ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES. 



457 



Sergeant (J.), the elder — Continued. 



Expositions and Application ^ of the Scrip- 

 ture." In 1743 and 1744, Mr. David Brainerd, 

 the young missionary, visited Stockbridge sev- 

 eral times, for the purpose of studying the 

 Indian language with Mr. Sergeant. 



In a letter dated January 22, 1747, Mr. Ser- 

 geant wrote: "It is now a little more than 

 eleven Tears since T was first settled in this 

 Part of the Country, with a Design to proselite 

 the Indians to the Christian Faith. Having 

 spent Part of the foregoing Year with them, in 

 two Visits I made them, I found such Encour- 

 agement as induced me to devote myself to 

 this Service: And have now, with a great deal 

 of Pains, gain'd such an Acquaintance with 

 their barbarous Language as to converse with 

 them in it; and with a little Assistance, in my 

 Study, from an Interpreter, to preach to them, 

 and to read Prayers, which I have composed 

 for the publick "Worship, which they attend as 

 constantly as People generally do in English 

 Assemblies. Their Language is extreamly 

 hard to learn, and perhaps I shall never be a 

 thoro' Master of it; there never having been 

 any European that ever was, except one or 

 two, and they learn'd it when they were Child- 

 ren. But the young People among them learn 

 English well; most of them in this Place un- 

 derstand a great deal of it, and some speak it 

 freely & correctly. There are many that can 

 read English well, and some are able to write. 

 When I came into these Parts first they were 

 much dispersed, four or five Families in a 

 Place, and often moving from Place to Place. 

 They are now gathered together at this Place, 

 and are much more fixed than they used to be. 

 Instead of their Bark Hutts, they own seven- 

 teen English Houses, fifteen of which they 

 have built themselves at their own Cost, and 

 some of them are comfortably furnished with 

 Household Stuff. There were in this Place but 

 eight or ten Families when I first came, we now 

 reckon near Fifty besides old People& transient 

 young Persons." 



As Mr. Sergeant had a mixed auditory, "he 

 was obliged, "as Mr. Hopkins relates, "on each 

 Part of every Lord's-Day, both to pray and 

 preach in the English and Indian Language, 

 that all might profit by his Ministry." "He 

 was oblig'd to compose four Sermons every 

 Week, two for the English, and two for the In- 

 dians; his Congregation consisting of both. 

 Those he prepar'd for the Indians, he first wrote 

 at large in English, and then translated them 

 into the Indian Tongue, as he also did a Portion 

 of Scripture to be read to the Indians on the 

 Sabbath," and that he might "be very exact, 

 he did, for a considerable Time, keep an Inter- 

 preter by him two Days in a Week, at his own 

 Cost, to assist him in the Translation of his 

 Sermons into the Indian Tongue. 



" His Manner was to begin the publick Ex- 

 ercise in the Morning, with a short pathetic 

 Prayer for a Blessing on the Word, in both 

 Languages. Then he read a Portion of Scrip- 

 ture, with explanatory Xotes and Observations, 



Sergeant (J.), the elder — Continued, 

 on such Passages as seem'd most to need them, 

 in both. All his publick Prayers & the Com- 

 munion Service were in both Languages ; and 

 it was his steady Practice to preach four Ser- 

 mons every Lord's-Day, two to the English and 

 two to the ludians; except in the short Days 

 and cold Season of the Winter he preach'd but 

 three, one to the Euglisb and two to the In- 

 dians. And besides all this, it was his constant 

 Custom, in the Summer Season, to spend about 

 an Hour with the ludians, after divine Service 

 was over in the Afternoon ; instructing, exhort- 

 ing, warning and cautioning of them in a free, 

 familiar and pathetic Manner, in their own 

 Tongue. The Indian Language abounding in 

 Gutturals renders the Pronunciation of it a 

 most laborious Exercise to the Lungs : that 

 therefore, with his other Exercises, so ex- 

 hausted Mr. Sergeant's Spirits and Strength, 

 that he was scarcely able to speak when they 

 were over." 



"The Translation, which, with much Care 

 and Exactness, Mr. Sergeant made in his Course 

 of Reading the Scriptures to the Indians, sin- 

 gly consider'd, cost him avast Deal of Labour: 

 for, endeavouring to lead them into the Knowl- 

 edge of the Way of Salvation by Christ, to 

 which they were utter Strangers, He, in his 

 Course of reading the Scriptures to them, 

 translated those Parts of the old Testament, 

 which appear'd most needful for that End, viz. 

 The Account of the Creation, of the Fall of 

 our first Parents, of God's calling Abraham, of 

 his Dealings with the Patriarchs and the Chil- 

 dren of Israel, of the Prophesies concerning 

 the Coming of Christ, &c. the four Evangelists, 

 the Acts of the Apostles and all the Epistles, 

 he also translated. A Performance which must 

 of Necessity cost him much Time and Pains." 



Besides the Indian Prayers described above, 

 Mr. Sergeant was the author of a sermon 

 preached at Springfield before the associated 

 ministers of the county of Hampshire, and of 

 a letter containing a "Proposal of a more 

 effectual Method for the Education of Indian 

 Children," both of which were printed at Bos- 

 ton in 1743. In the latter part of June, 1749, he 

 was taken ill with "a Nervous Fever, attended 

 with a Canker and an Inflamation in his 

 Throat," which terminated fatally. He died on 

 the 27th of July, at the age of thirty-nine years. 

 At that time the number of Indians in Stock - 

 bridge had increased to two hundred and 

 eighteen, one hundred and eighty-two persons 

 had been baptized, and the church contained 

 forty-two native communicants. The school 

 under Mr. Woodbridge's care had belonging to 

 it fifty-five Indian scholars. Mr. Sergeant left 

 three children. Electa (born 1740, died 1798), 

 Erastus (bom 1742, died 1814), and John fborn 

 1747, died 1824). His widow died in 1791, aged 

 sixty-nine. 



An account of this mission, written by Rev. 

 Samuel Hopkins, was printed at Boston in 

 1753, with the following title: "Historical 

 Memoirs, Relating to the Housatunnuk In- 



