whetting, ready to execute the vengeance of an angry God upon you; but they, who have dispensed these things to you, have seemed to you as those that mocked, when they have told of the designs of the Almighty against you, and the swift destruction from his presence and from the glory of his power, which you are running amain down into. And I am afraid, I shall seem this day to you as a mocker, as I have heretofore seemed to many of you; else why have you not before now bestirred yourselves to flee from the destruction, which God threatens you with? And take it how you will, I will tell you plainly, what my errand to you this day is. I am come with a message from the King of kings, and that is importunately to urge upon you the question in our text, can thine heart endure, or can thy hand be strong in the day that God shall deal with you?' And would to God I might, before I have done with you, bring you within the view of that mount, which burneth with fire,—that you might look into the pit of blackness and darkness, to which you are hasting, and see what God has ordained for you and what he will by and by do unto you, as sure as his name is Jehovah, unless you will be stirred up to flee from the destruction, which he threatens upon you." The following is from the close of the sermon: "How will your hearts endure when devils and damned spirits shall forever upbraid you with a neglect of the day and means of grace, that you had once an opportunity to have escaped these things, if you had not been wretchedly stupid and negligent; and how often will they tell you, while you are weeping, and wailing, and gnashing your teeth, uttering your bitter, though fruitless cries, screeches, and lamentations, Ah! these were things, that you were told of again and again, when you might have escaped them!' I tell you solemnly, I fear, that many of you are posting on amain the downward road to this amazing destruction; and it is well, if there be not some among you that have gray hairs, whom the devils have these many years expected in hell, knowing, that they have once and again easily prevailed with you to grieve away the Spirit of God, when it was striving with you!" In the Memoirs of Dr. Wheelock it is stated, that for his great labors eight or nine years as president of the college and school, professor of divinity, and pastor of the church in the college, he received no salary, his only compensation being a supply of provisions for his family. The legislature of New Hampshire, after the college was established, voted him one hundred pounds, and governor Wentworth granted him, December 19, 1771, two hundred acres of land in Hanover, in consideration of his having made a donation of four hundred acres in Hanover to the college. The history of the affair is this. Benning Wentworth had given five hundred acres to the college, and the proprietors of the town had given Dr. Wheelock four hundred acres. At the first meeting of the trustees, October 22, 1770, they agreed with him, at his request, to exchange two hundred acres out of the five hundred for his four hundred acres. But this gift proving illegal, governor John Wentworth made the grant of the two hundred acres directly to Dr. Wheelock, who allowed the college to retain the four hundred, formerly agreed to be given for the same two hundred acres. This land, and other land, which he had purchased, Dr. Wheelock left to his children. He had also built him a house on his own land at the close of the year 1773, till which time he had lived in the hut, or store-house, as it was called, not being able to build for himself. Mr. Thornton, in a letter, July 22, 1774, says, "I was glad to hear you had a comfortable habitation for your family; and I can only repeat to you, that I shall, with great cheerfulness, assist you with what your occasions may require." Dr.

Wheelock, in reply, acknowledges, that the private munificence of Mr. Thornton had been "the principal means of his support, since he left Connecticut;" stating also, in regard to his private affairs, that for land purchased, and improvements on his own land, and for buildings, he was still in debt about two hundred and fifty pounds sterling. His patrimony in Connecticut and other property he afterwards sold for upwards of a thousand pounds.

