In 1781, while at Salem, and just going to hold a meeting in the church, where the congregation were assembled, I was exposed to the most imminent danger of being shot in my own house by a Monsey Indian, a declared enemy of the Gospel and the white people. The intervention of old Tobias, who, being the sexton, came to call me to the meeting, proved the means of my providential escape, the circumstantial account of which, together with instances of a similar nature, may be read in my missionary history.

The four following years, from 1782 to 1786, which we spent in Canada, were among the most trying and arduous the missionaries had ever witnessed, notwithstanding that government gave us many proofs of their kindness and favourable disposition towards us. In the first place, we were almost wholly cut off from Detroit settlement, while we resided on the Huron river, thirty miles distant; for, in summer, immense forests and extensive prairies, inhabited by a very venomous species of black rattlesnakes, must be passed, and in winter the ice prevented us from visiting the settlement. Moreover the clearing away of huge forest-trees, in the hot summer days, while molested day and night by swarms of musquetoes, proved exceedingly laborious. The communication with our brethren at Bethlehem was likewise completely interrupted, so that we could obtain no assistance from them; as no person thought himself secure, thirty miles from Bethlehem, behind the Blue mountains, from the attacks of savage Indians or of those that went by the name of English woodrangers. And although in process of time, we received £100 sterling from our brethren at London, yet this sum was very soon expended, provisions being enormously high; for instance, two cows cost £76, (New-York currency,) one fowl, 10 shillingt, 1 lb. of butter, 6 shillings, and 100 lbs. of flour, £5, &c. Frequently the frost killed our crops in August, which compelled us to purchase provisions for a whole year in advance, whereby we ran ourselves into debt. In order to discharge the latter, we took our field and garden produce to Detroit market; but as we had to pass a cove at lake St. Clair, nine miles in breadth, which in stormy weather affords a very dangerous passage, our lives were frequently hazarded by these jaunts. The rivers where they empty into the lakes being very difficult to pass, on account of the bulrushes and wild rice growing there, and Brother Senseman and myself one day working our way into the cove, during a calm, in a canoe laden with all kinds of garden produce, we were, on entering the cove, suddenly overtaken by a storm which had nearly

capsized our canoe, which was furnished with a sail. Our hope of saving ourselves was fast diminishing, when (while being yet one mile distant from the shore,) we discovered a Frenchman, (who lived on the neck of land jutting out into the cove,) running to and fro with uplifted hands. As we approached nearer, we distinctly heard his exclamations of distress on our account. At last coming nearer to land, he went into the water up to his shoulders, in order to draw the boat ashore. He appeared exceedingly rejoiced and grateful to God for our miraculous escape, which, as he informed us in French and broken English, had already been past his expectations. He then took us into his house, and ordered his wife to prepare a large pike, he had caught, for dinner. He next fell upon his knees and offered up a prayer of thanksgiving to God, in our presence, while silently and with heartfelt gratitude, we did the

same.

On another occasion, while crossing the ice in this cove, on horseback, the horse broke through with me; but being a nimble Canadian, immediately, before he had time to sink with me, he took a leap upon the firm ice, and thus saved my life.

The third instance I have to record to the praise and glory of God, occurred in the winter season, on a similar excursion to Detroit. A deep snow had fallen, which in those parts is regularly succeeded by a storm, lasting one day at least. For this reason all my friends advised me not to return home the first day; but, deaf to their arguments, I went. Riding on, I suddenly discovered a high decayed tree, right in the middle of the road, a short distance ahead, moved rapidly to and fro by the wind. Being close up to the tree, I thought I heard some one calling to me to stop. It immediately occurred to me, that as this tree had weathered out the storm of yesterday, and the wind not being so high to-day, it would ⚫ most likely withstand the shock. I now, however, began to look out for a way how to effect my escape; yet seeing nothing but fallen trees around me, covered with snow, I was just on the point of proceeding forwards, when that large tree fell towards me, without the least forewarning noise, (being torn up by the roots,) and was dashed to pieces before and around me, without doing me the least injury. For this repeated proof of the guardian care of my Divine Master over me, I returned him my sincerest acknowledgments.

In 1786, when the Christian Indians were compelled to move to the southern shore of lake Erie, on account of the war between their countrymen and the United States, and circumstances also requiring the removal of my family, I accordingly moved

with the latter to Bethlehem. Here I was employed in various ways in the missionary cause, accompanying other missionaries to the Indian congregation-and going several times on business to New-York, for the society of the Brethren for propagating the Gospel among the heathen, lately instituted.

