167 ART. VIII.-Historical Notices of the Missions of the Church of England in the North American Colonies, previous to the Independence of the United States, chiefly from the MS. Documents of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. By ERNEST HAWKINS, B.D., Fellow of Exeter College, Prebendary of St. Paul's, &c. London: 1845. AS we lingered over the interesting narrative which Mr. Hawkins has woven of zealous industry, rejoicing hope, and patience truly working by love, the lines of Wordsworth rose freshly to the recollection : "Not sedentary all; there are who roam To scatter seeds of life on barbarous shores; The volume is devoted to the growth and progress of missionary enterprise in North America during the eighteenth century. It was at the commencement of that epoch-so prominent in the history of civilization and literature-that a society was organised with the sublime object of diffusing, by the agency of duly ordained ministers, the blessing of religious wisdom; of pouring into the thirstiest regions of the earth the clear streams of Gospel truth, through the golden pipes of Church services. We speak of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. During almost one hundred years the current of purifying doctrine flowed chiefly into the North American colonies, with the exception of Virginia and Maryland. Wonderful have been the changes of time! When the first mission of the society was established in New England, in 1702, the entire population of the North American colonies did not exceed 250,000 at the present day it amounts to 17,000,000, advancing every hour with tremendous strides. To trace the growth of divine truth in regions so rude and uncultivated-to mark its gradual putting forth of leaves and blossoms, until its boughs have stretched themselves to the river, giving protection to the wayfarer from the storm and shadow from the heat-is the aim of the book to which we are anxious to direct the attention of our readers. Nor is it easy to over-estimate its importance; being, in the words of the author, written not to supersede any other work upon the subject, but because no other existed. Some fragmentary information had been supplied, but rendered comparatively useless by the want of continuity and completeness. Mr. Hawkins has filled up the gap by producing a narrative of missionary exertion, at once authentic and pleasing, and enriched by numerous extracts from original letters which his official connection with the society enabled him to consult. That the charm of the work should reside in its truth, and the copious assistance it affords to the future historian of the Colonial Church, is to be regarded as a remarkable instance of self-denial and religious humility in the author: he might have expanded and coloured his simple narrative into a succession of glowing pictures of enthusiastic faith and noble devotion; he might have built the temple, of which he has furnished the wood and marble; have given expression and beauty to the statue, of which he has so correctly indicated the features and costume. The literature of the Church may probably gain by a division of the toil: those histories have ever been the most excellent of which the materials being collected at one season the narrative was constructed at another: the enquiring eye is sometimes too eager, and the collecting hand too profuse. The calmer scrutiny of selection thus becomes advantageous. The records of the North American Missions require more than ordinary skill and grace in their composition to captivate the indifferent eye; they are, in a great degree, deficient in the attractive influences of association. Unlike the palm-groves of India, and the wildernesses of Africa, they make no immediate demand upon the sympathy of the reader; there is in them little poetry of recollection; the page glows with few stories of thrilling martyrdom or beautified genius. We read of no Schwartz, no Martyn, no Heber-the only name that largely partakes of this magical power is Berkley. He, indeed, might claim his place among apostles, as his piety would have lifted him among martyrs; of scholars the most accomplished, as of Christians the most alluring; the philosopher, the poet, the man of taste; the delight of the refined and of the good; beloved by saints for his heavenly conversation, and by men of wit for his intellectual elegance; a man whose conduct even Swift did not ridicule, who took the sting from the satire of Pope, and drew from the intemperate Atterbury the noble confession, "that so much understanding, so much knowledge, and so much humility, he did not think had been the portion of any but angels, until he saw that gentleman." Other names, indeed, of historical brightness are incidentally or remotely connected with the propagation of the Gospel in North America, and especially those of the chivalrous Raleigh and his mathematical instructor Hariot. In 1589, Raleigh made a considerable donation, with the express object of plant 66 ing the Christian religion; and Hariot, who accompanied him in the expedition of that year, was accustomed, in every town where he was able, to make declarations of the contents of the Bible; and certainly its reception appears to have been singularly animating and consolatory: many pressed forward to touch it, to embrace it, to kiss it, to hold it to their breasts and heads, and stroke all over their body with it, to show their hungry desire of that knowledge which was spoken of." Nor was James himself indifferent to this good cause, as we may gather from the charter granted to the company for the improvement of trade and plantations in Virginia. We may remark that more than one of Donne's admirable sermons was preached before this company, of which Nicholas Ferrar is said to have been deputy governor or manager, and who, as might be expected, endeavoured to infuse into its character the religious zeal and purity of motive that distinguished his own. Virginia was exclusively colonized by members of the Church of England, and the provision for the support of the clergy is sufficiently curious; it consisted of one thousand five hundred pounds of tobacco and sixteen barrels of flour annually for each incumbent; a piece of glebe being set apart for his use, as new boroughs were formed. Cromwell is known to have contemplated a retirement among the Puritan settlements in America, and it will surprise some readers to hear that, in the early part of his Protectorate (1649), a Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England was assisted by