered
to grant them a place to dwell in, upon an estate which he had
lately purchased in Upper Lusatia. Little did the Count then
imagine the various consequences which were to result from
this simple incident, or the important part which he himself
¹ Crantz's History of the Brethren, p. 13, 22.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN,
199
was to act in the new and manifold undertakings to which it
was destined to gave rise.¹
In the summer of 1722, Christian David returned from Mo-
ravia, with two families of the name of Neisser, consisting of
ten persons, one half of whom were children. Upon their ar-
rival on Count Zinzendorf's estate in Upper Lusatia, they pro-
ceeded to build a house for themselves, and in this way com-
menced the village of Herrnhut. Christian David afterwards.
returned a number of times to Moravia with the view of stirring
up his countrymen to attend to religion. They often held
meetings during the night; but being discovered, some were
thrown into prison, and others suffered severe corporal punish-
ment. Harassed by the outrageous proceedings of their ene-
mies, many determined to leave the country, and after en-
countering many difficulties and dangers, they happily effected
their purpose. Some of them afterwards returned, and sought
an opportunity of bringing away their husbands or wives, their
parents or children, their brothers or sisters; and though their
enemies watched them very narrowly, they often succeeded in
their dangerous enterprises beyond expectation.
Count Zinzendorf had at first imagined that only a few per-
secuted families would settle on his domains, to whom therefore
he could not refuse an asylum. As, however, a considerable
number of these refugees were now collected at Herrnhut, he
endeavoured to persuade them to unite themselves with the
Lutheran church. But they resolved that a constitution of
nearly three hundred years' standing, on account of which many
of their ancestors had suffered and bled and died, and which they
had handed down to them as a most precious inheritance, should
on no account be abandoned by them. They agreed, however,
not to separate from the Lutheran church, but still to hold com-
munion with it; while, at the same time, they maintained among
themselves the Bohemian constitution and discipline. In this de-
cision, the Count at last acquiesced: he afterwards became the
head of the whole body, and was consecrated one of their bishops.3
¹ Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 66, 82, 91; Periodical Accounts relating to the Missions of
the United Brethren, vol. xvi. p. 166.
2 Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 97, 103, 108; Period. Accounts, vol. xvi. p. 167.
Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 109, 123, 136, 169, 215, 291; Spangenberg's Life of Count
Zinzendorf, p. 50, 58, 80.
200
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
The Count had, even at an early period of his life, turned his
thoughts to the state of the heathen world, and within a few
years after the building of Herrnhut, the Brethren were led to
direct their views to the same important object. In 1731, when
the Count attended the coronation of Christian the Sixth, the
King of Denmark, at Copenhagen, he saw two of the natives of
Greenland who had been baptized by Mr Egede, and he learned
with regret that the Danish Government had resolved to aban-
don the mission in that country. About the same time, a Negro,
called Anthony, who had become acquainted with some of his
servants, told them that he had a sister in the island of St
Thomas in the West Indies, who earnestly desired to be in-
structed in the principles of religion; but as she had neither
time nor opportunity for it, she often besought the Great God
to send some one to shew her the way of salvation. On return-
ing to Herrnhut, the Count spoke to the congregation concern-
ing the Negro slaves and their wretched condition. His account
made such an impression on John Leonard Dober and Tobias
Leupold, both of them young men, that they felt an impulse to
go to St Thomas and tell them of the way of salvation, and
they communicated their desire to the Count, who made it
known to the congregation. A few days after, Anthony came
to Herrnhut, and in a meeting of the congregation, he gave an ac-
count of the lamentable condition of the poor Negroes in the West
Indies; but he said that no one could have an opportunity of
teaching them unless he was himself a slave, and instructed
them in the midst of their daily labours. The two brethren
were no way shaken in their views by this representation, but
were rather the more confirmed in their desire. Their proposal,
however, was but coldly received by the congregation in gene-
ral, with the exception of Count Zinzendorf; most of the
Brethren considered it as merely a momentary effusion of youth-
ful zeal, but that were the experiment made, it would be found
attended with insuperable difficulties. More than a twelve-
month elapsed before any thing was done; but the matter was
at last referred to the lot, a method of learning the will of God,
which is very common among the Brethren. As to Dober,
the lot proved favourable, but unfavourable as to Leupold.
Such were the interesting circumstances which gave rise to the
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN,
201
exertions of the United Brethren for the conversion of the
heathen.'
It is not unworthy of notice, that when the Brethren sent forth
their first missionaries, the congregation consisted of only about
six hundred persons, most of them poor despised exiles; yet
this inconsiderable company, in the short space of eight or nine
years, sent missionaries to Greenland, to St Thomas, to St Croix,
to Surinam, to Berbice, to the Indians of North America, to the
Negroes of South Carolina, to Lapland, to Tartary, to Guinea,
to the Cape of Good Hope, and to the Island of Ceylon.
It is right, however, to state, that the early missions of the
Brethren were a very simple affair, compared with the missions
of modern times, involving neither much preparation nor much.
expense, the missionaries often not even knowing how they
were to get to the place of their destination, yet trusting that
the way would be opened up to them by God, to whose care
and guidance they committed themselves, and intending gene-
rally to support themselves by the labour of their hands. Of
these important undertakings, we shall now proceed to give
some account, beginning with the mission to Greenland."
Spangenberg's Life of Zinzendorf, p. 9, 143; Crantz's History of Greenland, vol. i.
p. 317 ; Oldendorp Geschichte der Mission auf St Thomas, St Croix, und St Jan, tom. ii.
p. 453; Period. Accounts relating to the Missions of the United Breth. vol. xii. P. 242.
2 Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 169, 184; Period. Accounts, vol. xiv. p. viii.
We feel great difficulty in forming an estimate of the early Moravians; yet it is of
much importance to pass a right judgment concerning them, in order to our obtaining
a correct idea of the character of their missions. It is well known that they were long
the object of gencral obloquy in Germany, in Holland, and other parts of the Continent,
in England, and in America; and that they were viewed in an unfavourable light not only
by men of the world, and such as made no pretensions to piety, but by many religious
people, some of them eminently distinguished for both learning and piety. Among
these we may mention in Germany the colebrated Bengelius, Burk's Memoirs of John
Albert Bengel, p. 399; in England, Dr Doddridge, Orton's Memoirs of Doddridge,
p. 126; John Wesley, Moore's Life of the Rev. John Wesley, vol. i. p. 476, 481; Whit-
field, Philip's Life and Times of Whitreld, p. 434; the Countess of Huntingdon, Life
and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon, vol. i. p. 36, 41, 58, 64, 102, 203, 454; in
America, David Brainerd, Brainerd's Life, p. 189; and Dickenson, President of New
Jersey College, Dickenson's Familiar Letters, p. 169. Most of these were persons whom
one would not have expected to take up readily an evil report or mere prejudices
against a body of fellow-Christians. Some of them were distinguished for their can-
dour and moderation; others were likely to be indulgent to piety, even though it did
run somewhat wild; yet theso very persons, some of them after being for a timo
favourably disposed toward the Brethren, becamo quite opposed to them, and speak of
them in terms of uttor reprobation.
The charges brought against them by their opponents had reference to important
202
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
SECT. I.-GREENLAND.
IN January 1733, Matthew Stach and Christian Stach, ac-
companied by Christian David, set off from Herrnhut in Upper
points of doctrine, to their phraseology and modes of speaking, and to various practices
prevailing among them. They were charged, for example, with crude, gross, mystical
notions in religion; with contemning the Holy Scriptures; with, though not perhaps
the denial of the doctrine of the Trinity, yet with too exclusive a regard to the Son,
and with an unscriptural and unwarranted way of speaking of the Father and of the Holy
Spirit; with a familiar, light, unhallowed manner of speaking of the Saviour, with
Antinomian views, and even with indecent and impure sentiments and language.
See Rimius' Narrative of the Rise and Progress of the Herrnhuters, London 1753,
p. 32; Stinstra's Essay on Fanaticism, p. lxxii. 197.
We cannot, indeed, avoid coming to the conclusion, that there was much that was
imperfect, and much that was wrong, about the Brethren in the early part of their
carcer. Count Zinzendorf, who wielded nearly absolute authority in their Church,
and who, especially in his later years, regulated all its concerns, even to the minutest
points, appears, from his Life by Spangenberg, to have been essentially a wrong-headed,
though a pious man. There was a great deal of singularity about him and his proceed-
ings. He was much guided by impulses, emotions, and impressions; and his views
and feelings were often characterised by enthusiasm, not to say fanaticism. He spoke
in a familiar way of the Saviour and of his intercourse with him; and as if he knew
his mind and will with certainty, and was under his immediate direction, and under-
stood the causes and designs of his procedure, and that in regard even to very trivial
matters. He was fitful, changeable, ready to take up fancies and new notions, to run
into extravagancies and frivolities, and to magnify trifles, as if they were matters of
great importance. His language was vague, mystical, and often not very intelligible ;
he employed much of a novel, strange, unscriptural phraseology. With him the reli-
gion of the heart was every thing; and he was very restricted in his views of Christian
doctrine. The incarnation, the life, sufferings, and death of the Saviour, and the atone-
meut which be made for sin, were the topics on which he chiefly dwelt, and these he often
spoke of in a very exceptionable manner. His fancy and his feelings had more in-
fluence in forming his opinions and his language than either Scripture or sound reason.
He appears, like most men of his temperament, to have been very easy of belief as to
a blessing resting on his labours, and on those of his brethren. The institutions or
order which he introduced into the Church of the Brethren, were, generally speaking,
without any authority from Scripture, and ill-accorded with the simplicity of Christi-
anity. Every thing was artificial; every thing was reduced to regulation. Much im-
portance was often attached to mere forms and trifles. There was in the whole sys-
tem much which may be called emphatically,
be called emphatically, "Will-worship." It was founded neither
on Scripture nor reason, but was the pure devising of man's wisdom or rather of man's
folly.
But while there was much in the character and course of Count Zinzendorf which we
cannot but deeply regret, there was also much in him to admire. He appears to have
possessed a heart flowing with love to the Saviour and to his fellow-men. He devoted
himself with singleness of mind to tho service of Christ, and he prosecuted it with great
perseverance and unwearied diligence, with much self-denial and disinterestedness, and
with an humble and simple trust in God for his counsel and blessing. Where there
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
203
Lusatia, on a mission to the inhospitable shores of Greenland.'
There was no need," says one of them, "of much time or ex-
pense for our equipment. The congregation consisted chiefly
of poor exiles, who had not much to give us, and we ourselves
had nothing but the clothes on our backs. Being accustomed
to make a shift with little, we did not trouble our heads how
was so much good, it is sad to find so much evil.-See Spangenberg's Life of Count
Zinzendorf, passim. See also Exposition de L'Origine, de la Doctrine, des Constitu-
tions, Usages, et Ceremonies Ecclesiastiques de L'Eglise de L'Unité des Freres, 1758, and
the Plates annexed to it.
It is acknowledged on the part of the Brethren themselves, that at one period, par-
ticularly from 1747 to 1753, great extravagancies, both in doctrine and practice, made
their appearance among the congregation at Herrnhaag, a settlement belonging to
them in the county of Buedingen, now uninhabited and in ruins. Count Zinzendorf
having, in an ode on the birth-day of his son, employed some puerile unintelligible ex-
pressions relative to the believer's love to the Redeemer, others of the Brethren follow-
ing his example, indulged in language which, if possible, was still more foolish and
trifling. In their discourses, hymns, and other writings, they employed the strangest
expressions and the wildest allusions when speaking of the most sacred truths of reli-
gion, particularly of the sufferings of Christ and the experience of his people. Each
strove to surpass another in this senseless, miserable jargon; and the evil which first
made its appearance at Herrnhaag, spread like a contagious disease among the other
congregations of the Brethren. A great part of the members were contaminated with
these silly reveries; others finding themselves unable to check the malady, wept over
it in secret; while some who considered it as utterly incurable, left the Society.
Though Count Zinzendorf had set the example of these extravagancies, yet on learning
the excesses into which many of the Brethren were running, he set himself to counteract
the evil. Most of those who had fallen into these fooleries were convinced of their er-
ror, and acknowledged it with grief and shame. After a short time, the hymns, and
other writings which contained their reveries, were formally disavowed and cancelled
by a Synod of the Church of the Brethren.-Spangenberg's Exposition of Christian
Doctrine as taught in the Church of the Brethren, preface, p. iii. Crantz's History of the
Brethren, p. 218, 244, 298, 367. Christian Observer, vol. vii. p. 196.
CC he
Count Zinzendorf himself published a Declaration (we suppose in 1748) that
could from that time no longer authorise his own writings hitherto published, till they
had been reprinted with his amendments, remarks, and explanations." He assigned
as his reason for this, that "it had been his own case, like many other writers, to pub-
lish thoughts which he was quite taken with at first, but which he was afterwards
ashamed of and retracted; and that it was not in his power to correct the whole so en-
tirely at the first revisal as he would have done." He condemned and destroyed all the
copies which he could collect of the 12th Supplement to the Hymns; and gave this public
testimony in relation to the doctrine of the Trinity, that from the moment he saw
how his expressions relative to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost were taken,
he was shocked at it, and abandoned every expression of the sort. He desired that
wherever such were found in his writings, they might be erased, and that no one in
future would repeat them. That he abhorred unscriptural speculations upon the mys-
¹ Christian David merely accompanied the two missionaries to Greenland with the
view of seeing them settled in the country, and was then to return.
204
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
we should get to Greenland, or how we should live in that
country. Some money having come from a friend at Venice
the day before our departure, we received part of it to pay the
expense of our journey to Copenhagen; and as we considered
ourselves as richly provided for, we would take nothing of any
person on the road, believing that He who had sent a supply for
tery of the Godhead, and was thankful to the Saviour of all men, that he had escaped
the fire uninjured.”—Burk's Memoir of Bengel, p. 419.
These statements may assist us materially in forming an estimate of the early missions
of the Moravians. It is natural to conclude that they would participate in no inconsi-
derable degrce of the faults and imperfections of the general body and of its head. In
tracing their history (especially where we have access to original documents) we accor-
dingly find not unfrequently indications of some of the evils we have mentioned, for
example, the influence of impulses, impressions, and feelings on tho missionaries, and
their easy belief of a blessing resting on their labours. It is also of importance to state,
that most of them were plain unlettered men, and that they must consequently have
been, generally speaking, but imperfectly qualified to be the instructors of others, and
especially of heathens and savages, to whose minds it is so exceedingly difficult to con-
vey clear and simple ideas of the truths of religion. "All the carly missionaries," we
are told, "were either artisans or husbandmen, men of simple manners, few wants, and
for the most part inured to toil and hardships. It gave them little concern whether
they would have to perform a long or a short journey, whether that journey was to bo
undertaken by sea or by land, and would lead them to the frigid or a sultry zone. They
were not able to form extensive plans; their whole mind was exclusively bent upon
winning souls for Christ: the salvation of but ono soul they esteemed so inestimable a
prize, that they were willing to give their liberty, yea their life, in exchange for it."-
Period. Accounts, vol. xii. p. 225.
Since the period to which we have referred, we have no doubt that a considerable im-
provement has taken place in the Church of the Brethren. It would appear from
Spangenberg's Exposition of Christian Doctrine as taught in the Church of the Brethren,
that their views as regards the fundamental principles of Christianity are essentially in
unison with those of evangelical Christians of other denominations. They still retain,
indeed, in a greater or less degree, many of their old peculiarities, in regard to which
we are by no means disposed to vindicate their sentiments and practices. In short,
though in the course of the last century they materially improved their phraseology,
we apprehend there is still considerable room for improvement in their manner of ex-
pression, as well as in their mode of thinking on many points of Christian theology.
Before concluding this note, we cannot forbear adducing the following testimonies
to the Christian character of the Brethren. "I feel myself bound," says Dr Haweis,
"from near forty years' acquaintanco with the Brethren, to speak of those whom I
have known, as men full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and truly devoted to the work
and service of our crucified Lord. With peculiarities, some of them perhaps exception-
able, yet admitting of no such impure ideas as have been imputed to them, the more
the principles of the Brethren are truly known, and the moro intimately their lives.
are scrutinized, the more will they be acknowledged among the few faithful who
follow the Lamb of God."-Haweis' Church History, vol. iii. p. 177.
"The Moravians," says the late Mr Cecil, "have very nearly hit on Christianity.
They appear to have found out what sort of a thing it is,-its quietness--meckness-
patience-spirituality-hcavonliness-and order." -Cecil's Remains, 6th Edit. p. 243.
Aftor alluding to the improprieties of expression with which the carly Moravians
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
205
our journey at the critical moment, would take care for every
thing that was necessary for carrying our purpose into execution
as soon as we should want it. Neither could any one give us
much information on the subject of our work, or any instruc-
tions how we should proceed: for the congregation had as yet
no experience in the management of missions. It was, there-
fore, left to ourselves to act in all circumstances as the Lord
should lead us. In short, we neither knew nor imagined how
it would be with us."
Such were the circumstances in which these simple unlet-
tered men set out on their journey. On their arrival at Copen-
hagen, Christian David obtained access to various persons of
distinction in that city. He was even introduced to several
members of the Royal family, and other persons at Court, who,
were chargeable, Mr Wilberforce bears a no less honourable testimony to the general
excellence of the Brethren. "This body of Christians," says he, "have since reclaimed
their character, and have perhaps excelled all mankind in solid and unequivocal proofs
of the love of Christ, and of the most ardent, and active, and patient zeal in his service.
It is a zeal tempered with prudence, softened with meekness, soberly aiming at great
ends by the gradual operation of well-adapted means, supported by a courage which no
danger can intimidate, and a quiet constancy which no hardships can exhaust."-Wil-
berforce's Practical View of Christianity, 9th Edit. p. 51.
To these testimonies we may add Cowper's beautiful eulogium on the Missionaries in
Greenland :-
"See Germany send forth
Her sons to pour it on the farthest North :
Fired with a zeal peculiar, they defy
The rage and rigour of a Polar sky;
And plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose
On icy plains, and in eternal snows."
&c., &c., &c.-Cowper's Poetical Works, vol. i. p. 108, Edit. London 1830.
up-
To these statements we cannot but add, that the missions of the Brethren furnish a
striking example of how much may be effected by patience and perseverance combined
with humility and simple piety. Intellectually the missionaries were generally but
indifferently qualified for their work; the fields selected were often ill-chosen, in un-
hospitable climates, with a small population, low in the scale of civilization, and pre-
senting peculiar difficulties in the way of their evangelization; yet most of their pre-
sent missions have now existed for a considerable length of time, some of them for
wards of a century, and they are at this day, with few exceptions, if we may judge by the
numbers composing the congregations, in a more flourishing state than at any former
period. In reading the accounts of the missions of the Brethren, we are greatly
charmed with their childlike simplicity, their lowliness of mind, their freedom from self-
complacency and self-confidence, their simple trust in God, their meekness, patience,
and inoffensiveness; though, it must also be acknowledged, that these excellencies are
accompanied with a degree of feebleness and passiveness of character which unfits them
for attempting great, and even in some instances, generous designs.
206
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
it is stated, conversed with him in the most affable and unaf-
fected manner. The King himself renewed the expression of
his desire to promote the conversion of the Greenlanders, and
gave them a passage on board a ship which was then going out
to Greenland. The Lord Chamberlain, Von Pless, asked him
one day, "How they meant to provide for themselves in Green-
land." "By the labour of our hands, and the blessing of God,"
Christian David replied, "we will cultivate the ground, and
live upon the produce. For this purpose," he added, "they would
take seeds with them, plant a garden, build a house, and be
burdensome to no one." The Chamberlain, in reply, observed,
"There was no timber in the country, and how could they build
a house?" Then," said Christian David, "we will dig a hole
in the ground, and live there." "No," replied he, "take timber
with you, and build a wooden house, towards which I will con-
tribute," and he immediately gave him fifty dollars. With this
and the contributions which they received from other friends,
the Brethren purchased materials for building, various articles
of household furniture, some implements of husbandry, clothes,
provisions, and other useful articles.'
((
Having at length sailed from Copenhagen, the Brethren after
an agreeable voyage of about six weeks, landed in Greenland.
Immediately on their arrival, they repaired to Mr Egede, who
gave them, as might be expected, a very cordial welcome, and
promised them his best assistance in learning the language.
Having fixed on a spot for a settlement near the colony of
Good Hope, they built themselves a house; but, for the pre-
sent, they had little opportunity of conversing with the Green-
landers, or of holding any kind of intercourse with them.
Though the savages were at that time very numerous in Balls
River, yet during the summer they were so dispersed among
the islands and the hills, catching seals or hunting reindeer;
and towards winter they were so accustomed to go sixty, a hun-
dred, and even two hundred leagues to the north or to the south,
that the missionaries seldom saw them. Some, indeed, called
on them occasionally as they passed, but it was merely from
curiosity to see their buildings, or to beg for fish-hooks, knives,
and other similar articles, or even to carry them off by stealth.
Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. i. p. 322; Period. Accounts, vol. xii. p. 390.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
207
When the Brethren went to visit them on the islands, they sel-
dom found any who would entertain them, even though they
offered to pay them; and instead of entering into conversation
with them, the savages were continually asking them, whether
they would not soon go away.
These were not the only trials which the Brethren had to
endure at the commencement of their missionary career. It
was only a few months after their arrival, that the small-pox
made its appearance in Greenland, and committed such terrible
ravages among the inhabitants, as to threaten to depopulate
the whole country. The Brethren, as we have already men-
tioned, assisted Mr Egede in visiting the sick and the dying; but
they themselves were, at length, successively attacked with an
eruptive disorder, which so increased during the winter, that
they were often confined to bed, and were scarcely able to move
their limbs. Happily, however, they were not all ill at the
same time, but one of them was always able to help the others,
and even to go with the colony's boat to visit the savages.
During the indisposition of the Brethren, Mr Egede shewed
them all the kindness of a father and a friend; and his excel-
lent wife never omitted sending them some refreshment or cor-
dial, when she had any herself. They were, indeed, so generous
to them, that the missionaries often felt scrupulous in accept-
ing the many favours with which they loaded them.'
In such inauspicious circumstances did the Brethren pass the
first year in Greenland. Indeed, Christian David and Christian
Stach began to think of returning home by the first opportu-
nity, as they did not see what good they could do in a country
so completely depopulated by the late dreadful ravages of the
small-pox, while the few inhabitants who remained appeared
totally averse to the gospel.
In March 1734, two other missionaries, Frederick Boehnish
and John Beck were sent by the congregation to the assistance
of the Brethren in Greenland, with the strongest assurances of
their design to support the mission. This raised the drooping
spirits of the missionaries, and inspired them with fresh courage.
Rough as was their post, they resolved to remain by it, in the
hope that God would crown their labours with success. They
¹ Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. i. p. 326, 328, 331, 332, 338.
208
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
now applied to the study of the language with new diligence
and alacrity; but the further they proceeded, the more difficult
they found it, especially as they were no longer satisfied with
such expressions as were applicable merely to the common
affairs of life, but began to translate into it the language of
Scripture, and other phrases relative to experimental religion.
They were told, indeed, that it was impossible to translate into
it any but historical pieces, as the Greenlanders had no terms
in their language to express the peculiar doctrines of the gos-
pel, and could not even form the most distant idea of spiritual
things. The Brethren, however, were not discouraged by these
accounts; and in the course of a few years they made further
progress in the language than they could ever have imagined,
especially after some of the natives embraced Christianity, and
found words themselves to express the views and feelings of
their hearts.¹
kind as give
With the view of observing the state of the country, and
learning the condition, customs, and language of the inhabitants,
as well as of sowing "the good seed of the word" among them,
the Brethren made frequent voyages to the islands and other
places. One day as they were preparing for an excursion of
this kind, the only woman's boat' they possessed, was raised
from the ground by a violent tempest, carried some hundred
paces in the air, and dashed to pieces on a rock. This reduced
them to a sad dilemma; but Mr Egede was so
them an old European boat, and materials to repair it; and
when they had not hands to man it, he sometimes lent them a
small boat to follow their occupation in the neighbourhood; he
likewise frequently took them with him to visit the heathen.
They also occasionally went in company with the traders; but
as the Greenlanders saw that they readily put their hands to
any kind of work, they at first imagined they were the factor's
servants, and on that account slighted and despised them. But
when they understood that they came not to trade with them,
but to make known their Creator to them; and observed at the
same time, that they were distinguished from the other Euro-
peans by the meekness and modesty of their behaviour, they
formed a higher opinion of them. By degrees, indeed, their
1 Crantz's Hist. Grcon. vol. i. p. 345.
2 The large boat of the Greoulanders.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
209
friendly deportment towards them, untainted with jesting or
licentiousness, yet unsoured with harshness or austerity, so won
their affection and confidence, that they sought their conversa-
tion, constrained them to go into their houses, begged them
often to come and see them, and promised to visit them in return.
Agreeably to their promises, numbers of the Greenlanders
returned the visits which the Brethren made them in the course
of their voyages. The selfishness of their design, however, was
obvious. Sometimes they wanted shelter or victuals; some-
times they wished to have a couple of needles or some other
trifle; sometimes they even bluntly declared, that if the Breth-
ren would give them no more stock-fish, they would no longer
listen to their words; for the savages imagined that they con-
ferred a favour on the missionaries by listening to their instruc-
tions, and that they were entitled to payment for condescending
to hear and believe them. The Brethren, indeed, could not in
conscience send them away empty, as the cold was so intense
that the poor creatures were unable to procure sufficient food
for themselves, and many of them had often scarcely a morsel
to eat for several days together. Afterwards, on the return of
summer, when they caught plenty of game, and had danced
perhaps during the whole night at a revel, they still occasionally
visited the Brethren; but they were generally so sleepy, that
it was impossible to carry on any serious conversation with
them; or they were merely curious to hear some news, to see
what was strange, or to obtain such things as happened to suit
their fancy; and if the missionaries found it necessary to deny
their request, they were obliged to watch them narrowly, lest
they should secretly carry off the articles which they coveted.
This often rendered their visits extremely troublesome; but yet
the Brethren did not choose to treat them harshly, lest it should
frighten them away altogether. Indifferent as were the motives
of the savages, they were obliged to be satisfied for the present
with their willingness to visit them; and they even drew en-
couragement from this of more propitious days.¹
In 1735, the Brethren had to endure a more terrible calamity
than any which had yet befallen them, the fearful horrors of
Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. i. 1'. 348.
VOL. I.
210
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
famine. They had been supplied the year before with the ne-
cessaries of life, by an eminent benefactor at the Court of Den-
mark; but this season they were entirely forgotten, and even
some articles which could not come with the last missionaries
for want of room, were neglected to be sent to them. Their only
remaining provisions for the ensuing year were a barrel and a
half of oatmeal, most of which they bartered at the colony for
a little malt, half a barrel of pease, and a small quantity of ship
biscuit. Hitherto, indeed, they had been pretty successful both
in fishing and hunting; but this season they were able to catch
little or nothing, as there was a great scarcity of beasts, birds,
and fishes. They had, therefore, scarcely any resource except
to buy seals from the Greenlanders; but no sooner did the
savages learn that they were in want, than they raised their
articles very high; and even most of them, particularly those
with whom they were best acquainted, and to whom they had
lately shewn much kindness, refused to sell them provisions at
any price. Often, after rowing among them for two or three
days together, the missionaries by their utmost entreaties, could
obtain scarcely more than half a seal, and as that was soon con-
sumed, they were glad to pacify the cravings of nature by eat-
ing shell-fish or raw sea-weed. The Greenlanders, indeed,
would be rioting in plenty, while they were starving with
hunger. At one banquet, which lasted the whole night, the
Brethren saw eleven seals devoured by the gluttons, while they,
with all their entreaties, could not move the unfeeling wretches
to sell them a single morsel.
Besides suffering the horrors of famine, the missionaries had
now to increase their labours, and were thus exposed to further
dangers. Urged by the cravings of hunger, they could not al-
ways wait for settled weather to embark on the ocean; but
were often compelled to trust themselves to the mercy of the
waves, even when the day was stormy, in an old crazy boat,
and that to the distance of several leagues. Once, when they
had nearly got to land, they were hurried two leagues back by
a sudden squall, and were completely wet by the breakers; and
in this state they were obliged to remain on an island till the
fourth day, exposed to all the inclemency of the weather. On
another occasion, after being completely fatigued at their oars,
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
211
they stopped all night in an uninhabited spot, and were obliged
to rest satisfied with a little seal's flesh which they procured
from a Greenlander at a feast, but, in fact, they could scarcely
eat any of it for weariness and cold. As they had no tent, they
lay down in a hole in the snow, and as that was at length closed
up by the drift, they had to rise from their retreat and warm
themselves by running. Sometimes they ventured in serene
weather to embark in a kajak,' and to angle for fish. But one
of them was once overset by a sudden squall of wind, and would
certainly have been drowned had not two Greenlanders, who
were near at hand, come to his assistance, bound him fast be-
tween their boats, and towed him safe to land.
In the midst of all these trials, the providence of God was
often remarkably displayed in their behalf. He who sent a
raven to feed the prophet Elijah disposed a Greenlander, called
Ippegau, to come forty leagues from the south, and to sell them,
from time to time, whatever he could spare. One day the boat-
men found a dead whale, and gave them a couple of meals of it.
Another time a Greenlander left them a porpoise taken out of
the belly of the dam, which served them for a meal after they
had eaten nothing but shell-fish for five days. As they were
returning home on another occasion quite empty, they were
driven by a contrary wind on a desolate island, and were obliged
to remain there all night. Here they spied an eagle on her nest,
and shot her. They had, indeed, to climb up a steep and dan-
gerous precipice to reach the place; but the prize they obtained
they considered as an ample reward for their trouble.
Impelled by necessity, the Brethren had inured themselves
to the eating of seal's flesh, mixing up the little oatmeal they
had left with the train oil; yet disagreeable as this was, it was
a perfect delicacy in comparison of the old tallow candles which
they were obliged to use when they had no train oil. As long,
indeed, as they could procure any seals, they retained their
health and strength tolerably well; but in the following spring,
when they could obtain no more of this kind of food, and were
obliged to subsist on shell-fish and sea-weed, their strength de-
clined so much, that they could scarcely manage their boat.
Once, when they had not drawn it far enough on land owing
'The small boat of the Greenlanders.
212
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
to their extreme weakness, it was very much damaged by a
high tide and storm.'
In May 1736, after a long continued train of sufferings, they
very unexpectedly received a supply of provisions from Holland,
with a promise of future assistance from that country. They
had just returned from a toilsome excursion in which they
could get nothing, and were therefore the more struck with
the wonderful interposition of Providence in their behalf.
This supply, so extremely seasonable, was the more remarkable
as neither they nor any of the congregation had expressed the
least desire of that kind to their friends in Holland; but the
Lord had put it into the heart of a Mr Le Long to make an ex-
periment whether he could not send some stores to them by
the ships from that country. He was also so kind as promise
that, if they received them, he would solicit the aid of some
other friends, and send them further supplies the following sea-
son. This generous offer the missionaries gladly accepted, and
requested that in case he could convey them nothing else, he
would at least send them a strong durable boat, an article they
stood much in need of for gaining a livelihood, and for render-
ing them less dependent on supplies from abroad.*
Hitherto, the Brethren had seen no fruit of their labours in
Greenland. The savages who came from a distance were stupid,
ignorant, and thoughtless. The little they could learn in a
short visit, even if it made some slight impression at the time,
was soon forgotten by them in the midst of their constant wan-
derings from place to place. On the other hand, those who re-
sided in the neighbourhood were not disposed to receive in-
struction. At one time they would not hear them because they
had some business, or perhaps a dance, in view. At another, if
they were told any kind of news, they readily listened to them;
they would even bear to hear some little histories out of the
Bible, particularly of the miracles of our Lord and his Apostles.
But if the Brethren began to speak to them of the nature and
attributes of God, of the fall and wickedness of man, of the
wrath of God against sinners, of the necessity of an atonement,
of faith in Jesus Christ, of the sanctification of the heart, of the
happiness of heaven, or the misery of hell, they quickly became
Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. i. p. 356, 360.
2 Ibil. vol. i. p. 361.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
213
sleepy, said 'Yes' to all, and slunk away. At other times they
avowed their dislike of such discourse, and began to talk of their
seal-catching, or they excused themselves saying they could
not understand it. If the missionaries on their visits tarried
with them more than one night, they employed every kind of
art to entice them to their wanton dissolute practices; and when
they failed in this, they endeavoured to weary and provoke
them by mocking and mimicking their reading, singing, and
praying, or by accompanying these exercises with their hideous
howling or the beat of their drums. They took occasion from
their poverty to ridicule them; and if the Brethren alleged
that they did not come to Greenland for the sake of outward
advantages, as good eating and drinking, but to teach them the
will of God and the way to heaven, they taunted them saying,
"Fine fellows indeed, to be our teachers! We know very well
ye yourselves are ignorant, and must learn your lesson from
others." All this rudeness the Brethren bore with patience
and serenity: but the savages, instead of being softened by their
meek and gentle behaviour, were only encouraged to abuse them
the more. They pelted them with stones, climbed on their
shoulders, seized their goods and broke them to pieces; they
even attempted to spoil their boat and to drive it out to sea,
which would have deprived them of their chief means of sub-
sistence.¹
Five years had now elapsed since the Brethren landed in
Greenland; yet hitherto they had toiled and laboured in vain,
but now they began, at last, to see some fruit of their exertions.
In June 1738, a number of Southlanders happening to visit
them, at a time when one of the Brethren was writing out a
fair copy of a translation of part of the Gospels, they were curi-
ous to know what the book contained, a wish which he was
very ready to gratify. After reading a portion of it to them,
he told them of the creation of the world, of the fall of man, of
our misery in consequence of sin, and of our redemption through
Jesus Christ. In speaking on the latter subject, he was enabled
to describe the sufferings and death of the Redeemer with more
than ordinary force and feeling; and he, at the same time, read
to them from the New Testament, the history of his agony in
¹ Crantz's Hist. Greon. vol. i. p. 367, 376.
214
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the garden. Upon this, one of the Greenlanders, named Kaiar-
nak, stepped up to the table, and in an earnest manner said,
"How was that? Tell me it once more; for I also would fain
be saved!" These words so affected the missionary, that the
tears ran down his cheeks while he gave them some account of
the life and death of Christ, and of the plan of salvation through
him. Meanwhile, the other brethren came home from their la-
bours, and began to speak to them still further concerning the
way of salvation. Some of the savages laid their hands on their
mouth, as is their custom when they hear anything which strikes
them with surprise or wonder. Several, indeed, who had no re-
lish for these things, slipped away secretly; but others requested
they might be taught to pray; and when the missionaries did
pray with them, they frequently repeated their expressions, in
order that they might not forget them. In short, there appeared
among them such an interest in divine things as the Brethren
had never beheld before among the Greenlanders. At taking
leave, they promised soon to call again and hear of these things;
and they further engaged to speak to their countrymen concern-
ing them.
From that time, Kaiarnak made frequent visits to the mis-
sionaries, and he at length took up his abode with them.
"When we speak to him," they say, "he is often so affected,
that the tears roll down his cheeks. He is, indeed, a very sin-
gular man. We cannot but wonder at him, when we consider
that the Greenlanders, in general, are so extremely stupid, that
they can comprehend almost nothing except those things with
which they are daily conversant. But this man scarcely hears
a thing twice before he understands it, and retains it in his.
memory. He at the same time shews an uncommon attach-
ment to us, and a constant desire for further instruction, so that
he seems to drink in every word which drops from our lips, a
thing we never before observed in any Greenlander." Besides
Kaiarnak, there were about twenty others of the savages who
took up their abode this winter in the neighbourhood of the
missionaries.'
In March 1739, the Brethren had the pleasure of baptizing
Kaiarnak and his family as the first-fruits of their labours in
¹ Crantz's Hist. Greon. vol. i. p. 385.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
215
Greenland; but their prospects, which had of late begun to
brighten, quickly threatened to set in darkness. Scarcely had a
month elapsed, when a band of murderers killed his brother-in-
law, who also lived with the missionaries, under the pretence
that he had conjured the ringleader's son to death; and as they
likewise threatened to murder Kaiarnak and his other brother-
in-law, he resolved to fly with his family to the south. Against
this proposal the Brethren remonstrated in the strongest man-
ner. They expressed their fears that so young a convert, and
especially his two children, would adopt the manners of the
heathen, should they again live among the savages; they re-
minded him of the solemn promises he had lately made at bap-
tism; they offered to maintain both him and his family, that
they might have no occasion to go to a distance so long as the
murderers remained in the neighbourhood. By the representa-
tions made to him by the missionaries he was much affected,
but yet he could not resolve to stay. Before he left them, they
once more exhorted him to faithfulness and good conduct among
the heathen, and commended him in prayer to the protection
of the Shepherd of Israel. In the course of two weeks, they be-
held, with sorrow, the country stripped of most of their Green-
landers, and were forced to bear this new reproach, that though
they could baptize heathens, they could not make them Chris-
tians, nor even wean them from their roving habits.'
In the year 1740, a remarkable change took place in the
Brethren's method of instructing the Greenlanders, and it was
followed by such remarkable effects as to merit particular notice.
Hitherto they had been accustomed, in the first instance, to di-
rect the attention of the heathen to such preliminary truths as
the existence of God, the creation of the world, the fall of man;
a mode of instruction which appears a priori, not merely the
most rational, but the only plan that could be adopted with any
prospect of success. It is worthy of observation, however, that
reduced to practice, it had proved not only almost entirely in-
effectual, but even seemed a bar to the conversion of the hea-
then. They now adopted a different method, and directed the
attention of the savages, in the first instance, to Christ Jesus,
to his incarnation, his life, and especially to his sufferings and
¹ Crantz's Hist. Green, vol. i, p. 400.
216
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
death. In discoursing of these things, the Brethren themselves
were often so much impressed, that they spoke in a manner en-
tirely new; the subject so warmed and animated their own
hearts, that the words flowed from their lips with wonderful
fervour and affection; they were even astonished at each other's
powers of utterance.
of utterance. Happily, this was attended with corres-
ponding effects on the Greenlanders. Their darkened under-
standings were enlightened, their stubborn hearts melted, and
in their cold icy breasts was kindled the flame of spiritual life.
This, therefore, may be considered as a new era in the history
of the Greenland mission.'
Of late, indeed, the missionaries had beheld some little fruit
of their labours. The conversion of Kaiarnak and his family,
they would have reckoned a rich reward for all their toils, had
not his sudden flight dashed their hopes, and pierced them with
new sorrows. Of his return, they entertained little or no ex-
pectation. How great then was their joy, when, after about a
year's absence, he suddenly stepped in among them, while they
were celebrating the marriage dinner of Frederick Boehnish and
Anna Stach! He brought with him his brother and his family,
to gain whom, it appears, was one principal object of his expe-
dition. Of late, he said, he had longed exceedingly to return
to the Brethren; and now, he should never leave them more,
for even during his absence he had felt how much they loved
both him and his children.²
Besides Kaiarnak's family, there were several others of the
Greenlanders who now manifested some concern for their souls;
but no sooner did this appear, than they were exposed to the
contempt and ridicule of their neighbours. Their exhortations
and example, however, produced very salutary effects on many
of their countrymen. The missionaries sometimes took them
with them in their visits to the heathen, in order to exhibit them
as living monuments of the power and pleasure of religion.
By
this means they were furnished with an answer to an observation
which the heathen often made as an apology for their neglect of
the gospel: "You," said they, "are a different kind of people
from us: It is your profession: You have both time and ability
to think of these things." But now they beheld examples of
Ibid. vol. ii. p. 2, 6.
¹ Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. ii. p. 2, 27, 424.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
217
their own countrymen, who originally were no better than them-
selves, and yet had embraced the gospel, were transformed by
its influence, and exhibited its happy effects in their life. The
testimony which the converts bore on these occasions to the
love and grace of the Saviour, was often so fervent and striking,
that numbers of the savages were filled with astonishment, and
deeply impressed with a sense of their need of salvation. They
were particularly surprised at the prayers of the converts. In
token of their wonder, they used to lay their hand on their
mouth; and imagining that the converts had merely committed
them to memory, they were eager to learn them also: but they
were told, they must first feel their misery, and then a sense of
distress would teach them how to express themselves in prayer.'
The Brethren now derived essential help from the young con-
Having begun to translate a Harmony of the Gospels.
into the Greenland language, they were much assisted by them in
this important work. The missionaries often remarked, that
the converts used expressions, especially in prayer, which it
would have been impossible for them ever to have discovered
from their intercourse with the other Greenlanders, or by any
rules of grammar. They therefore took particular notice of
such words and phrases, and learned to speak from the young
converts after the latter had learned to think from them. They
now saw the propriety of a resolution which they had early
taken, not to converse with the Greenlanders on the subject of
religion while their knowledge of the language was imperfect,
for such equivocal expressions were even still pointed out to
them by an upright mind, as the crafty savages might have
taken occasion to pervert to the worst of purposes.
verts.
2
But though the Christian Greenlanders afforded the Brethren
much satisfaction, they were not without their imperfections.
Several of them, for example, began to betray a spirit of pride,
arrogance, and self-conceit. No sooner had they obtained some
knowledge of the gospel, and were able to speak of it to others,
than they set themselves up for teachers, and entertained high
notions of their own acquirements. The missionaries now found
that one of the chief lessons they would have to inculcate on
them was not to "think of themselves more highly than they
¹ Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. ii. p. 6, 9, 29. * Ibid. vol. i. p. 399; vol. ii. p. 11.
218
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
1
ought to think," a circumstance which shews that vanity and
pride of intellect are to be found among the lowest and most
degraded portions of the human family, as well as among civi-
lized nations and cultivated minds.
In October 1742, the number of Greenlanders who took up
their winter quarters in the neighbourhood of the Brethren
amounted to thirty. These they endeavoured to reduce into
some kind of order, with regard both to their temporal and their
spiritual concerns. At the catechetical exercises, and the other
meetings, they regularly read to them the Harmony of the Gos-
pels, which was now finished; they also taught them some
hymns, which the poor creatures learned with great eagerness,
and which seemed to afford them peculiar pleasure, for they
sung them perpetually, both at home and abroad. In their
meetings such powerful impressions were often made, both on
the speaker and the hearers, that they mingled their tears to-
gether, and were scarcely able to proceed with the exercise. The
missionaries also now began to form them into little classes, in
which four or five individuals of the same sex conversed freely
with each other concerning the state of their hearts, and their
progress in the knowledge of religion.2
The prospects of the missionaries now became brighter than
ever: the effects of the gospel were so remarkable, that it seemed
as if a general awakening of the Greenlanders was about to take
place in that part of the country. Most of them, indeed, had
not resolution enough to forsake their usual places of hunting
and fishing, and to fix their residence with the Brethren for the
purpose of enjoying regular instruction. But though, in con-
sequence of this, many of them for a season lost their serious
impressions, and some wandered to distant parts of the country,
yet most of them afterwards returned, became concerned about
their souls, and were admitted as members of the congregation;
or they went to the Danish colonies, and were there baptized.
From this period, the whole Greenland nation manifested a new
and improved temper toward foreigners, whom they at first had
so hated, dreaded, or despised. Many who formerly derided and
maltreated the Brethren, now came and asked their pardon;
and even those who once were the most untractable, stood along
1 Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. ii. p. 29.
2 Ibid. vol. ii. P. 31.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
219
the shore as the missionaries sailed by, entreated them to land,
and tell them the words of God.'
As it was impossible for the Brethren to make so frequent or
so extensive visits among the heathen as the urgency of the call
demanded, they were obliged, in many cases, to rest satisfied
with the simple testimony of the young converts, when they
went abroad in search of provisions. But though the scattering
of their little flock in summer ultimately promoted the spread
of the gospel, the missionaries often felt great solicitude at the
prospect of their departure, lest any evil should befal them,
through the numerous snares and temptations to which they
would be exposed. On one of these occasions, they sent for all
the baptized, both men and women, and spoke with them sepa-
rately, before parting with them. They entreated them with
tears in their eyes, not to forget the Lord Jesus, who was cruci-
fied for them, and to watch over their own hearts, while sur-
rounded with temptations among the heathen. They then
blessed them and kissed them, and went down with them to the
strand. There they once more addressed them, from these words
of the apostle, "And now, brethren, I commend you to God,
and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and
to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified."
The Greenlanders then set off in their boats, and the mission-
aries, in the mean while, sung a hymn on the shore. In the
course of the summer, some of the converts frequently re-
turned, and informed them of whatever circumstances occurred
among them.
In those cases where several were together in
the same place, it was pleasing to witness the brotherly love
they shewed toward each other; even the heathen bore testi-
mony to their exemplary behaviour. There were, however,
some instances of misconduct among them; and therefore, on
their return, the Brethren spoke with them, one by one, in or-
der to remove every kind of misunderstanding between them,
before restoring them to their separate meetings, and the kiss
of charity as a token of their closer fellowship. On this occasion,
most of them displayed remarkable ingenuousness, acknowledg-
ing their faults with readiness, and begging each other's pardon
with tears.2
1
Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. ii. p. 34, 38.
* Ibid. vol. ii. p. 38, 45.
220
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In 1746, this general awakening, after it had lasted about
three years, began to subside among the Greenlanders. Many
of those who had heard the gospel and been impressed by it
were still undecided, and sought to get rid of their convictions,
and even to deter others by force or fraud from joining the con-
gregation. The Angekoks, in particular, afraid of losing their
standing, and the gains of their impostures, laboured to terrify
the poor people by the most ridiculous tales. One of these de-
ceivers brought heavy charges against the Christians, alleging
that their new doctrine and way of life frightened away the sea
fowl, after he, by his art, had released them from the subter-
ranean regions. Another of them warned his countrymen
not to listen to the believers, as he had performed a journey to
heaven with the view of ascertaining how it went with the
souls of the deceased Greenlanders, and that he there found all
the baptized in a most deplorable condition, without food and
clothing; while those who had not received the gospel were
blessed with plenty. A frightful report was circulated about
a Christian Greenlander, who had died at the northern colony
and appeared again perfectly naked, saying, he had been thrust
into a dark dismal hole, where he endured the greatest misery.
Such of the savages as sought an apology for neglecting the
gospel, readily credited these foolish stories, alleging that the
Europeans inflicted these punishments upon their deceased
countrymen, because the Greenlanders had murdered their
ancestors; and though such as were now in the country did no
harm to their bodies, yet they endeavoured to ruin their souls
hereafter. Most of them, however, paid little regard to these
idle tales, and as soon as the first impressions of them were
effaced, they came in great numbers to visit the Brethren, and
to hear the word, especially if they understood that any of the
converts were to be baptized.'
Meanwhile the little flock of Christian Greenlanders increased
both in numbers and in grace. Many painful circumstances,
indeed, occasionally occurred among them; but nothing else
could be expected in a congregation collected from among savage
heathens, since the church of Christ on earth, even in its best
state, is only an hospital of sick people, who have begun to re-
¹ Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. ii. p. 78.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
221
cover, but have yet the seeds of disease in their constitution,
and are still liable to partial relapses. Their intercourse with
their heathen countrymen was attended with no small danger
to their spiritual interests; yet it could not be altogether
avoided, as they were obliged to be often from home in search
of provisions. The more indeed they experienced the advan-
tages of daily instruction, and the many inconveniences attend-
ing their being scattered abroad, the more they endeavoured to
live together under the inspection of their teachers, and the
more readily did they submit to the external rules of the con-
gregation, which they saw aimed at their spiritual prosperity,
not at their temporal subjection. When, therefore, they were
under the necessity of going to the fishing among the islands,
they went almost all to one place, that they might hold their
meetings together; and as soon as they obtained an adequate
supply of their wants, they hastened back to their teachers.
They were now more and more sensible of the love of the mis-
sionaries towards them, since, notwithstanding their own accu-
mulated manual labours, one or other of them always devoted his
time to their service, either going to sea with them, or frequently
visiting them; and when none of them could be with them,
the converts followed the advice of the helpers and class-
keepers, who informed the Brethren from time to time of what-
ever occurred among them.'
Hitherto the missionaries had been afraid to admit any of the
Greenland converts to the Lord's Supper, lest they should after-
wards apostatize and dishonour their Christian profession; but
they now resolved to admit three of them to that holy ordinance.
On being informed of this, and having the nature of the insti-
tution explained to them, the candidates were filled with the
liveliest joy, mingled with emotions of shame. When they after-
wards partook of the ordinance, a solemn awe overpowered their
hearts, and a flood of tears rolled down their cheeks. It was,"
they said, as if their body had sunk into the dust, and their
spirit taken its flight to heaven. All their thoughts centred
in this. Oh! how is it possible our Saviour should so dearly
love poor sinful men." Such were the pleasing effects of the
first Greenland communion.2
เ
¹ Crantz's Hist. Green, vol. ii. p. 69, 80, 93, 95.
* Ibid. vol. ii. p. 94, 102.
222
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In the course of their labours among the Greenlanders, the
Brethren had often to encounter no small hardships and dan-
gers; but yet, in the midst of all, the Lord appeared as their
deliverer. Once, when two of them had sailed to the distance
of about six leagues, in search of wood, they were obliged to
remain no less than eight days on an uninhabited island, ex-
posed to all the violence of three dreadful storms, without either
a house or a tent to shelter them. During the last four or five
days, they had nothing to eat but shell-fish, and even of these
they could scarcely procure enough to satisfy the cravings of
hunger. At length, they ventured to return homewards; but
scarcely had they set foot on shore, when there arose such a ter-
rible storm, that it was with difficulty they secured and shel-
tered their boat. About the same time, John Beck and two
new assistants from Europe were in imminent danger of their
lives, on arriving on the shores of Greenland. After reaching
the latitude of Good Hope, they durst not approach the land,
on account of the violence of the storms; but were obliged to
proceed about eighty leagues to the north, before they could
venture to leave the ship. Even then the captain advised them
to wait another opportunity, as he was afraid they might be
murdered by the savages who inhabited that part of the country,
and who had an exceedingly bad character. They resolved,
however, to make the attempt. The day was calm and serene
when they set off in their boat; but in the evening, as they
were attempting to cross a broad inlet, the wind arose all of a
sudden, and threatened to drive them into the wide ocean.
After long and severe rowing, they at length reached a lonely
uninhabited island. Here they were obliged to remain, without
either house or tent, for two days and three nights; and to
aggravate their distress, they had, in lightening the boat dur-
ing the storm, thrown into the sea, among other articles, their
implements for striking fire, so that they now suffered very
severely both from wet and cold. They had, however, a small
quantity of bread and cheese, as also some bottles of wine, but
these had frozen and burst, owing to the severity of the cold.
At night, they lay in a hole dug in the snow, and covered them-
selves with the sail of the boat. On leaving this place, on the
third day, they came to the first Greenland house in Omenak,
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
223
and were received by the inhabitants in a friendly manner;
but as that quarter of the country was notorious for the murder
of several navigators, they kept a strict watch during the whole
of the night. After sailing in their boat for six days longer,
in the course of which they suffered a variety of other hard-
ships and dangers, they at length arrived in safety at New
Herrnhut, as the missionary settlement was now called.'
In 1750, when the Greenlanders who resided with the Brethren
removed from their tents into their winter houses, they amounted
to upwards of three hundred. In that part of the country, it
was formerly deemed impossible for two families to find sub-
sistence; yet this great number of persons not only subsisted,
but were able to afford relief to those who were in need, though
there had been such famines in other places, almost every year,
that even where provisions used to be most plentiful many had
died of want. Some of the savages from Kangek had lately
buried an old man alive, and when they were called to an ac-
count for their conduct, they pleaded, in excuse, that it was
done at his daughter's request, because he had an ulcerated
hand and could do nothing for his own support! The Christian
Greenlanders had never been reduced to such extremity, for
they had learned to work as well as to pray, and even to be
good economists. They now, indeed, enjoyed great advantages
for the preservation of their provisions, in consequence of their
connection with the missionaries. Formerly they used to con-
ceal their dried meat, fish, capelins, and other articles under
heaps of stones, where they were often half-devoured by the
foxes and ravens, or reduced to a state of putrefaction; but
now they had a large storehouse in which they could lay them
up in safety.2
In the beginning of 1752, there was one of the most dreadful
winters in Greenland that ever was known; and in this, as well
as several of the following years, the inhabitants suffered all
the horrors of famine, in consequence of the extreme severity
of the weather. From February to Easter the cold was per-
fectly horrible. The inlets were so frozen and blocked up with
ice, that frequently not a kajak could stir in the water. The
weather was so unsettled and so tempestuous, that the people
* Ibid. vol. ii. p. 124, 129, 133, 138.
¹ Crantz's Hist. Green, vol. ii. p. 90.
224
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
could seldom go abroad, and when they made the attempt, it
was not only at the risk of their life, but was attended with
little or no advantage, as they rarely caught even a single bird.
Imminent, however, as was the danger, only one of the congrega-
tion was lost. He was carried away in a violent tempest, by
the impetuosity of the waves, and was not found until three
months after, when he was discovered in his kajak, half-de-
voured by the ravens and foxes. One day, the storm was so
awfully tremendous, that nothing like it was remembered by
any of the Greenlanders. The new and largest boat of the mis-
sionaries, though it was drawn up on the shore and tied to a
post, was shattered by the waves. A few days after, there was
such a dreadful hurricane, attended with lightning, that their
dwelling-house and chapel were nearly thrown down; they
tottered and cracked like a ship in a storm. In consequence of
the severity of the weather, the Greenlanders were reduced to
the utmost extremity, being in danger of perishing either by
cold or hunger. The Brethren constantly allowed one company
after another to come into their rooms to warm themselves.
They also distributed dried capelins among such of the families
as were poor; and when these were exhausted, they supplied
them with pease. They at the same time exhorted the more
wealthy Greenlanders not to shut up their bowels of compassion
against their indigent brethren; but to impart provisions to
them as long as they had any remaining, without taking thought
for the morrow. This had so good an effect, that, among the
communicants at least, it needed no repetition. Some at last
made their way to the islands; but most of them soon came
back, as they were able to do less there than even at home,
owing to the storminess of the weather. The return of the
others was prevented, partly by the intense cold which soon
after ensued and froze the sea as far as the eye could reach,
partly by a tempest which shattered most of their boats to
pieces.¹
But dreadful as was the famine this season, instead of being
alleviated, it appears to have been aggravated the following
year. The islands were so enclosed with ice, that it was impos-
sible for the Greenlanders to go in quest of food; and such a
+
¹ Crantz's Hist. Groon, vol. ii. p. 157.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
225
Neither
terrible scarcity ensued as no European in the country had
ever witnessed. Frequent accounts were received of children
perishing of hunger in one part of the country, and of old
helpless people being buried alive in another. In a visit which
two of the missionaries paid to Kangek, they found, in one
place, fifteen persons nearly starved to death. They were lying
in a house so small and so low, that it was impossible to stand
upright in it; and the only way of entering it was by creeping
in on the belly. They had no fire, but lay one upon another,
in all directions, in order to keep themselves warm.
had they a morsel to eat; and such was their extreme weak-
ness, that when the missionaries entered, they did not care
to raise themselves, or even to speak to them. At length, a
man brought a couple of fishes from the sea. A girl seized one
of them, raw as it was, tore it in pieces with her teeth, and
gorged it down with the utmost voracity. She looked as pale
as death. Four of the children of these poor creatures, indeed,
had already died of hunger. The Brethren distributed among
them a part of their own provisions, and advised them to re-
move to New Herrnhut. They accordingly came thither soon
after; but, at first, it was scarcely possible to satisfy their hun-
ger. Their appetite was so keen, that they went to the very
dust heaps in search of fish-bones, already sufficiently chewed,
and even of pieces of old shoes. To these and many others of
their destitute countrymen, the Christian Greenlanders com-
municated supplies with the utmost cheerfulness, though they
had often to make a hard enough shift for themselves.'
But though numbers of the savages were driven to New
Herrnhut by the severity of the famine, yet neither the afflic-
tions of life, nor the kindness of the Brethren, made any serious
impression on their minds. The aversion which they had to
their Christian countrymen was so rooted, that it was with
great reluctance, that even the half-starving people now men-
tioned resolved to apply to them for assistance; and though
they came and obtained relief, yet not one of them remained,
not even such as had relations in the place, who spared no pains
to induce them to stay. The same was the case with others of
the savages. No sooner was their hunger satisfied, than they
VOL. I.
¹ Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. ii. p. 258, 260.
P
226
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
hastened away as from a place infected by the plague. It was
evident the judgment of many of them was convinced of the
excellence of Christianity, but yet their heart was opposed to
the purity of its precepts. They admired the fine order of the
converts; they could not but acknowledge that they led a hap-
pier life, and suffered less from external want than other Green-
landers, yet such was their dislike of religion, that they would
not stay among them, and many of them even ran away as soon
as the name of the Saviour was mentioned.¹
+
Famine, however, was not the only calamity which now
visited this ill-fated country. In 1754, several Dutch ships
having run into Ball's River to avoid the ice, numbers of the
Greenlanders went on board, and were treated with foreign
victuals, particularly pease, which they ate to the greater ex-
cess, as hunger had for some months past whetted their appe-
tites. It was at length discovered, though too late, that a con-
tagious distemper prevailed in at least one of these vessels;
and it was not long before it broke out, first among the heathen,
and then among the Christian Greenlanders, and carried off
great numbers of them, for at least fourteen leagues round the
colony. During the time that it raged, which was about three
months, scarcely a day passed at New Herrnhut without either
a death or a funeral; and, in one instance, four corpses were laid
in the grave on the same day, namely, two brothers, their nephew,
and a child. Some also died in other places, who could not be
brought thither for burial, as at least one-half of the people
were sick. The case of these was the more deplorable, as they
were not only in great want of the necessaries of life, but were
also at such a distance, and so dispersed among the islands, that
it was impossible they could be duly attended to, especially
as the weather was extremely stormy. Had suitable remedies
been early administered to them, it is probable many of them
might have recovered. The whole number of Christian Green-
landers who died this year was fifty-seven, and of these thirty-
five were supposed to have been carried off by this contagious
disorder. Many of them, on their deathbed, exhibited pleasing
proofs of the power of religion on their hearts. No people on
earth, perhaps, have such a horror of death as the Greenland-
Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. ii. p. 263.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
227
ers; yet many of the Christian converts not only exercised pa-
tience and resignation to the will of God under their affliction,
but were full of peace, tranquillity, and joy.'
As among the Greenlanders who died there were some of
the principal heads of families, the number of widows and
orphans, which was large before, was by this means greatly in-
creased. On the return of the congregation to their winter
quarters, it was therefore necessary to make arrangements for
the support of such as were left destitute. In those cases where
there was a son who was able to maintain his mother and the
rest of the family, this duty was of course assigned to him.
Such children as were only rising to manhood, were distributed
in other families, with the view of being trained up to the usual
occupations of the country. Those who were not yet able to
engage in manual employments were left with their mothers; or
if they were bereaved of them also, they were placed under the
care of some of the Greenland Sisters; and if they were only
infants at the breast, such of the women as were then nursing
were obliged to suckle them by turns. In these arrangements
most of the Greenlanders acted in a manner highly becoming
their Christian profession; and some who were not rich, put to
shame others who were more wealthy. It may easily, however,
be conceived, that the missionaries must have had no small
difficulty in making such arrangements as were satisfactory to
all parties. They at the same time took their own share of the
burden, being at the expense of clothing some of the poor
children, and of furnishing many of the boys with boats and
other utensils, that they might learn to provide for themselves
and their relations; for they were determined to afford them
no excuse for indolence or idleness, but chose rather to spend
a little upon them in early life, to enable them to work with
their own hands, than by neglecting them in their youth, to
allow them to remain a burden on the community. It is not
unworthy of observation, that the women nursing the infants
which were deprived of their mothers, was an interesting proof
of the power of religion on their hearts. There is nothing, per-
haps, to which the Greenland females have so rooted an aver-
sion, as suckling the children of another, lest their own child
Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. p. 215, 217, 219, 221, 223.
228
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
should have a rival in their affections. Hence, among the
savages, when a woman dies, and leaves an infant behind her,
the unfortunate father has no other resource but to bury it
alive immediately, that so he may not behold his little babe
lingering to death before his eyes. In such cases, a Green-
land woman has no feeling of compassion; yet the gospel,
by its transforming influence, overcame this barbarous preju-
dice.¹
2
Of the power of Christianity in expanding the heart and
exciting the principle of benevolence in the breast even of the
most brutish and degraded savages, we may here notice another
striking example. It was customary with the Brethren at some
of their meetings, to read to their Greenland flock the accounts
which they received from their congregations in Europe, and
particularly from the missions among the heathen. By these
a very lively impression was often produced on the converts;
but nothing of this kind ever touched them so sensibly, as the
account of the destruction of the Indian settlement at Gnaden-
huetten, in Pennsylvania, by some of the savages in the inte-
rest of France. When they were told that most of the mis-
sionaries were either shot or burnt to death; but that the
Christian Indians had escaped to the Brethren's settlement at
Bethlehem, they were so impressed with the relation, that they
burst into tears, and immediately offered to make a contribu-
tion for the relief of the unfortunate sufferers. "I," said one,
"have a fine reindeer skin, which I will give."-" I," cried a
second, "have a new pair of reindeer boots, which I will send
them."-" And I," said a third, "will send them a seal, that
they may have something to eat and to burn." The whole
scene was extremely interesting, affording a fine display of the
simplicity and benevolence of their hearts. Their contribu-
tions, indeed, when turned into money, were of little value;
yet the missionaries did not choose to reject them, but directed
the amount of the whole to be transmitted by their Brethren
in Europe to the sufferers in America.³
New Herrnhut had now become a pleasant little village. The
country originally consisted entirely of bald rocks, thinly inter-
P.
226.
¹ Crantz's Hist. Grocu. vol. ii.
3 Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. ii. p. 266.
2 See Section III.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
229
spersed with spots and veins of earth, or rather sand. But the
missionary house and chapel, the area and the garden, were
laid out in neat and regular order; and all the adjacent land,
where once not a blade of grass grew, was now enrobed with
the richest and most beautiful verdure, so that the settlement
might justly be considered as a garden of the Lord, in the midst
of a horrible wilderness. The Brethren even introduced sheep
into Greenland, and the attempt succeeded beyond their most
sanguine expectations. The grass was so nutritious, that the
ewes brought forth two, and even three lambs a year; and
though there were so many lambs from the same mother, yet
they were larger in autumn than sheep of a year old in Ger-
many. This little flock of sheep was of great use to the mis-
sionaries, especially as the number of reindeer was daily
decreasing.¹
As the Brethren had now collected a numerous congregation
at New Herrnhut, they were anxious to establish another set-
tlement in a part of the country more convenient for the South-
landers, many of whom had often invited them to come and re-
side among them. Besides other difficulties, however, there
were not missionaries enough to carry such a design into execu-
tion. Matthew Stach, one of the original founders of the mis-
sion, had lately returned to Europe, and was now thinking of
taking some rest in fellowship with the congregation at home,
after the many toils and hardships he had endured abroad.
Such, however, was his attachment to the Greenlanders, that
he never could speak or hear of them without earnestly wish-
ing to be again among them. When, therefore, it was proposed
to him to undertake the establishment of a second settlement,
he cheerfully agreed to make the attempt, notwithstanding
the new toils and dangers to which it would necessarily expose
him.
In May 1758, Matthew Stach sailed from Europe, accom-
panied by two other of the Brethren as his assistants. In the
course of the voyage, they did not meet with a single storm,
and what was still more wonderful, they were treated with kind-
ness and civility by the ship's company. In this respect there
had been a remarkable change for some years past, especially
Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. i. p. 74; vol. ii. p. 162, 399.
230
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
after the trade to Greenland was consigned by His Majesty to
the Incorporated Company of Merchants, and the Brethren,
instead of being allowed a free passage, were required to pay a
moderate sum for the transport of themselves and their goods,
a circumstance which proved both for their interest and their
comfort. Formerly, the ship's company used to make it their
study to vex and annoy them by their words and actions, mock-
ing them on account of their religion, and even denying them
such external accommodations as were really necessary. But on
this occasion, Matthew Stach and his companions were treated
not only with civility, but with kindness by the captain and
the whole of the crew. After visiting New Herrnhut, they
proceeded with four of the Greenland families in search of a
suitable situation for a new settlement. Having examined dif-
ferent places, they fixed on a small island near the coast, about
a hundred miles to the south of New Herrnhut. Here they
pitched their tents, and called the name of the settlement Lich-
tenfels.¹
In building the houses necessary for their accommodation, the
new settlers had to encounter considerable difficulties, owing to
the want of suitable materials; but this inconvenience they
overcame by their usual patience and perseverance. There was,
at the same time, such a scarcity of provisions, that it was with
difficulty they maintained themselves. Nor was this merely a
temporary calamity. It lasted, in a greater or less degree for two
or three years, and towards the end of that period was little
short of famine. The Greenlanders at Lichtenfels, indeed, suf-
fered less than the savages, many of whom died of hunger; but
yet they had often to make a miserable shift with a few crow-
berries left on the ground during the winter, or some small
meagre fishes. The missionaries themselves were often reduced
to the greatest straits, and were able to afford but little assist-
ance to the poor heathen in their neighbourhood.2
In June 1774, John Soerensen and G. Grillich, two of the
Brethren, commenced a third settlement in the South of Green-
land, which they called Lichtenau. It was about 400 miles from
Lichtenfels, and within sight of Cape Farewell."
'Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. ii. p. 131, 273; Period. Accounts vol. v. p. 238.
2 Crantz's Hist. Green. vol. ii. p. 279, 309, 356.
• Fortsetzung Brudor Historio tom. i. p. 122; Poriod. Accounts, vol. v. p. 238.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
231
During the first winter of the Brethren's residence in this
quarter of the country, near a hundred of the savages took up
their abode with them. This part of Greenland appears to have
been more than ordinarily populous. Within the circuit of a
few miles, it was supposed there were about a thousand inhabi-
tants. Here, therefore, the Brethren had an ample field for
labour, and after some years, they collected a larger congrega-
tion at this place than in either of their other settlements in
Greenland.'
Though the Brethren, in the admission of the Greenlanders
to baptism, paid greater regard to the state of their hearts than
to their intellectual attainments, yet most of the converts were
not defective in the doctrinal knowledge of the gospel. There
was, indeed, a material difference between those who were bap-
tized in their infancy, and trained up under the eye of the
missionaries, and such as were not connected with them until
they were advanced in life. The young people enjoyed not
only the advantage of the daily catechetical exercises, which
the adults had not leisure to attend, but most of them learned
to read, and were able to understand more fully, and to retain
more perfectly, what they were taught. Many of the old people,
however, by their diligence made wonderful progress in Chris-
tian knowledge. It was often observed, that such as possessed
more grace than knowledge at the time of their baptism, soon
outstripped, even in understanding, others who, in this respect,
were in advance of them; while, on the other hand, those who,
after baptism, made little progress in grace, remained at the
same time defective in knowledge."
In 1804, C. F. Rudolph, one of the missionaries, in returning
to Europe after labouring twenty-six years in Greenland, ex-
perienced a very remarkable deliverance at sea. Having em-
barked on board a vessel bound for Copenhagen, he was de-
tained a number of weeks in the harbour; but the captain at
length resolved to set sail, as he understood there was no ice
about Nunarsoak. Three days after, however, a storm arose
from the south-west, and drove the fields and mountains of ice
close upon the ship. The scene was awfully tremendous and
1
¹ Fortsetzung Bruder Hist. tom. i. p. 124, 330.
* Crantz's Hist. Greon. vol. ii. p. 426, 431.
232
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
sublime. The vessel, with her sails close-reefed, drove among
the ice before the wind, and it seemed as if she would every
moment be crushed to pieces. She, at length, struck with great
violence against a large field of ice: several planks started at
once; the water rushed into her; and in a very short time, only
the larboard gunwale appeared above the surface. The captain
and the sailors immediately took to their boats, and carried off
one party after another to a neighbouring field of ice. Rudolph
and his wife were the last who were taken off: by this time
they were above the knees in the water, holding fast by the
shrouds. Being only about a league from land, they now made
towards the shore; but the large boat was so heavily laden, it
had already taken in so much water, and the wind was so high,
that they were afraid it would sink, and therefore they were
obliged to sail to the nearest island they could reach. It proved
to be a rough, pointed, naked rock. Here they endeavoured to
land the provisions which they had saved from the wreck; but in
making the attempt, the boats, with eight of the crew on board,
were carried away by the storm, driven to the opposite shore,
and appeared to be dashed to pieces among the rocks. The
others being thus left destitude of provisions, had nothing be-
fore them but the prospect of perishing of hunger on this unin-
habited island. It was a heavy rain the whole day, and in the
evening they lay down to sleep close to each other, without
either tent or covering. Here they were completely wet, lying
as it were in a pool of water; for, besides the incessant rain,
the water flowed in streams from the top of the rock upon their
resting place.
After two days, the captain and most of the crew endeavoured
to gain the shore, by walking across the ice. The attempt was
extremely hazardous, as they had to leap from one piece of ice
to another, and might readily have fallen into the sea between
them. Rudolph and his wife would willingly have joined them;
but as they had now been without food for two days, they did
not think they had strength remaining to undergo the fatigue.
The crew, however, promised that should they reach the shore
in safety, they would send off a boat to rescue them. Besides
them, there remained on the island the ship's cook; and on an
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
233
adjoining rock, there were two others of the crew who came
over the ice several times to see them.
In this dismal situation, they remained till the ninth day.
When the sun shone, they employed themselves in drying the
few articles they had saved from the wreck; but they were at
last so enfeebled with cold and hunger, that they were scarcely
able for even this small service; for during all this time they
had no support, except the fresh water collected in the chinks
and holes of the rocks, of which they every now and then drank
a little. All day long they looked with eager eyes towards the
land in the hope of descrying some Greenlander coming to their
relief; but as they looked from day to day in vain, they began
to fear that the crew had perished in attempting to reach the
shore. There now, therefore, seemed no prospect before them,
but that of ending their lives on this barren rock; of lying un-
buried under the canopy of heaven; and of becoming food to
the ravens, and the other birds of prey, which were continually
hovering around them. Painful, however, as was their situation,
they felt perfectly resigned to the will of God, and united in sing-
ing hymns relative to their departure into the world of spirits.
At length, however, on the evening of the ninth day, Ru-
dolph's wife, happening to raise herself up, as they were lying
down to rest, espied two Greenlanders, in their kajaks, making
towards the island, and hailing them. Their enfeebled limbs
having now collected new strength, they immediately climbed to
the top of the rock, and called to their deliverers to let them
know where they were. On landing, the Greenlanders told
them, that they had been in search of them the whole day, and
at last concluded that they must be dead. On reaching the
shore the following evening, they found that the whole crew,
with the exception of one man, had escaped in safety, after suf-
fering great hardships in the attempt. On their way to Lichte-
nau, which was about twenty-eight miles distant, they met a
boat, in which was one of the Danish missionaries, who was
astonished to see them alive, as he concluded they must have
perished, and had come thus far, with the view of carrying their
corpses to that place for interment. Having spent the following
winter with their brethren at that settlement, they again set
off for Europe the ensuing year; and after encountering many
234
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
hardships and dangers in sailing along the icy shores of Green-
land, they arrived in safety at Copenhagen.'
In July 1824, John C. Kleinschmidt, J. A. De Fries, and J.
F. Baus, three of the Brethren, began a new settlement in the
South of Greenland near Staatenhuk, which was called Frede-
ricksthal. The heathen Greenlanders, on hearing of their arri-
val, came thither in great numbers, and in little more than
twelve months upwards of a hundred of them were baptized. It
is well known that the Greenlanders are commonly of small
stature; but among those from the East coast, who constituted
the majority of the congregation, which, after some years, was
collected at this place, many were of tall stature, and of Euro-
pean features. They were probably descendants of the ancient
Normans or North-men, who once inhabited these coasts, but who
it is supposed, were at last entirely amalgamated with the natives.²
In 1852, the number of persons belonging to the Brethren's
congregations in Greenland was as follows:-
Begun.
Commu- Baptized Baptized
Adults. Children.
Stations.
nicants.
TOTAL.
1733
1758
New Herrnhut,
Lichtenfels,
199
62 133
394
163
121 104 388
1774
Lichtenau,
267
130
263 660
1824
Fredericksthal,
236 68
166 470
865 381
666 19123
To some these numbers may appear inconsiderable; but it
should be remembered that they form a large proportion of the
Greenland nation. In 1850, the native population of Western
Greenland was estimated at 9200,' so that if this calculation be
correct, the congregations of the Brethren form upwards of one-
fifth of the whole inhabitants of the country. There is in fact
no longer any body of heathen Greenlanders residing within.
reach of any of the Brethren's settlements, with the exception
of Fredericksthal, near Staatenhuk. As one result of the
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. iv. p. 341.
2 Ibid. vol. ix. p. 253, 414, 421; vol. xix. p. 286. 287.
* Johnston's Physical Atlas.
3 Ibid. vol. xxi. p. xxvi.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
235
Danish and Moravian Missions in Greenland, there are now
scarcely any unbaptized Greenlanders along the whole of the
West Coast to the 72° North Latitude; and the people generally
make a profession of Christianity, though with many it is no-
thing more than a profession. On the east coast, the inhabitants
are still heathen; but their number is small, and they are
nearly inaccessible by Europeans.
1
The prosperity of the mission in Greenland was greatly
hindered by the necessity under which the people were of en-
gaging in hunting and fishing, in order to obtain the means of
subsistence, and of dispersing themselves far and wide for this
purpose during the summer months. This evil was greatly ag-
gravated of late years by the regulations made by the Danish
authorities with a view to the promotion of trade, according to
which a considerable part of the people belonging to the Breth-
ren's congregations were obliged to remain during the winter
also at a distance from the settlements. In consequence of
this, the instructions which they received, and any good impres-
sions made upon them, were apt to be obliterated from their
minds, while they were at the same time exposed to many temp-
tations in their wanderings.2
The missionaries established schools at all the stations; and
it is worthy of remark, that the Greenland youth, when at school,
did not appear to be at all inferior to European children of the
same age; but there is no chance of their equalling them in
their attainments, unless the year were one perpetual winter,
so strong and irresistible are the attractions of a roving life,
even on the inhospitable coasts of Greenland, the sea being the
element on which they must seek their subsistence, the land
yielding little or nothing that can support life. Indeed, the
education of the young is now greatly interrupted by the regu-
lations of the Danish authorities, requiring the people to live
at a distance from the missionary stations even during the winter,
and many of them are growing up without being able to read."
Besides the Harmony of the Gospels, which the Brethren
prepared a few years after their arrival in Greenland, they
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. iii. p. 219; vol. xvii. p. 370, 380.
2 Ibid. vol. xii. p. 293, 301 ; vol. xvii. p. 212, 321; vol. xviii. p. 23 ; vol. xx. p. 129.
Ibid. vol. xviii. p. 23, 119.
236
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
translated the whole of the New Testament, and such portions
of the Old Testament into the Greenland language as they
judged most necessary for the Christian converts.
They like-
wise printed a hymn-book, a spelling-book, and a catechism or
summary of Christian doctrine for the use of their congrega-
tions, and a short compendium of the Bible for the children;
and they compiled, with great pains, a grammar and dictionary
of that singular dialect.¹
SECT. II.-WEST INDIES.
PART I.-DANISH ISLANDS.
ART. 1.-ST THOMAS.
IN August 1732, John Leonard Dober and David Nitschman,
left Herrnhut, in Upper Lusatia, for Copenhagen, intending to
proceed from thence to St Thomas, for the purpose of instruct-
ing the negroes on that island. Dober was one of the two
Brethren who originally offered themselves for this service.
Nitschman was merely to accompany him and see him settled,
and was afterwards to return to the congregation. The Brethren
being then little acquainted with missionary undertakings, gave
them, instead of all other instructions, only this general direc-
tion, "In all things to follow the guidance of the Spirit of
Christ." Count Zinzendorf gave each of them a ducat for their
journey, in addition to about a pound sterling which each of them
had of his own. With this scanty sum in each of their purses,
and with staff in hand, they set out on their journey to Copen-
hagen, a distance of about 600 miles from Herrnhut. On the
road they called on some pious friends; but these, instead of
giving them any encouragement, sought to dissuade them from
their design, representing it as altogether impracticable. The
Brethren did not attempt to answer their objections; but trust-
ing in God, they resolved to follow their own convictions of
¹ MS. Accounts penes me; Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. p. 328; Period. Ac-
counts, vol. v. p. 379; vol. vii. p. 22; vol. viii. p. 81.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
237
duty, and to act agreeably to what they considered as his will.
The Countess of Stollberg was the only individual who en-
deavoured to confirm them in their purpose: she encouraged
and animated them to make every sacrifice for the cause of the
Redeemer, saying, he was well worthy that we should even die
for his sake. The sentiments of the Countess were so much the
more cheering to them, as, except Count Zinzendorf, no one had
hitherto spoken to them in the way of comfort and encouragement.
:
On their arrival at Copenhagen, the Brethren had many
difficulties to encounter. They were told that no ship would
take them to St Thomas; and that should they even get there,
it was very doubtful whether they would be allowed to instruct
the slaves. But notwithstanding every discouragement, Dober
and Nitschman remained firm to their purpose; the less help
there appeared for them in man, the more they looked to God
for assistance. Struck with their stedfastness, several persons
in Copenhagen began to view their design with a favourable
eye among these were His Majesty's two chaplains, several of
the councillors of state, and some members of the Royal Family,
who were so condescending as to befriend and assist them.¹
Having sailed from Copenhagen, the two Brethren reached
St Thomas after a voyage of about ten weeks. Neither of them,
however, remained long on the island. Nitschman, as was ori-
ginally designed, soon returned to Europe. Dober found great
difficulties in the way of supporting himself, and lived for some-
time in great poverty. He had not, however, been more than
twenty months on the island when he also returned to Ger-
many, having, though but a young man, been chosen by the
congregation at Herrnhut to the office of general or superin-
tending elder among them. It does not appear that the two
Brethren while on the island did much for the instruction of
the negroes. This was probably not in their power. They do
not appear to have assembled them for public worship, but con-
fined themselves entirely to efforts of a private nature, speaking
to individuals as they had opportunity, of Jesus Christ and of
redemption through his blood.¹
* Oldendorp's Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Bruder auf St Thomas, St
Croix and St Jan, tom. ii. p. 456; Mission of the Church of the United Brethren to
the Danish West India Islands, London 1832, p. 7.
* Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 460, 474, 492: Period. Accounts, vol. xvi. p. vi.
238
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In December 1735, Frederick Martin, accompanied by John
A. Bonike, and T. W. Grothaus, sailed for St Thomas, with the
view of renewing the mission on that island. Immediately after
his arrival, Martin met with the few negroes whom Dober used
to visit. He did not, however, content himself with holding
meetings with the slaves in the town of Tappus and the neigh-
bourhood, but extended his labours to some of the plantations
in the country. The negroes attended on his instructions in
considerable numbers, and listened to him with great attention.
In his intercourse with them he won their affections wonder-
fully, by his kind and condescending manners. He used to
shake hands with them, sit down beside them, and converse
with them, as if they had been his friends and his equals. These
little acts of condescension made a strong impression on the
hearts of the negroes, who had never been accustomed to such
treatment from a White man, and convinced them more effectu-
ally than any other means he could have employed of the sin-
cerity of his regard for them. He, at the same time, divided
his own scanty supplies with such of them as were poor and
needy. The cripple, the lame, and other miserable creatures.
who crawled to his door, found in him a friend and benefactor.¹
Hitherto the mission had been favoured by many of the in-
habitants, and had met with serious opposition from none; but
when religion began to spread among the negroes, its enemies
endeavoured to check its progress. Many of the White people
prohibited their slaves from attending the meetings for divine
worship; and ordered such as were guilty of this high crime
to be beaten and whipped. Some endeavoured to excite the
government to suppress the mission by its authority. Others
sought to check its progress by seducing the converts to sin.
The negro women, in particular, who would no longer submit
to the criminal desires of their masters, had much to endure:
but they in general bore their trials with patience, and were
even excited by them to seek with more earnestness the salva-
tion of their souls.2
In September 1737, died John A. Bonike, under circum-
stances of a very distressing nature. This young man came to
Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 506, 514, 522, 525, 537.
Ibid. tom. ii. p. 511, 527, 535.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
239
St Thomas with the view of working at his trade for the sup-
port of Martin, as well as of himself, that the former might give
more undivided attention to the instruction of the negroes. He
had not, however, been long on the island when he grew con-
ceited of his own gifts, conceived prejudices against the other
Brethren, and at last separated himself from them. He retired to
Mosquito Bay, and began to instruct the negroes in that quarter;
but the instructions he gave them, were strongly tinctured with
enthusiasm. A few weeks after, when he called on the Breth-
ren at Tappus, they entreated him in an affectionate manner
to humble himself before God and to acknowledge his error;
but he persisted in maintaining his own opinion, and on going
away, called on God to judge between them. Soon after his
departure, they heard a very loud thunderclap, and in a short
time, they received the painful intelligence that Bonike had been
struck from his horse and killed on the spot. After he was
struck, according to the account of a young negro who accom-
panied him, he made some fruitless attempts to stand, but be-
fore medical aid was procured, he was dead. His lifeless corpse
was brought to the Brethren at Tappus, and on the following
day was committed by them with sorrow to the grave.¹
In October 1738, Frederick Martin and Matthew Freundlich
his assistant, together with the wife of the latter, were thrown
into prison under circumstances of a somewhat extraordinary
nature. Timothy Fredler, who was originally sent to St Croix,
and afterwards withdrew from the congregation, had of late
come to St Thomas; but seemed now to have no object in view
except the improvement of his own worldly circumstances. The
difference between him and the two missionaries was so marked,
that the Christian negroes no longer considered him as a brother.
Martin, however, did not entirely withdraw from him; but
sought to recover him from the snare into which he had fallen.
Fredler had soon after the misfortune to be accused and im-
prisoned as a thief. The inspector of the plantations of the
Lord Chamberlaine Von Pless, alleged that in his chest he had
found various articles belonging to that nobleman, to the value
of about fifteen rix-dollars. In consequence of this charge,
Fredler was thrown into prison, and the two Brethren, who, it
¹ Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 507, 551.
See Article II.
240
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
was supposed, must at least have known of his crime, were
summoned before a court of justice, and required to give evi-
dence upon oath; but as this was inconsistent with their prin-
ciples, they refused, though, at the same time, they promised to
answer such questions as might be proposed to them in strict
accordance with truth, and as in the presence of God. As no-
thing would induce them to violate the dictates of their con-
sciences, they were fined in thirty rix-dollars; and though they
declared they had not as much in their possession, yet on fail-
ing of payment, they were all three committed to prison. They
still expressed the utmost readiness to answer whatever ques-
tions might be proposed to them relative to Fredler's affair, of
which they in fact knew nothing; but as they refused to do it
upon oath, the fine which was already more than they could
pay, was increased to sixty, and afterwards to ninety rix-dollars.'
Previous to these events, the prejudices against the Brethren
which at this period prevailed in Europe, had reached the
island of St Thomas, and furnished the enemies of the mission-
aries with a specious pretext for putting a stop to their labours
among the negroes. Mr Borm, the minister of the Reformed
Church, presented, in the name of the consistory, a repre-
sentation to Government calling in question the validity of
Frederick Martin's ordination, and of the ordinances adminis-
tered by him, particularly the marriage he had celebrated be-
tween Freundlich his assistant, and a mulatto woman, one of
the converts. In consequence of this petition, the governor had
prohibited Martin from administering the sacraments until he
should obtain instructions on this point from Copenhagen.
