I wrote you Some Time ago, and left it
at
Egg harbour to go by the firſt
Connecticut
Veſsel;
what its fate will be I know not. I now write
again, not knowing of
any direct Opportunity,
but determining
^to imbrace^ the firſt
&
beſt that offers.
I inform'd you of the Murder of two Indian Women
in this
Pr[gap: tear][guess: o]vince, by a Couple of Stragling Stran=
gers, — of
^thier^
Apprehenſion, and Exeution at
Bur= lington, the
firſt of Aug. ult. This I did that
it might communicated to the remote Indi=
ans, who will doubtleſs hear of the Murder, and
ought to be enformd of the Murderers being
brought to Justice. You will doubtleſs, thro'
S.
r
William Johnſon, or otherwiſe have Oppor=
tunity to do it.
Since my laſt I receiv'd a Letter from the
Revd
D.r
Aliſon, the Contents of which I ſhall
give you, and they are as follows.
"Revd
&
Dr
S.r
"I take this Opportunity to introduce to your
"Acquaintance the
Rev.d Mr John G. Kals, a Minis=
"ter of the
Dutch reform'd Churches. He is a Gentle=
"man of Piety & Learning, & zealous to promote the
"Kingdom of Chriſt, & well qualified many Ways to
Serve
^[bottom]Letter from M.r
Jn.o Brainerd^
^[bottom]Sep.t 16. 1766,—abo.t^
^[bottom]M.r Kalls —^
"Serve God, & to do Service in the Church if a Door
"of uſefulneſs were opened. He underſtands Hebrew,
"Chaldaic &c beyond any that I know on the Continent,
"and might be of great Service to
teach Candi=
"dates for the Ministry to read the Bible in Hebrew.
"I
lament that we are ſo
careleſs how we teach Divi=
"nity, and particularly to make our Students
migh=
"ty in the Scriptures, & I am amazed that in the
"Coleges of
Princeton
^&^
Philad.a this is neglected or ra=
"ther deſpiſed for this Gentleman c
[gap: tear][guess: an]
teach it to
"great Perfection, and is willing to teach it on any
"terms, ſo as he can have but food & Raiment &
"our neglect of what is in our Power will be chargd
"to our Account. He has heard of
Mr Wheelock's
"unwearied Endeavours to convert the Indians, &
"would think himſelf greatly honour'd could he
"be any Way uſeful in this great Work. I ad=
"viſed him firſt to viſit
&
converſe with you, & to
"Stay Some Days &
viſit the Indians in their Houſes,
"to See them attend Worſhip, and how the Children
"learn: &
poſsibly from thence he might form a bet=
"ter Judgement how he is
qualified to do any thing
"in this great Work. he is poor, but very frugal;
"what regard you ſhow to him I ſhall account as
"a favour done to
Rev
d Sir,
your &c" — —
"As
Mr Kalls Showed me the in=
cloſd
" Letter from
Dr
Aliſon before the Sealing of it,
"I can say from my own Knowledge
that what he relates
"of that Gentleman I can heartily Subſcribe. I would only
"add that Such was his Zeal to Spread the Gospel a=
"mong the benighted Heathen that he voluntarily under=
"took
a Voyage to
Surinam with proper Teſtimontials
"from the
Synod of Holland
&
Claſsis of Amſterdam. But left
"it, when he found that there was no effectual Door open'd for
"him in that Place. His heart is
[illegible][guess: So much] Set upon this
"Work that he has wrote a
large Quarto Vol. upon the Sub=
"ject in Low Dutch as a Teſtimony to the World of his
"Deſire to contribute to So good a Cauſe, in hopes that Some
"might be excited thereby to engage in the arduous &
Selfde=
"nying Work. If you have need of Such Aſsiſtance as he can
"give, I doubt not but he would be very glad of an
"Opportunity of being employd in any Way that you may
"think will have the beſt
Tendancy to promote your truly
"benevolent Deſigns both to the Indians & white People
"in your wide, extended Dioſecſe.
Rev
d Sir,
your &c" —
M.r Kals accordingly tarrid here near a Week,
preachd twice attended the School ſome
&
viſitd at
ſome of the Indian Houſes.. He is a Man of about
65 Years of Age, a great Linguiſt
[gap: worn_edge][guess: and] a
[gap: worn_edge][guess: c]lose Student.
He tells
me he can make uſe of 16 Languages viz
Latin, Greek Hebrew, Chaldea, Syriac, Arabic
Ethiopi
[gap: worn_edge]
Parſie, German, Low Dutch, French, Spaniſh, Italian
Turkiſh, Ruſsian
&
Engliſh. The laſt of theſe he Seems
to be well acquainted with, but does not Speak
plain, which
renders it Somwhat laborious to con=
verſe with him. This I app
erehend to be the great=
eſt
eſt Difficulty in his Way of Inſtructing, eſpe=
cially in ſuch
a School as yours. I have
a good deal of Reaſon to think him well
capable of Inſtructing in other Branches of
Learning beſides the Languages,
[illegible]eſpecially Di=
vinity, & that he would be very acurate there=
in, but his want of Speaking the Engliſh
well is a great Difficulty. I thought it my
Duty to write, as I know
him to be in many Re=
ſpect
[gap: worn_edge][guess: s] Qualified to do
Service in the teaching
Way; yet I am not without Some Secret Fears
he wont Suit you, as it is ſomewhat Difficult
to underſtand him, and muſt be much more
So for thoſe that have not
[illegible]the Engliſh Tongue
perfectly. But that his Talents might not
be buried, and that
your School (if it may be)
may receive Help & Benefit I have written:
And now commit the Matter to the Diſpoſal of Pro=
vidence. This Gentleman at preſent
reſides in
Philadelphia.
My beſt Regards to
M.rs Wheelock (in which my
Wife very heartily Joins tho' unknown).
and accept the Same from,
[left]P'S If you Should entertain any thoughts of employing this Gentleman
it might be well to enquire further I had no Acquaitance with him till
t'other Day. Mr William Tennent might be a proper Perſon. — —