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for some time. She very willingly entered into conversation with me on the state of her soul. I was happy to find that she had learned to trust in the mercy of the Lord Jesus. She said: I read and pray, and am anxious to have proper views both of myself and of Christ's power and willingness to save me; but I cannot accomplish my wishes." I read several promises to her, exhibiting the fulness of Christ, and His readiness to stand forward to help us in the time of affliction. At her request, I sung a hymn, and prayed. It is not yet twelve months since I saw her brother lying on the same bed, preparing, through the chastisement of God, for endless felicity. Her mind has, through the mercy of God, received the same pious turn: and should her affliction be unto death, I hope she will have a similar passage into the presence of Him who ever makes intercession for us. The world, the lusts of the flesh, and the devices of Satan, sadly impede the progress of the Gospel; yet, through the mercy of God, some escape from their tyranny, and enter the region of bliss.

Jan. 12, 1836-I visited a sick young man, who was sensible that he was draw

ing to the close of his pilgrimage. He in

formed me that he had, for several months past, been praying earnestly to God to prepare him for eternity, and he was happy now to find that his love of life and the fear of death were entirely removed; and he was now patiently waiting the time which should relieve him from all his troubles. I prayed with him; and reminded the aged father of the necessity of making earnest prayer to God, to cause the affliction of his son to work for his good.

March 18-I called upon the sick person before alluded to, and read and explained a part of 1 Cor. xv.; on the Resurrection. This, to the family party assembled, appeared to be quite a new subject, and was attended to with great interest. The sick woman, turning her hands and arms round, and gazing upon them, felt delighted with the idea that her wasted and enervated body should be re-animated, and for ever freed from corruption, disease and decay, and rendered like the glorious body of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I felt rather astonished that this should have been a new subject to this family, who had

attended the preaching of the Gospel for several years. At every funeral, this passage is brought forward, and exhibited in various forms, according to the occasion; and yet it comes not home, nor arrests the attention, till the party feels immediately concerned. What need have we to give line upon line!

April 8-I rode up the Settlement, and visited a sick person. I found her waiting patiently for the hour of her departure: her trust was in the Lord; therefore she often said, When I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Truly happy are those who die in the Lord! death to them has lost its terror; the sting of it has been taken away; and it comes as a welcome messenger, carrying tidings of release to the imprisoned soul.

A few passages are selected from Mr. Cockran's Journal, which evince much care in the duties attendant on

the due and profitable

Administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

The following refer to the admission of Converts and their children

into the Church by Baptism.

Dec. 28,1835-I received into the Church four adults, and one infant. Adults press to enter into covenant with God. I feel delighted in welcoming them; and often tell them not to fear, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom. But when I enter their names in the Register, and remember that they will prove either vessels of mercy or apostate Christians; and consider their former habits, and their besetting sins; the knowledge that has to be communicated; the victory that has to be achieved, over the world, the flesh, and the devil; when I ask how shall I and they discharge the obligations which we owe to Him who has redeemed us with His blood, in such a way as to be able to lift up our heads and rejoice at His coming; my spirits sink, my heart throbs; and could I, without incurring loss, I should run from the charge.

Dec. 29-I visited a family, of which one of the younger branches had died the previous night. Read several passages from Scripture, and applied them to the present occasion. Both parents are communicants; and have been so trained i

the school of affliction, as to be able to say, Thy will be done.

I baptized several adults, with whom I had made an appointment to day. One of them was deeply impressed with the obligations which she had laid herself under; and the whole company seemed to be touched with similar sympathy, anxious to view themselves in the same way bound and allied to God. This woman has been more than twelve months a candidate for Baptism; but as she had several Roman-Catholic relations, who were endeavouring to bring her over to their way, I thought it advisable to have full proof of her sincerity. She has resisted all their importunities, and has waited with patience for admission. When she first came into the Settlement, she was strongly prejudiced against Protestants when I baptized her first child, she was quite impatient under the ceremony: however, she had her lot cast in the house of a pious woman, who used to read the Scriptures to her, and point out that all the Ordinances in our Church were administered according to the Word of God, and that consequently we must be right. Her mind gradually opened to the truth; and now she feels truly anxious that her soul may be saved through the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus.

