heart. With deep contrition I besought the Lord to pardon my distrust of his Word, whereby I had so deeply grieved him and his Spirit, and had stood in my own light. From that day, whenever doubts would arise in my mind, I invariably sought refuge with Jesus, who every time delivered me from them.-Not finding the genuine traits of a child of God in my character, according to my preconceived ideas, I became exceedingly anxious to ascertain, whether I was indeed in a state of grace. But when I fervently besought the Savior to render the subject more clear to me, for else the feeling of my poverty would preclude the possibility of enjoying one happy hour, I was nicely comforted by calling to mind the words of the poet : "I'll spare all needless thinking, THAT THOUR'T MY ALL, SUFFICETH ME! "I now was enabled to believe, that I was his blood bought property, and that nothing further was required of me, than to follow him truly in faith and to submit to the guidance of his holy Spirit.-On another occasion my mind was thrown into great distress and agitation, when I reflected, that notwithstanding the work of our Redemption had been completed, there were still such multitudes of human beings who would perhaps ever remain in their lost condition. Then on Easter Sunday morning of 1803 my troubled soul was greatly comforted, while reading the history of our Lord's resurrection, and more particularly by the words of St. Paul, Rom. 8. 34. "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us?"-I felt myself strengthened and revived in a manner I had never before experienced, and so exceedingly happy, that I longed to tell every body, how easily a sinner may become an adopted child of God, seeing that, since the just died for the unjust, nothing more is required than a believing reception of the proffered grace. From that hour I felt more desirous than ever to enjoy the merits of the Savior in my heart and also to proclaim the same to the heathen in their lost condition; and no longer to dwell so much on their great and sinful wretchedness, as well as my own, which only tended to beget a disconsolate state of mind, but rather to rejoice and glory in that truth, that "the prince of this world is judged," and that the Savior" hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”— Our late brother during his stay of several months at Bethlehem employed his time in copying the manuscript translation-into the Delaware language (of the harmony of the 4 gospels), and then spent 7 months of the year 1807 as a teacher at Nazareth Hall. In the fall of that year we find him once more engaged in the mission service at Goshen on the Muskingum. In August 1808 he travelled a circuitous route of about 380 miles with the missionary br. J. Haven, in quest of a suitable location for the Indian flock that had hitherto resided at Pettquotting, on lake Erie, and then went on to Bethlehem to report to conference what had been the result of their journey. After a stay of 6 weeks there, he travelled on to Washington in br. John G. Cunow's company, to commend our Indian mission to the protection of the general government, and then returned to Goshen by way of Pittsburg. In the beginning of April, 1809 he travelled to the station at Fairfield in Upper Canada, to which he had been recently called, where he profited greatly by his intercourse and conversation with his colleague br. C. F. Denke, in acquiring greater fluency in speaking the Indian Janguage. In 1810 he paid several visits to the Delawares and Monseys residing 100 miles from Fairfield, and preached the gospel to them in their native tongue, where on one occasion he lodged with the notorious Indian sorcerer Onim, who being subsequently converted to Christianity, was baptized by br. Denke, and received the name of Leonhard.—In the spring of 1811 he and br. Joachim Hagen commenced a station in the vicinity of Lower Sandusky for the purpose of collecting the scattered remains of the former Indian congregation at Pettquotting. After contending with many difficulties here, they were compelled to leave the station, owing to the war breaking out between Great Britain and the United States, and br. Hagen's suffering state of health requiring that he should return to Bethlehem, they both fled for safety to Goshen. br. David Zeisberger having departed this life, and br. and sr. Mortimer being called to serve the Lord at New York, the sole charge of the Indian congregation at Goshen now devolved upon br. Luckenbach. After stating that he had passed a quiet and pleasant winter, he proceeds to relate the troubles which he and his flock encountered in the spring of 1813, in consequence of their being suspected by their white neighbors of keeping up a secret correspondence with the Indians in Canada, wherefore the former kept a vigilant eye upon all their movements. "It so happened, that on 3d of April 1813 two Indians arrived towards evening in our village from the British province, with the design, as Philip Ignatius, one of the two, subsequently stated, of carrying his mother and sister over to Canada. I was the only one at home that day, (our people having gone out to their sugar camp,) and therefore these men spent the night with their relatives in the woods, without being detected. On their way to Goshen, about 40 miles from the village, they had been seen by some white people, who set off in pursuit of them, as far as New Philadelphia, where they engaged an officer with a number of men to trace them as far as Goshen, and to secure them there if possible as British spies. On their arrival at the village, they searched my house and all the premises around and gave me to understand, that I must be informed of the whereabouts of the two Indians, and that I had most likely conspired with our people, to provide a hiding place for them. Not finding a trace of them in the village, the men hurried away to the sugar camp, whither I, being ignorant of the whole affair and still hoping it would turn out to be a false alarm, accompanied them. But on arriving there, I was presently undeceived, by learning, that the two Indians, on hearing that some men were in pursuit of them, had fled to a small island in the Muskingum and had hid themselves there among the bushes. We found the island already surrounded