parochial collections throughout England and Wales. At the Restoration it was enlarged and improved, under the influence of Clarendon, Boyle, and others; and, in 1685, Sir Leolyne Jenkins endowed two fellowships at Jesus College, Oxford, on condition that the candidates who were elected to fill them should enter into holy orders, and either place them- ' selves under the direction of the Admiralty, or, in the absence of any naval expedition, be employed by the Bishop of London in missions to the royal plantations abroad; an additional stipend of 201. being given to them while so engaged. The Christian generosity of the founder has been ill-applied. Except in the case of Mr. Nichols, who appears to have gone out to Pennsylvania in 1703, the objects of the endowment have been altogether lost sight of; and it is only within the last year that the Bishop of London-hitherto, we presume, unconscious of his corrective power in this particular-has communicated to the college his intention of sending out the two fellows who shall be elected, according to the express will and direction of Sir Leolyne Jenkins. They will find numerous clearings in the forest where their industry may be exerted with the hope of reward, The difficulties the Church has to contend with in America are not always sufficiently understood. She does not find so much an uncultivated as a corrupted soil-not so much furrows that have not been turned up, as fields sown with unsifted grain. The seed of nonconformity has been broad cast over the length and breadth of the land: Massachussets was colonised by Independents, Maryland by Romanists, and Pennsylvania by Quakers. This harvest of heresy and schism had abundant time to grow and ripen before any sickle was put into it. Accordingly, in no field is the red flower which springs up among corn, and which is useless as it is gaudy, more abundant or offensive to the eye. In 1679, the vast continent of America contained only four episcopal clergymen; an important step was taken in the appointment of Dr. Bray, as ecclesiastical commissary, in 1796; and. it speaks strongly in praise of his piety, though not with less emphasis in censure of the authorities at home, that the necessary funds for his passage could only be obtained by borrowing money and disposing of his effects. The summer of 1701 must always be a remarkable period in the annals of the colonial Church; for, in the June of that year, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign parts received its charter. The primary object of the society was the religious oversight of our own people who had already gone out, or might, in future days, commit themselves to those rude homes in the wilderness: the conversion and building up of the heathen on the same holy faith was a secondary though a more important element in their theory of spiritual action. Our designs upon aliens and infidels, was the just remark of Bishop Burnet, must begin in the instructing and reforming our own people. The society lost no time in arranging its machinery or setting it in motion-the name of Nelson, the amiable author of the "Fasts and Festivals" being conspicuous in the list of diligent promoters of this cause. The machinery was not, indeed, of much power, but it was worked with caution. A preliminary mission of enquiry was intrusted to the Rev. George Keith, who, after having been a fellow-student with Burnet, and taken a degree at Aberdeen, abandoned the Kirk of Scotland for Quakerism, from which, after an interval of error, he passed into the communion of the Church of England. The society's selection was a wise one. Possessing much local knowledge-he had gone to reside in Pennsylvania in 1689-he was enabled to supply the society with some valuable statistics of this important State, together with hints for the most eligible sites for the erection of churches. At that period, through the whole continent of New England, a single church at Boston was the only representative of our Church and Government. Philadelphia had a congregation-so had New York and Rhode Island. Keith, who sailed on his mission in the April of 1702, was received with great bitterness by his former associates, being everywhere molested with the epitome of Quaker doctrine-that the light within every man was of itself, without anything else, sufficient for his salvation. He was accompanied by a Mr. Talbot whose letters supply some occasional information of interest. Thus, we are told of the Indians, that "five of their sachems or kings assured Lord Cornbury they were glad to hear that the sun shined in England again since King William's death. They did admire at first what was come to us, that we should have a squaw sachem, namely, a woman-king; but they hoped she would be a good mother and send them some to teach them religion and establish traffic among them, that they might be able to purchase a coat and not go to church in bear skins; and so they send our Queen a present, ten beaver skins to make her fine, and one fur muff to make her warm." Indications of progress soon appeared: Pennsylvania possessed three churches, provided with clergymen ; Philadelphia one, with an average congregation of about five hundred'; one at Chester, with a congregation of two hundred; and one at Franckfort, with a congregation of one hundred and fifty. The provinces of North and South Carolina had been granted by Charles II. to the Duke of Albermarle and other noblemen, who, however, replaced themselves under the royal protection, after an interval of about fifty-seven years. The first settlement at Charlestown was formed in 1672, and ten years later a wooden church was built. It startled us to find one of the earliest missionaries of the society, in this part of America, a believer in witchcraft; and we certainly think that the open expression of such an opinion ought to have occasioned his immediate recall. The It was during these early days of the Church in South Carolina that Whitfield pursued in the same country his extraordinary career. It may be easy to judge of the temperance and humility of his piety by his declaration, that Archbishop Tillotson knew no more of Christianity than Mahomet! present volume contains several notices of his inflammatory proceedings, although we must with painful recollections admit the remark of the late John Foster, that the style of preaching in the English Church in the eighteenth century was peculiarly adapted to throw that of Whitfield into vivid prominence and relief; to offer such a contrast as could not fail to magnify him into a |