Thus the matter appeared for the present to be settled; but
while the missionaries were in prison, the accusation of Borm
was revived, particularly with respect to the marriage of Freund-
lich Without waiting for an answer from the Court of Den-
mark, their enemies determined not only that it was invalid ;
but that he should pay within twenty-four hours a fine of one
hundred rix-dollars; that he should be imprisoned during life;
that his wife should be sold as a slave, and the proceeds devo-
ted to the hospital! This cruel sentence, the judges founded
on the punishment which the Danish laws inflict on such as
¹Oldendorp's Geschichto, tom. ii. p. 564.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
241
live together as man and wife, without being regularly married
by a priest.¹
In January 1739, Count Zinzendorf landed on the island of St.
Thomas, accompanied by two others of the Brethren who came
to assist in the mission. Until his arrival, he knew nothing of
the situation of the missionaries, so that his coming at this par-
ticular crisis appeared singularly providential. Previous to this
Martin had been liberated from prison on bail, on account of
the state of his health, which had suffered materially from his
confinement. Freundlich and his wife, however, were still pri-
soners; but on the application of Count Zinzendorf for liberty
to them for a few days, they were not only released for a short
period, but were not again required to return to jail. Here it
may not be improper to add, that Fredler also was at length
liberated from his confinement; that there appears to have been
no foundation for the foul charge that was brought against him;
and that to the close of his life he maintained an affectionate
respect for the Brethren, and at his death left part of his pro-
perty to the missions.2
The hostility to the Brethren, however, had not ceased. Their
enemies still insisted that they should be banished from the
island, and in a petition to the government, desired that they
should be entirely prohibited from instructing the negroes. On
the day before the Count's departure, when the baptized were
assembling to a farewell meeting at Tappus, some of the White
people attacked them with sticks and swords. After maltreating
the poor defenceless slaves, who, under the worst usage, durst not
lift their hand to a White man, the rioters hastened to Posau-
nenberg, a small plantation which the missionaries had lately
purchased, and where they now resided. There they fell on the
few negroes who remained, beat them, and wounded them, and
put them to flight. They then broke the chairs, the glasses, the
dishes, and other articles of furniture: every thing, in short,
was destroyed, or dashed to pieces, or thrown out of the house.³
The Governor, indeed, offered to the Count to obtain satis-
faction for this outrage, and even promised to be in future a
father to the missionaries; yet scarcely had Zinzendorf taken
¹ Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 560, 572.
Ibid. tom. ii. p. 574, 583, 597, 617, 748.
VOL. I.
3 Ibid. tom. ii. p. 557, 587, 596,
Q
242
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
his departure, when, in compliance with the demands of some
of the planters, he issued an order that no negro should appear
after sunset beyond the estate of his master; that a watch of
four men should be appointed in every quarter to go about and
disperse any slaves whom they might find assembled; and that
every offender should on the following day be called before the
court, and punished with thirty lashes, and pay all costs. This
order the Brethren, in the simplicity of their hearts, imagined
was merely a renewed declaration of the law common through-
out the West India islands, which prohibits nocturnal assem-
blies of the slaves as dangerous to the peace of the community,
and supposed that it could have no reference to those meetings.
which they held for instructing them in the principles of reli-
gion, as that would be a complete infringement of the toleration
granted them by the Court of Denmark. They, therefore, pro-
ceeded in their ordinary course, and on the following Sabbath
held their meeting after sunset as usual. Next night about
eight o'clock, six White people completely armed came to Posau-
nenberg: by the way they had seized two of the negroes, beaten
them, and bound them. On hearing the noise, the missionaries
went out and entreated them not to disturb the meeting; but
the ruffians appealed to the order of the governor, and boister-
ously insisted on searching the house. In vain did Martin re-
present to them the toleration granted to them by the Crown:
three of them, armed with naked swords and loaded pistols,
burst into the house, where were assembled twenty-four of the
negroes. Martin still endeavoured to appease them; but as he
could obtain no mercy from men, he sought protection from
God, and, with the whole of the little assembly, fell down on
his knees in the presence of the White people. In the midst of
this scene, the three others entered the house, and instigated by
their leader, attacked the defenceless negroes in the most out-
rageous manner. The Brethren with their characteristic disin-
terestedness placed themselves before their unoffending people,
and received the blows which were aimed at them. Meanwhile,
the negroes sprang out of the house, one after another, most of
them without sustaining any material injury. Enraged at their
escape, the drunken leader of the band required the missionaries
to bring them back, a demand which it is needless to say he
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
243
made in vain. His wrath being still unsatiated, he attempted
to stab the Brethren with his sword, but was prevented by his
companions. Though none died in consequence of this brutal
attack, yet several were severely injured. One of the Brethren
received a wound in the shoulder and some cuts through his
coat. His wife was stabbed in the breast through her handker-
chief. The wife of another of the missionaries was wounded in
the shoulder, and a woman who had a child in her arms was
cut in the head.
Two days after, five White men came to the house of the
Brethren, and on finding no negroes with them, assailed them
with mockery and threatenings, brandished about their naked
swords and pistols, and one led his horse into their apartment.
Before their departure, they read the order of the governor con-
cerning the watchers, and with many threatenings, gave them
to understand that no negro would in future be allowed to at-
tend their meetings.
The White people, however, soon grew tired of maintaining
so strict a watch on the plantations, and after a few days some
hundreds of the negroes came again in the evening to Posau-
nenberg. As the missionaries could not think of refusing in-
struction to those who manifested so much desire for it, they
retired with them among the brushwood, appointing some to
watch and give notice if any White people appeared in the
neighbourhood. In no instance, however, did they meet with
any interruption, and after a short time they were again allowed
to hold their assemblies without disturbance.
By desire of the governor, the Brethren drew up an account
of the wanton assault which had been committed upon them.
In this statement they asked no satisfaction for themselves, nor
any punishment of the offenders, but merely protection in future;
yet simple as was their representation, it nearly involved them
in new troubles. With the effrontery of consummate villains,
two of the rioters denied the whole, purged themselves upon
oath, and demanded that the missionaries should be punished
as calumniators. After some weeks, however, they dropped
their complaint, through the interposition of Mr Carstens, one
of the most respectable planters on the island, who, under all
the trials of the Brethren, had uniformly been their kind and
244
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
stedfast friend. An order was soon after received from the
Court of Copenhagen, in answer to the appeal which had been
made to it, sanctioning the ordination of Martin, and authoriz-
ing him to preach, to administer the sacraments, and to cele-
brate marriage, a circumstance which happily put an end to the
violent opposition which they had of late experienced.'
Having sailed
proceeded from
As the voyage,
In January 1740, Albinus T. Feder and Christian G. Israel,
two missionaries destined to St Thomas, were shipwrecked near
that island. Feder appears to have been a man of some learn-
ing, having studied at the universities of Jena, Leipsic, and
Halle. Israel was lame, of a weakly constitution, and walked
mostly with a crutch; but was at the same time full of zeal to
make known the Saviour among the heathen.
from Holland, they landed at St Eustatius, and
thence in an English vessel for St Thomas.
though short, was dangerous on account of the numerous rocks.
and islets which infest the course, the captain, afraid to sail in
the dark, anchored one night under a small island called Skrop,
near Tortola. In the morning there arose a terrible storm,
which drove the vessel on a rock within a short distance of the
island. The sailors instantly took to the boat, but when the mis-
sionaries begged to be admitted, it was either carried away by
the waves, or there was no room. Anxious to leave the ship,
they, together with three negroes who were on board, crept
along the bowsprit to the rock against which she had struck;
but still their situation was far from safe, as the place was so
small, that they had to lie one upon another, while at the same
time, the rigging of the vessel, which hung over them, threatened
to thrust them into the sea, as often as it heaved from one side
to the other. At that moment, they had no resource, but sud-
denly to seize the sail and shove it past them.
As between the rock and the neighbouring island there ap-
peared a number of stones at a small distance from one another,
Feder resolved to attempt escaping across them to the shore.
With this view he dropped down from the rock by means of a
rope; but just as he was setting his feet on one of the stones,
he lost his balance, was seized by the waves, and dashed among
the rocks. Beholding him rise again to the surface, apparently
Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 471, 602, 616.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
245
"
motionless, Israel gave him his parting blessing: "Go in peace,
said he, "my dear brother." Instantly the body was swallowed
up by the waves and was seen no more. Amidst this trying
scene his companion in tribulation felt perfectly resigned to
the will of God should he also be doomed to perish in the tem-
pestuous ocean; the calm within his breast forming a striking
contrast to the storm which raged without.
Meanwhile the stern of the vessel drove nearer the stones by
which Feder had attempted to reach the shore. One of the
persons who still remained on board, immediately threw out a
plank, and by means of it got safe to land. Israel, as well as
some others, wished to follow his example; but he found a dif-
ficulty in climbing again upon the bowsprit in order to go on
board. This, however, proved his safety. The stern of the
vessel was immediately overwhelmed by the waves, and five or
six persons who remained on it were drowned.
As the ship was no longer in the way, the waves which had
before broke against it, now beat over the rock without obstruc-
tion. Poor Israel was liable every moment to be washed into
the sea, or to be wounded by the broken pieces of the vessel
which were dashed about by the surf. He perceived three
boats on shore, but none of them could approach the rock with-
out imminent danger of destruction. At length, in the after
noon, some people succeeded in throwing a rope to him and to
a negro who still remained on the rock, and hauled them both
ashore.
Having lost the whole of his little property in the wreck,
Israel scarcely knew how he should get to St Thomas; but in
this extremity friends were unexpectedly raised up to assist
him. He at length surmounted all his difficulties, and on reach-
ing that island, was received by his brethren in the most affec-
tionate manner.¹
In the course of a few years, the mission to St Thomas as-
sumed a very promising aspect, through the indefatigable exer-
tions of Frederick Martin and his fellow-labourers. The negroes
flocked to them for instruction in great numbers; and many of
them appeared to be impressed with the word. Often the
church would not contain the crowds who came to it: it was
¹ Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 623; Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 312.
246
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
therefore necessary to hold divine worship under the canopy of
heaven. For several years, indeed, the Brethren, from, it is
alleged, the mistaken views of some of them, baptized few of
the converts; but afterwards they received great numbers,
generally upwards of a hundred in the course of a year. Many
of the baptized, however, afterwards fell away, and some fell
into grievous sins. This occasioned the missionaries much dis-
tress; but yet they exercised singular patience and tenderness
toward the wanderers, and in many instances succeeded in
bringing them back to the fold of the Redeemer.'
In June 1750, the law was renewed that no negro should
pass through the town of Tappus, or appear in the streets, after
ten o'clock at night. This, however, was not as formerly de-
signed as a covert attack on the Brethren, or as a check to their
labours among the slaves: it was occasioned by intelligence of
an insurrection of the negroes in Surinam. There was now a
great change in the public sentiment in St Thomas with regard
to the labours of the missionaries. Most of the White people.
were convinced that they were, attended with beneficial effects
on the slaves. On this occasion an exception highly honour-
able to the Brethren was made in favour of the negroes under
their care. As it was not always possible to close the evening
meetings in time for the slaves to be home before the appointed
hour, the governor ordered that those who were furnished with
a certificate by one of the missionaries, should be allowed to
pass unmolested by the watch.”
•
Though the Brethren now met with no public persecution,
and even enjoyed the approbation of the White people in gene-
ral; yet they were not without frequent instances of private
opposition. Some of the planters and overseers prohibited the
negroes from attending on their instructions, and punished them
on this account in the severest manner. Others, to prevent
their slaves from frequenting the meetings, oppressed them with
heavy work, and did not allow them even the Sabbath to them-
selves, as was customary in the West India Islands. In general,
however, the poor creatures chose rather to submit to punish-
ment, than absent themselves from the house of God.3
Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 622, 676, 681, 684, 738, 765, 799, 827, 934,
952, 971.
2 Ibid. tom. ii. p. 787.
Ibid. tom. ii. p. 694, 788, 818, 933, 942.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
247
1
2
In 1782, no fewer than one hundred and twenty-seven of the
Brethren, including members of their families, had died on this
and the two other Danish islands, St Croix and St Jan, since
the commencement of the mission, a period of only half a cen-
tury. The ravages of disease among them were truly deplor-
able. New missionaries often scarcely arrived, when they or
some of their family sickened and died: sometimes they fol-
lowed each other in rapid succession to the grave. Even those
who survived, had such severe and frequent attacks of sickness
as materially interrupted their labours among the negroes:
sometimes most of them were so ill at the same time, that one
could scarcely help another. The mortality among the mis-
sionaries in the Danish West India Islands is the more strik-
ing, when contrasted with the small number of deaths in Green-
land. Of sixty-four Brethren and sisters who proceeded to that
country during the first fifty years of the mission, forty-two
were still living: seven only died while resident in that cold
inhospitable region, and fifteen after their return from it. But,
though the mortality in the Danish West India Islands was so
great, it is surprising with what cheerfulness others came for-
ward to fill the ranks of those who had so prematurely fallen.
On one occasion when it was made known to the congregation
at Bethlehem in North America, that five persons had died
within a short time on the island of St Thomas, no fewer than
eight Brethren voluntarily offered that very day to go thither
and supply their place.
3
In 1789, this and the other Danish islands were visited with
an extraordinary drought, which lasted about three years, and
occasioned an universal failure of the crops. Numbers of the
negroes died of hunger, as their masters were not in circum-
stances to support them. Many of the planters were driven by
necessity to sell their slaves to foreign islands, particularly to
'Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. p. 279.
"Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 650, 674, 766, S10, 900, 908.
• Risler Erzahlungen aus der Geschichte der Bruderkirche, tom. iii. p. 177.
The longevity of some of the missionaries in Greenland is remarkable. Of between
sixty and seventy Brethren employed in that mission during the first century, there
were no fewer than six who were engaged in it between forty and fifty years, and one
not less than fifty-two.—Period. Accounts, vol. xü. p. 301, 480.
Spangenberg's Account, p. 37.
248
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
those belonging to France and Spain. Some of the helpers were
hindered from fulfilling the duties of their office, as they were
appointed to watch and oversee the plantations, particularly on
the Sabbath, being found to be persons in whom confidence
might be placed at a period when the temptation to unfaithful-
ness was peculiarly strong. Many of the negroes could not
come to church in consequence of their extreme weakness, and
an idea spread very widely among them, that in their present
trying circumstances, stealing could be no great sin. Some,
even of the members of the congregation, adopting this perni-
cious notion, were guilty of theft: but others withstood the
temptation with the utmost firmness, and chose rather to die
than commit so great a crime.'
With regard to the marriage of those negroes who embraced
Christianity, the missionaries had at first considerable difficul-
ties. It often happened that a man at the time of his conver-
sion had more than one wife, a case with respect to which it
was not very evident from Scripture what course should be
pursued. In one place the Apostle Paul says, "If any brother.
hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with
him, let him not put her away." In another place he says, “A
bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife." As
nothing further is said in the New Testament on this subject,
the Brethren laid down the following principles for the regula-
tion of their conduct in cases of this description:
First, That they would not oblige a man who, previous to his
conversion, had taken more than one wife, to put the others
away without their consent.
Secondly, That notwithstanding this, they would not appoint
such a man a helper in the congregation.
Lastly, That they would allow no one who had already em-
braced Christianity to take more than one wife; and that he
was to be considered as bound to her as long as she lived.
But notwithstanding these regulations, the Brethren had often
great difficulties with regard to the marriage of slaves, even
after their baptism. When a planter in the West Indies, for
instance, died in debt, his slaves and other property were liable
to be sold by auction; and in these cases, part of the negroes
1 Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. ii. p. 270; tom. iii. p. 365.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN,
249
were frequently purchased by proprietors from other islands,
by which means it often happened, that not only parents and
children, but husbands and wives, were for ever parted from
each other. How to act in such circumstances, the Brethren
were at first quite at a loss; and they appear for some time to
have prohibited the converts from contracting another marriage,
apprehending this to be contrary to the principles of Christi-
anity. Now, however, though they do not advise, yet neither
do they hinder, a regular marriage with another person, espe-
cially if a family of children, or other circumstances, seem to
render a helpmate necessary.
2
3
ART. 2.-ST CROIX.
In August 1733, Tobias Leupold, Martin Schenk, and twelve
others of the Brethren, set off from Herrnhut, with the view of
proceeding chiefly to St Croix. This island, which had been
almost entirely forsaken for thirty-seven years, had lately been
purchased from the crown of France by the Danish West India
Company. The Lord Chamberlain Von Pless, who had bought
six plantations, induced by the favourable opinion which he
had formed of the Brethren, applied to the congregation at
Herrnhut for some of their number to go out as overseers of his
estates, and, at the same time, to employ themselves in instruct-
ing the slaves. In consequence of this, a number of the Breth-
ren offered to go to St Croix; but though they went out partly
in the character of colonists, the spread of the gospel among
the negroes was the object they had specially in view."
Having sailed from Copenhagen with near a hundred other
persons, chiefly soldiers and labourers, they at length reached
the West Indies after a very tedious and unpleasant voyage. As
the Island of St Croix had been so long forsaken, it was now
completely overgrown with trees and brushwood, the conse-
quences of which soon appeared among the new settlers. Though
most of the Brethren were weak and sickly at the time of their
arrival, yet, partly from ignorance of the precautions necessary
1
¹ Spangenberg's Account, p. 99.
3 Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 14.
2 Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 542.
Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 482.
250
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
in a warm climate, and partly from laudable but mistaken prin-
ciples, they denied themselves that rest and refreshment which
were requisite to recruit their enfeebled health; they made ex-
ertions in clearing the land, and in other manual operations be-
yond their strength; they were at the same time ill accommo-
dated in respect of lodgings, being much exposed to wet, and to
the noxious vapours arising from the newly cleared land. In con-
sequence of these combined circumstances, they were soon at-
tacked with fever and dysentery, which carried them one after
another in rapid succession to the grave.'
To aggravate these outward distresses some misunderstand-
ing had arisen among them during the voyage, nor was harmony
restored after their arrival in the West Indies. Some now ap-
peared to be actuated by worldly motives, manifesting more
concern for their own temporal interests than for the glory of
Christ and the salvation of souls. Engaged in labouring for
their own support, they made little or no exertion for instruct-
ing the negroes; and they even omitted, for a considerable time,
the daily meetings for prayer."
In February 1735, a second company of eleven persons set off
from Herrnhut for the Island of St Croix; but they were
scarcely more fortunate than their predecessors. On their
arrival, indeed, they succeeded in rekindling among such as still
survived, a zeal for the conversion of the negroes and in restor-
ing the meetings for prayer. Scarcely, however, had they be-
gun to settle on the island, when they fell a prey one after
another to those diseases which had already proved fatal to so
many of their brethren. The few who survived soon afterwards
left the island, and the colony itself was for the present aban-
doned.³
In October 1740, Martin, Israel, and Weber, three of the
Brethren in St Thomas, sailed to St Croix with the design of
renewing the mission on that island, where a colony had again
been settled. Not being able to procure lodgings in Christian-
stadt, they accepted of a small house on the plantations of the
Lord Chamberlain Pless. It was at a considerable distance
from the town, in a low uncultivated spot, surrounded by thick
Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 494.
2 ibid. tom. ii. p. 495, 500.
* Ibid. tom. ii. p. 502.
1
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
251
bushes which hindered the free circulation of air, a circumstance
extremely prejudicial to health in a warm climate. In a short
time the missionaries, with the exception of Martin, who had
returned to St Thomas, were all taken ill; and, indeed, so long
as they remained at this place, they never enjoyed perfect health.
Notwithstanding their frequent indisposition, they did not,
however, neglect the chief object of their residence on the island.
Even when unable to visit the negroes, they spoke from their
sickbed to such as called upon them. After labouring upwards
of a year in St Croix, they were recalled to St Thomas in con-
sequence of the urgent need of assistance on that island. The
Brethren, however, did not entirely abandon St Croix. They
occasionally came thither from St Thomas, baptized several of
the negroes, appointed some of them as helpers and assistants,
who, in the interval of these visits, maintained in some degree
the influence of religion among their sable countrymen.'
In April 1751, George Ohneberg, accompanied by two others
of the Brethren, proceeded from St Thomas to St Croix with
the view of settling on that island. He was received with much
joy by the Christian negroes; but for a considerable time both
he and the slaves in the neighbourhood were kept in constant
alarm by the frequent attempts which were made to burn their
houses. This was the work, it was supposed, of some pagan
negroes who were hostile to the instruction of their countrymen,
and who sought by this means to put an end to it. In many
instances the fire was discovered and quenched before it did
much mischief; but in others the huts of the negroes fell a prey
to the flames. The poor creatures were afraid lest Ohneberg
should leave them, as the attempts appeared to be made chiefly
on his account; but he assured them that he would not forsake
them, though he should lose his little all. His house was at
length burned; but through the exertions of the Christian ne-
groes the furniture was saved.³
In the course of a few years, the mission on the island of St
Croix assumed a very flourishing aspect. The Brethren were
not, indeed, without their trials, but yet, amidst them all, they
were cheered by witnessing the success of their labours. Mul-
'Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 645, 699, 703, 707, 748, 846.
* Ibid. tom. i. p. 846.
252
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
titudes of the negroes attended on their instructions, and many
of them gave pleasing evidence of the power of religion on their
hearts. Some, so far from regretting the loss of their freedom,
viewed it as a distinguished mercy, considering themselves in-
expressibly more happy in a state of slavery with an opportunity
of hearing the gospel, than if they had been at liberty in their
native land, without that inestimable privilege.'
ART. 3.-ST JAN.
IN November 1754, John Brucker proceeded from St Thomas
to St Jan, with the view of establishing a settlement on that
island. For many years past the Brethren in St Thomas had
paid frequent visits to St Jan, and were attended by consider-
able numbers of the negroes; but as the poor creatures were in
the interval left in a great measure without instruction, religion
made little progress among them. There were, however, a few
who were baptized, and who formed the beginning of a Christian
congregation on the island.2
Even now, the progress of the mission in St Jan was extremely
slow. The negroes shewed little desire for instruction, grew
negligent in attending the meetings for divine worship, and
lost, in a great measure, any impressions they might have had
of religion. Even the helpers in the congregation, who should
have been examples to the flock, were chargeable with similar
faults, and entirely neglected the duties of their office. After
a few years, however, the mission experienced a considerable
revival. The number of converts in St Jan was not, indeed, so
great as in some of the other West India islands; but in propor-
tion to the population, it was greater, perhaps, than in any
other mission in the world.³
In August 1793, there was a tremendous hurricane in the
West Indies. It was felt in various islands, but it appears to
have raged with peculiar violence in St Jan. Of the Brethren's
two settlements, Emmaus and Bethany, the latter was most ex-
'Oldendorp's Geschichte, tom. ii. p. 856, 860, 877, 880, 981, 994, 1003, 1014.
2 Ibid. tom. ii. p. 664, 708, 714, 733, 754, 769, 772, 890, 892.
Ibid. tom. ii. p. 1029, 1031, 1037, 1046, 1054.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
253
posed to its fury. It began in the evening, and before morn-
ing, the missionaries, and many White and Black people, who
had fled to them from the neighbourhood, could scarcely find
shelter in any of the buildings. About eight in the morning,
the wind changed to the south, and all the negro houses were
swept away in a moment. Shortly after, the church fell with
a dreadful crash, and was broken into a thousand pieces.
Beams, shingles, rafters, boards, were carried to a great distance
in the air; and no person durst venture out of the house but at
the risk of his life. The sea-water being driven by the violence
of the wind upon the roof of the dwelling-house, ran in streams
in the apartments. The whole building trembled, and cracked,
and threatened every moment to bury the inhabitants in its
ruins. Meanwhile, they were assisted by the negroes in fasten-
ing the roof with ropes, and in nailing up the doors, windows,
and every crevice but they were at last quite overcome with
fatigue and hunger, for they had only a loaf and a half to di-
vide among twenty-six persons, while a little water, sweetened
with molasses, was their only drink. In other parts of the
island, the planters had their dwelling-houses, sugar-works,
stores, and other property destroyed. The thickest trees in the
woods were broken in the middle; the cassibi plantations were
all torn up, and the garden crops totally laid waste. Numbers
of vessels were wrecked on the coast, and many people lost their
lives. At Emmaus, the other settlement of the Brethren, the
church and dwelling-house were safe; all the other buildings
were destroyed.¹
To these accounts of the individual missions in St Thomas,
St Croix, and St Jan, we shall here add a few general state-
ments.
In August 1832, the Brethren in the Danish West India
Islands celebrated the centenary of the mission; and, on this
occasion, there was exhibited a striking proof of the change
which had taken place in the public mind in regard to them
and their labours. For some years after the commencement of
the mission, the utmost hostility, as we have already seen, was
manifested toward them; but now the Colonial authorities, as
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 229.
254
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
well as the Danish Government, afforded them every protec-
tection and encouragement in their labours. His Excellency
the Governor-General and the Lieutenant-Governor attended
the Centenary Jubilee in St Croix. They were preceded by a
detachment of cavalry and artillery, and followed by forty-three
coaches, containing the first authorities of the island. The
Governor had even issued a proclamation to the planters to
grant to the negroes connected with the Brethren's congrega-
tions throughout the island that day and the half of the pre-
ceding to themselves, that they might have an opportunity of
being present on so interesting an occasion. The numbers
assembled in St Croix alone amounted to upwards of 7000 per-
sons, being at least one-third of the population of the island;
but there was not the smallest disturbance either before or
after the festival, and his Excellency remarked, that however
large a number of persons belonging to the Brethren's congre-
gations might be assembled together, no detachment of police
was found necessary to maintain order.¹
1
The whole number of persons who were employed in St.
Thomas and the other two Danish islands, St Croix and St
Jan, during the first hundred years of the mission, was 307
Brethren and sisters.2
The following table exhibits the numbers who were baptized,
&c., during the same period:-
Baptized.
Received
into Church
Fellowship.
Admitted
to the
Communion.

Died.
Adults,
18,503
5413
13,333
17,042
Children,
12,807
4963
31,310
5413
13,333
22,0053
In January 1841 a commencement was made in the work of
negro education in the Danish West India Islands. For up-
'Period. Accounts, vol. xii. p. 274.
2 Mission to Danish West India Islands, p. 30.
3 Period. Accounts, vol. xii. p. 275.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
255
rn
wards of a century the Brethren had little or no opportunity of
giving instruction to the children and youth; they were not
even at liberty to open a single school, in which they might
teach them to read the Word of God. In consequence of this
want of early tuition, it was very difficult, nay, almost impos-
sible, to communicate even the most simple truths to minds
which had never been taught to think; and when sinful habits
were once formed, it was no easy matter for the poor creatures,
even if brought under the influence of religion, to resist and to
overcome them. But a number of school-houses now began to
be erected by order of Christian VIII., the King of Denmark,
with a view to the education of the children of negroes of every
religious denomination, and the conduct of them was entrusted
to the Brethren. The school-houses were built at the expense
of the Colonial Treasury, and grants were also made from it for
the maintenance of the teachers. The hopes which were formed
of these schools were, in the first instance, but very imperfectly
realized yet we trust that, under an improved system, they
may ultimately produce more abundant fruit.'
In July 1847, the King of Denmark issued an ordinance, that,
after the lapse of twelve years, all rights of proprietorship
claimed previously by the masters of slaves, should cease abso-
lutely and for ever, and that all children born after the date of
the decree should be free, it being, however, provided, that they
should remain with their mothers on their respective planta-
tions, and be maintained by the parties to whom their mothers
belonged. It is probable that the emancipation of the slaves
had been in contemplation for some years, and that it was with
a view to it that His Majesty adopted the measures already
mentioned for the education of the negro children. He now
also issued an ordinance abolishing the Sunday markets, and
prohibiting the negroes working for hire on that day without
the permission of the authorities, which was to be granted only
in cases of absolute necessity; but though these laws relative
to Sunday markets, and Sunday labour, with other measures
which were in contemplation, were no doubt designed to pro-
mote the amelioration of the condition of the slaves, and to
1
Period. Accounts, vol. xvi. p. 428. 483; vol. xvii. p. 357, 402; vol. xviii. p. 315,
365; vol. xix. p. 74.
256
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
prepare them for their future emancipation, yet they were in
general but indifferently observed. The period of emancipa-
tion, however, was hastened on by events which were probably
but little anticipated.¹
In July 1848, the slaves in different parts of St Croix rose in
arms and demanded their freedom, being resolved, if necessary,
to obtain it by force. The White people appear to have been
panic struck; and the Governor-General Von Scholten, yielding
to the demands of the insurgents, declared them free. The eman-
cipation was of course not confined to St Croix, but was ex-
tended also to the other two islands, St Thomas and St Jan.2
Whether the convulsions of so many of the nations of Europe
in the early part of that year, and the emancipation by the
new Government of France of the slaves in the West India
Islands belonging to that country, had any influence in stirring
up the negroes in St Croix to demand their own immediate
emancipation, we do not know; but if they had intelligence of
these events, as they no doubt would, it is not unlikely they
might be an exciting cause of their rising, and also of the Go-
vernor yielding so readily to their demands.
In 1852, the congregations of the Brethren in the Danish
West India Islands, consisted of the following numbers:-



Stations.
Commu- Baptized Baptized Total.
nicants. Adults. Children.
Begun.
1732 ST THOMAS-
1738
New Herrnhut.
270
113
292 675
1753
Niesky.
473
160
431 1064
1843
Town of St Thomas.
104
30
123 257
1734 ST CROIX-
1751
Friedensthal. .
628
136
416
1180
1771
Friedensberg. .
460
102 411 973
1805
Friedensfeld.
702
205
580
1487
ST JAN-
1754
Bethany.
192
58 208
458
1782
Emmaus.
288
127
477 890
3117
931
2938 69863
'Period. Accounts, vol. xvi. p. 484; vol. xviii. p. 316.
2 Ibid. vol. xix. p. 51.
• Ibid. vol. xxi. p. xxvi.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
257
The congregations of the Brethren in the Danish West India
Islands constitute a considerable proportion of the whole Black
and Coloured population; but within the last forty years they
have materially diminished in numbers, and their tendency ap-
pears to be still to decrease. At nearly all the stations, the
missionaries had much cause to complain of the carelessness and
indifference on the part of their negro flocks to the things that
belong to their everlasting peace. The majority of them had
grown up in heathenism, and many of them were still under
the influence of old customs and habits, of evil example, and of
depraved propensities and feelings. Under such circumstances,
it was no wonder though there should be frequent instances of
backsliding and transgression of the pure and holy law of God.
Too many there were who found their way into the porch of
the temple, and who were content to remain there, though in-
vited into the sanctuary. It was painful to see how many of
them, not excepting such as had for years attended on the
preaching of the gospel, were still strangers to its power. There
were not a few who were desirous of joining a Christian church,
merely that they may be decently and respectably interred.
Indeed, it was disheartening to witness the extreme ignorance,
stupidity, and indifference of the older generation, and the way-
wardness, licentiousness, and impatience of all salutary restraint
which prevailed among the young. '
1
PART II-ENGLISH ISLANDS.
IN October 1754, Z. G. Caries was sent to Jamaica with two
others of the Brethren as his assistants, in compliance with the
request of some gentlemen who possessed considerable estates
in that island. Missionaries were afterwards at different periods
sent to Antigua, Barbadoes, St Christophers, and Tobago. On
some of these islands, particularly where they were countenanced
by the planters, the negroes attended at first on their instruc-
tions in considerable numbers; but after a time they for the
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. v. p. 368; vol. xvi. p. 256, 428; vol. xviii. p. 208; vol. xix.
p. 101; vol. xx. p. 477.
VOL. I.
R
258
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
most part, gave over attending, and were utterly indifferent
about religious instruction. Nor was this confined to such as
had been merely hearers; a great part even of the baptized
shewed little or no disposition to attend divine worship. There
appears ground to apprehend that the whole work was of a very
superficial kind. The people probably attended at first chiefly
from curiosity and the novelty of the thing; and most of those
who were received into the church were baptized, it is to be
feared, without giving proper evidence of piety.'
But though the Brethren saw for many years but little fruit
of their labours, the missions in Antigua, St Christophers, and
Jamaica, assumed at length a more encouraging aspect. The
congregations increased, new stations were formed, and great
numbers of the negroes were baptized. The extension of the
mission in Jamaica has taken place chiefly in the course of the
present century, and particularly since the abolition of slavery
in 1834. Since then, greatly increased efforts have also been
made for the education of the young; and two Normal schools,
one in Jamaica, the other in Antigua, were established for the
training of schoolmasters, and other assistants in the missions.
Though, since the abolition of slavery, the numbers con-
nected with the Brethren's congregations in Jamaica have been
more than doubled, the character of many of those who com-
pose them is far from being satisfactory. In the days of slavery,
such as joined them generally shewed some interest in reli-
gion, and did not care for reproach or even persecution; but
now every one thought it a disgrace not to belong to some
church, and therefore sought to be received into them, though
they gave no evidence of piety. In like manner, the children
of many parents who belonged to the Brethren's congregations,
joined them for no other reason than that they were born and
baptized in them. Hence there were great numbers connected
with them who were mere professors of religion, having "a name
to live while they were dead." A stranger might easily be de-
ceived when he heard them uttering the language of piety which
they had been taught from their youth; but those who looked
not so much to the beautiful foliage of the tree as to the fruit
which it produced, often found themselves sadly disappointed.
'Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 430, 481, 602, 604; Period. Accounts, vol. i. P. 67.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
259
In the young of both sexes, the missionaries had much wicked-
ness, a roving disposition, and a false spirit of independence to
contend with; in those of mature years, much deceit, instability,
and worldliness, and in the aged, much ignorance and stupidity,
with "ears dull of hearing," and hearts indifferent to the great
truths of religion. It was found necessary to exclude consider-
able numbers from the fellowship of the church, while others
withdrew quietly of their own accord. Even the best friends of
the negroes were now ready to acknowledge that they had been
somewhat blinded to their faults by their sympathy in behalf
of the wronged and oppressed. Yet, on the other hand, there
was a danger of forgetting the ignorance and degradation in
which they were formerly held, and the permanent baneful in-
fluence which this could not fail to have on their character, and
of not making due allowances for them on this account. Multi-
tudes of professors there were, and too many who "held the
truth in unrighteousness;" yet there were also not a few whose
"life and conversation were such as becometh the gospel."
In 1852, the numbers connected with the Brethren's congre-
gations in the English West India Islands, were as follows:
Communi- Baptized Baptized
Adults. Children.
cants.
Total.

Jamaica,
4,349
964 5,277 10.590
Antigua,
4,000
675 2,632
7,307
Barbadoes,
1.132
246
1,746
3,124
St Christophers,
1,570
536
1,417
3,523
Tobago,
689
298
739
1,726
11,740
2,719
11,811
26,270²
SECT. III.-NORTH AMERICA.
IN November 1734, a number of the United Brethren pro-
ceeded to North America, and settled in Georgia, with a special
view to the instruction of some of the neighbouring tribes of
Indians. Soon after their arrival, they began to make known
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. xiii. p. 96, 300; vol. xvi. p. 302; vol. xvii. p. 31, 86; vol. xviii.
p. 350; vol. xix. p. 382, 386. * Ibid. vol. xx. p. 518, 523, 526; vol. xxi. p. xxvi,
260
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the gospel to the Creek nation, many of whom lived on an
island called Irene, about five miles above the town of Savannah;
and they likewise established a school for their children. The
prosperity of this little colony, however, was of short duration.
The neighbouring Spaniards having endeavoured to expel the
English from the country, the Brethren were called upon to
take up arms against the enemy; and though, on representing
the declaration which they had made to the trustees of Georgia
before they left Europe, that they would on no account carry
arms, they were exempted from all personal interference in the
war, yet, as many of the other inhabitants were dissatisfied on
that account, and as an application of the same kind was again
made to them on the renewal of the dispute, they left their
flourishing plantations, and retired into Pennsylvania, where
they were allowed to live in peace.'
1
Meanwhile, the Rev. Mr Spangenberg, who had accompanied
the colony to Georgia, returned to Germany; and the picture.
which he drew of the miserable condition of the Indians made so
deep an impression on many of the Brethren, that several of
them offered to go and make known the gospel to them, even
though it should be at the expense of their life.
In 1739, Christian Henry Rauch was sent to New York to
commence a mission among some of the neighbouring tribes.
Shortly after his arrival, he heard that an embassy of Indians
had come to that city to treat with government. He accord-
ingly went in search of them, and though they were much in-
toxicated when he first found them, yet he waited till they were
sober, and then asked two of them, named Tschoop and Shabash,
Whether they would not like a teacher to settle among them,
and shew them the way to heaven. As they readily agreed to
this proposal, he proceeded to Shekomeko, the place of their re-
sidence, about twenty-five miles to the east of North River.
On arriving at this place, Rauch was received by the Indians
with much kindness; but when he spoke to them next day
on the subject of religion, they quite disregarded his instruc-
tions, and set him at nought. Not discouraged, however, by
this, he visited them daily in their huts; he also travelled to
¹ Loskiel's History of the Mission of the United Brethron in North America, part
ii. p. 2.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
261
the neighbouring towns, though, as he had neither the means
to keep a horse nor money to hire a boat, he often suffered ex-
tremely from heat and fatigue in the woods; and even on his
arrival, he was frequently refused admission into their houses.
But he soon forgot all his trials when he began to observe some
favourable symptoms in the two Indians, to whom he had ori-
ginally made the proposal to come amongst them. Though
amongst the most abandoned of the whole tribe, their eyes now
overflowed with tears, whenever he described to them the suffer-
ings and death of our Redeemer. They often lamented their
past blindness and their ignorance of the true God, who loved
them so much that he sent his Son to die for them.
Scarcely, however, had he begun to see the fruit of his labours,
when some White people in the neighbourhood took the alarm,
and endeavoured to thwart his further usefulness. Apprehen-
sive that, if the Indians embraced Christianity, it would prove
injurious to their interests by promoting sobriety among them,
they laboured to rouse the indignation of the savages against
their teacher, by spreading the basest reports concerning him,
particularly that he designed to seize their young people, carry
them beyond the sea, and sell them for slaves. As the Indians
are extremely tenacious of their personal liberty, nothing was
better calculated to excite their jealousy than such a rumour,
especially as they had too often experienced the baseness and
fraudulence of the White people. Irritated by these reports,
the savages threatened to shoot him unless he left the place
without delay. He therefore thought it prudent to withdraw
for a season, and took shelter with a farmer in the neighbour-
hood. Still, however, he daily visited the Indians at Sheko-
meko, though often at the risk of his life. Several of the White
people sought occasion to beat and abuse him, but this he was
careful not to afford them, uniformly conducting himself in the
mildest and most inoffensive manner. Some threatened to
hang him up in the woods; others sought to intoxicate the
savages, in the hope they might murder him in a drunken fro-
lic.
An Indian once ran after him with his hatchet, and would
probably have killed him had he not accidentally stumbled and
fallen into the water. Even Tschoop, who had shewn some
concern about his soul, was so incensed against him, that he
262
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
sought an opportunity to shoot him; and Shabash, though he
did not threaten his life, was always careful to avoid his com-
pany. Rauch, however, was not deterred by these various dif-
ficulties and dangers, but persevered in his labours in the hope
they would at length be crowned with success."
By degrees, the Indians began to admire his patience, cour-
age, and perseverance, combined, as they were, with so much
meekness, gentleness, and humility. He often spent half a day
in their huts, ate and drank with them in a friendly manner,
and even lay down to sleep in the midst of them with the ut-
most composure. This circumstance made a strong impression
on the minds of the Indians, particularly on Tschoop. One day
when Rauch was lying in his hut fast asleep, he was struck at
the sight, and thought with himself: "This cannot be a bad
man: he fears no evil, not even from us who are so savage.
Here he sleeps comfortably, and places his life in our hands."
On further reflection, he was convinced that the reports circu-
lated by the White people concerning him were entirely with-
out foundation, and proceeded purely from their own wicked-
ness and malice. He now endeavoured to persuade his country-
men of the missionary's innocence; and, notwithstanding their
violent jealousy, he succeeded in removing their prejudices, and
re-establishing confidence between them.
Having now regained the friendship of the Indians, Rauch
had soon the pleasure of witnessing the fruit of his labours
among them. Several of them were much impressed with the
love of Christ to sinners, as manifested in his sufferings and
death. The change which took place on Tschoop in particular
was remarkably striking. Formerly he was one of the greatest
drunkards in the whole town: now he had learned to be
sober. He afterwards gave the Brethren the following simple,
yet interesting account of his conversion: "I," said he, "have
been a heathen, and have grown old among the heathen; there-
fore I know how the heathen think. Once a preacher came
and began to tell us that there was a God. We answered him
saying, 'Dost thou think us so ignorant as not to know that?
Go back to the place from whence thou camest.' Then another
preacher came to us and began to say: 'You must not steal,
1 Loskiol, part ii. p. 7.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
263
nor lie, nor get drunk.' To him we answered: 'Thou fool, dost
thou think we do not know that? Go learn first thyself, and
then teach thy own people to leave off these practices. For
who are greater drunkards, or thieves, or liars than thine own
people?' Thus we dismissed him. After some time, Brother
Rauch came into my hut, and sat down by me. He then spoke
to me as follows: I am come to you in the name of the Lord
of heaven and earth. He sends to inform you that he will
make you happy, and deliver you from that misery in which
you at present lie. For this purpose he became a man, gave
his life a ransom, and shed his blood for us.' When he had
finished his discourse, he lay down upon a board fatigued by
his journey, and fell sound asleep. I then thought with myself,
What kind of a man is this? There he sleeps. I might kill
him and throw him out into the woods; and who would regard
it? But this gives him no care or concern. At the same time,
I could not forget his words. They constantly recurred to my
mind. Even when I slept, I dreamed of that blood which
Christ shed for us. I found this to be something different from
what I had ever heard before; and I interpreted Christian
Henry's words to the other Indians. Thus, through the grace
of God, an awakening began among us. I say, therefore,
brethren, preach Christ our Saviour, and his sufferings and
death, if you would have your words to gain entrance among
the heathen.'
"1
In the spring of 1742, several of the Indians were baptized,
among whom were Tschoop and Shabash. The gospel now
made rapid progress, not only in Shekomeko, but in some of
the neighbouring towns, particularly Pachpatgoch, and Wech-
quatnach. It was truly delightful to see the Indians coming
from distant places to hear the new preacher, who, as they ex-
pressed it, spoke of God who became man, and loved the Indians
so much, that he gave his life to save them from the devil and
the service of sin. The doctrine of the atonement, as preached
by the missionary and confirmed by the converts, so touched
and melted the hearts of the savages, that the fields seemed, as
it were, "white for the harvest."
¹ Loskiol, part ii. p. 13; Spangenberg's Account, p. 62.
* Loskiel, part ii. p. 19.
264
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Encouraged by the prospect of success, several of the Brethren
now joined Rauch in his labours; and it was not long before
they shewed themselves to be men of the same stamp, endowed
with a like zeal, and possessed of a similar disinterested spirit.
Such was their humility, that they earned their livelihood
chiefly by working for the Indians; though the savages, as
may easily be conceived, were able to pay them but little for
their labour. They lived and dressed in the Indian manner;
so that in travelling through the country, they were often taken
for natives. They now extended their labours to some of the
neighbouring towns; and though they were by no means with-
out their trials, yet, in general, they met with a kind reception
from the people. Some Brethren who resided at Bethlehem,
a settlement they had lately formed in Pennsylvania, and others
who came merely on a visit to North America, among whom
was Count Zinzendorf himself, likewise made journeys among
the Indians in various parts of the country, and preached the
gospel to them; and though this was not productive of any im-
mediate good effects, yet the kindness with which they uniform-
ly treated the savages, made a strong impression on their minds,
and prepared them for the reception of the gospel.'
(6
Meanwhile, the Indian congregation at Shekomeko continued
to flourish and increase. When some of the converts were ad-
mitted for the first time to the Lord's Supper, there was a
most delightful season among them. "During the meeting for
adoration and praise," says one of the Brethren, we were over-
come with weeping; and whilst I live I shall never forget the
impression which this first communion with the North Ameri-
can Indians made upon me." About this time, the congrega-
tion made a number of statutes for the regulation of their af-
fairs; and in order that these laws might be strictly executed,
they chose Cornelius, one of the converts, who had formerly
been a captain among the savages, to be the overseer,
an office
which he exercised with great faithfulness, and to the general
satisfaction of his countrymen. One day, however, after the
administration of the Lord's Supper, he came and begged to be
dismissed from that post, alleging that he had felt such happi-
ness during the service, that he resolved to retire from all pub-
Loskiel, part ii. p. 24, 45, 51.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
265
lic business, and to devote his whole time to uninterrupted
communion with the Saviour. He was easily persuaded, indeed,
to retain his office until one should be found to succeed him;
but it was on this condition that he should no longer be styled
captain, "for," said he, "I am the least among my brethren."
On many occasions, the remarks which the converts made were
simple yet striking. A trader having endeavoured to persuade
Shabash that the Brethren were not privileged teachers, the
Indian sagely replied, "It may be so; but I know what they
have told me, and what God has wrought within me. Look at
my poor countrymen there lying drunk before your door. Why
do you not send privileged teachers to convert them? Four
years ago I also lived like a beast, and not one of you troubled
himself about me. But when the Brethren came, they preached
the cross of Christ, and I have experienced the power of his
blood, so that sin has no longer dominion over me.
the teachers we want."
Such are
In the spring of 1744, a violent and unmerited persecution
was begun against the Brethren by some White people in the
neighbourhood. These miscreants had never ceased to employ
every means in their power to thwart the labours of the mission-
aries, and to seduce the Indians from them, not only by circu-
lating the basest and most unfounded reports, but by trying to
promote intemperance and other vices among them. Having
failed in poisoning the minds of the Indians by these insidious
arts, they now endeavoured to rouse the fears of their own
countrymen, by representing the Brethren as in league with
the French in Canada, and as employed to furnish the savages
with arms to fight and murder the English. This report they
spread far and wide; and asserted it with so much confidence,
that the whole country at last believed it, and were struck with
terror, and inflamed with rage. The inhabitants of Sharon, a
neighbouring town, remained under arms for a whole week to-
gether, and some even forsook their plantations. The Brethren
were now, with singular consistency, called upon to serve in
the militia; but they represented that, as ministers of the gos-
pel, they ought to be exempted from military service; and, ac-
cordingly, after a variety of vexatious proceedings, the proposi-
'Loskiel, part ii. p. 46, 55.
266
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
tion appears to have been relinquished. They were afterwards,
however, dragged from court to court, and even before the go-
vernor of New York; but notwithstanding the violence of
their enemies, they were honourably acquitted, many of the
people, and even some of the most distinguished magistrates,
candidly acknowledging the purity of their intentions and the
utility of their labours. Being thus baffled in these various at-
tempts, their enemies changed their mode of attack. Knowing
the aversion of many of the Brethren to the taking of oaths,
they procured an Act of Assembly, ordaining that all suspicious
persons should take the oath of allegiance, or be expelled from
the province; and they had even the influence to procure
another Act, expressly prohibiting the missionaries from in-
structing the Indians, under the old pretence that they were in
league with the French, and forbidding them under a heavy
penalty to appear again among them without having first
taken the oath required.
Being in this way obliged to leave the province of New
York, the missionaries retired to Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania.
The grief they felt at parting with their beloved congregation is
beyond description; but they resolved to wait with patience,
till God should manifest their innocence and dispel the storm.
The Indians, in the mean while, continued to keep up their
usual meetings; and some of the Brethren occasionally went
from Bethlehem, and held conferences with them, though at
the risk of persecution to themselves. Two of them, Frederic
Post, and David Zeisberger, a man of whom we shall often have
occasion to make honourable mention, when on a journey to
the Iroquois Indians, or, as they are commonly called, the Six
Nations, were unexpectedly arrested at Albany, and after suf-
fering many indignities, were carried to New York, and impri-
soned for seven weeks.'
But though a mutual intercourse was kept up between She-
komeko and Bethlehem, it was evident that the suspension of
the regular services of the missionaries could not fail to be ulti-
mately injurious to the interests of the congregation. The
Brethren, therefore, proposed, that the Indians should remove
from the province of New York, and settle upon some eligible
1 Loskiel, part ii. p. 57, 63, 69.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
267
spot in Pennsylvania; and, in order that no difficulty might
remain on the part of the Iroquois, to whom that part of the
country belonged, which they had ultimately in view, they sent
an embassy to the great council at Onondago, to ask permission
for the congregation to take up their residence upon it. To
this proposal, the Iroquois readily agreed; but, contrary to all
expectation, the Indians at Shekomeko refused to accede to it.
They alleged that the governor of New York had particularly
commanded them to remain in their own town, and had pro-
mised them his protection; that, on this account, they could
not leave the country without giving rise to further suspicion,
and exposing the missionaries to new persecution; and that if
they should emigrate, their unbaptized friends and relations.
would still remain in the town, and probably return to their
old sinful courses, a circumstance which would give them the
greatest uneasiness.
It was not long, however, before a circumstance occurred
which obliged the congregation to follow the advice of the
Brethren; for the White people came to a resolution to drive
the Christian Indians from Shekomeko, under the pretence
that the ground on which the town was built did not belong to
them, and that the rightful owners would soon come and take
possession of it. They accordingly seized upon the land, and
appointed a watch to prevent the visits of the Brethren from
Bethlehem. Besides, it was reported that a thousand French
troops were on their march to the province, and that the In-
dians of Shekomeko were to join them, and then to ravage the
country with fire and sword. This rumour excited such rage
and terror among the White people, particularly at Reinbeck,
that the inhabitants of that town demanded a warrant from a
magistrate, to go and kill all the Indians at Shekomeko. The
warrant, indeed, was not granted; but yet the oppression of
these poor unoffending creatures arose, at length, to such a
height, that though they were strongly attached to their own
village, a number of them left it and came to Bethlehem, where
they erected some temporary huts for themselves and their
families.
As, however, it was soon found that an Indian town could not
be conveniently supported so near to Bethlehem, the Brethren
268
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
purchased a piece of land about thirty miles from that place,
near the junction of the rivers Mahony and Lecha, where they
might build, plant, and live in their own way. Having here
marked out a new town, which they called Gnadenhuetten, or
Tents of Grace, numbers of the Indians immediately repaired.
thither, and began to clear the land and to build themselves
houses. When the news of this settlement reached Shekomeko,
many of the converts, who still remained in that place, resolved
to leave it; but their enemies, though determined to expel
them from the town, having seen, with regret, that all the others
had emigrated to the Brethren, now endeavoured to frighten
the remainder from going to them, by circulating a false and
malicious report, that the last party had been attacked and
murdered on the road. The Indians, however, who were then
preparing for the journey, disregarded the rumour, and set for-
ward without fear. The emigration of the converts was attended
by other embarrassing circumstances. Many of them were deep
in debt, contracted by them in their unconverted state, and in-
creased not a little by the base impositions of their creditors.
As soon, therefore, as a family proposed to remove, the traders
brought in bills against them, demanded immediate payment,
and threatened to cast them into prison. The converts not
being able to pay their debts, and not being willing to run
away, had no resource but to apply to the congregation at Beth-
lehem to assist them, who accordingly did it with the greatest
readiness. The settling of the Indians at Gnadenhuetten was,
in other respects, attended with no small trouble and expense.
As the land was covered with trees and shrubs, it required to
be cleared and planted. The Brethren joined the Indians in
these operations, and had their meals in common with them;
but as the converts were unacquainted with husbandry, and
unable to bear much fatigue, the missionaries had the heaviest
part of the work, which they cheerfully performed, considering
it as done in the service of Christ.'
Meanwhile, the situation of the Christian converts who re-
mained at Shekomeko and the neighbouring towns became
every day more embarrassing. The French Indians having
made an inroad into the neighbouring country, setting fire to
Loskiel, part ii. p. 78, 82.
1
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
269
the houses, and murdering the inhabitants, the English called
upon all who were able to carry arms, to rise in their own de-
fence. This message being sent to the Christian Indians, as
well as others, several of them joined the army, while the rest
lived in a state of continual apprehension and alarm. By this
means, however, some of them were convinced of their error, in
neglecting the advice of the Brethren; and several of them sent
very penitential letters to the congregation. "I am like a child,"
said one, "whose father loves him dearly, clothes him, and
gives him all he stands in need of. Afterwards, the child be-
comes refractory, deserts his parents, and despises his counsel.
At length, through folly, he loses all the good things he pos-
sessed; his clothes become ragged; nakedness and want follow.
Then remembering how well he fared, he weeps night and day,
yet scarcely presumes to return. This is precisely my situa-
tion." Such is a specimen of the figurative language in which
the Indians clothed their penitential expressions of sorrow.
But there were others who suffered themselves to be prejudiced
against the missionaries; many disorderly proceedings took
place among them, and years elapsed before they returned to
the congregation of the faithful.'
The temporal support of the Indian congregation at Gnaden-
huetten, was a principal object of the care and attention of the
Brethren. It was a striking and interesting proof of the influ-
ence of religion upon the converts, that they laboured diligently
at their work, and planted the fields allotted to each of their
families. But as, owing to the increase of their numbers, the
land was not large enough for them, the Brethren bought a
neighbouring plantation for their use, a circumstance which
afforded them much satisfaction. Besides, a saw-mill was erected
in the settlement, and many of them had an opportunity of earn-
ing a little money, by cutting timber, and conveying it to Beth-
lehem in floats down the river Lecha. Hunting, however, con-
tinued to be their chief support, and from fifteen to twenty
deers or bears were frequently shot in a day. When provisions
were scarce, they gathered wild honey, chestnuts, and bilberries,
in the woods.
Still, however, a constant supply of provisions was required
¹ Loskiel, part ii. p. 86, 88.
270
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
from Bethlehem; for the congregation at Gnadenhuetten were
frequently visited by companies of Indians belonging to various
tribes, whom they not only received with kindness, but enter-
tained free of expense, rejoicing that by this means, their Pagan
countrymen had an opportunity of hearing the gospel. In the
course of these visits, nothing made so deep an impression on
the savages as the peace and harmony which prevailed among
the Christian Indians, and the patience and resignation which
they manifested in the midst of trouble, circumstances so dia-
metrically opposite to their national character. These visits
of the savages were also very agreeable to the missionaries, as
they hoped some of them might by this means be brought to
the knowledge of Christ; but, in some instances, they were ex-
tremely troublesome by their wild disorderly conduct.
therefore, necessary to act with great circumspection in the
treatment of them. By severity they might be deterred from
repeating their visits; and yet disorder was not to be tolerated
in the town, lest it should prove injurious to the Christian In-
dians, particularly to the young people. The Brethren, there-
fore, introduced some salutary regulations, with the view of
preventing these different evils.'
Besides labouring with unwearied diligence at Gnadenhuetten,
the missionaries and others of the Brethren made frequent jour-
neys among the Indians in other parts of the country; and in
various instances attempted to establish settlements among
them. The Iroquois were the principal object of their benevo-
lent exertions. Some of the Brethren visited Shomokin, and
various other places on the River Susquehannah; and though
the Indians in that quarter were amongst the most savage,
drunken wretches in the whole country, yet several of the
missionaries took up their residence among them. This esta-
blishment was attended with great expense, as all the neces-
saries of life had to be sent to them from Bethlehem; and, in-
deed, the missionaries were not unfrequently in danger of their
lives from the violence of the savages, particularly in their
drunken fits. Besides making frequent journeys to Wajomick,
and other places in the neighbourhood, the Brethren visited
Onondago, the chief town of the Iroquois, and the seat of their
2
¹ Loskiel, part ii. p. 104.
"Ibid. part ii. p. 91, 101, 106, 148.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
271
great Council, from which they received permission for two of
the missionaries to settle in that place, for the purpose of learn-
ing the language; and accordingly, when two of them went
thither, they were received by the Indians with the utmost cor-
diality; but yet they often suffered much from want, and were
obliged to hunt for their subsistence, or seek roots in the forest.¹
The Brethren likewise made various journeys to Shekomeko,
Pachpatgoch, and Wechquatnach, the scene of their early la-
bours. In the first of these places, every thing was now de-
stroyed except the burying-ground; but there were still a num-
ber of the Indians who had wandered from the paths of reli-
gion, some of whom they persuaded to return to the congregation.
In the other two places, the Christian Indians were formed into
a regular congregation, and had missionaries settled among
them, and for several years proceeded in a very pleasing manner.2
Meniolagomekah, a town about one day's journey from Bethle-
hem, was likewise often visited by the Brethren; a regular
establishment of Christian Indians was formed at that place,
and a missionary was settled among them. So various and so
extended were the labours of these excellent men.
3
In the mean while, the course of the Indian congregation at
Gnadenhuetten, was peaceful, prosperous, and happy; but there
at length arose a succession of troubles, of the most unpleasant
kind, and which were followed by very tragical consequences.
In March 1753, an embassy of Nantikoks and Shawanoes
arrived at Bethlehem, with a proposal that the congregation
should remove from Gnadenhuetten to Wajomick, in the Indian
country. For this change, they assigned no particular reason;
but it afterwards appeared that they had secretly resolved to
join the French in hostilities against the English; but that they
wished, in the first instance, to provide a safe retreat for their
countrymen, the Christian Indians, that so they might attack,
the more easily, the White people in that part of the country.
Most of the congregation, however, were averse to leave their
present settlement, especially after they discovered the design
of the proposal; but yet there was a party in favour of it, and,
at last, upwards of eighty retired to Wajomick and the neigh-
Loskiol, part ii. p. 120, 140, 147, 155. Ibid. part ii. p. 101, 113, 115, 181, 183.
* Ibid. part. ii. p. 116, 142.
272
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
bourhood. They had scarcely, however, left the town, when
their loss was in some degree made up by the arrival of about
fifty Christian Indians from Meniolagomekah, who were ordered
by the proprietor to leave that place.¹
It was not long, however, before the tranquillity of the con-
gregation of Gnadenhuetten was again disturbed. They were
not only charged with a kind of tribute, as an acknowledgment
of their dependence on the Iroquois, but a new message was
sent to them to the following effect, "The Great Head, that is,
the Council of the Iroquois in Onondago, speak the truth and
lie not. They rejoice that some of the believing Indians have
removed to Wajomick; but now they lift up the remaining Mo-
hegans and Delawares, and set them down also in that place ;
for there a fire is kindled for them; there they may plant and
think on God: but if they will not hearken, the Great Council
will come and clean their ears with a red-hot iron;" meaning,
that they would burn their houses, and shoot musket-balls
through their heads. This threatening, especially at first, was
not entirely without effect. Some of the congregation thought
it best to remove to Wajomick; others again refused to emi-
grate. It was discovered, indeed, that the plan of removing them
did not originate in the Great Council of the Iroquois, but only
with the Oneida tribe, and the warlike Delawares and Mohegans,
who falsely ascribed it to the Six Nations in general. The
Brethren used no authority with their people to make them re-
main in their present residence; but they employed the most
gentle and affectionate representations, and that with so good
an effect, that almost all of them resolved to stay. One of them
said, "What can the Chief Captain of the Six Nations give me
in exchange for my soul? He does not consider how that will
fare at last." "God," said another, "who made me and saved
me, is able also to protect me. I am not afraid of the anger of
men, for not a hair of my head can fall to the ground without
his will." 2
Hostilities having commenced between the French and the
English, the Indian war at length began. The whole country
was now involved in disorder and bloodshed. Every day dis-
closed new atrocities committed by the savages. The inhabi-
2 Ibid. part ii. p. 157.
¹ Loskiel, part ii. p. 143, 149.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
273
tants of the country knew not what to do, nor whither to go.
Some fled to the east; some to the west; some sought safety in
places which others had just forsaken. The Christian Indians
at Gnadenhuetten being considered as the friends of the British
government, were in imminent danger of being destroyed by the
French Indians; and as the most dreadful reports were daily
multiplying from all quarters, some were so much intimidated
that they took refuge in the woods. But the greater part of the
congregation remained in the town, and the missionaries re-
solved to stand by their post, notwithstanding the dangers to
which they were exposed. This, however, was a fatal resolu-
tion, and in a short time was followed by the most tragical con-
sequences.'
In November 1755, a party of French Indians arrived in the
neighbourhood of Gnadenhuetten, and attacked the house of
the missionaries, which was situated on the Mahony, about half
a mile from that place. As the family were sitting at supper,
they heard an unusual barking of dogs, upon which Gottlob
Senseman, one of the Brethren, went out at the back door to
see what was the matter. On hearing the report of a gun, se-
veral others ran to open the house door. Here stood a number
of Indians, with their pieces pointed to it, and no sooner was it
opened than they instantly fired and killed Martin Nitschman
on the spot. His wife and some others were wounded, but they
flew up stairs to the garret with the utmost precipitation, and
barricaded the door with bedsteads. Partsch, one of the Breth-
ren, jumped out at a back window; another of them named
Worbas, who was lying ill in bed in an adjoining house, escaped
in a similar manner, though the enemy had placed a guard at
his door. Meanwhile the savages pursued those who had taken
refuge in the garret, and endeavoured to burst open the door;
but being baffled in the attempt, they set the house on fire. A
boy named Joseph Sturges, having got on the flaming roof, leapt
down and made his escape; though, on the opening of the back
door, a ball had grazed his cheek, and one side of his head was
severely burnt. Encouraged by this, the wife of the missionary
Partsch, followed his example, and having come down unhurt,
fled unobserved by the enemy, and hid herself behind a tree
¹ Loskiel, part ii. p. 164.
VOL. I.
S
274
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
upon a hill near the house. Christian Fabricius, one of the
Brethren, was the next who made the attempt; but before he
could escape, he was perceived by the savages, and instantly
wounded with two balls: he was the only one whom they seized
alive; and after despatching him with their hatchets, they cut
off his scalp, and left him dead on the ground. All the others
who fled to the garret were burnt to death. Senseman, the
missionary who went out at the back door, had the inexpressi-
ble pain of beholding his wife perish in this frightful manner.
When surrounded by the flames, she was seen standing with
folded hands, and in the spirit of a martyr was heard to exclaim,
"TIS ALL WELL, DEAR SAVIOUR!" The whole number who
perished in this terrible catastrophe was eleven, namely, Martin
Nitschman, the first who was killed, and Susanna his wife;
Gottlieb Anders, his wife and daughter, an infant only fifteen
months old; Anna Catherine Senseman, Christian Fabricius,
Leonard Gattermeyer, George Shweigert, Martin Presser, and
John Frederic Lesly. Five only made their escape. Besides
burning the house, the savages set fire to the barns and stables,
and thus destroyed all the corn, hay, and cattle. They then
divided the spoil, soaked some bread in milk, and, after making
a hearty meal, departed from the place.'
On this occasion, the Brethren were the only sufferers; the
Indian congregation at Gnadenhuetten providentially escaped.
As soon as they heard the report of the guns, and saw the house
of the missionaries in flames, and learned the cause of the sad
catastrophe, they offered to go and attack the enemy; but being
advised to the contrary by one of the Brethren, they all fled into
the neighbouring woods, by which means the town was cleared of
them in a few minutes, though some of them were already in
bed, and had scarcely time to dress themselves. But though
they escaped with their life, they lost their property; for some
of the savages afterwards came and set fire to the town, de-
stroyed the mill, and laid waste all their plantations. Thus
the Indian congregation was reduced to the utmost poverty.2
'Loskiel, part ii. p. 166; Heckewelder's Narrative of the Mission of the United
Brethren among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians, p. 44; Succinct Account of the
Missions of the Brethren, 1771, p. 9.
2 Loskiel, part ii. p. 167, 171.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
275
These were disastrous events; but yet they proved the means
of averting still greater calamities. About this very time there
was a design on foot to destroy the whole establishments of the
Brethren in North America. Some base villain had forged a
letter, purporting to be written by a French officer at Quebec,
in which it was stated, "That his countrymen were certain of
soon conquering the English, as the Indians had not only taken
their part, but the Moravians also were their good friends, and
would afford them every assistance in their power." This let-
ter being published in the newspapers, excited general suspicion
of the Brethren; and this suspicion, instead of being dimi-
nished, was increased by their calm, patient, steady behaviour.
That cheerfulness which sprung from a consciousness of their
own innocence, as well as from resignation to the will of God,
was considered by the deluded multitude as a certain indica-
tion of their guilt. As the common people were exceedingly
exasperated against them, the Brethren were under continual
apprehensions of being attacked by a mob; nor could Govern-
ment probably have protected them, though convinced of the
purity of their intentions, and the utility of their labours. In
the Jerseys, a declaration was publicly made with beat of drum,
that Bethlehem should be destroyed; and the most dreadful
threatenings were added, that in the several settlements of the
Brethren such a carnage should be made, as had never before
been heard of in North America. It afterwards appeared, from
the best authority, that a party of a hundred men who came to
Bethlehem, were sent for the express purpose of raising a dis-
turbance; but the friendly and hospitable manner in which
they were treated by the inhabitants, who knew nothing of
their intentions, disarmed them of their malice, and made them
alter their design. Thus the Brethren were, in general, con-
sidered as the secret friends and allies of the French; and these
suspicions were daily on the increase, when the attack on their
missionary settlement on the Mahony convinced the deluded
people of their error, since they were among the first in the
country against whom the enemy had directed their rage. Such,
indeed, was the revolution in the public sentiment, that Beth-
lehem, and the other settlements of the Brethren, soon became
a common asylum for the White people, who fled from the mur-
276
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
derous ravages of the Indians. Hundreds of men, women, and
children, came even from distant places, begging for shelter,
some of them almost entirely destitute, as they had left their
all behind them, and fled in the night. These the Brethren
supplied with food and clothes, and other necessaries, to the
utmost of their ability, notwithstanding they themselves had
suffered considerable losses by the inroads of the savages, while,
at the same time, their resources were materially diminished
by the troubles of the war.'
Meanwhile, the Indian congregation had likewise retired
from Gnadenhuetten to Bethlehem, a circumstance which con-
tributed to render the situation of that place still more dan-
gerous. On the one hand, the savages insisted on their Indian
brethren rising in arms against the English, and threatened to
come and murder them all in case of a refusal. On the other,
there arose among the White people a set of fanatics, who de-
manded the total extirpation of the Indian tribes, lest the ven-
geance of God should fall upon the Christians for not destroy-
ing them, as on the Israelites of old for not exterminating the
Canaanites; and, as might be expected, they were mightily in-
censed against the Brethren, on account of the protection and
assistance which they afforded to a race of beings, whom they,
in their wisdom, deemed accursed of God. The Governor, in-
deed, promised to protect the Christian converts; but, as a
reward of one hundred and thirty pieces of eight was offered
for the head of every hostile Indian, they durst not go abroad,
either to hunt, or to pursue other necessary avocations, lest
they should be killed by mistake, or for the sake of so large a
recompense, or even simply through the malice of those who
thirsted for their blood. Exposed as the Brethren were to the
wrath of the White people, they were no less an object of indig-
nation to the enemy. Four soldiers, who had deserted from
their regiment and fled to the savages, told them, that at Beth-
lehem they saw the Brethren cut off the heads of all the
Indians in that town, put them into bags, and send them to
Philadelphia, where they received fifty dollars for each; and
that they had left only two alive, with the view of employing
them as spies. On hearing this report, the savages were so
'Loskiel, part ii. p. 169, 175.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
277
enraged, that, though they had no great regard for the Indian
congregation, a large party of them set off to murder all the
Brethren, and to burn their settlements. By the interference,
however, of a chief who was friendly to the missionaries, most
of them were induced to return, while the few who still per-
sisted in their design, not judging themselves a match for the
enterprise, thought proper to disperse. Sometimes, too, well-
disposed Indians, on hearing of a plot against them by the
warriors, would travel all night to warn the Brethren of it, and
thus frustrated the schemes of the enemy.
Being, in this manner, continually exposed to the rage of
both parties, the inhabitants of Bethlehem considered them-
selves as sheep ready for slaughter. At night when they lay
down to sleep, they knew not whether they should behold the
morning; in the morning when they rose, they knew not whe-
ther they should see the evening. In general, however, they
displayed wonderful resignation to the will of God. Not an
individual left the place; each seemed chiefly concerned to be
prepared to die. At the same time, they neglected no means
that might contribute to their safety. They surrounded the
town with palisadoes, and maintained a constant watch both
night and day: even those who were at work in the planta-
tions had a guard to attend them. This office was committed
chiefly to the Indians, who considered it as a high honour to
be thus employed. Who am I," said one of them,
"that I
should watch over children of God? I, poor man, am not
worthy of this grace. Nor can I guard them aright: therefore,
watch thou over them, gracious Saviour, for thou alone canst
protect them."
tr
By such means as these, the settlement was happily preserved
from several attacks which the savages meditated against it.
They still continued to lay waste the neighbouring country, and
everywhere committed the greatest barbarities. They plundered
and destroyed several villages so near to Bethlehem, that the
flames of the houses were distinctly seen from that place. They
even approached the town itself, lurking about with torches,
and endeavouring to shoot burning wadding upon the roofs, in
order to set the place on fire. They attempted several times in
the night, to make a sudden attack upon this and some other
278
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
settlements of the Brethren; but when the spies observed that
the inhabitants were upon their guard, they were afraid, and
were glad to withdraw. One day, a party of them were on their
way to a field, where about forty Sisters were picking flax,
whom they intended to seize and carry off as prisoners.
prisoners. They
were already close to it, creeping on their bellies in the Indian
manner; but on perceiving a strong guard of Indian Brethren,
with their pieces loaded, they were glad to retire. Thus an en-
gagement was happily avoided; for though the converts were
very unwilling to shed the blood of their enemies, yet they were
determined to defend the women and children intrusted to their
care, and consequently had an attack been made, they would
have fired upon the assailants, and probably have killed some of
them, a circumstance which would have occasioned both them
and the missionaries deep regret.'
By degrees, the Indian congregation began to enjoy peace
and rest, dwelling in safety under the wings of the Brethren at
Bethlehem. Some few, indeed, seduced by the arts of their
countrymen, forsook the place, and relapsed into heathenism;
but, in general, they remained stedfast to their Christian profes-
sion, and exhibited many pleasing proofs of the influence of re-
ligion on their heart and life. As, however, the residence of the
Indians in Bethlehem was attended with some disadvantages,
the Brethren obtained for them a grant of land from govern-
ment, at a place about a mile distant. Here they erected a
settlement which they called Nain. In a short time, most of
the baptized, who, at the invitation of the savages, had moved
to Wajomick, or who had fled to the Susquehannah after the
murder of the missionaries, returned and obtained permission
to reside in the town. They were lodged at first beyond the
river Lehi, until they afforded full proof of their repentance;
but as soon as they gave evidence of this, they were received
with joy into the fellowship of the congregation. The inhabi-
tants of Nain, indeed, increased so rapidly, chiefly by the return
of those who had wandered during the late troubles, that it
soon became necessary to divide them, and form a second
settlement. With this view, the Brethren at Bethlehem pur-
chased a tract of land behind the Blue Mountains, consisting of
¹ Loskiel, part ii. p. 168, 172, 174; Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 474.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
279
about fourteen hundred acres. Thither a number of the Indians
repaired under the inspection of one of the missionaries; and
having erected a new town, which they called Wechquetank,
they introduced into it the same regulations as at Nain.'
For a considerable time, both the congregations enjoyed
peace, prosperity, and rest; and even the external appearance
of the settlements excited the most pleasing emotions in every
pious and benevolent mind. Hostilities were long suspended in
this part of the country; and for several years, the congrega-
tion experienced no disturbance from the savages; but at length
they broke forth with fresh violence, and involved the Christian
Indians in new calamities.2
In 1763, the Brethren received intelligence that the Indians
had commenced hostilities near the lakes of Canada and on the
river Ohio, where they had murdered several hundred of the
White people. They had even begun to make incursions into
Pennsylvania; and there was every reason to dread a repetition
of those melancholy scenes, which had been exhibited a few
years before on the banks of the Mahony. Besides, some per-
sons revived the old foolish doctrine, that this new war was a
punishment from God on the White people, because they had
neglected to extirpate the savages; and therefore they asserted
that all the Indians, without exception, should be put to the
sword. A party of Irish freebooters, in particular, declared,
that no Indian should appear in the woods under pain of being
shot immediately; and that if only one White man were murdered
in that neighbourhood, the whole Irish settlement would rise in
arms, and kill all the inhabitants of Nain and Wechquetank,
without waiting for an order from government, or even a war-
rant from a justice of the peace. In consequence of these
threatenings, the congregation were often harassed by false
alarıns; and, at length, a messenger arrived one forenoon, with
the painful intelligence, that at the break of day that morning,
the house of Mr John Stinton, at an Irish settlement about
eight miles from Bethlehem, had been attacked by the Indians,
and that he himself, together with Captain Wetterhold, his
lieutenant, and several soldiers, who had been lodging in the
house, were either killed or mortally wounded. His wife nar-
Loskiel, part ii. p. 177, 182, 189, 193.
Ibid. part ii. p. 190, 202.
280
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
rowly escaped, though she was the cause of the whole disaster,
by dropping some inconsiderate words against a company of
Indians who lodged in that quarter.' This sad catastrophe
naturally excited the utmost alarm in the two missionary
settlements; and it soon appeared that their apprehensions were
not without foundation. The very next day, about fifty White
people assembled on the opposite side of the river, with the
view of surprising Nain in the course of the night, and of mur-
dering the inhabitants. But a person in the neighbourhood
having represented to them the difficulty and danger of the
enterprise, they were diverted from their purpose for the pre-
sent, and returned home in peace. On the same day, a party
of the Irish freebooters came to Wechquetank, with the design
of murdering the whole of the Indians; but the missionary,
after he had employed reasoning and expostulation in vain, at
last succeeded in pacifying them by means of presents, and by
giving them plenty to eat and drink. On taking their departure,
however, they were heard to say, that if the Indians did not
soon quit the place, they would return and destroy them all.
During the night, all the men were upon the watch; several
spies were discovered lurking about the settlement, and a fire
at some distance betrayed a neighbouring encampment. A sud-
den attack, it was supposed, was intended; but this was pre-
vented, probably by a violent rain which fell during the night."
It would now have been the height of temerity for the con-
gregation at Wechquetank to have postponed their flight any
longer; and therefore they resolved to abandon a place where
they were in such imminent danger; especially as they received
an express from Bethlehem, with the most pressing solicitations,
to break up immediately, and to retire to the Brethren's settle-
ment at Nazareth. Just, however, as they were preparing to
depart, several musket shots were heard in the neighbourhood.
Alarmed by the report, the Indians, who supposed that the
savages had attacked the English, resolved to go to the defence
of the White people. The missionary, however, urged them not
to quit the place, but merely to repel any attack that might
1
Captain Wetterhold's party of soldiers had a few weeks before, in a state of intoxi-
cation, murdered four Indians who had come to a store for the purpose of exchanging
thoir pelfrey.-Heckewelder, p. 69. Perhaps this might be one cause of the attack
now made upon them.
2 Loskiel, part ii. p. 207; Heckewelder, p. 71.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
281
be made upon it; and he exhorted them, at the same time, to
stand by each other, and to expect deliverance from God:
"Very true," answered one of the converts, "only don't you
stand before me, but go behind, for I will be shot first." The
party, however, from whom the attack was dreaded, suddenly
marched off with the Indian war-whoop; but it afterwards
appeared, that it was a band of soldiers who wished to draw the
Indians into the field, in order to fight them. Having happily
escaped this snare, the whole congregation immediately set off
for the Brethren's settlement at Nazareth. It was not, indeed,
without extreme regret that they left so pleasant a place, where
they possessed excellent houses and large plantations; especially
as they had to leave their crop on the ground, and a great part
of their cattle behind them.
Meanwhile the congregation at Nain was in a state of close
blockade. The savages continued to lay waste the neighbour-
ing country with fire and sword, and to murder as many of the
inhabitants as fell into their hands. By this means the White
people were so enraged against the Indians in general, that the
inhabitants of Nain durst not go even to Bethlehem on busi-
ness, as the fugitives, who had resorted thither from various
quarters, abused, insulted, and maltreated them. Even at home
they had to maintain a strict watch both by night and by day,
in order that they might hold their meetings, and that the
women might gather the crops in safety. Having made such
arrangements as that the enemy could not attack them without
danger, they began to hope, that government would support
them with more energy, and secure them rest in their own
dwellings. These expectations, however, were soon disappoint-
ed. A member of the congregation, named Renatus, was un-
expectedly seized as the murderer of Mr Stinton, one of the
Irish settlers, and as his person was sworn to by the widow, he
was carried to Philadelphia and committed to prison. Inno-
cent as he was of the charge, the report of his apprehension
flew like lightning through the country, and kindled the fury
of the White people against the Indians into a violent flame.
The danger of the two congregations now became greater than
ever; but in this emergency, an express arrived from Philadel-
phia, with an order from the chief magistrates, that they should
+
282
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
all deliver up their arms and repair to that city, where they
would be protected from their enemies. To the Indians the
idea of a removal was extremely painful; but they resolved to
resign themselves to the will of God, and to obey the order of
government. As soon, therefore, as the sheriff arrived, they
delivered up
their arms to him with a cheerfulness and com-
posure which strikingly illustrated the influence of the gospel
upon their minds, for a Pagan Indian would sooner part with
his head than with his gun. They now set forward on their
journey; and it was truly an affecting sight to behold these
poor unoffending creatures, travelling patiently along, ignorant
of what might be their future destiny. On the road, they suf
fered much from the malice of some White people, who abused
and loaded them with curses. In passing through German-town,
they were not only insulted as usual, but the population talked
of nothing but burning and hanging them, and other similar
punishments.¹
Having at length arrived in Philadelphia, they were ordered
to be lodged in the barracks; but the soldiers quartered there
refused them admittance, notwithstanding the positive command
of the governor.
The Indians were by this means detained in
the street from ten o'clock in the morning, till three in the
afternoon. Here a mob collected around them, who derided,
reviled, and charged them with all the horrid outrages commit-
ted by the savages, and even threatened to murder them on the
spot. The soldiers having peremptorily persisted in refusing
them admittance into the barracks, the magistrates ordered
them to proceed to Province Island, about six miles distant, in
the river Delaware. As they passed through the city, thousands
followed them with tumultuous clamour, so that they seemed like
sheep in the midst of wolves. At length, they reached the place
of their destination, where they were safely lodged in some large
buildings, and kindly provided by government with whatever
they needed.
Soon after their arrival at this place, the settlement at Wech-
quetank was burnt by the White people; and some incendiaries
likewise endeavoured to set fire to Bethlehem. The oil-mill
was consumed, and the flames raged with such fury, that it was
Loskiel, purt. ii. p. 211; Heckowelder, p. 72, 74.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
283
with great difficulty the adjoining water-works were saved from
destruction. Besides committing these outrages on the Breth-
ren's settlements, a party of White people attacked a number of
Indians in the small village of Canestoga, near Lancaster, and
though they were perfectly inoffensive, and had long lived
quietly among the English, butchered fourteen of them, men,
women, and children. The rest having fled to Lancaster, the
magistrates of that town took them under their protection, and
lodged them in the jail or workhouse, a strong and secure
building. Thither, however, the murderers followed them.
They marched into the town at noonday, broke into the place
where they were lodged for security, and though the poor de-
fenceless Indians begged for life on their knees, the ruffians
massacred them all in cold blood, and threw their mangled
bodies into the street. They then departed with a diabolical
shout of triumph, threatening that the Indians in Province
Island should soon share a similar fate.¹
Against these outrages, government immediately issued a
proclamation, forbidding any one to molest the Indians in Pro-
vince Island under the severest penalties, and offering a reward
of two hundred pounds to any person who should discover the
two ringleaders of the party; and bring them to justice. It
soon appeared, however, that an incredible number of people,
including many of the inhabitants of Philadelphia, were con-
nected with them; none of the conspirators were taken up,
though they walked publicly in the streets; and some even stood
before the governor's house and bade him defiance. The riot-
ers became at length so numerous and daring, that many hun-
dreds of them agreed to march to that city, and never to rest till
all the Indians taken under the protection of government were
massacred.
Apprehensive of the consequences of these villainous combi-
nations, government resolved to send the Christian Indians to
the English army by the way of New York, and to place them
under its protection. In January 1764, the congregation having
received an order to this effect, set off on their journey; and on
their arrival at Philadelphia, they were provided with waggons
¹ Loskiel, part ii. p. 216; Heckewelder, p. 77; Franklin's Works, 18mo. Edit. 1803,
vol. i. p. 168.
284
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
for the aged, the sick, the children, and the heavy baggage. On
leaving that city, they were accompanied by so great a crowd of
people, that they were scarcely able to proceed. The mob cursed
and reviled them in a dreadful manner; but no one ventured
to lay hands on them. In all places, indeed, through which
they passed, the populace insulted them; but after about a
week's journey, they arrived in safety at Amboy, where two
sloops were ready to convey them to New York. Just, how-
ever, as they were about to embark, a messenger unexpectedly
arrived from the governor of New York, with strict orders that
not an Indian should set foot in that province; and even the
ferrymen were prohibited, under a severe penalty, from crossing
the river with them.
Information of this being sent to Philadelphia, the Christian
Indians were ordered to return to that city; and on their ar-
rival they were, for their better security, lodged in the barracks,
and attended by a military guard night and day. But as the
number and violence of the mob still increased, the first guard
was not sufficient for their protection; it was therefore doubled,
and the magistrates were even under the necessity of preparing
to repel force by force. By their orders, eight heavy pieces of
cannon were planted in the front of the barracks, and a ram-
part was thrown up in the middle of the square. An associa-
tion of the citizens, including even many of the young Quakers,
was formed by the celebrated Benjamin Franklin at the desire
of the governor, and repaired to the barracks to assist the sol-
diers in defending the Indians. On the following day, intelli-
gence was received of the approach of the conspirators. The
whole city was now in an uproar; yet every body prepared to
receive them with manly firmness. The eighteen pounders
being discharged, the poor Indians, who had never before heard
the report of such large cannon, were terribly frightened; the
guns, indeed, stood so near the building, that several of the
windows were broken by the firing. Understanding that such
vigorous preparations were made to repel them, the rioters
did not venture to enter the city; and accordingly the citizens
returned to their homes in peace. Two nights after, however,
a report was circulated, that the conspirators were again ap-
proaching the city. The whole town was now in motion; the
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
285
church bells were rung, the streets illuminated, and the inhabi-
tants being waked out of their sleep, were summoned to attend
at the townhouse, where arms and cartridges were distributed
among them. Two companies of armed citizens repaired to the
barracks, and four other cannon were mounted. The following
day was spent in hourly expectation of the arrival of the con-
spirators; but information was at length received, that being
dismayed by the preparations made to repel them, they had
desisted from the attempt. Some gentlemen were then deputed
by government to inquire what complaints they had to make.
After behaving in a very insolent manner, they asserted that
several of the Indians were murderers whom they had seen at
Pittsburg, and demanded that they should be delivered up. In
order to pacify them, one of the ringleaders was invited to enter
the barracks, and to point out the culprits. He accordingly
came and examined the whole of them; but he did not find an
individual whom he could charge with the smallest crime.
They then asserted that the Quakers had conveyed away six of
them out of the barracks, and concealed them in some other
place. But when this allegation was investigated, it also was
proved a falsehood; upon which the rioters marched off, and
relinquished their design for the present.'
During the residence of the Indians in the barracks, the mis-
sionaries kept up the usual meetings and exercises of the con-
gregation, as far as their peculiar circumstances would allow.
