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a miniature, of the large Evangelical Society, that, in future ages, shall cover the surface of the Globe. The world, regenerated by the Divine Light of the Gospel, will bless the memory of the promoters of this admirable Institution. These virtuous Christians will hear from heaven the hymns and songs of praise;

serve to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Yes, the new nations of America will enjoy the triumph of their independence and the felicity of their liberty, if they would organise their new institutions, following the spirit of toleration, of equality, and self-directed to the throne of Jehovah, by all denial, so much recommended in the Gospel. This Holy Book must be the tie, which should unite all the nations of this vast continent.

the inhabitants of this redeemed land; and their celestial joy can only be increased by the prospect of human happiness in perfect harmony with the will

This same Meeting is only a sketch, of God.

Recent Miscellaneous Entelligence.
American Baptist Missions.

MRS. JUDSON, from Rangoon, has in the press, in one volume Svo, in a series of Letters addressed to a Gentleman in London, an Account of the American Baptist Mission to the Burman Empire.

Baptist Missionary Society.

Miss Pearce arrived in safety at Calcutta, on the 15th of December, in the "David Scott."

Church Missionary Society.

Mr. and Mrs. Clarke left Rio Janeiro (see our Volume for 1822, p. 447) on the 27th of June of last year, after a week's stay there, in the " Heroine," Captain Ostler. As far as the latitude of the Cape, the voyage was very pleasant, and they were able to have Service on board every Sunday; but, from thence to Van Dieman's Land, they had tremendous weather, and were sometimes deprived of Public Worship on Sunday. They anchored off Hobart Town, Van Dieman's

Land, on the 10th of September. During his stay there, the Lieut.-Governor afforded him every assistance in communicating spiritual instruction to the prisoners; who, in many places, have not Divine Service twice in the year. Leaving Van Dieman's Land on the 6th of Oct., they reached Port Jackson, after a tedious voyage, on the 16th. At the date of his Letter, Mr. Clarke was residing with the Rev. Mr. Marsden at Parramatta, till he should hear from New Zealand; and was engaged in instructing some New Zealanders and two Natives of Owhyhee who were under Mr. Marsden's care.

Sierra Leone.

The Rev. Henry Palmer, Second Chaplain of the Colony, arrived at Freetown, with Mrs. Palmer, on board H. M. Frigate the Owen Glendower, Commodore Sir Robert Mends, on the 20th of March. The ship had been delayed on the coast, by the boats visiting the rivers in search of Slave Vessels.

Miscellanies.

NORTH-AMERICAN INDIANS.

THE Engraving on the opposite page is made after a Drawing sent home by the Rev. John West, who is stationed at the Red-River Settlement, to the south of Lake Winnipeg. It is descriptive of Mr. West's interview with a party of Indians, and will give our Readers some idea of the people among whom the Church Missionary Society established its last Mission.

The attention of the Society was called to this neglected portion of the British Dominions, by some Gentlemen connected with the trade carried on with the Indians for fur. The Hudson's Bay and North-West Companies have Trading Posts in that country, and are very willing to assist plans for communicating true religion to these scattered tribes: and how much these people need our care will be seen from the following remarks of Mr. West:

It is painful to consider the state of the numerous Tribes of Indians who wander through this vast territory, hitherto unheeded, and strangers to British Missionary Exertions. If you cast your eye upon the Map, you will find, that, from the borders of the United States to the farthest known point toward the North, and from Canada to the Pacific Ocean, no Protestant Missionary is found, seeking to introduce the knowledge of Christianity among the Native Indians. They rove through the woods and plains, with all the wretched appearance of Gypsies in England.

Soon after Mr. West reached his Station, which was in October 1820, he sent home the following affecting statement:→

The Indians appear to be sunk into the lowest state of degradation, as human beings. I could scarcely refrain from tears, on visiting them in their tents. Their life seems to be one constant course of difficulties in procuring subsistence; and they wander through it without hope and without God in the world. When shall this hitherto-neglected Race of the North come to the knowledge of the Saviour? Fulfil, O Lord, Thy promises, in their salvation!

