⚫penness of manners, and courteousness of address, which could not fail to render him pleasing and acceptable; if worldly distinction had been his object, his prospects were flattering in no common degree. But he was not influenced by selfish desires. His heart, it would seem, was weaned from the world. While a member of college he apprehended that he was the subject of a saving change wrought by the Spirit of God, of a renovation of soul, of conver sion from sin unto holiness; and he had long regarded with compassion the rude and barbarous natives of this country, daily supplicating God to render him instrumental in turning them from darkness unto light. His prayers were heard, and an unexpected way was opened for his entrance among the heathen. In that western part of the state of Massachusetts, which now constitutes the county of Berkshire, there was a small tribe called the Housatunnuk, Houssatonnoc, or Housatonic Indians, probably because they live ed upon a river to which they had given this name, and which retains it to this day. It signifies over the mountain. They were considered as attached to the larger tribe of River Indians, most of whom lived in the state of New York. Of these Indians the General Assembly, about the year 1720, purchased two townships on the river abovemention ed, with the reservation of two small tracts, the one called Skat ekook, which is now included in Sheffield, and the other Wnahktukook, in Stockbridge. At each of these places there were a few families of Indians, when the Vol. II. No. 8. X x English commenced their settlements near them, and Kunkapot, the principal person at Wrahktukook, was soon discovered to be an industrious and worthy man, who was inclined to embrace the Christian religion. The character of Kunkapot reaching the ears of the Commissioners for Indian affairs, at Boston, of whom Gov. Belcher was one, they dispatched the Rev. Messrs. Bull of Westfield, and Williams of Springfield to Housatonic to confer with the Indians upon their willingness to receive a missionary among them; and at the same time it pleased the Governor to bestow upon Kunkapot the commission of Captain, and upon Umpachenee, another Indian well disposed towards the English, and the principal per son at Skatekook, that of Lieutenant. In July, 1734, the Indians were visited by the gentlemen appointed for the purpose, and they cheerfully agreed, after four days' consultation, to receive a minister among them, who should teach them to read and instruct them in the truths of the gospel: At the close of the conference a belt of wompum* was presented to them by the Rev. Mr. Williams, as a solemn ratification of what had been transacted. Every obstruction to the estab .... *"A wompum is a small cylinder about one third of an inch long and as large as a straw, with a hole drilled through it length-wise. It is made of the shell of some sea-fish polished ve ry smooth. A number of these strung upon small threads and knit together form a belt of wompum." Strings of wompum were used as ornaments, and answered the purpose of money. Belts mations of treaties, and records of of wompum are preserved as confir events. lishment of a mission at Housatonic, on the part of the Indians, being thus removed, the next object was to find a suitable person to undertake the arduous employment; and Mr. Sergeant was the man in every respect qualified for the work. His desire to carry the glad tidings of pardon and salvation to those, who were ignorant of divine truth, being known, he was requested to accept the proposed mission, and he cheerfully consented. In Oct. 1734, he bid adieu to the pleasures of his situation in an excellent seat of learning, and proceeded towards the place of his future labours. From Westfield he was accompanied by Mr. Bull. "We sat out," he says in his journal," on Thursday, October 11th, in the afternoon, designing to lodge at a house about 15 miles onwards upon the road, which was the only house before we came to Housatonic. But night coming on too soon for us, we were forced to lodge in the woods without fire or shelter. The next day we got to Housatonic, a little before night, through a most doleful wilderness, and the worst road, perhaps, that ever was rid." "Oct. 13th, I made a short discourse to the Indians by an interpreter, an Indian called Ebenezer, to which the adults, about 20 in number, gave very good attention, especially Capt. Kunkahot, their chief, and his family. I adapted my discourse, as well as I could, to their capacity and manner of thinking." Ebenezer possessed a consider able knowledge of the principles of the Christian religion, and the next day, at his request, after declaring that "he would rather burn in the fire, than forsake the truth," after engaging to "forsake heathenish darkness, and embrace the light of the gospel and the way of holiness," and promising "by the help of divine grace to cleave to the Lord, with purpose of heart, &c." he was baptized