They met with them regularly every morning and evening; they
administered the Lord's Supper to them at stated intervals;
they even opened a school for instructing the youth in the Eng-
lish language. People of all descriptions came to see the In-
dians and though this was attended with various inconveni-
ences, yet many who previously were ill-disposed towards them,
were, by this means, convinced of their innocence. The public
worship of the congregation, especially on the Lord's day, was
attended by such crowds of people, that the chapel could not
contain them; and it was hoped that to some of them the
preaching of the word was not in vain. Meanwhile, the In-
dians had no care as to their temporal support; for the English
Government generously supplied all their wants; and, indeed,
¹ Loskiel, part ii. p. 218; Woodhouselec's Memoirs of Lord Kames, vol. ii. p. 19.
286
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the attention which it uniformly paid to their safety and com-
fort deserves our warmest encomium.
But notwithstanding these circumstances, the Indians felt.
their present situation to be very trying; some of them were
even more distressed by it than by all the dangers and hard-
ships they had hitherto experienced. Their situation, though
rendered as agreeable as possible, they viewed as little short of
imprisonment, and by degrees it became quite insupportable.
As they were no longer at liberty to range and hunt in the
forests, a spirit of insubordination broke out among them, par-
ticularly among the young people, some of whom grew melan-
choly, and others refractory. At the same time, the excellent
quality of their victuals was as ill adapted to the state of their
stomachs, as the want of freedom was to their minds. Besides,
as the summer advanced, the small-pox and fever broke out
among them, and filled them with such alarm, that many of
them meditated their escape from the barracks. These diseases
cut off nearly sixty of them, many of whom died in the blessed
hope of glory, honour, and immortality beyond the grave.
In March 1765, the Indians, to their inexpressible joy, were
set at liberty, after a confinement of about sixteen months; but
as there was reason to apprehend they could not live in the
neighbourhood of the White people without being greatly mo-
lested by them, it was agreed that they should settle in the In-
dian country on the banks of the river Susquehannah. In their
journey thither they had new and almost incredible difficulties
to encounter. Though peace was now restored, yet the enmity
of many of the White people against the Indians was still so
violent, that to avoid danger, they were under the necessity of
taking a very tedious and circuitous route. Such parts of their
baggage as were not sent by waggons, they had often to carry
over high, steep, and rocky hills, in small parcels, by which
means they had to travel the same road several times over. In
some places they had to cut their way through the woods; in
one instance, for no less than five miles together. Through the
brooks and rivers the men were obliged to wade; and for the
women and children they had to construct rafts, a work of con-
siderable difficulty, as the violent currents often carried away
the trees they had cut down for this purpose before they could
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
287
be fixed together; some rivers were so broad and deep that they
were obliged to encamp on their banks, and to build canoes in
which to cross them. As for lodging, they had to sleep chiefly
in the open woods; and in some instances they were under the
necessity of stopping all night in swamps, there being no dry
ground near at hand. The greatest difficulty of all, however,
was the want of provisions. Hunting was their chief support;
but in some places neither game nor fish could be found. When
their whole stock of flour was exhausted, it was truly affecting
to see them receive their last portion. They were now glad to
find wild potatoes in the woods, though nothing but hunger
could have rendered them palatable. To satisfy the children
who cried for want, they peeled the chestnut-trees and made them
suck the juices under the bark, and even the old people were
under the necessity of resorting to the same expedient. As for
drink, they had often nothing but the muddy water found in
swampy puddles. One night they were terribly alarmed by the
woods being on fire, and burning most furiously around their
encampment, from ten o'clock till one in the morning. After
a tedious and irksome journey of five weeks, they at length ar-
rived at the place of their destination; and as a mariner after
a storm rejoices to enter the haven, so the Indian congregation,
after the many trials and hardships they had of late endured,
were happy to reach their new abode, where they hoped to en-
joy peace, tranquillity, and rest.'
Having pitched on a convenient spot on the banks of the
Susquehannah for a settlement, they here began to build a re-
gular town, which they called Friedenshuetten, or Tents of Peace.
It was pleasing to see how judiciously the Indians planned, and
how diligently they executed, the work of each day. The town
when completed consisted of thirteen Indian huts and upwards
of forty houses, built of wood, in the European fashion, lighted
with windows, covered with shingles, and provided with chim-
neys. The street was eighty feet broad; and in the middle of
it stood the chapel, a neat and spacious building. The ground
next the houses was laid out in gardens; and between the set-
tlement and the river about two hundred and fifty acres were
divided into regular plantations of Indian corn.
The burying-
'Loskiel, part ii. p. 225.
288
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ground was situated at some distance at the back of the build-
ings.¹
After the erection of this settlement, great numbers of the
Indians came to it from every quarter, and were much delighted
with the external appearance of the place. It was, they said,
the most beautiful Indian town they had ever seen. But what
was of more importance, many of them were deeply impressed
by the gospel, and were filled with serious concern for their souls.
Frequently the whole assembly was so affected, that the mis-
sionaries were obliged to stop, and mingle their tears with those
of their people. This may not unjustly be viewed as a striking
proof of the powerful efficacy of the gospel on their hearts, con-
sidering the contempt in which the savage Indians hold the per-
son who, according to them, is so weak as to weep. "Whenever
I saw a man shed tears," said one of the converts, “I used to
doubt whether he was a man. I would not have wept, though
my enemies had cut the flesh from my bones: that I now weep
is of God, who has softened the hardness of my heart." Besides
holding the daily meetings with the congregation, the mission-
aries were often called upon, on other occasions, to make known
the gospel; for their Indian visitors came into their houses,
begging to hear more of "these sweet and comfortable words."
It seemed, indeed, as if they would never be satisfied, so that
frequently the Brethren had scarcely time to eat or to rest.
Many of those also who, during the troubles of the war, had
wandered from the congregation, now returned and were re-
ceived with affection and joy.2
The town increased so rapidly, and the number of hearers
was so great, that in less than two years it was necessary to
build a larger place of worship. Among their visitors, were
Indians of various tribes, particularly Mohawks, Cajugus, Sene-
kas, Tutelas, Delawares, Mohegans, Wampanose, Nantikoks,
and Tuscaroras. Many of these were driven to Friedenshuetten,
by a famine which prevailed in the country; others preferred
this road on their way to different parts of the Indian terri-
tory, wishing to see a place so renowned for its hospitality. At
one time, for instance, seventy-five Tuscaroras from Carolina,
and at another, fifty-seven Nantikoks from Maryland, impelled
¹ Loskiel, part iii. p. 1.
* Ibid. part iii. p. 4, 11, 38.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
289
by hunger, came and stopped for several weeks. Induced by
the hope of being useful to them, the Christian Indians cheer-
fully fed the hungry, and even overlooked the impositions of
some, who, abusing their generosity, ate up their provisions,
and led an idle profligate life, without ever attending to the
word of God.'
For several years, the course of the Indian congregation at
this place was of the most pleasing nature. The Christian con-
verts appeared to grow both in knowledge and in grace; many
of their heathen visitors were awakened to a sense of their sin
and danger; and even several who had once been robbers and
murderers, seemed now to "hunger and thirst after righteous-
ness," and by their simple unaffected declarations, afforded the
missionaries no small satisfaction. The Brethren had likewise
much pleasure in the young people, among whom the symp-
toms of religion were of the most pleasing nature; and for
whose use two new and spacious schools were erected in the
settlement. Besides, a powerful awakening began in a town
about thirty miles up the river; and a missionary was at length
settled in that place, and maintained regular meetings for pub-
lic worship, so that it might be considered as a kind of chapel
of ease to Friedenshuetten. For some time, indeed, it appeared
as if all the Indians in that town and neighbourhood would
embrace the gospel.2
In September 1767, David Zeisberger set off on a journey to
the river Ohio, accompanied by two of the Indian assistants, as
he had heard that some of the inhabitants of that part of the
country were desirous of hearing the gospel. His design was
to visit Goshgoshuenk, though in every town through which he
passed, he received the most unfavourable accounts of the
people of that place. He was not intimidated, however, by
these reports; but proceeded on his journey, in the course
of which he and his companions endured many and grievous
hardships. They had often to travel across extensive plains,
overgrown with such high grass that a man on horseback was
entirely covered by it; and when either dew or rain had fall-
en, they were completely drenched to the skin. The further
they proceeded, the more horrible did the wilderness become;
1
Loskiel, part iii. p. 18.
VOL. I.
2 Ibid. part iii, 36, 51,
T
290
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
they had often by day to work a path through the thickets,
and at night to sleep in the open air, exposed to the cold and
all the inclemency of the weather."
Having arrived at Goshgoshuenk, Zeisberger soon discovered
that the accounts he had received of the inhabitants of that
town were but too well founded. Never had he seen the abo-
minations of heathenism practised in so horrid a manner;
never had he beheld sin assume so hideous and unblushing a
form, as at this place.
But notwithstanding the wickedness of the place, the people
were highly pleased with his visit, owing no doubt to the no-
velty of the circumstance. Many of them could never hear
enough of the great fundamental principle of the gospel, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;" and as
the language in which the truths of religion were expressed
was not very intelligible to them, the two Indian assistants
were often employed till past midnight, in repeating and ex-
plaining "the great words" uttered by the missionary.
After a short stay, Zeisberger left Goshgoshuenk; but he
returned the following summer accompanied by another of the
Brethren and several of the converts, with the view of esta-
blishing a mission in this place. On their arrival, they preached
every day, and held meetings with the people morning and even-
ing, for the purpose of instructing them in the principles of the
Christian faith. On these occasions, the Indians attended in
great numbers; and it was not a little curious to see so many
assembled to hear the gospel, with their faces painted black and
vermillion, and their heads decorated with clusters of feathers and
foxes' tails. At first, they heard the word with great attention;
but afterwards many of them opposed it violently. Instigated
by the chiefs, who became jealous of their own authority, the
old women went about publicly complaining, that the Indian
corn was blasted, or devoured by the worms; that the deer
and other game already retired from the woods; that chestnuts
and bilberries would no longer grow in the country, because
the White men brought strange things to their ears, and the
Indians began to change their manner of life. To appease the
wrath of the offended spirits, the sorcerers appointed solemn
Loskiel, part iii. p. 20.
1
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
291
A report
The
sacrifices, and offered up hogs by way of atonement.
was circulated by others, that some New England Indians had
been on the other side of the great ocean, and brought a letter
from King George of England to all the Indians in North
America, warning them against the Moravians who lived at
Bethlehem, as they would lead them straight to hell. Some of
the neighbouring chiefs and tribes likewise sent messages to
them, expressing their displeasure that they should have
allowed White men to settle among them, and urging them
either to banish or kill them without delay. By these means,
the whole town was thrown into the utmost confusion.
enemies of the missionaries became daily more violent than
ever; and even many of those who expressed joy at their arri-
val, were now the most bitter against them. Some openly ad-
vised to kill them; others insisted, that not only the mission-
aries, but all the Christian Indians should be murdered, and
thrown into the Ohio. Two of them even entered into an
agreement to assassinate the Brethren; and one evening seve-
ral disagreeable visitors made their appearance at a late hour,
with an intent to murder them; but their hearts failed them,
so that they did not carry their design into execution.'
Notwithstanding these difficulties and dangers, the Brethren
resolved to stand firm by their post. With this view, they built
a small winter-house at a little distance from the town, where
they might have an opportunity of administering the Lord's
Supper to their own people, and of holding other meetings
with them and such of the inhabitants of the place as chose to
attend. Several, dreading the reproach of their countrymen,
stayed away, or came only by night to escape observation.
Young people were prohibited by their parents from visiting
the missionaries; and some parents were prevented by their
children. Such as came boldly to the meetings were abused
and persecuted by their neighbours, who branded them with
the most opprobrious names, as Sunday Indians, Shwonnaks,
that is, White people, an appellation which, in the view of an
Indian, is the most intolerable in the world. Some were even
driven from their houses, and took refuge among the Brethren,
¹ Loskiel, part iii. p. 20, 28.
292
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
by whose intercession an aged chief, who was extremely friendly
to the cause, took them under his protection.
The inhabitants of the town were now divided into two
parties, one of which was violently opposed to the gospel, while
the other was so much attached to it, as to declare they would
sooner quit the place, and build a town in some other quarter,
than be deprived of it. The opposition at length rose to such
a height that the Brethren, and such of the people as were
friendly to them, retired to a place about fifteen miles distant,
on the opposite side of the river. Here they built a new settle-
ment; and the missionaries had soon the pleasure of baptizing
several of the Indians, among whom was the aged chief now
mentioned, who had lost his sight. The inhabitants of Gosh-
goshuenk at length ceased in their opposition; and the council
of that town, convinced of the disinterestedness of the mission-
aries, begged them to forget all that was past, and adopted
them as members of the Delaware nation, that so, in case of
war, they should not be treated as other White people, but be
considered as native Delawares.'
Hostilities having commenced between the Seneka and the
Cherokee Indians, the Brethren judged it prudent to retire from
this part of the country, on account of its vicinity to the seat
of war, especially as the number of those who came to hear the
gospel increased so rapidly, that they began to be in want of
room, and as an offer had lately been made them by some dis-
tant chiefs of land in their neighbourhood.
In April 1770, the congregation embarked on the river
Ohio in sixteen canoes, and sailed by Pittsburg to the mouth
of the Beaver Creek. Having entered this river, they proceeded
up to the falls, where they had to unload, and transport their
goods and canoes by land. After a journey of upwards of a
fortnight, they arrived in that part of the country where they
designed to take up their abode, and immediately proceeded to
build a new settlement, which they called Friedenstadt, or the
Town of Peace.²
The Indians in the neighbouring country were at first as-
tonished to see a people settle among them so different in
manners and customs from themselves, and to hear a doctrine
¹ Loskiel, part iii. p. 33, 42, 53, 59.
2 Ibid. part. iii. p. 55.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
293
so novel and so opposite to the views they had been accustomed
to entertain. In some, however, this astonishment soon degene-
rated into opposition, especially after one of the chiefs mani-
fested a decided attachment to the gospel. They harassed the
Brethren by incessantly propagating the most daring falsehoods,
and even counterfeiting messages and letters from the chiefs to
them. In consequence of a very peremptory message of this
kind from the chief and council of a distant town, requiring
that an Indian woman, who had lately been baptized, should
immediately be sent back, Zeisberger, dreading the pernicious
consequences of such an order, set off for that place, and, after
a tedious journey, reached it in safety. Having requested a
meeting of the council, he read the letter to them, when it was
discovered that neither the chief nor the council knew any
thing about it; but that one of the councillors present had writ-
ten it of his own accord, and signed it with two fictitious names.
Being in this manner detected, he was publicly confounded be-
fore the whole assembly, who expressed great indignation at
his conduct, and agreed that as the Brethren never detained
any in their settlements contrary to their inclination, so none
should be compelled to leave them, for the Indians were a free
people, at perfect liberty to act in all things according to their
own will. Zeisberger having embraced the opportunity of his
visit to this town to preach the gospel to the inhabitants,
numbers of them heard it with much attention; but others
opposed it with no less violence, in consequence chiefly of the
insinuations of some Pagan teachers, who had strenuously re-
commended the use of emetics, as a speedy and infallible method
of cleansing from sin, so that here this singular practice was
quite general. In vain, therefore, did he attempt to shew them,
that though an emetic may cleanse the stomach, it can never
cleanse the soul; and that this could be effected only by the
application of the blood of Christ to their guilty consciences.'
Indeed, Zeisberger, who was now well known among various
of the Indian tribes, was a marked object of their malice, and
was frequently in danger of his life. One night some malicious
people came to Friedenstadt, and insisted on compelling the
inhabitants to get drunk; but having failed in the attempt,
Loskiel, part iii.
P'.
57. 69.
294
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
they threatened to murder first the missionaries, and afterwards
the whole congregation, and raised such a hideous uproar in
the town, that the Indian sisters fled to the woods, and the men
were obliged to keep a strict watch around the dwelling of their
teachers.
Meanwhile, notwithstanding these and other trials, the con-
gregation at Friedenstadt continued to flourish and increase.
The number of hearers was daily augmented, among whom was
a man who belonged to the party which murdered the Brethren
at the settlement on the Mahony some years before. He was
often so much affected in hearing the word that he shed floods
of tears. The first person who was baptized at this place, was
the wife of the blind and aged chief already mentioned, who for-
merly opposed his embracing the gospel with the utmost vio-
lence, but who now herself submitted to the yoke of the Re-
deemer. A chief named Glikkikan, when he first visited the
Brethren, came with the express purpose of disputing with
them, and confounding them by his arguments; but now he
took a decided part with the congregation, notwithstanding the
contempt and obloquy to which this exposed him. One day,
after hearing a discourse, he wept aloud on his way home. The
Pagans wondered to behold such a noted and valiant captain
weep in the presence of his old acquaintances; but the Brethren.
were delighted to see this proof of the power of the gospel in
melting the proud and stubborn heart, even of a wild Indian
chief. He and another of their captains were at length baptized
together, and both of them afterwards proved ornaments of the
Christian name.¹
Meanwhile, the congregation at Friedenshuetten resolved to
leave that place and to retire, at least for the present, to the
settlement of Friedenstadt. The Iroquois Indians had secretly
sold the land on which their town was built to the English, not-
withstanding the grant they had previously made of it to them;
the number of European settlers in the neighbourhood was daily
increasing, a circumstance which exposed the young people to
numerous and powerful temptations; the Senekas, by their mis-
chievous conduct, occasioned them no small trouble, as the
White people were very apt to suspect the Christian Indians as
1
Loskiel, part iii. p. 46, 57, 60, 62, 71.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
295
accomplices with them in their wicked deeds. For these rea-
sons, the Brethren resolved to leave the place; but as this sub-
jected them to very considerable loss, and as it could be proved
that they were compelled to go away in consequence of the sale
of the land to the English, they applied to the governor of Phila-
delphia for redress, which was afterwards granted them, though
not to the whole extent of their loss.'
In June 1772, the Indian congregation at Friedenshuetten,
consisting of two hundred and forty-one persons, left that place,
and set off on their journey, some of them proceeding by land,
and a still greater number by water. The toil and trouble at-
tending the emigration of such a number of people, with all
their goods and cattle, in so wild and woody a country as North
America then was, can scarcely be conceived by a person who
was not an eye-witness of the journey. Those who went by land
had about seventy oxen, and a still greater number of horses,
to take care of. In the course of the journey they suffered in-
credible hardships, in working a way for themselves and their
beasts, through the woods and swamps where they were directed
merely by a small path, which, in some places, was scarcely dis-
cernible, so that it seemed almost impossible even for a single
individual to mark a path and force a passage, the thickets were
so close and the woods so immense, one of them being computed
to be about sixty miles in length. Through these, indeed, they
had often rather to creep than to walk; and in one part of the
country, they were obliged to wade no fewer than thirty-six
times over the windings of the river Munsy. But notwith-
standing the difficulties and hardships of the journey, they kept
up their daily worship as regularly as possible; and they had
frequently strangers among them, both Indians and White peo-
ple, who attended their meetings, a circumstance which served
greatly to lighten their toils and sorrows. The party which
went by water had likewise their troubles and difficulties. Soon
after their departure, the measles broke out among them, and
many fell sick, especially the children, a circumstance which
was not a little trying to them. Every night they were obliged
to seek a lodging on shore, and they suffered much from the
cold. In some places they were annoyed by inquisitive, in
Loskiel. part iii. p. 41, 6, 76.
296
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
others by drunken people; and the many falls and dangerous
currents in the river Susquehannah occasioned them many
difficulties and frequent delays. The two parties having at
length met, they united together and proceeded the rest of the
way by land. In crossing the mountains, they had great diffi-
culties to encounter; for as they had not horses enough to carry
all their baggage, most ofthem were obliged to take part of it
on their backs or in their hands. They were also in continual
alarm on account of the rattle-snakes, which were very nume-
rous during a considerable part of the journey. Ettwein, one of
the Brethren who accompanied them, happening to tread on
one of these reptiles, was so frightened that for many days after
he durst hardly venture to step forward; every rustling of a leaf
made him dread the approach of a snake. But the greatest plague
both to man and beast, especially in passing through the woods,
was an insect called by the Indians Ponk or Living ashes, from
its being so small that it was scarcely visible, and its bite like
the burning of red-hot ashes. As soon as the evening fires were
kindled, the cattle, in order to get rid of these troublesome
creatures, ran furiously towards them, crowding into the smoke,
and thus greatly annoyed the people, both in their sleep and at
their meals. Besides, our travellers were sometimes under the
necessity of stopping a day or two in one place to supply them-
selves with the necessaries of life. In the course of the journey,
they shot upwards of a hundred and fifty deer, and caught great
quantities of fish in the brooks and rivers. After a tedious and
irksome journey of eight weeks, they at length arrived at Frie-
denstadt, and met with a hearty welcome from the whole con-
gregation in that town."
When the Indians of Friedenshuetten came to that place, it
was not with the view of settling in it. Both the congregations.
had lately received an invitation from the chief and council of
a town on the river Muskingum, to come and reside in that
part of the country, on whatever tract of land they might choose.
Zeisberger, accordingly, had undertaken a journey thither, in
order to fix on a suitable spot for a settlement. Here he
pitched on a place about seventy miles to the southward of Lake
Erie, with an excellent spring, good planting grounds, plenty of
Loskiel, part iii. p. 77.
1
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
297
game, and various other conveniences for an Indian town; and
on his requesting a grant of this tract of land from the council
to the congregation, they not only informed him that this was
the very spot which the chiefs had destined for them, but they
in a solemn manner granted them all the lands within certain
bounds, including a very considerable territory; they deter-
mined that no other Indians should settle upon them, and they
directed that all Indians dwelling on the borders of that district
should behave peaceably to the missionaries and their people,
that they should neither disturb their worship nor hinder their
countrymen from going to hear the gospel. Zeisberger, returned
to this quarter soon after with five families, consisting of twenty-
eight persons, and began to erect a new town, which he called
Schoenbrunn, or the Beautiful Spring. Not long after, a great
part of the Indian congregation removed from Friedenstadt to
the Muskingum, and built a settlement about ten miles below
that place, which they called Gnadenhuetten.'
Meanwhile, the situation of the congregation at Friedenstadt
became more trying than ever. The daily encroachments of
their Indian neighbours occasioned them much perplexity, and
the pernicious consequences of the rum trade were altogether
intolerable. Sometimes the savages brought a quantity of
spirits close to the town, and there they drank, and danced,
and raved like so many maniacs. After getting intoxicated,
they frequently entered the settlement, rambled through the
town, and broke every window that happened to be open, so
that the inhabitants were at last under the necessity of fasten-
ing their shutters and burning candles even by day. Nothing,
indeed, but the providence of God preserved the settlement from
destruction. In several instances, when they entered the town
intent on mischief, they quarrelled among themselves, and in-
stead of injuring the missionaries or the Christian Indians, they
attacked and mangled one another with their knives in the
most brutal manner. Some, however, burst open the doors of
several houses, and rushed forward, brandishing their armis, and
threatening to murder every one of the family. These outrages
rose at length to such a height, that the Christian Indians, much
against their inclination, were under the necessity of seizing
Loskiel, part iii. p. 73, 82,
}
298
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
several of the rioters and keeping them bound till they became
sober, lest they should proceed to still greater excesses. One
day a savage came running into the settlement, exclaiming he
would kill the White man. Having proceeded at full speed to
the house of the missionary, he burst open the door and entered
the room with all the fury of a wild beast. Terrified at his ap-
pearance, the missionary's wife snatched up her child, and in-
stantly fled; but the missionary himself, who was confined by
sickness, sat up in bed and looked at him with the utmost com-
posure. Disconcerted by this, the man suddenly stopped short,
and the Indian Brethren hastening to the assistance of their
teacher, seized and bound him with ease. These circumstances,
however, were so extremely troublesome, that the remainder of
the congregation at length removed from this disagreeable neigh-
bourhood, and proceeded to join their friends on the banks of
the Muskingum.'
Meanwhile, the congregation in that quarter was not with-
out its vicissitudes and trials. Not only did the petty wars of
the Indians still continue, but hostilities at length broke out
between some of them and the inhabitants of Virginia, which
created such trouble and confusion throughout the whole coun-
try, that for a considerable time neither of the Brethren's settle-
ments enjoyed almost a single day of rest; and, in consequence
of the rage of the savages against the White people, the mis-
sionaries, in particular, were often in danger of their life. Nu-
merous troops of warriors marched through the settlements,
some upon murdering expeditions, others returning with scalps.
and prisoners, uttering dreadful threatenings that both places
should soon be surprised and burnt to the ground. Reports
were perpetually flying through the country, that they were
actually on their way to destroy the towns, and to murder the
inhabitants. Canoes were always kept in readiness for any
sudden emergency, as the congregation were frequently so ter-
rified, even in the night, by frightful rumours, that all were on
the point of taking flight; the women were repeatedly driven
from their plantations at noonday; and all the people were
confined to their houses for days and even for weeks together,
as several parties appeared in the neighbourhood with the view
¹ Loskiel, part iii. p. 87.
1
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
299
of seizing on stragglers. When the Virginians first flew to arms,
they had no authority from those in power; but government
was at length obliged to interfere in the quarrel, and to march
troops into the field; and as the Indians were completely de-
feated, peace was soon re-established.'
In the midst of these external trials, the settlements of the
Brethren were not only preserved in safety, but enjoyed internal
prosperity. The chapel at Schoenbrunn, though it held about
five hundred people, became too small for the number of hearers.
Multitudes of strangers visited the settlement, and heard the
gospel; many of the warriors were impressed by the word, and
several even of the chiefs were at length baptized. A man,
who about this time was dismissed from Gnadenhuetten on ac-
count of his ill behaviour, was so exasperated at his expulsion,
that he entered the house of Schmick, one of the missionaries,
armed with a large knife, and intent on revenge. Not finding
him at home he came away, and having afterwards repented of
his conduct, he earnestly begged to be readmitted into the
congregation, and was baptized by the very man whom he had
so lately intended to murder. Another Indian, who had been
appointed successor to a neighbouring chief, declined the offer,
choosing rather to be an humble follower of Christ, than to oc-
cupy the most honourable place among his countrymen.2
During the war, there was such a marked contrast between
the conduct of the Christian and the Pagan Indians, as places
in a striking and interesting light the beneficial influence of
the gospel in ameliorating the temper, views, and manners of the
wildest and most uncultivated savages. The former, notwith-
standing the frequent interruptions to which they were exposed,
laboured diligently at their ordinary employments, sowing their
fields, planting their gardens, boiling sugar, &c.; while the
latter neglected work of every kind, and would, at length,
have been reduced to absolute starvation, had not their Chris-
tian countrymen relieved their wants as long as this was in
their power. Indeed, they not only supplied the needy, but
provided many of the warriors who marched through their set-
tlements with food and other necessaries, a circumstance which
surprised the Pagan Indians, and had a happy effect in lessen-
1
Loskiel, part iii. p. 89, 93, 96.
2 Ibid. part iii. p. 97, 99, 104, 108.
300
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
"I
Ι
ing their prejudices against their Christian countrymen.
have found," said a captain on one of these occasions, "I have
found your people to be very different from what I heard of
them in our towns. There, it is said, that when an Indian
comes to you, he is sent to make his fire in the wood, and can
get nothing to eat; but it is false, for we have been all fed and
lodged by you. In the neighbouring town, the inhabitants
made wry faces at us; but here all the men, women, and even
the children, made us welcome." Such was the success with
which the Brethren had infused their own mild benevolent
spirit into the Indians under their care.'
Indeed, the Indians who had originally invited the Brethren
into this part of the country, were now so much impressed in
their favour, that they not only ratified their former acts, but
sent an embassy to them, requesting that a third settlement
might be established in their neighbourhood. Their address.
on this occasion was to the following effect: "Brothers and
friends! You told us, upon your arrival, that you intended to
build two or three towns for the believing Indians.
Two are
erected, and we perceive that they are already filled with inha-
bitants. We, therefore, having long ago resolved to receive the
gospel, have thought, upon mature deliberation, that it is now
time to build the third town, that those of our people who be-
lieve may have a place of refuge. We, therefore, desire you to
begin as soon as possible. We wish particularly to see our chil-
dren instructed in reading the Holy Scriptures, that they may
never forget them. Our eyes look towards you, for we are not
able to accomplish it ourselves." Encouraged by this message,
the Brethren proceeded to form a third station, which they
called Lichtenau, and they had soon the satisfaction to find
that a better situation could not have been chosen for the pur-
pose. In the neighbouring town, and in other places, many of
the Indians became concerned about their souls; and as all
who appeared truly in earnest were permitted to reside in the
settlement, it was not long before it increased both in numbers
and extent.2
But while the mission was, in this manner, extending its
boundaries, its progress was suddenly checked by the war which
1
Loskiel, part iii. p. 98.
Ibid. part iii. p. 102, 110.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
301
had now commenced between England and the Colonies. The
dispute had already risen so high, that the disturbances occa-
sioned by it reached even to the Ohio and the Muskingum.
The Brethren were placed in extremely embarrassing circum-
stances; and though they resolved to take no part in the war,
yet it was scarcely possible for them to act with such circum-
spection as to offend neither the English nor the Americans,
nor the several tribes of Indians who sided with the one or the
other party. They saw that they would be placed, as it were,
between three fires; that each of the contending powers would
be dissatisfied with their neutrality, and that they would all
view them with suspicion and dislike.
The Brethren, agreeably to the resolution they had taken,
cautiously avoided interfering with the messages which the
Delawares sent, either to the English, the Americans, or the
neighbouring tribes, or with any thing relative to political af-
fairs. There was one circumstance, however, which was very
perplexing to them. The Delaware Indians occasionally received
letters from Pittsburg and other places; and as they could not
read them, they generally applied to the missionaries to know
their contents, and sometimes desired them to answer them in
the name of the chiefs. To have refused their request, would
not only have been ungrateful but dangerous; yet, innocent as
their compliance was, the Brethren anxiously wished to have
been excused this office, as they were afraid that people, who
knew not the nature of the business, might suspect that they
themselves were carrying on a correspondence with one of the
contending powers.
While several of the Indian tribes joined either the English
or the Americans, and committed the most shocking outrages
on their enemies, the chiefs of the Delaware nation determined
to maintain a strict neutrality, both with the White people and
their own countrymen. The Monsys, indeed, one of the Dela-
ware tribes, secretly resolved to separate from the body of the
nation, and to join the Mingoes, a gang of thieves and murder-
Before, however, they avowed their design, they endea-
voured to form a party among the enemies of the mission; and
they even ventured into the settlements, and sought to decoy
some of the congregation to join them, a measure in which they
ers.
302
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
were too successful. In the midst of Schoenbrunn, they found a
party of apostates who seemed resolved to relinquish Christian-
ity, and to return to their old heathenish practices. The Breth-
ren had never before met with so severe a trial; in comparison
of this, all their past difficulties and hardships were light and
trivial. To recover the backsliders, they spared no labour or
pains, employing every means which reason could suggest, or
love could dictate. The attempt, however, was vain.
It even
appeared that the Monsys and the apostate party had nothing
less in view, than either to murder the missionaries, or to con-
vey them to Fort Detroit, as it was supposed that it was through
their influence the Delaware chiefs were so firm in maintaining
peace. The Brethren, therefore, resolved to continue no longer
in a place, where not only themselves but the faithful part of
the congregation were exposed to so many and so great dangers.
It was, therefore, resolved to abandon Schoenbrunn, though
this was not without deep regret, as it was the largest and most
beautiful town which the Indians had hitherto built, and they
had also there made considerable advances in agricultural pur-
suits. After pulling down the chapel, they accordingly retired
with their people to the other two settlements.'
In August 1777, the Brethren received information that two
hundred Huron warriors, under a chief called Half-king, were
on their march to the settlement of Lichtenau. This intelli-
gence occasioned them at first much alarm; but after mature
deliberation, they resolved to shew no symptoms of fear, but
rather to gain the savages by hospitality and kindness. They
accordingly lost no time in killing oxen and pigs, and preparing
other kinds of provisions for them; and it may be remarked
to the honour of the Christian Indians, that their liberality on
this occasion was truly remarkable, as they considered this the
only means of saving their teachers. The warriors, on their
arrival at a neighbouring town about two miles distant, were
no less pleased than surprised at meeting a number of the con-
gregation from Lichtenau with provisions for them; and as
this put them in good humour, an embassy was sent to the Half-
king, and the other chiefs of the Hurons, when the Christian
Indian, Glikkikan, addressed them in the following manner:
1
¹ Loskiel, part iii. p. 109, 113, 119; Heckewelder, p. 157.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
303
"Uncle! We, your cousins,' the congregation of believing In-
dians at Lichtenau and Gnadenhuetten, rejoice at this opportu-
nity to see and to speak with you. We cleanse your eyes from all
the dust, and whatever the wind may have carried into them, that
you may see your cousin with clear eyes and a serene countenance.
We cleanse your ears and hearts from all evil reports, which an
evil wind may have conveyed into them on the journey, that
our words may find entrance into your ears, and a place in your
hearts." Here he delivered a string of wampum, and then pro-
ceeded: "Uncle, hear the words of the believing Indians, your
cousins, at Lichtenau and Gnadenhuetten. We wish you to know
that we have received and believed the Word of God for upwards
of thirty years, and meet daily to hear it, morning and evening.
You must also know that we have our teachers dwelling amongst
us, who instruct us and our children. By this Word of God
preached unto us by our teachers, we are taught to keep peace
with all men, and to consider them as friends; for thus God has
commanded us, and therefore we are lovers of peace. These,
our teachers, are not only our friends; but we consider and love
them as our flesh and blood. Now, as we are your cousin, we
most earnestly beg of you, uncle, that you would also consider
them as your own body, and as your cousin. We and they make
but one body, and therefore cannot be separated; and whatever
you do unto them, you do unto us, whether it be good or evil.”
Here he delivered a second string of wampum, several fathoms
in length, when the Half-king of the Hurons replied, that these
words had entered his heart, and that he would immediately
consult with his warriors concerning them. Having done this,
he returned the following answer to the deputies:
"Cousins! I am very glad, and feel great satisfaction that
you have cleansed my eyes, ears, and heart from all evil, con-
veyed into me by the wind on this journey. I am upon an ex-
pedition of an unusual kind; for I am a warrior, and am going
to war; and therefore many evil things and evil thoughts enter
into my head, and even into my heart. But thanks to my
cousin, my eyes are now clear, so that I can behold him with a
serene countenance. I rejoice that I can hear my cousins with
The several tribes of Indians consider themselves as standing in certain relations
to each other, as grandfather, uncles, brothers, &c.
304
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
open cars, and take their words to heart." IIaving here de-
livered a string of wampum, and repeated all the words of the
deputies relative to the missionaries, he expressed his approba-
tion of them, and then added, "Go on as hitherto, and suffer no
one to molest you. Obey your teachers, who speak nothing but
good unto you, and instruct you in the ways of God, and be not
afraid that any harm shall be done unto them. No creature
shall hurt them. Attend to your worship, and never mind
other affairs. Indeed, you see us going to war; but you may
remain quiet and easy."
During these negotiations, the Brethren at Lichtenau were
under strong apprehensions as to the issue of this embassy. It
had indeed been agreed, that should the Half-king speak in a
rough angry tone, the deputies should instantly send a messen-
ger at full speed to that place, that so the congregation might
have an opportunity of taking flight before he concluded his
speech. As their apprehensions were so strong, their joy was
proportionally great when the negotiation took so favourable a
Every heart was filled with gratitude and praise to God,
who had so graciously heard the prayers which were presented
to him at this critical juncture.
turn.
The Half-king and his warriors came the same day to Lich-
tenau, and behaved in a very friendly manner. He was joined
by a great number of other Indians, Hurons, Iroquois, Ottawas,
Chippeways, Shawanoes, Wampanoes, Pitawontakas, and some
Frenchmen; but yet he maintained good order, and would al-
low of no excesses among them. He was particularly careful
to prevent all drunkenness, knowing that it would soon be fol-
lowed by murder and bloodshed, and other evils. Sometimes
two hundred of the warriors lay all night in the neighbourhood
of Lichtenau; and though they behaved with wonderful quiet-
ness, considering they were savages, yet the maintenance of such
a number of people, many of whom came dancing before the
houses, asking for bread and tobacco, proved extremely trouble-
some. The inhabitants were therefore glad when they took
their departure, especially as so much rum had lately been im-
ported from Pittsburg into that part of the country, that the
whole neighbourhood became one scene of drunkenness and
riot.
+
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
305
The dangers to which the missionaries in particular were
now exposed, were so many and so great, that it was judged ex-
pedient that most of them should, for the present, leave the
Indian country and retire to Bethlehem. Two only remained
behind, Zeisberger at Lichtenau, and Edwards at Gnadenhuet-
ten, places twenty miles distant from each other. They, how-
ever, paid mutual visits to one another, participating cordially
in each other's joys and sorrows; and though they saw nothing
before them but troubles, and hardships, and dangers, they re-
solved to remain with their beloved Indian congregation, even
though it should cost the sacrifice of their life. Both they and
their people, indeed, were kept in continual alarm by the
rumours which were daily circulated through the country. One
day they heard that an American general had arrived at Pitts-
burg, who would give no quarter to the Indians, whether friends
or focs, being resolved to root them all out of the country; and
it was said that several plans were formed for destroying Lich-
tenau and Gnadenhuetten, and other Delaware towns. One
rumour after another proclaimed the approach of the Americans;
and as the Christian Indians were resolved to take no part in
the war, they had no other resource but to prepare for flight.
A spot of ground on the banks of a neighbouring river was
pitched on as a place of rendezvous for the two congregations;
and every family packed up their goods to be ready to fly on
the first emergency. One night an express arrived at both the
settlements with an account of the approach of the enemy. The
two congregations immediately fled with their teachers in canoes :
and, indeed, it was with such precipitation, that they left the
greater part of their goods behind them. They met at the place
appointed, and there encamped, expecting every hour to hear
of a bloody engagement in the neighbourhood of Lichtenau.
Happily, however, before daybreak they received intelligence,
that what had been taken for an American army was nothing
more than a great number of horses in the woods. Soon after,
indeed, a troop of American freebooters set off, contrary to the
express orders of the governor of Pittsburg, to destroy the De-
laware towns, and of course the missionary settlements among
the rest; but being met by the Half-king of the Hurons and his
VOL. I.
U
306
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
warriors, they were entirely defeated, and the greater part of
them slain.'
The Hurons, who were in the interest of England, continued
to carry on hostilities against the Americans; and the most
frightful accounts were received from time to time of the ravages
and murders committed by them and other Indians in the planta-
tions of the White settlers. The missionaries were often shocked
to behold the savage warriors, on their return from their mur-
derous expeditions, leading captive men, women, and children;
or what was still more distressing, carrying their dead bodies
and scalps through the town. The Christian Indians shewed
great compassion to the unfortunate prisoners, supplied them
with food, and would never suffer them to be scourged or abused
in any form in the settlement, as is the Indian custom whenever
warriors pass through a town with captives. The savages were
often mightily incensed at this compassionate prohibition, yet
nevertheless they had to yield. Among the prisoners, there was
an old man of a venerable appearance, together with two youths.
The Christian Indians greatly commiserated his situation, and
offered a large sum to the warriors for his ransom, but all was
of no avail. When the savages arrived in their own town, the
two youths were tortured and burnt alive, according to the cus-
tom of the Indians towards their unfortunate prisoners. The
old man was doomed to a similar fate; but being warned of this
by a girl, a prisoner like himself, who had overheard their delibe-
rations, he made his escape; and though pursued by the savages,
he succeeded in eluding them, and was accidentally found by two
boys in the woods, eight miles from Lichtenau, quite exhausted
with fatigue and hunger, having, it is said, eaten nothing but
grass for ten days. Being brought, though with much diffi-
culty, to the settlement, the poor man was there taken care of,
and after his recovery, was conveyed in safety to Pittsburg.2
During this period many troops of warriors were prevailed on,
by the friendly persuasions of the Christian Indians, to relin-
quish their murderous designs and to return to their homes, by
which means much bloodshed was happily prevented. By the
influence of the missionaries and the congregation, the Delaware
chiefs were confirmed in their resolution to take no part in the
¹ Loskiel, part iii. p. 123, 127. 2 Ibid. part iii. p. 132; Heckewelder, p. 167.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
307
war, notwithstanding the threats as well as entreaties of the
governor of Detroit; and by the neutrality and efforts of the
Delawares, many other Indian tribes were kept at peace, being
unwilling to offend their grandfather, as they called that power-
ful nation. The government at Pittsburg acknowledged the
deportment of the Indian congregation to be a benefit to the
whole country; and Colonel Morgan observed with gratitude,
that the fury of the Indian warriors was, upon the whole,
greatly mitigated by the influence of their Christian countrymen.
The Delaware Indians, notwithstanding they had been greatly
urged to join the English, had long maintained their neutrality,
a policy which had been recommended to them by the Ameri-
can government; but, being now called on by it to make war
on the Indians in the interest of England, the chiefs, who had
previously been divided on the subject, began to waver; and
they at length resolved to join the English, and take up arms
against the Colonies. Now they not only ceased to be the
friends of the missionaries and the congregation, but, by de-
grees, they became their enemies, considering them as a check on
their proceedings, and a hinderance to the accomplishment of
their designs. As the Indians in league with England had re-
solved in a council held at Detroit, that the hatchet should fall
on the head of every one who refused to accept of it, and as
those in the interest of the Colonies had taken a similar resolu-
tion, the Christian Indians were now placed between two
cruel and inexorable enemies, so that there seemed nothing
before them but inevitable destruction. According to their late
resolution, the Delaware chiefs sent messages to the young men
to take up arms; but as they refused to do so, the missionaries
were in the utmost danger, the refusal being ascribed solely to
their influence and authority. The savages threatened either to
kill the Brethren, or to carry them off prisoners, hoping that if
they were removed, the Indian congregation would then comply
with all their demands.
In consequence of the confusion and distress which prevailed
throughout the whole country, considerable changes had taken
place in the settlements of the Brethren. Not only was Schoen-
brunn deserted by the faithful part of the congregation, but it
was afterwards judged necessary to abandon Gnadenhuetten
308
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
also, and to concentrate the whole mission in Lichtenau. As
this place, however, was soon overcrowded with inhabitants,
it was agreed that part of them should return to Gnadenhuetten,
and that Schoenbrunn should be rebuilt, though not on the
same spot as before, but on the opposite side of the river.
Lichtenau, which had hitherto been the safest place of residence
for the Christian Indians, became so exposed to the outrages of
the savages, that it was at length judged necessary to leave it
also, and to build a new settlement, which they called Salem,
about five miles below Gnadenhuetten.'
In the midst of these external trials, the internal state of the
congregation was of the most pleasing nature. Notwithstand-
ing the disturbances occasioned by the daily marching of the
warriors through their settlements, the Christian Indians never
lost their confidence in God, but were led by their various trials
to cleave more closely to him, and to unite more cordially in
the bonds of brotherly affection. It was peculiarly pleasing to
witness the spirit of forgiveness which they displayed towards.
their enemies, particularly to the apostates in the congregation
of Schoenbrunn. Notwithstanding the hatred and malice which
these unhappy people manifested towards them, yet they would
never consider them as enemies, but as brethren who had wan-
dered from the paths of purity and peace. Nor were their
prayers in behalf of them in vain. Most of the wanderers,
especially the young people, returned like the prodigal son,
acknowledged their guilt, and earnestly begged for admission
into the bosom of the congregation. Their request was granted
in the presence of the whole assembly, whose manifestations of
compassion, gratitude, and joy, on such occasions, furnished an
interesting example of that brotherly love which characterizes
and ennobles the followers of Christ.2
For some time, the Christian Indians enjoyed peace and rest
in their new settlements, scarcely seeing any thing of the horrors.
of war, except that the warriors occasionally passed through
their towns. But this period of tranquillity was of short dura-
tion. The missionaries had long been obnoxious to the warlike
Indians in the interest of England, and plans were repeatedly
1 Loskiel, part iii. p. 133, 137; Heckewelder, p. 170, 173.
? Loskiel, part iii. p. 129, 139, 145,
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
309
formed to murder them. But they had no greater or more
active enemies than three miscreants of the name of Elliot,
M Kee, and Girty, who had long sought to stir up the Indians
and also the commandant of Fort Detroit against them and the
congregations under their care. Imposed on by the represen-
tations which were made to him, Colonel de Peyster, the new
governor of Fort Detroit, was led to believe that the Christian
Indians were partisans of the Americans, and that the mission-
aries were spies who carried on a secret correspondence with
them; and he therefore resolved to rid himself of such trouble-
some and dangerous neighbours. With this view, a proposal
was made to several of the Indian tribes to carry off the mis-
sionaries and the congregation; but the service not being to
their liking was declined by them. At length, however, the
Half-king of the Hurons suffered himself to be persuaded by
Elliot and Captain Pipe, one of the Delaware chiefs, and a vio-
lent enemy of the mission, to make the attempt, though even
he declared that he did it to save the Christian Indians from
destruction.
In August 1781, the Half-king came to the neighbourhood of
the Brethren's settlements, accompanied by Elliot, and by Pipe
the Delaware chief, and upwards of three hundred warriors.
They all behaved at first in a friendly manner; Elliot acted like
a thorough hypocrite. The Half-king having intimated his wish
to have a meeting of the chief men of the three settlements,
they accordingly met at Gnaden huetten, when he delivered to
them the following speech :-" Cousins, ye believing Indians in
Gnadenhuetten, Schoenbrunn, and Salem, I am much concerned
on your account, perceiving that you live in a very dangerous
spot. Two powerful, angry, and merciless gods stand ready,
opening their jaws wide against each other; you are sitting
down between both, and are thus in danger of being devoured
and ground to powder by the teeth of either the one or the
other, or of both. It is therefore not advisable for you to stay
here any longer. Consider your young people, your wives, and
your children, and preserve their lives, for here they must all
perish. I therefore take you by the hand, lift you up, and
place you in or near my dwelling, where you will be safe and
dwell in peace. Do not stand looking at your plantations and
310
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
(C
houses; but arise and follow me. Take also your teachers
with you, and worship God in the place to which I shall lead
you, as you have been accustomed to do. You shall likewise
find provisions, and our father beyond the lake' will care for
you. This is my message, and I have come hither purposely to
deliver it." He then delivered to them a string of wampum ;
and the missionaries and Indian assistants having met in con-
ference to consider this unexpected message, the latter on the
next day returned the following answer to the Half-king :--
Uncle, and ye Captains of the Delawares and Monsys, our
friends and countrymen! Ye Shawanoes, our nephews, and all
ye other people here assembled! We have heard your words;
but have not yet seen the danger so great, that we might not stay
here. We keep peace with all men, and have nothing to do
with the war, nor do we wish or desire any thing, but to be
permitted to enjoy rest and peace. You see yourselves that
we cannot rise immediately and go with you, for we are heavy,
and time is required to prepare for it. But we will keep and
consider your words, and let you, Uncle, know our answer next
winter, after the harvest. Upon this you may rely."
With this answer not only the Half-king, but the greater part
of the warriors, appeared to be satisfied, declaring that it would
be wrong to compel their cousins to move from a favourite
spot, where they had in abundance every thing they could wish,
and where they lived so contented and happy. Elliot, how-
ever, continued to urge Captain Pipe and the Half-king not to
give up their design, but to have recourse to other and more
severe measures. Accordingly, the latter, in a meeting held a
few days after, sought to frighten the Indians into his proposals,
by representing to them in strong terms the dangers to which
they would be exposed from the hostile Indians, and also from
the Virginians or Long Knives, as he called them. But the
Indians still persisted in expressing their wish to remain where
they were. Meanwhile, the common warriors sought to decoy
them, by describing the country to which they proposed to carry
them as a perfect paradise, and, unfortunately, they were too
successful in making an impression on the minds of some who
were not up to their artifice and cunning. Thus a division
'The Governor of Fort Detroit.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
311
arose among the Indians. Some advised to rise and go with
the Half-king, without considering the consequences: others,
and that by far the greater number, opposed this measure, de-
claring that they would rather die on the spot. This division
among the Indians occasioned the Brethren great perplexity
and distress, but yet they resolved not to follow the savages
unless by compulsion, that so, if the congregation were involved
in ruin, they might not have to reproach themselves on account
of it.
The Half-king of the Hurons, it is probable, would not have
urged the proposal further, had he not been pressed by Elliot
to employ coercive and even violent measures, alleging that, if
he returned to Detroit without the missionaries, the governor
would be highly dissatisfied. Besides, some of the congrega-
tion proved unfaithful, and even insinuated to the savages that
if they only seized the Brethren and carried them off, the rest
of the people would quickly follow. Others were so simple, that
when asked, Whether they would go with the Half-king? they
replied: "We look to our teachers; what they do, we will do
likewise." Thus the whole blame fell upon the missionaries,
who, in consequence of this, became the chief object of the re-
sentment of the savages. The heads of the party had several
consultations, in which, as some of them afterwards related,
they resolved to murder all the White Brethren and Sisters, and
likewise the Indian assistants. Before, however, carrying their
bloody purpose into execution, they wished to know the opi-
nion of a common warrior, who was much esteemed among them
as a sorcerer; and as he was decidedly against the proposal,
and even threatened them with his displeasure if they persisted
in it, they laid aside the design for the present.
The savages, however, now became more bold and outrage-
ous in their behaviour than before. Though they were sup-
plied by the congregation with as much meat as they could eat,
and nothing in fact was denied them, yet they wantonly shot
the cattle and pigs on the road, and would not even suffer the
carcasses to be taken away, so that the place was soon filled
with an intolerable stench. Small parties of them likewise
made inroads into the neighbouring country, and brought their
312
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
prisoners to Gnadenhuetten, thus converting that seat of in-
dustry and peace into a theatre of pillage and war.
The chiefs now called once more on the Indian assistants to
come with their teachers and hear what they had to say to
them. On their appearing before the Council, the Half-king
asked them whether they would go with him, and required of
them an immediate answer in the affirmative or negative, with-
out even allowing them to retire and consult about it. To this
they replied, they would abide by the reply given at the last
meeting, upon which they were immediately dismissed.
Next day, shortly after dinner, as the Brethren Zeisberger,
Senseman, and Heckewelder, were walking behind the garden,
they were seized by a small party of Huron warriors and
marched off towards the camp, which was about a hundred yards
distant. On the way thither, an ugly-looking Huron aimed a
blow at Senseman's head with his tomahawk; but the mission-
ary fortunately eluded the stroke. On reaching the line which
divided the Huron and Delaware camps, their captors raised
what is called the Scalp-whoop, each of them raising a yell for
his man, this being the way in which the Indians indicate the
number of prisoners who have fallen into their hands. Several
others of the Hurons now came up and stripped them of their
clothes, watches, and other articles. The missionaries were
then placed in two huts, which however were merely roofs of
bark raised on poles to keep off the rain from above, the sides
and ends being open.
About half an hour after, the Brethren all of a sudden heard.
the word given to start, and immediately about thirty armed
Hurons set off for Salem. To Heckewelder this was a peculiarly
trying circumstance, as he concluded that they would take his
wife and children together with Michael Young prisoners, and
rob his house.
Gnadenhuetten and Salem being situated on the Muskingum,
the bells and barking of dogs in the one place could be distinctly
heard at the other in calm weather, particularly at Gnaden-
huetten which stood on somewhat elevated ground. "This,
says Heckewelder, "being a very close and calm night, we in
our camps, although the distance was between five and six miles,
heard distinctly the scalp-yell sounded at Salem by the party
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
313
who had gone thither, and who had effected their object; and
every time they, while returning in triumph from this expedi-
tion, renewed the scalp-whoop, it was heard by those who re-
mained at our station, and who sounded theirs in reply, by
which means both parties, although distant from each other,
were in a manner conveying intelligence and congratulating
each other on their triumphs. The nearer those coming from
Salem approached the camp, the more terrible their yells sounded
in my ears. The three yells they gave each time shewed that
three persons had fallen into their hands at Salem, but whether
they were alive or had been murdered by them, could not be
known until their arrival." At length, near midnight, the party
arrived with Michael Young, who informed Heckewelder that
his wife and child were safe, and that the Indian Sisters having
begged the warriors to place them under their care for the
night, they consented, under a promise that they would bring
them to Gnadenhuetten next day. The savages, however, had
broken open the house with their war hatchets, and plundered
or destroyed its contents.
The missionaries passed a long and anxious night, lying on
the bare sod, with their eyes directed toward the east that they
might catch the first glimpse of the morning light, when at
length the sound of the scalp-yell was heard to the north in the
direction of Schoenbrunn, though at a great distance, which
not only damped their hopes, but set the whole body of the
savages in motion. That something had taken place at Schoen-
brunn was certain. There it was that the wives of Zeisberger and
Senseman were left, together with the missionary Jungman and
his wife. The nearer the party drew, the greater was the com-
motion among the warriors in the camp, the scalp-yell being
sounded and re-sounded on both sides. At length the warriors
arrived by water with the missionary Jungman and his wife,
and the Sisters Zeisberger and Senseman, the last of whom was
particularly to be pitied, as she had been delivered of a child
only three days before, yet was she now hurried from home
by the savages with the infant at her breast in a dark and rainy
night. It appears that late on the preceding evening, some
Hurons came to Schoenbrunn after they had gone to bed, and
314
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
under the pretence of protecting them, plundered the house, and
brought them off as prisoners.
On the following day the prisoners obtained permission to
visit each other. The Sisters, who under all their trials shewed
wonderful composure and resignation, were allowed to go and
lodge in the house of one of the Brethren, named Shebosh, who
had not been taken prisoner, being considered as an Indian, as
he had completely adopted the Indian mode of life, and had
married an Indian wife. Here the prisoners were occasionally
allowed to see their friends, and they had also liberty to visit
them in return. Meanwhile, the savages were strutting about
in the clothes which they had taken from the missionaries, and
they even compelled their wives to make them shirts of the
linen of which they had robbed them.
At the commencement of these disasters, the conduct of the
Christian Indians was like that of the disciples of Christ; they
forsook their teachers and fled. On arriving in the woods, they
lifted up their voices and wept so loud, that the air resounded
with their lamentations. They soon, indeed, recovered from
the panic which had seized them on the first appearance of
danger. Having collected their courage, they returned and re-
covered many articles belonging to the missionaries out of the
hands of the robbers, or they generously paid for them, in order
to restore them to their rightful owners. They used to carry
victuals to the prisoners, and late in the evening blankets to
cover them during the night, and early in the morning they
brought them away again, lest they should be stolen by the
savages in the course of the day. Some had even the courage
to enter the camp by day, to seize the booty taken by the
savages, and to carry it off by main force.
After keeping the Brethren prisoners for several days, the
leaders of the savages perceived that the Christian Indians
would never be persuaded to forsake their settlements, unless
they were conducted by their teachers; and, therefore, they
called the missionaries before them, and set them at liberty, on
the understanding that they would encourage the congrega-
tion to go with them to Sandusky. The missionaries now re-
turned to their beloved Indians, and as they saw that there was
no alternative left them but to emigrate, they proposed it to
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
315
them, and they being of the same mind, acquiesced in the mea-
sure.¹
Never, however, did they forsake any country with so much
regret. They were now obliged to leave three beautiful settle-
ments, and the greater part of their property behind them.
They had already lost upwards of two hundred black cattle, and
four hundred hogs; but, besides this, they had to abandon great
quantities of Indian corn in their stores, upwards of three hun-
dred acres of land, where the crop was just ripening, together
with potatoes, cabbages, and other garden stuffs in the ground.
Their losses, according to a moderate calculation, amounted to
not less than 12,000 dollars, a large sum certainly to belong
chiefly to Indians, and a striking proof of the improvements
which the missionaries had introduced among them. But what
gave them special concern, was the total loss of the books and
manuscripts which they had compiled, with great labour, for
the instruction of the Indian youth, all of which were now
burnt by the savages. Besides, they had nothing before them
but the prospect of trials and disappointments, of hardships, dif-
ficulties, and dangers. But there was no help for this. They could
only possess their souls in patience, and commit their way to
God, in the hope that he would command deliverance for them.
On leaving their settlements on the Muskingum, they were
escorted by a troop of savages, who enclosed them on all hands,
at the distance of some miles. They went partly by land, partly
by water. Some of the canoes sunk, and those who were in
them lost all their provisions, and whatever else they carried
with them. Those who went by land, drove their cattle before
them, having collected a considerable herd of these animals
from two of the settlements. The Brethren and their wives
usually travelled in the midst of their beloved people. One
morning, however, when the Christian Indians could not set
off so expeditiously as their conductors thought proper, the
savages attacked the missionaries, and forced them away alone,
whipped their horses forward till the animals became quite un-
manageable, and would not even allow the women to suckle
their infant children. The road too was extremely bad, being
¹ Loskiel, part iii. p. 149; Heckewelder, p. 170, 185, 203, 229, 232, 238, 241, 244,
251, 254, 256.
316
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
through one continued swamp. Zeisberger's wife fell twice
from her horse, and in one of these instances, was dragged for
some time, hanging in the stirrup; but through the kindness
of Providence she was mercifully preserved. Some of the Chris-
tian Indians followed them as hard as they could, but with all
their exertions they did not overtake them till night; and hence
the missionaries and their families were not delivered out of the
hands of the savages till next morning. But though the journey
was extremely irksome, they all travelled along with the utmost
resignation and patience. Not one left the congregation, not
one laid the blame of their troubles and losses upon others; no
dissatisfaction, no disunion arose among them. They adhered
to each other as brethren and friends, rejoicing in God their
Saviour, and even held their daily meetings upon the road.
Thus,
Having arrived at Sandusky Creek, after a journey of upwards
of four weeks, the Half-king of the Hurons and his warriors.
left them, and marched into their own country, leaving them
to shift for themselves in the best way they were able.
they were abandoned in a wilderness where there was neither
game nor provisions of any description; for such was the place
to which the savages had led them, notwithstanding they had
represented it as a perfect paradise. After wandering to and
fro for some, they resolved to spend the winter in Upper San-
dusky; and having pitched on the most convenient spot they
could find in this dreary region, they erected small huts of logs
and bark to shelter themselves from the rain and the cold. They
were now, however, so poor, that they had neither beds nor
blankets; for, on the journey, the savages had stolen every
thing from them, except their utensils for manufacturing maple
But nothing distressed them so much as the want of
provisions. Some had long spent their all, and now depended
on the charity of their neighbours for a morsel to eat. Even
the missionaries, who hitherto had uniformly gained a livelihood
by the labour of their hands, were now reduced to the necessity
of receiving support from the congregation. As their wants
were so urgent, Shebosh the missionary, and several of the
Christian Indians, returned as soon as possible to their settle-
ments on the Muskingum, in order to fetch the Indian corn
which they had left growing in the fields.
sugar.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
317
Scarcely had the congregation begun to settle in this place,
when the missionaries were ordered to come and appear before
the governor of Fort Detroit. Four of them, Zeisberger, Sense-
man, Heckewelder, and Edwards, accompanied by several of the
Indian assistants, accordingly set off without delay, while the
other two remained with their little flock. It was with a heavy
heart they took their departure, partly, as they knew not what
might be the issue of the journey, and partly, as they were
obliged to leave their families in want of the common necessa-
ries of life. As they travelled chiefly by land along the banks
of Lake Erie, they had to pass through numerous swamps, across
deep creeks, and through thick forests. Besides, a report reached
them by the way, that Shebosh and some of the Indians who
had gone to the Muskingum to fetch corn, had been murdered
by the Americans, and that a large body of them were marching
to Sandusky to surprise the new settlement. This report, in-
deed, was not correct. The commander of the party, on finding
that they were not the enemy but Christian Indians, did not suf-
fer one of them to be molested, but he took Shebosh, the mis-
sionary, and five of the Indians to Pittsburg, where they were
kindly treated, and left to return to their homes when they
pleased. The others came back safe to Sandusky, with about
four hundred bushels of Indian corn, which they had gathered
in the fields. But as our travellers did not hear a correct ac-
count of these circumstances until afterwards, the report, in the
mean while, occasioned them much anxiety and distress.
Having arrived at Detroit, they appeared before the governor,
in order to answer to the accusations brought against them of
holding a correspondence with the Americans to the prejudice
of the English. The investigation, however, was delayed till
Captain Pike, their chief accuser, should arrive, a circumstance
which could not but give them much uneasiness, as he had
hitherto shewn himself their bitter and determined enemy.
They had no friend on earth to interpose in their behalf; but
they had a friend in heaven in whom they put their trust. Nor
was their confidence in Him in vain. On the day of trial,
Captain Pipe, after some ceremonies had passed between him
and Colonel de Peyster, respecting the scalps and prisoners
which he had brought from the United States, rose and ad-
318
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
dressed the governor as follows: "Father, you commanded us
to bring the believing Indians and their teachers from the
Muskingum. This has been done. When we had brought them
to Sandusky, you ordered us to bring their teachers and some
of their chiefs unto you. Here you see them before you. Now
you may speak with them yourself as you have desired. But I
hope you will speak good words unto them: Yea, I tell you,
speak good words unto them, for they are my friends, and I
should be sorry to see them ill-used." These last words he re-
peated two or three times. In reply to this speech, the gover-
nor reminded him of the various complaints he had made against
the Brethren, and called upon him to prove that they had actu-
ally corresponded with the Americans to the prejudice of the
English. To this the chief replied, that such a thing might have
happened; but they would do it no more, as they were now at
Detroit. The governor, justly dissatisfied with this answer,
peremptorily demanded that he should give a direct reply to
his question. Pipe was now greatly embarrassed, began to shift
and shuffle, and, bending to his councillors, asked them, What
he should say? But they all hung down their heads in silence.
On a sudden, however, he rose, and thus addressed the governor :
'I said before that such a thing might have happened: Now I
will tell you the truth. The missionaries are innocent. They
have done nothing of themselves. What they did, they were
compelled to do." Then smiting his breast, he added: "I am
to blame, and the chiefs who were with me. We forced them
to do it when they refused;" alluding to the correspondence
between the Delaware chiefs and the Americans, of which the
missionaries were the innocent medium. Thus the Brethren
found an advocate and a friend in their accuser and their
enemy.
After making some further inquiries concerning them, the
Governor declared before the whole court, that the Brethren
were innocent of all the charges alleged against them; that he
felt great satisfaction in their endeavours to civilize and chris-
tianize the Indians; and that he would permit them to return
to their congregation without delay. He treated them in the
most friendly manner; and as they had been plundered con-
trary to his express command, he ordered them to be supplied
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
319
with clothes and various other articles of which they stood in
need. He even bought them four watches which the savages had
taken from them, and which they had sold to a trader. After
experiencing various other acts of kindness from him, they re-
turned to Sandusky, and were received with inexpressible joy
by their families and the whole congregation, who had been
under strong apprehensions that they would be detained pri-
soners at Detroit.¹
The congregation at Sandusky were still in extreme want of
provisions, and at length famine with all its horrors appeared
among them. Often they knew not to-day what they should
eat to-morrow. At Christmas, they could not as usual observe
the Lord's Supper, as they had neither bread nor wine. The
cattle, of which they possessed considerable herds, had no for-
age, so that such of them as were not killed for food perished
of hunger. Provisions were not to be had even for money; or
if any were bought in other places, it was at a most exorbitant
price. Many of the poor lived on wild potatoes; and at last
their want was so extreme, that they greedily devoured the car-
casses of the horses and cattle which died of starvation.
Impelled by the severity of the famine, several parties of the
Christian Indians went from Sandusky to the settlements on the
Muskingum to fetch provisions, as it was reported there was now
no danger in that quarter of the country. They had been there
already several weeks gathering the corn and burying it in the
woods, whence they proposed fetching it as it should be needed.
Having secured as much as they thought would serve them
for the season, they intended setting off the following day on
their return to Sandusky. They were still without any appre-
hensions of danger; but in this they were wofully mistaken.
That quarter now became the scene of a catastrophe, which has
few parallels in the annals of treachery and murder. Having
heard that many of the Christian Indians came occasionally
from Sandusky to the Muskingum for provisions, a party of
Americans, about one hundred and sixty in number, determined
to murder these poor people, to destroy their settlements, and
then to march to Sandusky and cut off the rest of the congre-
gation. Colonel Gibson at Pittsburg having heard of this bar-
¹ Loskiel, part iii. P. 161 Heckewelder, p. 298.
:
320
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
barous plot, sent messengers to the Christian Indians on the
Muskingum to apprize them of their danger, but it was too late.
before they arrived. The Indians, however, received inforina-
tion of the approach of the White people, from a different
quarter, in time enough to have saved themselves by flight; but
though on other occasions they used to manifest the utmost
caution and timidity, yet at this time they shewed no signs of
fear, apprehending that they had nothing to dread from the
Americans, but only from the savages.'
In March 1782, the conspirators, headed by a man of the name
of Williamson, arrived at Gnadenhuetten. When within about
a mile of the settlement, they fell in with Joseph Shebosh, a
son of the missionary of that name, and murdered him in a
barbarous manner, notwithstanding he told them he was a
White man's son, and entreated them to spare his life. They
then came to the Indians, most of whom were working in their
corn-fields, accosted them in a kindly manner, and spoke of
themselves as their friends and brothers who had come to re-
lieve them from the distress brought on them by the enemy on
account of their being friends to the American people. The
simple Indians believed every word, returned with them to the
town, and treated them in the most hospitable manner. Hav-
ing informed their visitors that a small barrel of wine, which
was found among their goods, was designed for the Lord's Sup-
per, and that they were to carry it with them to Sandusky, the
ruffians told them that they should not return thither but go
with them to Pittsburg, where they would be in no danger
either from the English or the savages. This proposal the In-
dians heard with resignation, hoping that God might by this
means put an end to their present sufferings, which were so
many and severe. Under this idea, they cheerfully delivered up
their guns, their hatchets, and their other weapons to the con-
spirators, who promised to take care of them, and on their ar-
rival at Pittsburg to return every article to its rightful owner.
The poor unsuspecting creatures even shewed them all those
articles which they had secreted in the woods, assisted in pack-
ing them up, and thus emptied all their stores into the hands
of this band of miscreants.
1
¹ Loskiel, part iii. p. 169, 170, 175; Heckewelder, p. 302, 311.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
321
Meanwhile, John Martin, one of the Indian assistants, went
to Salem, with the news of the arrival of the White people, to
his Christian countrymen in that town, and assured them they
need not be afraid to go with them, as they were come to conduct
them to a place of safety. The Indians at Salem did not hesitate
to accept of the proposal, believing that God had sent the Ame-
ricans to release them from their present disagreeable situation
at Sandusky, and imagining that when they arrived at Pittsburg,
they might soon find a place where to build a new settlement,
and easily procure assistance from Bethlehem. John Martin
accordingly returned to Gnadenhuetten, accompanied by two of
them, to acquaint both their Brethren and the White people
with their resolution. The ruffians having expressed a desire
to see Salem, a party of them were conducted thither, and re-
ceived with the utmost hospitality. Here they professed the
same attachment to the Indians as at Gnadenhuetten, and easily
persuaded the poor creatures to go with them to that place.
Having by such hypocritical arts completely deceived the un-
suspecting Indians, the bloodthirsty villains at length threw
off the mask, and displayed their character in its true colours.
In the mean while, they had seized the poor defenceless inha-
bitants of Gnadenhuetten, and bound them without resistance.
The Indians from Salem now shared a similar fate. Before
they entered the town, they were suddenly surprised by their
conductors, robbed of their guns, and even of their pocket-knives,
and brought bound into the settlement.
The White people, having consulted together what they would
now do with them, resolved, by a majority of votes, to put them
all to death. Some were for setting fire to the houses and burn-
ing them alive. Others wished to carry their scalps home with
them as a signal of victory; whilst others remonstrated against
both these proposals, declaring that they would never be guilty
of murdering a harmless innocent people, and proposed setting
them at liberty, or, if that would not be agreed to, taking them
as prisoners, and delivering them up to the proper authorities;
but, finding that they could not prevail on the others to spare
their lives, they wrung their hands, and calling God to witness
that they were innocent of the blood of these Christian Indians,
they withdrew to some distance from the scene of slaughter.
VOL. I.
X
322
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
One of the conspirators was sent to the prisoners to tell them,
that as they were Christian Indians, they might prepare them-
selves for death in a Christian manner, for that they must all
die on the morrow.
The Indians, on hearing their frightful doom, could scarcely
fail to be struck with terror; but they soon recollected them-
selves, and became patient and resigned. Their last night on
earth they spent in prayer, and in exhorting each other to re-
main faithful unto death; and, as the morning approached,
they employed themselves in singing the praises of God their
Saviour, in the joyful hope of soon joining in the songs of the
redeemed in heaven.
When the day of execution arrived, the murderers fixed on
two houses, one for the men, the other for the women and chil-
dren, to which they wantonly gave the name of slaughter-houses.
Some of them even came to the prisoners manifesting great im-
patience that the execution was not yet begun. No time, how-
ever, was now lost. The poor innocent creatures, men, women,
and children, were bound with ropes, two and two together.
They were then led into the slaughter-houses appointed for
them. There they were scalped and murdered in cold blood
by these demons in human form. In this horrid manner per-
ished no fewer than ninety-six persons, among whom were five
of the most valuable assistants, and thirty-four children! Ac-
cording to the testimony of the murderers themselves, they be-
haved with wonderful patience, and met death with cheerful
resignation. They even acknowledged that they were good
Indians "for," said they, "they sung and prayed to their
latest breath."
Of the whole number of Indians at Gnadenhuetten and Salem,
only two youths escaped; and their escape was little less than
miraculous. One of them was so fortunate as to disengage him-
self from his bonds; then slipping unobserved from the crowd,
he crept through a narrow window into the cellar of the house
where the women and children were slaughtered. He had not
been long there when their blood penetrated through the floor,
and, according to his account, ran in streams into the cellar.
Here he lurked till night, no one coming down to search the
cellar; and then, though with much difficulty, he climbed up
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
323
the wall to the window, and fled into a neighbouring thicket.
The escape of the other youth was still more singular. The
murderers gave him only one blow on the head, cut off his
scalp, and then left him. After some time he recovered his
senses, and beheld himself surrounded by bleeding corpses. In
the midst of these, he observed one of the converts named Abel,
moving and attempting to raise himself up. But he lay per-
fectly still as though he had been dead, a caution which proved
the means of his deliverance; for, shortly after, one of the mur-
derers came in, and perceiving Abel's motions, killed him out-
right with two or three blows. Our youth lay quiet till the
dusk of the evening, though suffering exquisite pain from his
wounds. He then ventured to creep to the door, and having
observed nobody in the neighbourhood, he escaped into the
wood, where he lay concealed during the night. Here the two
lads met with each other; and before they left their retreat,
they saw the murderers, with a ferocious insensibility, making
merry after the accomplishment of their diabolical enterprise ·
and at last they set fire to the two slaughter-houses filled with
the corpses of their innocent victims.
While the Christian Indians at Gnadenhuetten and Salem
were in this manner inhumanly butchered, those at Schoen-
brunn providentially escaped. As they had occasion to send a
message to Gnadenhuetten, the bearer of it, before he reached
that place, found young Shebosh lying dead on the ground; and
looking forward, he saw a number of White people about the
town. Alarmed by this discovery, he fled back to Schoenbrunn
in haste, and told the Indians what he had seen. Upon this
they all took flight and ran into the woods, so that when the
conspirators came to the town they found nobody in it; and
though the Indians lay concealed in the neighbourhood, yet
happily they escaped undiscovered. Having, therefore, set fire
to the three settlements, they marched off with the scalps of
their innocent victims, about fifty horses, and such other parts
of their property as they chose to carry with them.'
In the mean while, the missionaries at Sandusky were not
without their trials. In the congregation itself, there arose.
some false brethren, who, having relapsed into the paths of sin,
¹ Loskiel, part iii. p. 177; Heckewolder, p. 319.
324
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
endeavoured to introduce their heathenish practices among
their Christian countrymen. They would not even leave the
settlement, but stopped in defiance of all remonstrances, were
enraged when kindly reproved, and went among the neigh-
bouring Pagans, trying to exasperate them against the mission-
aries. Besides, though the governor of Detroit had promised
that the Brethren should not be molested in their labours, yet
this was an engagement he was not able to fulfil. Soon after
their return to Sandusky, some of the principal Delaware
chiefs expressed their surprise that he should have permitted
them to depart, and thus disappointed their hopes of getting
rid of persons whom they deemed so troublesome. Hitherto,
however, the governor had found means to pacify them by the
wisdom and firmness of his conduct. But now the Half-king
of the Hurons again took part against them. Two of his sons,
who had lately gone on a murdering expedition, having both
been killed, he foolishly ascribed their death to the intrigues of
the Brethren, and determined to be revenged upon them. Be-
sides, with the dread natural to a guilty conscience, he lived in
continual apprehension that the Christian Indians, if they were
suffered to remain in a body, might revenge on him the many
injuries which they and their teachers had lately suffered. To
disperse them, therefore, was a great object with him; and he
knew nothing so likely to accomplish this as to take their in-
structors from them. Influenced in part, perhaps, by his insi-
dious representations, the governor of Detroit now sent an or-
der to their old enemy Girty, to bring all the missionaries and
their families to that place, but with strict charges not to plun-
der or abuse them.¹
This order was like a thunderbolt to the missionaries; death
itself would not have been more terrible. To forsake their
congregation, whom they loved as their own souls; to leave
them exposed to all the fury of their enemies, or to be scat-
tered in the wilderness among the heathen, wrung their hearts
with anguish. It was vain, however, to resist. The slightest
remonstrance might have subjected them to plunder and abuse,
and could not be of the smallest service. When this order was
communicated to the congregation, a most tender and affecting
1
¹ Loskiel, part üi. p. 171.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
325
scene was exhibited among them. The poor Indians were dis-
solved in tears, and broke forth into the most bitter lamenta-
tions, exclaiming that they were left as sheep without a shep-
herd. This could not fail to aggravate greatly the distress of
the missionaries. As yet they had heard nothing of the tragi-
cal catastrophe on the Muskingum; but, on the day before
their departure, the report of it reached them. A warrior who
came from that part of the country, related that all the Indians,
who were found in the deserted settlements seeking provisions,
had been taken prisoners by the Americans, carried off to
Pittsburg, and some of them murdered. This report, though
it by no means amounted to the whole extent of the evil, was
yet frightful enough to aggravate the anxiety and distress of
the missionaries. Thus overwhelmed with grief and sorrow,
they took leave of their beloved Indian congregation. Zeis-
berger, after exhorting them with all the tenderness of a father
to remain faithful unto death, kneeled down and gave thanks
to God for all the spiritual mercies he had bestowed upon them
in the midst of external misery, and commended them to his
protection and love, till they should meet each other again,
either here on earth, or before the throne in heaven. The
Brethren now set off on their journey, believing one part of
their congregation murdered, another part imprisoned, and the
rest in danger of dispersion. They were accompanied a con-
siderable way by a great number of their disconsolate people,
weeping as they went; and by some as far as Lower Sandusky,
where they arrived after suffering many hardships and incon-
veniences. Here they had to remain for some time, until the
arrival of vessels to carry them forward. During their stay at
this place, they were visited by Girty, who had employed a
Frenchman to conduct them to Detroit; and being enraged at
finding them still there, behaved toward them like a perfect mad-
man, and, with horrid oaths, threatened to split their heads in two
with his tomahawk. Two large flat-bottomed boats at length
arrived, with a written order to treat the Brethren with all pos-
sible kindness; and, in case of stormy weather, not to endanger
their life in crossing the lake; intimating at the same time,
that, should any one do them the smallest injury, he would be
called to account for his conduct.'
Loskiel, part iii. p. 174, 185,
326
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Having at length reached Detroit, they were soon after
visited by the governor, who assured them, that though many
new accusations had been brought against them, yet he was
perfectly satisfied of their innocence; and had not sent for
them on that account, but merely to provide for their safety, as
he had received certain intelligence, that they were in the ut-
most danger of their life as long as they remained at San-
dusky. He further left it entirely to themselves, either to stay
at Detroit or to go to Bethlehem; and, in the mean while, he
gave orders that they should be supplied with whatever they
needed.
Meanwhile, the Indian congregation was reduced to the
brink of ruin. After the departure of the missionaries, the
assistants, indeed, continued to meet and exhort their country-
men in the usual and regular manner. But some false breth-
ren now arose, who ascribed to the missionaries all the misfor-
tunes of the congregation; attributing to them the massacre of
their countrymen on the Muskingum ; and even asserting, that,
conscious of their guilt, they had now taken care to go off in
safety. These absurd allegations, though condemned by the
faithful part of the congregation, produced no small disquie-
tude among them. Besides, the Half-king of the Hurons could
not rest while the Christian Indians remained in a body in his
neighbourhood. He therefore sent them a peremptory message
to quit their present residence, and seek an asylum in some
other part of the country. It seemed, indeed, as if no place
were left where the poor Indians might have rest for the soles
of their feet. They could expect no protection from the White
people, and their own countrymen hunted them as partridges
on the mountains. For the present, therefore, they resolved to
separate, as it seemed vain to make further resistance. One
part, accordingly, retired into the country of the Shawanoes,
the rest stayed for some time in the neighbourhood of Pipe-
town, and then resolved to proceed nearer to the Miami river.
Thus there was a period put for a season to the existence of
the Indian congregation.'
Here we cannot but remark, that the removal of the congre-
gation from the Muskingum, though a painful, was a very
1 Loskiel, part iii. p. 187.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
327
merciful circumstance. Had they remained in that part of the
country, it is probable they would all have been massacred,
whereas more than two-thirds of them escaped. A similar ob-
servation may be made as to the removal of the missionaries
to Detroit, which, at the time, occasioned them so much dis-
tress. When they received the governor's orders to repair to
that place, they immediately despatched a messenger to the
Muskingum to call the Indians home, partly with the view of
seeing them once more before their departure, partly for the
purpose of getting horses from them for their journey. The
bearer of these tidings reached Schoenbrunn the day before the
arrival of the murderers at Gnadenhuetten, and when he had
delivered his message to the Indians in that place, they sent
another person with the news to Gnadenhuetten. It was this
messenger, who, as we have already mentioned, found young
Shebosh lying scalped on the ground. Struck with terror at
the sight, he immediately fled back to Schoenbrunn, and gave
the alarm to the Indians at that place, all of whom, by this
means, escaped the fearful fate of their companions. But the
results of the removal of the missionaries to Detroit did not
stop here; it was the means of saving the Indians at Sandusky,
as well as at Schoenbrunn. The gang of murderers, who com-
mitted the massacre on the Muskingum, had not relinquished
their bloody designs against the rest of the congregation.
the course of a few weeks they marched to Sandusky, there to
renew the same horrid catastrophe; but happily, on their arrival,
they found nothing but empty huts. Had not the missionaries
been called to Detroit, the congregation would have remained
at Sandusky, and, in that case, would, in all probability, have
fallen a sacrifice to the fury of this band of demons, who thirsted
for their blood. Soon after this disappointment, these mis-
creants were attacked by a body of English and Indian warriors,
and the greater part of them cut in pieces. Thus they met with
that vengeance from the swords of their enemies, which would
probably never have been inflicted on them by the laws of their
country; a circumstance in which every heart would exult,
were it not for the awful consideration that persons whose hands
were still reeking with the blood of their murdered victims,
were but ill prepared to appear before the tribunal of the Great
In
328
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Judge of all, who has threatened to avenge the death of the in-
nocent.¹
Notwithstanding the dispersion of the congregation was the
means of their preservation from the hands of these bloodthirsty
villains, the missionaries could not but feel the utmost anxiety
concerning them, now that they were scattered among the
heathen. Instead, therefore, of availing themselves of the
liberty which the governor gave them of retiring to Bethlehem,
they resolved to stay in the country, and endeavour to collect
the remains of their wandering flock. In this design they were
kindly assisted by the governor, and through his friendly inter-
position they obtained a grant of land from the Chippeways,
about thirty miles to the northward of Detroit, on the banks of
the river Huron. He likewise furnished them with provisions,
boats, planks, and such other utensils as were necessary, from
the royal stores, and his lady presented them with a valuable
assortment of seeds and roots. Having received these season-
able supplies, the missionaries set off for that place, accompanied
by a number of the Indians, who had already collected to them.
Here they marked out the ground for a new settlement, which
they called Gnadenhuetten, built themselves houses, and laid
out gardens and plantations. At first they were so tormented
by the stings of various kinds of insects, particularly mosqui-
toes, that they were constantly obliged to keep up a thick smoke,
and to lie in the midst of it, a situation certainly not very agree-
able. But the more they cleared the ground of the brushwood
with which it was covered, the more the insects decreased in
number. They likewise employed themselves in hunting, and
bartered the venison and skins for Indian corn and other neces-
saries. They made canoes, baskets, and other articles, for which
they found a good market at Detroit. By degrees, more of the
dispersed Indians collected to them. Whenever any of them
passed through Detroit, the governor generously supplied them
with food, and, if necessary, with clothing also. Even when
the inhabitants of Gnadenhuetten occasionally went thither to
fetch provisions, he ordered them to be given to them free of
expense until their own crops were ready. Indeed, we may
observe, in general, that the British government uniformly
shewed particular kindness to the missionaries and their people.
Loskiel, part iii. p. 181, 184, 188.
1
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
329
Still, however, the greater part of the congregation remained
scattered among the heathen, particularly in the country of the
Twichtwees, about two hundred and fifty miles to the south-west
of the new settlement. The missionaries lost no opportunity
of sending them verbal messages, inviting them to come and
join them; but it often happened that the bearers perverted
these messages, and employed every means in their power to
prevent their return. Some of the chiefs even commanded them
in an authoritative manner to be resigned to their fate, and to
resume the pagan mode of life: "For now," said they, “not a
word of the gospel shall any more be heard in the Indian
country." But notwithstanding the means which the savages
employed to hinder their return, many of them came back the
following spring. Some of these, however, had cause to mourn
over the injury they had sustained in their spiritual interests
by living among the heathen. They were all, however, received
with open arms, and treated with the love and compassion due
to brethren. Others through fear continued to reside among
the savages, and some even relapsed into heathenism.'
In the beginning of 1784, there was a very severe frost, at-
tended with a deep fall of snow, extending over the whole of
the neighbouring country. As no one expected such a winter,
no provision was made for either man or beast. The extraor-
dinary and early night-frosts in the preceding autumn had de-
stroyed a great part of the promising crop of Indian corn, so that
it was not long before the people began to be in want. They were
therefore obliged to disperse and seek a livelihood wherever
they could find it; some of them, indeed, lived on nothing but
wild herbs. A general famine at length ensued; the hollow
eyes and emaciated countenances of the poor people were now
sad indications of their distress. Still, however, they appeared
cheerful and resigned to the will of God; and at last it pleased
him to relieve their wants. A large herd of deer having strayed
into the neighbourhood of Gnadenhuetten, the Indians shot up-
wards of a hundred of them, though the cold was then so intense.
that several of them returned with frozen feet, owing chiefly to
their wearing snow-shoes. As soon as the snow melted, they
went in search of wild potatoes, and came home loaded with
Loskiel, part iii. p. 189, 194.
1
330
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
them. When the ice was gone, they caught vast numbers of
fishes. Bilberries were their next resource, and of these they
found great quantities in the woods. Soon after they reaped
their Indian corn, of which happily they had an abundant
crop.
By the industry of the Christian Indians, Gnadenhuetten
became, in a short time, a very neat regular town, and was
much admired by the White people, many of whom came to see
it from the reports they heard concerning it. The houses were
remarkably well built, and the country around, which was lately
a wilderness, was now cultivated to a considerable extent. The
whole neighbourhood acknowledged, that they were an indus-
trious, sober, honest people, insomuch that the traders at De-
troit never refused them credit, being certain of full and punc-
tual payment. Some of the converts, however, were not suffi-
ciently cautious in this respect, especially during the famine,
when necessity obliged them to run in debt. One trader alone
had a claim of two hundred pounds sterling upon them, a cir-
cumstance which the missionaries were afraid might give rise
to some unpleasant consequences. But their apprehensions.
proved groundless, for the Indians began to work hard, and it
was not long before they paid all their debts. There was only
one poor man who, having a large family to support, was not
able to discharge his accounts, and, therefore, he came to the
missionaries to make his distress known to them. On account
of the peculiarity of his circumstances, they readily agreed to
assist him; but, in the mean while, his wife, as she was walking
with her children in the fields, accidentally found a guinea.