On his Journey to his Station, he obtained two Indian Boys as Scholars: of these, he says→→→

I taught them the following short prayer-" Great Father! bless me, through Jesus Christ our Lord!" May our gracious God hear their cry, morning and evening, and raise them up as Heralds of His Salvation in this truly benighted and barbarous part of the world!

Mr. West has been joined by Mr. George Harbidge, a Schoolmaster; and the Rev. David T. Jones has just sailed to assist in this Mission. The Settlement of European Traders and Farmers on the Red-River, where Mr. West is established, will be the Head-quarters of the Mission. From this place, the Missionaries will travel, at the seasons when the dogs can draw the sledges over the snow; and will thus visit the different Trading Posts, and the Tribes of Indians which trade there: they will thus become known to the Indians, and will get them to send their Children to the Settlement for education. These Children will be brought up religiously; and will, at the same time, be made well acquainted with agriculture and useful arts, and will then be sent home to teach their own tribes. Young Men, brought up in this manner, will be likely to become leading persons in their several tribes, especially as they will not be suffered while at School to lose their native skill, but be sent back as dexterous in hunting and fishing as any of their countrymen; otherwise their countrymen will despise all that they may have learnt at School.

By the example of such Young Men, the Indians will be brought, by degrees, to more settled habits than they now have: then Schools may be opened in their villages, and Missionaries sent to dwell among them: and thus, in time, and under the blessing of God, the benign influence of the Gospel will be felt all over these wide regions.

Captain Franklin, who commanded the Land Expedition which traversed these regions, called, since his return, at the Society's House, and strongly recommended to its Members the care of the wandering Tribes among whom he had travelled.

A few months after Mr. West had reached his Station, he took a Journey of between 500 and 600 miles, drawn by dogs over the snow, in order to visit the Natives. In this Journey it was that he had the interview represented in the Engraving: he had much noticed a Boy about seven years of age, and wished to have him as a Scholar; and, soon after he left the Indians, the Father of the Boy observed, that, as the Missionary stood between the Great Spirit and the Indians-that is, came to teach them the will of the Great Spirit-he could refuse him nothing: he accordingly sent his Son to the School.

There is every encouragement, therefore, to go forward, trusting in the Lord. Mr. West writes

Those Boys who have been with me since last year, can now converse pretty freely in English, are beginning to read, and can repeat the Lord's Prayer correctly. The other day, I gave them a small portion of ground for a garden; and I never saw European SchoolBoys more delighted than they were in hoeing and planting it.

He adds

I have not hesitated to take these Indian Boys under my care; and shall increase their number, in the hope that British Charity will adopt them, and a much larger family, for Christian Instruction; and that, through Britain's prayers for the success of Missions, they may grow up in the nurture and admonition of Him, whose Name shall be great among the Gentiles. Under His blessing, they may become Heralds of His Salvation; and may bear the glad tidings of Redemption to the most distant parts of the North, and to the scattered Tribes of their several Nations!

The Contributions to the Church Missionary Society will be given in our next.

JULY, 1823.

Biography.

LIFE OF MATTHEW STACH,

ONE OF THE FIRST MISSIONARIES OF THE UNITED BRETHREN IN GREENLAND.

(Continued from p. 246.)

Outward Difficulties of the Mission. THE Brethren continued to suffer great extremities, in the early years of the Mission, for want of food. They were often driven to allay the cravings of hunger with shell-fish and sea-weed: they had recourse even to the remnants of tallow-candles, and thought themselves happy when they could procure some trainoil to mix up with their scanty morsel of oatmeal. The severity of their trials, at the end of 1735, may be judged of by the following state

ment:

Before the departure of the ship, they were pressed by every one to take their passage in it to Europe; and to return, if possible, the next year. Even the Greenlanders, who seldom trouble themselves with reflection, wondered much what could induce the Brethren to remain among them. Their resolute perseverance only excited the contempt of these savages; who knew no other estimate of a person's value, than his wealth and his ability to give much away. "Your countrymen," they would say, are worthless people, for they have sent you nothing; and you are not wise if you do not return."