by Mr. Bull at the house or wigwam of the Lieutenant. Thus was the 'mission smiled upon at its very commencement. Mr. Sergeant persuaded the Indians, who, it has been observed, lived at Skatekook and Wnahktukook, 8 or 10 miles distant from each other, to fix upon an intermediate spot between them, and to live together in one place for the greater convenience of assembling on the Sabbath and of having their children instructed. Here they cheerfully built a house, which answered the double purpose of a school-house and a house of worship; around which they constructed small huts for the accommodation of their families. This establishment, however, was only for winter, for in the summer they separated, and returned to their little tracts of land to plant corn and beans, which were the only vegetables they cultivated. Their principal reliance for subsistence was upon hunting. Ebenezer informed Mr. Sergeant, that "some of the Indians whom he had known, were atheists, who supposed all things began, continued, and ceased according to their several natures without any cause or direction from a superior hand. Others believed the sun to be God, or at least the body or residence of the deity; but that now they gener ally believed the existence of one supreme, invisible Being, the maker of all things. He mentioned also sundry ridiculous things, which they believed; as that the seven stars were so many Indians translated to heaven in a dance; that the stars in Charles' Wain are so many men hunting a bear; that they begin the chase in the spring and hold it all summer; by the fall they have wounded it, and that the blood turns the leaves red: by the winter they have killed it, and the snow is made of its fat; which being melted by the heat of the summer makes the sap of trees." (To be continued.) Religious Communications. CRITICISMS ON SCRIPTURE PASSAGES. Messrs. Editors, In the following remarks, which I beg leave to address to you, on the criticisms of. The ophilus, I shall aim to unite the respect which is due to his talents, with the freedom which be longs to an inquirer after the truth. I readily acknowledge that all his communications in the Panoplist display both learning and ingenuity. But as to the correctness of some of his "critical observations," you will permit me to express my serious doubts. In the first place, I have not been able to satisfy myself with the construction he gives of the passages, in which different forms of the Greek verb da are used. As 1 Cor. ii. 2. I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Considering adevar as having the power of the Hebrew conjugation Hiphil, The ophilus renders the passage thus; "I determined not to make known any thing, &c." But suffer me to query, for what reason, or by what authority? He informs us that the Seventy use the neutral verb a in an active or transitive sense, to quicken, or cause to live, and adds; "the same Hebrew idiom we find in the New Testament," immediately referring to the Greek ada, as affording instances. But I would ask, with deference, how it appears that this is the same idiom? The instance in 119th Psalm in the version of the Septuagint, is that of an intransitive neutral verb used in a transitive sense, to answer the meaning of the Hebrew Hiphil. But in the other passages mentioned by Theophilus, there appears no change from a neutral signification of a verb to an active, nor from an active to a neutral. According to his construction, the meaning of the verb undergoes an essential change, so that uda, an active, or transi. tive verb, signifies the same as Fragia, another active verb. The neutral verb (aw is indeed used in an active sense by the Septuagint. We find it in other psalms as well as in cxix. But in all those places the active or transitive sense is absolutely necessary. Kugios (noal autor in psalm xli. Kugi nous μs in cxliii., and are often repeated in cxix, admit no other rendering but, the Lord will quicken me, or keep me alive; Lord, thou wilt quicken me; and, quicken thou me. But in the places which T. cites, what occasion is there for the new rendering which he introduces? Is there any place in the New Testament, where such a render ing seems either necessary or proper? The passage in 1 Cor. ii. 2, has as plain, forcible, and momentous a meaning according to the common translation, as according to that which T. prefers; and, if I mistake not, much more extensive. The apostle's determining "not to know any thing among the Corinthians, save Jesus Christ and him crucified," evidently expresses a more unreserved devotion to Christ crucified, than determining "not to make known or preach any thing but Christ." The former comprehends the full meaning of the latter construction; but the latter does not comprehend the full meaning of the former. It is with reluctance I disclose the same dissatisfaction with T.'s construction of Mark xiii. 32. "Of that day and hour knoweth none, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father." On