CHAPTER VII.

ENGLISH, GERMAN, AND AMERICAN MISSIONS.

NEW-ENGLAND MISSION, BY REV. JOHN ELIOT-MOHAWK MISSIONS-GERMAN MISSION AT ONONDAGA, 1750-ONEIDA MISSION, REV. SAMUEL KIRKLAND, 1766 REV. SAMSON OCCUм, 1786-BISHOP HOBART, MISSION AT ONEIDA, 1816-MISSIONARY OPERATIONS AT ONONDAGA, 1816-METHODIST MISSIONS AT ONEIDA AND ONONDAGA, 1829-INDIAN SCHOOL.

While the scenes were enacting, which have just been related, it is not to be supposed that all Christendom, except the Jesuits, were asleep or unconscious of what was passing; or, unmindful of the spiritual welfare of the savages. At a very early period, some of the clergy of New-England, took into consideration the possibility and propriety of introducing among these benighted people, the light of the Gospel. As early as 1647, Parliament was solicited to aid in so beneficent a work. The result was, that that body passed an ordinance, July 27, 1649, authorizing the organization of a society for the advancement of civilization and Christianity, among the Indians of New-England. Under the patronage of this society, schools were established, and the Gospel gratuitously preached among the Indians. Among those who were foremost in this good work, was the great Apostle to the Indians, John Eliot, who, after ministering for many years to the spiritual necessities of the Indians, in 1663, had translated the whole Bible into Indian, with a Catechism and the Psalms of David, in Indian verse. Eliot's Indian Bible, was the first version of the Scriptures ever printed on the American continent. A copy of this Bible is in the library of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., to the

accomplished librarian of which, the author is indebted for a sight of this highly interesting and antique volume. The title to this Bible is as follows: "Mamusse Wunneetupanatamiwe. Up Biblum God Naneeswe Nukkone Testament, kah wonk Wusku Testament."

Other works were translated and published in the Indian language, for the advancement of Christianity among the Indians. It is by no means asserted, that there were no visible marks of the progressive labors of the New-England Missionaries. For a long time the missions were considered flourishing. Many reverend gentlemen, and even laymen of piety and intelligence, learned the Indian language, and visited and prayed among them. They were prepared to carry the Gospel to every hut and every heart, and often found such responses, as gave them renewed courage and flattering hopes of permanent success. On the 12th of May, 1700, there were thirteen Protestant ministers of the Gospel supported by the government in the plantations of North America, receiving from ten to thirty pounds each, besides some other Protestants who were missionaries on their own account.*

Although large sums of money were expended for the advancement of this plan, and the energies of a powerful corporation brought to bear in its aid, and all the learning and talent of New-England, and much of that of the mother country, applied in pressing on this important work, still the missions of New-England in their time and in their turn, declined, languished, and at length expired. Two hundred years have not yet rolled around, and a Bible, the fruit of many years of diligent labor, translated expressly for a people whose salvation was the end and aim of the great, the gracious and the good of that era, lives only as a literary curiosity, on the shelves of a very few libraries in Christendom; while not a being who now inhabits this earth, can interpret a solitary sentence of it. The race for whose benefit these holy words

* London Documents, 1700.

were arranged, has passed away, and with them their religion, their literature, and even their very names.

In the year 1700, the Earl of Belomont, then Governor of New-York, memorialized the lords of trade and plantations, on the want of " some ministers of the Church of England, to instruct the Five Nations of Indians, and to prevent their being practised upon by the French priests and Jesuits." Whereupon the said lords submitted a representation on the subject to Queen Anne, who by an order in council, sanctioned their proposal, for the appointment of two clergymen, and referred the accomplishment of the plan to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Even before this, Lord Belomont intended to build a fort and chapel in the country of the Onondagas, and the matter was carried so far, that King William ordered and sent over plate and furniture for a chapel there, but the design of building it was abandoned upon the death of that monarch, which event took place in 1702.* In 1701, the Assembly of New-York, granted sixty pounds a year to Rev. Bernardus Freeman, minister of the Gospel at Schenectady, as his salary for instructing the Indians of the Five Nations, and fifteen pounds a year for his charges and expenses.† Although the measure submitted to the consideration of Queen Anne, so far as the government was concerned, appears to have been suggested by motives of political expediency, quite as much as by a desire for the conversion of the savages. Still the society took advantage of the opportunity of establishing a mission among the Iroquois Indians. The Rev. Thoroughgood Moor arrived at New-York, on this noble service, in the year 1704. The enterprize, however, was not attended with that success. which its importance seemed to demand. The Indians from appearances, were wholly unprepared to profit by missionary instructions. In the first report made to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, under whose patronage the mission was established, it is said, "there are demands upon the Society for ministers, schools and libraries.