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Their difficulties and the gracious care of God over them, are seen in the following passage:

Meanwhile God cared for their necessities. Among the rest, the boatmen found a dead white whale, and shared it with the Brethren. On another occasion, after they had eaten nothing but shell-fish for five days, a Greenlander left them a porpoise taken from the belly of its dam, which was enough for a meal. Once, after an unsuccessful chase, they were forced by a contrary wind upon a July, 1829.

desolate island, and obliged to lodge there all night: here they espied an eagle sitting on the nest, and shot it: after some trouble they got at the nest, and in it found four large eggs, besides the bird which weighed twelve pounds: it also supplied them with a quantity of quills, an article of which they were much in want. In all their Elijah and Elisha afforded them the external distresses, the examples of most emphatical consolation.

Unfavourable State of the Natives.

The ingratitude and cruelty of the Natives to the Missionaries, greatly aggravated their sufferings. Crantz

says

When the savages perceived their necessitous condition, they not only raised the price of their wares, but most of them, especially such as had received the greatest benefits from the Brethren, would sell them nothing on any terms.

He adds, soon after

The scarcity of food increased as the winter advanced; and very little landers, who could not be prevailed was to be procured from the Greenupon to curtail the luxury of their dancing-feasts. On one such occasion, the Brethren witnessed the consumption of eleven seals; yet the most earnest entreaties could not move the disgusting revellers to part with a single morsel.

To these acts of cruelty were added perverse opposition, insults, and mockeries. The spirit and conduct of the Natives in 1736 are thus described :

The Greenlanders sometimes had not time to listen, on account of their business, or a dancing-match: at other times, they would hear nothing but news; and told the Brethren" that 20

they had heard enough already of spiritual things from abler instructors. At the same time, they were not onlyvolatile and trifling under instruction, but, in case the Brethren stopped more than one night in their houses, used all possible means to entice them to conformity with their dissolute practices: and as these did not succeed, but the Brethren maintained their serious deportment, they endeavoured to tire them out by mocking their reading, singing, and praying with all kinds of ridiculous mimickry, or by accompanying their devotional exercises with drums. They also took occasion, from their outward poverty, to ridicule them with all manner of cutting sarcasms, which the Brethren had by this time learned to understand; and if the latter replied that they did not stay in Greenland for the sake of outward advantages, good eating or drinking, they retorted with a jeer, "Fine fellows indeed to be our teachers! We know very, well that you yourselves are ignorant, and have learned your lesson of others."

The Brethren bore these rude mockeries with equanimity. But, when the savages perceived that they could effect nothing in this way, they began to insult and abuse the persons of the Missionaries. They pelted them with stones, for sport-took their things, and shattered them to pieces and tried to spoil their boat, or drive it out to sea. One night, the Brethren heard a noise on the outside of their tent; and perceived that some one was pulling its curtains, which were fastened with pins. On going out, they beheld a company of Greenlanders collected about the tent, some of whom had naked knives in their hands, and could not be driven off till threatened with firearms. The Brethren supposed, at that time, that they came only to cut their tent-skins to pieces; but, some years after, when a number of Greenlanders in these parts were converted, they were informed that a conspiracy had been set on foot against their lives, in hopes that the other Europeans would not revenge the death of such poor despised people.

In 1737, it is addedFive long years of continued toil and hardship had passed away with

out any appearance of success; and it had already come to the knowledge of the Brethren, that their unproductive labours were a subject of ridicule to many persons in their native country.

The present prospect was, indeed, dreary and comfortless. The Greenlanders who came from a distance were ignorant and stupid; and the little which they could hear in a short visit was soon effaced by the hurry of a migratory life. In those who resided at Ball's River, the only change that could be perceived was for the worse: they were tired and disgusted, and hardened against the truth. They resolved to lend their hearing no longer, except for a bribe. To any kind of news, they listened with delight: and could bear to hear interesting Scripture narratives, and accounts of miracles; but as soon as the Missionaries began to discourse on the nature and attributes of God, the fall and corruption of the soul, God's wrath against sin, the necessity of an atonement, faith and grace, the sanctification of the disordered/creature, and eternal happiness or misery, they grew sleepy, answered every question with a "Yes," and slunk away one by one; or else they showed open marks of displeasure, and began to talk of seal-catching; or they pleaded their incapacity of understanding the truths proposed. "Shew us the God that you describe," they said: "then we will believe on him, and obey him. You represent him as too high and incomprehensible:

