within the Pale of the Church, but here the Inhabitants are for the most part very ignorant, & have been chiefly invited by the fertility of the Soil, & the advantage of fine Communicatns for transporting their produce. and as they were of the poorer & lower Class of Adventurers from difft Countries they have in general very little acquaintance with any Religion, & a Minister can not be accus'd of interfering amst them so that the first Church which goes on Successfully & without interruption must attach them all, & not only them but all those who are in the same predicament, who are really the bulk of the people in a Country that settles amazingly fast all of whom may in time become Zealously attached to our Constitution in Church & State if duly attended to in their Infancy. The Independts & other Dissenters are so sensible of this that repeated applicata has been made for the use of the Ch: often by Itinerant preachers whenever the Minister was absent for that purpose I leave you to Judge from the Sly Artifices as well as public attacks practised by them against the Ch: of England in America;

As I do not recollect any material occurrence since my last, I have only to offer my best Regards to the Society, & most Cordial Wishes, for the prosperity of their pious & Laudable endeavors assuring you that I am with much Esteem Sir &ca. The Revd Dr Hind·1

1 Rev. RICHARD HIND, D. D., son of Dr. John Hind, rector of Fendon, Sus sex, was born at Boddington in Northamptonshire, in 1715; entered Oxford about 1730, and obtained his degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1749; became rector of Chering, Essex 1754, and of St. Anne, Westminster, 1766, both of which he vacated in 1778 for the Vicarages of Rochdale, Lancashire, and Skipton, York. shire. on account of a dispute which he had with his Curate in St. Anne's, particulars of which are given in the 47th Vol. of the Gent. Mag. He was also prebendary of St. Paul's. Dr. Hind died at Rochdale, 18th Feb., 1790, æt 75. Some of his sermons have been printed. Nichols' Literary Anecdotes. He was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Wm. Morrice as Secretary of the Society for prop the Gosp.-ED.

THE CHURCHWARDENS OF SCHENECTADY TO SIR WM. JOHNSON.

Honourable Sir,

The very humane Treatment which we have constantly experienced from you is, and we hope ever will be gratefully remembred by us. In particular we think ourselves greatly indebted to your kindness and Generosity in assisting us on a recent occasion with your good and seasonable Advice and supporting us with a Promise of your friendly Interposition in our Favour. We should esteem ourselves highly culpable had we not invariably attended to the Path which you directed us to pursue, and which we doubt not will lead us to the full enjoyment of our Wishes. In our way Homeward, agreeable to your desire, we waited upon Co1 Johnson, who readily drew up for us an address to the Venerable Society. A Copy of this address we sent immediately, and hope it has been received previously to the Anniversary Session. Soon after the first we sent a Second Copy in case the former should miscarry ;, and as we thought it proper to acquaint the Reverend Clergy of New York with our Intention we enclosed it to them unsealed, requesting that after they had perused it they would be so kind as to seal and forward it by the first opportunity, at the same Time soliciting their Friendship. When several weeks had passed without hearing from them, We wrote a Line requesting to know by whom they had sent the addresses, to us, its safety was a matter of Consequence. In answer to this Dr Auchmuty inform'd us that "no other opportunity offering he had sent it by the Pacquet." The reason of this Evident Contempt of the latter part of our request we are at a loss to assign, unless it may be collected out of a Letter which we received from Mr Andrews soon after he left us dated at New York in which he says "I really am somewhat afraid the Society's Salary will not be continued at Schenectady. And it is the opinion of Doc1 Auchmuty and M Inglis that it will not. They think it perversion of that Bounty which ought to be extended to much larger Bodies of People who are without divine worship in several parts of this and the Neighbouring

Provinces." If such are the Sentiments of those, Reverend Gentlemen we cannot help thinking that either they have a very imperfect knowledge of the State of our Church; or if otherwise, some very unaccountable prejudice against us.

