Author
Brainerd, John
Date16 September, 1766
ms number766516.1
abstractBrainerd writes about the apprehension of the murderers of two Indian
women, includes letters from Francis Alison and John Ewing recommending John
G. Kals as a
teacher and missionary, and gives his own recommendation of Kals, with
reservations.
handwritingHandwriting is bold, stylized and occasionally difficult to
decipher.
paperLarge sheet folded in half to make four pages is in good-to-fair
condition, with some yellowing and moderate-to-heavy creasing that leads
to a
minor loss of text. There is older preservation work on one verso and two
recto.
The outer edges appear to have been trimmed.
inkDark brown.
noteworthyThe text is dimmed somewhat by preservation work. An editor,
likely 19th-century, had added the note "Ind Mis" to two verso; this note
has not
been included in the transcription.
EventsFundraising Tour of Great Britain
Modernized Version
Deletions removed; additions added in;
modern spelling and capitalization added; unfamiliar abbreviations expanded.
Brotherton, 16th
September 1766.
Rev.
and Dear Sir,
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 embrace the first
and
best that offers.
I informed you of the Murder of two Indian Women
in this
Pr[gap: tear][guess: o]vince, by a Couple of straggling Stran=
gers, — of their
Apprehension, and Execution at
Bur= lington, the
first of Aug. ultimo This I did that
it might communicated to the remote Indi=
ans, who will doubtless hear of the Murder, and
ought to be informed of the Murderers being
brought to Justice. You will doubtless, through
Sir
William Johnson, or otherwise have Oppor=
tunity to do it.
Since my last I received a Letter from the
Rev.
Dr.
Alison, the Contents of which I shall
give you, and they are as follows.
"Rev.
and
Dr.
Sir
"I take this Opportunity to introduce to your
"Acquaintance the
Rev. Mr John G. Kals, a Minis=
"ter of the
Dutch reformed Churches. He is a Gentle=
"man of Piety and Learning, and zealous to promote the
"Kingdom of Christ, and well qualified many Ways to
Serve
Letter from
Mr.
John Brainerd
September 16. 1766,—about
Mr. Kalls —
"Serve God, and to do Service in the Church if a Door
"of usefulness were opened. He understands Hebrew,
"Chaldaic etc. 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, and I am amazed that in the
"Colleges of
Princeton
and
Philadelphia 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 and Raiment and
"our neglect of what is in our Power will be charged
"to our Account. He has heard of
Mr. Wheelock's
"unwearied Endeavours to convert the Indians, and
"would think himself greatly honoured could he
"be any Way useful in this great Work. I ad
vised him first to visit
and
converse with you, and to
"Stay Some Days and
visit the Indians in their Houses,
"to See them attend Worship, and how the Children
"learn: and
possibly from thence he might form a bet=
"ter Judgement how he is
qualified to do anything
"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. Sir,
your etc." — —
"As
Mr. Kalls Showed me the en‐
closed
" 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
and
Classis of Amsterdam. But left
"it, when he found that there was no effectual Door opened for
"him in that Place. His heart is
[illegible][guess: So much] Set upon this
"Work that he has wrote a
large Quarto Volume 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 and
self-de
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 employed in any Way that you may
"think will have the best
tendency to promote your truly
"benevolent designs both to the Indians and white People
"in your wide, extended diocese.
Rev. Sir,
your etc." —
Mr. Kals accordingly tarried here near a Week,
preachd twice attended the School some
and
visited 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]
Parsi, German, Low Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian
Turkish, Russian
and
English. The last of these he Seems
to be well acquainted with, but does not Speak
plain, which
renders it somewhat laborious to con
verse with him. This I apprehend 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, especially Di=
vinity, and that he would be very accurate 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 won't Suit you, as it is somewhat Difficult
to understand him, and must be much more
So for those that have not the English Tongue
perfectly. But that his Talents might not
be buried, and that
your School (if it may be)
may receive Help and Benefit I have written:
And now commit the Matter to the Disposal of Pro=
vidence. This Gentleman at present
resides in
Philadelphia.
I See by the last Paper that our Friends Mr.
Whitaker
and
Mr.
Occom collected upward of 133 £ at
the
Rev.
Mr. Brewers Church in
Stepney. May Heaven
send them Prosperity everywhere, and make
your School a blessing to the
[illegible]
Posterity. I long
to hear from you.
My best Regards to
Mrs. Wheelock (in which my
Wife very heartily Joins though unknown).
and accept the Same from,
P'S If you Should entertain any thoughts of employing this Gentleman
it might be well to inquire further
I had no Acquaintance with him 'til
the other Day.
Mr. William Tennent might be a proper person. — —