208 Young Men's Missionary Society of New-York. sum of 1028. In addition to this generous subscription, upwards of $400 were paid to the Treasurer for the regular dues of members present. The following gentlemen were elected Managers of the Society for the ensuing year: John D. Keese, President; G. B. Vroom, 1st Vice-President ; David S. Lyon, 2d Vice-President; Jonathan W. Kellogg, Treasurer; Rev. Alexander M'Clelland, Corresponding Secretary; William Poe, Clerk; Marcus Wilber, Assistant Clerk. Other Directors: Rev. James M. Mathews, Rev. R. B. E. Mc Leod, Rev. Henry Blatchford, Rev. John Knox, John Nitchie, John K. Cowperthwaite, William Tuthill, John A. Lent, Lawrence V. De Forest, James R. Manley, Rufus L. Nevins, James Ruthven, William Smith. We understand that Col. Henry Rutgers. with his charac teristic liberality, has agreed to present to the Society ground on which they intend to build a Mission-house of about 32 by 60 feet. Very liberal additions have been made to the subscription lists, since the meeting of the Society, by members who were absent, and other benevolent friends to religion and to the poor. As a considerable sum will, however, yet be wanting to complete this valuable plan, each of the Directors is authorised to receive subscriptions, and each has a book for that purpose. Those who wish to aid in sending the Gospel to the poor of our city, without money and without price, will have an opportunity of gratifying their wishes. The annual Sermon will be preached before this Society on the evening of the last Sabbath in this month, in the Associate Reformed Church in Murray-street, by the Rev. A. McClelland, and a collection taken up in aid of the funds of this interesting Institution. 1040 (For the Christian Herald. PARAPHRASE, Suggested by some sentiments in an animated discourse lately preached in this city, upon the words,-" By whom shall Jacob arise, when he is small, but by the mighty God of Jacob ?" Amos vii. 2. "By whom," the ardent preacher cries, Employing ev'ry hopeful plan "Shall Jacob when he's small arise?"" To meliorate the state of man. God works by means,his church to raise, By zeal that prompts the enterprise And make her thro' the earth a praise. To frozen climes, or torrid skies, By Love that overlooketh sect, To spread the doctrines of the cross, THE CHRISTIAN HERALD. VOL. IV.] Saturday, December 27, 1817. [No. 14. SENECA AND MUNSEE INDIANS. [WE copy from the Alleghany Magazine, the following extracts. from a letter written by the Rev. TIMOTHY ALDEN, to the Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Indians and others in North America, giving an account of a Missionary Tour made by him, in company with his eldest son, among the Tribes above mentioned, in August and September last.] As one of the leading objects of your benevolent institution is to carry the glad tidings of salvation to the poor benighted Indian tribes of North America, a somewhat circumstantial account of those we had the satisfaction to see, will, no doubt, be expected. I should have more to offer, on this occasion, if I had not written so largely to the Rev. Dr. M'Kean, last autumn, respecting Cornplanter and the Indians in his little town. As that communication was printed, I take the liberty to forward you a copy of it, which, if honoured with a place among the aboriginal documents of your Society, will supersede the necessity of adding several things, which, perhaps, may be thought not unworthy of notice. In Cornplanter's village, extending one mile along the banks of the Alleghany, are forty-eight persons of different ages and both sexes. I preached twice, on the sabbath, in the spacious house of that noble spirited chief, which was well filled, and mostly with Indians. Henry Obeel, Cornplanter's eldest son, a major in the late war, officiated as my interpreter. He performed with promptitude and in such a manner as to arrest the attention of the aboriginal part of my auditory. He has often interpreted in councils, on subjects of business, but never before for a clergyman. Few of the Senecas have ever had so great advantages for an education as the major. In early life, he was at school nearly six years in Philadelphia. He is a man of a very strong mind, and, were his moral character as exemplary as that of his venerable father, he might calculate on arriving, in due time, at the highest honours of his tribe. At the close of each of my discourses, Cornplanter rose and delivered an interesting address, in which he expressed his gratitude for the notice taken of him and his people. He said, I am always happy to see the ministers and to have them preach in Jennesadara. We begin to understand something of the gospel. We have been in the dark, but we are beginning to see light. I have long been convinced that we are wrong and that you are right. 210 Mission of Rev. Timothy Alden I have often told my people, that we must be wrong and that you must be right, because you have the words of the Great Spirit written in a book. I had informed him, the day before, that I was going to see Red Jacket, and the Indians of his village. In one of his addresses, with which he was pleased to honour me, he said, I have often talked to Red Jacket about worshipping the Great Spirit in your way; but he has constantly told me that he was determined never to conform to your way. He said he meant to hold, on in the way which his fathers had taught him. As your object is good, it can do no hurt for you to visit him and his people, but I do not think that he will take hold of it, [that is, as the interpreter was understood, Red Jacket would not consent to embrace the terms of the gospel.] If I thought Red Jacket would take hold of it, I would go with you to see Red Jacket and talk to him about it. What an interesting idea! Cornplanter, with his imperfect knowledge, is so impressed with the importance of the Christian religion, that, could he have assurances that a brother chief, heretofore avowedly hostile, was become friendly to it, he would travel one of the worst roads in America, a hundred miles, merely to talk to him about it! Must he not have been blessed with some special communications from the Holy Spirit? On the following day, he very obligingly accompanied us fourteen miles, to Cold Spring. In passing difficult and dangerous places he kindly took the lead, showing us thes afest course, and, whenever we came to a piece of tolerable road, with much civility, he would fall back, and pointing for me to go forward, say, in broken English, good road, good road. We visited the school still kept by the worthy Mr. Samuel Oldham. It consists of thirteen Indian boys and eight or ten white children. Their instructor, at times, feels much discouraged at the slow progress of his aboriginal pupils; yet, it was evident that they had made considerable improvement in reading since our former visit. In penmanship they have done remarkably well. Some specimens of copy-hand writing, by the Indian boys, were excellent. Cornplanter said he hoped yet to see some of these so instructed as to become teachers in the tribe. Mr. Oldham and his pious consort are much esteemed by all the natives of the village, and receive many tokens of affection. A deer is never killed but they have a part of it. Mr. Oldham, in a very .commendable manner, holds a meeting on the sabbath, at which he reads some approved sermon, prays, and sings. The Indians and some of the white people residing on the Kinju flats, two miles below Jennesadaga, are constant attendants. The example of Mr. Oldham and his family has had a happy effect on the place. The sabbath is not profaned, as formerly, by labour, hunting, or amusements. A solemn stillness among the Seneca and Munsee Indians. 