ground of complaint. Of this letter, Mr. Edwards enclosed a copy; offering to forward the original, if desired, and, at the same time, to substantiate every part of his own statement, by numerous witnesses, of the most unexceptionable character.

From his letter to the Speaker, it appears, that the writer of the Report charged him--with introducing Mr. Hawley into the school;-with introducing a master, in his absence, and when there was reason to expect his return;-with doing this, when he had been at the expense of a journey of his son of 260 miles, to procure Mr. Hawley as master of the boys;-with introducing Mr. Ashley, the interpreter, as assistant instructor;-and with opposing the appointment of his wife, as teacher of the female school;--and that he also alleged, that the school was in very desirable circumstances, until Mr. Hawley took it, and that it then declined; that the Mohawks had been discouraged, through the conduct of the agents of the mission; and that Mr. Edwards was not qualified for his office, because, on account of his age, he could not learn the language of the Indians.

To these charges, Mr. Edwards replied, that he introduced Mr. Hawley, because he was directed so to do, by the letter of the Commissioners, of Dec. 31, 1751;-that he introduced a master, in the absence of the author of the Report, for two reasons, 1, Because he knew not when he was to return; and, 2, Because the author of the Report, himself, in a letter sent him by his son, requested him, at that very time, to introduce a master into the school; of which letter he inclosed a copy, with the offer of forwarding the original, if desired;-that, when the author of the Report sent his son on the specified journey, it was not to procure Mr. Hawley, to be a master for the boys, but it was, that the son himself might be the master; for evidence of which, appeal is also made to the copy of the same letter;-that, as to the appointment of teacher of the female school, he said nothing about it, until expressly requested to give his opinion by the Commissioners; that so far was the school from being in desirable circumstances, before the introduction of Mr. Hawley, that the author of the Report had, himself, represented it as having been, until that time, in most lamentable circumstances, in the very letter of which he enclosed a copy, in which he requested Mr. Edwards to introduce his son into the school, in the room of the former master;-that the school continued to flourish under Mr. Hawley, until his opposers used their utmost endeavours to destroy it; for evidence of which, he offers the testimony of the substantial inhabitants of the town ;-that Hendrick, and the other Chiefs, and the Mohawks generally, had expressly assigned their dissatisfaction with the conduct of these individuals, as the reason of their leaving Stockbridge; for evidence of which, he offers the same testimony; and, as to his learning the Housatonnuck language, that the author of the Re

port knew how the case would be, before he recommended him to the office of missionary; and that Mr. Sergeant, after fourteen years study, had never been able to preach in it, nor even to pray in it except by a form, and had often expressed the opinion, previous to his death, that his successor ought not to trouble himself, in learning the language. He then requests, that the Speaker would communicate his letter to the Assembly, and prays that honourable body, if they proposed to take any order on the case, first to give him opportunity to meet his accuser face to face.

I have no means of ascertaining whether the preceding letter was, or was not, read to the Legislature. If not; it was because the Honourable Speaker, who was a personal friend of Mr. Edwards, found it to be wholly unnecessary. And it can scarcely be necessary to inform the reader, that the attack, made thus directly upon Mr. Edwards, and indirectly upon all his associates in the mission, not only failed altogether of its intended effect; but, by leading to a developement of the mercenary scheme, devised to divert, to the purposes of private emolument, the consecrated charities of the Province and of individuals, recoiled with increased violence upon its authors.

Thus far the individuals, opposed to the Stockbridge missionaries, had met with little success, to encourage their efforts. They had looked for help to various sources: to the Indians and to the people of Stockbridge, to the Commissioners and to the Provincial Legislature, to Mr. Hollis and to the Society in London: and in every instance, so far as the result was known, they had looked in vain. The Housatonnucks had refused all intercourse with them. From disgust at their management, a part of the Mohawks had actually retired, and the rest were threatening to retire, to their own country. The people of Stockbridge had, to a man, united against them. The Commissioners were equally unanimous, in sustaining the individuals, whose overthrow they had attempted. And now, before the Provincial legislature, they had made their great and united effort, and had failed. In the mean time, Mr. Edwards was even more firmly established, as the Indian Missionary, and Mr. Woodbridge as the school-master of the Housatonnucks; Mr. Hawley had not been compelled to resign his place to the son of the resident trustee; the female school had not as yet been secured to his wife, and obviously could not now be, unless secured to her in London; and the stewardship of the three schools was not likely to be conferred on himself. Such was the state of things in the spring of 1753. It looked as though the great struggle was over; and that the party, which had thitherto acted on the offensive, would thenceforward be quiet, from a conviction, that every hostile movement must issue in defeat. The result justified this conclusion.

