of mind under adversity, and to improve in the virtues of patience and resignation to the disposals of the Divine Providence, which since my misfortunes I have found to yield me some comfort and sensible relief."

A statement sent home by the Rev. J. W. Weeks, contains some interesting particulars of the condition of many of the Churches and congregations of New England in the year 1778. It is therefore given at length:

"The Church of Pownalborough, on Kennebec, is not much diminished. Mr. Bailey, having been long persecuted, is now treated with a little less severity. When I came away they had not tendered the oath to him. Should they do it, he determines to attempt making his escape to Halifax.

"When I was in that part of the country I baptized many children and married several couples. The Church at George Town is made up of several wealthy farmers who are noted loyalists. I offered to preach to them, but they were afraid to suffer me. They were all obliged to pay taxes to the dissenting ministers, and they dared not dispute it.

"At Falmouth, in Casco Bay, I used to preach frequently, even after the church was burnt. The congregation was small, but exceedingly well-disposed, being enemies of the rebellion, and friends to government.

"The church at Portsmouth is in a ruinous condition, the windows broken, and many of the pews shattered. There are several good families which belong to the church still. A clergyman who was supposed to have abjured the king offered to preach there. The warden, who was a rebel general, and commissary of the province, refused him, saying the doors of the church should never be opened till they could have somebody else to enter them and officiate besides those perjured villains, who had broken their oaths of allegiance, and their promises at ordination.

"The church at Newbury Port is much in the same state in which it hath been for some years past. Upon the declaration of independence, Mr. Bass was persuaded to leave out the prayer for the king, &c. By this compliance he expected to make great

acquisitions to his flock, but he was disappointed. For this indeed, his people have greatly increased his salary, but he hath by it lowered himself in the esteem even of the rebels themselves, There is scarcely one loyal person in that rebellious town.

"At Salem, Macgilcrist's parish hath dwindled away almost to nothing. He is very much broken by years and infirmities, and especially by the ill treatment of those from whom he had reason to expect, at least, the common offices of humanity. For the rebels, after having made an ineffectual attempt to starve him. into compliance with their humours, now have some compassion for his grey hairs, and suffer him to remain unmolested. The rebels at Marblehead made the same trial to bring me to their terms, but it proved abortive. My secret friends are more powerful than my open enemies.

"Mr. Sergeant's parish at Cambridge is wholly broken up. The elegant houses of those gentlemen who once belonged to it are now occupied by the rebels, and Mr. Inman, a man of fortune and figure, is now obliged to purchase things from his own farm at Cambridge. The rebels have taken everything from him except his wearing apparel, only because he had been one of the king's council in that province.

"I have not the happiness to know any of the people at Marshfield and Scituate; but, though at the distance of fifty miles, I have received privately many tokens of their esteem, which they never would have sent me had they not been loyal in their hearts, and had they not sincerely approved my conduct. Truth constrains me to say, that the conduct of the loyalists in that country resembles that of the primitive Christians towards their brethren suffering persecution. They have all things, if I may so say, in common, and they are ready to suffer and die for each other.

"Mr. Fayerweather, having an excellent glebe of 100 acres, and having no family, meets with no difficulty in living. His parish, being small, never contributed anything to his subsistence. "Mr. Clark, of Dedham, on account of his health, got liberty of the rebels to go to Newport. He is excessively deaf, so that he cannot perform divine service. Some refugees and inhabitants of Newport had subscribed about 301. sterling for his present support. Though he has no family but a wife, yet he is in great

need, and merits compassion from all. He was taken up last year, and tried at the same time I was, and his lawyer deceiving him, by going out of town when he ought to have been in court, he was, without the least colour of evidence against him, condemned, and confined for some time on board of the guard ship, by which his health was much injured, and his voice so affected that he can scarcely be understood.

"The church of Marblehead before these unhappy times was large. Almost all the young people of any note in the town flocked to it; and there was no testimony of their love and esteem which they were not ready to give me. It grew up under my ministry to a very flourishing state, but the breath of rebellion made it wither away in a very strange manner. Some, terrified by the threats of the rebels, were afraid to attend it, and others, growing disaffected to government, spontaneously left it. There were only about fifty families on whose fidelity I could rely, as they were still attached to our constitution both in church and state. For near a year after independence was declared by the Congress, they generally attended divine service in the church, where I constantly used the Liturgy till the General Assembly made a law against it, when it was judged best for me to desist. Mr. Macgilerist shut up his church at the same time. After this I frequently visited my flock from house to house, instructed their children, comforted them under their troubles, and endeavoured to encourage them in their religion and loyalty.

Trinity Church, in Boston, is still open, the prayers for the king and royal family, &c. being omitted. The king's chapel is made use of as a meeting-house by a dissenting congregation. The French had received leave from the Congress to make use of Christ Church for the purpose of their worship; but the proprietors having notice of this, persuaded Mr. Parker to preach in it every Sunday in the afternoon, by which means it remains untouched.

"In a word, our ecclesiastical affairs wear a very gloomy aspect at present in that part of the world.”1

The Rev. Ranna Cossit is the only other witness whom

1 Original Letters, vol. xviii. 1. 260.

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we shall cite to the deplorable position of affairs in New England. He says:

"New York, Jan. 6, 1779. "I arrived in this city last Sunday, by permission, with a flag, and am to return in a few days . . . . I trust the Society cannot be unacquainted with the persecutions the loyalists have endured in New England. I have been by the committee confined as prisoner, in the town Claremont, ever since the 12th of April, 1775; yet God has preserved my life from the rage of the people. I have constantly kept up public service, without any omissions, for the king and royal family, and likewise made use of the prayer for the high court of parliament, and the prayer to be used in time of war and tumults; have administered the Lord's Supper on every first Sunday in the month, except two Sundays that we could not procure any wine. The numbers of my parishioners and communicants in Claremont are increased, but I have been cruelly distressed with fines for refusing entirely to fight against the king. In sundry places where I used to officiate, the church people are all dwindled away. Some have fled to the king's army for protection; some were banished; and many dead."

We may safely conclude this chapter in the words of the Rev. Dr. Jarvis of Middletown, the learned author of a "Chronological Introduction to the History of the Church," to whom we are indebted for some interesting anecdotes of the New England Clergy. He says, "No one in England can know how much these Missionaries had to endure for the sake of Christ and His Church. They were confessors, if not martyrs."

CHAPTER XI.

EARLY MISSIONS TO THE INDIANS AND NEGROES.

State of Religion among the Indians in New England-Memorials of the Earl of Bellamont and Mr. Livingstone-Appointment of the Rev. Thoroughgood Moor-Mission unsuccessful-Embassy of four Sachems to England— Rev. William Andrews- Habits of the Indians - Instruction of the Negroes-Mr. Elias Neau-Rev. R. Charlton-Rev. S. Auchmuty.

BEFORE proceeding to give an account of the efforts made by the Society for the conversion of the native North American tribes, it may be as well to cite the following extracts from a letter addressed to Sir William Ashurst, Governor of the Corporation for Propagating the Gospel in New England, on the "state of Christianity among the Christianized Indians" in that province. This document is dated 2nd of March, 1705, and is signed by the well-known names of "Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, and Nehemiah Walker."

"There were in the southern parts of this province, about four or five years ago (when your Commissioners here sent a couple of English Ministers, who were masters of the Indian tongue, to visit them) no less than thirty several congregations of Indians, who commonly assembled themselves every Lord's day, and, a great part of them, to lectures on other days also, for the worship of the great God and our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot understand that the number of the congregations is considerably altered from