She supposed it to be only a piece of brass, till the missionaries
informed her of its value; and then her husband went and paid
his debt, which was so small, that, after discharging it, he had
a few shillings over.'
But the congregation were not allowed to remain long in this
place, where they were just beginning to be comfortably settled.
The Chippeways, who had originally given them permission to
settle on the land until peace should be restored, complained
of their remaining upon it now that peace was concluded, this
part of the country being one of their chief hunting-grounds.
'Loskiel, part iii. p. 199, 207.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
331
They accordingly urged the Christian Indians to leave it, and
employed threatening language to make them remove. The
Brethren, therefore, found it necessary to leave this part of the
country; but whither to go they were for some time at a loss.
The Congress of the United States, after the conclusion of the
war with England, had expressly ordered that the district be-
longing to the three congregations on the Muskingum should be
reserved for them, with as much land as the Surveyor-General
should think proper. An Indian has commonly a strong aver-
sion to live on a spot where any of his relations, have been
killed; but the Christian Indians had laid aside this remnant
of superstition, and longed to return to the place of their former
abode. Though peace had been concluded between the English and
the Americans, yet the Indian tribes felt great dissatisfaction
with the manner in which they had been dealt with by the
United States, and manifested a very hostile disposition towards
them, particularly on account of the claims which they made
to their lands. In a great council, held by them at Sandusky,
they resolved to commence a war with the States, and that if
the Christian Indians would not give up the idea of returning
to the Muskingum, they would compel them to do so by force.
Notwithstanding their threats, the Brethren resolved to emi-
grate from Gnadenhuetten; and, should they not be able at
present to take possession of their land on the Muskingum, to
settle in the first convenient place they could find. The new
governor of Fort Detroit, Major Ancrum, approved of their de-
termination, and sent a formal message to the Indian tribes,
that they should not molest their Christian countrymen. He
likewise so managed the business, that they received a compen-
sation of two hundred dollars for their houses and plantations.
on the river Huron, as it was resolved that the town should be
inhabited by White people. Besides, he was so generous as to
offer them vessels to carry the whole congregation across Lake
Erie to Cayahaga, and to supply them with provisions on their
arrival.¹
In April 1786, the missionaries and their people left Gnaden-
huetten, and embarked on board of two vessels belonging to the
North-West Company. One of the partners kindly offered them
Loskiel, part iii. p. 201, 203, 204, 205.
1
332
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
for the service of the congregation, and gave orders to the cap-
tains to treat their passengers with all possible kindness, and
not to run any kind of risk in case of danger. They had a good
voyage till they arrived at one of the islands, where they were
obliged to stop, and had their patience tried for no less than
four weeks, the wind being contrary all that time. They pitched
their camp upon the island, and followed the vessels whenever
they shifted their station, in order to be ready to start with the
first fair breeze. As often as there appeared the least prospect
of proceeding, they all went on board; but to their great dis-
appointment, they had several times to return on shore. Hav-
ing once, however, a brisk gale, they sailed in good earnest, and
made such rapid progress, that they saw the coast of Cayahaga
before them; but suddenly the wind shifted, and drove them
back to their former station on the island. During the gale,
most of the Indians were so sick, that they lay on deck sense-
less and almost half dead. To prevent them rolling overboard,
the captains ordered them to be fastened to the vessels.
One of the vessels being ordered to return to Detroit, owing
to their long detention in this quarter, it was agreed by the
captains to land the congregation in two divisions in Sandusky
Bay, and then to proceed with the baggage to Cayahaga. The
first division accordingly sailed the following day under the
care of David Zeisberger, but, being unable to reach Sandusky,
they went on shore at Rocky Point, about eighty miles from the
Bay. Here they had to ascend very high and steep rocks, and
to cut their way through a thicket to the summit of them.
Scarcely had they pitched their camp, when a party of Ottawas,
who were hunting in the neighbourhood, came upon them, and
expressed great astonishment to find such a number of people
encamped in this pathless desert. On the following day they
all set out on foot, and every one, Zeisberger and his wife not
excepted, was loaded with a part of the provisions. Such as
formed the van had the greatest difficulties to encounter, being
obliged to cut and force their way through the thickets. Hav-
ing arrived at a large brook, running through a swamp, all the
Indians, both men and women, waded through it, some of them
up to the armpits in the water. After several days, the second
division of the congregation overtook them, in canoes, made
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
353
hastily of bark, and at length they all arrived in safety at
Cayahaga. From thence they proceeded up the river till they
came to an old town, which had been forsaken by the Ottawas.
This was the first spot they discovered fit for a settlement, for
from the mouth of the river to this place it was nothing but one
continued forest. As they were entire strangers to the state
of the neighbouring country, they resolved to spend the summer
here; and accordingly, they encamped on the east side of the
river, upon an elevated plain, built themselves huts, and hav-
ing with much difficulty, cleared the ground for plantations,
they ventured to sow Indian corn, though it was then so late in
the season.
This place was called Pilgerruh, or Pilgrim's Rest.'
Soon after their arrival at this place, the congregation re-
ceived a very acceptable supply of various necessary articles
from the Brethren at Bethlehem. There were also some traders
who were so kind as to furnish them with provisions, and to
trust them for a great part of the payment. The Congress of
the United States was likewise so generous as to order them a
supply of Indian corn and blankets; and they even sent a
written message to them, informing them that it gave them
much satisfaction to hear of their return into the territory of
the United States; that they might rest assured of the friend-
ship and protection of government; and that upon their going
to the Muskingum, they should receive five hundred bushels of
Indian corn from the public magazines on the river Ohio, with
other necessaries; a promise which was fulfilled to its utmost
extent, even though the congregation remained in this part of
the country.2
Meanwhile, however, the congregation was not without its
trials and difficulties. One evening, a messenger arrived from
Captain Pipe, the Delaware chief, with an account that the
Americans had surprised the towns of the Shawanoes, pillaged
and burnt them, murdered a number of the people, and carried
others away prisoners; and that an army had arrived from
Pittsburg at Tuscarawi; and therefore he advised the inhabi-
tants of Pilgerruh to fly immediately, lest they also should be
surprised and murdered by the enemy. This report seemed so
incredible to the missionaries, that they endeavoured to per-
¹ Loskiel, part iii. p. 207.
* Ibid. part iii. p. 211, 215, 219.
334
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
suade the Indians of its falsehood. But here arguments were
of no avail. The massacre on the Muskingum immediately
presented itself to their troubled imagination; and the women
and children fled the same night into the thickest recesses of
the wood. Messengers, however, being sent to Tuscarawi, and
on the road to Pittsburg, it was soon discovered that their dread
of an American army was entirely without foundation. The
alarm was renewed a few evenings after, in consequence of a
great noise, and the sound of many horse-bells being heard in
the neighbourhood. The missionaries supposed, that the whole
proceeded from a convoy of flour which they expected, and this,
indeed, proved to be the case; but the Indians, ever fearful
and suspicious, would not so much as listen to their representa-
tions. Imagining that this was the army which was to surprise
and murder them, they fled into the woods, and left their
teachers quite alone in the settlement. By degrees, however,
they recovered from their panic, and returned to their dwell-
ings.
The Indian congregation were still extremely desirous to re-
turn to the Muskingum; but this the savages were as deter-
mined to oppose. Neither would they allow them to remain in
their present situation; but insisted on their removing to some
other part of the country. Thus, the Brethren were placed in
very embarrassing circumstances; but, after mature delibera-
tion, they resolved to give up all thoughts of returning to the
Muskingum for the present, and to settle on some spot between
the river Cayahaga and Pettquotting, where they might enjoy
a calm and safe retreat.'
In April 1787, the congregation left Pilgerruh, and proceeded,
partly by land and partly by water, to the place they had fixed
on for a new settlement; and on their arrival, they were much
delighted with its appearance. Unlike the rest of the wilder-
ness, it seemed like a fruitful orchard. Here and there grew
apple and plum trees. The country abounded with wild pota-
toes, an article of food now much esteemed by the Indians; and
the lake afforded them a plentiful supply of fish. Never, indeed,
had the Brethren settled in so pleasant and fertile a spot; and
now they rejoiced in the prospect of establishing a settlement
1 Loskiel, part iii. p. 216.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
335
in so agreeable a situation, especially as it was not frequented
by any of the savages who had hitherto been such troublesome
neighbours to them.
Their joy, however, was of short duration. Scarcely had
they begun to indulge these pleasing hopes, when a Delaware
captain arrived in the camp, and informed them that they must
not settle in that place, but come and reside at Sandusky; add-
ing, at the same time, that they were not to consider this as a
matter about which they were to deliberate, but as a thing that
was positively determined. As usual he made them the most
solemn promises of protection and safety; and he assured them,
that the place appointed for their residence was not in the vici-
nity of any Indian town, the nearest being ten miles distant.
Nothing could be more disagreeable to the congregation than
this message; and though they represented to the captain the
malice and treachery of the Delaware chiefs to them for the
last six or seven years, yet they resolved to submit, lest their
opposition should involve them in still greater calamities. No-
thing, it is worthy of remark, appeared so dreadful to them in
this proposal, as the prospect of being again subject to heathen.
government. They, however, set forward on their journey,
but before they had proceeded far, they learned that the greater
part of the message was false; for the place fixed on for their
residence was not above two miles from the savages. They,
therefore, resolved to go no further for the present; but to re-
main in that quarter of the country near Pettquotting, let the
consequences be what they might, and even to maintain their
post in opposition to the will of the savages. Having sent a
message to the chiefs to this effect, they obtained permission
from them to stay at least one year in that place without moles-
tation. Here, therefore, they proceeded to erect a settlement,
which they called New Salem.'
Many of the Indians who had wandered astray during the
late troubles of the congregation, continued to return from time
to time, and were received by their brethren with open arms;
though, with regard to such of them as, through persuasion or
fear, had been drawn aside into heathenish practices, the mis-
sionaries exercised much caution and care, before they admitted
Loskiel, part iii. p. 220; Heckewelder, p. 392.
336
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
them to the full privileges of members. They were also visited
by great numbers of strangers; for as there was then a famine
in the country, the savages knew that they would find provi-
sions more readily with their Christian countrymen than among
their heathen neighbours. Some of these were forcibly struck
with the order and comfort which they observed among the
converts; and one of them said, "You are truly a happy peo-
ple. You live cheerfully and peaceably together. This is to be
found nowhere but with you." In no place, indeed, where the
Brethren had resided, were they visited by so many strangers
as at New Salem. The town was sometimes so full, that there
was not room for them; but though their visitors were so
numerous, the best order was preserved in the settlement; no
riots, no disturbances were occasioned by them. When any of
them wished to take up their residence in the town, the Chris-
tian converts built a house for them. This was done, not with
the view of enticing them to join the congregation, but, merely,
that in case any of them should not conduct themselves with
propriety, and it should be found necessary to desire them to
leave the place, there might be no obstacle to their removal,
by their having the smallest claim to their houses. It is also
worthy of notice, that when the cattle of the congregation
had injured the fields of the neighbouring Chippewas, who
had no fences, the Christian Indians, in order to prevent a
similar occurrence for the future, gave them trees and shrubs,
and even planted hedges round their lands to their entire satis-
faction. Such was the wisdom displayed by the Brethren in
their labours among these savages; and such the success with
which they had infused the principles of justice and benevo-
lence into the minds of their converts, thus affording a fine
practical illustration of the precept of their divine Master:
"Be
ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”¹
In April 1791, the whole congregation, consisting of about
two hundred persons, moved across Lake Erie, and settled in a
place about eighteen miles from Detroit. Of late, they had
been not a little molested by the dealers in rum, and other
noisy visitors. Hostilities which had again commenced between
the Indians and the Americans, now threatened to extend to
¹ Loskiel, part iii. p. 224; Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 20, 22, 24, 43.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
337
this part of the country. The savages in returning from their
predatory expeditions often took the road by Salem, in conse-
quence of which, the congregation at that place not only suf-
fered from their irregularities, but were exposed to the attack of
Such were
the American militia who were in pursuit of them.
the circumstances which gave rise to the emigration of the con-
gregation into the British territory, where they hoped to enjoy
peace and quietness. But neither were they without difficul-
ties in their new settlement. Some of their White neighbours,
who were ill affected towards them, greatly molested them;
and one of them more bitter than the rest, drove his cattle into
their plantations, by which the corn and other produce in their
fields were totally destroyed. The congregation were at the
same time much harassed with messages from the savages, re-
quiring them to take up the hatchet against the White men,
and to fight for the land of their fathers; and threatening in
case of a refusal, that when the war was ended, they would
come and plunder them, and carry them off as prisoners. The
representation of a struggle for the common interests of the In-
dian tribes, combined as it was with this terrible threatening,
made so powerful an impression on some of the young men,
that, notwithstanding the earnest entreaties of the missionaries,
they left the congregation and repaired to the war.'
In April 1792, the congregation left this temporary residence
on Lake Erie, and proceeded, some by land and others by water,
to Upper Canada, where the British government had assigned
them a piece of ground, consisting of twenty-five thousand acres,
on the river Thames, which falls into Lake St Clair. Here
they began to build a new town, which they called Fairfield.
The settlement was afterwards declared to be a regular town-
ship, containing twelve miles in length and six in breadth; and
in a short time, the Indians so improved it by cultivating the
ground, and planting gardens, that the wilderness was literally
changed into a fruitful field.²
It is well known that White people, with the exception of
traders, commonly avoid settling near an Indian town, as they
1
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 108, 127, 136, 139; Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. iii,
p. 493, 499, 510.
2 Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 175, 315; vol. iii. p. 269.
VOL. I.
338
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
are afraid of their horses being stolen, their cattle killed, their
persons molested, and their improvements marred. Nothing,
therefore, could be a more decisive and unequivocal proof of
the favourable opinion which was generally entertained of the
Christian Indians than this circumstance, that no sooner was it
known that they were to establish themselves in this quarter,
than the White people were eager to take lands in the vicinity
of the settlement. When the congregation settled in this place,
there were neither White people nor Indians nearer than thirty
miles; but, in the course of a few years, the inhabitants in-
creased so rapidly, that they were continually passing up and
down, both by land and water, and the missionary settlement
came to be on the great road to Niagara. Among others, the rum
traders came frequently to the place, and notwithstanding the
sale of that pernicious article was prohibited in the town, they
often contrived to furnish one or other of the Indians with it,
that they might take advantage of them in their dealings, and
by this means they produced no small disorder among them.
Besides the Monsy tribe, the offscouring of the Indian nations,
lived higher up the river, and not only refused to receive the
gospel themselves, but delighted in disturbing the peace of the
congregation, and endeavoured to seduce them to drunkenness,
whoredom, and all manner of vice.'
In August 1798, the venerable David Zeisberger, now near
eighty years of age, left the settlement of Fairfield, where he
was beloved and revered as a father by the whole congregation,
and set off for the river Muskingum, accompanied by Benjamin
Mortimer, another of the Brethren, and upwards of thirty of
the Indians, in order to renew the mission in that part of the
country, where Congress had made them a grant of the three
towns they formerly possessed in that quarter, with four thou-
sand acres of land attached to each of them, making in all twelve
thousand acres. The Brethren who previously went to survey
the country, found the whole land covered with long dry grass,
to which, on the day after their arrival, they set fire, in order
to defend themselves from the numerous snakes and serpents
which had taken possession of it. All the ground where Gna-
denhuetten stood was covered with briars, hazle-bushes, plum
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. ii. p. 150, 333; Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. iii. p. 546.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
339
and thorn trees, like a low impenetrable forest, excepting where
the bears, deer, and other wild animals had made themselves a
path. Some of the chimneys appeared in their rows. The place
where the Indians were massacred was strongly marked. Part
of their bones were still to be seen among the coals and ashes,
and in every quarter the ground was covered with the bones of
the cattle slaughtered by the enemy.'
Having arrived in this part of the country, Zeisberger and
his companions began immediately to build a new town, which
they called Goshen. Here the Brethren enjoyed peace and
quietness, and proceeded in their labours with their usual dili-
gence and zeal; but, we regret to add, with little success. There
was now, indeed, no great number of Indians in that part of the
country, so that they could not expect any considerable accession
to the congregation from among the savages. Over such, how-
ever, as lived in the settlement they had no small cause of joy,
as amidst numerous and powerful temptations to vice, particu-
larly to drunkenness, the besetting sin of the Indians, the con-
verts remained faithful to their Christian profession; though at
a place about three miles distant there was an English village,
which might be considered as a kind of Sodom for wickedness.²
In February 1801, John P. Kluge and Abraham Luckenbach,
in consequence of an invitation from the Delaware Indians at
Woapikamikunk, on the river Wabash, proceeded to that part
of the country.
On their arrival they obtained from the chief
a grant of a piece of land for a settlement, situated between
nine Indian towns, though some miles distant from the nearest
of them; and it was agreed that no rum traders or drunken
people should be allowed to molest them, and that no persons
should be hindered from joining them. Here they for some
time enjoyed peace and tranquillity, and they had the satisfac-
tion to see their instructions attended by considerable numbers
of the Indians. Afterwards, however, the aspect of things
changed, and the situation of the Brethren became truly alarm-
ing. One chief, who was their protector, having died, and an-
other, who was friendly to them, having been deposed, the sava-
ges became perfectly ungovernable, threatened to murder the
'Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 40; vol. ii. p. 145, 269, 333.
Ibid. vol. ii. p. 340, 354; vol. v. p. 43.
340
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
missionaries, and even killed their cattle before their eyes.
These evils were materially promoted by the rum trade, which
was now carried on to a greater extent than ever throughout
the whole country, and was rapidly proving the ruin of all the
Indian tribes. The settlement on the Wabash was at length
broken up by one of those tragical occurrences, which have
been but too frequent in this eventful mission.
In February 1806, all the Indians in this quarter were sum-
moned by their teachers or prophets to assemble on the Woapi-
kamikunk, to hear the foolish stories which these emissaries of
Satan had fabricated, and to be instructed in the revelations
which they pretended to have received from heaven. Among
these teachers was a Shawanoe Indian, an arch-impostor, who
gave out that he was able to discover the most secret mysteries.
The Delaware tribe received him with the utmost cordiality,
and resolved to hold a grand council, in order to root out
the arts of witchcraft and mixing poison, and to extort a con-
fession from all such as the Shawanoe should accuse; and that
whoever would not confess, should be hewn in pieces with their
hatchets and burnt. With a view to the execution of this hor-
rid design, the young Indians met together, chose the most fe-
rocious characters to be their leaders, deposed all the old chiefs,
and guarded the whole assembly, as if they were prisoners of
war, particularly the aged of both sexes. The venerable old
chief Tettepachsit was the first whom they accused of possessing
poison, and of destroying many of the Indians by his pernicious
art. As he would not, however, acknowledge the charge, they
bound him with cords to two posts, and began to roast him
over a slow fire. Unable to endure such torture, the poor old
man declared that he kept poison in the house of the Christian
Indian Joshua. Nothing could be more agreeable to the sa-
vages than this accusation, as they wished to deprive the mission-
aries of the assistance of this man, who was the only convert
residing with them. Seven of them accordingly came to the
settlement of the Brethren, and carried him away by force.
When Joshua was presented to Tettepachsit, the old chief
frankly acknowleged that he had accused him merely to escape
¹ Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. iii. p. 566; Period. Accounts, vol. iii. p. 69, 71, 123,
272, 471.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
341
from the torture. The savages therefore pronounced him not
guilty, but yet they would not set him at liberty till the Sha-
wanoe should arrive. Having come the same day, the impostor
ordered all the Indians of both sexes to sit down in a circle,
when he would declare who had poison in their possession. The
two old chiefs, Tettepachsit and Hackinpomska, he now accused
of mixing poison, and he charged the former in particular with
the untimely death of many of the Indians. When he was
asked about Joshua, he declared that he had no poison, but yet
he possessed an evil spirit, by which he was able to destroy the
other Indians. Pleased with this verdict, the savages seized all
the accused, and set a watch over them as condemned criminals.
An old woman named Caritas, who had been baptized by the
Brethren in former times, was the first whom they devoted to
the flames; and two or three days after, ten of the savages, with
their faces painted black, came to the missionary settlement,
conducting Tettepachsit, the aged chief. Upon their arrival
they kindled a large fire close to the Brethren's dwelling, and
after giving the venerable old man a blow on the head with a
hatchet, they threw him into the flames, and diverted themselves
with his miserable cries. After committing this horrid murder,
they came boldly into the house of the missionaries, boasted of
the atrocious deed, and demanded some refreshment, which it
was of course necessary to give them. The Brethren, however,
took courage, and asked them what would be the fate of Joshua,
vindicated him from the charges which had been alleged against
him, and obtained a promise from them that he should not be
put to death. Though they understood that they themselves
were suspected by the savages of keeping poison for the purpose
of making those Indians sick who would not do as they desired,
or even of killing them; yet they resolved to go to the assembly,
and try what could be done for the preservation of Joshua, or
at least to afford him comfort and advice in the hour of trial.
As the missionary Kluge, however, could not leave his wife and
children under these alarming circumstances, Luckenbach was
so bold as go alone; but he had scarcely advanced half way
when he heard, to his astonishment and grief, that Joshua had
been murdered by the savages the preceding day. It appears
they first struck him on the head with a hatchet, and then
342
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
threw him into a large fire. With these frightful tidings, Luc-
kenbach hastened back to his fellow-labourers; and though for
some days past they had suffered the utmost anxiety and dis-
tress, yet this now crowned their misery. Overwhelmed with
grief and terror, they lost the power of speech and reflection,
and could do nothing but utter cries of lamentation and woe.
On the following days, others of the Indians were accused by
their countrymen, and shared a similar fate; and as the mis-
sionaries continued to be in imminent danger of their lives, they
at length abandoned the settlement.¹
Besides these settlements, the Brethren formed others among
the Chippeway Indians in Canada, among the Monsys near Lake
Erie, among the Wyondats and Mingoes in Upper Sandusky,
among the Creeks on the river Flint, and among the Cherokees
in Georgia; but these various stations, with the exception of
the last, they were obliged to abandon one after another."
2
In October 1813, in consequence of the unhappy and un-
natural war which was then carried on between England and
America, the settlement at Fairfield, which lay near the con-
fines of the British territory, was involved in new calamities.
Immediately after the occupation of Malden and Detroit by the
American army under General Harrison, the congregation had
several consultations about a place to which they might flee for
safety. The houses of the missionaries and of the Indians, had
been occupied for some time by fugitives from the surrounding
country; and there were about seventy sick soldiers in the
church and schoolhouse. General Proctor, the English com-
mander, intimated to the Brethren, that he intended to fortify
Fairfield; but that he was willing to purchase their houses and
all the Indian corn, garden stuffs, furniture, and whatever else
they could spare, for the use of the army. He also promised
that another tract of land should be assigned to the congrega-
tion, as a temporary residence during the war, and that they
should be supplied with provisions and clothes from the royal
As under these circumstances, the stay of the Indians
was no longer practicable, they resolved to quit the settlement.
stores.
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. iv. p. 1.
2 Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. iü. p. 565, 655; Period. Accounts, vol. iii. p. 350;
yol. iv. p. 258, 491; vol. v. p. 203, 264; vol. vi. p. 253; vol. vii, p. 9.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
343
Some of them had set off on their voyage as soon as the approach
of the American army was known: others of them now followed,
partly by land and partly by water. Previous to this, it was
agreed that Christian F. Dencke, one of the missionaries, should
accompany them in their flight; but that Schnall, who was
sickly, and Michael Jung, who was old, should remain in the
settlement with the view of retiring to Bethlehem.
Scarcely had the Indians left Fairfield, when an engagement
took place between the American army and the English detach-
ment, about a mile and a half from the settlement, in which the
latter were completely defeated. In the evening, a great num-
ber of the victors entered the town, and professed at first to be
friendly to the mission, promising to do the Brethren no harm,
and expressing their regret that the Indians had fled. The
same night, however, they began to treat the missionaries very
harshly, accused them of secreting English officers and royal
stores, and commanded them with great fierceness, to deliver
them up without delay. The Brethren assured them of the
contrary; but all in vain. Every room and corner was searched,
particularly the roofs of the chapel and schoolhouse; each of
the missionaries was ordered to open all his trunks and boxes
for examination; nor was any person allowed to leave the house
without a guard. Early next morning the soldiers began to
plunder the settlement. The Brethren were now obliged to
surrender their last morsel of bread: six hundred pounds of
flour which they had just purchased for the winter, fifty bushels
of potatoes, twelve of apples, and various kinds of kitchen stuffs,
were all taken from them.
General Harrison and several other officers having arrived
during the plundering, Schnall the missionary immediately
waited on him, and recommended the settlement to his protec-
tion, requesting, at the same time, that some compensation
might be made to them for the stores which had been taken
from them. His request was refused; but he was told, that
the missionaries had liberty to quit the place. Commodore
Perry, who was one of the party, appeared more friendly to
them, and several others of the officers, and even of the pri-
vates, expressed pity for their unmerited sufferings Some even
employed force to protect them from the wild and lawless sol-
344
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
t
diery, who all day long loaded them with the bitterest curses,
and the most cruel mockeries. In the mean while, the Breth-
ren found an opportunity to pack up their goods; but as they
were about to load the waggon, they were once more obliged
to submit their baggage to a thorough search. Nothing, how-
ever, was found, which could in the least degree impeach their
character, as they very wisely never intermeddled with poli-
tical matters. They were now obliged to leave behind them
the whole of their household furniture, together with their
cows, pigs, and other live stock, which, if time had been allowed
them, might have been sold for several hundred dollars. After
their departure, the settlement was set on fire, and all the
buildings totally consumed: not even the smallest outhouse
was spared.
In the mean while, nothing was heard of the fugitive congre-
gation, nor of the missionary Dencke, who had fled with them,
circumstance which occasioned much anxiety to the friends
of the mission. It afterwards appeared, that the Christian In-
dians, on leaving Fairfield, encamped with their cattle at a
place about six Canadian miles up the river. The wife of the
missionary Dencke followed them in a canoe to this spot; but,
in the mean while, he himself remained at Fairfield, to see what
would be the event. As soon, however, as the English soldiers
entered the settlement on their retreat, he set off to join the
congregation; but on arriving at the camp, he found his wife
alone, for the Indians, frightened by the reports of the fugi-
tives, had all fled into the woods. The mission was now to
appearance broken up, for neither the Indians nor the mission-
aries knew where each other were.
Having learned that the other missionaries had not only left
Fairfield, but that the settlement was burnt to ashes, Dencke
was reduced to the greatest dilemma, not knowing what to do,
nor whither to go. Happily, however, a man offered to con-
vey him and his wife in a waggon to Delaware town, a pro-
posal which they readily accepted. The journey proved ex-
tremely troublesome; but they received an ample compensa-
tion for all their toils, when on their arrival at that place, a
number of the congregation came running to them, and with
tears in their eyes, offered up thanks to God that they again
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
345
beheld their teachers. They had heard that the missionaries
were all taken prisoners, and that they would now be left with-
out the means of instruction. As several of the women and
children were still wandering in the woods, Dencke sent some
of the young people to inform them that he would again settle
with them, and to invite them to return. In a short time, the
whole of them came back, except a single woman, who was
murdered near Fairfield.
After wandering about from place to place for near two
years, and suffering many inconveniences, the Indian congre-
gation began to establish themselves in the neighbourhood of
their old settlement on the river Thames. To this place they
gave the name of New Fairfield. Here the congregation en-
joyed for some years outward tranquillity; but the Brethren
had few opportunities of usefulness among the heathen, and
there was a want of spiritual life among the Indians, while at
the same time the temptations to which they were exposed,
particularly to intemperance, were more and more multiplied.
The small congregation at Goshen, on the Muskingum, having
been for several years on the decline, the few remaining Indians
at that station removed to this place. It became, however,
more and more difficult for the Indians, both here in Canada,
and in the Cherokee country, to withstand the encroachments
of the White people, who were set on obtaining possession of
their lands.'
The mission among the Cherokees had never embraced any
considerable number of that tribe, and at length, after it had
existed for upwards of thirty years, the Government of Georgia,
by a long series of most unjust and oppressive proceedings,
seized on the territory of the Cherokee nation and other Indian
tribes, and compelled them, in spite of their most solemn and
earnest remonstrances, to emigrate to the West. They found
refuge for a few years in the territory belonging to their tribe
in the State of Tennessee; but they were forced to remove ulti-
mately to the west of the Mississippi, to the Arkansas country,
where new lands were assigned to them. The two small con-
gregations of the Brethren were compelled to emigrate like the
Poriod. Accounts, rol. v. p. 437, 471; vol. vi. p. 23, 117, 191, 252; vol. ix. p. 85,
454; vol. xx. p. 115.
346
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
rest of the nation, but several of the missionaries followed
them to the Arkansas territory, and there formed two small
stations, the one called New Spring Place, the other Canaan.'
In 1837, nearly two hundred of the inhabitants of New Fair-
field, or more than two-thirds of the whole population, emi-
grated from that station in the hope of finding a more commo-
dious place of abode on the Missouri. Vogler, one of the
missionaries, accompanied them; and after a long journey,
partly by land, and partly by water, they at length settled on
the Konzas river, on the borders of the State of Missouri, near
others of the Delaware Indians who had emigrated thither, and
who gave them permission to settle on their lands. This place.
was called Westfield; but the neighbourhood of heathen In-
dians proved injurious to them, as many of them were led to
take part in their heathenish practices and amusements.2
Though the inhabitants of New Fairfield were now much
reduced in number, yet they enjoyed many advantages, and
if they would only exercise more enterprise, and make a more
judicious use of them, their outward condition would be much
better than it is. They were still in possession of a tract of
country consisting of more than 20,000 acres, a considerable
part of which was good arable land, so that they might raise
field and garden produce in as great abundance as they needed.
Besides, when they ceded some years before the half of their
land to government, they were promised an annuity of 600
dollars, and they also received from time to time, from the
royal magazines, presents of various articles of clothing. They
likewise drew their share of 400 dollars, which was granted to
the congregation on the giving up of the land on the Muskin-
gum, the other portion of it being paid to their brethren who re-
moved to Westfield. It may, however, be doubted whether these
various grants were of any benefit to the Indians. If rightly
improved, they might have been of great advantage to them;
but, instead of stimulating them to industry, they probably
checked it; and thus they may in the end be in a worse con-
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. xi. p. 468; vol. xii. p. 46, 138, 387; vol. xiii. p. 41, 43,
295, 489; vol. xv. p. 43, 47, 143, 395, 417.
"Period. Accounts, vol. xiv. p. 349, 513, 518; vol. xv. p. 197; vol. xvi. p. 124 ;
vol. xx. p. 109.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
347
dition than if they had been left to depend more entirely on
their own exertions.¹
In 1842, the whole number of Indians, including children
who had been baptized by the Brethren, since the commence-
ment of the mission, amounted to about 1800. During the last
fifty years, comparatively few adults had been received into
the congregations: the baptized consisted chiefly of children.
born in the settlements.2
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. xv. p. 414.
• The following are accounts of the number baptized or received by the Brethren
within particular periods :-
Adults.
Children. Total.
From
December
1734 to ....... 1772,
1769 to April 1792,
1792 to
720
...
266
217
483
1842, 101
432
533
•
The total amount of these numbers is 1736; but, from this, we must make some de-
duction on account of the repetition of two or three of the years; and some additions
must be made on account of the Cherokees, and perhaps others of the Indians who
were baptized at other stations; but the number of these was not considerable. There
were 130 who were baptized by others, and were received into the congregation.
Loskiel, part iii. p. 226; Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. iii. p. 526; Period. Accounts,
vol. xvii. p. 10.
Before leaving the history of this mission, we may mention that David Zeisberger,
who died in 1808, having been upwards of sixty years a missionary among the Indians,
possessed, in consequence of his long residence among, and his great intercourse with
them, an extensive and intimate knowledge of different Indian dialects. Amongst
other works, he compiled a grammar and a vocabulary of the Delaware language, and
a dictionary of the Iroquois. Of these works, we have the following interesting notice
in the Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee of the American Philo-
sophical Society held at Philadelphia :—
"In answer to the inquiries of your Committee," the Rev. John Heckewelder of
Bethlehem, formerly one of the Moravian missionaries among the Indians,
"laid open
the stores of his knowledge, and his correspondence gives us a clear insight into that
wonderful organization which distinguishes the languages of the aborigines of this coun-
try from all the other idioms of the known world. Through his means, your Commit-
tee obtained the communication of a MS. grammar of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware
Indians, written in German by the late Rev. David Zeisberger, well known as the
author of a copious vocabulary of the same language. This is the most complete
grammar that we have ever seen of any of those languages, which are called barbarous.
It gives a full, and, we believe, an accurate view of those comprehensive grammatical
forms which appear to prevail with little variation among the aboriginal nations of
America from Greenland to Cape Horn, and shews how little the world has yet ad-
vanced in that science, which is proudly called Universal Grammar. Through the
same means, we are promised the communication of an excellent dictionary, by the
same author, of the Iroquois language, explained in German, which is in the library o
the Moravian Brethren at Bethlehem. Your Committee have procured a translation
of Mr Zeisberger's grammar into English, and will endeavour to do the same with the
dictionary when received."-Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee of
the American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Know-
ledge, vol. i. p. 14.
348
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In 1852, the following were the numbers connected with the
congregations of the Brethren among the Indians:-
Stations.
| Communi-
cants.
Baptized Baptized
Adults. Children.
Total.
New Fairfield,
38
50
80
168
Westfield..
40
21
60
121
New Spring Place,
29
S
14
51
107
79
154
340¹
SECT. IV.-SOUTH AMERICA.
ART. 1.-BERBICE.
IN June 1738, Lewis Christopher Daehne and John Guettner
sailed from Holland for Berbice in South America. Having on
their arrival found no opportunity of instructing the negroes in
the colony, they at length removed into the interior and formed
a little settlement, which they called Pilgerhut, in the neigh-
bourhood of the Indians. Here they were obliged to work, not
merely for their own support, but in order to pay the passage of
some other Brethren and Sisters who were sent to their assist-
ance, as the congregation of Herrnhut was at that period so
poor, that it could not furnish even the expenses of the voyage.
As the Indians were widely scattered through an immense
wilderness, the Brethren had many difficulties and hardships to
encounter in visiting them. On these occasions they were
obliged to carry with them a supply of bread or cassabi for five
or six days, to take their hammocks on their shoulders, to sleep
in them suspended on trees in the woods, to wade through
brooks and rivers, and often to travel immense distances with-
out meeting with a house or a human being. If they came to
the huts of the Indians when the men happened to be absent,
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. xxi. p. 26.
* Risler Erzahlungen aus der Geschichte der Bruderkirche, tom. iv. p. 17, 28, 42;
Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 821.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
349
the women fled with their children into the neighbouring
thicket, uttering a frightful shriek. Having, by the help of a
mulatto youth, translated into the Arawack language an Account
of the Life of Christ, the Brethren, in the course of their visits
to the Indians, read this compendium to them; but though the
savages listened to it with that attention which curiosity natu-
rally excites, they were little affected by it. After some years,
however, a number of them appeared to be impressed with the
gospel, and were baptized by the missionaries as the first-fruits
of their labours.'
Most of the converts, and some even of the unbaptized, now
built themselves huts at Pilgerhut, that they might have an op-
portunity of daily enjoying Christian instruction. With the
view of facilitating their settlement, the missionaries not only
gave them permission to build on their land, but notwithstand-
ing their own poverty, supplied them with provisions until the
cassabi they had planted was ready. The more religion spread
among the Indians, the more were the Brethren animated to
prosecute their work with energy and zeal. No wilderness ap-
peared to them too frightful, no road too dreary, no Indian hut
too remote, if they might hope to find a soul ready to receive
the gospel.²
In September 1749, soon after the mission had begun to as-
sume a promising aspect, a storm arose which threatened its
utter extinction. In consequence of letters from some gentle-
men in Berbice, who were unfavourable to the Brethren and to
their labours among the Indians, the Directors of the Company
at Amsterdam had given orders to the new governor to require
the missionaries to take the oath to government, with respect.
to which their enemies well knew they had conscientious
scruples. The Brethren were accordingly summoned before the
Council and required to take the oath, while at the same time.
a threatening was added, that should they refuse, they would
all be sent home by the first ship to Europe. The Council,
however, was so far satisfied with their representations, that it
agreed to accept of their simple declaration until further orders
were received from Holland. Disappointed in this stratagem,
the enemies of the mission attempted to drive away the Indians
'Risler Erzahlungen. tom. iv. p.
* Ibid. tom. iv. p. 38, 40, 43, 47.
33. 41.
350
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
from the Brethren, by circulating a report that they designed
to make them slaves, a rumour well calculated to rouse the
jealousy of the savages, as the idea of slavery is more frightful
to them than death; but this report obtained no credit with
the converts, as they had now the most perfect confidence in
their teachers. In consequence, however, of new machinations
of their enemies, the missionaries were ordered not to collect
the Indians to Pilgerhut, but to allow them to live scattered
through the country; to clothe the baptized, and to pay the
poll-tax for them; to take the oath to government in the ordi-
nary form, and to appear in arms in order to be exercised. The
requisitions with respect to the Indians were given up, but not
that which related to the Brethren swearing allegiance to go-
vernment. In consequence of these vexatious proceedings,
several of the missionaries left the country; but others took the
oath, considering it not inconsistent with a good conscience to
swear allegiance to government.'
In 1753, the number of Indians who resided with the Breth-
ren amounted to upwards of two hundred and sixty. The
savages, who came merely to visit them, spread the report of
what they heard and saw to a vast extent through the surround-
ing country, in consequence of which numbers came to Pilger-
hut from places at a great distance, were impressed with the
gospel, and joined the congregation. Even from among the
wildest of the Indian tribes there were several whose hearts ap-
peared to be softened at the foot of the cross, and who became
the followers of the Redeemer. But as the land of the Brethren
was too small to support so great a number of inhabitants, many
of them had constantly to be absent at the chase, or the fishery,
or at their distant cassabi fields. There the native helpers held
the daily meetings with them, and though some of the converts
occasionally fell into their old sinful practices, yet, through the
earnest and affectionate representations of the missionaries,
they were, in general, soon brought to a sense of their guilt, and
with many tears to seek forgiveness from the Redeemer."
Such was the flourishing state of the mission, when the
country was visited with a severe scarcity which lasted several.
years. The inhabitants of Pilgerhut, not only participated in
* Ibid. tom. iv. p. 50, 59, 68.
¹ Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 48, 53, 56, 58.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
351
the general calamity, but were plundered of their crops by the
soldiers and negroes from the colony, who, not content with
seizing whatever was ripe in the fields, destroyed the rest in a
most wanton manner. To scarcity, was at length added an epi-
demic disorder, which spread through the country, and cut off
great numbers of the inhabitants, both Indians and Europeans.
Near half of the inhabitants of the colony died, and among
others, several of the missionaries. In consequence of these
disastrous circumstances, most of the Indians forsook Pilgerhut,
and retired into different parts of the country. The number
whom the missionaries had baptized, was upwards of four hun-
dred; but they were at length so completely scattered, that the
congregation was reduced to about twenty. The Brethren, how-
ever, resolved to maintain their post, in the hope of the return
of more auspicious times; but these hopes were never realized.¹
In February 1763, the negroes in the colony rose in rebellion
against their masters, murdered many of the White people, and
laid waste the whole country. As the insurgents came at length
into the neighbourhood of Pilgerhut, the Brethren were obliged
to abandon the settlement and escape for their lives. One party
of them proceeded immediately to Demerara; but, in the course
of the journey, they suffered many privations and hardships,
and were constantly in danger from parties of incendiaries and
murderers who were strolling through the country. Happily,
however, they escaped almost miraculously, by taking a road
through woods and swamps, unknown even to the Indians them-
selves, and at length, after a journey of about four weeks, they
reached the first plantation in that colony, to which they might
have travelled in two days by the ordinary route. Another
party remained for some weeks in the neighbouring woods, in
the hope they might still retain possession of Pilgerhut; but
they also were at length obliged to retire to Demerara. Several
of the missionaries proceeded with the first ship to Europe.
Two, who remained until they should receive instructions from
home in regard to their future operations, died before the letters
reached them. Such was the melancholy termination of the
Brethren's labours in Berbice.²
9
'Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 70, 83, 86, 90, 92.
Ibid. tom. iv. p. 92; Period. Accounts, vol. iii. p. 214.
352
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ART. 2.-SURINAM.
PART I.-SHARON.
In 1739, John Hadwig, George Zeisberger, Henry G. Meiser,
John H. Steiner, and Michael Tanneberger, sailed for South
America, in consequence of an agreement which the Brethren.
had made with the Dutch Surinam Company, who were anxious
to obtain settlers for that colony. After their arrival, they
endeavoured to support themselves by working at their trades,
and by cultivating some land which they purchased; but as
they were so much engaged in labouring for their own mainte-
nance, they had little time or opportunity for visiting the Indians,
or learning their language. Their evening meetings, however,
were attended by some Jews and Christians; but the govern-
ment interfered, and prohibited them from admitting any stran-
gers to their private worship. In consequence of this interrup-
tion of their labours, and of some dissensions among themselves,
the Brethren, after a few years, left the country and withdrew,
some of them to Pennsylvania, and others to the neighbouring
mission in Berbice.¹
In 1754, Lewis Christopher Daehne and Mark Ralfs pro-
ceeded to Surinam, with the design of renewing the mission in
that colony. On their arrival, the governor appeared much
prejudiced against them, in consequence of the unfavourable re-
ports he had received from Holland concerning the Brethren;
but through the representations of Mr Loesner, the late governor
of Berbice, he so far changed his opinion, that he gave them.
permission to settle in the country, and even offered them land
on which to establish a mission. Having pitched on two dif-
ferent pieces of ground for this purpose, the one on the river
Sarameca, the other on the Corentyn, they received a grant of
both from government, with a confirmation of all the privileges
which the missionaries enjoyed, who were formerly settled in
the colony.2
In January 1757, the Brethren began to build huts for them-
¹ Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 21, 24; Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 195.
Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 98.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
353
selves on the river Sarameca, and called the name of their little
settlement Sharon. Here they were joined by a number of the
Indians, particularly from Pilgerhut in Berbice, so that in a
short time, they had a small congregation collected around
them. The settlement began to assume a very promising aspect;
but it met with a powerful enemy in the free negroes. These
people were originally slaves who had escaped from their
masters, and taken refuge in the woods, where they maintained
their independence, and whence they often committed depreda-
tions on the colony; but as the Indians received from govern-
ment a reward of fifty florins for every runaway slave whom
they carried back, the negroes were naturally dissatisfied with
the collecting of so many of them to Sharon. They, therefore,
resolved to destroy the settlement, and they at length carried
their purpose into effect.'
In January 1761, a band of negroes came to the neighbour-
hood of Sharon one Lord's day when the congregation was met
for divine worship. On the dismission of the assembly, they
sallied forth from their retreat among the bushes, and com-
menced the attack. Such of the Indians as had dispersed after
sermon to meditate on what they had heard, immediately took
flight, some into the thicket, others to the house of the mission-
aries. The negroes, afraid to approach the house, as there were
some within who were armed with guns, placed themselves be-
hind the trees; and continuing the assault, wounded Odenwald,
one of the Brethren, in the arm with a ball. As they at last
set fire to the house, the missionaries, together with the Indians,
fled into the thicket; but in the midst of their terror and con-
fusion, they missed their way, and after rambling about till the
evening, found themselves at no great distance from the settle-
ment. The negroes having in the mean while taken their de-
parture, the Brethren proceeded to the spot where Odenwald
lay. He was still bleeding; but they dressed his wound, and
having saved one hammock, put him into it, while they them-
selves lay down to sleep on the wet ground, as they durst not
kindle a fire lest the enemy should discover their retreat.
the return of one of the missionaries next morning to the
settlement, he found their house burnt to ashes, and all their
' Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 326: Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 107, 127. 161
VOL. I.
2
On
354
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
little property destroyed. Three of the Indians lay dead on the
ground, and eleven others were carried away prisoners.¹
Notwithstanding this terrible disaster, Schirmer and Cleve,
two of the Brethren, returned soon afterwards to Sharon with
a number of the Indians, and as they met with no further inter-
ruption from the negroes, they resolved to remain at that place.
They had, indeed, a guard of fifteen men allowed them by the
governor; but the neighbourhood of soldiers was often a bur-
den to them, and proved a serious disadvantage to the Indians.
Both of them at length fell sick: most of their time they lay in
their hammocks without medical aid, and with no other food
than cassabi and water. Sometimes, indeed, the one had a
day's remission of the fever, and was able to afford a little
assistance to the other. In the midst of these trials, they had
the pleasure of welcoming some Brethren, who were sent from
Europe to assist in this and the other missions in South
America; but their joy was quickly turned into mourning, as
one after another of the new missionaries sickened and died
soon after their arrival.2
Hitherto the number of Indians who had settled with the
Brethren was inconsiderable; and even those who had taken
up their residence with them, were often so alarmed by false
reports of a new attack from the negroes, that most of them
fled into the wilderness. By degrees, indeed, many of them
returned, and begged with tears to be again admitted into the
congregation. When peace was at length restored between the
negroes and the colonists, the missionaries hoped that such of
the converts as were still scattered in the wilderness would re-
turn to them but the dread which they had of their old enemy,
instead of diminishing, seemed to increase after the termina-
tion of hostilities, as the negroes, when they came to Sharon,
which they sometimes did in considerable numbers, treated
them in a very unfriendly manner. The Indians, therefore,
placed no confidence in the peace, especially as some malicious
persons, with the view of scattering the congregation, circulated re-
ports of the design of the negroes to make a new attack upon them.3
¹ Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 127; Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 333; Crantz's
Hist. Breth. p. 546.
• Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 130, 132, 136.
Ibid. tom. iv. p. 142, 149.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
355
In 1779, the Brethren relinquished the settlement at Sharon,
as it appeared to serve no valuable purpose. The Indian con-
gregation had of late years dwindled away, partly from dread
of the negroes, partly from the land being so completely over-
run by ants, that no cassabi would grow upon it; but chiefly
from indifference to the gospel. The missionaries, therefore,
retired from Sharon to Hope, on the river Corentyn, where a
settlement had been established some years before.'
PART II-HOPE.
IN April 1757, Lewis Christopher Daehne took up his resi-
dence on the piece of ground which the Brethren had chosen
for a settlement on the river Corentyn. On going thither, he
was accompanied by some of the Indians, who assisted him in
building a hut; but afterwards they all left him, except one,
with whom he led a very solitary life. After some time his
companion was taken ill, and the Indian doctors, who passed
by, told him he would never recover if he continued to live
with the White man, who was under the power of the devil, and
would likewise soon turn sick. Influenced by these represen-
tations, the poor fellow, as soon as he got a little better, forsook
his teacher, and retired among his own countrymen. But though
Daehne was left alone, without either friend or companion, yet
even in this wild solitude he was contented and happy.
"Our
Saviour," he says, "was always with me, and comforted me
with his gracious presence, so that I can truly say, I spent my
time in happiness and peace."
Some of the Indians at first entertained strong suspicions of
his views, and even formed the design of putting him to death.
The soldiers at the fort informed him of his danger, and invited
him to come nearer them; but though he thanked them for
their kindness, he determined to stand by his post, if he might
be honoured to win only one soul to the Redeemer. One day,
however, as he sat at dinner, about fifty of the Caribbee Indians
landed from their canoes, and surrounded his hut with the view
of carrying their threats into execution. Some of them were
'Risler Erzahlungon, tom. iv. p. 161; Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. p. 300.
356
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
armed with swords; others with tomahawks. This was truly
an alarming sight. Nevertheless he went out to them, and bade
them welcome. They then asked him, through the medium of
an interpreter, Who gave him liberty to build on their land?
To this he replied, The governor. They next inquired, What
design he had in coming thither? To which he answered: "“I
have brethren on the other side of the great ocean, who having
heard that many of the Indians on this river were ignorant of
God, have, from the great affection they felt towards you, sent
me to tell you of the love of God, and what he has done to save
you." The chief then said: "Have you never heard that the
Indians intend to kill you?" "Yes," answered Daehne, "but
I cannot believe it: You have among you some who have lived
with me, and they can tell you that I am the friend of the In-
dians." To this the chief replied: "Yes, I have heard so: they
say you are another sort of Christian than the White people in
general." The missionary then said, "I am your friend: How
is it that you come to kill me?" "We have done wrong,"
answered the chief. Every countenance now altered, and the
Indians quickly dispersed. The chief, however, remained be-
hind, and behaved in a very friendly manner. As Daehne was
then in want of provisions, he gave him a supply of cassabi and
other articles, and on taking his leave, promised that he would
often come and see him. Thus our missionary, by his magnani-
mous, yet temperate conduct, warded off the blow that threat-
ened his life, and even converted his enemies into friends.
During his stay in this solitary situation, Daehne was fre-
quently in want of the common necessaries of life. Often he
rose in the morning ignorant whether he should taste a morsel
the whole day; yet Providence so ordered it, that repeatedly,
when he could no longer bear the cravings of hunger, some In-
dians arrived, who divided with him their handful of cassabi.
Often too, when, in clearing the ground, he was overcome with
fatigue, the Indians who passed by were so kind as afford him
assistance. He laboured, however, so hard, that he at length
fell sick; and though one of the Brethren in Berbice set out
immediately to visit him, yet for a considerable time he could
get none of the Indians to carry him in their boats, for they
were all afraid of going near a sick person, and particularly our
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
357
missionary, as it was generally reported that the devil lived
with him. They even did all they could to dissuade his brother
from visiting so dangerous a person. He, at length, however,
prevailed, and arrived to the assistance of his sick friend.
Besides suffering these various trials, Daehne was often in
no small danger from wild beasts, serpents, and other venomous
creatures. A tiger for a long time kept watch near his hut,
seeking an opportunity, no doubt, to seize the poor solitary
inhabitant. Every night it roared most hideously; and though
he regularly kindled a large fire in the neighbourhood before
he went to bed, yet as it often went out by the morning, it
would have proved but a miserable defence had not the Lord
protected him. The following circumstance is still more re-
markable, and illustrates in a singular manner the care of
God over his servants. Being one evening attacked with a
paroxysm of fever, he resolved to go into his hut, and lie down
in his hammock. Just, however, as he entered the door, he
beheld a serpent descending from the roof upon him. In the
scuffle which ensued, the creature stung or bit him in two or
three different places; and, pursuing him closely, twined itself
several times around his head and neck as tightly as possible.
Expecting now to be stung or strangled to death, and being
afraid lest his brethren should suspect the Indians had mur-
dered him, he, with singular presence of mind, wrote with
chalk on the table: "A serpent has killed me." Suddenly,
however, that promise of the Redeemer darted into his mind:
"They shall take up serpents, and shall not be hurt." En-
couraged by this declaration, he seized the creature with great
force, tore it loose from his body, and flung it out of the hut.
He then lay down in his hammock in tranquillity and peace.¹
After living about two years in this solitary situation, Daehne
was relieved by the arrival of some others of the Brethren.
Here they erected a little settlement which they called Ephraim.
The Indians not only visited them in considerable numbers at
this place; but many of them took up their residence with
them. The missionaries, however, were often in great want of
'Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 327; Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 114.
This was probably one of that class of serpents whose bite is not venomous; but
which destroy other animals by intwining themselves round their body.
358
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the necessaries of life; they depended chiefly on what they
could find in the thicket, and on what the Indians gave them.'
In February 1765, the Brethren removed from Ephraim to
a place a number of miles further up the river Corentyn, and
called their new settlement by the auspicious name of Hope.
In that neighbourhood, a number of Indians who had fled
from Pilgerhut in Berbice, now lived; but most of them had
lost, in a great measure, any impressions of religion they might
once have had. The missionaries were unwearied in visiting
them and the other savages in that part of the country; but
their labours were attended with little success. It was a great
loss to the Indians, that they did not live under the immediate
eye of their teachers. As the land in the neighbourhood of
Hope was not adapted for raising cassabi, most of the congre-
gation resided at a considerable distance: only a few families
dwelt constantly in the neighbourhood. Such as lived at a dis-
tance used to come every four weeks to observe the Lord's
Supper, and, as they were then obliged to leave their houses
and plantations unprotected, and commonly remained about
eight days at Hope, they often, on returning home, found their
fields plundered of their crop. Many, in consequence of this,
did not come oftener than once in two or three months. Such
circumstances as these could not fail to prove very injurious to
the spiritual interests of the congregation. They were not
only deprived of the daily meetings for divine worship; but
they forgot the instructions they had already received; they
lost their relish for divine things, so that, even when the mis-
sionaries visited them, they did not like to hear them speak
about vital religion; but endeavoured to turn the conversation
to matters of an external nature; they, in short, mingled with
the heathen, and learned of them their way.2
In July 1790, Fisher, one of the Brethren, with the view of
preventing these evils, endeavoured to obtain from a neigh-
bouring chief a piece of land where the congregation might
raise cassabi for their subsistence. After presenting him, ac-
cording to the custom of the country, with a basket of oranges
'Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 117, 126, 134.
2 Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 146, 159; Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. p. 93,
01: tom. ii. p. 305, 311.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
359
and some bananas, he asked him whether he would grant the
Christian Indians permission to plant in his neighbourhood.
This request the old man immediately granted, and pointing
out a considerable tract of forest land, said, "This ground God
has given to me, as he gave that at Hope to thee. Thus I am the
rightful owner of it. Now, as I have not created it, and thou
canst use it, I deliver it over to thee freely. Thy people may
come and clear it: the sooner the better." He then addressed
the Indians in a very friendly manner, and expressed his satis-
faction at their coming to plant in his neighbourhood; assur-
ing them, at the same time, that no devil or evil spirit haunted
the tract of land he had given them.'
In consequence of this new arrangement, the Indians began
to build themselves huts, and to lay out plantations in the neigh-
bourhood of Hope. The missionaries, however, had no small
difficulties to encounter in forming them to habits of industry :
at times, they even thought that all their plans would prove
abortive. In the eyes of an Indian, the trench and the spade
are the emblems of slavery. The young men, indeed, were
above such prejudices, and performed their work with pleasure;
but the old men were completely possessed with these foolish
notions. By degrees, however, the Indians not only made con-
siderable improvement in the cultivation of the land; but be-
gan to prepare all kinds of timber for building, and to convey
it to Paramaribo and Berbice, from whence they received con-
siderable orders. They also made a kind of hats from the
leaves of a certain species of palm, which they sold to the Pagan
Indians and negroes, as well as to the White people, who found
them very useful, as they were much lighter, cooler, and stronger,
than the common hats.2
In August 1795, Fisher and Kluge, two of the missionaries,
together with four of the Indians, experienced a remarkable
deliverance at sea, when in imminent danger of being drowned.
In conveying the timber and other articles they had prepared
to Berbice, they often ran great hazard in their small canoes,
and therefore they at length purchased a large boat for this
¹ Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. iii. p. 91; Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 99.
2 Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. iii. p. 92, 96, 102, 105, 107; Period. Accounts, vol. i.
p. 117, 153.
360
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
purpose. But on the very first voyage they made in her to the
colony, she all of a sudden became leaky after they had pro-
ceeded a considerable way, and filled with water so rapidly, that
before they could run her ashore she sunk to the bottom. At
first they clung to a cask fastened to the boat, and then to the
mast, part of which was above the surface of the water. In
this perilous situation they remained for no less than eight
hours, but at last, when it was after midnight, they contrived
to get ashore, two and two at a time, in a small canoe they had
providentially taken with them. In the morning, the mission-
aries and a little boy, (for the canoe would not hold more,) set
out to return to Hope, and after rowing for about twenty-four
hours in their wet clothes, without any covering for their heads,
and even without food, they reached that place, to the great as-
tonishment of their Brethren. It happened very providentially
that all their efforts to get out to sea had been frustrated by
contrary winds, which kept them near the shore; for as the boat
sunk within less than five minutes after the leak was discovered,
they must inevitably have perished had the accident happened
at a distance from land.¹
In December 1800, the inhabitants of the settlement at Hope
amounted to two hundred and eight, of whom one hundred and
sixty-nine were baptized, and eighty-four were communicants.
Their number had of late been considerably diminished in con-
sequence of the small-pox. Many had fled from dread of that
frightful disorder, and others had died of it. Among the many
advantages attending the introduction of the gospel and the arts
of social life among them, it was none of the least, that in sick-
ness they were much better taken care of than their heathen
neighbours. It is a singular fact, that in epidemical diseases
eight of the pagans died for one Christian."
In August 1806, the whole settlement, including the church,
the houses of the missionaries, and the habitations of the In-
dians, was burnt to the ground. The fire once kindled, ran
along the roofs, which were thatched with leaves, with such
prodigious fury, that there was no possibility of checking its
progress. By this means, not only their houses, but all their
garden tools, the stores of the Indians, the tackling and rigging
1 Period. Accounts, vol. ii. p. 260.
Ibid. vol. ii. p. 259; vol. iii. p. 141.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
361
of their boat, and various other useful implements, were totally
destroyed. The fire began about two o'clock in the afternoon,
while the missionaries were taking some refreshment, and there
was much reason to suspect that it was kindled by incendiaries,
as several attempts of the same kind had been made some days
before, which being discovered were frustrated in time.'
In 1808, the mission among the Indians on the river Coren-
tyn was relinquished by the Brethren. While the external cir-
cumstances of the settlement were so disastrous, its internal
state was not more flourishing. Most, if not all, of the Indians
belonging to the congregation, whose practice corresponded with
their profession, had within a short time been seized with an
epidemical disorder, and died rejoicing in the Redeemer. Such
as still survived, so far from being truly religious, were disor-
derly, dissolute, and refractory, and eveu manifested a spirit of
enmity to the gospel. Discouraged by these circumstances, the
Brethren abandoned the settlement at Hope, which had hitherto
but ill corresponded with its auspicious name. An attempt was
afterwards made to renew the mission, but it was not success-
ful, and after a few years it was again relinquished."
PART III.-BAMBEY.
IN 1765, Lewis Christopher Daehne, who had lately come to
Europe, returned to Surinam, accompanied by Thomas Jones
and Rudolph Stolle, in consequence of a request from the go-
vernor, who had now made peace with the free negroes on the
river Sarameca, and wisely judging that the conversion of them
and their children to Christianity would be the most effectual
means of putting a period to those cruelties and depredations
which they often committed on the colonists, made application
to the church of the Brethren to establish a mission among
them. Upon their arrival, the missionaries were presented by
the agent of government to the captain of ten or twelve villages
of the negroes, and were at first received by them with much
friendship. Each of the chiefs wished to have one of them,
'Poriod. Accounts, vol. iv. p. 45.
2 lbid. vol. iv. p. 306; vol. v. p. 149, 242, 281; vol. vi.
P. 376.
362
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
thinking it an honour perhaps to have a European residing
with them; but the Brethren judged it best, at least for the pre-
sent, to remain together. They promised, however, to visit
them all, and with this view took up their abode in the centre
of their villages. But though the negroes appeared friendly at
first, yet when the missionaries explained to them the design of
their coming, the poor creatures, particularly the old women,
set up a most piteous howl, terrified lest their idols should be
provoked if they had any thing to do with the great God; and
a few days after, they appointed prayers and offerings to be made
with the view of appeasing the wrath of their offended deities.
Indeed, they in general considered themselves as very good peo-
ple, and were angry with the Brethren when they exhorted them
to seek redemption through the blood of Christ.¹
In January 1771, Arabini, one of the chiefs, was baptized by
the Brethren, as the first-fruits of their labours among the ne-
groes. Though persecuted by his countrymen, and threatened
with the vengeance of their gods, yet had he the fortitude to
withstand the one and to depise the other. Having often heard
the missionaries declare that the objects of their worship, which
consisted chiefly of wooden images, large trees, heaps of sand,
stones, crocodiles, and various kinds of serpents, could neither
help nor hurt a man, he took his idol, which happened to be a
staff curiously decorated with beads, and burnt it in the fire.
He afterwards went one morning with his gun to the river,
where the crocodile or alligator, which was said to be the god
of the village, used to have its haunt; and on discovering the
creature, he addressed it in the following manner: "I mean to
shoot thee Now, if thou art a god, my bullet will not hurt
thee; but if thou art only a creature, it will kill thee.” He
accordingly fired his piece and killed the animal on the spot.
In December 1773, the Brethren removed to a place which
they called Bambey, two days' journey lower down the river,
whither the negroes had gone a short time before.
Here they
had many difficulties to encounter. Their voyages to visit the
negroes they had to make along the rivers, in an open boat,
2
¹ Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 177, 185; Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 488, 595; Po-
riod. Accounts, vol. i. p. 334; vol. ii. p. 414.
* Period. Accounts, vol. ii. P'. 95.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
363
exposed to the rays of a burning sun, or to violent rains, among
precipitous rocks and waterfalls, of considerable height, which
were at once troublesome and dangerous. They not only lived
in a state of entire seclusion from the whole civilized world;
but often laboured under severe attacks of sickness, which de-
bilitated their frame, and incapacitated them for visiting the
negroes in other villages so frequently as they could have wished.
Indeed, they had often scarcely arrived, when they sickened and
died, one following another in quick succession to the grave.'
In 1777, Christian L. Schuman, came to Bambey, and soon
after his arrival he was left alone near a whole year at that
place, in consequence of the death of one, and the return of an-
other, of his fellow-missionaries. In this solitary situation, he
was so debilitated by frequent attacks of fever, and painful ab-
scesses over his whole body, that he was unable to walk or stand.
He sometimes lay many days sick, destitute of all human help,
as his own negro was afflicted with similar sores, and the inha-
bitants of the village were absent the whole week, working at
their distant plantations. One night when he had fallen sound
asleep, after a severe paroxysm of fever, an immense host of
ants entered his chamber, and completely covered his whole
body. On awaking, he hastened out of bed into another house
as well as he was able. His pain, which was already very great,
was dreadfully aggravated by the bites of the ants, and the means
employed in removing them. But yet, amidst these heavy trials,
he experienced, in a remarkable degree, the supporting and con-
soling grace of the Redeemer. He forgot all his sickness and
pain, when the negroes came to hear from his lips the words of
eternal life: sometimes, indeed, he was so weak, that he could
not stand while he addressed them; but yet, he lay in his ham-
mock, and from thence, spoke to them of the things which be-
longed to their everlasting peace.2
In October 1787, Andrew C. Randt, who had lately arrived
at Bambey, was bit while asleep, in three places, by a species of
bat which abounds in that quarter of the world, and on awaken-
ing, found himself bathed in blood. When a person is lying in
1 Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. p. 98; tom. iii. p, 70; Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv.
p. 195; Period. Accounts, vol. ii. p. 418.
2 Rislor Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 199.
364
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
his hammock, and his extremities accidentally uncovered, these
animals insinuate their aculeated tongue into the veins of the
feet, in so dexterous a manner as not to disturb him. They
then suck the blood till they are satiated, fanning all the while
with their enormous wings, and agitating the air in a manner
so pleasing, in that hot climate, as to throw their victim into a
still sounder sleep. After they are satisfied, they are obliged to
disgorge they then begin again, and continue sucking and dis-
gorging till they are scarcely able to fly, and the sufferer has
not unfrequently been known to sleep from time into eternity.
They make similar attacks on other animals, and, it is said, that
in some parts of South America, they have destroyed all the
cattle introduced by the Roman Catholic missionaries.¹
In May 1800, John Maehr, another of the missionaries, made
a narrow escape from death under a form still more frightful
He and several of the negroes having gone to a neighbouring
creek, to prepare some cedar planks cut two months before, they
carried with them a live tortoise, which they meant to kill and
make a meal of in the wood. This creature they tied to one of
the posts of their huts, while the negroes went to a place about
a mile distant, to catch some fish. This they do by means of a
certain species of wood, which being cut small, beaten to pow-
der, and strewed on the water, stupifies the fish to the distance
of a mile or more down the river. They are then pursued, and
either pierced or shot with arrows by the negroes, who are
placed along the banks, partly in boats, and partly standing in
the water. Meanwhile Maehr was employed in preparing the
cedar planks; but being at length overcome with fatigue, he
lay down in the shade, near the tortoise, and slept about an
hour. During this time a tiger came to the spot, tore the tor-
toise off the poll, and dragged it into the wood, while he was
lying fast asleep near at hand. On awakening, and perceiving
the danger he had been in, he was much struck with his merci-
ful deliverance, and as the negroes returned soon after, and
brought with them a large supply of fish, the tortoise was never
missed.2
1 Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. ii. p. 382; Bingley's Animal Biography, vol. i.
p. 96.
* Period. Accounts, vol. ii. p. 451; vol. iii. p. 144.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
365
In January 1801, the whole number of negroes baptized by
the Brethren since the commencement of the mission amounted
only to fifty-nine; the congregation consisted then of forty-nine
members, including baptized and candidates for baptism, of
whom no more than seventeen were communicants. Such had
been the small success of the missionaries, notwithstanding the
toils they had undergone, the sufferings they had endured, and
the sacrifice which many of them had made of their lives."
1
In 1813, the mission among the free negroes was relinquished
by the Brethren. Of late it had assumed a very unpromising
aspect, not only as regarded the Pagan negroes; but even as to
many of the baptized: the expense of supporting it had become
extremely burdensome, as the missionaries had resigned the
office of agent for government, which one of them had held for
many years, and which, though it had contributed to diminish
the expense of the undertaking, had proved a very irksome and
unpleasant charge. Maehr, the only missionary remaining in
that quarter, was obliged to leave it on account of the state of
his own and his wife's health, while, at the same time, there
was none to supply his place. These circumstances, combined
with the small prospect of success, occasioned the suspension
of this hitherto unfruitful mission.
3
In December 1840, the mission among the free negroes was
again renewed, but in consequence of the sickness and death of
the missionaries who were successively sent to carry it on, and the
extreme unhealthiness of the country, it was after some years
again given up.¹
Such is a view of the rise, the progress, and the termination
of the missions of the Brethren among the Indians and the free
negroes in South America: none of them was attended with
any remarkable success, and all of them it was at last found
necessary to relinquish.
'Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 207; Period. Accounts, vol. iii. p. 152.
2 From the commencement of the mission to the year 1797, twenty-nine Brethren
and Sisters were employed in this mission, and of these, no fewer than nineteen died
either on the spot, or soon after their return. Period Accounts, vol. ii. p. 420.
* Period. Accounts, vol. v. p. 79, 151, 194, 243, 363; Holmes' Sketches, p. 287.
* Period. Accounts, vol. xv. p. 143, 427, 495; vol. xix. p. 281; vol. xx. p. 215.
366
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
PART IV.-PARAMARIBO.
IN 1768, Christopher Kersten began to instruct a few negroes.
at Paramaribo, the chief town of Surinam. It was a part of
the original design of the Brethren in coming to this country
to make known the gospel among the slaves in the colony; but
the planters and other inhabitants were so much prejudiced
against them, in consequence of the unfavourable reports in
circulation concerning them, that they would not allow them
to carry their views into execution. Some of the Brethren,
however, still resided at Paramaribo, where they wrought at
their trades for the support of the missionaries in the inte-
rior, and by their excellent conduct, gradually acquired the con-
fidence both of the government and of the people. As they em-
ployed some hired negroes to assist them in the way of their
trade, Kersten now began to instruct three of them who mani-
fested a desire after religious knowledge. Such was the com-
mencement of the Brethren's labours at Paramaribo; but for
several years their exertions were much interrupted, and did
not extend beyond a few individuals.'
In 1776, the Brethren had the pleasure of baptizing several
of the negroes at Paramaribo, who thus formed the beginning
of a congregation in that place. The number of their hearers
gradually increased, and they at length erected a church for
their accommodation. Most of the White inhabitants of the
colony viewed the labours of the Brethren with approbation;
but there were a few who prohibited their slaves from attend-
ing on their instructions, and punished them on this account.
Notwithstanding this opposition, however, the missionaries, in
the course of a few years, collected a considerable negro congre-
gation at Paramaribo.2
In April 1786, two of the Brethren took up their residence
at a place called Sommelsdyke, where the governor had made
them a grant of fifty acres of land for a settlement, with the
view of instructing the slaves on the neighbouring plantations.
¹ Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 208.
2 Ibid. tom. iv. p. 213, 216, 219; Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. p. 309; tom. ii.
p. 314.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
367
In the course of a few months both the missionaries died, in con-
sequence, it was supposed, of the ground not being sufficiently
drained; but they were soon succeeded by others who pursued
their labours with considerable success. Some of the planters,
however, considered the diffusion of Christianity among their
slaves as useless: others, though they had no objection to their
instruction, would not allow them to go to Sommelsdyke for
that purpose, but wished the missionaries to visit them on the
plantations, a circumstance which increased their labour with-
out promoting their success."
In 1826, the labours of the Brethren were still confined
chiefly to Paramaribo, the station at Sommelsdyke having been
given up many years before; but measures were adopted shortly
after this for enabling them to extend their operations to other
parts of the colony. The number of plantations on which they
were allowed to make known the gospel increased from time to
time until they at length amounted to nearly two hundred;
but as they lay scattered throughout the colony, it was impos-
sible for them to visit many of them oftener than once a month,
and consequently the instruction communicated to the negroes
must have been very imperfect. With the view of facilitating
their labours, stations were occupied in different parts of the
colony, and while some of them took charge of these stations,
others were continually travelling about for the purpose of in-
structing the slaves on the various estates which they were al-
lowed to visit.2
In 1852, the following were the numbers connected with the
Brethren's congregation at Paramaribo, and on the plantations.
in the neighbouring country :-
Communicants. Baptized Baptized
Candidates for Baptism, Total under
Adults. Children. New People, and Excluded. Instruction.
2102
4787
2149
9934
18,9723
¹ Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. ii. p. 316.
• Period. Accounts, vol. vii. p. 267; vol. x. p. 40, 336, 467; vol. xi. p. 135; vol. xiv.
p. 155; vol. xviii. p. 274; vol. xix. p. 113; vol. xx. p. 480; vol. xxi. p. xi.
* Period. Accounts, vol. xxi. p. xxvii.
Before closing our account of the missions of the Brethren in South America, we
368
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
SECT. V.-TARTARY.
IN 1735, David Nitschman went to St Petersburg, the metro-
polis of Russia, with the view of proceeding among the Calmuck
Tartars, and the descendants of the Bohemian Brethren, who,
it was reported, still resided in the mountains of Caucasus. In
this attempt, however, he failed; but yet he obtained some use-
ful information by means of the visit, and formed a friendly ac-
quaintance with a clergyman in that city, who was of great ser-
vice to three missionaries destined for Lapland, who, three
years after, were thrown into prison by the Russian government.
In 1742, Conrade Lange set off on a journey to China, to-
gether with two others of the Brethren, Zechariah Hirschel,
and Michael Kund, who were designed as missionaries to the
Calmuc Tartars. Having, however, applied for a passport on
their arrival at St Petersburg, they met with the same treatment
as their brethren destined to Lapland, being apprehended as sus-
picious persons, and thrown into prison. Here they were de-
tained for several years; but at length they were dismissed,
and returned to Germany. Still, however, the Brethren were
not discouraged; and they at length found an opportunity of
carrying their views into effect.'
In 1765, John E. Westmann and several others of the Brethren
shall add a few general notices which may not be altogether uninteresting to the
reader.
From the commencement of these missions to the year 1800, there were 159 Breth-
ren and Sisters employed in the different settlements at Pilgerhut, Sharon, Hope, Bam-
bey, Paramaribo, and Sommelsdyke. Of these, 75 died in the country, many of them
immediately after their arrival. The whole number of persons baptized by the mission-
arics until 1801, was as follows:
Indians
Free negroes,
Negroes and mulattoes,
855
59
731
1645
Of those there had died in the faith of Christ,
Still under the care of the missionaries,
Forsaken the Congregation,
658
594
393
-Risler Erzahlungen, tom. iv. p. 221.
Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 189, 314, 394.
+
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN,
369
were sent to establish a colony in the province of Astrachan,
with a particular view to the introduction of Christianity among
the neighbouring Tartar tribes, the Empress of Russia having
lately passed an edict granting the members of their church full
permission to settle in her dominions, and promising them com-
plete liberty of conscience. Having fixed on a place for a set-
tlement, about twenty-four miles below Czaritzin, they began
to erect the buildings necessary for their accommodation, to
cultivate the ground, and to work at their respective trades.
In the course of a few years, this place, which they called
Sarepta, became a flourishing little town; but its history as a
colony does not fall within our plan: it is only as it became a
central point, from which attempts were made to extend Chris-
tianity among the neighbouring tribes, that we have to notice
it.¹
As this place was on the road from St Petersburg to Persia
and the East Indies, the Brethren received frequent visits from
travellers and other strangers who happened to pass in that
direction. Among others, there was a merchant from Georgia,
who, in conversing with them concerning the several tribes
which inhabited the Mountains of Caucasus, mentioned one
called the Tschecks, who, according to their own account, were
some hundred years ago driven thither from Europe, and who
still retained their own language, preserved their peculiar cus-
toms, and professed the Christian religion; but being no longer
able to read the books of their forefathers, which were deposited
in large strong-built churches, which now stood empty, they
looked forward to a period when the use of them and their
public worship would be restored. As the Bohemians call
themselves Tschecks, the Brethren naturally conjectured that
these were probably the descendants of their countrymen, who,
about the end of the fifteenth century, were banished from
Moravia on account of their religion, and were said to have gone
to Moldavia, and from thence to the Mountains of Caucasus.2
In 1768, two of the Brethren, with the view of obtaining fur-
ther information respecting these interesting people, set off for
that part of the country which they were said to inhabit. Hav-
1 Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 525, 608.
• Ibid. p. 611,
A a
VOL. I.
370
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ing arrived at Astrachan, they procured from the governor let-
ters of recommendation to the Russian commanders, with orders
to give them some Cossacks as a guard, and a Tartar for their
interpreter. On arriving, however, at Mosdok, the frontier for-
tress, where they were only four days' journey from the country
which the Tschecks were said to inhabit, they were advised by
the commandant of that place not to proceed further, as the
Kabardian Tartars were approaching with an army of forty
thousand men, who would in all probability take them pri-
soners, and carry them into slavery. In consequence of this
intelligence, the Brethren had no alternative but to relinquish
the enterprise for the present. They determined, however, to
embrace the earliest opportunity of renewing the search; and,
in the mean while, employed themselves in learning the Tartar
language.
It was not long before the Brethren commenced an acquaint-
ance with the Calmuck Tartars, who inhabit a vast tract of coun-
try on both sides of the Wolga. Soon after their arrival, a
horde of these barbarians encamped on their land; and though
this at first occasioned them considerable trouble, yet the colo-
nists, by their kind and affable behaviour, quickly gained the
confidence and friendship of their visitors. They were particu-
larly happy when a physician arrived in the settlement. Many
of them became his patients, among whom was one of their
princes, who, with his train, pitched his winter quarters in the
neighbourhood. He formed a particular attachment to two of
the Brethren, who often visited him with the view of learning
the language; and, on his departure, he offered, if they would
go with him into the Great Steppe (an immense plain covered
with long grass), to take them under his protection, and to fur-
nish them with the means of acquiring the language. This
offer the Brethren accepted with joy; and during the two fol-
lowing years, they resided among the Tartars, conforming to
their manner of life, and accompanying them in their migra-
tions from place to place with their tents and cattle. They
neglected no opportunity of making known the gospel to them;
but though they themselves were treated with civility and
friendship, their message was not received by the barbarians.
The great Derbet horde at length retired from that part of the
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
371
country, and only a few straggling families remained in the
neighbourhood of Sarepta.¹
In November 1781, Gottfried Grabsch and George Gruhl,
two of the Brethren, renewed the attempt to visit the Tschecks
in the mountains of Caucasus. After passing through several
Tartar towns, they arrived at Beregee, the place where Pro-
fessor Gmelin was imprisoned and died. Here, had it not been
for their guide, they would not have been received into any
house, the inhabitants of the place being bigoted Mahomedans,
and inveterate in their hatred of Christians; but at length one
of them, to oblige their conductor, agreed to give them lodg-
ings. Uzmei Khan, the prince of the country, happening to be
in the town at this very time, could scarcely be persuaded that
the account which Grabsch gave of himself was true, but sus-
pected he was either a physician, a rich, or a learned man. One
of the Tartar princes even told him very gravely, that he had
heard that if a man's body were ripped up, he could heal him in
a very short time. Uzmei Khan being at length satisfied with
regard to their design, took them in his retinue to the place of
his residence, and then sent them forward, under the care of a
guide, to Kubascha, the principal seat of the Tschecks.
Here they arrived the same day; but their disappointment
may be more easily conceived than described, when on entering
the town, they heard the cry of the Mollahs on the turrets of
the mosques, summoning the people to prayers, a plain proof
that the inhabitants were Mahomedans. Grabsch, however,
proceeded to make inquiry concerning their origin, their reli-
gion, their language, and their books; he visited every house in
the town, and left no means untried, in order to ascertain
whether any memorials of Christianity yet remained among
them. He discovered the ruins of three churches, and an in-
scription over the door of one of them, cut in stone, which
neither he nor any of the inhabitants were able fully to decipher;
in the middle of it, the number 1215, in the usual Arabic
figures, was still legible. Not far from this ruin stood a noble
stately church, built of hewn stone, and decorated with a pro-
fusion of architectural ornaments, but now converted into dwell-
ing-houses, and divided into five stories. On the top of this
' Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 612; Period. Accounts, vol. ii. p. 191.
372
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
building, several inscriptions in stone were pointed out to him,
but he could not discover in them the smallest resemblance to
any letters with which he was acquainted.' It further appeared,
that the inhabitants had no longer any books written in the
characters used by their ancestors. They now employed the
Arabic alphabet in writing their own language, as well as the
Turkish and Tartar. Their ancestors, they acknowledged, were
originally Christians; but upwards of three hundred years ago
they embraced the religion of Mahommed; and now, they
thanked God, that he had directed them in the right path to
heaven. Some of them, however, expressed great regard for
Grabsch; and Mahmud, his host, assured him, that whenever he
came to Kubascha, he would consider him as his brother:
What," said Grabsch, "though I do not turn Mussulman ?"
O, all that goes for nothing," replied Mahmud.
tr
(C
On arriving at Shamachy, on their way home, the Brethren
were informed of a village three days' journey from that place,
where there was a congregation of Christians, who were said to
be the descendants of foreigners; and who, though the prince
of the place had endeavoured, by threatenings and persecution,
to compel them to embrace the Mahomedan faith, still main-
tained the profession of their own religion. Anxious as the
Brethren were to visit these people, it was not in their power
at present. They saw, however, a man from that village, who
informed them that they came originally from Georgia, and
were members partly of the Georgian, partly of the Armenian
Church.
Having at length reached Tefflis, they were there received in
the most friendly manner by the Prince or Czar, who expressed
a strong desire that some of the Moravians would come and
settle in his territories, and even wrote a letter to this effect to
the Brethren in Europe. Our travellers intended, if possible,
'Some will, porhaps, bo surprised to find the remains of Christian churches in the
wilds of Tartary; but, it appears from our ordinary ecclesiastical historians, that the
gospel was introduced into that country at least as early as the sixth century; that
it was afterwards propagated over a great part of that extensive region, through the
zeal of the Nestorians; and that motropolitan prolatos, and a great number of inferior
bishops, were ostablished in those very districts which are now overrun with Maho-
medanism and idolatry. It is chiefly since the fourteenth century, that Christianity
has declined in this part of the world.-Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 95,
203, 372, 435; vol. iii. p. 9, 131; Yeates' Indian Church History, p. 97.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
373
to proceed from this city across the mountains to visit the Tsche-
gemzi, who reside on the banks of the river Tschegem, as the
resemblance in sound to the name Tschecks, led them to suspect
they might be the descendants of the Bohemians who had emi-
grated into Asia; but during their stay at Tefflis, Grabsch had
an opportunity of conversing with some persons from that part
of the country who spoke the Nogay language, and assured him,
that their ancestors were descended from the Tartars in the
neighbourhood of Astrachan, who had fled from the Russians
into the mountains; but that the ruins of Christian churches
in their neighbourhood, shewed that it had once been inhabited
by a very different race of people. This account was confirmed
by other persons, who ascribed these traces of Christianity to
some colonies of Genoese who had formerly settled in that
country. The Brethren, however, still wished to undertake the
journey; but they were at present under the necessity of aban-
doning their design, and returned to Sarepta after an absence
of about ten months.'
Besides embracing every opportunity of cultivating friendly
intercourse with the Calmucks, the Brethren at different periods
made attempts to introduce the gospel among them. With this
view, several of them applied to the study of their language, and
though they laboured under great disadvantages for want of an
able teacher, yet they obtained possession of some of their books,
which were of considerable assistance to them, for the Calmucks
are not ignorant of the use of letters. Besides visiting the hordes
which came into the neighbourhood of Sarepta, some of the Breth-
ren occasionally accompanied them in their wanderings, in order
to make known the gospel to them; but their labours were at-
tended with little success. One poor blind Calmuck girl whom
they saved from perishing on the road, and four Kirghisian
children whom they ransomed from slavery, were the only in-
dividuals of the Tartar race whom they received into the church."
In May 1815, John G. Schill and C. Hubner proceeded from
Sarepta to the Choschut horde of Calmucks, with the view of
renewing the attempts to convert them to the Christian faith;
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. iii. p. 363; Fortsetzung Brud, Hist. tom. 1. p. 335.
› Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 105; vol. ii. p. 115, 191, 196; vol. iv. p. 213; vol. v.
p. xiv.; Edinburgh Review, vol. xxviii. p. 303, 315.
374
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
but they met with little or no encouragement in their labours.
After some years, indeed, two or three families appeared dis-
posed to receive the gospel; but they met with so much oppo-
sition from their countrymen, that they left the horde with
their tents and cattle, and took up their abode on a small island
in the river Wolga, near Sarepta. Thinking that there was no
other way of protecting themselves from being compelled to re-
turn to their heathen countrymen, they applied for baptism to
a Russian priest at Czaritzin, by whom they were baptized ac-
cording to the rites of the Greek Church. Little was known of
them afterwards; but there is too much reason to fear that they
would suffer essentially in their spiritual interests, when de-
prived, as they now were, of the care and instruction of the mis-
sionaries, and left to mingle with an ignorant and superstitious
people.¹
In May 1823, the Brethren Schill and Zwick undertook a
journey among the Calmucks, at the expense of the Russian
Bible Society, and with recommendatory letters from the Russian
minister, Count Nesselrode, for the purpose of circulating among
them such portions of the Holy Scriptures as had been trans-
lated into their language; but under an express injunction from
Prince Galitzin to confine themselves to the distribution of the
sacred books, refraining from all comment upon them. In this
journey, they visited five different hordes of Calmucks, and ap-
plied to the princes for permission to circulate the Scriptures
among their people; but they commonly put them off with
excuses, or positively refused their request. There were a
few who accepted them, and who authorized their subjects to
receive them, or undertook to distribute copies themselves; but
it may be doubted whether the books thus circulated were pre-
served, and still more, if they were read. In visiting the horde
in which the missionaries had resided previously for some years,
they took occasion to inquire whether many of them had the
copies of Matthew's Gospel, which were then distributed among
them, and whether they wished for other books; but they found
neither the Gospels nor any wish for other parts of Scripture;
and some of the Calmucks told them that there was not by this
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. vi. p. 255; vol. viii. p. 289; vol. ix. p. 163, 288, 299;
vol. xvii. p. 291. ·
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
375
time a book to be met with, results which, we fear, will very
commonly be found to attend the distribution of the Scriptures
among heathen and other unenlightened nations, if there are
no missionaries to follow it up by personal instruction.'