211 prevails and the poor Indians statedly resort to the house of prayer. The school at Cold Spring consists of seventeen Indian boys, who are diligently instructed by Mr. Elkinton, at the expense of the Friends, who have long bestowed their benevolent attentions on this section of the Seneca tribe. We heard the pupils spell in concert and in the same way repeat the multiplication table and various tables of weights and measures, with a correctness which bespoke the fidelity of their preceptor. Having a considerable distance to ride, that day, we could not spend so much time in examining the school as, otherwise, would have been gratifying. I preached at the house of Esquire Green, in Big Valley, nigh the upper end of the Indian reserve, which lies on the Alleghany. I was fortunate to meet with Mr. Daniel M Kay, a gentleman, whom I had formerly known, and who, from a former long residence among the Senecas, was well versed in their language. Au-nehyesh, a respectable chief, usually called Long John, and more than a dozen other Indians attended the meeting. Mr. M'Kay acted the part of an interpreter with ability. The chief made a speech, in which be thanked me for coming to see the Indians and to preach to them, and wished me to express his grateful acknowledgments to the good people, who thought so much of the poor Indians as to send a preacher to them. Something was suggested on the importance of having their children instructed, and the question was asked whether it would be agreeable to the Indians to have a school established at Squish-an-a-doh-toh, his place of residence. He was understood to accede to the importance of such institutions, but said he could not make a reply till a council had decided. I intimated that, in case the chiefs should communicate a wish to have a school in that part of the reserve, which is remote from the one under the kind direction of the Friends, there was no doubt but such a wish would be promptly gratified. Shaping our course northerly, through Big Valley, Isshua, Eden, and Hamburgh, we came to the shore of lake Erie, fourteen miles from Buffalo. On Tuesday evening the 20th of August, we arrived at the house of Mr. Jabez Backus Hyde, a worthy pious man, with a charming family, who has kept the Indian school, for five years, in the Seneca village on Buffalo creek, four miles from its mouth. From all the intelligence I had been able to collect, I had little expectation of being permitted to preach the gospel to this part of the tribe. I, however, met with a much more agreeable reception than I had anticipated. On Wednesday, accompanied by Mr. Hyde, we visited some of the natives, and particularly Young King and Captain Pollard, two of the most influential chiefs. The business of my mission was made known to them, and they were pleased to express their approbation of the object. Pollard said he was glad I had called on the chiefs so as to inform them of my wishes, that they might have opportunity to 212 Mission of Rev. Timothy Alden communicate them to their people. Young King and Pollard agreed to give general notice of the meeting, which they preferred to have on the sabbath, and Jacob Jamieson engaged to interpret on the occasion. He is lately from Dartmouth college, where he had been a student two years. On Thursday we rode to Lewistown and returned on Saturday. On our way we had the satisfaction of viewing, for a few moments, that wonderful specimen of the true sublime of nature, the Falls of Niagara, or, in the language of the Senecas, Ye-uch-gau Kos-konghsha-de. We met at the school-house in the Seneca village, at the appointed time, and it was filled with the tawny inhabitants, while a considerable number stood without, at the door and windows. Ten chiefs were present, of whom one was the noted So-gwe-ewau-tau, which literally means, Wide awake and keeps every one else awake, known by the name of Red Jacket, of whose shrewd remarks to missionaries, on some former occasions, you have probably been apprised. As I did not call on him on the previous Wednesday, I knew not but he would have thought himself neglected. I was happy to learn that, when Pollard informed him of my arrival and wishes to preach to the Indians, he expressed his unqualified approbation of the steps taken for that purpose, and offered nothing in the way of objection, as he had formerly done to my predecessors. Mr. Hyde was delighted to see such a full meeting, and especially so many chiefs giving a respectful attention to the word dispensed. In my address, I spoke of the past and present state of the Indians, lamented the bad example too often set them, and the injustice not unfrequently done them by the unprincipled among their white brethren. I spoke of the excellence and infinite importance of the gospel and the comfort, which many Indians had enjoyed, on a death-bed, in trusting their souls to the Lord Jesus Christ, I descanted on the uncertainty of life, judgment to come, and an eternity to follow, the awful state of all men by nature, and the only method of escape from the wrath which awaits the impenitent and unbelieving, representing that Jesus is the Son of God, and the only Saviour of the world. I also spoke of the wonderful exertions of the present day for sending the gospel to the unenlightened parts' of the earth, of the prophetic declarations of Scripture relative to a happy period, which is fast approaching, when the poor Indians, and millions of the human race as ignorant as they, would be brought to behold and to rejoice in the glorious light of the gospel; when every wicked practice would come to an end, and all the tribes of men would form one vast band of brethren. I mentioned that the good people of Boston and its vicinity, a distant place on this island, adopting their language, had sent me to preach to them, that they had no sinister motives for so doing, that they did not wish for their land nor any thing they possessed; but, feeling the comforts of religion in their own hearts, they longed to see the Indians and all their fellow |