For the Mohawks.

For the Oneidas. 1 for the Onontages.

1 for the Cayougas. 1 for the Sinnekes."

In 1709, four sachems went to England, to confirm the peace which had been made by their nations with the Governor of New-York, and to request Her Majesty would be pleased to take measures for the instruction of their subjects in the truths of Christianity.

This request having been submitted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Society, it was agreed to send two missionaries, together with an interpreter and school-master to the "Mohocks and Oneides Indians;" and the Queen gave directions for the erection of a fort, with a chapel and house for the clergyman, in the country of the Mohocks. The Rev. William Andrews, the first missionary selected, arrived at Albany, in 1712; and in giving an account of his reception, he says: "When we came near the town, we saw the Indians upon the banks, looking out for my coming. They received me with abundance of joy; every one shaking me by the hand, bidding me welcome over and over."

A school was established with this mission, at which about twenty children usually attended. After about six years of labor, toil and disappointment, Mr. Andrews solicited that the Society should remove him from his mission, which was finally done. He gives anything but a favorable report of the suc cess of his labors, saying, "There is no hope of making them better. Heathen they are, and Heathen they still must be." After this, for many years, the Rev. Henry Barclay, D. D., Rev. John Ogilvie, D. D., and others, who were missionaries at Albany, continued to visit and officiate among the Mohawks. Although most of the Christian Indians were from among the Mohawks and Oneidas, still the Onondagas did not fail to obtain some knowledge of the duties and doctrines of Christianity from that source.

The Queen Anne had the good of the Five Nations, at all times, very much at heart, and sought by various means to arouse their minds to a sense of religious duty. It appears, this sovereign took no ordinary interest in their spiritual wel

fare, and among other proofs of her beneficence, she ordered the erection of a neat and commodious chapel in the Mohawk country, and the gift of a valuable communion service to that people. A set was ordered for each of the other four of the Five Nations; but it appears that only the Mohawks received theirs. There were five pieces, of plain, pure and massive silver, and each piece bears the following inscription: "The gift of Her Majesty ANN, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, and of Her Plantations in North America, QUEEN, to her Indian Chappel of the Mohawks." The chapel at Fort Hunter was erected of stone, about the year 1710, and a glebe of three hundred acres of land attached to it. It was furnished with a bell, which we are informed is now used at the Academy in Johnstown. This chapel was torn down in 1820, to make room for the Erie Canal. The parsonage is still standing in sight of the canal, an antiquated building two stories high, with a square roof, about half a mile below Schoharie. The author has been informed, that the bell in St. Peter's Church, Albany, N. Y., has this inscription: "St. Peter's Church, in Albany, 1751, J. Ogilvie, Minister, J. Stevenson, E. Collins, Wardens." The Bible used there, is over one hundred and thirty years old, having been printed in 1716. The communion plate, which is very heavy, and numbers six pieces, was a present from Queen Anne. Upon each piece is engraved as follows: "The gift of Her Majesty, ANN, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, and of Her Plantations in North America, QUEEN, to her Indian Chappel of the Onondawgus."

A. R.

[Coat of Arms.]

The plate consists of six pieces, viz.: one chalice, two flagons, and three patens.

By this, it would seem, that the good Queen contemplated the erection of a chapel in the Onondagas country, and the furnishing it with a suitable communion service; and why the plan was broken up, or the valuable plate designed for it, received another destination is now probably past explanation,