This journey of Schill and Zwick among the Calmucks for
the distribution of such parts of the Holy Scriptures as were
printed in their language, was the conclusion of their labours
among that people. The Brethren at Sarepta had applied to
the Russian government for permission to carry on the mission
in the manner usual among their body, and to instruct, baptize,
and form into congregations such as through their instrumentality
should embrace Christianity. But this application was refused,
on the ground of its being a law of the Empire that no heathen,
under the sway of Russia, should be converted to the Christian
faith and baptized, except by the clergy of the Greek Church.
As the labours of the Brethren were now restricted to the cir-
culation of the Scriptures; as they had not even liberty to give
oral instruction, and as, if converts should be made, they could
not baptize them, nor receive them into their Church, nor after-
wards watch over them, but must hand them over to the
Russian priests to be baptized by them, and united to a Church
grossly corrupt and superstitious, in which every spark of spirit-
ual life was likely to be extinguished, they did not feel it to be
their duty to prosecute the mission any longer."
SECT. VI.—PERSIA.
In the spring of 1747, Christian F. W. Hocker, a physician,
and J. Rueffer, a surgeon, set off for the East, with the view of
visiting the Gaures, who resided in Persia, and were supposed
by some to be the posterity of the Magi, or Wise men, who came
to Bethlehem at the birth of our Saviour. On arriving at
3
¹ Zwick and Schill's Journey from Sarepta to several Calmuck Hordes, p. 25, 61,
65, 69, 72, 83, 88, 103, 115, 178, 191, 194, 215, 245, 250.
* Period. Accounts, vol. viii. p. 342; vol. ix. p. 261.
The Gaures, or Guebres, are the same as the Parsis, or worshippers of fire. They
are descended from the ancient Persians, the followers of Zoroaster, to whose religious
tenets and moral institutions, they still profess to adhere.-Forbes' Oriental Memoirs,
vol. i. p. 109.
376
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Aleppo, they were strongly dissuaded, by various European gen-
tlemen in that city, from prosecuting their journey, on account
of the anarchy and misery in which Persia was then plunged
by Nadir Shah, who, amongst his other cruelties, had caused
numbers of the Jews and Armenians to be burnt alive, because
they would not satisfy his rapacious demands for money. But
notwithstanding these representations, the Brethren resolved to
follow out their original design. Afterwards, indeed, when they
heard many new and frightful reports from Persia, particularly
how the usurper had plundered Ispahan, the capital of the
kingdom, and Kerman, the chief seat of the Gaures; that in
the latter place he had been so inhuman as to erect three pyra-
mids of men's heads; and that, in consequence of his unpar-
allelled cruelties, the whole country was in a state of rebellion,
Hocker was inclined to go to Bussora, and there wait a more
convenient season for executing their design; but Rueffer rather
proposed going to Bagdad, to which the other consented, on
condition that should they find no opportunity of travelling
from thence to Persia, they would then proceed to Bussora.
Having provided themselves with two camels, and a variety
of other necessary articles, they left Aleppo with the caravan
destined for the East, consisting of no fewer than fifteen hun-
dred camels. In passing through the desert, they usually set off
about sunrise, and travelled till noon, when they stopped for
an hour, and prepared some coffee for dinner. They afterwards
pursued their journey till sunset, when they again halted, and
rested till a little after midnight. Their supper consisted of
hard boiled rice, with melted butter; and though it was an un-
savoury dish, yet hunger rendered it palatable, and even deli-
cious. Their drink was muddy stinking water, which they
were obliged to strain through a cloth before it was fit for use.
After travelling about a fortnight in this manner, they arrived
at Cowis, a place where the caravan usually divided into two,
one part going to Bagdad, the other to Bussora; but to their
great mortification, the whole, in this instance, proceeded to
Bussora. They, therefore, went forward to Bagdad, in com-
pany with four Jews who were travelling thither; and, on their
arrival in that city, they learned that a caravan was about to
set off for Persia. Having joined it without delay, they pro-
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
377
ceeded a considerable way on their journey without molesta-
tion; but they were at length attacked by the Kurds, a race of
robbers who infest that part of the country, to the great annoy-
ance of travellers. Their way that day was first over a large
hill, and then through a valley along the foot of the hills.
The armed men, who were between fifty and sixty in number,
stopped in the valley, to wait till the whole caravan had passed
over the hill. Scarcely, however, had our travellers passed it,
when they heard a hideous cry behind them on another hill,
and on looking round, they perceived a numerous band of
Kurds running straight toward them. A few of them were
mounted, and armed with sabres and javelins; but most of
them were on foot, and had chiefly clubs and javelins, so that
if the people belonging to the caravan had possessed courage
and a good leader, they might easily have repelled them, as
there were only about two hundred of this undisciplined band.
But as they retreated in full gallop over the hill, after firing
only a few shots, those who had merely asses or mules were left
an easy prey to the robbers. Before Hocker was aware, he was
pierced in the back with a javelin, and while he turned and
lcoked about, he received another stab in his right side; but as
they both struck against his ribs, they did him no material in-
jury. Such, however, was the violence of the latter, that he fell
down the hill, upon which one of the robbers followed him,
and before he had time to rise, aimed a stroke at his face, but
though he received a pretty severe wound in the chin, he did
not lose it, as some of the caravan did their ears, while others
had their skulls fractured. When he rose, he suffered the rob-
bers to take all his money and clothes, to his very shirt and
breeches, which they did not offer to seize.
As soon as the robbers left him, he ran forward as fast as he
could; but before he was aware, he received another violent
stroke on the back of his neck from one of the banditti who lay
in wait for him, so that for a time he lost all recollection, and
fell almost lifeless to the ground. The ruffian, however, took
nothing from him but the watch left in his pocket. Hocker
then fell into the hands of a third, who stripped him of his
boots and stockings. A fourth now came up and robbed him of
his breeches, but yet he had the civility to leave him two pairs
378
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
of old drawers. From the place where they were plundered to
the nearest habitation was fifteen English miles, and toward
this quarter each individual made the best of his way. As
Hocker was naked and barefooted, his body was in a short time
half roasted by the heat of the sun, and his feet were extremely
sore from the hardness of the road; but yet the hope of reach-
ing a place of safety supported his strength and courage. On
his arrival he found many of his fellow-travellers naked like
himself, and spent with fatigue, hunger and thirst. His first
concern was to find his brother Rueffer, who was no less
anxiously seeking for him, and if the Persians had not hin-
dered him, would certainly have returned to the place where
they were robbed. Hocker at last discovered him coming to-
wards him, but for some time did not recognise him, stripped
as he was of all his clothes. He was not, however, wounded,
for as soon as he saw the robbers running up to him, brandish-
ing their clubs, he made signs to them to take all he had, beg-
ging only his instrument for bleeding. Thus one after another
stripped him till he was left perfectly naked. One of the Per-
sians furnished him with a piece of cloth to bind round his
waist; and Hocker, as soon as he saw him, gave him a pair of
his drawers Shach Ali Beg, who took them with him, and
another Persian called Hassen Ali Beg, were so kind as supply
him with an old waistcoat and sandals, and brought them to a
house, where, as it was cold, they were glad to find a warm
chamber, and some bread and grapes for their supper. Ruef-
fer's body, however, was so full of sores and blisters, occasioned
by the burning heat of the sun, that for many nights he could
not shut his eyes for pain. In general, the Persians belonging
to the caravan behaved toward them with great kindness. The
two persons already mentioned would have purchased asses for
them, but as they could not pay for them, they chose rather to
walk
On the following day, the Brethren set forward on their
journey; but scarcely had a week elapsed, when they were
again attacked by another gang of robbers, who rushed upon
them with drawn sabres, and stripped them of the few articles
they had left. Hocker saved only a pair of torn drawers; Ruef-
fer, an old waistcoat. Their sufferings for some days were so
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
379
great, that it is impossible to describe them. They had nothing
for food but bread and water; and Hocker caught a violent
flux from the difference of temperature between the night and
the day. It was considered by them as a great mercy, that for
a few nights they were permitted to sleep in a stable, though
without either fire or covering. Hocker at last obtained some
kind of dress for himself, but as it consisted of horse hair and
cotton, it tore his skin, and was extremely painful. Happily,
they at length reached Ispahan, and were received in a friendly
manner by some fathers of the Roman Catholic Church who
lived in that neighbourhood, and particularly by Mr Pierson,
the English resident, who took them into his house, and sup-
plied them with clothes, and such other articles as they needed.
On mentioning to this gentleman their design of visiting the
Gaures, he dissuaded them in the strongest manner from mak-
ing the attempt at that time, as the whole country was in a
state of the greatest anarchy and distress. He told them that
Nadir Shah, and after him the Affghans, had ransacked and
plundered Kerman; that the Gaures in that quarter were a
good, honest, industrious kind of people, but that most of them
had either been massacred or expelled from the country; and
that the roads to that place were still more dangerous, from the
numerous gangs of robbers which infested them, than even
those they had lately travelled. These representations of the
English resident were confirmed from every quarter, and de-
stroyed all the Brethren's hopes of being soon able to visit the
Gaures. They might have settled at Ispahan in a medical
capacity, with the fairest prospects of success, as the inhabi-
tants of Persia have a very exalted idea of the learning and
skill of physicians from Europe; but as they had no hope of
being useful in their principal character as missionaries, they
resolved to return to Cairo in Egypt, and there wait the advice
of their Brethren.
In June 1748, the two missionaries left Ispahan; but they
had not proceeded far on their journey, when the caravan was
surprised and robbed by another gang of banditti. They now
lost the third time every farthing they possessed, together with
most of their clothes. In consequence of this, they came to
Bender Buscher in rags and in debt; but here they found a
380
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
friend in the Dutch agent, who took them under his care,
kindly paid their debts, and forwarded them on their journey
to Bussora. From thence they afterwards proceeded to Egypt;
but while they were in that country, Rueffer died at Damietta,
and was interred in the burying-ground of the Greeks.
In February 1750, Hocker, who was now deprived of his fel-
low-traveller, returned to Europe, after an absence of about
three years. Thus terminated the plan of the Brethren for in-
troducing the gospel among the Gaures in Persia."
SECT. VII.—EGYPT.
IN May 1752, Dr Hocker, who had returned from Persia two
years before, proceeded to Egypt with the design of penetrating
into Abyssinia. Among the various schemes of Count Zinzen-
dorf, no one was more fondly cherished by him, or for a season
more zealously prosecuted, than that of forming a spiritual
connection or correspondence between the Church of the Breth-
ren, and other sections of the Christian Church. His object in
this was not so much to bring about a reformation of corrupt sys-
tems of faith, where these were found to exist, as to seek out and
offer the right hand of fellowship to such among them, of what-
ever name or nation, as, while they kept connected with their
respective churches, corrupt though they might be, adhered to
the great doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, that salvation is to
be obtained only through the merits of Christ, and that com-
munion with him is the source of all true happiness. It was
this wish that led him to entertain the idea of sending Breth-
ren to open a communication with the Church of Abyssinia.
The plan of Hocker was to practise as a physician in Cairo,
to seek to obtain the good-will of the Patriarch of the Copts,
by whom the Abuna or metropolitan of Abyssinia is conse-
crated; and through him to form an acquaintance with the
Abuna himself, and to offer him the services of the Church of
the Brethren. Having presented to the Patriarch of the Copts
a letter addressed to him by Count Zinzendorf, Hocker also
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 381.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
381
gave him a short account of the history and constitution of the
Church of the Brethren, and of their wish to maintain friendly
and brotherly intercourse with all the children of God, and so
contribute to the fulfilment of the Saviour's prayer, that his
followers might "all be one." He afterwards received from
him an answer to Count Zinzendorf's letter, of which the fol-
lowing is an extract: "In the name of the merciful and gra-
cious God. In God is salvation. From Mark,' the servant of
the servants of the Lord. The peace of our Lord God, and the
Captain of our salvation Jesus Christ, which he in an upper
room at Zion poured forth upon the assembly of excellent dis-
ciples and apostles. May he pour out this peace upon the be-
loved, excellent, and experienced brother, the venerable Bishop
our Father Aloysius,' the liturgist of the Unity of the Brethren.
This is to testify, Beloved Brother, that the blessed son and
venerable deacon, Irenæus Hocker, has delivered unto us your
letter, which was full of affectionate cordial love. We have
read it; and it became unto us a taste of your love to all
Christians. We, in like manner, pray God for you, and for all
the Christian people, that he may exalt the glory of the Chris-
tians in the whole habitable world, through the nutrition of
his life-giving cross."
In December 1753, Dr Hocker proceeded to Constantinople
with the view of providing himself with a firman or pass from
the Grand Seignior, as there was no way of entering Abyssinia
but by the Red Sea, the ports of which were all in the hands
of the Turks, who would scarcely allow a European to enter
them without orders from Court. Besides a firman from the
Grand Seignior, he obtained recommendatory letters from the
Grand Vizier to Ibrahim Kiaga, one of the most powerful
Turkish officers in Egypt, and to the Pasha of Jidda, and like-
wise a letter of recommendation from the English Ambassador
to the Prime Minister of Abyssinia; but before he was able to
The Patriarchs of the Copts, who have also the title of Patriarchs of Alexandria,
Jerusalem, Abyssinia, and Nubia, are all called after the Evangelist Mark, who is
considered as the founder of the Church of Alexandria. This was Mark the hundred
and sixth.
2 Lewis, i.e. Count Zinzendorf.
3 Frederic, or, in Gorman, Froidrich, .e. Rich in peace.
• Crantz's Hist. Broth. p. 433; Poriod. Accounts, vol. xii. p. 97.
382
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
carry his design into execution, both the Grand Seignior and
Ibrahim Kiaga died, in consequence of which the firman of the
one, and the letter to the other, were of no use. Travelling was
also rendered very unsafe by the banditti which infested the
country; even in the neighbourhood of Cairo persons were in
danger of being plundered. Egypt being in such a disturbed
and unsettled state, Hocker resolved to return to Germany and
receive instructions in regard to his future procedure.'
In May 1756, Dr Hocker set out again for Egypt, and was
accompanied by George Pilder, who had been employed in the
Theological Seminary of the Brethren, and was considered a
man of learning. After their arrival in Cairo, they heard a re-
port of great changes having taken place in Abyssinia; that
the king was dead, and his son, who was only seven years old,
had ascended the throne under the guardianship of his mother;
that all the Roman Catholics and the Greeks who had been in-
vited into the country by the former sovereign were expelled;
and that the prime minister himself, to whom Hocker had re-
ceived a letter of recommendation from the English ambassador
at Constantinople, was disgraced, so that it could now be no
longer of any use to him. In short, the country seemed shut
against all foreigners; but yet the Brethren did not despair of
being enabled to carry forward their design. They obtained
from the Patriarch of the Copts a recommendation to the Abuna
of Abyssinia, John the 137th. In this letter there occurs the
following sentence, "Suffer me to recommend to you this blessed
man, both for the sake of Him who said, 'I was a stranger and
ye took me in,' and likewise out of love to me," language which
appears to shew that in the Coptic, as in the Romish and other
fallen churches, the phraseology of piety is retained while the
spirit thereof is gone.
In September 1758, the Brethren, after many delays, set off
for Abyssinia. Having crossed the country to Suez, they em-
barked on board a small Turkish vessel on the Red Sea, and
after a tedious voyage of eleven days they anchored near the
island of Hassane. On the following night there arose a violent
storm from the south-east, which drove the vessel toward the
coast; and the cable of one of the anchors having snapped, the
¹ Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 435; Period. Accounts, vol. xii. p. 141.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
383
Turkish boatmen who were employed to let down the largest
anchor with a fresh cable, lowered two of the boats into the
water and escaped to the island. About midnight the ship was
stranded, and was expected every moment to upset. In a short
time the main-mast broke and went overboard, carrying with
it part of the deck. Meanwhile the sailors were continually
calling to the Arabs on shore to bring out boats to save their
lives; and at length, after sunrise, a boat did come out and
conveyed all on board from the ship, but as it never approached
nearer the shore than musket-shot, they were obliged to wade
up to their shoulders in the water to reach the land. Besides
their ship, there were other vessels wrecked on the island; in-
deed only two escaped. On the following days the unfortunate
shipwrecked people endeavoured to get on board these two ves-
sels that they might not be plundered or die of hunger on this
barren and inhospitable island, as many others had done before
them. The Brethren also endeavoured to get on board, but
they were always refused admission. Nineteen days they had
to remain on the island along with others, their companions in
misfortune, and suffered much during that time from the
treachery and rapacity of both the Greeks and the Arabs, as
well as from the want of provisions and even of fresh water.
Having found at length an opportunity of escaping from the
island, they proceeded to the port of Jidda on the coast of
Arabia. Here they received an unexpected visit from two Turk-
ish merchants, who had been commissioned by the Regent of
Abyssinia to search for a European physician, and to bring him
to Gondar, with a view to the cure of the prime minister, who
was labouring under a cutaneous affection of the face. They
asked Dr Hocker to return with them; but, after taking the
subject into consideration, he declined the proposal, chiefly on
account of the loss of all his medicines by their late shipwreck,
and the improbability of obtaining suitable remedies in Abys-
sinia. He stated, at the same time, that they did not give up
their design of going thither next year, but begged that a writ-
ten invitation, from the proper authority, might be sent to him
to Cairo. They accordingly set out on their return to Egypt,
and after passing through many dangers they arrived at Cairo.
Pilder was obliged, on account of his health, to return to Europe;
384
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
and after some time,' Hocker followed him, without having car-
ried into effect his purpose of penetrating into Abyssinia.²
Dr Hocker, however, was not discouraged by these repeated
disappointments, and resolved not to abandon the undertaking.
He hoped that, in the patient exercise of his medical profession,
a door might at length be opened for promoting the interests of
religion, if not in Abyssinia, at least in Egypt.
In September 1768, he accordingly set off again for Cairo, ac-
companied by John Henry Danke, another of the Brethren. On
their arrival they found the whole country in a state of great
confusion, in consequence of the attempt of Ali Bey to mount
the throne of Egypt, and to erect it into an independent king-
dom. They were not, however, long in the country, when they
became acquainted, through the Coptic Patriarch, with the new
Abuna of Abyssinia, John the 138th, who inquired whether
they would not accompany him to that country; but Hocker
excused himself on the ground of his age, requesting the Abuna's
favour to his successors, which he promised to shew them.³
In October 1769, Mr John Antes, one of the Brethren, who
was appointed to join the missionaries in Egypt, sailed from
London; and after a voyage of about seven weeks, arrived at
Larnica, in the island of Cyprus. Not being able to obtain a
passage from that place to Egypt, he at length heard there was a
vessel at Limasol, a port about fifteen leagues to the westward,
bound for Alexandria; and though he was then very ill of an
ague which he had caught immediately after his arrival, he
crept out of bed, packed up his luggage during the paroxysm of
the fever, and prepared to take his departure. As his con-
ductor spoke no language but Greek, the English consul pro-
cured him a muleteer who understood Italian to carry his
luggage and provisions. He cautioned him, however, against
his very guides, telling him they would murder their own
parents if they could make any thing by it. The muleteer, in
particular, had so much the aspect of a villain, that Mr Antes
charged a pair of pocket pistols before his eyes, and placed them
in his belt, to shew the fellow he was perfectly on his guard.
¹ In 1761.
* Period. Accounts, vol. xii. p. 189; vol. xx. p. 391.
* Crantz's Hist. Broth. p. 615; Period. Accounts, vol. xii. p. 196.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
385
Thus equipped, he left Larnica in the dusk of the evening; but
he had scarcely proceeded a mile, when it began to rain most
furiously, attended with vivid flashes of lightning, and frequent
peals of thunder. As he was but imperfectly sheltered from
the storm in his Turkish dress, he threw a bed-quilt which he
had in his saddle over his head, and was thus led in a manner
blindfolded, entirely at the mercy of his guides. After they
had travelled three or four hours through a desert country, the
muleteer, who had the charge of the luggage and the greater
part of the provisions, discovered among them a bottle of spirit-
uous liquor, with which he made so very free, that he lost the
command of his mule, and the animal, taking advantage of this
circumstance, ran back to the place from which it came with
the whole of its cargo. As the other guide endeavoured to
assist him in catching it, he likewise forsook Mr Antes, who,
from the manner in which he was covered, did not discover his
solitary situation until after some time he no longer heard his
companions following him. He then uncovered himself; but
it was so extremely dark, that except at short intervals, by
means of the flashes of lightning, he could see nothing even at
the distance of a yard. He now dismounted, and tied his mule
by the bridle to some brushwood near the path, which was only
like a sheep's track, and began to walk back, in the hope of
finding at least one of his guides; but reflecting on the little
probability there was of success, he returned to the place where
he left his mule, generally feeling the road, except when he ob-
tained a glance of it by means of the lightning. When at last
he got near the spot, the animal gave a sudden spring, broke
loose from the brushwood, and ran away; but as it had come
from Limasol, it of course followed the road to that place.
After standing a considerable time, he perceived, by means of
the lightning, a person coming towards him mounted on an ass;
but he soon discovered with regret it was neither of his guides.
The stranger, on approaching him, muttered something in Greek;
but not finding himself understood, he proceeded on his jour-
ney. After Mr Antes had remained long in a state of painful
suspense, his conductor returned; but as neither knew the lan-
guage of the other, he could give him no information about his
luggage. On learning, however, that his mule had run away,
VOL. I.
B b
386
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the poor fellow dismounted from his own beast, and made him
get upon it, while he himself walked by his side, through deep
mire, and under a constant rain. After some time, they dis-
covered the runaway mule on the path before them, and were
at length successful in catching it. About midnight, they
reached a mud-built cottage, and knocked at the door. Never
in his life was Mr Antes so happy to get under a roof; but on
entering it, he found it was merely a shed, quite open on the
other side. There was, however, a fire, and some men were
lying on the ground around it. After he had taken a very
hearty refreshment, the master of the house conducted him into
a kind of room, furnished him with a great coat, and shewed
him a place spread with a clean sheet, where he might take
some rest. It was nothing but a large chest, yet hard as it was,
he soon fell fast asleep, and rested most comfortably till about
eight o'clock next morning, when his guide came in and made
signs for him to rise and prepare for his journey.
The day was extremely cold and disagreeable. What had
fallen in rain, the night before, in the valley, proved to be snow
on Mount Olympus and the neighbouring hills. The sea also
was still greatly agitated in consequence of the late storm, a
circumstance which proved very harassing to our travellers.
About three miles from the village where they had lodged, the
road ran along the sands; and as the coast was perpendicular
like a wall, and the waves rolled close on the shore, their legs.
were completely drenched in the water, which often reached
even to the bellies of their mules. In this manner they tra-
velled from morning till about four o'clock in the afternoon.
Mr Antes was so distressed that he almost gave himself up for
lost, not thinking he was able to stand the wet and cold any
longer. He, at length, however, plucked up courage, in the
hope of warming himself by walking, as soon as they got clear
of the waves. The moment this was the case, he alighted from
his mule, but he soon found that he had not taken the exhausted
state of his body into account, for after walking two or three
hundred yards, he felt himself unable to proceed further, and
was obliged, with the assistance of his guide, to mount his mule
again. About nine o'clock at night, they arrived at Limasol, at
the house of a Greek who acted as English consul at that place.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
387
Two days after, the muleteer likewise arrived, with the articles
committed to his charge, except only a few trifles which he had
purloined.
After waiting about a week at Limasol, Mr Antes embarked
for Egypt, and in five days reached Alexandria; but as the
plague had begun to make its appearance in that city, he has-
tened away as quickly as possible to Rosetta. The voyage from
thence to Cairo is usually performed in three or four days; but
in this instance, it occupied no fewer than eighteen. Besides,
at that time, it happened to rain very heavily, as it often does
in the lower parts of the Delta, in the winter season. The
vessel in which Mr Antes had embarked was old and
crazy, and
as the deck was far from watertight, the rain penetrated freely
through it, so that he could not sit dry even in the cabin. In a
short time his very bed began to moulder under him, and he
was obliged to suspend it with a cord, to allow the water to run
off underneath. Even his provisions ran short. His janissary,
or guide, had provided sufficient victuals for an ordinary voyage
of five or six days, consisting of bread, fowls, and other articles;
but as it was protracted so long, the bread by degrees became
mouldy, and all the fowls were consumed. Besides, the wind
was often so contrary and so boisterous, that they repeatedly lay
at anchor before some paltry village for four or five days to-
gether. When the sailors were urged to exert themselves, they
always exclaimed: "It is from God! It is so written in the
book of fate!" At length they arrived before Bulac, the har-
bour of Grand Cairo, where, as if to complete their misfortunes,
the vessel stranded on a sandbank in the middle of the river,
nor were they, with all their efforts, able to move her. Mr
Antes, however, got ashore in a boat, and proceeded to the house
of his Brethren Hocker and Danke, who gave him a most cor-
dial reception after all his toils.'
In January 1773, Mr Bruce, the celebrated traveller, who
had penetrated into Abyssinia about four years before, returned
safe to Cairo. As the Brethren were sent to Egypt chiefly with
the view of visiting that country, they made various inquiries
at him concerning the character of the inhabitants, their govern-
1 Antes' Observations on tho Manners and Customs of the Egyptians, p. 55; Period.
Accounts, vol. v. p. 159.
388
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ment, religion, manners, and customs; but from the account he
gave them, they perceived, that unless some great revolution
took place, it would be vain to think of establishing a mission
in a kingdom so bigoted to its own faith, and so torn by anarchy
and intestine divisions. Mr Bruce informed them, that the
hatred of the people to all Europeans, and especially to their
priests, was so great, that they would stone a missionary to
death the moment he opened his lips on the subject of religion;
that though he himself had employed various means to avoid
suspicion, it was with the utmost difficulty he had escaped per-
secution on account of his creed, and even this would have been
altogether impracticable, had he not constantly resided at Court,
and been protected by the king himself. These representations,
which were afterwards confirmed by several Abyssinians them-
selves, destroyed all the hopes of the Brethren of being able to
promote the interests of religion in that distracted country.'
In the mean while, the Brethren, as they had little prospect
of penetrating into Abyssinia, endeavoured to render them-
selves useful in Egypt. With this view, Danke made repeated
visits to the Copts in Upper Egypt, particularly in the town of
Behnesse and the neighbouring villages. In his intercourse
with them, he appears to have studied to insinuate himself into
their good graces, by the mildness and kindness of his beha-
viour toward them; and they, on the other hand, seem to have
been so far won on by his gentle manners, as to treat him, or
at least to make a shew of treating him, in a corresponding
spirit. He did not directly attack their unscriptural dogmas
and superstitious ceremonies; but he endeavoured silently to
undermine their confidence in them, by pointing them to the
sufferings and death of Christ as the only foundation of hope
for a guilty creature, and representing to them the happiness of
living in daily communion with God. Though many of them
entertained considerable suspicions of his orthodoxy, particu-
larly on the subject of fasting, yet, in general, they heard him
with attention, and some even professed to approve of his views;
but this arose partly from their inability to controvert the truth,
and partly from their disposition to flattery. Danke was so
far deceived by these appearances, that he formed favourable
Period. Accounts, vol. v. p. 164.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN,
389
hopes of many of them, and imagined that his instructions had
been useful to them; but he afterwards discovered with sorrow,
that these expectations were without foundation.'
During the residence of the Brethren in Egypt, the country
was in a state of the greatest anarchy and confusion: some-
times one party, sometimes another prevailed. In consequence
of these frequent changes, there was nothing like the adminis-
tration of justice in the land. The rulers themselves were guilty
of the greatest oppressions, both toward their own people, and
to such Europeans as were resident in the country.2
In November 1779, Mr Antes had the misfortune to fall into
the hands of one of the Beys, who, in the hope of extorting
money from him, treated him in a most barbarous manner. As
his occupation was chiefly of a sedentary nature, he found it
necessary, for the sake of his health, to take frequent exercise
in the open air, especially as the place of his residence was in
a close insalubrious part of the town. On this account he often
went into the fields; but the heat of the climate was so ener-
vating, that when he had no particular object to call forth his
activity, he was always inclined to sit down and rest himself
under the shade of a tree, by which means the chief aim of his
walk was frustrated. To remedy this, he sometimes took a
fowling-piece with him, particularly in winter, when there was
commonly plenty of game, which the inhabitants of every de-
scription are at perfect liberty to shoot, as the Turks are too
indolent to fatigue themselves with that exercise. To meet the
Beys, however, or other men in power, was dangerous, as they
were always ready, under some pretext or other, to extort
money, especially from Europeans, whom they generally supposed
to be rich; but as they commonly had a numerous train with
them, it was easy from the flatness of the country, to observe
them at a considerable distance, and to avoid them. In this
way, Mr Antes had eluded them for many years; but one day
when he was out on this diversion, in company with the secre-
tary of the Venetian consul, he and his companion were ob-
served by some Mamelukes belonging to one Osman Bey, as
they were returning home. The Bey himself and his train were
¹ Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. p.165; Period. Accounts, vol. xi. p. 296, 299, 307.
2 Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. P. 381.
390
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
near at hand; but they were concealed from their view by some
hillocks of rubbish, which are very numerous all around Cairo,
several of which are so high as to overlook almost the whole
city. Two of the Mamelukes immediately rode up toward them
at full gallop, with drawn swords in their hands, followed by
others on foot. They instantly stripped them of their fur coats,
shawls, and whatever else of value they had about them, and
demanded, at the same time, one hundred maktubs, or Turkish
zechins, each in value about seven shillings and sixpence,
threatening to carry them before their master unless they im-
mediately complied with their wishes. Mr Antes told them
they had no such sum about them, and taking out his purse
offered it to them. They at first took it, but finding it con-
tained only about twenty-five shillings, in small silver pieces,
they threw it back again with disdain, crying, "Da Sikab,"
that is, gold. As he knew he had nothing to expect from them
but ill treatment, he told them he had no gold upon him, but
if they would go home with him, he would give them some.
Upon this they cursed and swore, not being at liberty to leave
their master. Meanwhile ten more of the Mamelukes came up
on horseback, and repeated the same demand of gold, enforcing
it with the threat of carrying him before the Bey if he refused
to comply. Mr Antes again answered, that he had none upon
him, but he would give them some if they would go with
him. At last the principal man among them said: “
Go you
home and fetch your gold; but we will keep your companion
here, and if you do not speedily return, we will cut off his head.”
As the poor Venetian, who could not speak a word of Arabic,
was overwhelmed with fear and trembling, Mr Antes could not
think of leaving him in the hands of these merciless barbarians,
and therefore he generously replied, that his friend might go
and bring the money, but that he would remain with them. He
had scarcely, however, advanced a few steps, when the servants
fell upon him, and stripped him of the few clothes he had left,
so that he was obliged to fly nearly naked into the city. By
this time the sun had set, and as the Mamelukes durst not stay
away from their master till the Venetian could return, one of
them rode up to the Bey, and told him they had seized a Euro-
pean from whom some money might be obtained. As the
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
391
fellow soon returned with an order to bring the prisoner before
him, they placed him between their horses, and dragged him to
the place where the Bey was sitting with his train about him.
Mr Antes, on approaching the chief, addressed him with the
usual salutation: "I am under your protection." To this, un-
less they are wickedly inclined, they commonly reply: "You
are welcome." But the Bey, instead of answering him, stared
furiously at him, and asked: "Who are you?" "I am an
Englishman," replied Mr Antes. "What are you doing here in
the night?" said the tyrant: "You must be a thief. Aye, aye,
most likely the one who did such a thing the other day." To
this Mr Antes answered: "I was entering the city half an hour
before sunset, when I was seized by your Mamelukes, and de-
tained till now, when, indeed, it is dark, but yet not an hour
after sunset, the regular time for shutting the gates." Without
making any reply, the Bey ordered one of his officers to carry
him to the castle, a building at some distance from the town,
situated in an extensive sandy plain, where most of the Beys
had houses, and exercised their Mamelukes.
Every month, one of the Beys in rotation took his station at
this place, in order to guard the city by night against the de-
predations of the wandering Arabs; and it so happened that
this was the turn of Osman Bey. Before he was removed, Mr
Antes wished to say a few words more in his own behalf; but
he was prevented by a horde of servants, who are always glad
of an opportunity to insult a European. One spat in his face,
two others kicked him on the side, while another put a rope
about his neck made of the filaments of the date-tree, which is
much rougher than horse-hair. By this rope, a fellow in rags
was ordered to drag him along, and another on horseback,
armed with a sword and pistol. to guard him. In their way to
the castle, they passed a gentle slope, with a large garden, sur-
rounded by a mud-wall on the left; and as the garden here
consisted chiefly of irregular plantations of orange, lemon, and
other prickly trees, through which no horse can pass, it occurred
to Mr Antes, that he might cut the rope by which he was held,
and
escape over the wall; but on searching for his knife, he found
it was gone. Soon after, the fellow in rags advised him to give
money to the guard, who would then let him escape. At the
392
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
sound of the word Money, the guard instantly came galloping
up to him, and asked, whether he had any left. Mr Antes re-
plied that he would give him what he had if he would let him
go; and accordingly he gave him the purse which the Mame-
lukes had refused. Having looked at it, the rascal put it into
his pocket without saying a word, but still drove him forward
to the castle. Here Mr Antes was thrown into a dungeon, half
under ground; a large iron chain was put about his neck, se-
cured at one end by a padlock, and fastened at the other to a piece
of timber. In about half an hour the Bey himself arrived with
his retinue, lighted flambeaux being carried before him. He
alighted, walked up stairs into a room, sat down in a corner,
while his people placed themselves in a circle round him.
Mr
Antes was then sent for, unchained, and led up to the chamber
by two men. In going up stairs, he heard the rattling of the
instruments used for the bastinado, and immediately guessed
what was before him. On entering the room, he found a small
neat Persian carpet spread for him, which was in fact a piece
of civility, for the common people when about to receive the
bastinado, are thrown on the bare ground. After asking him a
question or two, the Bey exclaimed, "Throw him down."
Mr
Antes then inquired what he had done. "How, you dog," an-
swered the tyrant, "dare you ask what you have done? Throw
him down." The servants immediately threw him flat on his
face, and with a strong staff, about six feet long, having a piece
of an iron chain fixed to both ends, confined his feet above the
ankles. Two of them, one on each side, then twisted the staff
and chain together, so as to turn up the soles of his feet; and
being provided with what is called a corbage, which consists
of a strap of the skin of the hippopotamus, about a yard in
length, somewhat thicker than a man's finger, and very tough
and hard, they waited for the orders of their master. When
they had placed him in this position, an officer came and whis-
pered in his ear, "Do not suffer yourself to be beaten; give him.
a thousand dollars, and he will let you go." Mr Antes, how-
ever, reflected, that should he now offer any thing, the Bey would
probably send one of his men with him to receive it, and that
he would be obliged to open, in the presence of this officer, his
strong chest, in which he kept not only his own money, but
.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
393
considerable sums belonging to others, which he had received
in payment for goods belonging to different merchants, and that
the whole of this would, in all probability, be taken from him.
Being determined, therefore, not to involve others in his mis-
fortunes, he said, "Mafish," that is, "No money;" upon which
the Bey immediately ordered the servants to strike. They laid
on at first pretty moderately; but yet Mr Antes gave himself
up for lost, considering that his life was in the hands of a capri-
cious tyrant, to whose unrelenting cruelty many others had
fallen a sacrifice. Having therefore no other refuge, he com-
mended his soul into the hands of his Heavenly Father, and he
experienced his gracious support on this trying occasion, in so
remarkable a manner, that the fear of death was entirely taken
away. After they had beaten him for some time, the officer, pro-
bably supposing that he might now have become more tractable,
again whispered in his ear the word money, but now the sum
was doubled. Mr Antes again answered, "I have none here."
They then laid on more roughly than before; every stroke was
like the application of a red hot poker. At last the officer,
thinking that, though he had no money, he might have some
valuable goods, once more whispered in his ear something to
that effect. As Mr Antes knew that English fire-arms often
attract their fancy even more than money, he offered them an
elegant blunderbuss, richly mounted with silver, which he could
get without opening his strong chest. The Bey having inquired
what he said, the officer answered with a sneer, "Only a blun-
derbuss." To this the tyrant replied, "Beat the dog." They
now began to lay on with all their might. The pain was at first
excruciating beyond conception, but after some time all sensa-
tion ceased; it seemed only like beating a bag of wool. When
the Bey at length perceived that no money could be extorted
from him, he probably thought that the prisoner might after all
be a poor man, and therefore ordered them to take him away.
Upon this they loosed his feet; but yet he was obliged to walk
down to the dungeon with the chain about his neck. In about
half an hour, a messenger came with orders to bring him up
again. The servants now took off the chain, and after carrying
him till he was near the door, told him to walk in or the Bev
would beat him again. Mr Antes was afraid some one had told
394
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
him, that with a little more beating, money might be obtained
from him. There are instances, indeed, of the bastinado being
repeated for three days successively, to the number of one or
two thousand strokes. Persons of very vigorous constitutions
may still perhaps survive; but in general, after five or six hun-
dred strokes, the blood gushes from the mouth and nose, and
the unhappy wretch dies either under the torture, or immediately
after.
When Mr Antes entered the chamber, the Bey said to one of
his officers, "Is this the man of whom you told me?" The
fellow having stepped up to the prisoner, and stared him in the
face, as if narrowly to inspect his features, on a sudden lifted
up his hand, and exclaimed, "By Allah, it is! Why, this is
the best man in all Cairo, and my particular friend. Oh! how
sorry am I that I was not here before to tell you so," with other
expressions of a similar kind. To this the Bey replied, “Then
take him. I give him to you; and if he has lost any thing, see
to get it restored." Mr Antes had never in his life seen the
officer before; and he soon perceived that the whole was merely
a trick to get rid of him in a decent manner, and to put a little
money into the pocket of his pretended deliverer. He was
obliged to walk once more till he was out of the Bey's sight,
when the servants of his "particular friend" took him up and
carried him to his house, which was at a considerable distance.
Here the officer gave him something to eat, and made him a
tolerably decent bed, which was the more welcome to him, as
he had lost most of his clothes, and felt extremely cold. Mr
Antes asked him, Whether what he had suffered was a proof of
the boasted hospitality of his countrymen to strangers? but he
got only the usual answer, "It is from God! It is so written
in the book of fate, which cannot be altered!
had anointed his feet with balsam, and tied
them, Mr Antes lay down to rest, but spent a very uncomfort-
able night, suffering, as might naturally be expected, most ex-
quisite pain. In the morning, the artful fellow asked him,
Whether he was acquainted with the master of the customs; and
being answered in the affirmative, he offered to carry him to his
house. Having set him on an ass, while he himself mounted a
horse, they proceeded toward the city, accompanied by another
After the officer
some rags about
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
395
soldier.
On approaching the gate, the officer told him to take
off his rags, as it would be a disgrace to him to ride into the
town in that condition. "No disgrace to me," said Mr Antes,
"but to him who has treated me so shamefully." "It is from
God," was the answer of the officer. On arriving at the master
of the customs' house, Mr Antes requested that person to settle
every thing for him with his pretended deliverer; and on sum-
ming up the fees, it was found that he had about £20 to pay
for this piece of service. Being then carried home, he was put
to bed, and was confined to it for about six weeks, before he
could walk even on crutches; and for more than three years
after, his feet and ankles, which had been greatly hurt by the
twisting of the chain, were very liable to swelling.'
In May 1783, the mission to Egypt, which the Brethren had
prosecuted with so much patience and perseverance, was at
length given up. Their residence in that country was attended
with so much danger; their labours among the Copts were ac-
companied with so little success, and their prospect of being able
to penetrate into Abyssinia was so small, that it was deemed
inexpedient to persist any longer in so hopeless an undertaking.
SECT. VIII-LABRADOR.
IN May 1771, Jens Haven, Christian L. Drachart, Stephen
Jensen, and a number of other Brethren, sailed from England
with the view of establishing a mission on the coast of Labra-
dor. Within the last twenty years, the Brethren had made re-
peated attempts to commence a mission in that country, but it
was not accomplished until now. The place fixed on for a
'Autes' Observations, p. 115; Period. Accounts, vol. v. p. 169, 171, 174.
* Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. p. 382.
3 When on occasion of a previous visit, Drachart read to some of the Esquimaux a
written declaration of friendship in the name of the governor of Newfoundland, they
would on no account receive the paper into their hands, from an apprehension that
there was something living in it, which might afterwards do them injury, since it com-
municated the thoughts of a man at a distance, which they imagined must be the effect
of sorcery. The Esquimaux were not alone in their wonder at men communicating
their thoughts by means of writing. Richard Baxter says, When the Indians fast
396
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
settlement was in the 57° North Latitude, and was called by
them Nain. Having brought with them the materials of a
framed house, they began immediately on their arrival to erect
it; but with all their exertions, they had difficulty enough to
finish it before the commencement of winter, which in Labrador
is uncommonly severe. Though they kept large fires night and
day, yet the windows and walls of their house were all the winter
covered with ice, and their very bed-clothes froze to the wall.
In this inhospitable region they were able to procure very little
provisions, and as the ship with supplies did not arrive till near
the beginning of winter the following year, their situation was
exceedingly trying. Two pieces of meat were all they had left;
and they could expect little or no help from the Esquimaux, as
they were so improvident that they themselves were often re-
duced to the greatest straits. They had, however, collected a
quantity of berries from the hills, dried them, and laid them
up in store for the winter. Such was the situation of the
Brethren when the arrival of the vessel with provisions relieved
their distress. "Had you seen," said they, "the joy which
reigned among us when we heard that the ship had arrived, you
would certainly never forget it.
her this season, and had devoted ourselves to extreme poverty;
but yet we cannot say that a dejected spirit prevailed among
us. We had resolved to surrender ourselves up to all circum-
stances, trusting that He who had sent us hither, who has
counted the hairs of our head, and without whose permission
none of them can fall to the ground, would preserve us.
We had given up all hope of
>> 1
From their first arrival the Brethren were treated by the
Esquimaux in a friendly manner, and in a short time the most
perfect confidence was established between them. No European
would formerly have ventured alone among the savages, or have
passed a night with them on any consideration whatever; but
the missionaries travelled over the ice notwithstanding the se-
saw the use of lottors by our English, they thought there was surely some spirit in
them, that men should converse together by a paper."-Baxter's Saints' Everlasting
Rest, London 1688, p. 615. Most people little think what a wonderful thing written
language is.
¹ Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 404; Cranz Fortsetzung der Hist. von Gronland, p. 288,
291, 297; Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. vol. i. p. 125; Briof Account of tho Mission of tho
Brethron in Labrador, 1774, p. 3, 11, 27; Period. Accounts, vol. xvii. p. 410.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
397
verity of the season, visited them in their winter-houses, and
slept among them many nights successively. These visits the
Esquimaux were not backward to return. When the weather
permitted, many of them came to Nain in their sledges over the
frozen sea, and as soon as the ice was gone they came in still
greater numbers in their kajaks. At one time there were no
fewer than thirty-six tents pitched in the neighbourhood of the
missionary settlement, which must have contained upwards of
three hundred persons. Such, indeed, was the confidence of
the savages in the Brethren, that when they set off for the
islands, they committed to them their most valuable goods, and
often left even their wives and children under their care.¹
In the mean while, the missionaries did not neglect the main
object of their settlement in the country. Scarcely had they
arrived when they began to make known the gospel to the
savages; but here they had many difficulties to encounter. The
Esquimaux were ignorant in a great measure of the first prin-
ciples even of natural religion, so that there was little the
Brethren could lay hold of to impress their consciences. They
appeared, indeed, to have some idea of a Supreme Being who
made the heavens and the earth, yet so feeble was the impression,
that no traces of religious worship were discovered among them.
Even of their own guilt and depravity they seemed to have little
consciousness, for though they were the slaves of the most brutal
passions, and committed all manner of sin with greediness, yet
they had always at hand some apology for their conduct. The
liars consoled themselves that they were not thieves; the thieves
that they were not murderers; the murderers that they were
not Kablunats, i. e. Europeans and other foreigners, to whom,
it seems, they assign the chief place in the scale of criminals.
When the Brethren represented to them some of the great truths
of the gospel, they often expressed their wonder at what was
told them; at other times they would listen to nothing of a re-
ligious nature.2
In 1774, Haven, Brasen, Lister, and Lehmann, four of the
Brethren, undertook a voyage to the north with the view of ex-
ploring the coast, and selecting a spot for a second settlement,
as Nain was not found a convenient place for the Esquimaux
Brief Account of the Mission to Labrador, p. 9, 13, 22, 24.
1
Ibid. p. 9, 13, 23.
398
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
obtaining provisions. They embarked in a small vessel which
had been sent to them for this purpose from Newfoundland.
In every place which they visited they were received by the
savages with great kindness, and were even entreated by them
to come and settle among them. But though they accomplished
the chief object of their voyage, they met with disasters, of
which, happily, we have not many examples in the history of
missions. On their return they were shipwrecked, and two of
them lost their lives. It had snowed the whole night and was
very cold. A brisk gale sprung up from the north-east, which
led them to hope that they would soon reach Nain; but all at
once they found themselves in shoal-water, and their little
vessel struck on a rocky bottom, which, as they afterwards found,
was dry at spring tide. The wind roared furiously, every wave
dashed over their little bark, and the raging of the sea was ren-
dered yet more terrible by the darkness of the night. They
expected every moment that their vessel would go to pieces.
The two sailors entreated them to take to the boat; but the
Brethren represented to them the danger of braving so tempes-
tuous a sea in a small boat, and that they would inevitably
perish among the breakers on the coast, which it would be im-
possible to avoid in the darkness of the night. They therefore
begged them to stay by the ship as long as possible; perhaps
they might be able to stand out till daybreak, and should it
even come to the worst, they had still the boat to betake them-
selves to. By two o'clock in the morning, the sloop had shipped
so much water, that though the waves were rolling mountain-
high, all were now convinced that it was time to leave it. They
therefore drew the boat astern, and descending one by one down
the anchor shaft, they all, nine in number, succeeded in getting
into it, and oars being useless in such a sea, they let it run be-
fore the wind, which it did with incredible celerity. They at-
tempted, but in vain, to get under the lee of different islands,
and, as no other resource appeared left, they resolved to run the
boat ashore, which was only about twenty yards distant, but
was begirt with cliffs on which the waves were dashing furi-
ously. They darted rapidly through them, when it struck on a
sunken rock with such violence that they were all thrown from
their seats, and it instantly filled with water. The captain and
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
399
the two sailors threw themselves into the sea and swam ashore,
and thence reached out an oar to assist the others to land.
Lister and Haven succeeded, though with great difficulty, in
laying hold of it, and got ashore; but Brasen and Lehmann
found a watery grave. Those who had reached the land found
themselves on a bare rock, half-dead with cold, the night so
dark that they could not see about them, without shelter, with-
out food, without any prospect of being able to leave this deso-
late spot. In the morning as the tide ebbed, they were rejoiced
to see first the prow and then the stern of their boat rising
out of the water: the keel too was entire, and though the sides
were completely shattered, they contrived to lash some blankets
which had come ashore, over the open spaces, sewing to them.
all the seal skins they could muster from their upper and nether
garments, including even their boots. Having spent three days
in making these miserable repairs, they embarked in this frail
conveyance for Nain, and with the help of an Esquimaux party
which they met with, they reached it in the evening in safety.'
In September 1776, Jens Haven proceeded, with three others
of the Brethren, to establish a new settlement on a small island
called Okkak, about 150 miles to the north of Nain; and six
years afterwards, a third station was begun at a place to the
south of Nain, which they called Hopedale. Okkak appeared to
be one of the most eligible places in Labrador for a settlement;
but Hopedale proved so unfruitful a field that the Brethren had
afterwards thoughts of abandoning that part of the country.
However, they persevered, and it is still one of their stations in
Labrador.
2
In March 1782, two of the missionaries, Samuel Liebisch
and William Turner, experienced a very remarkable deliverance
at sea; and though the details are lengthened, they are too
interesting to be here omitted.
One morning, these two Brethren set off from Nain for Okkak,
in a sledge driven by one of the converts, and were accompanied
by another sledge of Esquimaux, containing two men, one
woman, and a child. All were in good spirits; and as the
3
¹ Period. Accounts, vol, xvii. p. 458.
2 Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. ii. p. 59; Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 50.
3 In Labrador, sledges are drawn by a species of dogs, somewhat similar to the wolf in
400
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
weather was clear, and the track over the frozen sea in the best
order, they travelled with ease at the rate of six or seven miles
an hour, so that they hoped to reach Okkak in the course of
two or three days. After passing the islands in the bay of
Nain, they kept at a considerable distance from the shore, both
to gain the smoothest part of the ice, and to avoid the high rocky
promontory of Kiglapeit. About eight o'clock they met a sledge
with Esquimaux turning in from the sea; and after the usual
salutations, the strangers, in the course of conversation, threw
out some hints, that it might be as well for them to return. As
the missionaries, however, saw no cause of alarm, and suspected
that the travellers merely wished to enjoy the company of their
friends a little longer, they proceeded on their journey. After
some time, their own Esquimaux hinted that there was a ground
swell under the ice. It was then scarcely perceptible, except
on lying down and applying the ear close to the ice, when a
hollow disagreeable grating noise was heard, as if ascending
from the abyss. The sky, however, was still clear, except to-
wards the east, where a bank of light clouds appeared, inter-
spersed with some dark streaks; but as the wind blew strong
from the north-west, nothing was less expected than a sudden
change of weather.
The Brethren continued to pursue their journey till the sun
had reached its height in the horizon, and as yet there was
shape; and, like that animal, they never bark, but howl disagreeably. They are kept
by the Esquimaux in greater or smaller packs, according to the wealth of the indivi-
dual. They quietly submit to be harnessed to the yoke, and are treated with no great
mercy by the savages, who make them do hard duty, and at the same time allow them
little food. This consists chiefly of offals, old skins, rotten whale fins, entrails, &c.: or
should their master not be provided with theso or similar articles, he leaves them to
go and seek dead fish or mussels on the beach. When pinched with hunger, they will
eat almost any thing; and on a journey, it is necessary to secure the harness during
the night, lest by devouring it they should render it impossible to proceed in the
morning. In the evening, after being unharnessod, they are left to burrow in the
snow wherever they please; and in the morning they are sure to return at the call of
the driver, as they then receive some food. In the harness, they are not allowed to go
abreast, but are tiod by separate thongs of unequal length, to an horizontal bar on the
fore part of the sledge. An old knowing one leads the way, running ten or twenty
pacos before the rest, directed by the driver's whip, which is very long, and can be
properly managed only by an Esquimaux. The others follow like so many sheep. If
one of them receives a lash, he generally bites his neighbour, and the bite then goes
round. Their strength and speed, even with an hungry stomach, aro truly astonishing.
-Period. Accounts, vol. iii. p. 226.
+
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
401
little or no change in the aspect of the sky. But as the motion
of the sea under the ice had grown more perceptible, they be-
came rather alarmed, and began to think it prudent to keep
close to the shore. The ice also had cracks and large chasms
in many places, some of them one or two feet wide; but as
these are not uncommon, even in its best state, and the dogs
easily leap over them, they are frightful only to strangers.
As soon, however, as the sun declined toward the west, the
wind increased to a storm, the bank of light clouds from the
east began to ascend, and the dark streaks to put themselves in
motion against the wind. The snow was violently driven about
by partial whirlwinds, both on the ice and from off the peaks
of the neighbouring mountains. The ground-swell had now in-
creased so much, that its effects on the ice were very extraordi-
nary, as well as alarming. The sledges, instead of gliding
smoothly along as on an even surface, sometimes ran with vio-
lence after the dogs, and sometimes with difficulty as if ascend-
ing a rising hill; for though the ice was many leagues square,
and in some places three or four yards thick, yet the swell of
the sea underneath gave it an undulatory motion, not unlike
that of a sheet of paper accommodating itself to the surface of
a rippling stream. Noises, too, were now distinctly heard in
many directions, like the report of cannon, owing to the burst-
ing of the ice at a distance.
Alarmed by these phenomena, our travellers drove with all
haste toward the shore; but as they approached it, the prospect
before them was awfully tremendous. The ice, having burst
loose from the rocks, was tossed to and fro, and broken in a
thousand pieces against the precipices with a dreadful noise,
which, added to the raging of the sea, the roaring of the wind,
and the drifting of the snow, so completely overpowered them,
as almost to deprive them of the use both of their eyes and ears.
To make the land was now the only resource that remained;
but it was with the utmost difficulty the frightened dogs could
be driven forward; and as the whole body of ice frequently
sunk below the surface of the rocks, and then rose above it, the
only time for landing was the moment it gained the level of
the coast, a circumstance which rendered the attempt extremely
VOL. I.
Сс
402
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
nice and hazardous.
Through the kindness of Providence,
however, it succeeded. Both sledges gained the shore, and were
drawn up on the beach, though not without great difficulty.
Scarcely had they reached the land, when that part of the
ice from which they had just escaped burst asunder, and the
water rushing up from beneath, instantly precipitated it into
the ocean.
In a moment, as if by a signal, the whole mass of
ice, for several miles along the coast, and as far as the eye could
reach, began to break and to be overwhelmed with the waves.
The spectacle was awfully grand. The immense fields of ice.
rising out of the ocean, dashing against each other, and then
plunging into the deep with a violence which no language can
express, and a noise like the discharge of a thousand cannon,
was a sight which must have struck the most stupid and unre-
flecting mind with solemn awe. The Brethren were over-
whelmed with amazement at their miraculous escape; and even
the Pagan Esquimaux expressed gratitude to God on account
of their deliverance.
The Esquimaux now began to build a snow-house about thirty
paces from the beach; and about nine o'clock at night, all of
them crept into it, thankful for such a place of refuge, wretched
as it was. Before entering it, they once more turned their eyes.
to the sea, and beheld, with horror mingled with gratitude, the
enormous waves driving furiously before the wind, like so many
huge castles, and approaching the shore, where, with tremen-
dous noise, they dashed against the rocks, foaming and filling
the air with the spray. The whole company now took supper,
and after singing a hymn, they lay down to rest about ten
o'clock. The Esquimaux were soon fast asleep; but Liebisch
the missionary could get no rest, partly on account of the dread-
ful roaring of the storm, and partly on account of a sore throat,
which occasioned him severe pain. Both the Brethren, indeed,
were much engaged in thinking of their late miraculous deliver-
ance; and with their thanksgivings, they mingled prayer for
still further relief.
The wakefulness of the missionaries proved the deliverance
of the whole party from destruction. About two o'clock in the
morning, Liebisch perceived some drops of salt water fall from
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
403
the roof of the snow-house on his lips. Though rather alarmed
on tasting it, he lay quiet till the dropping became more fre-
quent, and then, just as he was about to give the alarm, a tre-
mendous surf, all of a sudden, broke close to the house, and
discharged a quantity of water into it; a second quickly fol-
lowed, and carried away the slab of snow which was placed as
a door before the entrance. The Brethren immediately cried.
to the Esquimaux to rise and quit the place. Alarmed at the
call, they jumped up in an instant. One of them with a large
knife cut a passage through the side of the house, and each
seizing some part of the baggage, threw it out on a higher part
of the beach. They all immediately retreated to a neighbour-
ing eminence; but scarcely had they reached it, when an enor-
mous wave carried away the whole of the house.
Thus were they a second time delivered from imminent dan-
ger of destruction; but yet they suffered great distress during
the remaining part of the night, as it was scarcely possible to
stand against the wind, the sleet, and the snow. Before the
dawn of the day, the Esquimaux cut a hole in the snow to screen
the two missionaries, the woman, and the child. Liebisch, how-
ever, could not bear the closeness of the air, and was obliged to sit
at the entrance, where they covered him with skins to keep him
warm, as the pain of his throat was extremely severe.
As soon
as it was light, they built another snow-house, about eight feet
square, and six or seven feet high; yet still their situation was
far from comfortable.
The Brethren had taken no more provisions with them than
what was thought sufficient to carry them to Okkak, and the
Esquimaux had nothing at all. It was therefore necessary to
divide their little stock into daily portions, especially as there
was no prospect of their being soon able to quit this dreary
place, and to reach the dwellings of man. There were only
two ways in which this could be effected: either to attempt the
passage across the wild unfrequented mountain Kiglapeit, or to
wait for a new ice-track over the sea, and when that might
form it was impossible to say. They, therefore, resolved to
serve out no more than a biscuit and a half daily to each indi-
vidual; and though their allowance was so small, they were all
404
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
preserved in good health. Liebisch very unexpectedly recovered,
on the first day, from his sore throat, owing probably to the
low diet on which he was obliged to subsist.
Meanwhile, the Brethren at Nain, and especially the wives of
the two missionaries, were thrown into a state of the utmost
anxiety and alarm on account of our travellers. During the
storm, they had felt considerable apprehension for their safety,
though it was by no means so violent in that quarter, as the
coast is there protected by islands. The Esquimaux, however,
who had met them, and had warned them of the ground-swell,
now threw out hints in their obscure ambiguous manner of
their inevitable destruction. One of them, to whom Liebisch
or Turner was indebted for some article of dress, came to the
wife of the missionary, and said he would be glad of payment
for the work. "Wait a little," answered she; "when my hus-
band returns, he will settle with you, for I am unacquainted
with the bargain between you." "Samuel and William," re-
plied the Esquimaux, "will return no more to Nain.”
not return! What makes you say so?" After some pause, he
replied in a low tone of voice: "Samuel and William are no
more ! All their bones are broken, and in the stomachs of the
sharks." So sure was he of their destruction, that it was with
difficulty he was prevailed on to wait their return. He could
not believe it possible that they could have escaped the storm,
considering the course they were pursuing.
"How,
Anxious as the two Brethren were to escape from their pre-
sent dreary situation, yet of this there was little prospect. The
weather had now cleared, and the sea, as far as the eye could
reach, was so completely free of ice, that not a morsel was to be
seen. One of the pagan Esquimaux, who was a sorcerer, sug-
gested that it would be well to "try to make good weather;"
but this was, of course, opposed by the missionaries, who told
him that such heathenish arts were of no avail. They were
now in such straits for provisions, that the Esquimaux one day
ate an old sack made of fish-skin; and the next, they began to
devour a filthy worn-out skin, which had served them for a
Their spirits, too, began to sink; but they possess
The names by which the two missionarios were known among the Esquimaux.
mattress.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
405
this convenient faculty, that they can go to rest whenever they
please, and, if necessary, can sleep for days and nights together.
Besides, as the temperature of the air was rather mild, this
was a new source of uneasiness to them. The roof of the snow-
house was melted by the warm exhalations of the inhabitants;
and as this occasioned a continual dropping, every thing by
degrees was so soaked with water, that there was not a dry
thread about them, nor a dry place in which to lie.
Meanwhile, however, the sea had begun to freeze; and, in a
short time, it acquired a considerable degree of solidity. The
Esquimaux belonging to the other sledge now resolved to pur-
sue their journey to Okkak; whilst the Brethren, after remain-
ing six days in this miserable place, set off to return to Nain.
Their Esquimaux driver ran all the way round the promontory
of Kiglapeit, before the sledge, to find a good track; and, after
travelling about three hours, they reached the bay, and so were
out of danger. Here they made a meal of the remainder of
their provisions; and then proceeded on their journey, without
again stopping till about twelve o'clock at night, when they
reached Nain, to the great joy of the whole settlement, and par-
ticularly of their own families.'
In December 1800, an event occurred, which, though less
remarkable in its circumstances, was more disastrous in its
consequences. One of the missionaries at Hopedale, named
Reiman, who had gone out to procure some fresh provisions by
shooting, never returned, nor was heard of more. In the even-
ing his Brethren became much alarmed for his safety, particu-
larly as the whole country was covered with ice, rain having
fallen the day before upon the snow; and about seven o'clock
they sent out four of the Esquimaux with muskets, to seek
him, and to direct him toward them by the report of their guns;
but they returned about break of day, without having seen or
heard any thing of him. As soon, therefore, as it was light, the
whole of the Brethren, together with all the Esquimaux, set
off to renew the search. In several places, they discovered his
footsteps in the snow, but these were soon lost on the ice; and
though they persevered in the search for nine successive days,
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. iii. p. 226.
406
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
examining every place they could think of with the utmost
anxiety, yet it was without success. On the approach of spring,
they renewed the search, in order, if possible, to discover his
remains; but this attempt also was of no avail. It was there-
fore impossible to determine in what manner he had perished,
though of his death no doubt could remain.¹
In June 1817, George Kmoch, J. Koerner, and J. C. Beck,
embarked from London for Labrador. The two former had
sailed the preceding year from Nain for Hopedale, but not
being able to reach that settlement on account of the ice, they
had come involuntarily to England, and were now returning to
the scene of their labours. After a voyage of about a month,
they met with large masses of ice, which were more than ordi-
narily abundant this season, and had a singularly picturesque
appearance, especially when the atmosphere was clear, and the
sun shone bright upon them. As the icebergs floated along,
they assumed a great variety of forms, some resembling towers,
castles, walls; others churches, waggons, and animals of various
descriptions. When they or the ship changed positions, the
same object acquired quite a new appearance: what before
seemed a church, now looked like some huge monster of the
deep. After sailing about for a fortnight amidst fields and
mountains of ice, they encountered a furious storm from the
north-east. Before them was an immense iceberg, to which
they were driving with great velocity, without the power of
avoiding it there was at the same time a large field of ice
near them to which they fastened their grapnels, so that they
were in imminent danger of being crushed to pieces between
them. Providentially, however, they passed the iceberg with-
out sustaining any material injury: had they touched it they
would have been wrecked in an instant. The following night
was dreadfully dark: the heaven was covered with the blackest
clouds; the sea was agitated by a furious wind; while the
crashing of the fields and mountains of ice against each other,
added to the terror of the scene. The storm, indeed, dispersed
the ice, and made openings in several places; but this only
rendered their situation more perilous, as when they got into
:
Period. Accounts, vol. iii. p. 8.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
407
clear water, the motion of the ship became more rapid, and the
blows from the icebergs more violent. The shocks were re-
peated every five or ten minutes, and appeared continually in-
creasing in violence. To describe all the terrors of this anxious
night is impossible. As often as a field of ice was perceived
through the gloom, they apprehended the vessel would be shat-
tered to pieces, and themselves consigned to a watery grave.
After remaining full ten hours in this dreadful situation, they
found themselves in clear water not far from the coast. They
could scarcely believe they had got rid of the ice: all seemed
like a dream. But their difficulties and dangers were not yet
at an end. Though at no great distance from Hopedale, they
had to sail nearly three weeks longer amidst icebergs, rocks, and
islands, now pleasing themselves with the hope of reaching that
settlement, when they found an opening in the sea; then meet-
ing with disappointment, when they discovered that the pas-
sage was still completely blocked up. At length, after a most
difficult and dangerous voyage, they arrived at that place in
safety.¹
In April 1830, the Brethren commenced a fourth station,
which they called Hebron, at a place about sixty miles to the
north of Okkak. The frame-work of houses and other building
materials, prepared partly in Europe and partly at Okkak, were
transported to this place, which greatly facilitated the establish-
ment of the settlement, though the Brethren who were engaged
in the undertaking had a great deal of labour before the various
houses and the church were finished. It is not unworthy of
mention, that the sledges employed in conveying building ma-
terials and provisions from Okkak to Hebron performed no
fewer than 105 journeys. Such is the inconvenience attending
imperfect modes of conveyance. In England or America, the
whole would probably have been carried at once in two or three
waggons. The sledges travelled over the frozen sea; and it is
worthy of notice, that they seldom spent more than one day on
the road, though the distance was about eighty or ninety miles.
The strength and perseverance of the Esquimaux dogs are truly
admirable.
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. vi. p. 270, 397.
2 Ibid. vol. xi. p. 368, 375, 377; vol. xii. p. 311; vol. xvii. p. 177.
408
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In 1852, the following were the numbers connected with the
Brethren's congregations in Labrador:
Begun.
Stations.
Commu- Baptized Baptized
TOTAL.
nicants.
Adults. Children.
1771
Nain
92
85
118
295
1776
Okkak.
178
67
168
413
1782
Hopedale
60
56
99
215
1830
Hebron
85
66
117
268
415
274 502
11911
The Brethren long laboured in Labrador amidst great diffi-
culties and discouragements, and with little appearance of suc-
cess. Numbers of the Esquimaux acquired some knowledge of
the gospel, and were baptized and admitted to the Lord's Sup-
per; but few of them, it was feared, were truly converted.
Many a time were the missionaries grieved with their duplicity
and hypocrisy ; and, notwithstanding all the care and pains
taken with them, they were ever ready to return to their old
heathenish practices. About the beginning of the present cen-
tury, there appeared something like a religious awakening among
them; and from that period the gospel appeared to make evi-
dent
progress among them, though that progress was often small,
and at times seemed as if it were arrested by the temptations
to which they were exposed, as well as through their own na-
tural depravity. Among the circumstances which hindered the
progress of religion among the Esquimaux, we may particularly
mention the mode of life which they were constrained by the
nature of their country to lead. As, like the Greenlanders, they
depended chiefly on hunting and fishing for the means of sub-
sistence, they were obliged to scatter themselves far and wide
for this purpose during the summer months, and were thus re-
moved for a considerable part of the year from under the watch-
ful care of the missionaries, and from the daily means of grace.2
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. xxi. p. xxvi.
2 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 332, 445, 451, 459; vol. xvi. p. 11; vol. xvii. p. 65, 67, 69, 212,
251; vol. xx. p. 121, 187.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
409
The Esquimaux, particularly those in the two southern settle-
ments, Nain and Hopedale, were also exposed to many evils from
the Southlanders, both Europeans and natives, who have of late
years been drawing nearer to the neighbourhood of these stations
for the purposes of traffic. The traders from Europe and America
not only circulated among them all manner of false and alarm-
ing reports, and endeavoured to destroy their confidence in the
Brethren, but sought to shake their belief in the gospel itself,
telling them there was no God and no Saviour, and acted as if
they sought to be the patrons of murder, adultery, fornication,
theft, intemperance, and every evil work.'
At all the stations schools were carried on, and the progress
of the children in reading and writing was generally satisfactory.
Some of their specimens of penmanship would have done no
discredit to a European school. In arithmetic, however, they
made little progress. In general, they were not able to proceed
further than addition and subtraction. Few of them mastered
the multiplication table. We suspect that savage tribes gene-
rally will be found defective in learning arithmetic. It appeared
to be easy for Esquimaux children to commit any thing to
memory; but where thought was required they were found
wanting.
3
Besides a spelling-book, a catechism, a summary of Christian
doctrine, and a hymn-book, the Brethren published a harmony
of the four Gospels in the Esquimaux language; and a trans-
lation of the New Testament and of part of the Old has been
printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
¹ Period. Accounts. vol. xii. p. 60, 67, 250, 257, 445, 449, 455; vol. xv. p. 104; vol.
xviii. p. 14.
* Ibid. vol. xv. p. 114; vol. xvi. p. 226, 528.
Tho last editions of the Esquimaux hymn-book contain about 700 hymns; a rare
number in the language of a barbarous people.-Period. Accounts, vol. xv. p. 305.
410
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
SECT. IX.-NICOBAR ISLANDS.
IN 1756, a commercial establishment was begun by the Danes
from Tranquebar on the Nicobar Islands, which are situated in
the Bay of Bengal to the north of Sumatra, and it was intimated
to the Brethren by a person of high rank at the Court of Den-
mark, that it would give His Majesty particular pleasure if some
of them would settle as missionaries in that part of the world,
and endeavour to convert the natives to the Christian faith.
To this proposal they readily consented; and though intelligence
was in the mean while received, that the attempt to establish a
settlement on these islands had miscarried, and that almost all
the colonists had died, yet they were not discouraged by these
disastrous circumstances. It was judged proper, however, that
they should have a settlement at Tranquebar, on the Coromandel
coast, in order to carry on the mission in the Nicobar Islands
from that quarter, as it did not appear advisable to establish a
colony in so wild and distant a region, immediately from Europe.
To this plan the Danish government readily gave its consent.
In November 1759, George J. Stahlman, Adam Voelcker,
Christopher Butler, and eleven other Brethren of various occu-
pations, sailed from Copenhagen for Tranquebar. Having on
their arrival purchased a piece of ground about a mile from the
town, they built themselves a house, together with some work-
shops and out-houses, wrought at their several trades, and met
with good sale for the articles they made, at Tranquebar and
the neighbouring Dutch and English settlements. This place
they called The Brethren's Garden. For several years, however,
they had no opportunity of making any attempt to introduce
Christianity into the Nicobar Islands, as they were obliged to
wait till the Danish East India Company should settle a colony
on them.'
In 1768, the Danish government, after many delays, formed
a new establishment on the Nicobar Islands, and six of the
Brethren immediately went thither, and settled on one of them
called Nancauwery. Several officers of the East India Company
¹ Crantz's Hist. Breth. vol. ii. p. 504, 507.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
411
afterwards arrived from Tranquebar, with a party of soldiers
and black servants, and brought with them a considerable.
quantity of merchandise. Most of them, however, died in a
short time, so that at the end of eighteen months, only two
European soldiers, and four Malabar servants, remained alive.
This second failure deterred the Company from renewing the
attempt; and thus the project of establishing a factory on the
Nicobar Islands was abandoned. The four Brethren who still
resided in the settlement were intrusted with the sale of such
goods as remained; a commission from which they experienced
no small inconvenience.'
In 1773, a vessel was sent from Tranquebar, which relieved
them from this burden, by taking back such articles of trade as
still remained on hand, the Company having resolved entirely
to abandon the settlement. Though the Brethren at Tranque-
bar endeavoured to keep up intercourse with the missionaries
in Nancauwery, and to send them supplies of the necessaries of
life by ships sailing to the neighbouring coast, yet in their at-
tempts for this end they were for the most part unsuccessful, it
being often exceedingly difficult to make the Nicobar Islands on
account of the contrary winds and currents. They were, there-
fore, obliged to charter vessels for this particular purpose, and
in one or two instances succeeded in conveying supplies to them.
But the difficulty of maintaining intercourse with them was
never removed, as there was no regular trade with the Nicobar
Islands, and even those ships which promised to touch at
them, were seldom able to fulfil their engagement.2
In September 1778, John G. Haensel, and another of the
Brethren named Wangeman, sailed from Tranquebar for the
Nicobar Islands. Wangeman died not long after his arrival,
and Haensel himself had not been three weeks on the island,
when he was attacked by the seasoning fever, and was so ill
that he was even thought to be dead, and preparations were
made for burying him. He, however, recovered, but his recovery
was extremely slow; and, indeed, during his residence on the
Nicobar Islands he enjoyed but little health, never almost being
2
¹ Crantz's Hist. Breth. p. 614; Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. p. 158.
Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. p. 356, 368, 372: tom. ii. p. 8; Haensel's Leiters
on the Nicobar Islands, p. 21.
412
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
free of ulcers in his legs; and to the end of his life, he had
every fourth day a regular attack, in a greater or less degree, of
intermittent fever, which no remedy nor any change of climate
was ever able completely to remove.'
Besides clearing the land and planting it, in order to procure
for themselves the necessaries of life, the Brethren endeavoured
to lessen the expenses of the mission, by making collections of
shells, serpents, and other natural curiosities, which they sent
to Tranquebar for sale, as there was at that time a great demand
for productions of this kind in various parts of Europe. Mr.
Haensel informs us, that whether he went into the woods or
walked along the beach, whether he travelled by land or by
water, he was accustomed to examine every object he saw, and
acquired great facility in catching some of the most dangerous
creatures, without any risk to himself. Far from being afraid
of serpents, he went out purposely to discover their haunts in
the jungles and among the rocks; and if he could only prevent
them from slipping off into their holes, and irritate them so as
to make them attempt to strike him, he was sure to gain his
end. As a serpent in such circumstances bites whatever comes
first in his way, he forthwith presented his hat to it, which the
animal violently seized with its fangs; then instantly snatch-
ing it away, he seldom failed to extract them by the sudden
jerk; for as they are curved, they cannot readily be withdrawn,
and being loose in the gums, they are easily disengaged. He
next laid hold on the creature, which was now in a great degree
harmless, pinned down its head, and tied it up. It is necessary,
however, to be very careful when preparing the heads and re-
fixing the fangs of these reptiles, that you are not lacerated by
their teeth, or injured in any other way; for it is a singular
fact, that a wound inflicted in this manner, even long after
their death, produces painful, and often fatal consequences.²
¹
Haensel's Letters, p. 18; Period. Accounts, vol. vi. p. 10.
2 Haensel's Letters, p. 20, 35, 40.
At the Brethren's Garden near Tranquebar, Mr Haensel, after his return to that
place, bad a shop or work-room for the purpose of stuffing these and other animals, pre-
serving them in spirits, or otherwise preparing them for sale; and he sometimes
employed two or three Malabar boys to assist him. In the neighbourhood of that town
there is a small serpent, called the Split-snake. It is black, with a white streak along
its back, dividing the body longitudinally. Its bite is extremely venomous; and as it
is a very slender creature, it can insinuate itself into the smallest hole or cranny. By
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN,
413
Mr Haensel, in his frequent excursions along the coast, was
sometimes benighted, and could not conveniently return home;
but in these circumstances he was never at a loss for a bed. The
greater part of the beach consists of a remarkably fine white
sand, which above the high-water mark is perfectly clean and
dry. Into this he easily dug a hole large enough to contain his
body, and he likewise formed a mound as a pillow for his head.
He then lay down, and by collecting the sand over him, buried
himself in it up to the neck. His faithful dog always lay across
his body, ready to give the alarm in case of the smallest danger
or disturbance. He was under no apprehension, however, from
wild animals; crocodiles and kaymans never haunted the open
coast, but confined themselves to creeks and lagoons, and there
were no ravenous beasts on the island. He never suffered any
annoyance unless from the nocturnal perambulations of an
immense variety of crabs, the grating noise of whose armour
this means it often enters rooms and closets in quest of food, of which Mr Haensel gives
the following example. "There was a door," says he, "in a dark part of my work-
room, with a large clumsy lock upon it. One evening as I was attempting to open it,
I suddenly felt a prick in my finger, and, at the same instant, a violent electrical
shock, as if I were split asunder. Not thinking of a serpent, I at first imagined that
my Malabar boys had, in their play, wound some wire about the handle, and that it
was by this I was hurt; and therefore I asked them sharply what they had done to the
door. They denied, however, that they had meddled with it; and when I made a
second attempt to open it, I was attacked still more violently, and perceived the blood
trickling down my finger. I then returned into my room and sucked the wound till I
could draw no more blood from it; after which I applied to it some spirits of turpen-
tine, and tied it up with a bandage; but being much hurried that evening with other
business, I took no further notice of it. In the night, however, it swelled, and was ex-
tremely painful. In the morning, when I went into the workroom, I thought I felt
an unpleasant musky smell; and on approaching the door already mentioned, the
stench was altogether intolerable. I again asked the boys what nasty stuff they had
brought into the room, for they were always playing themselves, but they still denied
that they knew any thing about the matter. Having procured a candle, I then dis-
covered the cause of all the mischief. About six inches of the body of a young split-
snake hung out of the key-hole, perfectly dead; and on taking off the lock, I found
the creature twisted into it, and so much wounded by the turn of the bolt, from my
attempt to open the door, that it had died in consequence. It had been entering the
room through the key-hole, when I thus accidentally stopped its progress and was
bitten by it; and considering the deadly nature of the serpent's poison, I felt thankful
to God, that, though ignorant of the cause of the wound, I applied proper remedies to
it, in consequence of which my life was not endangered. I have been told that the
bite of every serpent is accompanied, in a greater or less degree, by a sensation similar
to an electrical shock. The name of split-snake which is given to this animal, we
considered as descriptive not so much of its split appearance, as of the singular sensa-
tion occasioned by its bito."-Haensel's Letters, p. 40.
414
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
sometimes kept him awake. But they were well watched by
his dog, and if any ventured to approach, they were sure to be
seized by him and thrown to a more respectful distance; or if
one of a larger size than ordinary deterred the dog from expos-
ing his nose to its claws, he would bark and frighten it away.
Haensel had many a comfortable sleep in these sepulchral dor-
mitories, though in most parts of the East it would be exceed-
ingly hazardous for a person to expose himself in this manner,
on account of the number of wild beasts with which they abound.
Though the Brethren had little or nothing to dread from wild
beasts on the Nicobar Islands, yet in their visits to other places
they were sometimes in danger from them. On one of Mr
Haensel's voyages, either to or from Queda, a Danish ship hailed
the vessel, and approaching incautiously, ran foul of the stern
and broke the flag-staff. Having put into a creek, some of the
sailors landed near a wood to cut down a tree to make a new
one. Mr Haensel accompanied them, armed with a double-
barrelled gun, with the view of procuring some fresh meat for
supper. While they were at work, he walked on the outside of
the wood eagerly looking for some game, and soon discovered
among the high grass an object which, by its motions, he mis-
took for the back of a hare. He immediately took aim, and
was just going to fire, when the animal rose up and proved to
be a tiger. Overcome with terror, his arm involuntarily sunk
down; he stood perfectly motionless, expecting that the animal
would instantly spring at him and tear him in pieces. Provi-
dentially, however, it seemed as much alarmed as himself, and
after staring at him for a few seconds, turned slowly round, and
began to creep away like a frightened cat with his belly close
to the ground; then gradually quickening his pace, fled with
precipitation into the distant recesses of the wood. It was some
time before Mr Haensel recovered sufficient presence of mind to
trace back his steps toward the beach, for his heart still trembled
within him. As he approached the shore, there was a piece of
jungle or low thicket before him, and he was turning to the
left to pass round by the side opposite the boat, hoping he might
yet find some game, when he observed the sailors labouring
hard to drag the tree they had felled toward the water, and
therefore he changed his course and went to their assistance.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
415
No sooner had he entered the boat, than he discovered, on that
side of the jungle to which he was first going, a large kayman
watching their motions, and which he would certainly have met
had he gone by the way he originally intended. Thankful as
he was for this second deliverance, he could not help dis-
charging his gun at the animal's head, and by the sudden
plunge which it made into the water, and the appearance of
blood on the surface as it was swimming to the opposite shore,
it was evident the creature was wounded. He saw it reach the
land and crawl through the mud into the jungle.¹
After the officers and soldiers who had accompanied the
Brethren to the Nicobar Islands were all dead, and it was known
that the missionaries would not abandon their post, the govern-
ment at Tranquebar required that one of them should act as
the Royal Danish Resident. This office was frequently a source
of much vexation, and even of danger, to them. The Danes,
when they formed their first settlement on one of these islands,
which they called New Denmark, had conveyed thither a con-
siderable number of cannon; but after the death of all the sol-
diers, the carriages rotted to pieces, and the guns were suffered
to lie on the ground. On one occasion, a Nacata, or general of
the king of Queda, as he styled himself, arrived at Nancauwery
with a large prow, and five of the guns on board. Mr Haensel
Haensel's Letters, p. 36.
All the Nicobar Islands which have fresh-water lakes and streams are overrun with
the crocodile or alligator. There are two species of this animal, the proper crocodile
and the kayman. The former is said never to attack living creatures, but to devour
only carrion, and therefore it is not considered as dangerous. "Of the correctness of
this opinion," says Mr Haensel, "I had once ocular proof. I was walking at Queda,
along the coast, and looking at a number of children swimming and playing in the
water. On a sudden I observed a large crocodile proceed towards them from a creek.
Terrified at the idea of their danger, I screamed out and made signs to some Chinese
to run to their assistance; but they laughed me to scorn as an ignorant stranger. I
afterwards saw the monster playing about among the children, while the young crea-
tures diverted themselves by pretending to attack him and drive him away.
"The kayman is less in size than the crocodile. It is extremely fierce, and seizes
upon every creature that has life; but it cannot lift any thing from the ground, on
account of the projection of the lower jaw. Part of the flesh of this animal is good and
wholesome when well cooked. It tastes somewhat like pork, for which I took it, and
ate it with much relish when I first came to Nancauwery; till finding, on inquiry, that
it was the flesh of a creature so disgusting in its appearance and habits, I felt a loath-
ing for it which I could never overcome; but it is eaten by both the natives and Eu-
ropeans."-Haensel's Letters, p. 31, 39.
416
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
being informed of this, considered it his duty as Resident to
protest against the robbery, and spoke to him concerning it.
The Nacata flew into a violent rage, and began to use threaten-
ing language, pleading the orders of his sovereign. Mr Haensel
replied, with all the simplicity of truth, that his prince knew
very well, that as he had laid nothing down there, he had no
right to take any thing up, and that he would give notice of it
to the king of Denmark. He then left him, but afterwards
heard, that the Nacata threatened to kill him, and thus prevent
him from reporting what he had done. The natives also assured
Mr Haensel, that it was the general's intention to murder him;
but that they would stay and defend him. They, accordingly,
stopped till late in the night, when the Brethren desired them
to return home, but could scarcely prevail on them to go away.
After they had gone, and just as the Brethren were prepar-
ing to retire to bed, they heard a noise without, and imme-
diately after a violent knocking at the door. On opening it, Mr
Haensel was surprised to see it surrounded by a great number
of Malays; but though he was much afraid, he assumed an
authoritative air, and kept his station at the entrance, as if de-
termined not to let them in. The foremost, however, pushed
by him, and then the Nacata himself came forward. The
Malays immediately crowded into the room, and sat down on
the chairs and on the floor, closely watching him, armed with
their creeses or daggers. Though Mr Haensel preserved a firm
undaunted look, yet it is impossible to describe his feelings on
this occasion, as he expected every moment to fall a sacrifice to
their fury. The Nacata then told him, that he had come to
ask, Whose property the cannon were to be, the Resident's or
his? To this question Mr Haensel replied to the following
effect: "You have come to the wrong person to make that in-
quiry; for I am only a servant of the king of Denmark, as you,
according to your own account, are the servant of the king of
Queda. Neither of us, therefore, can determine who shall have
the cannon. Our respective masters, and they only, can settle
that point. You have told me that you have received orders to
bring them; and I can assure you that I have orders to protest
against it. We have both therefore only done our duty. All
now depends on this point, whether my king or your king has
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
417
the best right to give orders on these islands, and to claim the
property in question." On receiving this answer, the Nacata
became quite furious, and began to talk of the ease with which
they could kill them all. Some of them even drew their dag-
gers, and shewed the missionary how they were tipped with
poison. On a sudden they all rose up, and to his imagination
seemed to rush upon him; but instead of this, they quitted the
room, one by one, and left him standing alone in astonishment
at their conduct. As soon as they were all gone, and he found
himself in safety, he fell on his knees, and with tears in his
eyes returned thanks to God Almighty, who had so graciously
heard his prayers, and saved him from the hands of his ene-
mies. His brethren, who had fled into the wood when the
Malays first burst into the house, now returned, and they mutu-
ally wept for joy to see each other still in life.
After they had somewhat recovered from their fright, Mr
Haensel went to the village, and told their old Nicobar captain
what had happened, upon which he sent a message to all the
neighbouring villages, and in a short time great numbers of the
natives arrived, well armed, and watched at the landing-place
all night. Had the Malays offered to return, not one of them,
it is probable, would have escaped with his life. The Nacata,
it seems, had said, that the Danish resident at Nancauwery was
a very great sorcerer, for he had tied their hands that they could
do nothing to him.'
