36 



I a sm u ch 



Mr. Elias 

 Neau 



1704 



The Six 

 Nations 



return across the border into the State of New 

 York. 



&quot;The instruction of the Negro and Indian 

 slaves was a primary charge (oft repeated) to 

 every missionary .... and to all schoolmasters 

 of the Society in America.&quot; In this connection, 

 as so frequently happens in the history of the 

 Church, God brought His own agent from a 

 different and unexpected quarter. Mr. Elias 

 Neau, a native of France, &quot;whose confession of 

 the Protestant Faith had there brought him 

 several years confinement in prison, followed 

 by seven years in the gallies, emigrated, after 

 his release, and settled in New York. He drew 

 the Society s attention to the great number in 

 that city who were without God in the world, 

 and of whose souls there was no manner of care 

 taken&quot; and proposed the appointment of a Cate- 

 chist among them. The Society prevailed upon 

 him to undertake the post, and he received a 

 license from the Governor &quot;to catechise the 

 negroes and Indians and children of the town.&quot; 

 He carried out his commission with such faithful 

 ness that &quot;the Governor, the Council, Mayor, 

 the Recorder of New York, and the two Chief 

 Justices, informed the Society that Mr. Neau had 

 performed his work to the great advancement 

 of religion in general and the particular benefit 

 of the free Indians, negro slaves, and other 

 heathens in those parts. 



The western, middle, and northerly parts of 

 the State were occupied by the fiercest, the most 