by white people, some of whom were prepared, as soon as they should obtain a sight of the fugitives, in case they should refuse to surrender themselves forthwith, to shoot them down at once. I accordingly called to the Indians to come out from their retreat, and voluntarily to give themselves up, while at the same time I besought the officer to restrain his men, to prevent the effusion of blood. All this was done accordingly; but while they were pinioning the Indians, one of the company proposed, that I should likewise be arrested, being not a whit better than the Indians, who had kept the arrival of these spies a se cret. The company however turned a deaf ear to this evil disposed man's suggestion, and merely laid hold of Isaac George, one of the Goshen Indians, who had denied that any Indians had arrived from abroad, bound him, and carried him with the two others to prison in New Philadelphia. This event involved the Indian flock at Goshen in the greatest trouble. The mother and sister of Philip Ignatius, and the daughters of the latter kept up an incessant weeping and lamentation for several days and nights in succession, refusing to be comforted, being under the fixed impression, that their relatives as well as their fellow prisoner, would be sentenced to death, because both were deemed to be spies, and the former was strongly suspected, of having been accessory to the murder of several white families, near Mansfield last fall. The minds of the white people living in the vicinity of Mansfield and Wooster, as well as around New Philadelphia becoming daily more embittered against the Indians, owing to cruelties practised by Indian warriors in British pay, against American soldiers, some well wishers to our little flock advised them to leave Goshen and retire to another spot, where they would be more immediately under protection of government. But they replied: "God can just as well, if He sees proper, protect us here; and if not, we would rather die on our own soil, than on a stranger's !"-The prisoners having been confined about five weeks, and a report having circulated, that governor Meigs intended to set them at liberty, a troop of armed men (arrived one day,) from Mansfield and Wooster at New Philadelphia and in a turbulent manner demanded the extradition of the prisoners, and even made preparations to break open the door of the prisBut the New Philadelphians not wishing the odium of this proceeding to rest upon them, resolutely opposed the operations of the troop and thus prevented the execution of their cruel purpose. The enraged men on seeing that they could not wreak their vengeance on the prisoners, suddenly resolved to let it fall upon the inhabitants of Goshen. They accordingly threatened to march in arms thither and to storm the place, which we were immediately informed of by some members of the Sharon congregation, who had just arrived from New Philadelphia. They offered to receive our Indians into their houses and barns and to protect them in case they were suddenly attacked; in consequence whereof all our people left the town; and as some thought that I would also incur danger by remaining at Goshen, I likewise consented to go to Sharon. However the Lord mercifully averted the threatened storm from us, by causing our enemies to lose all further courage to carry out their design, so that they retraced their steps homewards, without wreaking their vengeance on any body. Some months after, all the prisoners were once more set at liberty." on. Sept. 7th 1813 he was united in holy matrimony to sr. Rosina Heckedorn, at Sharon, by br. George G. Miller, pastor of the church at Gnadenhuetten. They lived at Goshen, and labored together for 7 years, during which time 3 daughters were born unto them, of which the oldest died, when only 9 weeks of age; and the father himself, owing to the absence of other ministers of our church, had to officiate at her funeral. In May 1820 he removed with his family to New Fairfield, encountering a number of hardships during their toilsome journey by land and water. In crossing Lake St. Clair on their way from Cleveland to Detroit, they were overtaken by a heavy gale, in an open boat, which was almost swamped by the waves. The Lord however answered their prayers, and enabled them at last to enter the mouth of the Thames river, before night had fully set in. They were hospitably received and entertained by a Frenchman in his little cabin, where they succeeded in drying their clothes and bedding. Next day they travelled 4 miles further up the river to Mr. Isaac Dolson's who likewise gave them a friendly reception. After a stay of two days they proceeded to Mr. John Dolson's, where they were met and welcomed by the missionary brethren John R. Schmidt and Adam Haman, together with the greater part of the Indian congregation from New Fairfield. In the company of these brethren they reached the place of their destination on the 13th of June, grateful to the Lord for the gracious protection vouchsafed to them during their journey. In 1825 they visited Bethlehem to place the oldest of their daughters, and again in 1830 to put their youngest daughter into the Boarding school of that place. Returning home to New Fairfield from this last mentioned visit, they travelled by way of New York, Albany and Queenston, and from thence by land, to Brandfort. They staid several days in a settlement of Delaware and Monsey Indians on Grand River, preaching the gospel to them, a number of whom subsequentlyremoved to New Fairfield. Leaving Brantford in the public stage to travel over another 130 miles, they experienced a remarkable interposition of a kind Providence in their behalf, of which br. Luckenbach gives the following relation: "The stage driver being drunk, and incapable of managing his horses, drove rapidly off, though the pole of the carriage was already broke by a violent thump of the stage. My partner and myself seeing the danger to which we were exposed, got out of the stage at a favorable moment, when the driver had been compelled to stop, in order to pick up his hat, which he had lost. The two passengers inside tried to prevail on us, not to continue our journey on foot, but to resume our seats again. Finding us inexorable, the driver set off again at full speed, with his remaining