With regard to religion, the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands
are in a most deplorable condition. Their notions of a Supreme
Being are singularly perplexed; and it was even difficult to
discover among them any fixed opinion regarding his existence.
or attributes. They are not professed idolaters, like most other
Oriental nations. They have not even a particular word to ex-
press the name of God. They use the term Knallen, when they
speak of him; but it only signifies above, on high, and is applied
to many
other objects. They believe, however, that this un-
known Being is good, and will not hurt them; but wherein his
goodness consists, they neither know nor care. But though the
inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands pay little or no regard to a
VOL. I.
'Haensel's Letters, p. 65.
Dd
418
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Deity, they are firm believers in the doctrine of devils; and it
is to them all their religious ceremonies appear to be directed·
They even ascribe the creation of the world to the Eewee, or
Evil Spirit. When they do any thing wrong, and are reproved
for it, they commonly answer, "It was not I; it was the devil
that did it." If you convict them of having done it with their own
hands, they usually reply, "The Eewee did not make me per-
fect." They speak of a great many kinds of devils, all of them
malicious and disposed to hurt them, if they had not among
them such great and powerful sorcerers, who, by their superior
ability, can catch and bring them into subjection. It is not
wonderful that the conjurors should be able to impose on these
poor ignorant creatures, for they really do possess astonishing
dexterity. Every person who has been in the East Indies,
knows with what curious sleight-of-hand tricks the jugglers amuse
the people; but in the Nicobar Islands, where these arts are
applied to what are considered religious exercises, the deception.
is so great, that an ordinary spectator is amazed, and is per-
fectly unable to account for them.¹
The Brethren endeavoured to explain to the natives, in the
best manner they were able, the love of God to man, and the
way of salvation through a crucified Redeemer. These things
the savages heard with silent attention; but that they them-
selves were interested in them, was more than they could com-
prehend. When the missionaries told them that they had come
hither for no other purpose, but to make known to them their
Creator and Redeemer, and begged them to reflect on what was
taught them, they laughed in reply. Sometimes they even re-
marked, that they could not believe that the sufferings of one
man could atone for the sins of another, and that, therefore, if
they were wicked, what the Brethren told them concerning a
crucified Saviour could do them no service; but they main-
tained that they were good by nature, and never did any wrong.
When the missionaries replied, that they had but lately mur-
dered some people, and afterwards abused the dead bodies,
thrusting their spears into them, mutilating them in the most
wanton manner, and at last cutting them to pieces; and asked
them, Whether this was a proof of their natural goodness? their
1 Haensel's Letters, p. 48, 51.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
419
answer was,
"You do not understand the matter: These people
were not fit to live: They were cannibals."
But though the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands refused to
embrace Christianity, they were always very friendly to the
missionaries; and were not only forward, as we have already
seen, to defend them against their enemies, but in some in-
stances they behaved with a generosity which could scarcely
have been expected of them. The Brethren used to buy from
them such articles as they needed, and to pay them with to-
bacco at the current price. The natives, however, even when
they had nothing to sell, would come for their portion of to-
bacco, which the missionaries never refused as long as they had
any themselves, until, by the non-arrival of the ship, their
stock was entirely exhausted. They then told the captain of
the village, that as they had no more tobacco, the people need not
bring them any more provisions, for they had nothing to give
them in exchange. The chief did so; but yet on the very next
day, the Brethren were more plentifully supplied than ever
with the articles they wanted. The people would not even wait
for payment; but hung up their fruit and meat about the
house, and went away. The missionaries called after them
and told them how they were situated, to which they generously
replied, “When you had plenty of tobacco, you gave us as
much as you could spare; now, though you have no more of it,
we have provisions enough, and you shall have what you want,
as long as we have any, till you get more tobacco." This pro-
mise they performed most faithfully. Indeed, though an igno-
rant, wicked, uncivilized race, yet in general they were kind
and gentle in their dispositions, except when roused by jealousy
or other provocations, and then their headstrong passions hur-
ried them into the greatest excesses."
The situation of the missionaries in the Nicobar Islands be-
came more wretched and forlorn than ever. Here they lived
destitute of every thing that renders life comfortable; sur-
rounded by savages; separated from their brethren throughout
the whole world; without any communications from their
friends for years together. The island of Nancauwery was com-
pletely covered with trees, bushes, and plants; the climate was
* Ibid. p. 27, 48.
1
¹ Haensel's Letters, p. 20, 48.
2
420
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
extremely moist and unhealthy; the house of the missionaries
was so damp, that their very beds and mattresses rotted under
them; they were obliged to go barefooted, as they had neither boots
nor shoes, and their stock of other clothes was nearly exhausted:
their supply of provisions was scarcely more abundant; rice,
which was so putrid and so full of worms, that it was hardly fit
for the lower animals, they were under the necessity of using
themselves. In consequence of these combined circumstances,
they were so sickly, that a month seldom passed, without their
labouring under fever or some other disorder; and they be-
came at length so feeble and emaciated, that they resembled
creeping skeletons, covered with a thin pale skin, rather than
living men.'
1
In August 1784, the government of Tranquebar, in conse-
quence of orders from the Court of Denmark, sent a ship to
the Nicobar Islands, for the purpose of conveying supplies to
the missionaries, and of enabling them to maintain their post
in that quarter. Difficult as it had always been to land at
Nancauwery, the vessel made the island, not merely in this in-
stance, but within a short period she performed the same voy-
age two other times with similar success. Encouraged by these
circumstances, the Brethren applied to their work with new
vigour; and they brought to Nancauwery a wooden house of
two stories, which had been left on the neighbouring island of
Sombreiro. by some European settlers. In this house, they
hoped to enjoy better health than formerly, as they proposed
residing in the upper story, a point worthy of the attention of
all missionaries in a warm, and especially in a moist climate.
But though the mission assumed a more promising aspect in its
external circumstances, it was attended with no greater success
than before.2
It must, however, be acknowledged that the Brethren can
scarcely be said to have made a fair attempt to christianize the
natives. Though they had an opportunity of conversing with
some of the people in a corrupt dialect of Portuguese, yet, in
order to preach the gospel to the inhabitants in general, it was
necessary to acquire a knowledge of their own language. This,
¹ Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. ii. p. 114,
2 Ibid. tom. i. p. 369; tom. ii. p. 116,
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
421
however, was a task of extreme difficulty. Not only were they
without the ordinary help of grammars, dictionaries, and writ-
ten books, but it was no easy matter to get acquainted with it
by intercourse with the natives themselves. The inhabitants
of the Nicobar Islands are in general of so indolent a turn,
that even talking seems a burden to them; and as long as they
can express their meaning by signs, they are unwilling to open
their lips. If a stranger enter their houses, they sit still and
look at him; or, perhaps, pointing to some food, give him a
sign to sit down and eat. There he may remain for hours,
without hearing a syllable drop from their lips, unless he can
begin himself, and then they will answer him in a friendly
manner. Besides, both the men and women have always a
large piece of the betel or areca nut in their mouths, which
renders their speech so indistinct, that it is scarcely possible to
distinguish between the sputtering sounds they make. Not-
withstanding these and other difficulties, a few of the Brethren
made some proficiency in the language, yet none of them ac-
quired such a knowledge of it, as to be able to explain fully to
the natives the way of salvation through Jesus Christ.¹
Most of the missionaries, indeed, in consequence of the ex-
treme unhealthiness of the climate, were cut off before they
could learn the language, or just when they had advanced so
far as to be able to converse with the natives; and thus their
successors had to begin the work anew, and the prospect of ac-
complishing the chief design of the mission was suspended from
year to year. During the comparatively short period of its ex-
istence, eleven valuable missionaries found an untimely grave
in Nancauwery, and thirteen more died soon after their return
to Tranquebar, in consequence of the malignant fevers, and the
obstructions in the liver, which they had contracted on that
island. Besides, these disorders, from which they were seldom
entirely free, are accompanied with such pain in the head, such
constant sickness, such dejection of spirits, that the mind is
perfectly stupified, and is overwhelmed with such desponding
views of the possibility of relief and of future usefulness, as
renders a person altogether unfit for exercising that diligence,
'Haeusel's Letters, p. 61, 64.
422
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
and making those exertions, which are necessary in the con-
duct of a mission.'
Indeed, the great exertions of the Brethren in clearing and
planting the land, and in other laborious exercises which neces-
sity imposed upon them, withdrew their attention from the
great object of their settlement on the island. Men who are
destitute of all external comfort, who have a daily struggle to
obtain even the common necessaries of life, who in the morn-
ing scarcely know whether they shall have a morsel to eat
through the day, are not in circumstances to make vigorous ex-
ertions for the conversion of the heathen. Besides, during
some of the latter years of the mission, there was a want of that
love among the Brethren, and of that union in the prosecution
of their labours, which should ever prevail among Christian
missionaries, and which are essentially necessary to their suc-
cess. In consequence of these and other circumstances, it was
at length resolved to relinquish the mission.
2
In September 1787, Mr Haensel, who had returned before to
Tranquebar, was sent to Nancauwery, to bring away the only
missionary who now remained on the island. He was accom-
panied by a lieutenant, a corporal, and six private soldiers, who
were sent by the governor to take possession of the premises,
and to whom he delivered up every thing he could not carry
away. No language can express the painful feelings of his mind
while he was executing this disagreeable task, and bringing to
a close the Brethren's labours in the Nicobar Islands. The
sight of the burying-ground where so many of his fellow-mission-
aries lay, particularly affected him. He often visited this place,
sat down, and wept over their graves. His last farewell with
the natives, who flocked to him from all the neighbouring
islands, was truly affecting. They wept and howled for grief,
and begged that the Brethren would soon return.³
The mission on the continent of India, though not attended
with such trying circumstances, was scarcely followed with
greater success. Several Brethren went to Calcutta, Seram-
pur, and Patna, and resided in these places for some time, in
the hope of promoting the interests of religion among the
Hindus; but their exertions were attended with little or no
1 Haensol's Letters, p. 62.
* lbid. p. 26.
* Ibid. p. 22, 63.
J
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
423
success.
In Tranquebar the labours of the Brethren proved
nearly equally fruitless: they did, indeed, baptize a few indivi-
duals; but most of these disappointed the favourable hopes
they had formed of them.'
In 1795, the Brethren resolved to abandon the settlement at
Tranquebar, as the maintenance of it was attended with great
expense, while, at the same time, there appeared little hope of
their being useful to the heathen in the neighbourhood, and no
prospect of their being able to accomplish the original object of
their settlement in India, the establishment of a mission on the
Nicobar Islands. In consequence of this resolution, several of
the Brethren returned at different periods to Europe; and at
length, about 1803, the two last, who had been left to sell the
houses and ground belonging to the settlement, took a final
leave of the country."
SECT. X.-SOUTH AFRICA.
IN March 1737, George Schmidt sailed from Holland for the
Cape of Good Hope, with a view to the religious instruction of
the Hottentots. Having fixed on a spot for a settlement near
Serjeant's river, he collected a number of them to that place;
and in the course of a few years, he baptized several of them.
As various impediments, however, were thrown in his way, he
judged it expedient to return to Europe in 1744, in the hope
of obtaining the removal of them, and of procuring some of the
Brethren to assist him in his labours. He left his small con-
gregation, consisting of forty-seven persons, under the care of a
pious man; but on his arrival in Holland, the East India Com-
pany refused him permission to return, some persons having
insinuated, that the conversion of the Hottentots would injure
the interests of the colony. His little congregation, however,
kept together for some time in expectation of the return of
their teacher. They used to meet together, it is said, and read
1
¹ Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. i. p. 158, 352; tom. ii. p. 109, 111, 121, 141, 143 ;
tom. iii. p. 353.
* Ibid. tom. iii. p. 356; Period. Accounts, vol. iii. p. 221.
424
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
a Dutch Bible he had left among them. Even so late as 1787,
some of the Brethren who touched at the Cape in their way
from the East Indies, saw a Hottentot woman baptized by
Schmidt, who had a Dutch Bible which she received from him,
and who expressed a great desire for the renewal of the mission.
A new application was now made to the East India Company
for permission to send missionaries to the Cape of Good Hope ;
and though former petitions of the same kind had uniformly
failed, the present, after meeting with much opposition, was at
last granted.¹
In July 1792, Hendrick Marsveld, Daniel Schwinn, and John C.
Kuehnel, three of the Brethren, sailed from Holland for the Cape
of Good Hope, with the view of renewing the mission in that
colony. As on their arrival, they were recommended to fix their
residence at Bavian's Kloof, about 120 miles from Cape Town,
they proceeded to visit that part of the country without delay.
It was the very place where George Schmidt had resided, and on
their arrival the spot was pointed out to them where his house
had stood. A large piece of the wall was still standing; in the
garden were several fruit trees, and here and there appeared
some ruins of walls, the remains of the huts of the Hottentots.
Having obtained a grant of the land from the Dutch govern-
ment, the Brethren here proceeded to build themselves a house
for their accommodation, with the assistance of some of the
neighbouring Hottentots, whom they engaged for this purpose.²
Even in the commencement of their labours, the Brethren
had no small difficulties to encounter, chiefly from the hostility
of the Dutch boors. As many of the Hottentots left them in
order to come and hear the word of God, they were apprehen-
sive they would no longer be able to obtain them as servants,
or, at least, not on such easy terms as hitherto. Besides, as the
Hottentots depended for subsistence chiefly on their cattle, and
allowed them to pasture at large in a country where there are
few or no enclosures, the animals sometimes wandered into the
fields of the neighbouring farmers, an evil which the missionaries
by all their exhortations were unable to prevent. Influenced
by considerations of this kind, a man of the name of Teunis,
'Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 122, 168; Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. iii. p. 161.
2 Poriod. Accounts, vol. i. p. 165, 273, 276, 282.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
425
who, at first, had been a chief means of their settling at this
place, now became their bitterest enemy, and sought in every
possible way to check their progress. With this view he repre-
sented to government, that the cattle of the Hottentots were so
numerous the country could not support them, and that there
was a necessity for driving them back to the places whence
they came. The statement was utterly false; but yet the com-
missary was so far misled by it, that he empowered their
accuser to order the Hottentots to drive back their cattle to
their former places of abode. The Brethren were, at the same
time, informed that they must receive no Hottentot into the
settlement who had been in the service of a colonist, without
a certificate that he had fulfilled the period of his service, and
was now at liberty, an order which amounted nearly to a pro-
hibition to admit any more Hottentots, as the farmers would
rarely give such an attestation. Happily the triumph of their
enemies was of short duration. A gentleman from the Cape, who
visited the settlement soon after, informed the government, on
his return, that the statement of the farmers was so far from
being true, that at least five hundred head of cattle might be
maintained on the ground. In consequence of this information,
the commissary revoked the order for the removal of the Hot-
tentots' cattle, and that gentleman purchased the land, chiefly,
as he said, with a view to the security of the mission.'
In June 1795, upwards of a hundred of the boors rose in
arms, determined to obtain by force a redress of their various
grievances, among which the instruction of the Hottentots was
not forgotten. For several weeks reports of the most frightful
nature daily reached the missionaries, and kept them in a state
of constant alarm. A troop of the Nationals, as the insurgents
styled themselves, at length arrived in the neighbourhood of
Bavian's Kloof, and sent notice to the Brethren that they were
assembled at such a house, and that if they wished to know.
their determination concerning them they might come thither.
Anxious to bring matters to an accommodation, or at least to
learn with certainty the views of their enemies, one of the
Brethren ventured to go to the place appointed, and on his ar-
'Fortsetzung Brud. Hist. tom. iii. 205; Period. Accounts, vol. ii. 5, 19.
426
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
rival he found that some of the articles of their Memorial to
government were to the following effect :-
"That they would allow no Moravians to live in the country
and instruct the Hottentots; for as there were many Christians
in the colony who received no education, it was not proper that
the Hottentots should be made wiser than they, but that they
should remain in the same state as before.
"That the Hottentots should live among the farmers, and not
collect together at Bavian's Kloof.
“That it was never meant the Moravians should be employed
among the Hottentots, but among the Bushmen."1
Such were some of the demands of the insurgent boors. A
troop of them were actually on their way to Bavian's Kloof to de-
stroy the school, but being met on the road by a deputy from go-
vernment with terms of accommodation, they returned to consult
with their comrades, threatening, however, soon to renew the
visit. A few days after, two horsemen brought an order to the
missionaries from the commandant Pissani, to quit the place
within three days, and to go either to Cape Town, or to some
other part of the country inhabited by Dutch citizens, on pain
of being severely punished in case of disobedience; they were
further informed that Pissani himself was marching behind the
mountains to the Cape, at the head of eight hundred men.
These tidings flew like lightning among the Hottentots who still
remained in the settlement, and filled them with the deepest
Resistance, however, was vain, and even delay might
sorrow.
be dangerous.
Having employed the following day in loading two waggons
with their goods, the missionaries prepared to follow in a cart
drawn by ten oxen, into which they put such articles as might
be necessary on the journey. They left their beloved congrega-
tion with a sorrowful heart, yet not without a secret hope of
soon returning to them. In this expectation they were not dis-
appointed. On their arrival at Cape Town they waited on the
governor, and on informing him of what had happened, he ex-
pressed his astonishment at the presumption and arrogance of
A
savage people of the Hottentot race who inhabit the colony, and who from the cir-
cumstance of their lurking among the bushes, whence they shoot travellers with their
poisoned arrows, are called Boschemen or Bushmen.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
427
Pissani, but added, they had acted wisely in obeying his orders,
for as the insurgents were exceedingly enraged, they might have
proceeded to extremities in case of resistance. As, however, a
British force had, in the mean while, arrived at the Cape of
Good Hope, the principal party of the insurgents agreed to sus-
pend their demands for the present, and to assist in repelling
the common enemy. By the governor's permission, therefore,
the missionaries returned immediately to Bavian's Kloof, where
they were received by the poor Hottentots with gratitude and
joy. The colony shortly after surrendered to the British, in
whom the Brethren found powerful friends and protectors.'
In February 1796, the Brethren experienced a new instance
of the watchful care of Providence over them. Some of the
neighbouring farmers had collected together upwards of a hun-
dred armed men, for the purpose of carrying their late resolution.
into execution by one bold decisive blow. Their rendezvous was
in the vicinity, at the house of Baas Teunis, their old and artful
enemy. They were already assembled at this place, when a
message was delivered to them from the English general, who
had received notice of their intention, that if any outrage were
committed on the missionaries, the perpetrators of it would as-
suredly be brought to justice and punished in the severest man-
ner. Finding their design discovered, and the government de-
termined to punish them, the conspirators quitted their leader
and dispersed to their homes without molesting the mission-
aries.2
By degrees the hostility of the farmers to the missionaries.
began to subside, not indeed from any satisfaction which they
took in the instruction of the Hottentots, but merely from dis-
covering that it might be turned to their own advantage. When
the Brethren were erecting a smith's workshop in the settle-
ment, some of the neighbouring boors were not only highly dis-
pleased, but agreed never to buy a single article from them, nor
to give them any of their work; yet scarcely was the building
finished, when several of these very persons came for knives
and other articles; and some, when they had purchased them
at a moderate price, carried them to Cape Town and other
places, and sold them for more than double the sum. Similar
2 Ioid. vol. ii. p. $2.
' Periol. Accounts, vol. ii. p. 30, 33, 42, 44, 47.
428
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
to this was their conduct with regard to provisions. Having
failed in destroying the settlement by open violence, they
threatened that they would starve the missionaries and their
people out of the country. Accordingly, when the Brethren
were building a mill, and required a considerable supply of corn,
salt, wine, and other articles, on account of the number of hands.
they employed, the farmers carried their threats into execution
for some time, and distressed them not a little for want of pro-
visions. But at length these very persons brought them as large
supplies as they needed; and even one of those who had con-
spired to destroy the place, sent a waggon with corn to the set-
tlement at a season when it brought the highest price, and sold
it cheaper than they expected to have found it in the country.
Most of them, indeed, were convinced by experience that the
gospel was beneficial to the temporal as well as to the spiritual
interests of the colony, and now preferred employing Christian
rather than heathen Hottentots in their service. This was so
much the case, that it became a common practice with the Hot-
tentots to represent themselves as inhabitants of Bavian's
Kloof, though, perhaps, they had never seen the place; and as
they often disgraced themselves by their ill conduct, the Breth-
ren, in order to prevent such impositions, found it necessary to
give certificates to their people when they went to labour with
the farmers.'
The settlement of the Brethren at Bavian's Kloof was now
an object of general curiosity, particularly to the inhabitants
of Cape Town, many of whom came to see it, and were at once
pleased and surprised to witness the great improvement which
had been effected on the character and habits of the Hotten-
tots, whom it was customary to consider as among the lowest
and most degraded of the human family. Among other visi-
tors was John Barrow, Esq., who has given us the following
interesting account of the settlement.
"Proceeding up the valley through which the Endless River
meanders, we halted late in the evening at a place called
Bavian's Kloof, where there is a small establishment of Mora-
vian missionaries. Early next morning, I was awakened by
some of the finest voices I had ever heard, and on looking out,
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. ii. p. 183, 188, 244; vol. iv. p. 33. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 184.
2
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
429
saw a group of female Hottentots sitting on the ground. It
was Sunday, and they had assembled thus early to chaunt the
morning hymn. They were all neatly dressed in printed cotton
gowns. A sight so very different from what we had hitherto
been in the habit of observing with regard to this unhappy
class of beings, could not fail of proving grateful, and at the
same time it excited a degree of curiosity as to the nature of
the establishment. The good fathers, who were three in num-
ber, were well disposed to satisfy every question put to them.
They were men of the middle age, plain and decent in their
dress, cleanly in their persons, of modest manners, meek and
humble in their deportment, but intelligent and lively in con-
versation, zealous in the cause of their mission, yet free from
bigotry or enthusiasm. Every thing in the place partook of
that neatness and simplicity, which were the strongest features
in the outline of their character. The church they had con-
structed was a plain neat building; their mill for grinding corn
was superior to any in the colony; their garden was in high
order, and produced abundance of vegetables for the use of the
table. Almost every thing that had been done was by the
labour of their own hands. Agreeably to the rules of the So-
ciety of which they were members, each of them had learned
some useful profession. One was skilled in every branch of
smith's work, the second was a shoemaker, and the third a
tailor.
"These missionaries have succeeded in bringing together into
one society upwards of six hundred Hottentots, and their num-
bers are daily increasing. These live in small huts dispersed
over the valley, to each of which was attached a piece of ground
for raising vegetables, and their houses and gardens were very
neat and comfortable; numbers of the poor in England not so
good, and few better. Those Hottentots who chose to learn
the respective trades of the missionaries, were paid for their
labour as soon as they could earn wages. Some hired them-
selves out by the week, month, or year, to the neighbouring
peasantry; others made mats and brooms for sale; some bred
poultry, and others found means to subsist by their cattle,
sheep, and horses. Many of the women and children of soldiers.
belonging to the Hottentot corps reside at Bavian's Kloof,
430
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
where they are much more likely to acquire industrious habits.
than by remaining in the camp.
"On Sundays they all regularly attend the performance of
divine service, and it is astonishing how ambitious they are to
appear at church neat and clean. Of about three hundred that
composed the congregation, about half were dressed in coarse
printed cottons, and the other half in the ancient sheep-skin
dresses; and it appeared on inquiry, that the former were the
first who had been brought within the pale of the church; a
proof that their external circumstances at least had suffered
nothing from their change of life. Persuasion and example
had convinced them, that cleanliness in their persons not only
added much to the comfort of life, but was one of the greatest
preservatives of health, and that the little trifle of money they
had to spare, was much better applied in procuring decent
covering for the body, than in the purchase of spirits and
tobacco, articles so far from being necessaries, that they might
justly be considered as the most pernicious evils.
"The deportment of the Hottentot congregation during divine
service was truly devout. The discourse delivered by one of
the fathers was short, but full of good sense, pathetic, and well
suited to the occasion. Tears flowed abundantly from the eyes
of those to whom it was particularly addressed. The females
sung in a style that was plaintive and affecting, and their voices.
were in general sweet and harmonious.""
In March 1808, the Brethren began a second settlement at a
place called Gruenekloof, about forty miles from Cape Town,
on the road to Saldanha Bay. Scarcely, however, had they
settled in this part of the country, when a circumstance occurred
which threatened to interrupt their peaceful labours. One
night the slaves in a neighbouring district rose with a determi-
nation to burn Cape Town, to murder all the White men, and to
reduce the women to slavery. They actually seized and bound
several of their masters, carried off waggons, horses, arms, and
committed various other depredations. One afternoon, a man
came to Gruenekloof, pretending that he was an English naval
officer, and that he had narrowly escaped from the rebel slaves.
He shewed a certificate to that effect, containing a request to
1 Barrow's Travels in Southern Africa, vol. i. p. 351.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
431
all
persons to furnish him with horses to prosecute his journey
to Cape Town. This, however, was a mere forgery; and it
turned out that he was one of the chiefs of the insurgents: but
happily he was overtaken on the road to the Cape, and arrested
as an impostor. Lord Caledon, the governor, on the discovery
of the plot, sent dragoons through the country in every direc-
tion. Some of the colonists in the neighbourhood of Gruene-
kloof fled thither for safety; and the Brethren did every thing
in their power to accommodate them and their slaves. They
also distributed arms as directed by government, among their
own Hottentots, and kept a strict watch during the night.
Some hundreds of the insurgents were soon taken by the dra-
goons, and thus their evil designs were frustrated.¹
In August 1811, the missionaries at this station were involved
in great distress by an accident, which, though of a more private,
was of a very distressing nature. As the neighbourhood had of
late been much infested by wolves, which ventured even into
their yard, and committed terrible havoc among their cattle,
a day was appointed to hunt and destroy them, agreeably to the
usual practice of the country. The Brethren Bonatz and Schmitt,
with about thirty Hottentots, accordingly set out in the morn-
ing, armed with loaded guns. When about an hour's ride from
the settlement, they discovered and wounded a wolf; but the
animal made its escape among the bushes. They pursued it
for some time, but not being able to discover its hiding-place,
the two missionaries resolved to return home. They had already
left the Hottentots a short distance, when the latter cried, they
had discovered the wolf in a thicket near at hand. Schmitt
immediately rode back to their assistance, but Bonatz remained
behind, as he had not his gun with him. When they were in
the midst of the thicket, the dog started the animal. Those
within did not see what it was; but those without exclaimed
it was a tiger, and ran off, leaving the missionary and one of
the Hottentots in the middle of the bushes, and perfectly at a
loss by what side to make their escape, lest they should come
directly upon it. They therefore proceeded slowly with their
guns pointed, designing to shoot the animal the moment it
should make its appearance. On a sudden the tiger sprung
'Period. Accounts, vol. iv. p. 389, 441; Holmes' Sketches, p. 420.
432
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
upon the Hottentot, pulled him down, and began to bite his face.
The distance of the place from whence the animal made his
spring, to that on which the Hottentot stood, was full twenty
feet, and over bushes from six to eight feet high, so that had
it not been for the horror of the scene, it would have been very
amusing to behold the enraged animal, flying like a bird through
the air, with open jaw and lashing tail, and screaming with the
greatest violence. Schmitt, who was close at hand, prepared
to shoot the tiger; but the motions of the Hottentot, and of the
animal in rolling about, and struggling together, were so rapid,
that he was afraid to fire, lest he should kill or injure him whom
he sought to save. Immediately, however, the tiger let go the
Hottentot, and made a spring at himself. His gun being of no
use at such close quarters, he threw it down, and in order to shield
his face, held up his arm, which the animal instantly seized,
close to the elbow, with his jaws. Schmitt, however, was still
able, with the same hand, to lay hold of one of the tiger's fore
feet; while, with the other paw, the animal continued striking
his breasts, and tearing his clothes. Happily both fell in the
struggle, in such a position, that the missionary's knee rested
on the pit of the tiger's stomach. He, at the same time, grasped
the animal's throat with his right hand, and kept him down
with all his might. His face now lay directly over the tiger,
whose open mouth, from the pressure of the windpipe, sent
forth the most hideous, hoarse, convulsive cries, while his start-
ing eyes seemed like live coals, to flash with fire. As his
strength was fast failing, Schmitt called to his companions to
come to his assistance; while, on the other hand, the rage and
agony of the tiger supplied it with extraordinary energy. On
hearing his cries, the Hottentots ran to his assistance, and one
of them snatching up the loaded gun which lay on the ground,
shot the tiger through the heart. His death was instantaneous.
Had the spark of life not been completely extinguished, his
dying struggles might have proved fatal to some of his assail-
ants. As the case was of an extraordinary nature, the friends
of Schmitt on his arrival at Gruenekloof were much at a loss
how to treat him; and before it was possible to obtain medical
advice from the Cape, the inflammation spread to an alarming
extent. Every hour, indeed, he grew worse. He had seven or
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
433
eight wounds from the elbow to the wrist; in some places they
penetrated to the bone; and as the teeth and claws of a tiger
are shaped like those of a cat, they had of course lacerated the
parts. His brethren, after several days, procured a medical
man from the Cape, who bled him very freely, and kindly pro-
mised not to leave him until he was out of danger. By degrees
the inflammation abated; symptoms of a favourable nature
began to appear; and to the astonishment of all his friends,
he at length quite recovered.
The Hottentot, though severely wounded, did not suffer so
much bodily pain as the missionary. It was the third instance
in which he had encountered a tiger, and this time he would
in all likelihood have lost his life, had not Schmitt risked his
own to save him. After the tiger had thrown the Hottentot
down, the missionary might easily have made his escape, as well
as his companions, but he could not bear to see the poor man
lose his life without at least endeavouring to save him.'
In February 1818, Schmitt and two others of the Brethren
commenced a station which was called Enon, on the Witte
river, near the borders of Kaffraria In the course of years,
other stations were formed in various parts of the country, as
Elim, near Cape Aiguillas, Clarkson, near Plettenberg's bay,
Shiloh, Mamre, and Goshen, the last three near the confines of
Kaffraria. Several of these stations were begun by the desire.
of the British Government, which granted land for the purpose.
The population which collected at some of them was of a very
mixed character, Hottentots, Bushmen, Fingoes, Tambookies,
Kafirs, &c.; but with the exception of Elim, none of them
were attended with much success. The prosperity of Enon was
greatly hindered by the severe and long-continued droughts
which prevailed in some years, and in others by the violent in-
undations of the rivers, which overflowed their lands, and ruined
the water-courses which they had made with great labour for
the irrigation of their fields and gardens; and both it and the
stations on the borders of Kaffraria suffered severely, or were
even broken up, in the successive Kafir wars.
1
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. v. p. 118, 250; vol. xviii. p. 331; Latrobe's Journal of a
Visit to South Africa, p. 306.
VOL. I.
Ee
434
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In 1852, the following were the numbers connected with the
congregations of the Brethren in South Africa:-
Begun.
Stations.
Commu- Baptized Baptized
nicants. Adults. Children.
Total.
1792
1808
Gnadenthal,
Grnenekloof,
910
•
421 1026 2357
367
231
589 1187
•
1824
Elim,
343
191
414 948
1818
Enon,
92
66
120 278
1839
Clarkson,
85
34
114
233
•
1828
Shiloh, .
86
60
152
298
1883 1003 2415 5301
Many of the Hottentots and others of the natives under the
care of the Brethren shewed extreme ignorance of the great
truths of Christianity. It was wonderful how slowly they in
general learned any thing that required thought, and how soon
they forgot it again, a remark which will probably be found to
hold true as to barbarous tribes generally, especially in regard
to topics of a religious and spiritual nature. In the older sta-
tions, where great numbers are now collected, there are many
who give no evidence of conversion; and consisting as they do
of a mixed multitude, it is not to be wondered at that cases of
open immorality, and sometimes even of flagrant crimes, should
occur. Many even of the baptized were seduced into sin, par-
ticularly drunkenness, an evil which has of late years been
greatly on the increase among the Hottentots; and though
some of these were brought to a sense of their guilt, and re-
stored to the fellowship of the church, yet others were never
recovered, but were plunged at once into temporal and spiritual
ruin. Even among those who, on the whole, remained faith-
ful to their Christian profession, many irregularities occurred;
but yet it was pleasing to observe the spirit which in general
prevailed among them; their desire for instruction, their inge-
nuousness in the confession of sin, their humiliation on account
of it, their love to the Saviour, and their reliance on his atone-
ment, as the only ground of their hope of salvation."
It must, however, be acknowledged, that the Brethren learned
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. xxi. p. xxvii. 2 Ibid. vol. xvii. p. 382; vol. xix. p. 280.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
435
by sad experience not to place implicit confidence in the pro-
fessions of the Hottentots. To hear them speak was often very
pleasing, yet sometimes it was nothing more than empty words.'
This is an observation which may be extended to heathen na-
tions in general, and claims particular attention from the
Christian missionary. There is much of cunning in the cha-
racter of Pagan, and especially of savage and uncivilized tribes.
It is the weapon which the weak everywhere employ against
the strong. They have penetration enough to see what pleases.
their instructors, and being under little or no restraint from.
moral or religious considerations, they will not hesitate, in or-
der to gain some selfish and paltry end, to make those profes-
sions which they think will be agreeable to them. To no man
is discrimination of character more necessary than to the
Christian missionary, and even after all his care he will often
be deceived.
SECT. XI.-GENERAL STATEMENTS.
We have now taken a view of the principal Missions of the
United Brethren among the heathen. Of late years, they have
been less eventful than at some former periods of their history;
but they have been greatly extended, and if the numbers con-
nected with their congregations could be held as a criterion of
their usefulness, their success has been much increased.
In 1852, the following were the numbers connected with the
congregations of the Brethren in the heathen world:

Communicants.
Baptized Adults.
Baptized Children.
TOTAL.
20,254
9871
20,639
50,764
Besides these, there appear to have been 19,306 whom the
Brethren class under the head of candidates for baptism, new
people, and excluded.'
'Period. Accounts, vol. iv. p. 393; Latrobe's Journal, p. 284.
"Period. Accounts, vol. xxi. p. xxvii.
436
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In propagating the gospel among the heathen, the Brethren
seek to imitate the example of the Apostle Paul, who “deter-
mined not to know any thing among them save Jesus Christ,
and him crucified." Experience has shewn them, that little is
effected by beginning with the principles of natural religion, as
the existence of God, the perfections of his nature, or the duties.
of morality, in order to prepare them for receiving the gospel.
After many years' trial in different countries, and under every
variety of circumstances, they found that the simple testimony
of the sufferings and death of Christ, delivered by a missionary
who had an experimental sense of his love, was the most effec-
tual means of converting the heathen. It is now, therefore, a
rule with them, to enter into no discussions concerning the
existence or attributes of God, the doctrine of the Trinity, and
other similar truths, until their hearers appear to believe in
Christ, and to feel the transforming influence of the gospel on
their hearts. It is proper, however, to remark, that though the
Brethren make the death of Christ the grand subject of their
preaching among the heathen, they do not confine their instruc-
tions to this particular point, but endeavour, by degrees, to in-
stil into the minds of the converts a knowledge of other parts.
of divine truth both doctrinal and practical.'
It is gratifying to find such numbers connected with the
Brethren's congregations among the heathen; but the satisfac-
tion which we feel on this account is materially diminished by
the apprehension which we have, that their standard of quali-
fications for admission into the Church of Christ is much too
low. They appear to baptize persons before they are duly in-
structed, and of whose conversion there is little or no evidence.
They are much too simple in believing the professions of peo-
ple; good words and fair speeches, the mere desire of baptism,
or any outward manifestation of religious feeling, go a great way
with them. We are not, indeed, without an apprehension that
the Brethren give their hearers but an imperfect exhibition of
Christianity, and that there is somewhat of formalism in their
religion, as is very apt to be the case where every thing is so
much a matter of prescribed form and order as it is with them.
Though the atonement of Christ is unquestionably the grand
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 7; vol. vii.
p. 7; vol. vii. p. xxvii.
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
437
and fundamental principle of the gospel, yet we fear they dwell
too exclusively on his incarnation, sufferings, and death, and
even on the mere historical circumstances regarding them, and
that other parts of divine truth, both doctrinal and practical,
have not that place in their instructions to which, by their im-
portance, they are entitled. We accordingly suspect that the
knowledge of the converts will generally be found to be very
restricted, even after they have been years under instruction,
and that it is not always of a scriptural character, and that to
this imperfect foundation may perhaps be traced in part the
great numbers who fall away, or in whose conduct at least there
is much that is defective and blameworthy. If in these obser-
vations we wrong the Brethren, we shall feel deep regret, but
they are the impressions made on our minds by their own
accounts of their missions.
The General Synods of the Brethren's church, which consist
of representatives from all the congregations, appoint a select
number of bishops and elders to superintend the affairs of the
whole church, till the next general synod, which, in times of
peace, usually meets every seven or eight years. The Elders'
Conference of the Unity, as they are called, is divided into four
departments, one of which has the special care of the missions
among the heathen. This committee, however, simply takes
the affairs of the missions under consideration, and brings for-
ward proposals concerning them: it neither forms resolutions,
nor carries any measure into effect, until they are laid before
the whole Elders' Conference of the Unity, and receive its con-
currence. Societies for the furtherance of the gospel among the
heathen were formed by the Brethren in England, Holland,
and America; but it was simply with the view of assisting
the missions, particularly such as were connected with these
countries; they have no power to begin new missions, or even to
send out missionaries. This, by the Synods of the Brethren's
church, is vested solely in the Elders' Conference of the Unity.'
When any member of the Brethren's church feels disposed to
go as a missionary among the heathen, he communicates his
desire to that department of the Elders' Conference which has
the superintendence of the missions committed to its care. If,
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. vii. p. xvi.; vol. xvi. p. 1.
438
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
on inquiry into his circumstances, there appears no objection to
his proposal, he is considered as a candidate for missionary ser-
vice in general, unless he has a predilection for any particular
field, and then special attention is paid to his wishes. No per-
son is ever urged, and still less compelled to become a mission-
ary, or even to accept of a call to any particular station.
As to the qualifications of their missionaries, much erudition
is not required by the Brethren. They have, they say, learned
by experience, that a good understanding, a friendly disposition,
unfeigned humility, fervent zeal for the salvation of souls, and
a heart inflamed with the love of Christ, are the best and most
essential qualifications of a missionary. In general, they think,
the habits of a student are not so well calculated to form a per-
son for the toils and hardships of a missionary life, as those of
a mechanic. Yet men of learning are by no means rejected by
them, and in various instances, their superior literary attain-
ments have not been without their use, especially where trans-
lations of the Scriptures, or of other works, were to be made.
When a new mission is to be undertaken, or a vacancy occurs
in any of those already established, the list of candidates is
examined, and such as are deemed most suitable are called
upon, and accept or decline the invitation as they find them-
selves disposed.'
¹ Period. Accounts, vol. i. p. 6; vol. vii. p. iv. ; Holmes' Sketches, p. 470; Pano-
plist, vol. ii. p. 436.
It may easily be supposed that the Brethren, in the course of their long experience,
must have acquired much practical wisdom in the conduct of missions among the
heathen. The following principles which we find stated in a letter from the Rev. C. J.
La Trobe, long the Secretary of the Brethren in England, are, we think, well worthy
of the attention of other missionary bodies :—
"It is of the greatest consequence, that we ourselves are intent upon doing what-
soever we do, in the name of God, and solely with a view to his glory, and not suffer
ourselves to be swayed by our own spirit or prejudices. He will answer the prayers of
his servants, if they are desirous to follow his directions in all things.
"In the choice of missionaries we ought to be very cautious, and well to examine the
motives and character of the candidates.
"We think it a great mistake, after their appointment, when they are held up to
public notice and admiration, and much praise is bestowed upon their devotedness to the
Lord, presenting them to the congregation as martyrs and confessors, before they have
even entered upon their labours. We rather advise them to be sent out quietly, recom-
mended to the fervent prayers of the congregation, which is likewise most agreeable to
their own feelings, if they are humble followers of Christ.
"As we wish above all things that brotherly love be maintained among fellow-
BY THE UNITED BRETHREN.
439
When the Brethren sent their first missionaries to the island
of St Thomas and Greenland, they were, from their great poverty,
scarcely able to furnish them with more than a few shillings to
pay for what little they might need on their walk from Herrn-
hut to Copenhagen, leaving them to depend chiefly on friends
by the way for a meal and a bed. Indeed, it would have been
impossible for them to have carried on their missions among
the heathen, had not Count Zinzendorf, with that liberality
with which he devoted himself and all he possessed to the cause
of Christ, provided for several years the necessary expenses.
Though the Brethren, in the course of a few years, increased
both in number and ability, yet finding that the most liberal
contributions of their own body would not be adequate to the
maintenance of the missions they had established, they formed
a plan of rendering them as much as possible independent of
such aid, by some of the missionaries working with their own
hands for the support of themselves and their fellow-labourers,
who were more particularly engaged in instructing the heathen.
Thus some were sent to the Danish West India Islands, others
to Surinam; some to Tranquebar and the Nicobar Islands,
others to Egypt and the Cape of Good Hope, chiefly with the
view of establishing trades, not for their own private advantage,
but for the general support of the mission. They were, at the
same time, willing, according to their ability, to assist in in-
structing the heathen, even as those Brethren on whom this.
more particularly devolved, were ready to help them in their
secular concerns, whenever their assistance could be useful. In
the Danish West India Islands, in Surinam, and in South Africa,
labourers, we do not advise to place two men of different religious opinions and habits,
however worthy in other respects, under one yoke.
"When converts from among the heathen are established in grace, we would advise
not immediately to use them as assistants in teaching, but to act herein with caution,
and a reference to the general weakness of their minds, and consequent aptness to grow
conceited.
"We also disapprove of bringing converts to Europe, under any pretence whatever,
and think it would lead them into danger of injury to their own souls.
"Missionaries are no longer useful than as they are with their whole heart in their
calling, and we advise to employ or retain none, but such as delight in their work,
"We advise that one of approved character and experience, be appointed first mis-
sionary to superintend the work, and that each prefer the other in love, and be willing
to follow."-Panoplist, vol. ii. p. 437.
440
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
this plan succeeded so well, that the Brethren maintained
themselves, and in some instances the benefits of it even ex-
tended to other stations, where a similar mode of support could
not be adopted.'
Though the Brethren exercised remarkable economy in the
conduct of their missions, yet during the war with France, their
expenses in maintaining them were greatly increased, while their
resources on the Continent of Europe were much diminished,
and, towards the end of it, they found themselves deeply in-
volved in debt on account of them. Averse to obtrude them-
selves on public notice, preferring retirement upon principle,
and doing good without wishing that good to be known by any
but its objects, they made no appeal for support to the Chris-
tian world at large, but struggled in secret with increasing dif-
ficulties, until, at length, the remonstrances of their friends,
combined with the urgency of their wants, compelled them to
come forward and make their embarrassments known. In con-
sequence of the interest which was then excited in their behalf
among the friends of missions, large sums were raised in
aid of them; and since that time, they have continued to re-
ceive considerable contributions from Christians of other deno-
minations, particularly in England. There is, however, a
danger that other churches, engrossed with their own mis-
sionary undertakings, may overlook the labours of the humble,
modest, unobtrusive Moravians; and we cannot, therefore, con-
clude without expressing our earnest hope that the Christian
world will not permit these excellent men to struggle with
pecuniary difficulties; but will come forward with alacrity and
zeal to aid them in carrying on those noble and important
undertakings, in which they have been so long, so honourably,
and so successfully engaged.
2
'Period. Accounts, vol. vii. p. 200; vol. xiii. p. 189; vol. xiv. p. viii. ; vol. xix. p.
61; Spangenberg's Account, p. 56.
Of late years, the Brethren in the Danish West India Islands were not able nearly
to meet the expenses of the mission, and they have now given up their former busi-
nesses.—Period. Accounts, vol. xvi. p. 269; vol. xvii. p. 148; vol. xix. p. 281.
2 Concise Account of the Brethren's Missions, 1801, p. 14; Christian Guardian,
vol. vi. p. 28, 141, 142; Period. Accounts, vol. vi. p. 383; vol. vii. Preface, p. iii.,
xxiv.; vol. viii. p. 165; vol. xiv. p. vii.; vol. xix. p. 120.
BY THE METHODISTS.
441
CHAPTER VII.
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE METHODIST
MISSIONARY SOCIETY.'
SECT. I.-WEST INDIES.
IN September 1786, the Rev. Dr Coke, accompanied by Messrs
William Warrener, John Clarke, and William Hammet, three
other Methodist preachers, sailed from England for Nova Scotia;
but after encountering a succession of tremendous storms, the
ship proved so extremely leaky, that the captain thought it
impossible to reach the port of Halifax that season, and he,
therefore, resolved to direct his course for the West Indies.
Having at length reached Antigua, Dr Coke and his companions.
met with so favourable a reception from many of the inhabi-
tants, that after visiting some of the other islands, they resolved,
instead of proceeding to the original place of their destination,
to attempt the establishment of a mission in the West Indies.*
Such were the apparently accidental circumstances which led
the Methodists to turn their attention to the heathen, and to
adopt systematic measures for the diffusion of Christianity
among them. Of the missions which they established, we shall
now give some account, beginning with that to Antigua, as to
which, however, it is necessary to go a few years further back.
1
"The General Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society" was not established till
1817. For many years the management of the Methodist Missions was intrusted chiefly
to the Rev. Dr Coke, assisted by a committee of finance and advice, consisting of all
tho ministers of the connection resident in I ondon.
* Coke's Journals of Five Visits to America, p. 49, 55.
442
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ART. 1.-ANTIGUA.
IN 1760, Nathaniel Gilbert, Esq., Speaker of the House of
Assembly in Antigua, began to make some efforts to promote
the interests of religion on that island. Having, on a late visit
to England, been himself impressed by the gospel, he endea-
voured on his return to Antigua, to communicate to others the
light of divine truth. His attempts were at first confined to a
few persons, whom he collected together in his own house on
the Lord's day; but afterwards he proceeded to preach in public,
not only to the White people, but to the negro slaves. Conduct
so singular and unexampled could scarcely fail to excite general
notice, and to draw upon him the insults and slanders of the
enemies of religion, notwithstanding the high station which he
occupied in the island. He persevered, however, in his labours
amidst much reproach; and he had at length the satisfaction
of uniting about two hundred of his hearers into a Christian
society, and continued to watch over them with all the affec-
tion and solicitude of a father. But in the midst of these dis-
interested labours, he was called away from this earthly scene,
and his flock were left as sheep without a shepherd.
From the death of Mr Gilbert, near twenty years elapsed be-
fore one was found to supply his place. In 1778, Mr John
Baxter, a member of the Methodist connection in England,
embarked for Antigua, to work as a shipwright in the service
of government; and, having on his arrival found religion at a
very low ebb on the island, he immediately began to preach the
gospel to as many as would hear him. Such of Mr Gilbert's
hearers as had survived the ravages of death, and remained
faithful amidst abounding iniquity, soon flocked to him. But
as Mr Baxter was engaged in the employ of government dur-
ing the day, he could devote only his leisure hours to their in-
struction. His ordinary practice was to travel in the evening
to the plantations in the country, sometimes to the distance of
ten miles; and after exhorting the slaves to flee from the wrath
to come, he returned home under those heavy dews, which, in
a tropical climate, are so injurious to health, that he might be
BY THE METHODISTS.
443
ready for the labours of the ensuing day. In the course of a
few years, Mr Baxter collected a society of near two thousand
members; but unhappily, through a laxity of discipline, many
were received into it whose conduct but ill corresponded with
their profession.'
In January 1787, Mr Warrener, one of the preachers origi-
nally destined for Nova Scotia, was appointed to remain in An-
tigua; and Mr Baxter, in order to devote himself entirely to
the work of the ministry, relinquished the situation he held
under government, which was worth £400 a year currency. It
was now found necessary to discard many of the members as
unworthy of the profession they made, a circumstance which
considerably reduced the number of the society. But the ad-
vantages which resulted from this step amply counterbalanced
the loss. It rescued the gospel from disgrace, induced those
who remained to walk with greater circumspection, and ulti-
mately proved beneficial to the interests of religion.2
In 1795, the government of Antigua, dreading an attack from
the French in Guadaloupe, applied to the Methodist and Mora-
vian missionaries to raise a corps of the members of their so-
cieties to assist in defending the island. In compliance with
this request they levied between them upwards of a thousand
men. Sometime after, when Mr Warrener was riding into the
country, a negro called to him and said, “Massa, when de fight
to be?" "I hope never," answered Mr Warrener. "Well," he
replied, "we hope so too, but if de French come, we'll fight
dem." In order merely to try him, Mr Warrener said, "And,
my negro, what would you fight for?" "Massa," replied he,
we fight for our wives, our children, our houses, and our cha-
pel, massa." Happily the French never came, but had they
landed, there is little doubt the negroes would have proved
faithful. These facts may be considered as a proof at once of
the loyalty of the Christian slaves, and of the confidence of go-
vernment in them.³
(C
'Coke's History of the West Indies, vol. ii. p. 427, 431, 438, 460; Account of the
Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Methodist Missions, 1804, p. 3.
* Coke's Journals, p. 57; Minutes of the Methodist Conferences, from 1741, vol. ii.
p. 326; Account of Methodist Missions, 1804.
Coke's History, vol. iii. p. 64; Report of the Methodist Missions, 1816, p. 44.
444
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In 1826, the mission in Antigua sustained a loss unexampled
in the modern history of missions, the whole of the missionaries
and part of their families, amounting in all to thirteen persons,
having perished at sea. The sufferers were Mr White, his wife,
and three children, Mr Truscott, his wife, and one child, Mr
Jones, Mr Hillier, and Mr Oke, together with two servants.
Of the whole party, one of the wives only, Mrs Jones, was
saved.
The missionaries had gone to St Christopher's to attend what
is called a district meeting, and when it was concluded, they
sailed for Montserrat for the purpose of leaving there Mr Hyde
and his family; and after having done this they proceeded on
their voyage to Antigua, but such was the boisterous state of
the weather, that after being twenty-four hours at sea, they put
back again to Montserrat. After waiting there two or three.
days, they embarked on board the mail boat, by which they ex-
pected to reach home sooner than by the other vessel. The
weather still continued exceedingly stormy; but towards sun-
set next day, they were fast approaching the island of Antigua,
and were expressing their joy at the prospect of supping and
sleeping ashore. The captain, however, was aware of the dan-
gerous rocks and sands which lie in such numbers at the mouth
of St John's harbour. About seven o'clock an alarm was raised
by the cry of "breakers ahead;" and immediately after, the
vessel struck on a reef to the leeward of Sandy Island. She
fell on her side and filled directly. The sailors cut away her
mast when she righted a little. They cast out the anchor and
let out the chain cable which made her hang somewhat more
securely on the rocks, whilst the sea beat over her in the most.
terrific manner. All the passengers and crew now hung upon
the bulwarks and rails of the quarter-deck up to their middle
in water. In this fearful situation they remained nearly an
hour, when the waist of the vessel gave way and precipitated all
who were clinging to the rails of the quarter-deck into the sea,
namely, Mr and Mrs White with their three children, Mr and
Mrs Truscott and child, Mrs Jones and two servants. Mr Jones
being next to his wife, made a desperate effort to lay hold of
her, and drew her up so far that she caught hold of part of the
wreck on which he hung and was saved. The captain now ex-
BY THE METHODISTS.
445
tt
to "
horted all who were still on the vessel to come nearer to the
head, as she was fast breaking up, and that part of her was
likely to hold longest together; adding, “hold on if you possi-
bly can till the morning, and then we shall be seen from Goat-
till battery and be rescued." With this advice they were ena-
bled to comply, though not without considerable difficulty.
The sea was tremendous and the night was dark. Wave fol-
lowed wave in quick succession; and they had often only re-
covered their breath after one billow, when another struck them
again. The long wished for morning at length dawned. They
made the best signals of distress they were able, but these were
not observed. They could see people walking on shore, but no
one saw them, as they could not be distinguished from the reef
amidst the dashing of the waves. Vessels and boats passed at
some distance in the course of the day, and they endeavoured
to hail them, but the beating of the sea on the rocks drowned
their voices so that they were not heard. Notwithstanding all
their disappointments, Mr and Mrs Jones were enabled to stay
themselves on God, and to direct the captain and the sailors
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”
Night again drew on apace, and enveloping them in darkness,
rendered their situation at once more dreary and more perilous.
Seated on a piece of the wreck up to their breasts in water, with-
out a crumb of bread to eat or a drop of fresh water to drink,
the sea rough, and the waves rolling over them, each billow
threatening to swallow them up, they passed a fearful and an
anxious night. If one ventured to sleep a little, another
watched lest the waves should sweep him away. When morning
dawned, it was welcomed with praise to God that their eyes
were permitted once more to behold the light of day. Vessels and
boats passed again, but they did not see them. Sometime after
noon, Mr Hillier said he thought he could swim ashore, and
might thus be instrumental in saving them all. Mr Jones and
Mr Oke, as well as the captain, feared that he was too weak,
in consequence of the want of food, to swim so far, the distance
being about three miles. He, however, thought he could, and,
in the spirit of prayer, committed himself to the deep, while
they, after bidding him farewell, commended him to God. He
struck off well; but in about ten minutes sunk to rise no more
446
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
till "the sea shall give up the dead which are in it." One or
two of the sailors also attempted to reach the shore on pieces of
the wreck, but failed in the effort. Thus the survivors passed
through another day of sorrows. The bodies of some of those
who had perished were this day seen floating on the bosom of
the deep. Night now approached once more, but with every
appearance of its being their last, for the joints of the wreck
began to open, and there was every likelihood of its being soon
broken up. Contrary to expectation, however, they were spared
to see another morning. The sea was now much calmer than
it had been before; and about noon Mr Oke said he would en-
deavour to swim ashore; but he was drowned shortly after he
got into the water, being too weak to swim far. Mr Jones now
began to lose the use of his legs, and his wife called the captain
to help her to raise them, if possible, out of the water. The
captain made the attempt, but he was too weak to come to her
assistance. Not long after, Mr Jones complained of a strange
drowsiness. Feeling himself dying, he cried out, "Come, Lord
Jesus, come quickly," and shortly after expired. Mrs Jones
called to the captain but received no answer, for he too was
dying. For a few minutes she held the body of her husband to
her breast; but a wave soon washed it away from her enfeebled
arms, and he fell at her feet. For a few seconds she saw it
floating on the surge, and then sunk into a state of insensibility.
In this condition she remained until rescued by Mr Kentish and
Mr Ashford, two gentlemen who, on hearing of the wreck,
through an American captain, who, it was said, passed by at
noon, humanely came off without delay to render what help
they could. When she was found, her face was so swelled that
her head appeared almost a shapeless mass. On being touched,
she came to herself, and asked, "What they were going to do
with her?" They conveyed her ashore with all possible despatch,
and at the house of Mr Kentish she received the utmost kind-
ness and attention from him and his lady, as well as the best
medical advice, which, through the blessing of God, were happily
the means of restoring her. Only two others of the ship's com-
pany were saved, the mate and a black seaman, who, soon after
the vessel struck, were carried away in the boat, and were picked
up next day by a French sloop near the island of Nevis.'
¹ Moth. Mag. 1826, p. 349, 491.
BY THE METHODISTS.
447
In 1853, the number of church members in connection with
the Methodist mission on this island amounted to 2472.¹
ART. 2.-ST VINCENT'S.
IN January 1787, Dr Coke and three of his brethren visited
St Vincent's, and were received with all that politeness and
hospitality which distinguished the inhabitants of the West
Indies. Mr Clarke, one of the missionaries, remained on the
island, encouraged by the promise of several of the planters, that
their houses should always be open to receive him, and their
negroes ever ready to hear his instructions. Having commenced
his labours, he proceeded in a calm peaceful course, without
meeting with any thing remarkable, either to facilitate or to
retard his operations. His congregations were large, and his
exertions appeared to be crowned with considerable success.²
It must not, however, be supposed that opposition was entirely
unknown; but for several years, it was confined to some lawless
individuals, destitute alike of religion and humanity. One
night, a number of rioters broke into the chapel, and after doing
what mischief they could to the benches, they carried off the
Bible, and hung it on the public gallows until the morning.
Shocked at this gross act of impiety, the magistrates offered a
reward of one hundred pounds for the discovery of the perpe-
trators; but though, in this instance, the arm of authority was
exerted for the protection of religion, it was at length turned
against her in a manner unknown in English legislation in mo-
dern times.³
In December 1792, the Assembly of St Vincent's, with the
view of rooting the Methodists out of the island, passed a law,
that no person except the rectors of parishes should preach
without a licence; and that no individual should receive a
licence until he had resided at least twelve months on the island,
a clause admirably calculated to banish the Methodists from
among them, as their preachers would never consent to lie idle
a whole year, in order to have liberty of petitioning at the end
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 106.
' Coke's Journals, p. 59; Coke's History, vol. ii. p. 258.
* Coke and Moore's Life of John Wesley, p. 475; Coke's History, vol. ii. p. 270.
448
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
of that period for a licence, which, after all, would probably be
refused, especially as, according to their system, they frequently
change from one island to another. For the first offence, it was
enacted that the culprit should be punished by a fine of £18, or
by imprisonment for not more than ninety days, and not less
than thirty; for the second, by such corporal punishment as the
court should think proper, and by banishment from the island;
and to crown the whole, if he returned from banishment, by
DEATH! It is, however, but an act of justice to the people in
general to state, that there is reason to believe they were de-
cidedly hostile to this law; many of the most respectable inha-
bitants reprobated it in the most unequivocal terins. The act
itself was hurried through the Assembly at the close of the
session many of the members had retired before it was passed,
and though there remained only a very thin house, they were
by no means unanimous.
:
Unappalled by this iniquitous law, Mr Lumb, the missionary
in St Vincent's, preached as usual on the following Sabbath.
In consequence of this, he was apprehended, and, on refusing
to pay the fine, was thrown into prison. The magistrates, in-
deed, who committed him offered to lay down two-thirds of the
penalty, and one of the merchants would have paid the whole,
but Mr Lumb was determined to consent to nothing which
might be construed as a voluntary submission to a law so exe-
crable in itself, and so contrary to the spirit of the British
constitution. When the period of his imprisonment had expired,
he was released; but it was a release only to silence, or to vo-
luntary banishment. He, of course, preferred the latter, and
retired from St Vincent's, uncertain whether any missionary
would ever again be allowed to settle on the island.
Happily the law was in force only for a short time, for as all
the acts of the Colonial Assemblies had to be transmitted to His
Majesty for his royal sanction, the King was graciously pleased
to disallow it, as contrary to the principles of toleration, which
were now an established part of the British constitution.'
In 1794, Messrs Thomas Owens and James Alexander were
sent to renew the mission on the island of St Vincent's. Before
the enactment of the late persecuting law, the members of the
'Coko's History, vol. ii. p. 271.
BY THE METHODISTS.
449
Methodist Society on this island, amounted to near a thousand,
but scarcely was it passed, when the number was reduced more
than one half. Multitudes who once appeared to run well, now
wandered astray into the paths of error and of sin: so complete
was their apostasy, that they threw aside even the form of god-
liness. Still, however, there were a few who, amidst the gene-
ral declension, maintained their stedfastness, and continued to
assemble in small companies for singing and prayer. To collect
the scattered remains of the flock was among the first cares of
the new missionaries. Many now returned from their wander-
ings; the congregations began to increase; no obstacles of any
moment occurred, except those powerful moral impediments
which exist in every country, and in every heart. A spirit of
religious toleration breathed through the island. Many who
were once the persecutors of the missionaries became their
friends, and shewed them a degree of kindness and hospitality
scarcely equalled in any other island. The prejudices of others,
however, were rather smothered than subdued, and threatened
to burst forth with renewed violence when any favourable op-
portunity presented itself."
In March 1797, Mr H, a magistrate and a member of
the Council, who had been celebrating St Patrick's Day with
other gentlemen of the island, proceeded at the head of some of
his companions to the Methodist chapel, threw down the rail-
ing, burst open the door, broke nearly all the lamps, pulled
down the communion rails, took the Bible, tore it in pieces and
scattered them on the ground. The band of a regiment which
accompanied them then struck up with their instruments of
music, and after shouting and dancing like so many madmen,
the rioters took their departure. Seeing Mr Pattison, the mis-
sionary, as they passed, Mr II the magistrate said to him
with a shrug and a sarcastic smile, "Sir, I came here to keep
the peace." His companions cursed, swore, and declared that
if he said a word, they would take him to the market-place and
give him a sound whipping. No disturbance of any consequence
took place for another year, but when the celebration of St
H-
¹ Coke's History, vol. ii. p. 277; Account of Methodist Missions, 1804; Watson's
Defence of tho Methodist Missions, p. 32; Missionary Notices rolating to the Metho-
dist Missions, vol. i. p. 73, 235.
VOL. I.
F f
450
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Patrick's Day returned, Mr Pattison was apprehensive of a simi-
lar visit. He therefore proposed to Mr Hallet, his fellow-
labourer, that they should sleep that night at the house of one
of their friends who lived in the neighbourhood of the chapel.
It was well they took this precaution, for in the dead of the
night, some persons armed with swords or cutlasses broke into
their house, entered the sleeping apartments, turned up the
beds, and apparently searched for them in every corner. The
friend at whose house they lodged that night having come out
on hearing the noise, one of the ruffians struck her in the face
with a bludgeon.'
In 1853, the number of church members in connection with
the mission on this island amounted to 4813.2
ART. 3.-ST EUSTATIUS.
IN January 1787, Dr Coke visited St Eustatius; but in con-
sequence of the jealousy of the Dutch government, to which the
island belonged, he was not allowed to preach to the negroes.
During his stay, however, he employed himself in instructing
small companies, from eight to twelve at a time, in the house
of a free Black with whom he lodged. A poor slave from Ame-
rica, who endeavoured to instruct his countrymen, had shortly
before been prohibited by the governor from preaching to them,
and he was soon after whipped, imprisoned, and banished from
the island, simply for continuing to pray with them. To pre-
vent the commission of similar crimes for the future, the govern-
ment issued an edict, that if any White person was found pray-
ing with his brethren, he should be fined for the first offence,
fifty pieces of eight; for the second, a hundred pieces; and for
the third, suffer whipping, confiscation of goods, and banish-
ment from the island. But if the culprit was a coloured man,
he should for the first offence receive thirty-nine lashes; for
the second, he should, if a freeman, be whipped and banished;
and if a slave, be whipped every time."
¹ Watson's Defence, p. 80.
2
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 107.
3 Coke's Journals, p. 64, 94; Account of Methodist Missions, 1804.
BY THE METHODISTS.
451
In December 1788, Dr Coke again visited St Eustatius, and
notwithstanding the persecution under which the Methodist
Society on this island had of late laboured, its numbers amounted
before his departure to no fewer than two hundred and fifty-
eight. He preached once; but next morning, he and two others
of the company received a message from the governor and
fiscal, requiring them to promise that they would not preach
publicly or privately, by day or by night, to White or Black
people, during their stay on the island, under the penalty of
prosecution, arbitrary punishment, and banishment. Mr Brazier,
a preacher who had been raised up in the West Indies, was not
included in this message. He therefore remained on the island,
but the governor soon discovered and dislodged him. In the
mean while, Dr Coke left St Eustatius; and some days after,
on visiting Saba, a small island in the neighbourhood, he was
surprised to find Mr Brazier there before him. In compliance
with the request of the governor and council, he appointed him
to remain among them; but the governor of St Eustatius, who
possessed the supreme authority in the Dutch possessions in
that part of the West Indies, soon compelled them to part with
their preacher.'
The Methodists in St Eustatius enjoyed some relaxation on
the arrival of a new governor from Holland, but as the old go-
vernor was afterwards restored, the flames of persecution were
again kindled. The poor slaves who met to sing and pray and
speak about religion, were whipped, and many of them impri-
soned. In consequence of these severities, the society was almost
entirely broken up; but yet there were a few classes which
kept together. They retired to some distance into the country
that they might meet in quietness, and as often as circumstances
allowed, they visited the neighbouring island of St Christopher's,
that they might enjoy the ordinances of the gospel. Dr Coke
went to Holland for the purpose of obtaining from the Dutch
government toleration for the Methodists in St Eustatius, but
his applications were not attended with success.*
In 1810, after a lapse of many years, two of the Methodist
¹ Coke's Journals, p. 95, 97, 99.
2 Coke's Journals, p. 125, 167; Coke's History, vol. iii. p. 62; Drew's Life of the
Rev. Dr Coke, p. 259.
452
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
missionaries waited on the governor of St Eustatius, which had
lately been captured by the British, and obtained liberty from
him to attempt the establishment of a mission on the island.
The preachers who first went thither experienced considerable
hostility, but they at length triumphed over all opposition.
The tranquillity they enjoyed formed a striking contrast to the
intolerance of former years. The congregations were in general
large, and many of the White people, as well as the negroes,
heard the word with great attention.'
In 1853, the number of church members in connection with
the mission on this island amounted to 315.2
ART. 4.-BArbadoes.
IN December 1788, Dr Coke, accompanied by Mr Benjamin
Pearce, visited Barbadoes, and was received with the greatest
politeness by different gentlemen on that island. Having ob-
tained liberty to instruct the slaves on several plantations, Mr
Pearce remained in Barbadoes, and immediately commenced
his labours with great energy and zeal. It was not long, how-
ever, before he began to experience violent opposition from a
number of the inhabitants. His enemies were many, and some
of them men of rank and influence. A report was circulated,
that, under the pretext of instructing the negroes in the prin-
ciples of religion, the Methodists designed to disseminate among
them notions incompatible with their condition as slaves, and
with the interests of their masters. Repeated attempts were
made by the mob to interrupt the meetings for divine worship.
One Wednesday evening, near the close of the service, they
broke forth with more than ordinary violence. All was confu-
sion and disorder. They stamped, they whistled, they roared
more like fiends than human beings. Leaving the chapel, they
posted themselves at the door, and assailed it in a most out-
Here they shouted, threatened, swore, and
discharged such vollies of stones, as if they intended to break
rageous manner.
1 Methodist Magazine, vol. xxxiv. p. 395, 396; Watson's Defence, p. 128; Rep.
Meth. Miss. 1813, p. 8.
2 Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 106.
BY THE METHODISTS.
453
it open.
After taking ineffectual vengeance on the chapel,
they retired amidst the noise of their own imprecations. In
consequence of this attack, Mr Pearce applied to a magistrate
for redress. He heard his statement with apparent indignation
at the rioters, issued warrants against several of them, and pro-
mised to do him justice. On the day of trial, Mr Pearce ap-
peared with several other respectable witnesses; but though
the charges were proved by the most unquestionable evidence,
the magistrate gave the following extraordinary decision: "The
offence was committed against ALMIGHTY GOD: it therefore does
not belong to me to punish it." Mr Pearce was left with all
his expenses to pay, a prey to a lawless mob, at once the scorn
and the pity of his foes.
Finding themselves sanctioned by those who ought to have
checked them, the enemies of the Methodists increased in num-
ber and in violence. To preach at night was utterly impracti-
cable: even to sing a hymn was almost a call to arms. The
mob immediately surrounded the house, and assailing it with
stones, compelled the few who had assembled to disperse. After
some months, when tranquillity was in a considerable degree
restored, Mr Pearce ventured again to preach in the evening;
but in the course of a few weeks, a new disturbance was raised
One night, several young men entered the chapel and endea-
voured to interrupt the service. Mr Pearce bore with them for
a considerable time without noticing their conduct; but the
noise became at length so intolerable, as to overwhelm his
voice. He then endeavoured to silence them by expostulation;
but after making several ineffectual attempts, he was obliged
to dismiss the congregation. On leaving the chapel, the rioters
were joined by about a hundred others, who now constituted a
formidable mob. Their first effort was to break open the door;
but failing in the attempt, they demolished the window above
it with stones. Mr Pearce now ventured out among them,
with the view of endeavouring to make them desist, and of
marking such as were most active in the assault. On behold-
ing the chief object of their malice, several of the rioters at-
tempted to strike him; but though encircled with danger, he
escaped unhurt. They then surrounded his house, determined
apparently to give some signal display of their prowess; but
454
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
after wearying themselves with menacing parades, they retired
without doing any particular mischief.
On reviewing this flagrant assault, Mr Pearce resolved to ap-
peal once more to the justice of the island. The magistrates to
whom he applied, issued their warrants with the utmost readi-
ness against the rioters, and when brought before the court,
five of them pleaded guilty. Previous to this, they had applied
to Mr Pearce to have the matter accommodated without a trial,
but the magistrates expressly prohibited any compromise with
them. On pleading guilty, they received a severe reprimand
from the bench, and were dismissed on condition of paying the
whole expenses of that day's proceedings, and one-half of the
sum paid by Mr Pearce to the lawyers whom he had consulted.
But notwithstanding this decision, some of the rioters soon
afterwards, when Mr Pearce was in the country, attacked his
house, and assailing it with stones, struck his wife very severely.
As the delinquents were unknown, it was impossible to bring
them to justice; nothing remained but to bear the injury with
patience, and to watch with vigilance against any similar at-
tempt in future.¹
In 1791, Mr Pearce was succeeded in his missionary labours
by Mr Lumb, who, on his arrival, found the prejudices of the
planters, especially in the country, so far dispelled, that he had
access to more estates than he was able to visit. There were
no fewer than twenty-six plantations to which he went once
a fortnight; but his visits were attended with little or no suc-
cess. The Blacks, in general, were as indifferent to religion as
the Whites. Many of them treated with contumely its sacred
institutions, and poured contempt on such as professed them-
selves its friends. A very extraordinary name was given to
them, Hallelujah. Even the little negroes learned the appella-
tion, and called them by it, as they passed along the street.
The mission to Barbadoes continued in a very languishing
state for many years. In Bridgetown, the capital, few attended
the meetings for divine worship, and even among these, a want
of reverence could not have been more conspicuous, had the
chapel been a theatre, and the gospel a farce. Persecution was
now nearly unknown, or at least, reared its head only occa-
'Coke's Journals, p. 75; Coke's History, vol. ii. p. 143.
BY THE METHODISTS.
455
:
sionally; but it had given place to a more deadly weapon, a set-
tled contempt for divine things. In the country, a few doors
still remained open; but the greater number were completely
closed the congregations were reduced to a shadow, seldom
exceeding ten or twelve persons. In consequence of the death
of several of the missionaries, and of the many discouragements
they experienced, this island was repeatedly left without a
preacher, a circumstance which contributed still further to re-
tard the progress of the mission. Amidst these various trials,
a few of the members maintained their stedfastness without
wavering; but through abounding iniquity, the love of many
waxed cold. Even some who once seemed pillars in the house
of God, returned back to the world, and united with those
whose chief delight it was to traduce the professors of religion.'
In October 1823, a storm burst forth on the mission which
for the time threatened its entire extinction. Mr Shrewsbury,
who had now been a missionary on the island for upwards of
three years, had always had many enemies. He was the daily
object of their scoffs and jeers, and even in the public streets
he was frequently abused as a villain, and that not by the rabble
merely, but by the great vulgar, by merchants from their stores,
and by other persons in the garb of gentlemen. But there now
occurred circumstances which raised the hostility of the Barba-
dians to a higher pitch than ever. Intelligence having been
received of an insurrection of the slaves in Demerara, a notice
was posted up in the Commercial Rooms, that "the Methodist
clergymen of Demerara were both imprisoned, they being deeply
implicated in the insurrection which had broken out in that
colony." This falsehood' stated in so public a manner, set the
people in a flame. Fresh stories were circulated every day.
The island newspapers were filled with invectives against cer-
tain hypocritical characters, who, under the pretext of commu-
nicating religious instruction to the slaves, were introducing
among them principles subversive of the foundations of civil
¹ Coke's History, vol. ii. p. 150; Coke's Journals, p. 119.
2 The statement was false as regarded the Methodist missionaries; but it no doubt
arose out of the fact that Mr Smith, one of the missionaries of the London Society in
Demerara, was, as we shall afterwards have occasion to state, apprehended under a
charge of being implicated in the insurrection of the slaves in that colony.
456
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
society, particularly as existing in the West Indies. The Metho-
dist missionaries were represented as in correspondence with
the African Institution; and it was said, that Mr Shrewsbury
held private meetings with the slaves for the purpose of getting
all the information he could from them in order to convey it
to that society. Having in a letter, written three years before,
spoken of the neglected and immoral state of the slave popula-
tion, he was charged with having sent home to England the
vilest calumnies against the Barbadians, and some even asserted,
that he had therein stated that the slaves ought to take their
liberty by force, if they could not otherwise obtain it. To
crown the whole, the discussions in Parliament on the subject
of slavery had of late been renewed with powerful effect,
and Mr Canning, one of the Secretaries of State, had as an
amendment on a motion by Mr Buxton, proposed a series of
resolutions relative to measures for improving the condition of
the slaves, preparatory to their being admitted to the rights
and privileges of freemen. Official despatches had just reached
the island containing His Majesty's recommendations of these
reforms, and declaring, in terms the most express, the neces-
sity of carrying them into effect with all possible despatch,
and in the spirit of perfect and cordial co-operation with His
Majesty's government; and that if any serious opposition should
arise, the earliest opportunity would be taken of bringing the
subject before Parliament again, and submitting to its consi-
deration such measures as it might in consequence of this appear
advisable to adopt. The arrival of these despatches raised still
higher the angry passions of the colonists, and the Methodists
were doomed to be the more immediate objects on whom they
poured forth their wrath.
One Sabbath evening, some persons assembled at the chapel
door and threw in among the congregation a number of thin
glass bottles filled with a mixture of oil and assafoetida. Hap-
pily no one was seriously injured; but the confusion and up-
roar which ensued cannot easily be described. When this had
subsided, Mr Shrewsbury proceeded with the service, though in
the mean while, stones were rattling against the chapel from
every quarter. Next day he offered a reward of £30 currency
for the discovery of the offenders; but he soon found that
BY THE METHODISTS.
457
whoever they were, many of the community were disposed to
countenance and support them. Hence his offer of a reward
was made sport of; and a person of low character was employed
to go about the streets singing a ballad turning into ridicule
his efforts to bring the offenders to justice. Meeting thus with
general countenance, his enemies increased almost hourly both
in number and in strength, and were emboldened for still
further mischief.
On the following Saturday se'ennight, a handbill was circu-
lated in Bridgetown, calling on the inhabitants to assemble next
evening and pull down the Methodist chapel. Accordingly, on
Sabbath evening by six o'clock, the rioters began to muster,
bringing with them masons, carpenters, &c., armed with ham-
mers, saws, hatchets, crows, and every other instrument neces-
sary for the work of destruction. Having burst open the chapel
gate and doors, they fell to work, demolishing the lamps,
benches, pews, and pulpit, leaving nothing but the bare walls.
They next went up stairs to the dwelling-house, broke open the
doors and windows, chopped up tables, chairs, and every article
of furniture, threw out the crockery ware, and proceeded to de-
molish the roof and to break down the walls. From 150 to 200
men were employed in the work of destruction, from seven in
the evening till after one in the morning, it being full moon at the
time, and though there was present an immense crowd of spec-
tators, yet no attempt was made to stop their riotous proceed-
ings either by the civil or military authorities. On the follow-
ing evening the mob returned, and falling to work again, com-
pletely levelled the walls until not one stone was left upon
another. As, in the exasperated state of the public mind, Mr
Shrewsbury's life was considered as not safe, and every one, in
fact, was afraid to harbour him, he and his wife, by the advice
of their friends, betook themselves to places of concealment
during the night, and next day they left the island and proceeded
to St Vincent's.
Two days after Mr Shrewsbury's departure, the governor,
Sir Henry Warde, issued a proclamation offering a reward of
£100 to any person who should give such information, as should
lead to the conviction of any who were concerned in these
riotous proceedings. But so daring and outrageous were the
458
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
rioters, that they issued next day a counter proclamation,
threatening that if any person came forward to injure any in-
dividual, in any way, they should "receive that punishment
which their crimes could justly deserve." This extraordinary
and contumacious document, stated, at the same time, that
as it might be supposed that the demolition of the chapel
was the work of the rabble in order to create anarchy, riot, and
insubordination, to trample upon the laws, and to subvert good
order, it was "considered an imperative duty to repel the charge,
and to state, First, That the majority of the persons assembled
were of the first respectability, and were supported by the con-
currence of nine-tenths of the community; Secondly, That their
motives were patriotic and loyal, namely, to eradicate from the
island the germ of Methodism which was spreading its bane-
ful influence over a certain class, and which would ultimately
injure both Church and State. With this view the chapel was
demolished, and the villainous preacher who headed it and
belied us, was compelled by a speedy flight to remove himself
from the island." The proclamation concluded with an expres-
sion of their "fixed determination to put an end to Methodism in
the island;" and "all Methodist preachers were warned not to
approach its shores, as if they did, it would be at their own peril."
This exasperated state of the public mind lasted for a consi-
derable time, and it continued to be dangerous for any Metho-
dist missionary to land on the island; but the proceedings in
the case of Mr Shrewsbury having been brought before the
House of Commons, and a resolution strongly condemnatory
of them being passed, the Barbadians, though as hostile to
the Methodists as ever, now changed their tactics.
At a nu-
merous meeting held in Bridgetown, it was resolved to present a
petition to "His Majesty to protect the Colonies from the machi-
nations of their enemies in England, and also to petition the
Colonial legislature to go the utmost length in meeting the views
and wishes of the Government and Parliament of England re-
specting the amelioration of the slaves, that may be consistent
with the public peace, and with the real interests of all parties."
With the view of furnishing their friends in England with the
means of defending them, they, at the same time, issued a de-
Miss. Not. vol. iv. p. 194, 209, 215, 517.
1
BY THE METHODISTS.
459
claration that, as many of the speakers in the debate in the
House of Commons relative to the outrage committed on the
Wesleyan chapel, endeavoured to throw the odium of it upon
the community at large, by asserting that the demolition of the
chapel was the act not of a mob but of persons who from their
station and property must be supposed to belong to the most
respectable classes of society, they felt themselves called on to
declare that they cordially concurred in every sentiment of
reprobation expressed by the House of Commons against that
disgraceful act, and that they viewed, and ever did view, with
indignation that scandalous and daring violation of the law.
This declaration was signed by ninety-four persons, of whom
eight were members of Council, three members of the House of
Assembly, ten clergymen, and the rest planters, attorneys, and
overseers, residing five, ten, and sixteen miles in the country:
in fact, only about twelve of those who signed it could be said
to live in Bridgetown. There were good reasons for believing
the whole to be a piece of mere craft and hypocrisy.
In March 1826, Mr Rayner came from St Vincent's to Bar-
badoes with the view of renewing the mission. His landing
was soon noised abroad, and a placard was posted up the same
day, calling upon all the true friends of their country to prepare
to tar and feather him. He did not immediately begin to preach,
as the president refused to grant him a licence; but when he
afterwards began to hold meetings, he was not interfered with.
A new and spacious chapel was erected in Bridgetown; the
prejudices of the inhabitants against the Methodists in some
degree subsided; the congregations became large and more re-
spectable than formerly; new openings were found in different
parts of the island; many manifested much attention to the
word, and numbers were admitted as members of Society.
After some years, Methodism raised its head above the con-
tumely of its enemies, and this became at length, as regards
numbers, one of the most prosperous of the West India missions.'
In 1853, the number of church members in connection with
the mission on this island, amounted to 3045.
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1824, p. 95, 100, 105; Ibid. 1825, p. 50. 56; Ibid. 1826,
P. 58. Meth. Mag. 1826, p, 561, 566, 852; Ibid. 1829, p. 639. Miss. Not. vol. iv.
p. 513, 524; vol. viii. 229.
2 Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 107.
460
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ART. 5.-TORTOLA AND THE OTHER VIRGIN ISLANDS.
In January 1789, Dr Coke, accompanied by others of his breth-
ren, visited Tortola; and as a pleasing prospect of usefulness.
presented itself, Mr Hammet, one of the missionaries, remained
on the island, and in a short time collected a large society. On
the arrival of other preachers, they extended their labours.
to Spanish Town, and many of the other islets which are scat-
tered up and down in the vicinity, and, like solitary rocks, lift
up their heads above the waves. To several of these they paid
frequent visits in open boats, to the prejudice of their health,
and often at the risk of their life, in order to preach the glad
tidings of salvation to the few forgotten families who inhabited
them.¹
As a proof of the importance of christianizing the negroes,
even in a political point of view, it is worthy of notice, that
not long after the commencement of the war with France, the
president of the council received information, that the French
inhabitants of Guadaloupe meditated a descent on the island.
He immediately sent for Mr Turner, the superintendent of the
mission in Tortola and the other Virgin Islands, and having
informed him of this report, added, that there was no regular
force in the colony to defend it against the enemy, and that
they were afraid to arm the negroes, unless he would put him-
self at the head of them. Mr Turner was sensible that such a
step was not properly within the line of the ministerial office;
but yet considering that the island was in imminent danger, that
if it were conquered by the French, the religious privileges of
the negroes would probably be lost, and that the war on their
part was entirely of a defensive nature, he consented to the go-
vernor's request, and was accordingly armed with the negroes.
About a fortnight after, a French squadron made its appearance
in the bay; but being informed, it is supposed, by some emis-
saries, of the armed force on the island, they abandoned their
design, and retired.2
1 Coko's Journals, p. 99; Coke's History, vol. iii. p. 112; Account of the Methodist
Mission, 1804.
Account of Methodist Missions, 1804.
BY THE METHODISTS.
461
In December 1805, a most brutal outrage was committed on
Mr Brownell, one of the missionaries in Tortola. One day, as
he was walking along the street, he was sternly accosted by a
gentleman, who directed him to read a paper which he put into
his hand. On stepping aside for that purpose, he was seized by
the arm, and dragged to the middle of the street, by the person
who had just given him the paper, and who now proceeded to
bestow on him the epithets of rascal and scoundrel, and after-
wards to strike him on the face, first with a stick, then with
his fist, next to pull him by the nose, and then to kick him.
He was instantly joined by another person, equally furious and
foolish as himself, who, after pouring forth more abusive lan-
guage, struck him a violent blow on the breast. Mr Brownell
had scarcely time to turn round, before a third person struck
him with the butt end of a whip, which cut his head very se-
verely. His hand was raised to give a second blow ; but pro-
videntially he did not strike, otherwise the consequences might
have been fatal. A mob now collected around them, and while
they were inquiring into the fray, Mr Brownell escaped to the
house of a gentleman in the neighbourhood. No sooner did his
assailants discover that he had fled, than they pursued him;
but, happily, he eluded their notice by prostrating himself on
the floor while they passed the window. In consequence, how-
ever, of the wound and bruises he had received, he was confined
for some time, and was so ill, that he had to be attended by two
physicians.
The cause of this brutal assault, was a letter written by Mr
Brownell some time before, in which he said, "Fornication,
adultery, and neglect of all religion, are reigning sins in this
region." Of this letter, which had been published in England,
an extract was transmitted to Tortola; and these gentlemen,
from a conviction, no doubt, of the unspotted purity of their
own characters, and of the perfect innocence of the community
in general, took this incontrovertible method of demonstrating
the falsehood of the charges.
Not convinced, however, by this kind of argument, Mr Brow-
nell brought the affair before the Grand Sessions of the Virgin
Islands; but though the deed was committed in the street,
and in open day, the jury could find no bill. He was even
462
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
obliged to pay half the expenses, for bringing a matter so fri-
volous and vexatious before the court, and was himself appointed
to be tried for writing a libel on the community. Such, indeed,
was the regard of the court to justice, that the very man who
assaulted him, sat on the bench as one of the magistrates. The
whole charge rested on the authority of a person who averred
he had received a letter from a gentleman in England, stating
that he had read in a Magazine the words libelled, which were
said to be contained in a letter from the defendant; but as this
was a species of evidence which no court of law could with any
decency admit, the indictment, after some vexatious proceed-
ings, was quashed, to the no small mortification of his enemies.'