As we labour under many disadvantages for want of a charter, we embraced the happy opportunity of addressing His Excellency the Governor on that subject by Sr John who generously promised us his benevolent offices, and at whose return we are in no Doubt of receiving a very favourable answer. We beg your Indulgence in thus detaining you as we are prompted to it by a sense of the Duty which we owe you, and which shall ever be ack.owledged by

Honourable and greatly respected Sir

Your much obliged and very humble Servants

I received your Letter and am sorry to hear that you have any Apprehensions of the dislike of the Society or Clergy as tending to withdraw the Mission, but I am inclined to believe that You are alarmed without sufficient cause, for, whatever

1 ROBERT CLENCH was married to Hannah Vernon at Laycock, Lancaster Co. Penn. on the 5th May 1758, by the revd Geo. Craig, episcopal Minister. He had three sons, Ralph, Benjamin and Thomas, and three daughters, Rebecca, Elizabeth and Euretta. He was a zealous friend of St. George's Church, and was the first to cause Stoves to be introduced into that edifice, an innovation which disturbed the minds of many who did not approve of such novelties. Mr. Clench took the oath of allegiance to the United States on the 25th July 1778, & died in the latter part of 1781. His will bears date 10 Sept. and it was proved on 21st Dec. of that year. His wife survived him seven years. She was buried in St. George's cemetery Dec. 2, 1788. Letter of Rev. Wm. Payne, rector of St. George's

misrepresentations Mr Andrews or any other person may have been Guilty of, It is improbable that the Society would withhold their Assistance without a particular enquiry into the state of the Congregation, and as I believe that the Mission was principally established thro' my recommendation thereof to the Society, I should naturally Conclude that they would communicate their thoughts to me before they determined on Withdrawing it, from all which considerations I should think, you have not much to apprehend on that head, should it prove otherwise I shall willingly assist in recommending your Church to the farther attention of the society, as I am always its hearty wellwisher and your very humble Servt.

To Messrs Clench & Brown

Schenectady.

REVD. R. MOSLEY TO SIR WM. JOHNSON.

Sir William

I am at a loss to express my Gratitude to You; for Your unbounded Goodness to me during My Residence at Johnstown and particularly at my Departure-I shall allways retain a most gratefull sense of Your Generosity: And that it may please God long to prolong your Life, and possess you with a good state of Health will be the Constant prayers & wishes of One who has the Honor of subscribing Himself (Sir William)

Your much obliged

& very Humble Sert

R. MOSLEY.

P. S. Please to present my best Respects to Dr Dease, and

Compts to Mr Daily &c

New-York Apr ye 11th 74.

THE LAST MISSIONARY TO THE MOHAWKS.

The conversion and civilization of the American Indians engaged the attention of Europeans at an early date. The christianizing of the Iroquois especially became the object of the Jesuits of Canada as far back as 1642, and a few years afterwards Father Jogues laid down his life on the Mohawk river, for the Gospel. The Dutch who first colonised these parts, did not give the subject much consideration. The clergy at the Manhatans succeeded in teaching one young savage the prayers so that he could repeat the responses in church, and also to read and write well. He was then furnished with a Bible and was sent to evangelize the heathen. But he pawned the book for brandy, became a thorough beast and did more harm than good.1

The government of New York did not make any effort to christianize the Five Nations further than to pay, for some time, a small salary to the clergyman at Albany to attend to the wants of such Indians as might apply to him. The Rev. Mr Freeman of that city translated a great part of the English liturgy, the morning and evening prayers, the litany, the Athanasian Creed, with some passages of the old and New Testament into the Indian tongue, but those professing to be christians in 1710, are represented as "so ignorant and scandalous that they can scarce be reputed Christians."2 In 1712, Mr. Andrews was sent as a Missionary to the Mohawks by the Society for propagating the Gospel, and a church was built at the mouth of the Scohary creek, but this Missionary soon abandoned the place, and as he was the first, so was he the last, that resided among them for a great many years, the Society afterwards contenting themselves with imitating the policy of the government and allowing a small stipend to their clergyman at Albany to act as a missionary to the Mohawks. In which capacity he did them but very little good.

In 1748, the people of New England turned their attention to this field of labor, and the Revd Mess's Spencer, Woodbridge,

1 O'Call. N. Netherland ii., 319.

2 N. Y. Doct. Hist. iii.