To Mr. Edwards, and his associates in the mission, as well as to their friends, this result must have been in a high degree satisfactory. On his arrival in Stockbridge, he found this controversy waging, and soon discovered that it was a controversy between the friends and enemies of the mission; between those who aimed at the real welfare of the Indians, and those who endeavoured to use them as instruments of their own private emolument; that one party relied on wealth, and office, and influence, to carry its measures; and the other, on personal integrity, a conscientious discharge of duty, and the protection of God. For a time he avoided taking any part in it; and his own temporal comfort, and the welfare of his family, seemed to require, that he should persevere in the same course. But his conscience forbade it. He must either sit quietly by, and see the charities of the Province, of the Society in London, and of Mr. Hollis, diverted from their appointed course, to fill the coffers of private avarice; or he must unite with those who were exerting their whole influence to prevent it. In such a state of things, he could not deliberate; and, through the divine blessing, he and his associates were now permitted to see, that they had not toiled and suffered in vain.

1

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Letter to his eldest Son.-Return of greater part of the Mohawks. -Letter to Commissioners.-Mission of Mr. Hawley to Onohquauga.-Remainder of Mohawks directed to return.-Freedom of the Will.-Letter to Mr. Erskine.-Proposal of Society in London.-Letter to Mr. Gillespie.-Design and Character of the Freedom of the Will.-Letters from Mr. Hollis.-Surrender of Mohawk School to Mr. Edwards.-Entire Defeat of Enemies of Mission.-Return of remaining Mohawks.

EARLY in the ensuing spring, the eldest son of Mr. Edwards, then a lad of fourteen, went to New-York, and thence to New-Jersey; and on his way, was much exposed to the small-pox. On his return to New-York, he was seized with a violent fever. His father hearing this, and not knowing whether it was an ordinary fever, or the small-pox, addressed to him the following letter; which, like all his letters to his children, indicates that his chief anxiety was for their salvation.

"To Master Timothy Edwards, at New-York.

"MY DEAR CHILD,

your

"Stockbridge, April, 1753.

"Before you will receive this letter, the matter will doubtless be determined, as to your having the small-pox. You will either be sick with that distemper, or will be past danger of having it, from any infection taken in your voyage. But whether you are sick, or well, like to die, or like to live, I hope you are earnestly seeking salvation. I am sure there is a great deal of reason it should be so, considering the warnings you have had in word and in providence. That which you met with, in your passage from New York to Newark, which was the occasion of your fever, was indeed a remarkable warning, a dispensation full of instruction, and a very loud call of God to you, to make haste, and not to delay in the great business of religion. If you now have that distemper, which you have been threatened with, you are separated from your earthly friends, as none of them can come to see you; and if you should die of it, you have already taken a final and everlasting leave of them while you are yet alive, so as not to have the comfort of their presence and immediate care, and never to see them again in the land of the living. And if you have escaped that distemper,

it is by a remarkable providence that you are preserved. And your having been so exposed to it, must certainly be a loud call of God, not to trust in earthly friends, or any thing here below. Young persons are very apt to trust in parents and friends, when they think of being on a death bed. But this providence remarkably teaches you the need of a better Friend, and a better Parent, than earthly parents are; one who is every where present, and all-sufficient, that cannot be kept off by infectious distempers, who is able to save from death, or to make happy in death, to save from eternal misery, and to bestow eternal life. It is indeed comfortable, when one is in great pain, and languishing under sore sickness, to have the presence, and kind care, of near and dear earthly friends; but this is a very small thing, in comparison of what it is, to have the presence of an heavenly Father, and a compassionate and almighty Redeemer. In God's favour is life, and his loving kindness is better than life. Whether you are in sickness or health, you infinitely need this. But you must know, however great need you stand in of it, you do not deserve it: neither is God the more obliged to bestow it upon you, for your standing in need of it, your earnest desiring of it, your crying to him constantly for it from fear of misery, and taking much pains. Till you have savingly believed in Christ, all your desires, and pains, and prayers lay God under no obligation; and, if they were ten thousand times as great as they are, you must still know, that you would be in the hands of a sovereign God, who hath mercy on whom he will have mercy. Indeed, God often hears the poor miserable cries of sinful vile creatures, who have no manner of true regard to Him in their hearts; for he is a God of infinite mercy, and he delights to show mercy for his Son's sake, who is worthy, though you are unworthy, who came to save the sinful and the miserable, yea, some of the chief of sinners. Therefore, there is your only hope; and in him must be your refuge, who invites to come to him, you "Him that cometh to me, I and says, will in no wise cast out." Whatever your circumstances are, it is your duty not to despair, but to hope in infinite mercy, through a Redeemer. For God makes it your duty to pray to him for mercy; which would not be your duty, if it was allowable for you to despair. We are expressly commanded to call upon God, in the day of trouble, and when we are afflicted, then to pray. But, if I hear that you have escaped, either that you have not been sick, or are restored, though I shall rejoice, and have great cause of thankfulness, yet I shall be concerned for you. If your escape should be followed with carelessness and security, and forgetting the remarkable warning you have had, and God's great mercy in your deliverance, it would in some respects be more awful than sore sickness. It would be very provoking to God, and would probably issue in an increasing hardness of heart; and, it may be, divine vengeance may soon overtake you. I have known various in