APPENDIX.

(A) p. 29. Notice respecting the Rev. Roger Williams.

IN 1643, Mr Williams published a small work, entitled, "Key into the Language of America," in which he gives the following account of his labours among the Indians: "Out of a desire to attain their language, I have run through varieties of intercourses with them, day and night, summer and winter, by land and sea. Many solemn discourses I have had with all sorts of nations of them, from one end of this country to another.I know there is no small preparation in the hearts of many of them. I know their many solemn confessions to myself, and one to another, of their lost wandering conditions. I know strong convictions upon the consciences of many of them, and their desires uttered that way. Two days before the death of Wequash, the Pequut Indian, as I passed up to Quunihticut (Connecti

cut) river, it pleased my worthy friend, Mr Fenwick, whom I visited at his house at Say-brook fort, at the mouth of that river, to tell me that my old friend Wequash lay very sick. I desired to see him, and himself was pleased to be my guide two miles, where Wequash lay. Amongst other discourse, concerning his sickness and death, in which he freely bequeathed his son to Mr Fenwick, I closed with him concerning his soul. He told me, that some two or three years before, he had lodged at my house, where I acquainted him with the condition of all mankind, and his own in particular; how God created man and all things; how man fell from God, and his present enmity against God, and the wrath of God against him, until repentance: said he,' your words were never out of my heart to this present;' and said he, Me much pray to Jesus Christ.' I told him so did many English, French, and Dutch, who had never turned to God, nor loved him. He replied in broken English, Me so big naughty heart; me heart all one stone !'-Savoury expressions, using to breathe from compunct and broken hearts, and a sense of inward hardness and unbrokenness. I had many discourses with him in his life, but this was the sum of our last parting, until our general meeting."

Had Mr Williams continued to persevere in instructing the Indians, there is reason to believe that he would have proved a successful teacher. Unhappily for himself, however, and the cause in which he engaged, he adopted some fanatical opinions, which led him to abandon his exertions. He conceived that the gift of speaking with tongues had only ceased through the weakness of the faith of professing Christians; and, in opposition to the testimony of his own senses, he imagined that he could not with any propriety preach the gospel to the Indians without immediate inspiration. Key into the Language of America, in Coll. of Mass. Hist. Soc. vol. iii. p. 206, 207. Coll. of Mass. Hist. Soc. vol. i. p. 210. Little Foxes, apud Mather, b. vii. p. 9.

·(B) p. 29. Account of the Missionary Labours of the Rev. Thomas Mayhew.

Mr THOMAS MAYHEW, sen. a merchant from Southampton, came to Massachusetts about the commencement of the colony. He followed his

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business for some time after his arrival in America; but, meeting with disappointments, he purchased a farm at Watertown, and applied himself to husbandry. In 1641, he obtained a grant, or patent, of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Elizabeth Isles; and, in the following year, he placed his son Thomas, with a few English people, in Martha's Vineyard, intending in a short time to follow them, with the view of becoming their governor.

Mr Thomas Mayhew, jun. being a young man of excellent talents, liberal education, and exalted piety, was soon invited by the settlers to become their minister. Having devoted himself to their service in the gospel, he conceived that his sphere of usefulness was too limited; and, in the exercise of compassion for the wretched Pagans with whom he was surrounded, he began to cultivate acquaintance with them, to endeavour to acquire their language, and to communicate instruction to them.

Having encouraged the frequent visits to his house, of a young man named Hiacoomes, he soon had the pleasure of seeing that his kind services were not altogether lost. This individual, indeed, gave evidence, in 1643, that divine truth was producing a salutary change on his mind. When he was very rudely and cruelly treated by

a haughty Sagamore, on account of his intimacy with the English, he behaved in a most Christian manner. "I had one hand for injuries," he remarked, when relating the circumstance, "and the other for God; while I received wrong with the one, the other laid the greater hold on God." He gave several similar proofs of wonderful composure when enduring the reproaches of his countrymen.

Mr Mayhew, observing these hopeful symptoms in Hiacoomes, employed him as an instrument to prepare his way to the rest of the natives, instructed him further in the Christian religion, and furnished him with answers to the objections which might be brought against its principles.

In 1644, Mr Mayhew began to labour more publicly among the Indians. He went from house to house, and discoursed with as many persons as were willing to hold intercourse with him. Nothing of particular interest, however, occurred to him in the prosecution of his labours, till two years after this period, when Hiacoomes made a deep impression on the minds of some of his countrymen. Having escaped a particular disorder, which spread over the whole island, this young professor was sent for by his chief, who appeared anxious to know the reason of his exemp