In 1791, the United States government having entered into negotiations for peace with those Indian tribes with whom they had been at war, and General Rufus Putnam being charged with the execution of this mission, he requested that I might receive orders to accompany him on the expedition. Accordingly I received a commission from the Secretary of War, signed by President Washington. I met General Putnam at Pittsburg, from which place we penetrated into the Indian country as far as Post Vincent on the river Wabash. The result of our expedition was briefly this: We took about sixty Indian prisoners, including women and children, along with us, from Fort Washington (a distance of near 400 miles,) to the assembled chiefs, consigning them over to their friends and relations. Our journey and stay on Wabash river having lasted about nine months, we returned in January, 1793, in company with fourteen Indian chiefs to Philadelphia, who were desirous of seeing their father, President Washington.

During our stay at Fort Washington on the Indian boundary line, I contracted an acquaintance with a clergyman who lived about six miles from Cincinnati in Colombo, a village on Little Miami river. After repeated invitations to come and see him, on a fine morning, I set out on my way thither. At the request of Mr. Swan, the general-paymaster, who lived along the road, I stopped in to see him, and spent a short time in friendly conversation with him. On learning whither I was bending my course, he assured me that so far, there had not been the least danger for travellers in that direction. Indeed while I was with him, several persons met together at his house, who all intended to go by the same route. Three of them having left Mr. Swan's shortly before I did, having advanced but a short distance, I presently heard the cry of murder! murder! and one of the men being wounded in the arm came running back with the horrible news that one of his companions had been murdered, and the other taken captive by the Indians. Here again was displayed the superintending care of Divine Providence over my life, in my being detained at Col. Swan's, that thereby I might escape a cruel and certain death.

Encouraged by the result of the first expedition and the apparently peaceable dis

position of the Indian tribes, government resolved to send a formal embassy to the chiefs convened on the Miami of the lakes. President Washington commissioned Gen. Lincoln, of Boston, Col. Timothy Pickering, of Pennsylvania, the Postmaster General of the United States, and Beverly Randolph, ex-governor of Virginia, together with myself as an assistant, to enter into a treaty with the Indians. Convinced by these occular demonstrations of the sincerity of government in wishing to establish a permanent peace with the Indians; six Quaker preachers voluntarily offered their services in the expedition, engaging to undertake the journey at their own expense, which offer was accepted accordingly. We left Philadelphia in the spring of 1793, and went by way of New-York, Albany, and the lakes, to Detroit which at that time was still in the hands of the British, notwithstanding that in the treaty of peace, the surrender of this and other boundary stations had been expressly stipulated. On this account we could proceed no further, much less obtain the object in view, viz. a personal interview with the heads of the Indian tribes on the Miami. Indeed we plainly discovered that the Indians, swayed as they were by the influence of evil counsellors, were not at liberty to act independently. In the last message we sent them, previous to our leaving Detroit, this final declaration was therefore inserted: "That having neglected the proper season for the promotion of their welfare, they would be indebted to their evil advisers for the eventual consequences resulting from such a line of conduct." These they were brought to feel the year following, when Gen. Anthony Wayne, entering their country with a powerful armed force, entirely defeated them, and thereby compelled them to make peace. Our company, consisting of twenty persons, returning from Detroit, went by water to Niagara. Here we separated; one party, consisting of Col. T. Pickering, Beverly Randolph, and some of the Quaker preachers, proceeding on horseback by way of Genessee and the back counties of Pennsylvania. The rest of us continued our voyage across lake Ontario into the river St. Lawrence to Montreal, from thence to Chamblee, St. John's, down lake Champlain to Whitehall, and down along the North river, in stages, by way of Albany, to New-York. On this perilous voyage, our lives were in the most imminent danger, from which the mighty power of God alone could and did deliver us, while passing the river St. Francis, where it expands considerably. On approaching this dangerous pass towards evening, myself and others expected we would lie by, lest we should have to encounter it during the night. But our boat