May 11, 1836-I visited the Indian Settlement; went through some of their farms; examined the children; and baptized two adults and two children. Our little flock in the wilderness continues gradually to increase; and though they do not manifest any eminent virtue, nor seem to enjoy any particular share of evangelical light or love, yet we are encouraged by the improvement of their moral conduct, and the powerful restraining influence which God exercises over them. All who have been baptized have kept themselves from intemperance of every kind. They were drunkards, and adulterers, and incestuous persons; but from all this they have been saved. In baptizing adults, I explain the whole of the Baptismal Service to them, and reduce it to the simplicity of a covenant between them and God: and when the explanation is finished, I ask them if they really intend to serve God according to the contract. If they reply that they do, I baptize them; if they feel in doubt, I recommend them to defer their baptism. When a person has the subject so honestly stated to him before

many witnesses, he is ashamed to act a dishonourable part after his baptism.

May 31-I was out, baptizing adults. Some of them gave very appropriate reasons for wishing to be admitted into the Church. Their moral characters were all unexceptionable. God, out of His overflowing benevolence, disposes the hearts of men to enter into covenant with Him for their good. I hope He will also bestow His favour abundantly on those who bear the Christian Name, that they may continue to walk worthy of their high vocation.

The value of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, as giving to the Pastor the opportunity of continual supervision of his flock, is strikingly illustrated in the following accounts by Mr. Cockran :—

Dec. 18, 1835-I met a person who intended to come to the Lord's Supper for the first time. He told me, with a faltering voice, and the tears rolling down his wrinkled cheeks, “I have waited; I have waited, expecting that I should grow better, but I am still wicked: I am afraid to delay any longer." I said, "Come! the means of grace were appointed by God, not for the whole, but for the sick. You came to church, and God, by His word, taught you that you were wicked. Come to His Sacrament, and He will show you yet more how the wicked can have their sins pardoned, the stains of their guilt wiped away, and their soul nourished, till they come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." This poor old man was dangerously ill last summer, and it gave him great uneasiness that he had not been a member of the Church of Christ in full standing. He said, "I have been baptized and have gone to church, but I have never been a partaker of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. This, perhaps, will go hard against me it looks as if I were ashamed of my religion." However, it has pleased God to restore him, and give him another opportunity of openly professing his faith in Christ; and it is encouraging to see him mindful of the vows made in the day of affliction.

Dec. 25--I preached at the Rapids, and administered the Sacrament after the Service of the day. There were 71 communicants: those of the Indian Settlement are included in this number. It is

encouraging to relate, that, at the Indian Settlement, we have a seed who have cast off their idolatrous practices, have joined themselves to the Living God, and are walking in His ordinances and commandments, blameless. It is true, they follow with tardy steps, and serve Him with fear and trembling; but they keep in the way, and have their conversation in heaven. May the presence of Him who dwelt in the bush ever overshadow His little flock in this heathen land, that they may be kept incessant in prayer, rejoicing always in the Lord, and bearing the genuine fruits of faith, hope, and love; so that the unconverted Heathen may see that the Religion of Jesus is profitable in all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come!

Dec. 27, 1835I preached at the Rapids in the morning, and at the Indian Settlement in the evening. The congregation at both places was large; the weak and infirm having made an effort to be present at the last day of the feast. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is an Ordinance much esteemed here, and looked forward to with solemn veneration: there are but a few of our little flock whose consciences would allow them to present themselves with unwashed hands and insincere hearts.

March 29, 1836-Most of the day was spent in conversation with those who intend to partake of the Lord's Supper for the first time. Two of those who were admitted had been awakened to a sense of their need of mercy about eighteen months ago, when it pleased God to visit their houses with affliction, and to carry off their children by death. On the days of the funerals, when prayers were offered up to God for them, and the songs of Zion sounded in their ears, they saw the vanity of the world, and first felt a desire to prepare their souls to be with Christ. Since then, they have come forward to say, we will be His servants for ever. A third had her attention arrested one night in a peculiar manner: fancied she heard a voice, saying, “This is the Word of Life: God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." These words laid hold upon her memory: she recollected that she had heard them in church, and that they were the words