how shall we arrive at him? or how can he trouble himself about us? We have invoked him, when faint and hungry, and were not heard. What you say of him cannot be true: or, if you know him better than we, pray for us; and procure for us a sufficiency of food, a sound body, and a dry house: that is all we want. Our soul is healthy already: you are of a different race from us: people in your country may have diseased souls: and from the instances we see of them, we can believe, that for them a physician of souls may be necessary. Your heaven, and your spiritual joys and felicities, may be good enough for you, but they would be too teWe must have seals, dious for us. fishes, and birds. Our souls can no

more subsist without them than our bodies: we shall not find these in your paradise, which we will, therefore, leave to you and the worthless part of our countrymen; but, as for us, we will go down to Torngarsukthere we shall find a superfluity of all things, and enjoy them without trouble."

By such arguments did they endeavour to ward off every thing that was calculated to make an impression on their hearts-not sparing, unless they were checked, the most sacred mysteries of religion, in mockery too profane to be repeated; for the most stupid Greenlander can misuse his understanding, as well as his superiors in intellect.

Matthew Stach's account of a residence of a month among the Natives to the southward, is a lively representation of the painful circumstances under which he and his Brethren were called to labour :—

My hosts are extremely changeable in their conduct-sometimes friendly, sometimes morose. At first, I conversed much with them, and occa sionally read them a passage from the New Testament; but now their desire of hearing is gone. I have told them the reason why the Son of God was obliged to die; but they only desire me to go out with them, and call upon God's Son to give them seals, because they are in want.

All I say to them of divine things is made matter of chit-chat and laughter: on the contrary, they extol their angekoks, who can vanish out of sight, glide along an invisible rope to heaven and hell, and rescue the incarcerated seals from the infernal demon: when I point out the absurdity of these tales, they angrily bid me hold my peace, and turn their backs upon me. At other times, they will tell me that they believe all I say, and would have me to stay longer with them, and learn their language, that I may tell them more; -but these fits of good-will are very transient.

On one occasion, they danced two whole nights successively. I believe there were one hundred and fifty people assembled together in the house: some of them tried every thing to vex me; and they drummed

and bellowed so horribly during the
dancing, that my ears ached. The
next day it rained violently: then
they begged me to pray to the Son
of God, because he was Almighty,
to send them good weather, that the
rain might not penetrate through the
roof. told them there was no ne-
cessity to pray for that, as they might
prevent the inconvenience by spread-
ing their tent skins upon the roof:
they should rather pray to God, to
be gracious to their souls. They
scouted my advice, and said they
understood nothing about it, nor did
they need it; though for myself, per-
haps, it might be very good: and, in
general, they speak contemptuously
and spitefully of all that they have
heard and professed to believe. They
frequently ask questions, which sound
very foolish, and yet involve sarcasms
in a flame, when they mock
on Christian Truths. My soul is often
my God.

However, the children all love me, and run after me: sometimes I call them together, speak with them, and ask them questions. They listen with pleasure: but it is difficult to keep up their attention; and as soon as some new object catches their eye, away they run after it.

As I was one day reading to a Greenlander, there occurred the words, "We should despise earthly things:" he immediately said, "Why so?" I informed him that God had created mankind, not only for this earthly life, but for an everlasting state of existence; and that it was the unhappy effect of the Fall, that men concerned themselves solely for the body, careless of the imperishable soul, and of that doom which awaits them, when Christ shall come to judge the world, and shall conduct those who believe to heaven, but shall consign the wicked and unbelieving to fire unquenchable. The Greenlander replied, “If the Son of God be such a terrible Being, I do not wish to go to heaven." I asked him, if he would go to hell-fire? He answered, No: he would not go thither either, but would stay here upon earth. When I represented to him that no man can stay for ever upon earth, but all must die and remove to a good or bad place, he mused awhile, and then said, he did not know that, nor did he like to hear

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