which T. remarks; "Christ had already foretold the event, and given the previous signs of it. Some might wish for a knowledge of the exact time of it. But this knowledge for varireasons was improper to be then communicated. Jesus ous therefore says, that day and hour none maketh known, no, not the angels, neither the Son. To reveal this belongs not to my commission; but it will be made known by the Father, in the course of his providence." T. adopts this construction, it seems, in order to avoid the So.. cinian argument against the divinity of Christ. But are not the expedience and fairness of this mode of constructing scripture very questionable? If it be an argument against the divinity of Christ, that he, in a certain sense, disclaims the knowledge of a future event, it is also an argument against his divinity, that he says or does any thing, which represents him as inferior or subordinate to the Father. And if, on that account, we are to give a new and unsupported transla tion of the text under consideration, we must do the same of others like it. According to this plan, all those texts which literally represent Christ as a real man, a servant, or a creature, must be made to speak a different language, lest our preconceived opinion of his character should be contradicted. No doctrine, in my apprehension, is more important, or more clearly taught in Scripture, than that of Christ's proper divinity. But if it cannot be supported without taking unjustifiable liberties with the word of God, let it fall. Withrespect to the office which Jesus sustained, as a man, a servant, a sufferer, he might,I humbly conceive, say, My Father is greater than I; I know not the time of the final judgment; I can do nothing of myself, &c. in perfect consistency with his true divinity, as the eternal Son of God. There is, according to T. a similar mode of expression in Christ's answer to the two breth ren, who solicited the honour of sitting the one on his right hand, and the other on his left in his kingdom. His construction is this; "To sit on my right hand and on my left, i. e. promotion to temporal honours, is not mine to give; it is not committed to me, as the teacher, reformer, and Saviour of men. But worldly honours will be given under my gospel, as they have been heretofore, to them for whom they are prepared of my Father. They will be dise pensed agreeably to the usual methods of Providence." This exposition, I acknowledge, seems to be favoured by considering that the sons of Zebedee, who solicited the favour, as well as all the disciples at that time, were so far under the influence of ambition, that they viewed the kingdom of Christ as comprising temporal promotion and honour. But while they spoke of his kingdom with mistaken apprehensions of its nature, it was nothing unusual for him to adapt his answer to the true nature of his spiritual kingdom. I would modestly query, whether T.'s construction, by being conformed to our translation, does not overlook the true meaning of this passage. On critical inquiry it will be evident, that a just rendering of the original text does not imply, as our translation does, that Christ disclaimed the right of distributing the honours of his kingdom. It cannot escape the notice of the common English reader, that these words in our version, it shall be given, are printed in italics, denoting that they are want ing in the original. "To sit on my right hand and on my left," says Jesus," is not mine to give, axxos &c. except to those for whom it is prepared of my Father." Thus Parkhurst renders it, referring to other places where a signifies but, except, unless. Campbell says, "the conjunction λ, where, as in this place, it is not followed by a verb, but by a noun or pronoun, is generally to be understood as of the same import with si un, unless, except." His translation agrees exactly with that of Parkhurst. Blackwall justifies this use of the conjunction by citing classical authority. Guyse exhibits the same easy and agreeable construction of the text. "These honours are not mine to give, save only to them, for whom they are prepared of my Father, &c." Doddridge is of the same opinion. He considers Christ's answer as referring to the highest privilege in the kingdom of glory; and thus paraphrases the words, it is not mine to give, &c. "I cannot dispose of it to any but to those for whom it is prepared by my Father." May I add, that what T. advances respecting the word hardeneth, Rom. ix. 18, is not quite satisfactory. It is well known there are momentous and difficult questions as to the manner in which God may be said to har den sinners. And different di-. vines of great learning entertain different opinions. It is not the writer's design to advocate the system which T. so ingeniously opposes. But whatever our private opinions, or human systems may be, it is highly important that the original Scriptures be correctly rendered, according to the |