294

men being very confident, and Gen. Lincoln and others approving of the measure likewise, we continued our voyage, and in the night were overtaken in our open boat by the most tremendous storm I have ever witnessed, accompanied by the loudest peals of thunder and incessant flashes of lightning. We had hardly composed ourselves to rest, when I was suddenly roused from my slumbers by the captain's loudly vociferating : "Down with the sail!" Before his order could be complied with, our boat was partly filled with water, so as to set our trunks afloat. Presently after, the dismal cry of the boatmen resounded: "We are lost! We must perish!" These poor fellows, losing all courage, laid down their oars, and committed themselves and us to the mercy of the storm, waves, and rocks. In this our perilous situation, William Hartshorne, a Quaker preacher, from Shrewsbury, NewJersey, who had made repeated trips in a small vessel to the West Indies, became the instrument of our deliverance. By serious and encouraging entreaties he prevailed upon the boatmen to resume their oars, himself taking the command of the vessel, being faithfully assisted by the secretary of the commission and another gentleman from New-England. In this manner our boat was safely brought to the opposite shore, during the most violent storm and waves, over the most dangerous cliffs, in a very dark night, being now above and then again under water. On a bleak rising ground we suffered exceedingly, being wet and cold, until I succeeded in striking fire from my tinder-box, which, before the gust came on, I had carefully secured against the water. At daybreak, we discovered with emotions of horror and also of loud gratitude to God, our Almighty Deliverer, shoals of rocks projecting like heaps of hay in a meadow, through which our boat had steered its course, without suffering the least damage. The company, who, as stated above, had taken a different route by land, had to encounter the same furious storm, while lying encamped in the woods, the trees falling all around them, and threatening destruction to them and their houses. Through the mercy of God, they were miraculously preserved, and after a very tedious journey arrived safe at Trenton.

Praise and glory be ascribed by me to God, the guardian of my life, for all his merciful interpositions on this as well as on other occasions, which, when my life was in the most imminent danger, He vouchsafed to me, not only among the ordinary hardships which travellers have to encounter that pass for hundreds of miles through wild uncultivated tracts of country, but also on such occasions, when wild and venomous animals obstructed my passage.

[Ост.

Four times in my travels (twice when alone,) I met with panthers, when they would stand still or squat down in the road before me for some time, then rise again and quietly pass off into the woods, without venturing an attack upon me. On another occasion, while encamped with Christian Indians at Cayahaga, I killed no less than sixteen rattlesnakes in one day.

In 1794, and the following years, I was variously employed in the concerns of the Society, for propagating the Gospel among the heathen, in despatching business for them with government, and assisting Gen. Putnam in 1797, in surveying a tract of land on the Muskingum. In 1798, I accompa nied Brother Benjamin Mortimer on his journey to Fairfield, in Upper Canada, via Niagara. In 1801, I moved with my family to Gnadenhuetten on the Muskingum, where I laboured to discharge the duties of an agent to the above Society, and to serve my country in the capacity of a justice of the peace in the State of Ohio, with zeal and fidelity. In 1810, I returned again to Bethlehem with my family, in order to spend the remainder of my days in rest and quietude.

(Thus far our late Brother's own account.)

Occasional attacks of rheumatism excepted, our late Brother Heckewelder was blest with an uncommon share of health. During the latter part of 1822, however, the infirmities of old age visibly began to undermine his constitution, and gradually brought on very painful bodily sufferings. Inferring from these circumstances, that the time of his departure might be near at hand, he settled his domestic concerns, and being too weak to write his own memoirs, he dictated the most remarkable features of his past life to a confidential friend, for the benefit of his children and grandchildren.

Being resigned to the will of the Lord, he wistfully, as a weary traveller longing for his journey's end, awaited the decisive moment, when his better immortal part, divested from its clayey tabernacle, should be summoned into the presence of Jesus, there to rest from all his labour, while such was his fervent prayer:

"For Jesus' sake, O Lord, I pray
Come, take my longing soul away!"

Agreeably to his request, the blessing of the Lord was imparted to him on the morning of January 30th, previous to his depar ture, while in broken accents and cheerful looks, he expressed the serenity of his mind and the joy he felt at the prospect of future glory. At 6 o'clock in the morning of January 31st, he ceased to breathe, and his redeemed soul entered the mansions of rest and peace above, after having sojourned in the body 79 years, 10 months, and 18 days.

Origin of Education Societies. Societies for the education of poor and pious youth for the Gospel Ministry are of American origin. From other countries we have borrowed the plans of our Bible Societies, Sunday Schools, Missionary Societies, and many other benevolent institutions, but in no country except our own do we perceive any societies for the multiplication of the ministers of religion.