passengers, who had likewise drunk too deeply. Having but half a mile more to go, before we reached the next station, we comforted ourselves, that we should reach it in due time, notwithstanding the darkness of the night. After traversing about half a mile, we discovered a light ahead of us, which we presumed came from a house at the roadside. But on a nearer approach, to our dismay, we discovered that our fellow travellers were the cause of it. A severe thump of the open carriage against a stump, had pitched the whole of them out upon the ground. One man broke his collar bone, and the other, who had fainted away, had to be carried into the next house. The four horses having tore lose from the carriage, ran off, while the latter being dashed to pieces, had to be gradually removed. We blessed the Lord in secret, for having put it into our hearts how to effect a timely escape from this accident. Next day, after an absence of four months we reached New Fairfield safely. In 1832 br. Adam Haman, who had labored for 12 years with me at this station, left us in company with his daughter (now 6 years of age), which was to my wife almost as severe a trial, as to have to part with her own child, inasmuch as she had acted the part of a mother to this motherless child, for two years and one half." In 1833, after his new assistant br. Jesse Vogler, with his wife, had arrived at New Fairfield, in consequence of which he had more leisure at command than heretofore, he undertook and finished the translation of Huebner's Bible Stories (in German) into the Delaware tongue, which were afterwards printed at the expense of the American Tract Society, and distributed among the members of the Indian congregation as a reading book. The removal of a party of the Indian congregation from New Fairfield to a place subsequently named Westfield on the banks of the Missouri river, in the month of July 1837, proved a source of great discomfort and a severe trial to all the missionaries. After they had left the place, in sixteen canoes, under br. Vogler's guidance, our late brother and his remaining flock, which comprised the better disposed part of the congregation, enjoyed more peace and quietness in their village. Sr. Vogler and her two children, having followed her husband, in company with br. and sr. Chrn. Miksch, to Westfield in the spring of 1838, br. and sr. Luckenbach attended alone to their charge, until br. and sr. Bachman arrived as their assistants in the fall of the same year. But the latter being compelled to leave the station again in 1842, owing to sr. Bachman's feeble health, our late brother began to feel the duties of the station becoming too oppressive for his sinking constitution, more especially after his last assistant had left him in the fall of said year, to return to Bethlehem. He accordingly obtained permission from Conference to retire from actual service, much as he would have preferred spending the remainder of his days among his beloved Indians, if age and circumstances had not imperiously demanded his retirement. His family have furnished the following appendix to his autobiography, which we insert entire, as follows: Our sainted Father selected Bethlehem as his resting station, whereby the family circle, which had been disrupted for a number of years, was reunited. On their way hither, the aged couple paid a last visit to the first scene of their missionary activity, as well as to the grave of their firstborn daughter, on the banks of the Muskingum, and arrived here some time in July 1843. The external changes which the congregation had undergone, during his long absence of forty years therefrom, (a few hasty visits excepted), as well as his sudden exhonoration from all those ministerial duties he had so long been accustomed to perform, did not suffer him at first to enjoy his rest so highly as either he had hoped for, or we had wished. Soon, however, he found employment adapted to his reduced strength, not only in visiting the sick and administering to them the consolations of the gospel, but also by distributing religious tracts among the spiritually destitute boatmen on the Lehigh canal. A new edition of the Delaware Indian hymnbook being demanded, the American Tract Society having engaged itself to defray the printing expenses, he cheerfully acceded to the request of the P. H. Conference to undertake the revision of this work, for which, owing to his rare knowledge of this difficult language, he was singularly qualified. When engaged in this employment, he seemed to retrace the earlier scenes of his first christian love, so that while erecting this last monument of his love to the red sons of the forest, his spirit felt so much revived, as to cause him to forget the depression of old age. Although the infirmities of increasing years were gradually accumulating upon him, yet on the whole, he enjoyed a tolerable share of health, so that he was but rarely prevented from regularly attending the services of the sanctuary, which at all times proved a rich solace to his heart. Owing to the peculiarity of his bodily complaints, he, as well as we, were frequently apprehensive, that the closing scenes of his life would be excessively painful. But the Lord graciously heard and answered his prayers and ours, by very considerably abating the poignancy of his sufferings at the last. About five weeks before he died, he was seized by a slow fever, which so reduced his remaining strength, that he soon became convinced that the Lord would cause this illness to terminate in his dissolution. It was to him a great source of consolation, that it pleased the Lord to enable his partner, who for forty years had taken a lively share in all his joys and sorrows, to nurse and tend on him; and sometimes he even forgot his own sufferings, while laboring under the apprehension, that she might be broken down by overexertion and fatigue in waiting upon him. Agreeably to his own request, the benediction of the Lord and his church was imparted to him on Friday afternoon, the third of March, when he feebly, yet cheerfully joined in singing the hymns sung at his bedside. May the sweet and sensible realization of the presence of his Lord and Master, with which we were favored on that solemn occasion, be ever held in remembrance by us. |