There is scarcely a name, which, for liberality and noble benevolence, deserves to be held in such honorable remembrance, as the name of JOHN THORNTON. He was a London merchant, living at Clapham, of large property, and most deeply interested and earnestly engaged in promoting the kingdom of Jesus Christ in the world. To Rev. John Newton, of Olney, he allowed two hundred pounds a year, that he might be hospitable and "help the poor and needy:" paying him in all about three hundred pounds. He made an annual payment for years of a hundred dollars to Samson Occom. To Dr. Wheelock for a long series of years he was abundantly liberal; and in fact, such was his confidence in him, that he authorized him to draw upon him for such sums as his private necessities might require. If it should be asked, "what success attended the efforts of Dr. Wheelock to communicate the blessings of the gospel to the Indian nations?" it may be replied, that he accomplished something for their benefit, and that great and insuperable obstacles in the providence of God prevented him from accomplishing more. It was soon after he sent out missionaries into the wilderness, that the controversy with Great Britain blighted his fair and encouraging prospects. During the last four years of his life there was actual war, in which many of the Indian tribes acted with the enemy. Yet the Oneidans, to whom Mr. Kirkland was sent as a missionary, kept the hatchet buried during the whole revolutionary struggle, and by means of this mission probably were a multitude of the frontier settlers saved from the tomahawk and the scalping knife. Thus is benevolent effort for the instruction and salvation of the savages amply rewarded even in this life. It is easy to see, that had our government expended ten or twenty thousand dollars in giving the miserable Seminole Indians the implements of agriculture and schools, and had a few missionaries been sent out to them, the expense of ten millions or more of dollars, the loss of many lives, and the desolation of the whole territory of East Florida would have been prevented. When will governments, when will the people learn, that benevolence is infinitely higher in dignity and worth, than greedy covetousness; and that, although injustice may carry its point, it were vastly better for those, who succeed, were they defeated in their projects? What brokenhearted widow, what friendless orphan, what mourning, childless father would willingly exchange the life, whose loss is so bitterly deplored, for the possession of the whole of Florida?

Some of the Indian youth under Dr. Wheelock became pious, and others made useful and important advances in knowledge. The following is an extract from the letter of a celebrated Indian, one of his scholars, to his son and successor, Dr. John Wheelock the letter was written by colonel Joseph Brant, chief of the four confederate nations in Upper Canada :

"Dear Sir,

"Grand River, February 9, 1801.

"I receive an inexpressible satisfaction in hearing from you, that you have taken my sons under your protection; and also to find, that you yet retain a strong remembrance of our ancient friendship. For my part,

nothing can ever efface from my memory the persevering attention, your revered father paid to my education, when I was in the place my sons now are. Though I was an unprofitable pupil in some respects; yet my worldly affairs have been much benefited by the instruction I there received. I hope my children may reap greater advantages under your care, both with respect to their future as well as their worldly welfare. The reason, that induced me to send them to be instructed under your care, is the assurance I had, that their morals and education would be there more strictly attended to, than at any other place, I know of. The steady friendship, you do me the honor to assure me of, is what, from numberless obligations, I doubly owe your family on my part; and I beg leave to assure you, that until death I remain your sincere friend."

This is a remarkable letter, coming from an Indian, who was not long a member of Moor's school. Two other Indians, Occom and Johnson, were acceptable preachers, and their manuscript sermons are as well written, as those of many of their white brethren. It is not easy to calculate the good, that may have been done by these Indians. A minister wrote from Canada in 1800,-" Col. Brant greatly encourages civilization and Christianity." So that the instruction of Brant may have had an important bearing on the welfare, present and future, of hundreds of Indians.

But were nothing accomplished for their benefit, yet the zeal, which chiefly sought their good, reared up a venerable institution of science, in which many strong minds have been disciplined and made to grow stronger, and nerved for professional toils and public labors, and in which hundreds of ministers have been nurtured for the church of Christ.

For enlarged views and indomitable energy, and persevering and most arduous toils, and for the great results of his labors in the cause of religion and learning, perhaps no man in America is more worthy of being held in honor than ELEAZAR WHEELOCK. In an age, too, of eminent piety, he ranked high amongst the good and devoted servants of Jesus Christ. Amidst all the excellencies of his character doubtless he had his imperfections. Meeting with enemies to his plans and opposers of his measures, subjected frequently to unmerited reproach, it was sometimes with an impatient spirit, that he encountered opposition, and his rebukes were occasionally severe. Open, frank, and unsuspicious, he was keenly touched by the ingratitude of his parishioners and of some of the scholars, whom he had patronized, especially if they thwarted him in his dear and important projects. He felt the full burden of his multiplied cares. his private journal of 1777, he writes, that, being "on the verge of the grave, he was oppressed with a weight of cares, of many kinds, enough for an angel."

In

In contemplating his character, some of its prominent traits may now be brought under consideration.

1. He had large and extensive views for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. The wretched condition of the American Indians, ignorant, though in the neighborhood of Christians, of the gospel of salvation, affected his heart, and he formed the plan of giving them the light from heaven. For this purpose he determined to draw as many of the Indian young men from their roving habits in the wilderness, as possible, and train them in a well-regulated school to be schoolmasters and preachers of the gospel to their red brethren. The schoolmaster and the preacher ! these he deemed essential instruments in converting savages into enlightened Christians. And what other instruments can accomplish the work?