ed the approbation of the council. They desired Mr. Woodbridge to continue in the school; and expressed a wish that Mr. Sergeant would return.*

In May, Mr. S. made a short visit to the Indians; and in July left New Haven, intending to pass the remainder of his life at Housatonic. Soon after he returned, be baptized the cap.. tain and lieutenant, with their families; first unfolding to them. the nature of the rite, and discoursing upon all the important; points of belief and practice in the Christian religion. The lieutenant,' he says in his Journal, is a clear-headed smart man, and is one of the best speakers we hear; is free in conversation, and talks excellently well. He has entirely left off drinking to, excess, and declaims against it; shews great compassion towards the rest of the Indians, and seems heartily to lament their miserable condition."

Mr. Serjeant's auditory gradually increased; he was heard attentively by strangers, who happened to be present; and such favourable impression was made upon their minds, that some of them sent their children to the school; and a few families were induced to reside at Housatonic. In a few months after his settlement, he had baptized about 40 persons, adults and children; and there was the same number of scholars in the school. He was cheered with much greater success than he could anticipate in so short a time. He beheld the wolf dwelling peaceably with the lamb, and the lion eating straw like the ox. god

Sometime after this, Mr. S. says, 'Those who were baptized have behaved very well, though they have several times been tempted to exceed the rules of temperance by the offers of strong drink, which used to be their beloved destruction. They seem to be surprized with the change they find in themselves, expressing the difference between their former state and the present, by infancy and manhood, dreaming and being awake, darkness and light, and the like metaphors. I pray God that the Day-Star which seems to have arisen in their hearts, may shine more and more to the perfect day.'

It has already been mentioned that the Housatonic Indians lived on two tracts of land, several miles distant from each other. In order to remove the inconveniences occasioned by this circumstance, the General Court purchased of the Indians in 1756, all the land which they owned at Skatekook; and in return granted them a township 6 miles square, including Wnabktukook, or the Great Meadow. This township is now called Stockbridge.

Their

* After business was finished, a frolic followed of course dancing is a most laborious exercise. They dance round a hot fire till they are almost ready to faint, and are wet with sweat; they then run out, and, stripping themselves naked, expose their bodies to the cold air, roll in the snow till they are cold, and then return to their dancing again. They repeat this four or five times in a night, concluding with excessive drinking. When they are drunk, they often fall asleep in the open air, perhaps buried in snow.

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Mr. Sergeant and Mr. Woodbridge were each made proprietors of one 60th part; and 4 English families, carefully selected, were to be admitted for the purpose of assisting in civilizing the Indians, and that the solitary servants of the Lord might be furnished with some cheering society.)

Previously, however, to the conjunction of the two companies, they went into the woods, for a number of weeks, to make sugar from the maple; and Mr. S. unwilling they should remain so long without instruction, accompanied them. He prayed with the morning an! evening, in their own language, and preached on the Sabbath. In the day, he taught the children to read, and at night the adults collected, that they might learn to sing. While he was in the woods, the snow was about a foot and a half deep. A deer-skin, spread upon some spruce boughs, with two or three blankets, formed his bed; and water from the brook was his only drink.

We bere see the man of true benevolence. We behold an object which casts contempt on all earthly dignity, and eclipses the glory derived frem genius, learning, or conquest!

When the Indians were settled in one village at Stockbridge, in 1737, Mr. S. was enabled to instruct them in a more regular manner. He had become well acquainted with their language, and translated into it several prayers, and Dr. Watts's First Catechism. He conversed frequently with his own people, and with strangers who visited them, and endeavoured to impress their minds with the truth and excellence of the Christian religion. At the request of some Indians living at Kaunaunreek, about 18 miles to the N. W. he visited them, and preached in the Indian language. He thus opened a way for the establishment of a mission among them a few years afterwards, by the excellent Mr. Brainerd.

From this time to that of his death in 1749, Mr. S. continued his faithful labours at Housatonic; but his views were not confined to the small tribe with which he was connected. He was earnestly desirous that the blessings of the gospel might be extended to the larger tribes, who were still in darkness. To this end he was particularly careful to cultivate the friendship of strangers; he preached to a number of Indians on an island in Hudson's River, and even visited the Shawanoos, who lived 220 miles distant on the Susquehannah.

Although Mr. Sergeant could not complain of a total want of success at Stockbridge, yet his exertions were not prospered in the degree that he wished. The manner in which the ladians lived, presented an almost insuperable difficulty. Except when employed in hunting, the men were generally idle; and idleness led the way to drunkenness. Besides this, their language was so barbarous, that it was impossible by means of it to communicate fully the important truths of the gospel. In order to surmount these difficulties, Mr. S. was convinced that it was ab

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solutely necessary to civilize them, and to persuade them to exchange their own for the English language and habits. For this purpose, he wished several white families to be placed among them; and the more completely to accomplish this object, he formed the plan of a school for the education of Indian children. He proposed that a number of children and youth, from 10 to 20 years of age, should be placed under the care of two masters; one to have the oversight of them in the hours of labour, and the other in the hours of study; that their time should be so divided between study and labour, that none be lost in idleness; that 200 acres should be devoted to their use, which they should cultivate; that they should be accustomed to restraint and obedince; that gls as well as boys should be received into the school; and that they should be taught the duties of domestic life. This plau Mr. S., by great exertion, was enabled in part to carry into execution just before his death.