Education Societies have grown out of circumstances which distinguish our situation from that of every other people on the globe. In other countries religion is supported by law; the Clergy are maintained either from tithes or from the revenues of the state. Hence the number of the Clergy is always more than adequate to the demands of the population. But in this country religion is supported by the voluntary contributions of the people, and where these fail, there is no remedy-the country becomes a moral waste, and religion ceases to exist, even in form. In the old world, the population is either stationary or but slowly progressive. The provision which is now made for the support of their Clergy, with a small and gradual augmentation, will answer all their demands for ages to come; but in this country, if the number of ministers were now fully adequate to the supply of all our wants, such is the rapid increase of the people, it must be multiplied twenty fold to keep pace with our progress for a single century.

Importance of Education Societies in this Country.

From the view which we have

here presented, it will be readily perceived, that an experiment is going on in this country of momentous interest to us and our posterity. If the population should continue to increase as it has done, (and so far as human foresight can discern, there is nothing to prevent it,) there will be within the limits of the United States, after the lapse of one century, nearly two hundred millions of souls. They will constitute one-fourth part of the population of the globe. They will be bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. They will be the children and the grandchildren of the generation now upon the stage. What security have we that they will worship the God whom we worship; that they will bow the knee to the Saviour whom we adore ? Are our religious institutions founded on such a basis, that they will surely grow with our growth and strengthen with our strength? Will they spread where our people spread, and when they advance into the wilderness, will religion follow them, like the pillar of fire, to give them light? As the pioneers of cultivation ascend along the banks of our streams, and convert the forest into a garden, will the spires of Jehovah's temples every where mark their progress? Will incense and a pure offering ascend from the summits of the Rocky Mountains? and will the voice of the sweet singers of Israel and of those who go up to the house of God in company, be heard along the shores of the Pacific? What reason have we to indulge anticipations like these? We have intrusted the extension of our religious institutions to the voluntary and unassisted efforts of the people;

and these efforts are to be made under the most unfavourable circumstances. Consider the manner in which our new settlements are formed. The first settlers are men of little or no property. They go into the wilderness, and are occupied for a long time in clearing the land for cultivation. It is usually several years before they are able to erect comfortable dwelling-houses, and many more before they can enjoy some of the most common privileges of older settlements. During this whole period they are from necessity without schools, without ministers, without any of that influence or those institutions which are the glory and the safety of older sections of the country. By the time that they are able to support these institutions, long habit has made them contented without them. With many, the expense is an objection, and not unfrequently a new generation has sprung up, who are unacquainted with their value, and unwilling to make any sacrifices for their support. Under such circumstances we should naturally suppose that infidelity and every species of error would take root and flourish. Such is the fact. Every account represents the condition of the inhabitants in these settlements as deplorable for ignorance and irreligion.

These representations are not the dreams of the visionary. They are confirmed by a long list of melancholy facts. The records of our colleges and our churches furnish decisive evidence that there has been already a degeneracy, rapid beyond example, and almost beyond belief. For the first century after the settlement of this country, one half of the graduates at our colleges were clergymen; for the next fifty years, the proportion was only one-third; for the next thirty years only, one-fifth; and for the next ten years only onesixth. For many years after the settlement of New-England, there

was on an average one liberally educated minister to five or six hundred souls; now, including ministers of all denominations, there is not one to 1200 souls, and in many extensive districts settled by the sons of the pilgrims, without the limits of NewEngland, there is not one to three thousand souls.

Statements of this kind might be multiplied to an indefinite extent, but it is time to inquire, How shall we check the progress of degeneracy? How shall we escape the evils which threaten to overwhelm us? Shall we seek for aid from the civil power? Shall we form a union between the church and the state? No; the principles of our citizens, the genius of our institutions forbid it.-Religion must still be supported (and blessed be God, it can be supported) by the voluntary efforts of the people. Societies must be extensively organized for the education of pious young men for the ministry, and other societies must be formed to send them, when educated, to our destitute settlements. In this way, and in this way only, can the evil be effectually remedied.

Executive Committees, and Auxiliary Societies.

The Branches of our Society consist of Executive Committees, appointed by the Board, and of auxiliary societies, voluntarily formed, together with associations subordinate to either of these, or to the Board. These committees and auxiliaries are required to give an account every year of the state of their funds, and the number of young men under their