It must not, however, be supposed that the inhabitants of
Tortola, in general, countenanced these iniquitous proceedings.
Multitudes, on the contrary, highly disapproved of them; and
the number of White people who attended the chapel after-
wards considerably increased. It was so thronged by persons
of all colours, that it could not contain the crowds who flocked
to it. Even the chief magistrates had seats in it, and regularly
occupied them. One of the members of His Majesty's Council
was a communicant; and in common with most of those who
filled the more exalted stations in the island, treated the mis-
sionaries with friendship and respect.2
Previous to the establishment of the Methodist mission in
the Virgin Islands, every species of wickedness prevailed among
the negroes. Among other kinds of iniquity to which they
were addicted, there was one called the Camson, a filthy lasci-
vious dance, originally imported from Africa, which at once
gratified their sensual appetites, and indulged their native
superstitions. In the delirium of their guilty passions, they
pretended to hold intercourse with the spirits of their departed
friends, and to receive from them instructions which they con-
sidered themselves as bound implicitly to obey. These com-
munications frequently consisted of an injunction to avenge
some injury which the deceased was supposed to have sustained
while living; but which he had never had an opportunity of re-
venging. The responses were delivered by some persons who,
¹ Coke's History, vol. iii. p. 130; Watson's Defence, p. 79.
2 Coke's History, vol. iii. p. 132, 133; Rep. Moth. Miss. 1809, p. 9.
BY THE METHODISTS.
463
like the priests of the Delphic oracle, were concealed for that
purpose. The culprit was named, and the punishment speci-
fied, so that the Camson which began with mirth, frequently
ended in bloodshed. In vain had the magistrates endeavoured
to suppress this mischievous custom. The deluded creatures
evaded the vigilance of law, and sought to practise their abo-
minations with an eagerness proportioned to the strictness of
the prohibition. But through the preaching of the gospel, the
negroes totally abandoned this diabolical custom. Many ex-
changed it for the practice of Christian morality, and reflected
with shame upon the part they had borne in these detestable
transactions.¹
In 1853, the number of church members in Tortola, amounted
to 1604.2
ART. 6.-JAMAICA.
IN January 1789, Dr Coke visited Jamaica, and was received
by a number of the inhabitants, some of them persons of pro-
perty, with extraordinary kindness, a circumstance which led
him to form high hopes of this island as a field for missionary
labour. With the view of embracing so promising an opening,
Mr Hammet, after labouring some time in other islands, was
appointed to Kingston; but scarcely had he entered on his
labours, when the spirit of opposition began to rage. Many of
the White people not only created disturbance in the time of
divine worship, but frequently beset the chapel, attacked the
hearers with the most abusive language, and repeatedly assailed
them with stones. The members of the society were obliged to
guard the chapel, lest the mob should level it with the ground.
One morning, when there was no watch, some burnt coals were
found on the floor, which gave rise to a strong suspicion that
an attempt had been made by some incendiaries to set it on fire
during the night. Some persons at last rose one night between
eleven and twelve o'clock, and broke down the gates of the
court before the chapel; and would probably have committed
still further outrages, had not the arrival of the town guard
Coke's History, vol. iii. p. 141.
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 106.
2
464
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
checked their proceedings. Through the remonstrances of a
gentleman of influence, some of the magistrates published an
advertisement, which kept the mob from that time within toler-
able bounds. One of the rioters was prosecuted, and three re-
spectable White people gave the clearest evidence against him;
but the oaths of the Methodists were considered as of no weight,
and a midshipman being procured to swear an alibi, the fellow
was acquitted of the charge. The grand jury, indeed, gave it
as their opinion, that both Mr Hammet and the chapel ought
to be prosecuted as nuisances. The newspapers were for seve-
ral months full of letters for and against the Methodists. Every
thing evil was said of Mr Hammet; every disgraceful epithet
was heaped upon him. As to Dr Coke, a ridiculous story was
published of his having been tried in England for horse-stealing,
and flying to America to escape from justice.'
Harassed with opposition and fatigue, Mr Hammet was worn
to a mere skeleton, and was obliged to remove to America on
account of the state of his health; but previous to his depar-
ture, other two missionaries had arrived on the island. The
violence of persecution now abated, and at length entirely
ceased: a few stones were occasionally thrown at the chapel ;
but personal interruption seldom occurred. The missionaries
by degrees extended their labours to Spanish Town, Montego
Bay, and to various plantations in the country. Their exer-
tions, were not, indeed, crowned with that extensive success
which attended the labours of their brethren in some other
islands; but yet they were not without fruit. In this peaceful
course, they proceeded for a number of years; but at length
the storm of persecution again burst forth, and raged with more
violence than ever. Formerly it was the work of lawless indi-
viduals; now it was the deed of the Legislative Assembly."
2
In April 1802, some of the local preachers visited Morant
Bay, a place about thirty miles from Kingston, and in a short
time a small society was collected in that village. The enemies
of religion, however, did not view their progress with indiffer-
ence or unconcern. Indignant at their proceedings, they pre-
sented the places in which their meetings were held, as nuisances
'Coke's Journals, p. 101, 135; Account of Methodist Missions, 1804.
* Coke's History, vol. i. p. 422, 431.
+
BY THE METHODISTS.
465
to the quarter-sessions of the parish; but being able to produce
nothing against either the preachers or their hearers contrary
to the laws of God or man, they were compelled, though with
reluctance, to drop the prosecution. The meetings, therefore,
were continued, as no legal opposition could be made to them,
and they met with no interruption for some time, except from
the lawless rabble, and a few disorderly people about the place.
But here the matter did not long rest. The Assembly of
Jamaica soon afterward passed an act, ordaining that no person,
unless he was qualified by the laws of that island and of Great
Britain, should preach or teach in meetings of negroes or people
of colour; that persons offending against this law should be
deemed rogues and vagabonds; that if the criminal was a free-
man, he should be committed to the workhouse, and kept to
hard labour, one month for the first offence, and six months for
every repetition of it; that if the case were extraordinary, the
assizes might inflict any punishment not extending to life they
should think fit; that if the criminal was a slave, he should,
for the first offence, be committed for hard labour to the nearest
workhouse for one month, and for every subsequent offence be
subjected to a public flogging, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes;
and that any person who should knowingly permit such a meet-
ing to be held on his premises, should be liable to a fine not
exceeding £100, and be committed to the common jail until
he should pay it, and give security for his future good beha-
viour.
As this act of the Legislature of Jamaica professed to pro-
hibit only unqualified persons from preaching to the negroes
and people of colour, the Methodist missionaries did not ap-
prehend that they came within the meaning of the law, as they
were possessed of regular licences, which they had obtained in
England, and which would have been admitted as valid in any
court of justice in Great Britain. Mr Campbell, therefore, con-
tinued to preach as usual in Kingston, and met with no kind of
interruption; but when he proceeded to preach at Morant Bay,
he was apprehended and taken before the magistrates, who
committed him to prison, notwithstanding he produced to them
a certificate of his being duly qualified according to the laws of
England. When the month of his imprisonment expired, he
VOL. I.
G g
466
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
returned to Kingston, and having applied to the quarter-ses-
sions of that town for a licence, his request was immediately
granted. After preaching there about two months, Mr Camp-
bell, accompanied by his fellow-missionary Mr Fish, once more
visited Morant Bay; but as this was a different parish, neither
of them ventured to preach, though they had both qualified at
Kingston under the new law, without asking leave of the ma-
gistrates in that quarter. They therefore respectfully peti-
tioned them for permission to qualify before them also, if they
required it; but the magistrates returned for answer, that
they would grant no licences to preach, and as a punishment,
it would seem, for even asking leave to qualify, they revived
the old prosecution against Mr Campbell, though it had now
been dropped for some time. Not content with his former im-
prisonment, they endeavoured to apprehend him for the penalty
of £100, on account of the house in which he had performed
divine worship, and resolved to make him give security that he
would in effect never preach more; and unless he found such
security, he was informed, he might be doomed to perpetual
imprisonment. Mr Campbell, therefore, by the advice of his
friends, made his escape from Jamaica and returned to Eng-
land, leaving Mr Fish to take care of the flock at Kingston,
where they still had the liberty of preaching. The serious
people at Morant Bay, however, were now, in a great measure,
deprived of the means of grace. One of them, a very sensible
and respectable man, was imprisoned for a month, simply for
singing and praying with a few friends, as the magistrates, with
the wisdom and impartiality of judges, construed this to be the
same as preaching or teaching. All social worship was now at
an end; nor was the mischief confined to this place, for the
new law was employed as an engine for putting a stop to the
preaching of the gospel in various other parts of the island.'
But as, by the constitution of Jamaica, no act of Assembly is
permanently established as a law, until it receive the royal
assent, this bill had only a temporary operation. His Majesty,
agreeably to the principles of toleration, which form an essen-
tial part of the British constitution, having refused his sanction
¹ Coke's History, vol. i. p. 443; Evan. Mag. vol. xii. p. 136.
BY THE METHODISTS.
467
to it, the pious people of Jamaica, after a lapse of two years,
were again permitted to resume their meetings for the public
worship of God. The missionaries now applied to their work
with new energy: they extended their labours to other parts
of the island; and their exertions appeared to be crowned with
considerable success. But scarcely had the prospects of the
Methodists begun to brighten, when a dark cloud again over-
cast them.¹
Though the bill was disallowed by His Majesty, the Assembly
of Jamaica endeavoured to elude, as far as possible, the effect
of the royal negative, and to establish a system of persecution
equally terrible, at least within the precincts of Kingston. An
act of the legislature of the island having been procured for
erecting a corporation in that town, an opportunity was taken
of introducing into it a clause, by which that body was em-
powered, among a variety of other particulars, to impose on all
who should violate their regulations, fine and imprisonment to
a large extent. The design of this clause was probably not
perceived by the Board of Trade, and accordingly the act ob-
tained the sanction of His Majesty. As the proceedings of the
Corporation of Kingston were not subjected to the revision of
the king, this circumstance was soon improved as a means of re-
viving the old system of persecution.
In June 1807, the Common Council, under pretence of zeal
for the purity of religion, passed an act by which any person
not duly authorized by the laws of Jamaica and Great Britain,
who should presume to preach or teach, or offer up public
prayers, or sing psalms, in any meeting of negroes or people of
colour, within the city or parish, should, if a free person, suffer
punishment by a fine not exceeding £100, or by imprisonment
in the common jail or workhouse for any period not exceed-
ing three months; and, if a slave, by imprisonment and hard
labour for a space not exceeding six months, or by whipping
not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, or both; that a similar punish-
ment should be inflicted on every person who permitted such
an illegal meeting in his house or premises; and that even
in a licensed place of worship, there should be no public wor-
'Coko's History, vol. i. p. 443; vol. ii. p. 3, 11; Eran. Mag. vol. xii. p. 136.
468
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ship earlier than six in the morning, or later than sunset in the
evening, under a like penalty.'
By this cruel law, the slaves in the parish of Kingston were
completely hindered from attending divine worship, except on
the Sabbath. Before the sun rises they had to be at their work,
and they durst not leave it before it set. The Council of King-
ston, therefore, did not restrict them from receiving instruction
when they had no opportunity of getting it; they only pro-
hibited them when they were at liberty! Such were the me-
thods adopted "for preventing the profanation of religious
rites and false worshipping of God.” It is not unworthy of
notice, that the French and Spanish priests, who either had
chapels, or wished to erect them, were permitted to worship
God according to the dictates of their consciences; while those
who were not only Protestants, but the natural-born subjects
of Britain, laboured exclusively under the prohibition.
It was reported by the advocates of this measure, that "the
meetings of the slaves and others were held at unseasonable
hours; that people could not pass through the streets without
being annoyed with singing and praying; that the orderly in-
habitants could not rest in their beds without being disturbed, as
the new religionists were engaged in these exercises all night;
and that there was nothing but singing and praying through
all Kingston." Whatever may be thought of the other charges,
the last of them was unquestionably erroneous; for rioting,
dancing, billiards, theatrical amusements, and every species of
dissipation, abounded in that town. Nobody was molested in
the enjoyment of them, nor will any one suppose, that these
nurseries of vice were closed at an early hour, or that those
who frequented them were studiously careful not to interrupt
the silence of the night. The professors of religion ought not,
therefore, to have sustained alone the charge of disorder, while
their accusers themselves were equally, or even more guilty.
It must, however, be acknowledged, that these allegations
were not entirely without foundation. Among the Methodists
and others who made a profession of religion, there were some
whose zeal was greater than their knowledge, and hurried them
Christian Observer, vol. vi. p. 686; Evan. Mag. vol. xv. p. 471; Coko's History,
vol. ii. p. 15.
BY THE METHODISTS.
469
into extravagancies which the more sober-minded viewed with
regret. Their enemies, at the same time, manifested a singular
degree of sensibility with respect to improprieties of this kind,
even the most inconsiderable. Previous to the enactment of
the law, a man was put in confinement simply for praying too
loudly in his own house between eight and nine o'clock at
night, which, to say the least, was not a late hour!
Several months elapsed after the passing of this law before
any of the Methodists fell under its iniquitous lash; but at
length the missionaries in Kingston, by a piece of indiscretion
which can admit of no apology, brought the weight of its ven-
geance on their head. One night there was a public dance in
their neighbourhood, which was attended by some of the most
powerful and opulent individuals in the island. It was Satur-
day, but yet the amusement was protracted to a late hour.
Messrs Gilgrass and Knowlan, the two missionaries, apprehend-
ing an infringement of the Sabbath, availed themselves of the
established law, and sent notice to the company to break up
their amusement. Irritated by what they deemed an insult,
the assembly refused to comply with the message, and probably
protracted the entertainment longer than they otherwise might,
purely from motives of defiance. The missionaries finding their
notice slighted, and the laws trampled under foot by those very
individuals who ought to have supported them by their exam-
ple, insisted on the town guard going to disperse them. Mr
Gilgrass himself accompanied the guard, and soon broke up the
assembly. Such an imprudent step could not fail to embitter
their enemies against them, and to render them more eager
than ever to detect them in some breach of the law. Unfortu-
nately it was not long before they found the desired opportunity.
Mr Gilgrass was in the habit of teaching the young people to sing
hymns between five and six o'clock in the evening. A few nights
after the interruption of the dance, Mr Firth, a missionary who
had just arrived from England, introduced a new tune, to which
the others listened, he and his wife being excellent singers.
At a quarter past six, the police-officer and a magistrate entered
the house with a night guard, and were going to carry them to
the cage, a place where vagabonds guilty of misdemeanours
were confined; but they were satisfied for the present with tak-
470
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ing their promise to appear in court. On appearing before the
Corporation some days after, Mr Gilgrass was sentenced to be
confined in the common jail for one month. Mr Knowlan's
punishment was remitted in consequence of his indisposition,
and even Mr Gilgrass was permitted to leave the prison after
about a fortnight's confinement, a treatment more lenient than
could have been expected, considering the temper of their ene-
mies and the provocation they had of late received.¹
The law of the Corporation of Kingston was necessarily con-
fined in its operation to that parish; but, in the mean while,
the Assembly of the island, under the pretence of exciting the
proprietors of negroes to instruct them in the principles of reli-
gion, passed an act ordaining that the instruction of slaves
should be confined to the doctrines of the Church of England;
that no missionaries should presume to teach them, or receive
them into their houses or assemblies, under the penalty of £20
for every slave proved to have been present; and if the offender
refused payment, he should be committed to the county jail
until the fine was discharged.
By this means a complete stop was put to the labours of the
Methodists in Jamaica. Prohibited as they were from admitting
slaves into their assemblies, they still wished to preach to peo-
ple of free condition, but all their applications for a licence were
refused in the most pointed manner. Frequently before the
chapel was completely shut, while persons of free condition went
in to attend divine worship, the slaves crowded around the door
which the law forbade them to enter, with looks of the most
expressive sorrow and words of the most melting eloquence.
Some might be heard saying, "They would not make Massa go
again to jail; me no go in a chapel, but me hear at door and
window." Others were heard to exclaim, "Massa me no go to
heaven now." White man keep Black man from serving God."
Black man got no soul." Nobody teach Black man now.
The missionaries beheld them and wept, but durst say nothing.
They were even obliged to appoint persons to stand at the door
of the chapel, to prevent the slaves from entering and involving
them in enormous fines."
CC
' Coko's History, vol. ii. p. 13, 21.
(C
2 Coke's History, vol. ii. p. 19, 23; Watson's Defence, p. 144; Rop. Meth. Miss.
1813, p. 11; Ibid. 1814, p. 11.
BY THE METHODISTS.
471
The Assembly knowing that such a measure would be disap-
proved of by His Majesty, resorted to the trick of ingrafting it
upon an act to continue the general system of the Slave laws,
which had been consolidated into a temporary act that was then
about to expire. Their agent was of course instructed to re-
present, that if the act of continuation was disallowed, Jamaica
would be left destitute of slave laws, a circumstance which could
not fail to endanger the peace and safety of the island; but the
Board of Trade found a way to frustrate this shameful artifice,
by advising His Majesty to disallow both the act in question
and the act of repeal, which had never expressly received the
royal sanction, though it had been several years in force. The
general slave laws, therefore, were by this means still established,
and only the persecuting clauses of this new bill disannulled.
But as the legislature of Jamaica, by the stratagem of delay-
ing to transmit the act for the royal sanction while it had its
operation in the island under that of the governor, had for more
than a year suspended the meetings of the negroes for public
worship, His Majesty, to prevent the repetition of such shameful
proceedings in that or any of the other islands, issued a general
order to the governors in the West Indies, commanding them
that they should, on no pretence whatever, give their assent to
any law relative to religion, until they had first transmitted a
draft of the bill to England and had received His Majesty's ap-
probation of it, unless in the body of the act a clause was in-
serted suspending its operation until the pleasure of His Ma-
jesty should be known respecting it.
Enraged at this new disappointment, the Assembly of Jamaica
came to various resolutions on the state of the island, in which
they declared, that the prohibition of passing laws on the sub-
ject of religion was a violent infringement of the constitution
of the colony; that until it was withdrawn, it was the duty of
the house to exercise their privilege of withholding supplies;
and that after a certain period, until this grievance was redressed,
no money should be granted or raised within the island for the
support of the military establishment. In consequence of these
violent proceedings, the Duke of Manchester, the governor, im-
mediately dissolved the Assembly.'
Evan. Mag. vol. xvii. p. 296, 342; vol. xviii. p. 12
172
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In November 1810, the Assembly, not discouraged by the de-
cision of the government at home, passed a new act on the sub-
ject of religion, and introduced into it such regulations, relative
to the licensing of preachers and places of worship, as plainly
shewed that it was their design to prevent the instruction of the
negroes by those who alone were willing to teach them. This law,
indeed, was to continue in force only for twelve months; but
this very circumstance, which might seem trivial, displayed the
artfulness of the Assembly, being no doubt intended to elude
His Majesty's disallowance of the bill, as by the time this could
be notified, the law would have expired. How the governor, in
direct opposition to an express command from His Majesty,
should have given his assent to such a bill, it is not easy to ex-
plain.'
By these means, all preaching was for some time at an end;
but as the restrictions did not extend to private assemblies, Mr
Wiggins the missionary, employed himself in meeting classes,
in administering the Lord's Supper, and in the discharge of
other ministerial duties. After the expiration of the last act of
Assembly, he ventured to preach in Kingston; but as the law
of the Corporation of that town was still in force, he did not
escape the vigilance of his enemies. Next day he was summoned
before the magistrates, and was sentenced to one month's im-
prisonment in the common jail. It appeared indeed as if the
enemies of religion were determined to put a period to the la-
bours of missionaries on the island.2
'Christian Observer, vol. ix. p. 601; Evan. Mag. vol. xix. p. 395, 439.
2 Buchanan on a Colonial Ecclesiastical Establishment, p. 86.
Though much of the hostility which the Methodists experienced in Jamaica, and
some of the other West India Islands, arose, no doubt, in many cases from the
natural enmity of the human heart against religion, and in other cases from ignorance
and misapprehension of the nature and design of their labours, yet, in some instances,
it was greatly increased by considerations of a private nature. We are often at a loss
to account for the persecutions which broke out against them: no misconduct on the
part of the missionaries; no conspiracies among the slaves; no rumour of the approach-
ing attack, prepares us for any such event. The storm gathers and bursts before we
are aware. Of this, however, we have an explanation in the following passages, in Mr
Watson's able Defence of the Methodist Missions in the West Indies.
"Other causes,"
says he, "which have produced many instances of individual opposition, and which,
in some cases, havo chiefly promoted acts of legislative oppression, could be adduced ;
but we do not seek occasion of crimination, though the causes of opposition we allude
to would greatly explain and fix its character." "If it should appear that the real
BY THE METHODISTS.
473
In December 1815, Mr John Shipman began to preach again
in Kingston, after the chapel had been shut, with one short
interval, for upwards of eight years. After several unsuccess-
ful applications, he had, to the astonishment and the joy of the
friends of religion, obtained permission to take the oaths to
government, and a licence to preach the gospel. This was so
unexpected, and so improbable, that many of the leaders would
scarcely believe it, even when assured of the fact on the best
authority, and in the most positive terms. Others of the mis-
sionaries afterwards obtained similar licences, so that the pri-
offence given by missionaries is their preaching faithfully against certain reigning
vices; that among the number of those turned to righteousness,' have been many
females who were the objects of illicit attachment and licentious intercourse; that the
personal ill treatment which the preachers of righteousness, temperance, and judg-
ment to come,' have in many cases experienced, has been the consequence of violent
resentment, produced by checks put upon vicious indulgence, by the introduction of a
stronger principle of morality among the slaves and females of colour; and that re-
strictive laws, gravely proposed to legislatures, have been, in instances which might be
given, mainly the work of men who had such injuries to complain of, then the whole
controversy would be placed in a light in which that party are not, we are persuaded,
disposed to have it viewed. On this subject evidence is not wanting; but the neces-
sity of adducing it, shall be created only by the conduct of those who are most anxious
to justify their zeal against missions on very different grounds."
Among the pretences under which the persecutors of the Methodists in Jamaica
masked their opposition to them, was zeal for the purity of religion, and their dread
of the pernicious principles taught by the missionaries. No doubt, they were admir-
able judges of orthodox doctrine, and of the language in which it ought to be ex-
pressed! We have an amusing instance of the proneness of some men to start at
shadows, and of the strange construction which fear and jealousy may put on the most
harmless matter, in the following extract from the Minutes of the Jamaica Common
Council, containing questions put to Mr Bradnock, one of the missionaries :-
In Common Council, December 14th, 1807.
Question 6. Aro you aware of a resolution of the Society of Wesleyan Methodists,
entered into at the last Annual Conference to this effect: "That no person shall be
permitted to retain any official situation, who holds opinions contrary to the total de-
pravity of human nature?" If so, answer whether the term "official situation" does
not include you as a preacher? and what, to the best of your knowledge and belief, is
alluded to by the words, "total depravity of human nature ?""
Answer. Does not know of such a resolution being enacted lately, but thinks it pro-
per. Supposes the term "official," applies to his office among others. Thinks the
words “total depravity,” allude to our fallen nature.
Question 7. Do you conscientiously think that the resolution before mentioned, pur-
ports that no person should hold an official situation who has opinions against the
fallen naturo of man, as being born in sin, and that it has no allusion whatever to the
state of bondage as it exists in this country, being the total depravity of human nature ?
Answer. Answers particularly in the affirmative.
There were, it seems, some subtle divines in the Common Council in those days,
men admirably qualified to judge of the doctrines taught by the missionaries.- Wat-
son's Defence, p. 141.
474
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
vilege was not confined to Mr Shipman. Having divided the
island into as many districts as there were principal societies,
they proceeded in their labours with increased energy and zeal.
They now received more invitations from planters to preach on
their estates, than they had ever done before. Their congrega-
tions greatly increased, and their societies were augmented to
an extent unknown in any other island. It is not unworthy
of notice, as an indication of the change of opinion in Jamaica,
that on the death of Mr Burgar, one of the missionaries, the
magistrates and vestry of Morant Bay voted to his widow the
sum of one hundred pounds sterling, as a testimony of their
sense of his good conduct during his residence in that parish.
In the mean while, the House of Assembly did not entirely lay
aside its hostility to the Methodists; but though it passed some
acts against them, the missionaries met with no serious inter-
ruption in their labours for a number of years. There, how-
ever, arose at length new and successive storms, at once violent
and of long continuance.'
In 1824, the spirit of opposition again broke out against the
Methodists. The more immediate cause of this, was the receipt
in the island of the resolutions which had been lately passed by
the House of Commons, for the amelioration of slavery in the
West Indies, with a view to its ultimate extinction. Then it
appeared that old prejudices had been smothered only, not ex-
tinguished, and that nothing was wanting but an occasion to
kindle the latent spark into a flame. The missionaries were now,
as in Barbadoes, accused of being the agents of the African In-
stitution,² and every effort was made to blacken their characters
and to send them off the island.
In December 1826, the House of Assembly passed what was
called a Consolidated Slave Act, in which were inserted several
clauses designed to restrict the labours of missionaries and
others among the slave population. Under the pretext, that
"the assembling of slaves and other persons after dark, at
places of meeting belonging to Dissenters from the Established
religion, had been found extremely dangerous, and great facili-
'Rep. Meth. Miss. 1815, p. 12; Ibid. 1816, p. 21; Ibid. 1817, p. 26; Miss. Notices,
vol. i. p. 49, 66, 107, 163, 188; vol. iii. p. 372; Moth. Mag. vol. xi. p. 237; vol.
xlü. p. 522.
2 See p. 456.
BY THE METHODISTS.
475
ties were thereby given to the formation of plots and conspira-
cies, and the health of the slaves and other persons had been
injured in travelling to and from such places of meeting at late
hours in the night," it was enacted, "that any sectarian dis-
senting minister, or other person professing to be a teacher of
religion, who should keep open any such places of meeting
between sunset and sunrise, or permit any such nightly assem-
bly of slaves therein, or be present thereat, should pay a sum
not less than £20 nor exceeding £50 for each offence; and in
default of payment thereof, the justices were required to com-
mit such offender to the common jail, for any space of time not
exceeding one month." To shew more precisely that it was
the missionaries who were aimed at, exceptions were made in
favour not only of the ministers of the Church of Scotland, but
of persons of the Roman Catholic and Jewish persuasions. It
was further provided, that "slaves found guilty of preaching
and teaching without permission from their owner and the
quarter-sessions for the parish, should be punished by whipping
or imprisonment in the workhouse or hard labour;" and "that
religious teachers taking money from slaves should pay a pen-
alty of £20 for each offence, and in default of payment, be com-
mitted to the common jail for a month."
1
This act was scarcely passed when an outrageous attack was
made on the Methodist missionary Mr Ratcliffe and his family at
St. Ann's Bay. On Christmas-day, the Rev. Mr Bridges, the rector
of the parish,² preached an inflammatory sermon, in which he pro-
fessed to shew the evils of separation from the Church of England,
and insinuated that the missionaries had political, not religious
ends in view, and that their doctrines were artfully subversive of
the civil institutions of the country, and dangerous in their effects
on the minds of the slaves. About midnight a party of the light
company of the St Ann's militia, which was stationed in the
town as the Christmas guard, came and fired into the Methodist
chapel, in which there were rooms partitioned off for the mission-
ary's residence. Seven balls were afterwards extracted from the
2
Meth. Mag. 1828, p. 134; (Baptist) Miss. Herald, 1827, p. 36.
* This person made himself notorious, as well by the part he acted as a slaveholder
and as an advocate of slavery, as by his opposition to the cause of missions.-Anti-
slavery Reporter, vol. iii. p. 174, 356, 358, 373, 440; vol. iv. p. 140, 245.
476
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
chapel; two were found on the floor, and one was sticking in
the column nearest the pulpit. The ramrod of a pistol was also
found not far from the window of the house; but happily none
of the inmates were hurt. An inquiry was instituted by the
magistrates as to the perpetrators of this outrage, and the ves-
try even offered a reward of £50 on their conviction; but the
whole appears to have been little better than a farce for the
purpose of vindicating the credit of the island. Several persons
afterwards gave themselves up under the assurance probably
that they were perfectly safe, and accordingly the grand jury,
when the charge came before them, ignored the bill.
In May 1827, the act of Assembly came into operation in
the island, under the sanction of the governor, and a few weeks
after, Mr Grimsdall, who had lately come to St Ann's Bay, was
committed to jail for ten days, by the quarter-sessions, for hav-
ing held a meeting after sunset at which slaves were present,
he having stated to the court that he would not pay any fine.
Not long after, he was again thrown into prison on the alleged
ground of his having preached in an unlicensed house. He had
applied for a licence, but had been refused contrary to the
judgment of the custos and of another magistrate who were
present when the application was made. He was, however,
liberated on bail, and a short time previous to the day on which
he was to appear again before the court, he was delivered by
death out of the hands of his persecutors.2
Though the act of Assembly had in the mean while come into
operation in the island, yet when it was laid before His Majesty,
it was, as might be expected, disallowed; the governor was in-
formed that it was the settled purpose of His Majesty's govern-
ment to sanction no colonial law which should needlessly infringe
on the religious liberty of any class of His Majesty's subjects; and
he was distinctly instructed not to give his assent to any bill
imposing any restraint of that kind, unless there was a clause
in it suspending its operation until His Majesty's pleasure
should be known." But notwithstanding the determination
P.
¹ Meth. Mag. 1827, p. 567; Ibid. 1832, p. 670; Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1829, App.
3; Duncan's Narrative of the Wesleyan Mission in Jamaica, p. 185, 190.
"Meth. Mag. 1827, p. 702; Ibid. 1828, p. 205.
3 Moth. Mag. 1823, p. 134; Rep. Meth, Miss. Soc. 1829, App. p. 4.
BY THE METHODISTS.
477
manifested by the home government, the magistrates of St
Ann's were not to be deterred from following out their perse-
cuting course.
In August 1828, Mr Whitehouse, who had come to St Ann's
Bay after the death of Mr Grimsdall, was thrown into prison
on a charge of preaching without a licence for that parish. The
cell where he was confined was exceedingly filthy, and the
stench was intolerable. There was no bed provided for him,
not even one of straw; a few benches, however, were allowed
to be brought from the chapel on which to make up a bed.
The jail, the hospital, and the workhouse, with their various
miserable inmates, were all under one roof; no words, in short,
can convey an adequate idea of the offensive and wretched
nature of the place. Mr Orton, of Montego Bay, having been
informed of the imprisonment of Mr Whitehouse, came to visit
him, and having preached in the chapel, it being the evening of
the weekly sermon, he also was next day thrown into prison,
and orders were given that no persons should be allowed to see
them, except their wives or other members of their family. Mr
Watkis, a free person of colour, and one of the leaders of the
Society, was on the following Sabbath committed to jail on the
charge of "preaching and teaching," though he had done no-
thing more than sing and pray with the people; but he was
liberated on bail two or three days after. Mr Orton now be-
came seriously ill, while the heat was so oppressive, the stench
so insufferable, and the almost incessant cracking of the whip,
and the clamour of the various inmates so distracting, that he
could not even get sleep. Application having been made for a
writ of Habeas Corpus on an allegation of false imprisonment, the
two missionaries were ordered to be removed to Kingston jail,
that they might be brought before the chief justice for an exa-
mination of their case. On being transferred to that place and
delivered up to the jailor, he begged them to remain with their
friends, having perfect confidence that they would make their
appearance when it was required. When they were brought
before the chief justice, their legal adviser moved that they
should be discharged, on the ground of illegal and false imprison-
ment, and the chief justice stated that having duly examined
the case, he had no hesitation whatever in discharging them :
478
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
it was not his province to make laws, but to be regulated by
them; and on this ground he ordered their full and uncondi-
tional discharge. Sir John Keane, the lieutenant-governor,
shewed at the same time his determination to maintain religious
toleration, by dismissing from His Majesty's commission the
two magistrates, Messrs Rose and Hemming, who had committed
them to prison. But even this did not put an end to the pro-
ceedings of their enemies. Rose, one of the magistrates who
had been dismissed, now preferred an indictment against Mr
Orton for wilful perjury, because he had stated in the affidavit
for obtaining the writ of Habeas Corpus that bail had been of-
fered for him, but that it had been refused unless he would
give security that he would not preach again in the parish until
he obtained a licence from the quarter-sessions, which would
of course not be granted; but when the matter was brought to
a trial, the jury brought in a verdict of Not guilty. Thus Mr
Orton's persecutors, by the attempt which they made to ruin
him, only covered themselves with disgrace. His health, how-
ever, was so much injured by his previous imprisonment, that
after lingering for twelve months almost useless to society, and
nearly falling a sacrifice to a constantly remittent fever, he was
obliged to leave the field of his labours and return to England.'
Toward the close of the year, the Consolidated Slave Act was
re-enacted by the House of Assembly, with the persecuting
clauses which had previously occasioned its disallowance, and
after some opposition in the council, it was tendered to Sir John
Keane, the lieutenant-governor, for his assent, but this he re-
fused to give, agreeably to the instructions of His Majesty's go-
vernment. With the view of shewing the necessity of such re-
strictive laws, and of thus giving a colour to their contumacious
proceedings in re-enacting the rejected bill, the House of Assem-
bly had appointed a select committee "to inquire into the esta-
blishment and proceedings of the sectarians in the island," and
this committee, in the report which they presented to the House,
had gravely stated that the principal object of the sectarians
was to extort money from their congregations under every pos-
sible pretext, and that to obtain it recourse had been had to the
¹ Moth. Mag. 1828, p. 845; Ibid. 1829, p. 59, 208; Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1829,
App. p. 6, 9.
BY THE METHODISTS.
479
most indecent expedients;' that in order to further this object,
and to gain an ascendancy over the negro mind, they inculca-
ted the doctrines of equality and the rights of man, preached
and taught sedition even from the pulpit, and by misrepresenta-
tion and falsehood endeavoured to cast odium upon all the
public authorities of the island, not excepting the representa-
tive of Majesty itself; that the consequences have been abject
poverty, loss of comfort, and discontent among the slaves fre-
quenting their chapels, and deterioration of the property of their
masters; that their interference between the masters and slaves
was dangerous and incompatible with the political state of so-
ciety in the island; and they therefore recommended to the
House of Assembly to adopt the most positive and exemplary
enactments to restrain them. This report was not only adopted
by the House, and extensively circulated in Jamaica, but it was
resolved that a copy of it, and of the examinations on which it
was founded, should be communicated to His Majesty's ministers,
and large quantities of it were forwarded to the island agent in
England, with a view to its circulation in the mother country;
but he, not thinking it suited to the latitude of England, pru-
dently withheld it from the public eye.²
2
In December 1829, the House of Assembly passed a new
Slave act, in which the rejected clauses of the late bill were,
with only a few alterations, again inserted. It is not unworthy
of notice, however, that these clauses were carried in a way
which shewed that the charges lately brought against the mis-
sionaries were scarcely believed by many even of the members
themselves, for had they rested on such evidence as carried
conviction to their minds, it might have been expected they
would have been carried by a unanimous vote of the Assembly;
whereas it was by majorities small beyond all former precedent
on such questions; and in order to carry them, one of the mem-
bers, who most strenuously and violently advocated them, found
himself under the necessity of resorting to the artifice of using
It was stated (we presume in evidence) that such was the desire of the missionaries
for money, that they recommended females to prostitute themselves in order to obtain
it for contribution.
2 Anti-slavery Reporter, vol. ii. p 442; vol. iii. p. 24; (Bapt.) Miss. Herald,
1829, p. 20; Meth. Mag. 1829, p. 275; Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1829, App. p. 12;
Hinton's Memoir of the Rev. W. Knibb, 1st Edit. p. 94.
480
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the name of His Majesty's ministers in a most unwarrantable
manner to influence the division, asserting that he had high
authority for stating, that if a few verbal alterations were made
in the clauses, which had occasioned the rejection of the late
act, they would receive the sanction of the government at
home. It is further worthy of notice, that in the course of the
debate on one of the clauses which aimed most directly at the
suppression of missionary labours, by prohibiting assemblies of
slaves before six o'clock in the morning and after six in the
evening, an amendment was moved, which would have exempted
all meetings of slaves for religious purposes from its operation,
and that this amendment was lost by six votes only. Even
this was not all. The amendment was moved by Mr Batty, the
original framer of the clauses in the bill of 1826, and himself a
member of the sectarian committee, as it was called, and it was
seconded by Mr Marshall, the chairman of that committee, so
that it is natural to conclude, that even they did not believe the
statements of the report, nor the examinations on which it was
founded. This act, strange to tell, was, notwithstanding the
previous repeated instructions of His Majesty's government,
passed by Earl Belmore, who had lately come out as governor
of the island.¹
When this act was laid before His Majesty in council, it was,
as might have been foreseen, disallowed by him; and the House
of Assembly, in its displeasure with the home government, re-
solved to take no step whatsoever to amend their slave law. It
was proposed to enact the bill, with the exclusion simply of its
persecuting clauses; but after long debates, which displayed
not only an extraordinary degree of heat and asperity, but gross
ignorance of all constitutional principles, and the most deter-
mined hostility to all missionary efforts, it was thrown out by
a majority of 24 to 16.2
In December 1831, an insurrection broke out on the north
side of the island, in the parish of St James', and quickly ex-
tended to Trelawney, Hanover, Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, and
partially to Manchester, Portland, and St Thomas in the east.
It does not appear to have been the design of the slaves to take
'Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1829, App. p. 18; Duncan's Nar. p. 253, 260.
2 Anti-slavery Report, vol. iv. p. 143.
+
BY THE METHODISTS.
481
the lives of the White people, grievously as they had been op-
pressed by them; their object was simply to obtain their free-
dom, which they erroneously supposed had been granted to
them by the king, but that it was withheld from them by their
masters and the local authorities. Accordingly, scarcely any
blood was shed by them. At the outset, the most they did to
their overseers was to put some of them in the stocks; but
they injured them no further. In this respect, they displayed
a moderation which has rarely been exemplified in the warfare
of civilized nations. But they destroyed property to an immense
amount. The flames might be seen bursting forth from one
estate after another. A beautiful, rich, and highly cultivated
country was in a few days laid waste. On many estates, the
whole of the buildings were reduced to ashes. The White
people fled to the towns, leaving all behind them: terror and
dismay were depicted in their countenances.'
Immediately on the breaking forth of the insurrection, the
military force of the island, including the militia, was called
out; the disturbed districts were placed under martial law,
and the most active measures were adopted to suppress it. The
insurgents, ill armed, and altogether unorganized, and without
proper leaders, were unable to withstand the military force
sent against them. They fled before it; their confederacy
was quickly broken. Many were killed, some in cold blood
under circumstances of the most revolting barbarity; others
took refuge in the woods and mountain fastnesses. Great num-
bers were taken prisoners; hundreds were tried by court-mar-
tial, and shot or hanged, often on very slender and even doubt-
ful evidence. Many more were cruelly flogged, receiving 200,
300, and even 500 lashes. Others were condemned to be con-
fined in workhouses, and to be worked in chains for life. Even
many females were bound to the foot of the gallows and bar-
barously flogged: unable to move, they might be seen lying
'Meth. Mag. 1832, p. 296, 672; Rep. Bapt. Miss. Soc. 1832, p. 24; Rep. Scottish
Miss. Soc. 1832, p. 23, 30.
The loss occasioned by the insurrection, according to a report of the House of As-
sembly, amounted to no less than £1,154,583; 2:1. (Anti-slavery Reporter, vol. v.
p. 253.) How far this estimate rested on adequate evidence, we do not know: it is
not likely it would be under the truth. The reports of the House of Assembly were
often worthy of little confidence.
VOL. I.
Hh
482
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
about the sides of the roads, their lacerated bodies broiling
under a scorching tropical sun. In fact, the cruelties exercised
by the Whites on the poor negroes, even on the innocent and
unoffending, baffles all description. They appear to have caught
the spirit of bloodhounds, and were athirst for blood. No in-
surrection was ever more ferociously punished. On the other
hand, it is worthy of notice, that many of the slaves who were
executed, died exulting in suffering for the sake of freedom;'
nor did they suffer in vain, for there can be no doubt that this
insurrection of the negroes, and the cruelties exercised toward
them by the Whites, contributed not a little to hasten on the
general emancipation of the slaves throughout the British Co-
lonies, and ultimately, it may be hoped, throughout the world.
Upon the breaking out of the insurrection, a violent outcry
was raised against all missionaries, particularly the Baptist
and the Methodist, as if they had been the cause of it. The
island newspapers were filled with inflammatory articles against
them. Nothing could be more false and calumnious, nothing
more brutal and ferocious, than the attacks which were made
upon them.
At their door was laid all the blood which had
been shed, the destruction of property, the incendiarism, the
rapine, in short, all the evils of the insurrection. Without
any trial, without even the least evidence, they were proclaimed
guilty, and a loud and general outcry was raised for the most
summary measures being taken with them. Several of the
Baptist and one of the Moravian missionaries were arrested
and tried, or proposed to be tried, for their lives, and though
every means was resorted to, not excepting subornation of
perjury, in order to obtain their conviction, yet no charge could
be established against them. Some of the Methodist mission-
aries were also arrested, but they were subsequently discharged.
At meetings convened in different parishes throughout the
island, it was gravely resolved, that the insurrection was_attri-
2 (
¹ Facts and Documents connected with the late Insurrection in Jamaica, p. 22.
Shooting," writes the Editor of the Jamaica Courant, "is too honourable a death
for men whose conduct has occasioned so much bloodshed, and the loss of so much pro-
perty. There are fine hanging woods in St James' and Trelawney, and wo do sin-
cerely hope that the bodies of all the Methodist preachers who may be convicted of
sedition, may diversify the scene."—(Bapt.) Miss. Herald, 1832, p. 22.
BY THE METHODISTS.
483
butable to the Wesleyans in common with the other sectarians,
and petitions were prepared, praying the House of Assembly to
banish them from the island. Even the committee appointed
by the Assembly to inquire into the insurrection, did not hesi-
tate, in the absence of all evidence, to represent the Methodist,
the Moravian, and particularly the Baptist, missionaries, as one
of the causes of it.'
It is scarcely necessary to express our conviction, that no
missionaries of any denomination had any thing to do with the
insurrection, or that they were in any degree the direct cause
of it. Of their having instigated, promoted, or encouraged it,
there never was even the shadow of evidence, notwithstanding
the eagerness of their enemies to criminate them. Though as
men and as Christians possessed of ordinary feelings of justice
and benevolence, they could not but desire the downfal of the
whole system of slavery, yet to imagine them capable of excit-
ing the negroes to insurrection with a view to its overthrow,
would be to suppose them without common understanding, the
attempt being so utterly hopeless; while at the same time they
could not but see that there was a spirit and a process in ope-
ration in England, and also in the Colonies, which could not
fail to bring it to an end at no distant period, in a peaceful
and bloodless manner. It is true the plot or combination ori-
ginated among negroes connected with the Baptists; but it
amounted to nothing more in the first instance, than to a reso-
lution, confirmed in many cases by an oath, not to work after
Christmas without wages, under the persuasion that an order
for their freedom had come out from England; and there also
appears no reason to doubt that many of them, as well as some of
other denominations, took part in the rising. But while we appre-
hend this must be admitted, it is no less true that many of the
Baptists and Methodists, as well as of other religious bodies,
did all they could to persuade their fellow-slaves to go to their
work after Christmas as usual; and after the insurrection did
break out, when the Whites had all fled from the estates, or
were engaged in the militia, there were many instances in which,
at the risk of their own lives, they protected their master's
¹ Meth. Mag. 1832, p. 298, 672; Facts and Documents, p. 18; (Bapt.) Miss. Herald,
1832, p. 21; Anti-Slavery Reporter, vol. v. p. 234.
484
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
property against the insurgents; and when estates were fired,
they exerted themselves to the utmost of their power to save
what they could from the devouring flame.'
With respect to the causes of the insurrection, they are not
far to seek. They lay with the White people themselves. The
government of England having now fallen into the hands of
that political party which many years before had carried the
abolition of the slave trade, early shewed its determination to
adopt effective measures for the amelioration of the condition
of the slaves, with a view, it was obvious, to the ultimate abo-
lition of slavery itself. No sooner was this known in Jamaica,
than the White people rose nearly as one man, and vehemently
protested against the violation of what they called their unpre-
scriptible and unalienable rights. The clamour became loud
and universal. Meetings were held in almost every parish of
the island. Speeches were delivered and resolutions passed of
the most violent and inflammatory description; resistance to
the mother country and the renunciation of their allegiance to
the sovereign were distinctly threatened; and similar language
was held even within the walls of the House of Assembly. The
proceedings of these meetings continued to fill the newspapers.
for several months together, and they could not fail to be known
to the slaves, some of whom read the newspapers for themselves,
while many more heard the news from others. Such, in fact,
was their earnest desire to know what was going on in England
as well as in the colony, that it was a common practice for
pedlars, who went about from one estate to another with trinkets
and other articles for sale, to take newspapers with them, by
reading which they readily collected customers around them.
The same topics were freely talked of at the tables of the White
people in the presence of their household slaves. Thus the ne-
groes saw their masters in a state of almost open rebellion against
the supreme authorities of the empire, and that in reference to
measures intimately connected with their interests and happi-
ness. A report, in fact, was circulated among them that the
king had sent out orders for their freedom; but that the White
1
Facts and Documents, p. 10, 20; Knibb's Memoir, p. 117, 119; Meth. Mag. 1832,
p. 296, 303, 381; Duncan's Nar. p. 289.
BY THE METHODISTS.
485
people withheld it from them. They were told it was in the
newspapers, and they were confirmed in this by the unguarded
language of some of their overseers. Hence some, as already
stated, came to a resolution, and even took an oath, not to work
after Christmas unless wages were paid to them; and some
resolved to fight rather than remain any longer slaves, believ-
ing that in asserting their freedom, they might calculate on the
neutrality of His Majesty's forces.¹
But the more immediate cause of the insurrection, and what
drew many into it who would not otherwise have risen against
their masters, was a circumstance of a much more trivial kind,
which occurring at so critical a time, was followed by the most
disastrous consequences. It had always been the custom in
Jamaica to allow the slaves three holidays at Christmas, during
which no restriction was set on their amusements, provided they
did not interfere with the public peace. These three days of
complete relaxation of the ordinary restraints of slavery were of
course greatly prized by the negroes. But Christmas having
fallen this year on a Sunday, they were entitled to the three
following days; and an attempt having been made in the parish
of St James' and some of the neighbouring districts, to deprive
them of the Wednesday, the great body of them refused to turn
out to work on that morning. The disturbances began on those
estates where this ancient custom was invaded, and which in
the view of the slaves had passed into a right on those pro-
perties where the usual relaxation was allowed, all was tran-
quil. The disturbances once begun quickly spread, and were
no doubt greatly exasperated by the harsh measures adopted
by the Whites for their suppression. Such were the chief causes.
of the insurrection; and though they could not be altogether
unknown to the White people, even at the time, yet it was
found convenient to avert the blame from themselves, by
throwing it upon the sectarians, as all missionaries were called;
at all events, the insurrection itself furnished a favourable occa-
sion for rousing the popular indignation against them, and for
organising a system of opposition to them which for a time
¹ Anti-slavery Reporter, vol. v. p. 83, 94, 234, 242; Facts and Documents, p. 9,
10, 13.
486
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
threatened the subversion of missionary operations throughout
the island.¹
In January 1832, immediately after the suppression of the
insurrection, an association called the Colonial Church Union
was established in St Ann's, the parish of which the Rev. Mr
Bridges was rector; and similar associations were quickly
formed throughout the whole island. The great object of these
associations was the expulsion of all ministers from the country,
except the clergy of the Established Churches of England and
Scotland. The spirit of the Union seemed to fly like wild fire
throughout the island; the utmost enthusiasm was every where
manifested in its behalf; all classes of the Whites enrolled
themselves as members, and those were held up as enemies to
the country who refused to join it. At their meetings, resolu-
tions of the most violent character were passed; they set all
law and authority at defiance, and declared their determination
to prosecute their great object, even at the hazard of their lives.2
Though the Colonial Unions greatly concentrated and exas-
perated the spirit of opposition to the missionaries, yet previous
to their formation it had broken forth in acts of outrageous
violence. Though the outcry was most vehement against the
Baptists, and though they suffered to a far greater extent than
the Methodists in the destruction of their chapels and other
mission property, yet in St Ann's where the Colonial Union
originated, the latter were equally, if not even more obnoxious
than the former. The mob destroyed the chapel at St Ann's
Bay, and three others in the same county. The St Ann's
regiment of militia, which was quartered at Falmouth, before
leaving that town destroyed both the Wesleyan and the Baptist
chapels. It appears that magistrates, a member of assembly,
captains of militia, the head constable, and the deputy-marshal
of St Ann's, were present at the demolition of the chapels, en-
couraging the mob in their lawless proceedings; and though
the rioters committed these outrages in open day, and persons
who were witnesses of their deeds made affidavits to this effect,
¹ Anti-slavery Reporter, vol. v. p. 234, 242; Meth. Mag. 1832, p. 297, 678.
2 Narrative of Recent Events connected with the Baptist Mission in Jamaica, King-
ston 1833, App. p. 7; Meth. Mag. 1832, p. 673; West Indian Documents, p. 6; Facts
and Documents, p. 7; (Bapt.) Miss. Herald, 1832, p. 75, 82.
BY THE METHODISTS.
487
yet the grand jury ignored the bills. Subsequently to the de-
molition of the chapels, Mr Whitehouse and Mr Wood, two of
the Methodists, and Mr Nichols, one of the Baptist Missionaries,
were hung in effigy in the market-place of St Ann's Bay. The
custos having come into the town, ordered the whole to be taken
down; but the mob were much enraged at this, and after he
left the place, a Jew who was one of the leading men in
destroying the chapels, caused the gallows to be erected on his
own premises, where he could not be interfered with. There
the effigies (two or three of the leaders being now added to
them) dangled in the air for several days and nights, and volleys
of musket-shots were fired at them; every morning a figure
of Satan was affixed to the top of the gallows, and the fol-
lowing words in large characters were represented as proceed-
ing out from his mouth: "These are my beloved, in whom I
am well pleased." In Jamaica there are a considerable number
of Jews, and some of them, as of old, were among the bitterest
opposers of the missionaries.¹
After the formation of the Colonial Unions, the anti-mission-
ary spirit was not only excited to the highest pitch, but it per-
vaded nearly the whole island. At Falmouth, a band of ruffians
forced an entrance one Saturday evening into the house of Mr
Bleby the missionary, nearly all of them armed with bludgeons.
Some of them seized him and held him fast, while others
covered his head, face, and breast with tar, and one took the
candle from the table and applying it to his clothes, attempted
to set him on fire. Mrs Bleby seeing his danger, dashed the
candle from the fellow's hand on the floor, by which means it
was extinguished. An alarm being given by this time, several
people came to Mr Bleby's assistance, and the ruffians who were
up stairs hearing a scuffle below, left him and ultimately suc-
ceeded in making their escape. Mrs Bleby twice thrust herself
between her husband and his assailants: the first time, one of
them seized her and threw her violently on the floor; the
second time, two of them dragged her away and attempted to
lock her up in the pantry, but she clung to them and got out
with them. Mr Bleby having made his way into the yard, the
¹ Facts and Documents, p. 14; Meth. Mag. 1832, p. 673, 756.
488
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
same man who had attempted to set him on fire rushed on him,
and aimed a violent blow at his head; but he avoided it by stoop-
ing. He again ran up stairs, when one of the miscreants struck
at him with a bludgeon, but missed his aim. He finally suc-
ceeded in making his escape over the fence at the back of the
house, and took refuge in the house of a person of colour who
offered him shelter and protection.'
At Montego Bay, Mr Murray the missionary, was stopped
preaching, on the allegation that neither the house nor himself
was licensed. It appears that the old chapel, which was regu-
larly licensed, had been pulled down, and as the new one was
erected on the same site, it had not been thought necessary to
apply for a new licence, that never having been the practice.
Mr Murray, too, having taken the oaths in another parish, con-
sidered himself as duly qualified to preach in this. The magis-
trates, however, declared their determination to enforce the law,
and at the same time refused an application which was made for a
licence for the chapel, and for permission to him to take the
oaths, and they also prohibited him from preaching. Notwith-
standing this, Mr Murray would have preached; but he wisely
yielded to the advice of some of his friends, who entreated him
not to attempt it, as it was understood he would be apprehended
in the pulpit, and as a large number of persons were determined
he should not go to prison, a riot, perhaps bloodshed, might be
the consequence. The chapel was therefore shut up, and all
the services were for the present at an end. Mr Murray re-
newed his application at the next quarter-sessions, to have the
restrictions laid on him removed; but he was told that the
magistrates had come to the resolution not to allow any sec-
tarians to preach in future, which they alleged they had a right
to do, the toleration laws of England not being in force in
Jamaica. Having, notwithstanding this, begun to preach, he
was thrown into prison; but after eight days, he was released
on bail, by an order from the chief justice. He immediately
commenced preaching again, and the prosecutions which were
raised against him, one at the quarter-sessions, another at the
Assize Court, having completely failed, all proceedings were
¹ Anti-slavery Reporter, vol. iv. p. 537.
1
BY THE METHODISTS.
489
dropped, and he was thus left at liberty to carry on his labours
without further interruption or molestation.'
At Manchioneal, Mr Rowden the missionary, was required to
give up his house to the commanding officer of a party of sol-
diers which was sent to that place; but with this extraordinary
demand he was not disposed to comply, more especially con-
sidering the manner and circumstances in which it was made.
Inquiry was now made at him by two magistrates, as to his
authority for preaching in the parish; and on his shewing them
his credentials, they declared them insufficient, inasmuch as
they alleged, there was a colonial law which required dissent-
ing teachers to take out a licence in every parish in which they
preached. Mr Rowden replied he was not aware of any such
law; but at the same time expressed his readiness to take the
oaths whenever called on to do so by any justice of the peace;
and from a conviction that he was acting according to law, he
felt himself bound to proceed in the discharge of his ministerial
duties. Warrants were prepared by anticipation for apprehend-
ing him in the event of his preaching, and as he did preach on
the Thursday evening, he was immediately arrested and com-
mitted to the common jail at Morant Bay. He was lodged in a
damp cell, and the first night caught a severe cold, which was
succeeded by so violent an attack of fever, that he was obliged
to give bail to appear at the next quarter-sessions, himself for
£100, and one of his brethren for £50. Though liberated
from prison, his fever now increased, and brought him to the
gates of death; but it afterwards abated, and ultimately left
him. He was then ordered by his physician to go to Kingston
for a change of air; but on arriving there, he had a relapse,
which was equally, if not more severe than the first attack.
His illness proved so protracted, that it was impossible for him
to appear at the quarter-sessions. We might mention other
instances of the hostility of the colonists to the missionaries ;"
but this is scarcely necessary, after the examples we have already
given.
During this period of persecution, the societies in various places
'Meth. Mag. 1832, p. 894; Miss. Not. vol. vii. p. 311; Rep, Meth. Miss. Soc. 1834,
P. 75.
* Meth Mag. 1832, p. 826; Miss. Not. vol. vii. p. 177.
Meth. Mag. 1832, p. 293, 673, 677, 760, 823, 896.
490
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
In
were left without pastoral care, and the congregations with-
out public worship, the missionaries not being allowed to exer-
cise their ministry, and some of them being even obliged to
take refuge in Kingston or other places to escape personal vio-
lence. Even in those places where they continued to preach,
not many of the negroes were able to be present. Numbers
were prohibited by their attorneys and overseers from attend-
ing, and were consequently afraid to come; or if they did ven-
ture, it was by stealth, and often at the risk of punishment.
To prevent their slaves from going to chapel, several of the
planters made them work on those days which used to be allowed
them for cultivating their provision grounds, and for the wor-
ship of God, and gave them other days in lieu of them.
order to neutralize the effects of the labours of the missionaries,
the most strenuous efforts were made by some to revive the
heathenish sports and amusements, which were formerly preva-
lent among the negroes, but which had now very generally fallen
into disuse; and great preparations were made in many of the
parishes to restore them in all their wonted vigour at the follow-
ing Christmas. The efforts to corrupt the negroes were not alto-
gether unsuccessful. The missionaries had to mourn over some
who yielded to the temptation, while their enemies triumphed
in their success. The member of Assembly for the parish of
St Ann's, rose in his place and said, He was happy to inform
the House that a great improvement had taken place in the
manners and morals of the negroes in the parish which he had
the honour to represent, since the sectarians had been expelled
from it. Before, they were always melancholy, and nothing but
religion, and singing, and praying, would do for them; but now,
he was happy to say, they were returning to their old plays,
dances, and other amusements, and were picking up all their
old songs.
Such was the improvement in manners and morals
which pleased a Jamaica legislator.'
Meanwhile Earl Mulgrave arrived as governor of the island,
and he early shewed his determination to maintain the cause
of religious liberty, and to protect the missionaries in the enjoy-
ment of their rights and privileges. In January 1833, thirteen
Rep. Moth. Miss. Soc. 1833, p. 76; Miss. Not. vol. vii. p. 245.
2 Afterwards Marquis of Normanby.
BY THE METHODISTS.
491
months from the commencement of the disturbances, His Ma-
jesty's royal proclamation was issued in Jamaica, putting down
the lawless and outrageous Colonial Church Unions, and declar-
ing that he will maintain within the island the principles of reli-
gious toleration, and protect and defend all his subjects in the
exercise of the public worship of God, according to their con-
sciences. This proclamation was accompanied by a circular
from his Excellency the governor, requiring the prompt obedience
and co-operation of the magistrates in enforcing it. But the
wild and daring contumacy of the planters was not to be easily
and at once put down. A spirit of determined adherence to the
great object of the Colonial Unions was manifested in several parts
of the island. At what was called a numerous and respectable
meeting of the Colonial Union, in St Thomas in the Vale, after
laying it down as an indisputable principle that "Sectarian in-
fluence is Colonial ruin," and passing several resolutions in
maintenance of this principle, it was further resolved: "That
to carry into effect these resolutions, this meeting do earnestly
call on the magistrates and vestry of this parish, and throughout
the island generally, to resist every application made by secta-
rians for licences to preach to our slaves, or for licensing places
of worship, which would only be licensing the strongholds of
rebellion and secret dens for extorting the gains of our deluded
slaves; that it be recommended that special constables be ap-
pointed from among the respectable members of our community,
to attend at places where it may be reported that illegal meet-
ings of slaves are held, and where unlicensed sectarians preach,
for the purpose of dispersing such meetings; and the meeting
will apply their funds, among other purposes, to the prosecu-
tion and conviction of such offenders.' But these demonstra-
tions of hostility were met by Lord Mulgrave with great firm-
ness and decision. He early gave a very significant token of
his determination to carry into effect the principles of His
Majesty's proclamation, by depriving of their commissions two
officers of the St John's troop of militia, for having signed their
names to resolutions published by the Colonial Union, declaring
their determination to prevent the "sectarian preachers" from
exercising their ministry in that parish. The custos of the
parish of St Ann's was also removed from his office, together
492
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
with nine more of the magistrates; and the principal officers of
the militia were publicly cashiered. Mr Barr, the missionary
at Manchioneal, having been fined £20 for preaching, two magis-
trates had levied for that sum on the mission premises; but his
Excellency having been appealed to, he ordered an investigation
of the case, the result of which was, that he dismissed the two
magistrates from the commission of the peace, and referred the
matter to the Attorney-General for his opinion as to the best
method of having the value of the furniture, which had been
seized and sold by public auction, refunded to him. He even
sent down a message to the House of Assembly, recommending
that measures should be devised for refunding the losses which
had been sustained by the destruction of the chapels by lawless
mobs. After a stormy debate, however, it was resolved that the
sectarians should not be refunded, but should be left to seek
their redress at law. This was equivalent to saying, they should
have no redress at all, for it had previously been sought at law,
and denied.
It had often been alleged by the enemies of missions that the
toleration laws of England were not applicable to Jamaica; but
it was now decided in the Grand Court that the 1st of William
and Mary was in force in Jamaica; yet even this did not put
a stop to the opposition of some of the magistrates. On this
decision being given, Mr Greenwood attended the quarter-ses-
sions in St Ann's for the purpose of qualifying according to the
provisions of that act. This, however, was objected to by some
of the magistrates, who acted in so violent a manner that the
1 Miss. Not. vol. vii. p. 180, 246, 269, 311, 344; (Bapt.) Miss. Herald, 1833, p. 34.
The estimate formed by the Methodists of the sums necessary for the restoration of
the six chapels belonging to them which had been damaged or destroyed was £2090
sterling. From this it appears, that their losses were greatly less than those of the
Baptists, which were estimated at the time at upwards of £12,000, and subsequently
at £17,900. Application was afterwards made to the government at home for remu-
neration; and though His Majesty's Ministers, while they admitted the grievous hard-
ship of the case, did not see it to be their duty to allow the claim to its full extent, yet
they intimated to the Committee, that if the Society would provide one-half of the
sum, they would recommend to Parliament to make up the other.-Miss. Not. vol. vii.
P. 507.
"It was declared about the same time in England, that missionaries in the West
Indies enjoyed the same ample religious privileges as the Act 52 George III. secures to
all classes of His Majesty's subjects, who are not of the Established Church.—Miss.
Not. vol. vii. p. 396.
BY THE METHODISTS.
493
custos unable to restore order, advised him to retire, to save
himself from personal injury. A rush was made toward him
by several persons; but he escaped through a private door,
without sustaining any bodily harm. These circumstances
having been represented to Earl Mulgrave, he promptly replied,
that he was already taking the necessary measures which the
emergency of the case required. In consequence, indeed, of the
firm and vigorous course pursued by his Excellency, the enemies
of religion were kept in check, and after some time, the mis-
sionaries were permitted to carry on their labours without mo-
lestation.'
On Friday the first of August 1834, slavery was abolished in
the West Indies, in conformity with an act passed the preceding
year by the newly reformed parliament of Great Britain. On
that memorable day, about 700,000 immortal beings acquired
(under certain limitations called an Apprenticeship) the mighty
boon of civil liberty, and passed in the eye of the law from the
state of goods and chattels into the rank and dignity of men.
That boon had been eagerly and joyfully anticipated by the
slaves, and when the day of jubilee came, it was welcomed by
them with no ordinary feelings of exultation and gratitude.
Throughout Jamaica, it was generally observed as a day of
thanksgiving. The chapels of all denominations were crowded
with attentive, devout, and deeply interested worshippers.
Everywhere the people seemed to hasten spontaneously to the
house of God to offer up praise and thanks for his mercy. In
some places the chapels could not contain the multitudes who
flocked to them. The day passed over very differently from
what days of public rejoicing commonly do. Every countenance
beamed with joy; every heart was filled with gladness; but
there was little or nothing of those noisy ebullitions of mirth
which are so common on days of public rejoicing, or if any thing
of this description did occur, it was of a very harmless kind."
On the following Monday, to which many looked forward with
much anxiety, the newly liberated negroes, generally speaking,
returned cheerfully to their work, and for a time peace and har-
1
Miss. Not. vol. vii. p. 311, 376.
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1835, p. 50; Miss. Not. vol. vii. p. 557; (Bapt.) Miss.
Herald, 1834, p. 85; Anti-slavery Reporter, vol. ii. p. 11.
494
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
mony prevailed. After some weeks, however, considerable dis-
satisfaction arose among them, in consequence of the withdrawal
on the part of many of the managers of estates of some of those
allowances which had been enjoyed by them in a state of slavery,
or of their refusal to pay them reasonable wages for working on
their own time; or of imprudent, and in some instances, harsh
measures adopted toward them by the Whites. Even, however,
when things were at the worst, there was very little insubordi-
nation among them. Every offence, however, was magnified;
there were persons who exaggerated the merest trifles into seri-
ous revolts, which had no existence save in their own imagina-
tions. Those managers who met the new order of things in a
fair and honourable way, and in whom the people had confi-
dence, completely succeeded. At the same time, it must be
acknowledged, that some of the negroes behaved very ill; and
generally speaking, they performed less work than they might
have accomplished with ordinary exertion. This, however,
was the fault of the system rather than of the people. It
afforded little motive to exertion. Formerly the fear of pun-
ishment was a strong incitement to labour; now that was in a
manner done away with, while the hope of reward was not put
in its place. The negroes had merely their houses, and some
allowances of a few pounds value for their year's work; and
consequently it is no way wonderful that even those who were.
under the influence of religious principles, and still more those
who were not actuated by such motives, did not feel that they
were bound to exert themselves in hard labour.'
The emancipation of the negroes was quickly followed, as
might be expected, by some very important changes. Among
its earliest fruits was the abolition of the Sunday markets,
which had long been the curse of the West Indies, and one of
the most powerful obstacles to the spread of religion among the
slaves. It was truly surprising to see how entirely they ceased
on the very first Sabbath after the abolition of slavery. In the
towns the eye was no longer pained, nor the heart grieved in
beholding the country people with their baskets of provisions on
their heads for sale, or in seeing the stores open for the sale of
all manner of commodities. All was now peace and quietness;
¹ Miss. Not. vol. viii. p. 28; Rop. Scot. Miss. Soc. 1835, p. 25.
BY THE METHODISTS.
495
nothing was to be seen but decently dressed people going to
and from their respective places of worship.'
There was at the same time a greatly increased attendance of
the negroes on public worship. Many whom persecution had
"scattered in the dark and cloudy day" now returned to the
house of God and to fellowship with their Christian brethren.
Multitudes of others flocked to the preaching of the gospel, so
that in many cases the chapels required to be enlarged to double
their size, and in others, new congregations were raised, which
were obliged, in the first instance, to worship in the open air.2
Education was also greatly extended among the negroes. In
the days of slavery, the prejudices of the White people against
schools were even stronger than against preaching; but now
His Majesty's ministers having obtained from Parliament, for
some years, an annual vote of money for the erection and sup-
port of schools in the West Indies, they made considerable
grants to the Methodists as well as to other missionary bodies
for these purposes, with the view of promoting the education of
the negroes. particularly of the rising generation. Instruction
was now no longer chiefly oral. Reading, writing, arithmetic, as
well as the principles of religion and other useful branches, were
taught in the schools, and could not fail to contribute greatly to
the intellectual and moral improvement of the pupils, whether
adults or children.
But while emancipation was productive of great and manifold
benefits to the negroes, there was one grievous evil to which, in
the first instance, it gave rise. The missionaries had always
been in the practice of celebrating marriages among the slaves
who attended on their ministry, and they admitted no persons
as members of the Society while living in a state of concubinage,
polygamy, or promiscuous intercourse, practices which were
nearly universal in the West Indies. So long as the system of
slavery continued, these marriages, though not formally recog-
nised by law, were regarded by the negroes as morally binding,
and were productive of the most salutary results. But on its
abolition, a question was raised as to their validity, which in-
troduced a painful and perplexing state of things. While the
negroes were regarded by the law as merely "goods and chat-
(Bapt.) Miss. Herald, 1834, p. 85, 87. * Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1835, p. 51.
496
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
tels," the marriages celebrated by the missionaries were suffi-
cient to answer the great moral ends of matrimony; but no
sooner were they raised to the rank of persons and freemen,
than they became capable of contracting legal marriages, and a
question arose whether the marriages they had entered into as
slaves were legally binding on them, and with this was combined
another question as to the legitimacy of their children, the fruit
of these marriages. The mass of the married negroes connected
with the various missions in the West Indies were reduced to
the painful alternative of either submitting to the unmerited
reproach of living in a state of concubinage, or by being married
according to the forms required by law, virtually to illegitimate
their children and to render them incapable of inheriting their
property. Besides, instances were not wanting of negroes tak-
ing advantage of the uncertainty which prevailed on the subject
to desert their wives and children and to marry other females.
But the unsettling of past marriages was not the only evil.
which now arose: there were also difficulties attending the
celebration of legal marriages. As only ministers of the Church
of England were empowered by the laws of most of the colonies
to marry free persons, the negroes belonging to other denomi-
nations could no longer be married by their own pastors. In
these circumstances, owing to the fewness of the ministers of
the Established Church, marriage could not, in many places, be
celebrated at all; and in other places, where they were within.
reach, the expense and difficulty attending its celebration in
the churches of the Establishment, were such as the people
were not always prepared to encounter. The consequence was,
that in numerous instances, negroes, who were attending on the
ministrations of the missionaries, and were bidding fair to be-
come respectable members of society, yielded to the pressure of
circumstances, and forming illicit connections, settled down in
the state of concubinage. These evils were greatly felt for seve-
ral years; but an act was at length passed "to legalize, register,
and confirm marriages by dissenters and other ministers not
connected with the Established Church," which provided an
effectual remedy for them.'
1
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1837, p. 51, 92; Samuel's Wesleyan Methodist Mission in
Jamaica and Honduras, p. 86.
BY THE METHODISTS.
497
On the 1st of August 1838, the system of apprenticeship,
under which the negroes had been placed on the abolition of
slavery, was terminated throughout the West Indies, by acts of
the local legislatures, two years before it legally expired. It
had all along worked so ill, been attended with so many griev-
ances to the labourers, and with so little advantage to the mas-
ters, that all classes were heartily sick of it, and rejoiced on its
being given up. The day was generally observed in Jamaica
as a day of thanksgiving to God, in a way similar to that in
which the day of emancipation was observed four years before.
Many, as then, prognosticated that the negroes, on being com-
pletely liberated, would not work, but their predictions were
falsified by the event. Such a change, however, in the whole
frame of society could not fail, in the first instance, to give
rise to many new questions, and to be attended with many
difficulties. On the one hand, many of the White people, long
accustomed to oppress and contemn the negroes, still sought
to grind them to the dust, and offered them what were con-
sidered as unduly low wages. On the other hand, many of the
Black people, estimating too highly the value of their labours,
refused to work, except at a rate of wages which proprietors
could not afford to pay. They also regarded their masters with
fear and suspicion, a very natural result of the old system
of slavery and its attendant oppressions. They were exceed-
ingly jealous of their newly-acquired rights, guarded them with
intense anxiety, and were prepared to resist to the very utter-
most even the appearance of the slightest encroachment on
them. Every proposal made by their employers was cautiously
weighed by them, as if they were incapable of acting honestly,
or of fulfilling their promises. The scarcity of silver money
tended not a little to increase their distrust. It occasioned
masters to allow the wages of the labourers to run on for weeks
together, until the latter became dissatisfied, and, in some cases,
they gave up work altogether, under the false impression that
their employers were keeping back their wages intentionally.
They could not understand "how Buckra no hab money; how
him always hab plenty o money to buy negar; yet him no hab
money to pay poor Negar when him work is done." They had
also extravagant ideas of freedom. They conceived that a free-
VOL I.
I i
498
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
man could not be compelled to work nine hours a day; that he
might come and go when he pleased; stop work, or proceed
with work, as he chose; rise in the morning and go to work at
seven o'clock or half-past seven, instead of six. They imagined
that the queen had given them their houses and grounds, and
that their masters had no right to take them from them; and,
accordingly, many would neither work on the properties nor
pay rent for their houses and grounds. On the other hand,
some of the masters or inanagers made exorbitant demands of
rent, and required it not only from the heads of families, but
from all the children above a certain age. Processes of eject-
ment now became the order of the day; but these it was found
exceedingly difficult to execute, and the negro often kept pos-
session of his house and grounds in defiance of the proprie-
tor. These and a thousand other things were constantly pro-
ducing disagreement between masters and servants. Appeals
were made to the magistrates, discontent followed their deci-
sions on one or both sides, and obstinate refusal to work was
often the consequence. The violence too of party spirit in
Jamaica, and the opposition of the House of Assembly to the
measures of the home government and of the governor, excited
and cherished as they were by the newspaper press, contri-
buted not a little to keep up agitation throughout the island,
and to delay the adoption of those measures which might have
allayed the general ferment, and brought matters to a fair and
amicable arrangement.
Thus many things occurred to hinder the successful working
of the new system; but this need be no cause of wonder. Con-
sidering the previous character, condition, and conduct of the
two great parties who were practically the chief agents in
carrying out the mighty change, the multiplied and opposite
interests involved in it, and the consequent difficulties in bring-
ing to a just and equitable settlement the many important ques-
tions to which it could not fail to give rise, it would have been
little less than a miracle, if, in the first instance, there had been
no differences of opinion, no jealousies, no excitement, no dis-
content, no disappointment in regard to its immediate results.'
Amidst the difficulties which attended the early working of
¹ Rep. Scot. Miss. Soc. 1839, p. 7, 11, 30, 39, 48, 52; Ibid. 1840, p. 13, 22; Ibid.
1841, p. 17, 22; Miss. Not. vol. i. (N. S.) p. 57.
BY THE METHODISTS.
499
freedom, it was amusing to witness the effect which it had on
the bodies as well as on the minds of the people. Youths who,
in the month of July, belonged to the second gang, were in
August raised as if by magic to the first, and could manage
a hoe with as much ease as many of their older and more ath-
letic neighbours. The aged and infirm, who had done nothing
for years, and were exempted from all labour, suddenly became
young and strong. The sick also found freedom a sovereign
medicine for most of their diseases, and left the hospitals to
engage in the labours of the field. Whole hosts of the sick,
diseased, and lame, were suddenly restored; and the tinkle of
an English shilling wrought a cure more entire and lasting,
than would ever have been effected by the doctor's skill.'
Meanwhile a great change took place in the public opinion
of Jamaica regarding the Methodist missionaries. We have
already seen how long and how grievously they were persecuted
by the White people. Formerly no names were too vile, no
treatment too bad for them; even their chapels were shut up
or razed to the ground as public nuisances. Yet within five
years of the late insurrection, the House of Assembly in Jamaica
made a grant of £500 to aid in the erection of a Methodist
chapel in Kingston, and in the course of the discussion which
took place on that occasion, the highest eulogiums were pro-
nounced on the usefulness of the Wesleyan missionaries. The
common council of Kingston and several of the parochial ves-
tries followed the example of the Assembly, and made grants
for similar purposes. We do not here inquire into the pro-
priety of the civil authorities making grants of public money for
religious purposes: we simply state the fact as a proof of the
great change of opinion which had taken place in Jamaica re-
garding the missionaries. It is no doubt true that the state
'Miss. Not. vol. i. (N. S.) p. 60; Rep. Scot. Miss. Soc. 1839, p. 32.
The miraculous effects of freedom were not confined to Jamaica. The following
statement refers to St Kitts-One day as Mr Waymouth the missionary was passing
by a large cane field, he was surprised to see the great and the small gangs blended
together. Accosting them pleasantly, he asked why those small fellows had got
among the men. "O," said one of them, "free make a we strong," and they were
accordingly doing, as some stout boys might do, the work of men for men's wages.
He also noticed among them some whose faces seemed to indicate they had but lately
left the hospital. "O," said he, "are you turned out too ?" "Yes, massa, free good
physic," said they all.-Miss. Not. vol. i. (N. S.) p. 127.
2 Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1837, p. 48; Duncan's Narrative, p. 386, 391, 392.
500
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
and circumstances of the island were entirely changed. For-
merly it was a slave, now it was a free, colony, and that might
be deemed necessary for freemen which was thought dangerous
for slaves; yet even this is a testimony to the innocence of the
missionaries, and shews that the fault lay not with them, but
with the White people and with the system of slavery, which it
was foreseen could not long maintain its standing in opposition
to the progress of knowledge.
After all, however, we apprehend it cannot be denied that
the emancipation of the slaves has not as yet realized the hopes
of the friends of justice and humanity; yet this need scarcely
surprise us. It is rarely that we are able to point to any human
schemes which have not to a considerable extent disappointed
the expectations which were entertained of them, especially if
the intellectual, moral, and social improvement of man was
their object; or at all events it is only after a lengthened period
when their results come to be somewhat fully developed,
that the benefits arising from them are fully seen, and even
then, they probably prove beneficial in ways which did not
enter much, if at all, into the calculations of their original pro-
moters, so little knowledge and foresight has man of futurity.
There is, indeed, no denying the fact that the abolition of
slavery proved the abrogation of great and multiplied evils as
regarded both the Black and the White people, and that mul-
titudes of the slaves and of their children have reaped solid
advantages from it, though there are probably still greater num-
bers who have participated but little in these advantages, and
perhaps now suffer various evils to which they were not much
liable in the days of slavery.
Besides the causes of the failure of emancipation in realizing
the expectations formed of it, which arose out of the ill-work-
ing of the new order of things, there were others which con-
tributed to the same end, particularly the continuance of the
slave trade by Spain and Brazil, notwithstanding of the treaties
they had entered into with England for its abolition, and the
extensive cultivation by them, by means of slave labour, of the
chief articles of our colonial produce, which so reduced its
price, especially after the British Parliament removed the dif-
ferential duties between the produce of slave and of free labour,
that numerous plantations, particularly in Jamaica, were
BY THE METHODISTS.
501
thrown out of cultivation, and the wages of labour sunk so low
as to reduce the mass of the people to great poverty.
Though, after the emancipation of the negroes, the prospects
of the mission appeared to brighten greatly, yet in the course
of a few years the state of things changed much to the worse.
Many of the Black and coloured people purchased small lots
of land, sometimes in the mountains, on which they built
themselves cottages, while they cultivated the ground for the
maintenance of their families. Many left their old homes and
sought employment elsewhere, often at such a distance from
the house of God as to cut themselves off, to a great extent,
from the ordinances of religion. Many in the days of slavery
betook themselves to the missionaries as their best and only
friends, and perhaps expected to find in religion something to
comfort them under the many ills which they had to suffer;
but now that they were free, they cared little about religion,
and perhaps abandoned even the profession of it. Many grew
worldly-minded, made money the great object of their pursuit,
and sought for happiness in earthly things. Some of the evils
of the olden times, which it was hoped had received a complete
check, were revived, particularly among the young, as nocturnal
dances, concubinage, the illicit connection of the sexes, and
even obeahism and myalism.
As a consequence of all this, the congregations and the num-
ber of church members, though they were still great, were
materially reduced as compared with what they were some years
before; the contributions for the support of the missionaries
and other religious objects were greatly diminished; the schools
too fell off, and altogether the aspect of things was much less
favourable than a few years before it had promised to be.'
In 1853, the number of church members in connection with
the mission in Jamaica amounted to 19,478. The numbers
are considerably less than they were some years ago.
In 1844,
they amounted to 26,585. The stations of the missionaries are
now no longer confined to the chief towns as Kingston, Spanish
Town, Falmouth, and Montego Bay; they are to be found in
all parts of the island, both in the towns and in country places.2
1
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1846, p. 105; Ibid. 1848, p. 111; Ibid. 1853, p. 68; Miss. Not.
(N. S.) vol. vi. p. 15, vol. viii. p. 167.
2
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1844, p. 99; Ibid. 1853, p. 108.
502
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ART. 7.-Bermuda.
IN 1799, Mr John Stephenson proceeded to Bermuda, with
the view of commencing a mission in the Somers' Islands. On
his arrival he had powerful prejudices to encounter; but in a
short time, they abated in a considerable degree. His prospects
having begun to brighten, the enemies of religion were roused
to hostility; and finding themselves unable to check his progress,
without the aid of law, they at last obtained the interference of
the legislature.
In May 1800, the House of Assembly passed an act prohibit-
ing all persons from preaching or exhorting, who were not or-
dained according to the forms of the Church of England or of
Scotland, under a penalty of £50, and six months' imprison-
ment for every offence, and inflicting a similar punishment on
the person in whose house the meeting was held. Mr Stephen-
son, considering this law as inconsistent with the principles of
toleration, and therefore an infringement of the birthright of a
British subject, continued his ministerial labours in nearly the
same manner as before. He was allowed to go on without
molestation for about a month; but he was at last apprehended,
carried before the magistrates, and committed to jail to take
his trial at the next assizes. With him was committed Mr
Pallais, the person in whose house he preached.
After lying in prison a number of days, they were both libe-
rated on bail. Mr Stephenson originally intended remaining in
jail until the assizes, which did not meet for near six months;
but on making the experiment for a short time, he found that
confinement would not only impair his health, but prove ex-
ceedingly expensive, as the charges amounted to fifteen shillings
a day. Besides, he was apprehensive that the society he had
collected would be dispersed during his confinement, while, if
he accepted of liberty, he would have an opportunity of visiting
them privately, and might by this means keep them together
until the storm blew over.
On the meeting of the assizes, Mr Stephenson appeared before
them, was tried for the high crime of preaching the gospel, and
condemned to six months' imprisonment in the common jail, to
BY THE METHODISTS.
503
pay a fine of £50, and to discharge all the fees of the court.
After he had lain five weeks in prison, the governor offered to
liberate him on condition that he would quit the island within
sixty days; but as he thought this dishonourable to the great
cause for which he suffered, he declined the offer. He proposed,
however, in case of his liberation, to find bail that he should.
not break the law while it continued in force; but this offer
was refused.
In June 1801, Mr Stephenson, after lying in jail six months,
was liberated agreeably to his sentence; but his constitution
was so broken by his confinement, that he was disabled for those
exertions which he had been accustomed to make. He continued
on the island some months longer, languishing under a weight
of bodily infirmities and the interdictions of law. The mem-
bers of the Society had kept together better than might have
been expected; but he could only visit them in their own houses,
and converse with them privately. As there was so little pros-
pect of his being useful, he was recalled from Bermuda, which
was now left without a missionary.'
Applications were, in the mean while, made to the govern-
ment in England to disallow the act of Assembly, but from
various circumstances, near three years elapsed before its repeal
was publicly announced. The spirit, however, which gave it
birth did not expire with it. Many of the men in power still
cherished their hostility to the Methodists, and exhibited a
menacing aspect to any who should attempt to preach. On this
account, a considerable time elapsed before any missionary could
be induced to venture to Bermuda. Each saw before him an
apparent certainty of persecution, and but little prospect of use-
fulness.2
In April 1808, Mr Joshua Marsden proceeded from New
Brunswick to Bermuda, after that island had been without a
missionary for about six years. He expected to find on his ar-
rival a small society, the fruit of Mr Stephenson's labours, but
in this he was disappointed. With the exception of Mr Pallais,
who was now old, infirm, and poor, he did not find a single per-
son who appeared to welcome his arrival. All to whom he
spoke were of opinion that government would not allow him to
Coko's History, vol. iii. p. 237.
2 Ibid. vol. iii. p. 243, 247.
504
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
preach, and their wishes seemed to be in unison with their sen-
timents.
Contrary to expectation, Mr Marsden obtained permission.
from the governor to preach, and was attended by considerable
numbers of the inhabitants; but though he met with no violent.
opposition, he had to encounter great indifference. The pros-
pects of the mission appeared indeed to brighten at times, but
they were again greatly overclouded. Though many of the in-
habitants, both rich and poor, attended the preaching of the
gospel, comparatively few became members of the Society."
In 1853, the number of church members in connection with
the mission on this island amounted to 445.2
ART. 8.- BAHAMA ISLANDS.