she

of God. She resolved to receive them, and to-day she was admitted to the Communion. Another was a woman who had undertaken a journey of about 300 miles to get her children baptized, and lost one of them before she had the pleasure of seeing them dedicated to God. In the evening I held the Meeting, which was large, and read the names of the new communicants; and desired any of the members of the Church to inform us whether they knew any thing inconsistent in their moral conduct, which rendered it necessary, for the general good, to exclude them. Nothing was alleged, except against a woman who had assumed too much authority over her husband. When the matter was investigated, it was found that she had taken the reins of government into her hands when her husband was incapable of holding them; consequently, there was no serious infraction of the matrimonial contract. One of the old members was accused of countenancing vice, by allowing two persons who are living in a state of adultery to reside in his house. He pleaded, as an excuse, the ungovernable spirit of his wife, which often led him, for the sake of peace, to sit down quietly under what he disapproved: however, he was advised to assume the authority of master of his household, and to dismiss the persons without delay, that he might give no cause to those who are without to speak evil of Christianity. We are a few sheep surrounded by an immense heathen wilderness: we find ourselves, our children, and all our domestics, liable to be misled and contaminated by heathen example. What need have we to watch over each other, that we may prevent Heathenism from deluging us, and leaving us only with the name of Christians!

March 30-Rode to the Indian Settlement, and examined the scholars. I explained many things connected with the Communion to these who are coming forward for the first time. On coming home, the track was almost impassable: the snow had begun to thaw, and was now too soft to carry the weight of the horse he frequently sunk to the belly; and sometimes remained stationary, his legs being so deeply entangled in the half-melted snow.

April 1 Held Divine Service at the usual hour, and afterward administered the Lord's Supper. Notwith

standing the nearly impassable state of the track, the church was full, and almost the whole of the communicants were present: those of the Indian Settlement had sufficient zeal and perseverance to trudge over a long and tedious journey, through half-melted snow up to the knees, to be at the altar of God for the blessing. The progress of the Gospel is so slow in a wild country among erratic inhabitants, and the natural impediments so great, that our hands often grow feeble, and our shoulders weary of the yoke. It is only when we view the gradual increase of the flock of Christ, and have the pleasure of seeing some enter into rest, that we are reconciled to our lot, and feel a resolution to persevere in the work. It is only by gazing steadily on an endless eternity that patience can be obtained, to gather in the scanty vintage of God. To-day, I entered the church at half-past ten o'clock, and closed the doors at three.

Mr. Jones, in the earlier part of his Journal, relates the following circumstances relative to an affecting Season of Sickness and Death in the Settlement.

June 12, 1835-I was called to several

places distant from each other, to baptize. An influenza is becoming very prevalent; and I fear will prove very fatal to infants and aged invalids: it exceeds in malignity any epidemic I have witnessed in the country.

June 17- An excessively hot day; thermometer, Fah. 95° in the shade. At church, I addressed those assembled from St. Stephen's account of Abraham's faith and its trial.

June 21- Churches very thinly attended, owing to the universal prevalence of the influenza. Several of the children on our establishment are very ill.

June 24-I was seized with the influenza myself, but very mildly. Poor Mrs. Jones is suffering great torment from ear-ache and deafness. The house is like an hospital, from one end to the other. I was not able to attend my duty at church, as usual.

July 1-I was out all the morning, baptizing, and visiting the sick. The sickness is really very severe now, and God only knows the end. I cannot be sufficiently thankful that I am permitted to go about and visit those who are in affliction. Generally speaking, I find a

great spirit of resignation to God's will.

July 4-The clouds seem to thicken. My dear Mrs. Jones was very restless and feverish during the whole of the last night, and several of the children were very unwell. This evening, a young woman, in the bloom and vigour of youth, daughter of a Scotch settler, died, after an illness so short, that I had not an opportunity of seeing her.

July 5-After a very restless night, I awoke this morning feverishly and nervously affected. Nevertheless, I found the Services of the Lord's House refreshing as the morning dew. The churches were naturally very thinly attended, as four out of five individuals are invalided throughout the whole Settlement.

