added he, "perhaps God may take me from you, so that I shall speak to you no more." After this he grew worse, and was soon confined to his house and to his bed. As the Indians loved him as their father and their friend, they were much concerned at his illness, and often visited him as he lay on his death bed. On these occasions, he earnestly en forced on them the instructions, the counsels, the warnings, the admonitions, he had frequently given them in the course of his past labours; charging them, in the most serious and solemn manner, to attend to religion as the great concern of life, if they would meet him at last in peace. The Indians, of their own accord, assembled in the meeting-house, in order to unite together in prayer for the restoration of his health and his continuance among them. Such, however, was not the will of God. After an illness of about four weeks, he died, in the full hope of a glorious immortality, July 27, 1749, in the thirty-ninth year of his age, and the fifteenth of his labours among the Indians.*

Thus died Mr. John Sergeant, a man of such singular worth, and such various excellence, that his equal is rarely met with in the church of Christ. The brightness of his genius, the extent of his learning, the sweetness of his ter per, the agreeableness of his conversation, the strength nd fervour of his zeal, the unweariedness of his diligence were the least of those qualities which distinguished an ennobled his character. True and undissembled piety reflected a lustre on all his other endowments, whether nural or acquired, and qualified him to be useful, in no o-inary degree, in the church and in the world. He posessed a most tender conscience, a most catholic spirit a most benevolent heart. He maintained a happy equibrium in his temper, He was never and a constant control over his assions. melancholy; yet always seriou never mirthful, yet always cheerful. He suffered not hard, envious, angry word, to

escape his lips; and even when he met with injurious treatment, instead of raising his indignation and resentment, it excited his pity and compassion. Perhaps, however, the best eulogium that can be passed on Mr. Sergeant, were the tears shed by the Indians, not only at his death, but even long after, whenever they visited his house.*

With regard to his success among the Indians, though it was not equal to the desires of his generous heart, yet it was by no means inconsiderable. When he first visited them, they lived in miserable huts, were much dispersed through the country, and were often moving from place to place: their whole number, including both old and young, was under fifty, and all of them were sunk in the depths of heathen ignorance and barbarity. When he died, they were collected together into a town, and, instead of their bark wigwams, they possessed twenty houses built in the English style; and they now amounted to no fewer than two hundred and eighteen. During the course of his labours, he had baptized one hundred and eighty-two of the Indians; of these a hundred and twenty-nine were still alive, and resided at Stockbridge; and forty-two were communicants. The number Who attended the school under Mr. Woodbridge was fiftyfive, besides those who were in the charity-school. In the town here were likewise twelve or thirteen English families, who we encouraged to take up their residence in it, with the view & promoting; by their example, the arts of industry among t Indians.t

After the dth of this excellent man, the charge of the Indians devolved for some time, on Mr. Woodbridge, the teacher of the schoo. and it appears that Mr. Hollis, with that generosity for whh he was so remarkable, increased the number of boys to be ucated and maintained at his expense, to thirty-six, for each \f whom he allowed the sum of five pounds sterling a year.‡

At, length, however, in August 1751, that distinguished man, the Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, was settled at Stockbridge in the room of the late Mr. Sergeant. For several years past, some unhappy differences had subsisted between him and his congregation, in consequence of his faithfulness and zeal in checking the progress of immorality among the young people of his congregation, and in exercising greater strictness of discipline in the admission of church members. To the everlasting disgrace of his people, the opposition which they raised to these measures was so unchristian and so violent, that in an ecclesiastical council called for the purpose of examining into the state of the affair, it was deemed expedient to dissolve Mr. Edwards' connection with them; and when the question was publicly referred to the people, whether they still insisted upon his dismission from the pastoral office among them, a great majority, (no fewer than two hundred and twenty) zealously voted for the separation. After he was dismissed in this shameful manner, he occasionally preached to them, when they had no other supply; but even this gave great umbrage to many of them; and at a meeting of the congregation, they passed a vote, that it was not agreeable to them, that their late pastor should preach among them. Accordingly, when they had no other minister, even though Mr. Edwards was in town, they carried on some kind of worship among themselves, rather than invite him to preach to them. Such was the conduct of a Christian congregation to this illustrious man:-a man who, for talents and learning, for judgment and piety, for faithfulness and zeal, has had few equals in the church of Christ.*