IN October 1800, Mr William Turton arrived at New Provi-
dence, one of the Bahama Islands. Previous to this, Mr Ham-
met, who after retiring to America for the recovery of his health
withdrew from the Methodist connection, had successively sent
three missionaries to the Bahama Islands; but though they col-
lected a small society, they were themselves chargeable with such
gross misconduct, that they brought disgrace on the profession
of religion. On the arrival of Mr Turton, the name of a Metho-
dist, in consequence of this, was obnoxious in the ears of the in-
habitants; but yet he obtained permission to preach, and though
a law had previously been enacted prohibiting the instruction
of the slaves, he was attended by considerable congregations,
and succeeded in raising a small society. Other missionaries
having afterwards arrived in New Providence, they extended
their labours to Eleuthera, Harbour Island, Abaco, and others
of the Bahama Islands. On some of these their prospects were
highly encouraging; their congregations were large, attentive,
and respectable, and their labours were productive of a great
reformation among the inhabitants. In Harbour Island, drunk-
enness, swearing, fighting, and Sabbath-breaking prevailed in a
¹ Coke's History, vol. iii. p. 248; Rep. Moth. Miss. 1811, p. 13; Ibid. 1814, p. 13 ;
Ibid. 1815, p. 14.
2 Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 111.
BY THE METHODISTS.
505
very high degree when the missionaries first visited it, but
after a few years these evils in a great measure disappeared.
But though the utility of their labours was so apparent, they
were not without their enemies, who were eager to oppose and
to shackle them in their operations.'
In 1816, the legislature passed an act prohibiting, under a
severe penalty, meetings for divine worship earlier than sun-
rise and later than sunset, a measure which not only deprived
the slaves in general of the ordinary opportunities of instruction
during the week, but many of them of all instruction whatso-
ever. On hearing of this iniquitous law, many of the negroes
came to the missionaries in tears, lamenting the loss of their
religious privileges. It was truly affecting on the Sabbath morn-
ing to see some of the oldest members ascending a neighbouring
hill to see whether the sun was risen, before they durst begin to
sing the praises of their Creator. After a few years, however,
the legislature retraced its steps, and repealed the restriction s
which it had laid upon the poor negroes.
2
In 1853, the members of the Methodist Societies in the Ba-
hama Islands, were as follows:-
New Providence,
Eleuthera,
Harbour Island,
Abaco, and Andros Island,
Turk's Island,
816
804
538
264
378
Total,
2800³
ART. 9.-ST DOMINGO.
IN November 1816, Messrs John Brown and James Catts
sailed from England for Port-au-Prince, the capital of the re-
public of Hayti, in the island of St Domingo. A short time
before, Captain Reynolds, a member of the Methodist body,
'Coko's History, vol. iii. p. 200; Rep. Meth. Miss. 1813, p. 13; Ibid. 1814, p. 12
Ibid. 1816, p. 23; Ibid. 1819, p. 50; Miss. Notices, vol. i. p. 32, 67, 193.
Rep Meth. Miss. 1817, p. 27; Miss. Not. vol. i. p. 160; vol. iii. p. 94.
* Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 109.
506
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
when at Port-au-Prince, was informed by the Secretary of State,
in reply to some inquiries which he had addressed to him, that
Protestant missionaries would not only be tolerated, but wel-
comed by the government.
On their arrival, the missionaries began to preach in Port-au-
Prince and other parts of the republic. In the capital, they
had a numerous and attentive congregation: in the country,
they were uniformly treated with kindness and respect. The
inhabitants, indeed, were extremely ignorant, wicked, and su-
perstitious; but yet, in a short time, a number of them appeared
to be impressed with divine things, and were formed into a
society.
In the whole of their intercourse with the government, the
missionaries were treated with the greatest condescension and
kindness. They were not merely tolerated; they experienced
on all occasions the utmost readiness on the part of the Presi-
dent Boyer, to encourage and promote their plans, particularly
in regard to the education of youth.'
But though the government was favourable to the mission-
aries, they were obliged, after a residence of about two years in
St Domingo, to withdraw from the island in consequence of the
tumultuous opposition of the populace. It is worthy of notice,
that on their departure, the President Boyer not only expressed
himself highly satisfied with their conduct, but transmitted a
donation of five hundred pounds to the funds of the Methodist
Missionary Society.
It
By the constitution of Hayti, the Roman Catholic religion
was declared to be the religion of the State; but there was an
article providing that other religions should be tolerated.
may be questioned, however, whether the principle of tolera-
tion was at all understood; practically at least, the Methodists
enjoyed nothing like religious freedom. The small society which
the missionaries had collected were, after their departure, greatly
persecuted, chiefly through the influence of the Catholic priests
over the poor ignorant people, in which, however, they were
too much seconded by some persons of higher rank. They
¹ Miss. Notices, vol. i. p. 93, 145, 217, 241; Rep. Meth. Miss. 1817, p. 33; Rep.
Meth. Miss. Soc. 1818, p. 38.
* Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1819, p. 63.
BY THE METHODISTS.
507
could meet only by stealth, and in small companies, and when
assembled for divine worship, they were sometimes assaulted by
the populace with stones and all kinds of violence. On one oc-
casion a number of them were seized by the police, and carried
to prison, and on being brought before the chief judge the fol-
lowing day, they were prohibited by him, in the name of the
President, from meeting together again. "No one," said he,
"can hinder you from worshipping God as you please; but let
every one abide at home, for as often as you are found assembled,
you shall be put in prison, and if you unhappily persist, I have
received orders to disperse you every where." Several wished
to reply; but he refused to hear them, saying, "It is not from
me; it is not my fault; these orders are given to me." There
is reason to apprehend that these were the orders of the Presi-
dent Boyer. But notwithstanding all this, the poor people con-
tinued to meet both on the Sabbath and on week evenings.'
In 1834, Mr John Tindall was sent to Hayti: other mission-
aries afterwards followed and settled at Port-au-Prince, Cape
Haytien, and Samana. Their congregations were generally
small, and they had no great encouragement in their labours.
There was reason to believe that numbers saw the absurdities
of the Romish Church, but ignorance, superstition, and vice,
maintained their dominion over the great mass of the popula-
tion.2
Though the successive revolutions which have of late years
taken place in Hayti, the war which the Haytian government
carried on with the Spanish part of the island, and the conse-
quent agitated and unsettled state of the country, could not
fail to have an unfavourable influence in regard to the state and
progress of the mission; yet it is an interesting fact, that the
principle of religious toleration has made marked progress with
both the government and the people. Though the Romish
priesthood did still in some instances seek to raise persecution,
it was not with much success.³
In 1853, the number of church members in connection with
the mission on this island amounted to 429.*
¹ Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1824, p. 62.
* Ibid. 1835, p. 62.
3 Miss. Not. (N.S.) vol. i. p. 601; vol. viii. p. 137, 172, 174.
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 103.
508
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Besides the Missions of which we have given an account, the
Methodists established others in various other of the West
India Islands,-in St Christopher's, in Nevis, in Grenada, in St
Bartholomew, in St Thomas, in St Martin's and Anguilla, in
Montserrat, in Tobago, and in Trinidad, and also in Demerara
and Honduras.
In 1853, the number of church members in connection with
the Methodist missions in the West Indies amounted to 48,589,
the great body of whom were black and coloured people.¹
Though in the preceding account of particular missions we
have given many illustrations of the nature and difficulties of
missionary labour in the West Indies in the days of slavery, we
shall here add a few other statements illustrative of this subject.
It was a great disadvantage to the negroes, that the Lord's
day was the season assigned them by their masters to cultivate
the grounds allowed them in lieu of provisions, and that the
regular market throughout the West Indies was on that sacred
day when the chief towns exhibited all the noise and bustle of
petty commerce. After breakfast, a driver with an overseer
accompanied the slaves to the negro fields, where they spent
the Sabbath toiling all day under a burning sun. On the fol-
lowing Lord's day, they went to market to sell the produce of
their grounds, and to purchase such articles as were not allowed
them by their masters; and they closed the day in drinking,
dancing, and debauchery. Such was a Sabbath in the West
Indies. The Christian slaves had to perform the same work as
others, when their masters did not allow them the Saturday
for that purpose. They went to market in the forenoon, and
from thence to the chapel. It was no uncommon thing to see
the chapel yard covered with baskets, whilst their owners were
attending divine worship. The missionaries did not, however,
as was insinuated, excite complaints among the slaves on this
subject. They were no doubt grieved at the profanation of the
Sabbath, and the beneficial effects of their labours were mate-
rially counteracted by it; but they accommodated themselves
to the circumstances of the slaves, seized upon the broken frag-
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 114.
BY THE METHODISTS.
509
ments of their time, and made the best improvement of them
they were able.'
There was in general no such thing as marriage, in the com-
mon sense of the word, among the slaves in the West Indies.
They herded together like the beasts of the field, without any
ceremony. Some lived together many years; others soon
parted, and each chose a new mate. Promiscuous intercourse
was extremely common; and the planters themselves, when they
made the attempt, found themselves utterly unable to check it.
Marriage, however, was uniformly introduced by the Methodist
missionaries among the converts; but with respect to this they
had many difficulties to encounter. They were frequently at
a loss to determine which was the proper husband or wife.
A female, for instance, wished to become a member of the
society; but the man with whom she then cohabited, was not
the first to whom she had been united. She had lived with
many others, and the person with whom she was originally con-
nected, had, in like manner, had many more women since he
left her; and perhaps was living at that time with one by whom
he had children. Sometimes the missionaries were content
with an engagement on the part of the woman, that she would
abide with the man with whom she lived when she joined the
Society; at other times they acted to the best of their judgment,
in selecting the person whom they thought most proper.²
1 Watson's Defence, p. 55, 60.
2 Ibid. p. 29.
Many of the White people were opposed to the marriage of the slaves. It would
have been a standing reproof of their own licentious lives.-Anti-slavery Reporter,
vol. v. p. 364. Among the many evils which resulted from their disregard of the mar-
riage ties between their slaves, was the cruel practice of the separation by sale to dif-
ferent individuals, and sometimes to different islands, of husband and wife, parents
and children. Many a tender scene did this produce; but one more heart-rending
than the following, it is not easy to conceive. "A master of slaves," says Mr Gil-
grass, who was for some time a missionary in Jamaica, "who lived near us in King-
ston, exercised his barbarities on a Sabbath morning, while we were worshipping God
in the chapel, and the cries of the female sufferers frequently interrupted us in our
devotions. This man wanted money, and one of the female slaves having two fine
children, he sold one of them, and the child was torn from her maternal affection. In
the agony of her feelings she made a hideous howling; and for that crime was flogged.
Soon after he sold her other child. This 'turned her heart within her,' and drove her
to a kind of madness. She howled night and day in the yard, tore her hair, ran up
and down the streets and the parade, rending the heavens with her cries, and literally
watering the earth with her tears. Her constant cry was, 'Da wicked Massa Jew, he
sell me children. Will no Buckra Massa pity Nega? What me do? Me no have one
As she stood before my window she said, 'My Massa,' (lifting up her hands
child.'
510
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Though we have given many disgraceful instances of the
hostility of the White inhabitants of the West Indies, to the
labours of the Methodists, it would be an act of great injustice,
both to the planters and to the missionaries, did we neglect to
mention, that such feelings were by no means universal. In
some of the colonies, there were not only no persecuting laws
enacted against them; but they were greatly encouraged, both
by the local government, and by the owners of slaves. Even in
those islands where they met with persecution, they had many
friends among the planters, and others of the White inhabitants.
Some built chapels on their estates: others subscribed hand-
somely to their erection in the neighbourhood. There was
scarcely a place of worship of any size, in the West Indies, in
the building of which the gentlemen of the island did not assist
by their contributions, or in some other form. Subscriptions
of £10, £20, £50, and £100, for such purposes, indicate both
the rank in life, and the sentiments of the contributors. Even
in Jamaica, where the dark and dangerous fanaticism of the
Methodists was detected with more than ordinary sagacity, the
most liberal assistance was afforded. In other islands, planters,
merchants, members of colonial assemblies, presidents, chief
judges, governors, not only subscribed to the erection of chapels,
but in some instances paid regular stipends to the missionaries,
as a remuneration for their services in instructing their slaves.
In several of the islands, indeed, the proprietors of estates, and
the other inhabitants, were so fully satisfied with the conduct
of the missionaries, and so sensible of the political as well as
moral and religious advantages resulting from their labours,
that they entirely supported the ordinary expenses of the mis-
sions. Since the abolition of slavery, the views of the White
people in the West Indies in reference to the Methodist mis-
sionaries have greatly changed; and it is probably now matter
of wonder to many, that any hostility should ever have been.
manifested to so zealous, so laborious, so useful a body of men.
to heaven), 'Do me, Massa minister, pity me! me heart do so,' (shaking herself vio-
lently) 'me heart do so, because me have no child. Me go a Massa house, in Massa
yard, and in me hut, and me no see em;' and then her cry went up to God. I durst
not be seen looking at her."-Watson's Defence, p. 25.
¹ Watson's Defence, p. 74, 124; Coke's History, vol. ii. p. 286; Rep. Meth. Miss.
Soc. 1820, p. 68; Ibid. 1821, p. 80.
BY THE METHODISTS.
511
SECT. II.-CEYLON.
IN December 1813, Dr Coke sailed from Spithead with six
missionaries, namely, Messrs William M. Harvard, Benjamin
Clough, William Ault, George Erskine, Thomas H. Squance,
and James Lynch. The heart of Dr Coke was particularly bent
on a mission to Ceylon: neither his age, nor the length of the
voyage, nor any other consideration, would divert him from his
purpose. He had often met with much opposition from his
Brethren in the Conference to other missions which he pro-
posed, in consequence of the state of their finances; and as
the missionary fund laboured at this time under considerable
embarrassments, he was apprehensive that his favourite plan
would be frustrated, unless he could obviate this difficulty.
He, therefore, generously offered to bear out of his own private
fortune, the whole expense of the outfit, to the extent of SIX
THOUSAND POUNDS, should that sum be necessary. Awed into
silence by this noble act of generosity, the Conference, while
they were not without apprehensions of their ability to carry
on so expensive an undertaking, agreed to extend their opera-
tions to the Eastern world.¹
Anxious, however, as Dr Coke was to establish a mission in
Ceylon, he was not destined to see it begun. During the
first four months of the voyage, none on board enjoyed better
health; but he at length felt himself rather indisposed for a
day or two. His complaints, however, appeared of so trifling a
nature, that neither he nor his companions felt the least alarm.
He was still able to be present at table, walked on deck at his
accustomed hour, and pursued his studies as usual. On the
evening of the second day, when he was retiring to rest, Mr
Clough, by his own request, gave him a little laxative medi-
cine, and offered to sit up with him during the night. But the
Doctor, not apprehending any danger, declined the offer with
his usual sweetness of temper, and desired him to go to bed.
The Conference do not appear to have accepted Dr Coke's generous offer, but only
borrowed from him £3291. Ho expended, however, a considerable sum in the outfit
of the mission beyond what was allowed for this purpose.
512
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Thus terminated the intercourse of this venerable man with
mortals. In the morning he was found lying on the floor, a
cold and lifeless corpse. He died, it was supposed, of apoplexy,
a disease to which he had a considerable pre-disposition. His
mortal remains were consigned the same afternoon to the mighty
deep, to be seen no more till that morning when "the trumpet
shall sound, and the sea shall give up the dead which are in
it." 1
Among the advocates and promoters of Christian missions,
Dr Coke is entitled to hold no ordinary place. During the last
thirty years of his life, the diffusion of Christianity, particularly
among the heathen, appears ever to have been uppermost in his
thoughts. It was chiefly through his instrumentality that the
missions of the Methodists were at first begun; and it was
principally by his activity that they were for many years sup-
ported and carried on. With a view to the propagation of
Christianity, he crossed the Atlantic not less than eighteen
times. While in England, he was much employed in travelling
through the country, soliciting subscriptions for missionary pur-
poses. He stooped to the very drudgery of charity, and pleaded
the cause of a perishing world from door to door. His uncon-
querable activity was attributed by the world to enthusiasm,
and by his enemies to ambition; but by his friends, who knew
him best, to zeal for the glory of God, and the salvation of men.
He was not, however, without his faults. Of a warm sanguine
temperament, he was frequently hurried into schemes without
due consideration, was apt to be provoked by opposition, was
improvident in his plans, profuse in his expenditure, and had,
we suspect, no inconsiderable share of vanity. His many ex-
cellencies, however, more than counterbalanced his faults, and
even threw a kind of lustre around them.2
In June 1814, the missionaries arrived in Ceylon, and though
deprived of their venerable leader, were received in the most.
cordial manner by Sir Robert Brownrigg the governor, Sir
Alexander Johnston the chief justice, and others of the prin-
cipal inhabitants. This island, as we formerly mentioned, is
¹ Drew's Life of Dr Coke, p. 350, 352, 357; Meth. Mag. vol. xxxvii. p. 118, 473;
vol. xxxviii. p. 30.
2 Drew's Life of Dr Coke, p. 315, 344, 380, 383, 385, 387.
BY THE METHODISTS.
513
inhabited by two distinct races; the northern part by Hindus
who speak the Tamil language, that of the opposite coast of
India; the southern part by the Cingalese, who profess the re-
ligion of Budhu.'
The missionaries settled in the chief towns, both in the north-
ern and southern parts of the island, as Jaffnapatnam, Batti-
caloa, and Trincomalee, Colombo, Negombo, and Galle; and
after the conquest of the kingdom of Kandy by the British,
they also entered the interior, and formed a station at Korne-
galle, about twenty-two miles from Kandy, the capital. They
entered on their labours with great activity and zeal, but the
propagation of Christianity in Ceylon was attended with many
difficulties, some of them of a very singular nature.
It has been made a question whether a man can be an atheist;
but it is a remarkable fact that the Budhist religion is a system
of atheism. The priests and the more learned of the Cingalese
argue against the existence of a Supreme Creator, and the su-
perintendence of a Divine Providence. To explain the origin
of all things they have recourse to an eternal succession of
transmigrations, or to the doctrine of chance. One day, when
an aged priest called on the missionaries at Colombo to converse
with them on the subject of religion, Mr Harvard thought this
a favourable opportunity of ascertaining, whether it was possi-
ble for a reasonable being to pass a number of years in the world
without thinking of the existence of a Supreme Creator. To
his inquiries the old man answered in the most unequivocal
manner, that during the sixty years he had lived in the world,
the idea of a First Cause, had never, to the best of his recollec-
tion, entered his mind until of late. Budhu is, perhaps, wor-
shipped by the populace as a deity; but their sacred books re-
present him merely as a prophet or reformer, something like
Mahomed, and incarnated simply to save mankind by the purity
of his doctrines. The better informed reject with disdain the
imputation of worshipping Budhu, and assert that they erect
temples to his honour, present flowers to his images, and
afford maintenance to his priests, merely as an expression of
'Meth. Mag. vol. xxxviii. p. 150, 357; vol. xxxix. p. 39; Miss. Notices, vol. i. p.
20, 25.
* Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1824, p. 8, 11.
VOL. I.
K k
514
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
reverence for his memory, and of attachment to the doctrines
he taught.'
As to the common people, they were sunk into a kind of
mental torpor; they were not accustomed to think on any sub-
ject, and least of all upon religion. The ignorance, the apathy,
the credulity, the superstition, the fickleness, and the flexibility
of the lower orders, were enough to sink the hopes of the most
zealous missionary. It was seldom they contradicted any thing;
but then they took no interest or concern in what was said to
them. The religion of the Christians they dismissed altogether
as not necessary to be known by them, their own religion being
superior to every other and quite adapted to them, though
Christianity might be suited to the inhabitants of Europe.²
In Ceylon education is little known. With the exception of
the Budhist priests and the families of the chiefs, few enjoy
any thing like mental culture. Many even of the sacerdotal
order are extremely ignorant, and some are unable to read cor-
rectly their own language.3
The missionaries commenced their labours in Ceylon with
singular energy and zeal. To meet the low state of education
in the island, they established numerous schools, in which large
numbers of children, including some hundreds of girls, were
educated. They preached to all classes of the inhabitants, and
had considerable congregations; the school-houses served them.
as places of worship in the course of their journeys through the
country. In Colombo, the capital of the island, they possessed
a fine establishment, consisting of a chapel, a dwelling-house,
school-rooms, a printing-office, and a type-foundry. From their
printing press issued numerous works in the Cingalese, Tamil,
Indo-Portuguese, and English languages. They also took part
in the translation of the Scriptures into the languages of Ceylon.
They early baptized a number of the natives, among whom were
several Budhist priests. Nothing, in short, could exceed their
sleepless activity and enterprize, and high hopes were for some
years excited both in England and Ceylon of the success of the
mission.*
¹ Miss. Notices, vol. i. 149.
p.
2
" Ibid. vol. i. p. 133, 151; Moth. Mag. 1831, p. 565.
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1818, p. 111.
• Ibid. 1825, p. 13; Meth. Mag. 1832, p. 355; Miss. Not. vol. ix. p. 178.
BY THE METHODISTS.
515
But these hopes were far from being realized. The schools,
which were so numerous and so numerously attended, were
after some years found to be in a very inefficient state, and to
have done little good. In some places the congregations con-
tinued good, but in Colombo and others of the principal stations
they fell off greatly; they were small, fluctuating, and very
discouraging. Even the children educated in the schools, when
they grew up frequented the idol temples, and scarcely a youth
was to be seen at chapel, unless he was still a scholar. Though
a considerable number of the natives were baptized, there were
comparatively few who gave evidence of genuine piety. Disap-
pointment, in short, was felt in nearly every department of the
mission, a result not unfrequent where high hopes have been
excited in the beginning.¹
In 1853, the following was the number of church members
connected with the Methodist mission in Ceylon :-
Northern or Tamil district,
Southern or Cingalese district, .
293
1416
Total,
17092
SECT. III-SOUTH AFRICA.
NAMAQUALAND.
IN December 1815, Mr Barnabas Shaw sailed for the Cape of
Good Hope, but on his arrival, not being allowed by the gover-
nor to exercise his ministry at Cape Town, he set off for Nama-
qualand in the company of Mr Schmelen, of the London Mission-
ary Society, who had settled in that country. By the way they
met the captain of a Kraal in Little Namaqualand and some of
his people, who were on their way to Cape Town, a journey of
between four and five hundred miles, with the view of obtain-
ing a missionary to come and live among them. Considering
this as a call in providence, Mr Shaw, who previously had no
'Moth. Mag. 1826, p. 128; Miss. Not. (N. S.) vol. i. p. 597.
* Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 97.
516
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
particular place in view, agreed to accompany him to the
Khamies mountain, where he and his people resided. Here he
commenced a station at a place called Lily Fountain; and he
had scarcely entered on his labours, when many of the people
appeared to be deeply affected with what they heard. In the
meetings for public worship, they sometimes fell down, and
wept, and sighed to such a degree, that he could scarcely distin-
tinguish his own voice; and after divine service, they might be
seen retiring for prayer among the rocks, or they might be
heard singing and praying in their huts. In a short time, he
baptized a number of them; and he also instructed them in
agriculture and other useful arts; but though some of them
improved in industry, others were amazingly idle.'
In March 1820, Mr Shaw, accompanied by some of his people,
undertook a journey into Great Namaqualand, to the north of
the Orange River, with the view of exploring the country, and
preparing the way for establishing missions in it. The country
through which they travelled, was, for the most part, wild and
desolate beyond description. Their route at first lay through
defiles between the mountains, whose jagged summits resembled
battlements and towers, or amidst enormous ridges of rocks,
whose steep sides projected like so many lines of masonry, while
the roads were so rugged that they were sometimes afraid their
waggons might be dashed to pieces. After travelling some
days, they entered on a barren sandy waste. No rain having
fallen for some time, vegetation seemed at an end; scarcely any
thing was visible but the shrivelled stems of dying bushes, with
here and there a brown sickly heath, or a few succulent plants
apparently struggling for life. Here were no traces of cultivation
to relieve the eye, no tree or bush to invite the weary traveller
to its friendly shade, no fountain or stream to refresh either
him or his thirsty cattle.
Proceeding on their journey, our travellers saw before them
an immense range of mountains rising in majestic grandeur to
the skies, which appeared to present a barrier to their further
advance. Their guide left them to try and discover a way by
which they might pass over them; and on his return, he led
'Shaw's Memorials of South Africa, p. 57, 68; Miss. Not. vol. i. p. 92, 114, 125,
157, 197, 284.
BY THE METHODISTS.
517
them along the sloping side of a terrific steep, over which the
wheel of waggon had probably never before rolled. The poor
cattle dragged them along over shelved rocks and sharp stones,
till worn out with fatigue, some of them fell to the ground. The
large whip, which on account of its size requires both hands to
wield it, was continually in motion, till at length they were so
completely hemmed in amidst the shattered ridges, that the
bullocks could proceed no further. To extricate their waggon
from a situation so perplexing, they attempted to make a path
for themselves, in the doing of which many a stone, which had
lain at least for ages, was rolled from its ancient bed. The
oxen being again yoked, our travellers still hoped to cross
the mountainous chain; but after renewing the attempt, their
guide, who had become quite bewildered as to the way, directed
them to return to the place from which they came.
Their wag-
gon was almost shattered to pieces, their bullocks were begin-
ning to fail, and the water they had to drink was very salt
and exceedingly nauseous to the taste. Next day their guide.
succeeded in leading them across the mountainous heights,
and before night they came in sight of the Orange River.
The distant view of the water gladdened every heart, and fresh
oxen being yoked, they hastened on in the hope of speedily
reaching it; but it proved to be at a much greater distance
than they imagined. The labouring oxen gave many a heavy
groan; the relays bellowed around them, and the pedestrians
who drove the loose cattle were weary with trudging in the
sand. About midnight, they reached the banks of the river;
but the Namaquas, unaccustomed to see such a mighty stream,
or to hear its tremendous roar over the hidden rocks, hesi-
tated to approach it. Some said, it was angry and the tor-
rent might carry them away, others with more reason feared
that wild beasts might be lurking amongst the trees and bushes
on the banks, and might devour them in the dark; but not-
withstanding the apprehensions of some, our travellers were
not long of obtaining an abundant supply of water, which was
the more cause of gladness, as the last they had drank was
little better than that of a common sewer.
To cross the river was now the difficulty, and for this pur-
pose they had to construct a raft consisting of poles fastened
518
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
together with the bark of the thorn-tree. It had to be dragged
over by persons swimming in the water, some before, some at
each side, and some behind; and after much exertion on their
part, accompanied with terrific shouting, it reached the northern
bank of the river in safety with the first party; but it was of
such a construction that it had to be loaded ten several times
before the whole of them with their waggon and baggage were
got over. They now proceeded on their journey and at length
reached Bethany, the station of Mr Schmelen, about 250 miles
to the north of the Orange River, who was almost overcome
with joy at their arrival, having never before been visited by
any fellow-missionary. Forty days had now elapsed since they
left Steinkopff, a missionary station on the south side of the
river, during which time they had not seen a single dwelling-
house of any description, not even the hovel of a wandering
Bushman. The country was a complete wilderness in every
sense of the word, and, with the exception of a few Bushmen
and Namaquas near the Orange River, was utterly without in-
habitants.
From Bethany they proceeded in a north-easterly direction
towards the Great Fish River, in the Damara country; but as
the mountains were in many places impassable by waggons, and
as they had no horses, they conformed to the custom of the
country and mounted their horned cattle. About a dozen of
Namaquas accompanied them, some as guides through the wil-
derness, some as marksmen to shoot animals for food, some as
drivers of the bullocks which carried their baggage, and some
merely from a disposition to wander through the desert and
visit the adjacent tribes. Every one had a kaross or sheepskin,
which served as a saddle by day and as a blanket by night.
The country through which they travelled was not so entirely
destitute of inhabitants as that through which they had lately
passed. Some of these were afraid to come near them, partly
perhaps from being little accustomed to the sight of strangers,
and partly from their having in former instances been plundered
and barbarously treated by the Dutch boors, or as they called
them, the hat-wearers, who had come into their country; but
others received them in a friendly manner and attended on
BY THE METHODISTS.
519
their worship. Some of the chiefs even expressed a strong de-
sire that missionaries would come and settle among them.
After travelling about a fortnight, they reached the Great
Fish River. Here there was plenty of land on both sides of the
river, which exhibited every appearance of fertility. The
majestic trees clothed with beautiful foliage afforded a delight-
ful shade, and formed a striking contrast to the many sandy
deserts through which they had lately toiled, and while regal-
ing themselves with the cooling draughts of water from the
river, they almost felt as if they were on enchanted ground.
Leaving the Fish River, they again pushed forth into the un-
inhabited wilderness on their return to Bethany. On the fol-
lowing night they became completely bewildered, having lost
their way, and when the sun at length arose, it only disclosed
to them fresh difficulties. The country before them was
covered with large stones, and the high ridges of shattered
rocks, confusedly thrown together, seemed to block up their path.
The whole day was spent in crossing this rocky desolate region,
nor could they lose time to make a single halt for the purpose
of refreshing their oxen. Such a day as this they had never
experienced before. Scorched by a tropical sun, torn by the
thorny bushes, jolted by their unruly bullocks, parched by a
burning wind, faint for want of sustenance, tormented with in-
describable thirst, their cattle weary, having travelled nearly
thirty hours with but little interruption, their people lame,
their tongues so parched that their voices were become harsh,
and they began to speak with difficulty, it is not surprising
that they grew impatient and dejected, and were almost ready to
give up in despair. But whilst reflecting on their critical situa-
tion, and considering what methods it might be necessary to
employ in order to extricate themselves out of it, one of their
people proclaimed the joyful news of water. Having refreshed
themselves and their cattle, their hopes revived, and they pushed
on with fresh vigour, and at length about eight o'clock in the
evening, they reached Bethany, the station of Mr Schmelen.
After resting themselves at Bethany, Mr Shaw and his com-
panions resumed their journey, and at length, after an absence
of fourteen weeks, reached Khamiesberg in safety.' We have
Miss. Not. vol. iii. p. 68, 104, 119.
520
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
T
given these details of this long and toilsome journey, with the
view of shewing what difficulties and hardships missionaries
have to endure in travelling in this part of South Africa.
In October 1823, Mr Shaw, on returning to Lily Fountain
from Cape Town after an absence of three years, gives the fol-
lowing account of the appearance of the station. "This insti-
tution," says he, "presents a pleasing contrast to the dreary
wilds we have been crossing during the past week. Instead of
a barren wilderness, exhibiting nothing but sterility as far as
the eye can reach, here are fields waving with corn and ripen-
ing apace for the harvest. Instead of noxious water which the
cattle often refuse to drink, here are numerous fountains ever
sending forth their crystal streams. Instead of a parched desert
destitute of verdure to relieve the languid eye, here are gardens
producing vegetables in abundance, and trees richly laden with
fruit. Instead of a lonesome Karroo which never used to hear
'the sound of the church-going bell,' these rocks and these dales
now smile when the Sabbath returns, and a goodly company
who dwell on high, join together in calling on the name of the
Lord, and in shouting his praises from the tops of the moun-
tains. This picture is probably somewhat overcharged; the
contrast between the wilderness through which Mr Shaw had
lately travelled and the scene which he now beheld, may not
unnaturally have excited his mind and given a colouring to his
description. But whatever may have been the beauty of Lily
Fountain, there appear to be grounds for concluding that it
must have been indebted for it more to the bounty of Provi-
dence than to the industry of the people. Many years after, it
is stated that the great evil which cramped all the energies of
the mission was the destitution of the natives in their temporal
circumstances, and that this was the fruit of their own negli-
gence and indescribable idleness. Although there was abun-
dance of garden ground, very few of them cultivated it, nor
would they hire themselves to work with the farmers. The con-
sequence was, that they depended for the most part upon the little
wheat which they could raise, and as the produce of the land
was small, not on an average more than fifteen fold, this was
soon consumed, and the greatest wretchedness often prevailed
'Miss, Not. vol. iv. p. 343.
BY THE METHODISTS.
521
among them, which was apt to oblige nearly all of them to dis-
perse from the station in search of the means of subsistence.¹
In June 1825, Mr Threlfall, one of the missionaries, accom-
panied by Jacob Links and Joannes Jagger, two of the native
converts, left Khamiesberg with the view of proceeding to the
Fish River in the Damara country, in order to see whether
the people in that quarter, who had previously expressed a
wish for teachers, were still desirous of obtaining them. They
reached the Warm Bath in safety, but eight or ten days after
leaving that place, they were all three attacked at midnight
as they lay asleep on the ground around their fire, and were
barbarously murdered by their treacherous native guide, as-
sisted by some Bushmen who lived near the fatal spot, and whom
he had seduced to assist him in his bloody design. What
were the motives which instigated them to this cruel deed does
not appear certain; but it is probable it was in order to possess
themselves of the beads and other trifling articles which they
carried with them for the purpose of buying food. The princi-
pal murderer was afterwards taken and delivered up to the co-
lonial authorities, and after the charge was duly investigated, he
was brought to the Silver Fountain in Little Namaqualand, and
with the consent of his chief executed.²
In July 1834, a station was begun by Mr Edward Cook in
Great Namaqualand at a place called the Warm Bath, or, as it was
afterwards named, Nisbet Bath. Several families came in a short
time to reside at the place, and an invitation was sent, with the
sanction of the chief, to the whole tribe to repair thither as soon
as possible, that they and their children might enjoy Christian
instruction. The governor of the colony took a lively interest
in the establishment of this mission, and promised to the chief
to make him a handsome present half-yearly, so long as he
should conduct himself properly and co-operate cordially with
the missionary.³
¹ Meth. Mag. 1832, p. 524; Miss. Not. vol. viii. p. 570.
* Meth. Mag. 1826, p. 631; Ibid. 1828, p. 199, 342; Memoir of Mrs Ann Hodgson,
p. 19.
Upon the death of Mr Threlfall's father, a legacy of £1000, which would have fallen
to him had he survived, was, agreeably to his desire, paid to the Methodist Missionary
Society, a gratifying proof of his disinterestedness and zeal.—Miss, Not. vol. i. (N.S.)
p. 315.
3
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1835, p. 37.
522
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
The people in this quarter were extremely poor. The greater
part of them possessed a few cows and goats, and some also had
sheep; but as they had neither bread nor vegetables, the little
milk and flesh which they obtained from them was not at all
adequate to the supply of their wants. As to futurity they
scarcely seemed to have a thought. Their young cattle were ge-
nerally devoured before they attained to maturity, and the man
who did not give to his neighbour while he had any thing him-
self, was looked on as very inhospitable. When their resources
failed, as they were apt to do through the dryness of the weather,
they were sometimes reduced by hunger to mere skeletons, and
lengthened out their miserable existence by any thing which
they obtained in the course of their rambles, or by hunting or
surprising wild animals as the lion does his prey.
But notwithstanding many unfavourable circumstances in
the condition of the people, the stations of Khamiesberg and
Nisbet Bath made encouraging progress. The congregations at
both places were considerable, and they appeared to manifest
much interest in the instructions of the missionaries.¹
Besides these stations in Namaqualand, the Methodist Mis-
sionary Society established many others in South Africa. In
Kaffraria, they carried on an extensive mission: the principal
stations were named Wesleyville, Mount Coke, Butterworth,
Beechamwood, Morley, Clarkebury, Buntingville, Shawbury,
and Palmerton. They also established a mission in the Bechu-
ana country: the stations were chiefly among the Barolongs.
and Basutos. A mission which they attempted in the Damara
country was given up after a few years. They had likewise a
number of chapels in the colony, and at Port Natal, chiefly for
the benefit of the colonists; but the missionaries also directed
considerable attention to the instruction of the aborigines, who
are found scattered throughout the colony, many of them in
the service of the colonists. They are particularly numerous.
in the direction of Kaffraria, and consist of various races,—
Hottentots, Kafirs, Tambookies, Fingoes, Bechuanas, Mozam-
biques, and others who had taken refuge in the colony, in
1
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1852, p. 48; Miss. Not. 1847, p. 192.
BY THE METHODISTS.
523
consequence of the destructive wars of the tribes in the in-
terior.'
The following was the number of church members connected
with the stations among the aboriginal tribes, according to the
latest accounts:
Namaqualand,
398
Kaffraria,
812
Bechuana country,
576
Total,
1786 2
SECT. IV.-SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.
ART. 1.-THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS.
IN June 1822, the Rev. Walter Lawry sailed from New South
Wales for Tongatabu, one of the Friendly Islands. He was
accompanied by two or three mechanics, and he took with him
a number of horned cattle and sheep, which were presented by
his Excellency the governor, in the hope of their breeding on
the island. He also carried with him Indian corn, wheat, pease,
beans, cabbages, potatoes, turnips, melons, and various other
garden seeds, with a view to their cultivation.3
On arriving at Tongatabu, Mr Lawry was received by the chiefs
in a very friendly manner: they were greatly delighted with
some chisels and axes which he presented to them. Paloo, one
of the principal chiefs, under whose protection he placed him-
self, made at first a very favourable impression on his mind: he
represents him as a very fine-looking, remarkably shrewd, dis-
cerning, prudent, generous man. But it was not long before
he discovered that much of the favourable impression which
the chief had made upon him, was to be attributed to the de-
ceitfulness of his character. Some of the mission property he
took away by treachery, some by violence: the settlers felt
that there was no security even for their life. Every day's
¹ Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1852, p. 49, 57, 59.
Miss. Not. vol. iv. p. 54, 101.
* Rep. Meth. Miss. 1853, p. 103.
524
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
experience shewed that it was not with them the chiefs were
in love, but with their property, a circumstance which shews
how unadvisable it is for missionaries to savage tribes to carry
much property with them; that instead of contributing to their
safety, it only increases their danger. The behaviour of Paloo,
indeed, was exceedingly capricious and changeable. When Mr
Lawry, after having been upwards of twelve months on the
island, was about to return to New South Wales, he manifested,
or at least professed, great sorrow at his departure. He was
scarcely able to speak for weeping: others of the people also
burst into tears. Yet afterwards he ill-treated the two young
men who remained behind, and even threatened their lives if
they would not go away.'
In June 1826, Messrs Hutchison and Thomas, two new mis-
sionaries, landed on the island, and after making the chiefs
some presents, they explained to them the object of their com-
ing, and the conditions on which they were willing to remain
among them, which were readily agreed to. Land to any ex-
tent was promised them, the protection of their property, the
free and undisturbed exercise of their religion, that all the
children of the tribe should be made to come to their school,
and that as many of the people as chose should be at liberty to
attend their worship. To make such conditions with savages,
it is obvious, can serve little purpose. They will not scruple
to promise any thing, but neither will they scruple to break
every promise they have made.
The new missionaries settled at Hihifo, under a chief called
the Ata. It was soon evident that it was merely on account
of their property that the chiefs cared any thing about them.
The Ata, under whose protection they had placed themselves,
broke all his engagements. He threatened to burn their house,
and suffered them to be robbed by men and boys of all descrip-
tions. He was quite opposed to Christianity, and prohibited
his people from attending divine worship. The few who did
attend were ordered to leave the district, and some young women
who were learning to read and sew, were taken away by the
wife of the chief. It was alleged that the missionaries were
bad men, and that they prayed the people to death. As there
'Miss. Not. vol. iv. p. 129, 311, 341; vol. viii. p. 462.
BY THE METHODISTS.
525
was the prospect of a scarcity of food on the island, it was
said the Tonga gods were angry with the people for suffering
them to come among them; that the Tonga and the English
gods had had a quarrel on the subject; and that the Tonga
gods being the strongest, were now punishing them for what
they had done. By such means as these the missionaries were
greatly thwarted in their labours at Hihifo, and their prospects
of success, for the present, blasted.
In November 1827, a second station was begun at Nukualofa,
under Tubou, who appears to have been the principal chief, and
is usually called the king. Here from the very commencement
of their labours, the prospects of the missionaries were of the
most cheering kind. They had large and attentive congrega-
tions: the place of worship was often crowded, and sometimes
hundreds sat outside unable to obtain admission. Several
schools were established which were numerously attended by
men, women, and children. The desire of religious knowledge
was very intense, and the progress which many of them made is
represented as truly wonderful. It was not long before a num-
ber of them were baptized and admitted to the Lord's Supper.
Among those who professed to renounce the religion of their
fathers were Tubou the king and several others of the chiefs.
One of the principal men, who expressed his determination to
cast off the gods of his country, assigned as a reason for this,
that when the missionaries first came to the island, he thought
that something very bad would quickly befal such as prayed to
their God, and that they would all soon die; but having looked
a long time, and nothing evil having happened to them, he
came to hear for himself, and was now convinced that Jehovah
was God, and therefore he resolved to worship him only.2
Messages were also received from chiefs of the Vavau and
¹ Meth. Mag. 1828, p. 487, 630; Ibid. 1830, p. 558.
It is remarked by Mr Thomas, after he had been preaching on love to God, that
this was quite a new thing to the Tongas. They had been in the habit of dreading
their gods, and serving them with a slavish fear; but they never loved them. Such
an idea had not so much as crossed their minds. This is probably not confined to
Tongatabu; we suspect it is characteristic of heathenism in every part of the world;
a circumstance which strikingly illustrates the vast superiority of the religion of the
Bible.
2 Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1828, p. 43; Meth. Mag. 1829, p. 628, 631; Ibid. 1830,
p. 563, 629; Ibid. 1831, p. 195.
526
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
Habai Islands, requesting the missionaries to come and instruct
them in the knowledge of Jehovah. The chief of the former
said he was tired of his evil spirits; they told him so many
lies, he was sick of them; that he was the only chief on the
island, and that when he turned, all his people would turn with
him. It was even said that the chief of the Habai Islands had
taken an oath that he would give up his lying spirits and turn to
Jehovah, and that he had already begun to observe the Sabbath,
by ceasing from work and from all his amusements on that
day.'
In January 1830, Mr Thomas proceeded to Lifuka the chief of
the Habai Islands. On his arrival, he found that the king Taufaa-
hau had renounced idolatry and acknowledged Jehovah as the
true God, and that the houses which were formerly held sacred
were used as common dwellings. The chief had visited Tonga a
few months before, and on his return, he was accompanied by a
young man and his wife, who were both baptized, with a view
to their instructing those who had renounced idolatry in the
new religion, and to teaching them to read. Immediately on
his arrival, Mr Thomas began to preach to the natives. He also
opened schools, both for males and females, which were well
attended, chiefly by adults. They were taught principally by
the natives themselves: such as had learned a little taught
others what they themselves knew. The king and others of the
chiefs attended, and stood up in the same ring with their people,
to be catechised every morning. There were about eighteen
inhabited islands in this group, some of them forty or fifty miles
distant from each other, but all under the government of Tau-
faahau; and they contained, it was supposed, about 4000 inha-
bitants, nearly one-half of whom had renounced idolatry, but
they were, for the present, without the means of instruction."
Mr Thomas, after being some months in the Habai Islands,
baptized a number of the natives, among whom was Taufaahau
the king. He and his people erected a large building for divine
worship, which was usually attended by great numbers of the
natives, there being generally from a thousand to fifteen hun-
dred persons present. The king was very zealous in bringing
¹ Meth. Mag. 1829, p. 266; Ibid. 1830, p. 630.
2 Ibid. 1831, p. 125, 195, 714, 778.
BY THE METHODISTS.
527
over the people from idolatry, and the influence of the chiefs in
the South Sea Islands in matters of this kind commands ready
obedience. Young and old, rich and poor, masters and servants,
priests and people, might now be seen renouncing the worship
of idols, and turning to the true God. Among others was the
Tamaha, a female chief of the highest rank, who had been re-
garded as a deity, and was one of the pillars of the popular su-
perstition.'
Idolatry also now received a heavy blow in the island of
Vavau. Three years before, Finau the king appeared anxious
for a missionary; but afterwards he acted the part of a perse-
cutor, and was mad on his idols. The king of the Habai Islands
and some of his people had, however, gone on a visit to Vavau,
with twenty-four sail of canoes, and the missionaries wrote a
letter to Finau, expressing their love to him and his people, and
their earnest desire for their welfare. The king of Habai ex-
horted him to turn to God, and put away his lying spirits, and
he at length yielded, saying, "Well, I will; and I will spend
the Sabbath with you in worshipping your God." He then
gave orders to his servants to worship Jehovah, and to set on
fire the houses of the idols. These orders were promptly obeyed.
Some of the houses of the idols were taken by the people
for their own use; others to the number of eighteen were
burned to the ground, and their gods in them. Some, how-
ever, were much alarmed at these proceedings; but a thou-
sand people at least, it was supposed, joined with the king in
renouncing idolatry. They shewed great eagerness to hear
about the new religion. The Habai people had no rest from
them, day nor night; when they had done with one company,
another would come, and thus they were kept constantly em-
ployed speaking to them.²
In March 1831, Messrs Nathaniel Turner, J. Watkin, and
W. Woon, three new missionaries, arrived at Nukualofa in Ton-
gatabu, the last of whom was a printer. Hitherto, the mission-
aries had had great trouble in writing out books for the natives;
but now a press was established, at which were printed large
'Meth. Mag. 1832, p. 144; Miss. Not. vol. vii. p. 513; Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1833,
p. 40, 44; Ibid. 1834, p. 37.
* Meth. Mag. 1832, p. 578.
528
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
editions of several school-books, select passages of scripture,
hymn-books, catechisms, and other useful works. The people
were greatly delighted, and not a little surprised, when they
first saw the press in operation. Thousands of these little books
were in a short time circulated, and were read by them with
great interest.
The desire for books was very great, and the
missionaries, availing themselves of this, did not think it ad-
visable to give them generally gratuitously. They took pay-
ment for them, but the people were so poor, that many found
it difficult to purchase them.'
In prosecuting their labours, the missionaries were greatly
assisted by a host of native helpers, not only teachers of schools,
but class-leaders, exhorters, and even local preachers. The
overthrow of idolatry, and the reception of Christianity in the
various islands was, in fact, effected very much through the in-
strumentality of the natives themselves. In the schools there
were some thousands of scholars, of whom a large portion were
adults, and about one half females. Several hundreds of the
natives, both males and females, were employed as teachers,
amongst whom were some of the most influential of the chiefs
and their wives. Many of the females, besides learning to read,
were taught to sew by the wives of the missionaries; and it was
truly surprising to see the rapidity with which they acquired
this useful art, and the neatness of their work. There was a
great desire among them to dress in gowns and bonnets like
English women.2
Though the religious instruction communicated by the natives.
must of necessity have been very imperfect, and probably often
not unmixed with error, yet they appear to have contributed
essentially to the overthrow of idolatry, not only in their own
and in the neighbouring islands, but even in islands at a great
distance. One day the missionaries in Vavau observed three
canoes approaching the shore. They were navigated by strangers,
and proved to be from the island of Niua-Fo-ou, three hundred
miles distant, which no missionary had ever visited. Some of
the Vavau converts, however, had visited it, and such had been
'Meth. Mag. 1831, p. 857; Ibid. 1832, p. 55, 141, 143, 524, 892; Rep. Meth. Miss.
Soc. 1833, p.45; Ibid. 1835, p. 135.
2 Miss. Not. vol. vii. p. 226.
BY THE METHODISTS.
529
the effect of their representations, that intelligence was now
brought that the whole of the inhabitants had cast away their
idols. One of their visitors they had detained to afford them
further instruction.¹
In July 1834, a powerful religious movement began in Vavau,
which quickly extended to the whole of the Habai Islands, and
afterwards, though in a less degree, to the Tonga group. Thou-
sands of the natives had before been turned from idolatry to
the outward profession of Christianity, and been brought under
regular religious instruction, yet the number who gave evidence
of being seriously impressed with divine truth was not con-
siderable. There was even much indifference amongst them;
but now, in their meetings for divine worship, the greatest ex-
citement prevailed. Hundreds of men, women, and children,
including some of the principal chiefs, might be seen in deep
distress, weeping aloud and crying to God for mercy. Often as
soon as the service commenced, the cries of the people began.
Many trembled from head to foot, as if they were about to be
judged at the bar of God. For a time, the people laid aside
their ordinary employments, and gave themselves up entirely
to religious exercises. The missionaries went about among
them in their meetings, pointing them to "the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world," and praying with
them. Many, it is stated, were soon enabled to lay hold by
faith on Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and found "redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of their sins." After a
time, the distress of the people generally subsided, most of them
having obtained peace and joy in believing. The work was not
confined merely to the principal islands: it spread like fire
among stubble through the whole of them. In a short time,
every island had caught the flame: every where, it is said, the
people were earnestly seeking the Lord, or rejoicing because
they had found him.²
This religious movement, it is stated, was followed by a re-
markable reformation of manners. Among other sins, poly-
gamy was now abandoned; marriage became prevalent; they
became more decent and modest in their dress, many of them
VOL. I.
1
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1834, p. 35, 39; Ibid. 1835, p. 33.
2 Miss. Not. vol. viii. p. 148.
Ll
530
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
dressing in the English style. They set a high value on the
means of grace. It was not every trifle which kept them from
the house of God; and when present, their eyes were riveted
on the speaker, and frequently the abundance of their tears.
bespoke the joy of their hearts. The Sabbath they kept with
remarkable strictness: not only was all work laid aside, but
the whole day was employed in the public and private exer-
cises of religion. Nor were they less punctual in their devo-
tional exercises on other days. At the first dawn of morning,
they presented unto God the sacrifice of prayer and praise, and
at night their last employment, before retiring to rest, was to
sing the wonders of redeeming love, and to commit themselves
to the protection and care of their heavenly Father. In their
prayers, there was an affecting emotion and simplicity. Though
formerly "hateful and hating one another," they now loved
each other "with a pure heart fervently." The missionaries
had great pleasure in labouring among a people so affectionate
in their dispositions, so attentive to their instructions, and so
tractable in their manners.¹
'Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1836, p. 24.
In judging of what are commonly called revivals of religion, we apprehend that
great caution is necessary, more than is commonly shewn both by those who report or
receive them, and by those who doubt or reject them. We are not prepared to pro-
nounce an opinion in regard to the religious movement in the Friendly Islands, of which
the above is an account; but yet we cannot help feeling great jealousy of it. Even
supposing it to be, to some extent, a work of divine grace, we fear that the missionaries
greatly over-estimated their success, and that they spoke much too confidently both
as to the numbers converted, and as to the nature and truth of their religious experi-
The work appears to have essentially resembled those movements which have
not unfrequently taken place among the Methodists both in Englaud and America,
and which they are accustomed to speak of as the work of God, though much of it is
probably nothing more than the excitement of the imagination and of the passions
acting on numbers by means of sympathy, without being followed by any change of
heart and life. To assist the reader in judging of the character of the work, we shall
here give a few extracts from the letters of the missionaries :-
ence.
"On Tuesday July 27th," says Mr Turner of Vavau, "we believe that not fewer
than one thousand souls were converted; not now from dumb idols only, but from sin
to righteousness, and from the power of Satan unto God.” "For a week or two we
were not able to hold the schools, but had prayer-meetings six times a day. We could
not speak five minutes before all were in tears, and numbers prostrated before the
Lord, absorbed in deep concern about salvation. Frequently their first words were,
'Praise the Lord! I never knew Jesus until now! Now I do know him. He has
taken away all my sins! I love Jesu Kalaise !' Some were so filled with joy through
believing, that they could not contain themselves, but cried out for 'hearts to praise
the Lord.' This has not been like the dew descending upon the tender herb, but as
BY THE METHODISTS.
531
Not the least remarkable of the converts was Taufaahau, the
king both of the Habai and Vavau Islands, and who at his
baptism was called George, while his queen was named Char-
lotte. They both adorned their Christian profession, and were
truly zealous, devoted persons. They both met classes and
superintended schools. The king was a very excellent local
preacher, and never sought to be preferred before others, but
went wherever he was sent, fulfilling his appointments with the
greatest cheerfulness. Mr Tucker having one day in the course
of conversation stated his views to him on the subject of slavery,
and mentioned the emancipation of the negroes in the West.
Indies, he said several of his servants were slaves, having been
given to him by his father and other chiefs, but that he would
liberate them that very day. In the evening, he accordingly
called them all together and set them at liberty. The scene
was very affecting. He told them of the many evils which were
practised among them during the reign of heathenism, and spoke
of the love and mercy of God in sending the gospel to them with
all its attendant blessings. He told them how much he loved
them, and then said, "You are no longer slaves: you are your
own masters, and may go and reside wherever you please."
the spring-tide, or as the overflowing of some mighty river; all the mounds of sin have
been swept away; the people have been willing in the day of his power. I may say the
Lord has bowed the whole island to his sway. We have to hold two prayer-meetings
daily, and many are brought into the enjoyment of pardon and holiness. We have
ascertained that the total number in Society is 3066; and the number converted, for
the most part within the past six weeks, is 2262.”
"In the morning," says Mr Tucker of the Habai Islands, "we repaired to the house
of prayer as soon as it was light. The Lord made the place of his feet glorious; the
stout-hearted began to tremble; there was a mighty shaking among the dry bones: as
soon as the service began, the cries of the people began. O what a solemn but joyful
sight to behold! One thousand or more individuals bowed before the Lord, weeping
at the feet of Jesus, and praying in an agony of soul! I never saw such distress,
never heard such cries for mercy, or such confession of sin before. These things were
universal, from the greatest chiefs in the land to the meanest individuals, and of both
sexes, old and young. The Lord heard the sighing of the prisoners, he bound up many
a broken-hearted sinner in that meeting, and proclaimed liberty to many a captive.”
"We were engaged nearly the whole day in this blessed work. I attended four ser-
vices, and witnessed hundreds of precious souls made happy by a sense of the Saviour's
love on that day and the preceding evening.' "We have not yet received an ac-
count from all the islands of the number who have obtained peace with God during this
revival, but from the number already brought in by the leaders, we believe that up-
wards of two thousand were truly converted to God in the course of a fortnight."-
Miss. Notices, vol. viii. p. 149.
"
532
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
They all burst into tears and wept aloud; the king himself and
his queen could not refrain from tears. Two of them begged
to be allowed to live and die with him; but he would not con-
sent to their remaining as slaves. "If you wish," said he, "to
reside a little longer with us, well; if you desire to go and
dwell in any other island, just please yourselves."
""1
The missionaries were indebted to the king for the erection
of a very large chapel in Habai. It was 110 feet by 45 inside,
and was expected to be capable of holding all the inhabitants
of the island. It was probably the largest and most elegant
building ever erected in the Friendly Islands, and was a fine
monument of the zeal and good taste of the king. It was built
in little more than two months, and for several weeks there were
about a thousand people engaged in the work. Most of the chiefs
and matabules were employed in plaiting kafa or cinet, while
the common people did the heavier work. The pillars and
other timber used in the framework were brought from other
islands. The labour was regularly divided between the inha-
bitants of the whole group, and each party tried to excel the
others in their workmanship. As they had no nails, the tim-
bers were fastened with kafa made of the fibres of the cocoa-nut
husk, and dyed black, red, and other colours. These colours
they interweave with almost mathematical accuracy, which
makes their work appear to great advantage. The king gave
several beautifully carved spears which were left to him by his
predecessors, and had often been used in war, to be converted
into rails for the communion table, and two beautifully carved
clubs which were formerly worshipped as gods, and were now
fixed at the bottom of the pulpit stairs. At the opening of the
chapel, the natives assembled in great numbers from all the
islands, on many of which the sick and aged only were left.
On this occasion, the king delivered a very appropriate sermon
from Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple.²
In February 1835, Mr Peter Turner, accompanied by some
of the natives, sailed from Vavau in a small vessel of seven-
teen tons for Niua-Tabu-tabu or Keppel's Island, about 170
miles distant. As his proceedings, and others to which they
gave rise, furnish an illustration of the hasty and imperfect
Miss. Not. vol. viii. p. 315, 317, 320.
Ibid. vol. viii. p. 318.
1
•
BY THE METHODISTS.
533
manner in which the Methodists, at least in some instances,
christianize savage tribes, we shall give a few brief details in
regard to them. Previous to this, some native teachers had
come to the island and had endeavoured to instruct the inhabi-
tants in such things as they themselves knew. After the
arrival of Mr Turner, a work similar to that which had lately
occurred in the Habai and Vavau Islands commenced. The
people were very attentive, and seemed to drink in the word as
the thirsty ground drinketh in the rain. Many were brought
under great distress on account of their sins, and, after a short
time, professed that they had obtained mercy. Mr Turner re-
mained on the island between three and four months, baptized
514 adults and 200 children, united the former into a Methodist
Society, and married 240 persons, while in the schools there
were 557 scholars, male and female, old and young.
He now
left them under the care of the native teachers. Mr Thomas,
on a subsequent visit to the islands of Niua-Tabu-tabu and Niua-
fo-ou, baptized 778 adults and 403 children, forming probably,
with those previously baptized, the greater part of the popula-
tion.'
Among the converts on the island of Niua-Tabu-tabu was
Gogo the king, who as one proof of his sincerity put away his
wives, with the exception of one to whom he was married by
the missionary. He soon began to preach to his people, and ex-
pressed much zeal for the spread of the gospel. He even pro-
ceeded with a number of his people to Uvea or Wallis' Island,
for the purpose of persuading the king, who was related to him,
to receive the new religion. The latter, however, was not dis-
posed to do so, and in a few weeks some of the chiefs were
offended and commenced hostilities, which ended in the destruc-
tion of Gogo and forty-five of his men, besides thirteen of the
people of the island. It was apprehended that the party from
Niua did not act a very prudent part.2
In 1836, auxiliary missionary societies were formed in the
islands of Habai and Vavau. At the meetings held for esta-
blishing them, there were vast numbers of the natives present;
they flocked to them from all quarters. The speeches of the
¹ Miss. Not. vol. viii. p. 314, 327, 426; Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1838, p. 42; Ibid.
1840, p. 45.
2 Miss. Not. vol. viii. p. 455.
534
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
natives on these occasions were exceedingly interesting: the
contrasts which they drew between their past and present con-
dition, were at once appropriate and affecting. The subscribers
were very numerous, and included persons of all ages, and of all
ranks, from the king down to the poorest of the people. Money
not being current in the islands, their contributions consisted
chiefly of articles of native produce and native manufactures.
The most valuable were fine mats, which many of the chiefs pre-
sented. A few gave pigs, many native cloth, some native fish-
hooks; others oil, yams, arrowroot, tortoise-shell, baskets, orna-
ments, &c. When the whole were collected together, whatever
could be converted into money was sold, while the articles of
food and clothing which were not saleable, were applied for the
support of the missionaries and their families, thereby lessen-
ing the expenses of the mission. Tauhaafau, the king, appears
to have been particularly zealous in carrying on these auxiliary
societies, and on one occasion he and his queen gave a donation
of ten sovereigns, probably all they had in the world.²
In March 1839, Taufaahau promulgated, in a large assembly
of the chiefs and people, a code of laws which had been drawn
up for their government, and appointed judges to hear and
decide all cases of complaint which might arise among them.
No one, whether chief or private person, was now to take the
law into his own hand, but must bring every matter of import-
ance before the judges. The code, as may naturally be sup-
posed, bears the stamp of English origin, or, at least, of the
missionaries having had a hand in the formation of it. Though
some of the laws relate to religion, a subject on which, we ap-
prehend, civil governors ought never to legislate, and though
the punishments are perhaps, in some instances, characterized
by over severity, an error which commonly attaches to early
efforts at legislation, especially for a savage or barbarous people;
yet the simple attempt to establish a code of written laws for
any country, and the appointment of judges to execute them,
is itself an important step in civilization, and lays a foundation
¹ These are made of bone and tortoise-shell, and answer as the bait as well as the
hook, as when drawn through the water they resemble the motion of flying fish.
"Miss. Not. vol. ix. p. 12; vol. i. (N. S.) p. 352; Rop. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1837,
p. 24.
BY THE METHODISTS.
535
for the security both of life and property, and for the future
improvement and happiness of the people.'
In the Habai and Vavau Islands, there now remained little
room for the extension of missionary operations. Idolatry had
ceased to exist, and almost the whole population had assumed
the profession of Christianity, yet much was still required to
be done for them. Fully to instruct a people just emerging
from heathenism and barbarism in the various doctrines and
duties of religion, to give a right direction to their new-born
energies, and so to train and form them as that they shall grow
up a truly Christian and civilized population, is a task, the
importance and difficulty of which it is not easy to estimate.
Mr Tucker remarks, "The people in their comparatively infan-
tine state seek counsel of the missionary on all subjects of
importance, whether temporal or spiritual. Their wants are
numerous; their desire after knowledge is intense; but yet
there is still much ignorance among them; much that requires
patience and perseverance on the one hand, and decision and
strict attention on the other." The imperfection of the work
will appear the less surprising, when it is considered that on
most of the islands the people were of necessity left chiefly to
the care of the native local preachers and teachers, and that
they could be visited only occasionally by a missionary.
In Tongatabu, Christianity had made much less progress
than in the Habai and Vavau Islands. There heathenism had
all along maintained itself in great vigour, particularly in the
district of Hihifo, where the missionaries originally settled, but
which after two or three years they left in consequence of the
opposition they met with. Tonga was, in fact, the centre of
the superstitions of the Friendly Islands. Its very name Tonga-
tabu, or Tonga the holy or consecrated, would seem to mark it
out as a stronghold of the ancient religion. Though many of
the natives, particularly at Nukualofa, embraced Christianity,
yet there were thousands throughout the island who clung to
idolatry, and from time to time they manifested determined
hostility to converts. On one occasion, being assembled at
one of their yearly idolatrous feasts, they were roused by hear-
Miss. Not. vol. i. (N. S.) p. 281, 350.
Rep. Moth. Miss. Soc. 1837, p. 23; Miss. Not. vol. i. (N. S.) p. 490.
536
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
ing of the insults, as they deemed them, which were offered
to their gods by the praying people; and proceeded to burn
their chapels in several places, to plunder their houses, and
to carry away their little property. No lives, however, were
taken. The converts, particularly those in Hihifo, were on other
occasions driven from their houses, and obliged to take refuge
at Nukualofa, or other parts of the island. Parents, in many
instances, rose up against their children, and children against
their parents. Such, indeed, was the violence of the heathen
party, that it was at one time deemed desirable for the mission-
aries to remove their families for a time to Vavau; they were
in constant dread of war, and appeared to be every hour in jeo-
pardy. War did at length break out; but it was of short dura-
tion, being speedily terminated in favour of the Christian party;
and among other terms of peace, it was agreed that no one
should be molested on account of his religion, a condition, how-
ever, which it is obvious would be no longer kept than was
judged expedient. Meanwhile the heathen party did not dare
to persecute the Christians, and, on the other hand, the Chris-
tians did not think it prudent to remove out of their fortresses,
lest their enemies, seizing the opportunity, should attack and
murder them.¹
In June 1840, the mission in Tongatabu was broken up
under circumstances of a peculiarly painful and disastrous na-
ture. About the beginning of that year, the heathen belonging
to the Ata at Hihifo murdered four of the Christians who re-
sided in a fortress about a mile distant while they were at work,
and they left another, a little girl, for dead, who afterwards,
however, recovered. This atrocious deed they committed while
Tubou the king was there trying to persuade the Ata to em-
brace Christianity, and endeavouring to create a kindlier feeling
between the Christian and the heathen parties in that quarter;
but on the perpetration of this treacherous act, his brother,
apprehensive for his safety, went down with a large party, and
brought him away. The Ata and his people now flew to arms,
and would not be persuaded by the entreaties of the old king
to desist. Tubou sent for Tauhaafou, the king of the Habai
1
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1834, p. 36; Ibid. 1837, p. 22; Ibid. 1838, p. 39; Miss.
Not. vol. vii. p. 237 ; vol. viii. p. 18, 152; vol. ix. p. 131.
BY THE METHODISTS.
537
and Vavau Islands, to come and assist him in making peace be-
tween the Christians and heathens of Hihifo; and on his arrival
the two kings sent repeated messages to the Ata, entreating
him to make up the breach between the two parties, and not to
involve the island in war. The Ata evaded giving them a direct
answer; but at length he sent messengers to them, wishing ap-
parently to make peace, and accordingly Tauhaafau set off with
about five or six hundred men; but it was discovered that
a plan was laid for murdering him on his arrival. On making
this discovery, he returned with most of his people, determined
to subdue the other party by force of arms, if they would not
submit to the terms which he offered them. He resolved, how-
ever, not to take their fortress by storm, on account of the loss
of life which this might occasion, but to reduce it by famine.
He accordingly surrounded the place for near a fortnight, guard-
ing every avenue; and every second or third day, he sent
messengers to the besieged begging them to surrender and lay
down their arms. He at length obtained possession of the for-
tress and secured its defenders, amounting in all to about 500
persons. He had previously charged his people, if possible,
not to shed blood in taking the place, and now he pardoned the
whole of them, only removing some of the ringleaders to Habai
and Vavau. He also resolved to take up his residence in Ton-
gatabu, and to bring over some hundreds of his people from
Habai and Vavau to reside with him. This was in accordance
with the wish of Tubou and all the other Christian chiefs.'
The heathen party, however, were not to be thus subdued.
In various places they attacked the Christians; and in this
way, skirmishes were every now and then taking place between
them. The United States ship Vincennes having touched at
the island, the commodore, at the request of the missionaries,
made an attempt to negotiate peace between the Christian and
the heathen chiefs; but the latter evaded all negotiation, and
did not so much as come to the place appointed for meeting.
The whole island was at length involved in the horrors of civil
Her Majesty's ship Favourite, commanded by Captain
Croker, having now touched at the island, the missionaries re-
presented to him the danger they were in, and solicited his pro-
1 Miss. Not. vol. i. (N. S.) p. 420.
war.
538
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
tection. They were anxious for conciliation, and in no way
indicated the measures which he pursued. He expressed him-
self willing to do any thing he could to put an end to the war,
and he without delay directed a number of volunteers from his
ship to proceed with him on shore, carrying with them three
carronades, besides their small arms, ammunition, &c. There
were a number of fortresses on the island, some in possession of
the Christian and some of the heathen party. That in which
the heathen forces were chiefly collected was about four miles
distant, and was called Bea. It is described as a well con-
structed fortification and almost impregnable, the walls formed
by the buts of cocoa-nut-trees placed perpendicularly to the
height of twenty feet, and being at the same time several feet
in thickness. Above this was a kind of net-work of cane or
bamboo to increase the difficulty of scaling them. Round the
outside of this barricade, there was a deep trench about forty
feet wide with water in it; and at certain distances there were
loop-holes to afford the besieged facilities for firing at their
assailants. The only entrance was barricaded by cocoa-trees
placed horizontally, with a carronade within pointing through
an aperture made for the purpose. The whole had the appear-
ance of having been constructed and superintended by persons
well skilled in the science of fortification, a supposition con-
firmed by the fact that there were at least two Europeans who
took an active part in the present conflict, one of whom was
said to have been an armourer. He had been many years on
the island, and was known by the significant appellation of
Jemmy the devil.¹
By the orders of Captain Croker the carronades were brought
within about a hundred yards of the fortification, quite within
the range of the enemy's musketry. A native female bearing
a flag of truce was then sent to the fortress, conveying the cap-
tain's wish that they would surrender and come to amicable
terms with the Christian natives. In a short time she returned
bearing the intelligence that they were desirous of peace. A
flag of truce was at the same time exhibited from the fortress,
and the European Jemmy presented himself on the barricade.
The captain called to him, expressing his gratification at their
1 Miss. Not. vol. i. (N. S.) p. 422, 425.
BY THE METHODISTS.
539
willingness to come to terms, and informing him that the only
condition on which peace could be obtained would be the ob-
servation of certain propositions, the principal of which were,
that all the fortifications on the island, those belonging to the
Christians as well as those of the heathen, should be levelled to
the ground, and that both parties should resume their ordinary
employments and friendly intercourse. The European then ap-
peared to communicate with the natives; the result of which
was that Captain Croker was invited to a conference with the
chiefs, and he accordingly proceeded within the fortress, accom-
panied by his second lieutenant and two or three others, bearing a
flag of truce and also the British flag. When they were admitted,
the entry was again strongly barricaded, and every thing around
them presented the most warlike appearance. There was a
vast concourse of natives with fire-arms, clubs, &c. who assumed
most menacing attitudes, so much so that the party were at
first exceedingly apprehensive for their own safety. They were,
however, treated with courtesy, and after a parley of three
quarters of an hour, the natives required half an hour to consult
with some chiefs who were at some distance, which was granted
by the captain, who with his companions were then allowed to
retire from the stockade. A little before the half hour was ex-
pired, the natives sent to say that they were willing to come to
terms, but they could not hold intercourse with their enemies.
To this it was replied, that the terms proposed must be ob-
served, and when the time had expired the command was given
to make the attack, the captain leading the way to the entrance
of the fortification.
The serjeant of marines was now ordered by the captain to
scale the barricade and to fire, which was no sooner executed
than it was returned by the firing of the cannon at the entrance,
and a volley of musketry from various parts of the fortress, by
which the captain and several of his men were wounded. He
then exerted himself to the utmost to enter the stockade, but
being exhausted, he retired to a tree at a short distance, by
which he supported himself until he was shot through the heart
and dropped lifeless to the ground. All this time the officers,
seamen, and marines were within a few yards of the fortress,
exposed to a hot fire from the natives, who were themselves
540
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
The
perfectly screened from the attack of their opponents.
consequence was, that not only the captain but two officers were
killed, and the first lieutenant and nineteen men dangerously
wounded. With the utmost difficulty they succeeded in carrying
off their dead and wounded, and embarked on board their ves-
sel, taking with them the missionaries Tucker and Rabone and
their families, whom they conveyed to Vavau. The rash act of
Captain Croker in attempting to take the fort, which was so
strongly fortified, is altogether unaccountable. European offi-
cers are but too apt to despise the warlike resources of savages,
but they sometimes, as in this instance, pay dearly for their
temerity. Peace was afterwards restored between the contend-
ing parties, and the missionaries again resumed their labours."
Of late years the profession of Christianity has greatly ex-
tended in the Friendly Islands. In 1850, the Rev. Walter
Lawry, the general superintendent of the missions in Australasia
and Polynesia, thus wrote, "All the Friendly Islands are now
Christian and in communion with us, except a few heathens at
Mua and Bea. Homa also is for the most part heathen still,
and a few neighbouring places, but their strength is departed
from them they are not at all respected, and are neither loved
nor feared by any."
5) 2
In 1853, the following was the number of church members
connected with the Methodist mission in the Friendly Islands:
Tongatabu,
2204
Habai,
1945
Vavau,
2009
Niua-Tabu-tabu, or Keppel's Island,
393
Niua-fo-ou,
610
Total,
71613
1 Miss. Not. vol. i. (N.S.) p. 425; vol. ii. p. 469; Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1843, p. 58.
2 Miss. Not. 1851, p. 136.
Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 110.
BY THE METHODISTS.
541
ART. 2.-FIJI ISLANDS.'
IN October 1835, the Rev. W. Cross and D. Cargill proceeded
from Vavau, one of the Friendly Islands, to Lakemba, one of
the Fiji Islands. It was but a small island, being only about
twenty-two miles in circumference, and did not contain above a
thousand inhabitants. With the view of ascertaining the dis-
position of the chiefs and people, it was agreed that the two
missionaries should go ashore in the boat. As they approached
the beach, many of the natives were running hither and thither
on the sand; and as they drew near to the landing-place, nearly
200 men were standing at the distance of about a hundred feet
from it, some armed with muskets, others with bayonets fastened
to long sticks, some with clubs and spears, others with bows and
arrows, their faces painted, some jet black, others red, some after
one fashion, others after another. This was rather a formidable
array. However, being told that the chief wished to know who
they were, and what they wanted, the missionaries went on to
his house, a large building within a fortress, nearly a mile from
the shore. Having had their object explained to him, he ap-
peared friendly, gave them a piece of land on which to live, and
built a temporary dwelling for each of their families.
The missionaries soon began to preach to the natives, and in
a few months they baptized a number of them, some of whom
had previously obtained a knowledge of divine truth in the
Friendly Islands. The gospel silently made its way among the
people; and every week one or more turned their backs on
idolatry. A desire to embrace the new religion prevailed among
many of the inhabitants of Lakemba; but they were afraid
openly to declare themselves, as the chief, notwithstanding his
first professions, threatened and persecuted those who embraced
it. He was himself only a tributary chief, and appeared un-
willing to take any step in favour of Christianity until he knew
the mind of the more powerful chiefs of Fiji. "When Tanao,"
said he, referring to one of their most renowned chiefs, "leads
'The number of inhabited islands in the Fiji group is said to be nearly 200. Tho
circumference of the largest island is about 300 miles, whilst the smallest vary from 4
to 30.—Papers relative to the Wesleyan Missions, March 1942, p. 2.
542
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
the way, I and all my people will embrace the new religion."
Indeed, it was remarked by the missionaries, that until some
powerful chief should set the example, not many of the Fijians
would receive the gospel; a remark which will explain, in
many cases, the numerous conversions which have taken place
in some of the South Sea Islands.
1
In the course of a few years, the missionaries, with the aid of
native teachers and preachers, some of whom came from the
Vavau Islands, introduced the gospel into various other islands
of the Fiji group besides Lakemba, as Rewa, Vewa, Bua,
Nandy, and some others of less importance. Though, in some
instances, they had many difficulties to contend with, yet, gene-
rally speaking, they met with a favourable reception from the
chiefs and others of the natives; but it must not be supposed
that this arose from their having any right understanding of
the nature of the gospel, or any love to it. Some were glad to
have missionaries residing with them, because they thought it
added to their respectability and importance, or that they would
obtain axes and other useful articles from them, or reap other
advantages by them. On one occasion, a chief made Mr Car-
gill sit more than two hours with him, while he asked questions.
about the gospel; and when the missionary inquired if he be-
lieved what he told him was true, he replied, "True! every
thing is true that comes from the White man's country: mus-
kets, and guns, and powder, are true, and your religion must be
true." Such was the way in which he reasoned about the reli-
gion of White men. The chief of another island recommended
his brother to receive the gospel in order that his life might be
prolonged by the power and love of the true God, and by the
temporal and spiritual medicine administered by his servants.
In fact, the great reason why some were disposed to receive the
new religion was that they might enjoy bodily health."
In 1845 and the following year, there was a religious move-
ment in the island of Vewa, which extended also to others of
the islands, similar to that in the Friendly Islands which we
¹ Miss. Not. vol. ix. p. 35, 163, 168; Memoirs of Mrs Margaret Cargill, p. 96,
101, 103, 111, 152, 155, 159.
2 Miss. Not. vol. ix. p. 170; vol. i. (N.S.) p. 151, 154, 353; Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc.
1839, p. 44; Ibid. 1841, p. 57, 61; Mrs Cargill's Memoirs, p. 149.
BY THE METHODISTS.
543
have already described. "Business, sleep, and food," says Mr
Hunt, "were almost entirely laid aside. We were at length
obliged almost to force some of the new converts to take some-
thing for the sustenance of the body. Some of the cases were
the most remarkable I have ever seen, heard, or read of; yet
only such as one might expect the conversion of such dreadful
murderers and cannibals would be. If such men manifest no-
thing more than ordinary feelings when they repent, one would
suspect that they are not yet fully convinced of sin. Certainly
the feelings of the Vewa people were not ordinary. They lite-
rally roared for hours, through the disquietude of their souls.
This frequently terminated in fainting from exhaustion, which
was the only respite some of them had till they found peace.
They no sooner recovered their consciousness than they prayed
themselves first into an agony, and then again into a state of
entire insensibility. The result has been most happy. The
preaching of the word has been attended with more power than
before the revival. Many who were careless and useless have
become sincere and devoted to God. The experience of most
has been much improved, and many have become, by adoption
and regeneration, the sons of God." "The people, old and
young, chiefs and common people," says Mr Watsford,
heartbroken before the Lord. The cries for mercy drowned every
other sound: the struggling and roaring for deliverance by the
penitents was of no ordinary character: It was agony inde-
scribable, and bitterness of heart. They felt themselves great
sinners, and their repentance was deep and genuine."
"The
joy of those who were pardoned was as great as their distress
had been. One man was so happy that he went away shouting,
My heart is on fire, and my soul is burning.""
"At some of
C
CC
were
our meetings, the feeling was overpowering, and the people fell
before the Lord, and we were unable to stand because of the
glory." We quote these statements of the missionaries, partly
as giving some idea of the nature of the movement; partly as
furnishing some illustration of the views of the Methodists; and
partly as exhibiting some remarkable psychological facts, for
whatever estimate any one may form of this as a religious re-
vival, every intelligent person must consider it as a singular
Miss. Not. vol. v. (N.S.) p. 64, 66, 68, 159.
544
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
circumstance that savages, some of them probably murderers,
and most of them ferocious cannibals, should be affected, sub-
dued, melted in the way and manner here described.
In 1853, the following was the number of church members
connected with the Methodist mission in the Fiji Islands :-
Lakemba,
Vewa,
Bua,
Nandy,
Rotumah,
1770
250
290
216
2526¹
SECT. V.-GENERAL STATEMENTS.
We shall not proceed further with the history of the Metho-
dist missions in detail, as in most of the others which they
established there occurs nothing peculiarly interesting or cha-
racteristic: we should only have to relate circumstances similar
to those we have already stated, or which we shall afterwards.
have occasion to relate in recording the operations of other
denominations of Christians who occupied the same fields of
labour. But though, from the accounts we have given, some
idea may be formed of the nature of the Methodist missions,
little idea can be formed of their extent. For near thirty
years, their labours were directed chiefly to the negroes in the
West Indies; but after the establishment of the mission in
Ceylon, a new and mighty impulse was given to their exer-
tions; and with all that zeal, and energy, and activity, which
are so eminently characteristic of them as a body, they not only
augmented the number of labourers in the fields which they
previously occupied, but sent forth missionaries to most of the
other quarters of the globe.
In NORTH AMERICA, they sent missionaries to the Indians in
Upper Canada, and in the Hudson's Bay Company's territory ;
In WESTERN AFRICA, to St Mary's and Macarthy's Island in
¹ Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1853, p. 102.
BY THE METHODISTS.
545
the River Gambia, to Sierra Leone, to the Gold Coast, to
Badagry, and to the Ashanti country:1
In the EAST INDIES, to Madras, to Bangalore, to Negapatnam,
to Manaargoody, to Goobee, to Mysore, and to Coonghul:
In AUSTRALASIA, to the aboriginal inhabitants of New South
Wales:
In POLYNESIA, to New Zealand.
In 1853, the full and accredited church members in connec-
tion with the Methodist missions in different parts of the heathen
world, amounted to about 76,532.2
In comparing the numbers in the Methodist Societies in suc-
cessive years, nothing is more striking than the frequent and
sudden variations which take place in the amount of their mem-
bers. In the West India Islands, it was not uncommon for
them in the days of slavery to rise or fall, by several hundreds
in a year. In 1813,
In 1813, the Society in St Christopher's consisted
of 2162 members; in 1814, it had increased to 3024. In 1816,
it still amounted to about 3000; but in 1818, it had decreased
to 2209. The stability of the Methodist Societies is often even
much greater than appears, from merely comparing the amount
of their members in successive years, as the numbers who leave
them, or who are excluded, are in many instances made up by
those who join them, so that though the fluctuation has been
considerable, there may be no great variation in the amount of
the whole. In 1812, for instance, the members of the Metho-
As in other missions on the Western coast of Africa, there was great mortality
among the missionaries at all the stations of the Methodists in that quarter of the
world. From 1811, when the mission to Sierra Leone was begun, to 1850, there were
sent from England, as nearly as could be ascertained, about 123 missionaries, includ-
ing their wives; and of these there were no fewer than 54 who died, while many others
returned home on account of the failure of their health. Nor was this merely after a
lengthened course of labour. In consequence of the unhealthiness of the climate,
the committee, after a short trial of seven years, restricted the period of service first
to three years, and then to tiro; and it was only in a few instances that this period was
exceeded. Many died within the first year; some in a few months, a few weeks, or
even a few days, after their landing. Instances were not wanting of husbands and
wives lying ill in different rooms of the same house at the same time, and dying within
a short time of each other. The frequent sicknesses and deaths of so many of the
missionaries, and the early return of others to England, could not fail to affect materi-
ally the progress of the missions. Stations were sometimes left with only one mis-
sionary, or without any missionary at all.-For's History of the Wesleyan Missions on
the Western Coast of Africa, p. 224, 276, 330, 411, 417, 436, 617, et passim.
* Rep. Meth. Miss. Soc. 1852, p. 124; Ibid. 1853, p. 114.
VOL. I.
M m
546
PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY
dist Society in Antigua amounted to 2288, and in 1813 to
2402. Here there is no symptom of unsteadiness; yet there
had been excluded in the course of the year no fewer than 471,
or about one-fifth of the whole Society. The instability, how-
ever, of so many of the members, makes no appearance in the
annual return, as there was an addition of nearly six hundred
others, which not only made up the deficiency, but shewed, on
the whole, a moderate increase.'
Though we are far from agreeing with the Methodists on
some points of Christian doctrine, yet we apprehend, they are
by no means so unscriptural in their views as many pious people
suppose. With a mixture of what we consider to be error, they
unquestionably hold the grand fundamental principles of Chris-
tianity; those principles which in the hand of the Holy Spirit,
are the chief instrument of the conversion of sinners, and the
sanctification of Christians. To candid minds, the following
statement, by the Committee for the Management of the Metho-
dist Missions, will, we doubt not, prove on the whole very satis-
factory.
"The leading doctrines taught by all the missionaries are the
following:-The eternal existence of God, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit; the total ignorance, sinfulness, misery, and help-
lessness of man; the necessity of remission of sins, and of a
complete renewal of the heart in knowledge, righteousness, and
true holiness, after the image of him that created us; the infi-
nite mercy and grace of God, as the only source of man's re-
demption; and the atonement made by Jesus Christ for the
sius of the whole world. They constantly affirm, that the
mediatorial work of Christ is the sole meritorious cause of sal-
vation; that whatever subordinate means may be employed,
the Holy Spirit is the grand and proper agent of the work of
grace in the heart; that repentance towards God, and faith
towards our Lord Jesus Christ, are necessary to the sinner's
actual participation of pardon and eternal life; and that believes
must persevere in holiness to the end of their days, in order
that their labour may not be in vain in the Lord."
12
¹ Minutes of Conference, vol. iii. p. 387; Rep. Meth. Miss. 1816, p. 23; Rep. Meth.
Miss. Soc. 1818, p. 36; Meth. Mag. vol. xxxvi. p. 396.
2 Meth. Mag. vol. xxviii. p. 235.
BY THE METHODISTS.
547
We apprehend, indeed, that the Methodists have very inade-
quate ideas as to the nature and evidences of conversion; that
the religion of their converts is often very superficial, and is
not even founded in any proper knowledge of the principles of
the gospel; that they are rash and hasty in concluding persons.
to be converted; that they do not duly distinguish between the
natural workings of the human mind and the operations of the
Holy Spirit; that they place too much reliance on feelings,
emotions, and impressions; that they attach a groundless and
a dangerous importance to the confidence with which persons.
speak of the pardon of their sins, of their being in a justified
state, and of their acceptance with God, as if this were of the
essence of faith, or at least undoubted evidence of its reality,
appearing to consider it as "the Spirit witnessing with their
spirit that they are the children of God," a principle which
must prove, in the case of multitudes, a fruitful source of self-
delusion. There is much in their system which cherishes a
spirit of self-complacency and self-sufficiency. There is also
about them too much of the spirit of display; they do nothing
in a corner, if the exhibition of it may bring them any credit
with the world. Nor can we exempt them from the charge of
enthusiasm: this in truth is the natural result of some of the
points in their character which we have before stated.
We cannot but deeply regret, that a body of Christians so
distinguished for zeal, and energy, and activity, should be
chargeable with faults which must, in so considerable a degree,
diminish the utility of their labours; that where there is so much
gold, there should also be so much alloy. We have no doubt
that the Methodists have been the instruments of extensive
good in the heathen as well as in the Christian world; but
their characteristics as a body render it extremely difficult to
form a correct estimate of the extent of their usefulness, and
makes us receive with much hesitation, and with large abate-
ment, their accounts of the spiritual good of which they have
been the instruments.
END OF VOL. I.


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