Sept. 7-Miss M., one of our young ladies, seemed to be very unwell: the doctor was called in to see her. There has been a very strange disorder prevalent in the Settlement for some time, which has carried away a great many from time to time. It commences with depression of spirits, and loss of appetite. The depression of spirits no force of reason can withstand, nor any effort alleviate the victim sinks to the grave without any sensible pain, and without exhibiting one feature of symptomatic

disease wherewith medical skill can combat. On post-mortem examination, there appears neither derangement nor destruction of the internal organs, to account for this gradual ebb of the tide of life the whole seems wrapped in mystery. I am seriously afraid that this subtle enemy has selected one of our young inmates as its prey. Her father is at too great a distance to be apprised of her danger.

Sept. 10-Miss M. is evidently sinking rapidly, and the medical attendant holds not out the slightest hope. Her brother, in the Boys' Establishment, he suspects to be similarly affected; and he is to be sent on a voyage immediately, in order, if possible, to see his father. Sept. 11- Our young friend above alluded to, was absent from her seat at family worship in the Hall this morning: in the evening, she was occasionally wandering in her mind. Had much conversation with her in the early part of the night.

Sept. 14-Weather most dismal and gloomy; and the circumstances around us are calculated to make things appear

so, in more senses than one. Our patient is very languid, and in a state of total insensibility to surrounding objects: this makes things much more grievous: as we cannot form an adequate conception of the state of her mind as the crisis approaches.

Sept. 15, 1835-I was called up at four in the morning, with intimation of our young friend's being at the last. I found her struggling hard with the last enemy: she, however, remained until half past four P.M., when she went off without the quivering of a muscle. Her Indian mother, who had watched day and night with her, when she ceased to breathe, closed her eyes with perfect composure, kissed her cold cheek, covered her face, and then sought where to weep: she saw her no more. The Indians always close the coffin as soon as possible, as they are averse to seeing their friends wearing an aspect so miserable.

Sept. 17-Before the usual Service of the day, we committed our young friend to the dust, in hopes of a glorious resurrection. All the numerous members of both Schools were much affected. May the impression be a permanent one!

Oct. 15-I heard that the poor boy sent to the Lake to see his father, was dead and buried: I was told that he died in the act of prayer. The afflicted parent arrived from his journey two hours after he was a corpse, and at the same time received my letter announcing the death and burial of his only daughter.

It is at these times of deepest affliction that the animating power of true piety is most effectually displayed. An instance of this is thus particularly related by Mr. Cockran, in which he was enabled to stir up his flock to a

Liberal Collection for the Building of a Church.

April 14, 1836-I attended a funeral. The deceased in the time of health manifested a spirit of piety that was highly commendable: when seized with affliction, her piety shone with greater lustre out of the abundance of her heart her mouth spake, and her conversation exhibited that her hope aud treasure were in heaven. Her affections were loosened from the fragile endearments of life, and her desires soared aloft after those plea

sures which are in the presence of God. As her body became weakened by disease, and approached death, her soul rejoiced in the promises of God, and panted after the full enjoyment of them. She patiently endured the discipline of affliction, read and prayed, and waited for the time appointed by Him who held the line of her existence in His hand; yet her soul longed to depart; she wished not to live here always. The Father of Mercies has granted her request; He has taken her to Himself, and has made her happy in enjoying His presence and favour for ever. The audience was large: about sixty men, besides women and children, were present. All knew the deceased from her youth. In her childhood, she accompanied devout men and women to the House of Prayer; and when arrived at the age of discretion, she cast in her lot with them. Her life and death had exhibited the advantages of Religion; and fully proved that godliness was profitable for all things, as it enables persons to enjoy the present life, as well as that which is to come.

Having the advantages of Religion before us, and a sense of our obligation to God for these unmerited favours upon our hearts, I judged it a convenient season to introduce the subject of building a Church at the Indian Settlement. I opened the matter, by showing the number of families established, the number of Day Scholars and Sunday Scholars, the number of attendants on the Sunday Service, the number of children and adults baptized, the couples married and leading orderly lives; and exhorted them to show their willingness to assist the Heathen, and to bear in mind that they were their brethren. A subscription being opened, every person cast in his mite; such as they had, they gave freely many cast in much, for their circumstances; they contributed wheat, barley, potatoes, labour, and dry meat, to the amount of 287. sterling. This good work being finished, the remains of the deceased were carried to the church-yard, and interred.

:

Another instance, related by Mr. Jones, exhibits, in a touching manner, the

Preciousness of the Bible to a Dying
Indian Youth.

June 26, 1836-After all the duties of

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