As to the success which attended his benevolent labours, it was such as must have administered to his heart the purest satisfaction. When he went to Housatonic in 1734, the whole number of Indians living there did not amount to 51; when he died in 1749, the number was increased to 218; of these 129 had been baptized, and 42 were communicants, 18 males and 24 females. About 70 others had been baptized who were not living. When it is recollected that Mr. S. was cautious as to the admission of members into his church, we may indulge the hope, that most whom he received were real Christians; if, however, he was the means of bringing but one heathen to the knowledge of the gospel, this event would fill Heaven with joy

At length the time arrived when he was to be summoned into the world of spirits. In his sickness he was frequently visited by the Indians; and he took every opportunity to enforce upon them the instructions which he had given them, charging them to live ́agreeably to the gospel, as they would meet him at last in peace. So great was their affection for him, that they assembled of their own accord, to supplicate their Father in Heaven for the continuance of his precious life.

When he was asked whether the grave excited any terror, he replied, Death is no surprize to me. My acquaintance with the blessed world, to which I hope I am now hastening, through the mercy of God in Christ, is not now to commence. I can trust Him in whom I have believed, and long ago placed my everlasting dependence upon.' On being reminded that his work was well done, I call myself,' he answered, a most unprofitable servant, and say, God be merciful to me a sinner.' In July, 1749, after commending his departing spirit to the blessed Redeemer, he died in peace, and entered into that rest which remaineth for the people of God.

Mr. Sergeant has left an example well worthy of imitation. He was frequent in secret prayer: morning and evening he worship

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ped God in his family, reading a portion of the Scriptures, and. making observations upon it. He preached four sermons every. Lord's Day, two to the English, and two to the Indians; and, in the summer, usually spent an hour with the latter after the common services, instructing and exhorting them in the most familiar manner. Besides this, during the week, he kept his eye upon them, and continually endeavoured to promote the objects of his mission. He was very careful in the improvement of his time. He translated into the Indian language many parts of the Old Testament, and the whole of the New, except the Revelation. This was a work which cost him much labour; and reading it to the Indians, as their language abounded in gutturals, was extremely fatiguing.

Mr. S. was just, kid, and benevolent; compassionate to the afflicted, liberal to the poor, friendly to his enemies, and anxious to save the sinner from death. He was careful not to speak evil of any one. No envious or unkiud word fell from his lips; and no resentment was excited by the injuries he received. His cheerfulness did not degenerate into merriment, nor his seriousness into melancholy; but he seemed always to have the quiet possession of himself.

The reader who, with a benevolent joy, has seen the gospel conveyed to the Indians at Housatonic, will naturally desire to know what has been the state of that tribe since the death of Mr. Sergeant. The Rev. Jonathan Edwards succeeded him as missionary at Stockbridge. A number of years after his death, the whole tribe emigrated to New Stockbridge, near Oneida, in the state of New York; where they now live, under the pastoral care of the Rev. John Sergeant, a worthy son of the excellent man whose life and labours have thus been given.

HINTS

ADDRESSED TO

THE CONDUCTORS OF THE EDINBURGH REVIEW.

Gentlemen,

Ne quid nimis.

In a late number of your learned and valuable work, I observed a Review of Ingram on Methodism. This arrested my attention more than any thing I have seen for a long time past. To the work itself, you do not pay any further attention thau by bestowing your faint praises upon it; but, notwithstanding, it serves an excellent purpose in your hands as a pivot, upon which you hang your observations against the Evangelical and Methodist Magazines, and against Methodism itself. This was very convenient for you indeed; and Mr. Ingram is indebted to

you for an accumulation of spleen not to be found in the work it. self. Your names and his will descend to posterity together as redoubted enemies to enthusiasm, fanaticism, and all the follies of experimental religion! while the poor Evangelical Magazine will be swallowed up in the gulph of time, and Methodism itself be extinct! Then shall rational religion fill the earth, and phi losophy preclude revelation !

To be serions, Gentlemen. The Evangelical Magazine has met with hard measure from you. If you had deigned to review it as a periodical work, calculated to promote, as you apprehend, fanaticism, it would have been fair to have quoted advertisements, letters, &c. from it; but, when reviewing another work, was it candid in you to deal so largely in making extracts, in order to hold it up to ridicule? By the bye, is it not critical injustice to pick out the faults of a work, and to pass over its excellencies? The Evangelical Magazine has supported its character for 15 years. Its general objects are, The Circulation of Religious Intelligence in a cheap form through the United Kingdom; Biographical Sketches of Eminent Men who adorned the gospel while they lived, and proclaimed its excellency in their death; and as à record of remarkable Providences and striking Anecdotes of good and bad men. Where is the harm of all this? Have we not Magazines, the tendency, of which is to enervate and pollute society? Have we not the Liyes of Admirals, Statesmen, and Poets? Have we not Naval Anecdotes, and Anecdotes of the Stage, and some of these not very honourable to human nature? and why, in the name of common sense, should not the religious world be entertained with religious intelligence and religious anecdotes? Hardy as you are, you do not attempt to question the authenticity of these stories, for they are perhaps better authenticated than many things you believe more than the gospel; but you recite them in your pages to expose them to contempt, and their authors to Fidicule! This is cutting the Gordian Knot with a vengeance! Your antipathy to religious advertisements seems to be peculiarly strong, as if religion ought never to blend itself with the. affairs of this world, nor insinuate its influence into its enjoyments! You announce religious publications in your quarterly list, you occasionally review them, and why may not a person put a religious advertisement on the cover of a Magazine appropriated to religion? One should think there is not much fanaticism in this! It might have escaped the notice of the mighty Censors of Books at Edinburgh; but the eagle will occasionally pounce a wren, when she cannot find larger prey!-A religioushoy! and for Margate too! a new thing under the sun, as the Reviewers apprehend! Well, be it so. You know, Gentlemen, in times of old, that a certain person would not sail with a man who denied or reviled the gods: he was afraid every mo, ment of siuking, because an Atheist was in tac vessel; and is

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