When Mr. Edwards entered on his labours at Stockbrige, there appeared a fair prospect of his being extensively useful, not only among the Indians of that town, but among the Mohawks, some of whom came thither and brought a num

The Life and Character of the late Rev. Jonathan Edwards, together with eighteen select Sermons, p. 36, 62.

ber of their own and their neighbours' children with them to be educated in the charity school. This was a measure which the General Court of Massachusetts were anxious to promote, and with the view of forwarding it, they provided lands on which the Mohawks might settle.*

Partly, however, through some unhappy differences among those who had the chief management of the Indian affairs at Stockbridge, who, strange to tell, were divided into violent parties,† and partly through the war between England and France, this fair prospect was blasted like a blossom in spring. Mr. Edwards' labours, in this place, were attended with no remarkable success, though he performed the duties of his office to the satisfaction of the inhabitants in general, both Indian and English, as well as of the commissioners who had the superintendance of the mission, and who placed great confidence in his judgment relative to every thing connected with it.‡

But though Mr. Edwards appears to have had no remarkable success as a missionary among the Indians, the time he spent at Stockbridge was by no means lost to the world or the church of Christ. Being here less exposed to interruption than at Northampton, he applied himself to study with more incessant diligence, and with greater success than ever. During the period of his residence at Stockbridge, he added more to his manuscripts, than within the same space, in any other period of his life; and it was at this time that he wrote the two last works he published, on the Freedom of the Will, and on Original Sin.§

After labouring upwards of six years as a missionary at Stockbridge, Mr. Edwards received an invitation to be the President of the New-Jersey College. As he had no expectation of this, it filled him with the greatest astonishment and concern; for though he was a man of distinguished talents and learning, he was no less remarkable for his modesty and

• Hopkin's Mem.-Edwards' Life, p. 86. Edwards' Life, p. 87.

† Mass. Hist Coll. vol. iv. p. 55. Edwards' Life, p. 87.

humility. He considered himself as so unqualified for this important station, that he wondered how gentlemen of so much judgment, and so well acquainted with him as some of the trustees were, should have thought of him for a moment. Siy defects," says he, in a letter which he addressed to them," unfit me for such an undertaking, many of which are generally known, besides others of which my heart is conscious. I have a constitution, in many respects, peculiarly unhappy, attended with flaccid solids, scarce fluids, and a low tide of spirits, often occasioning a kind of childish weakness and contemptibleness of speech, presence and demeanour, with a disagreeable dulness and stiffness, much unfitting me for conversation, but more especially for the government of a college. The poorness of constitution makes me shrink at the thoughts of undertaking, in the decline of life, such a new and great work, attended with such a multiplicity of cares, and requiring such a degree of activity and alertness, and spirit of government, especially as succeeding one" (the late President Burr) so remarkably well qualified in these respects, giving occasion to every person to remark the wide difference between us. Besides, I am deficient in some parts of learning, particularly in algebra and the higher parts of mathematics, and the Greek classics, my knowledge of Greek being chiefly confined to the New Testament."*

Mr. Edwards, however, did not positively reject the invitation, but agreed to take the advice of some of his friends in the ministry on the subject. By his desire, a number of them, accordingly, met at Stockbridge, and after hearing his representation of the matter, and the objections of his people to his removal, they determined that it was his duty to accept of the presidency of the college. When they made known this advice to him, Mr. Edwards appeared uncommonly moved, and burst into tears, a thing very unsual with him, in the presence of others. He soon after said to them, it

Edwards' Life, p. 88.