RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

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FOREIGN.

MESSRS.

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AFRICAN MISSION.

[Continued from page 184.]

ESSRS. KICHERER and EDWARDS leaving Capetown, May 22, proceeded to Rodezand, where Mr. Voss was then minister. Here they met a hearty welcome, and were set apart to the work of the ministry.

On the 25th of June they left Rodezand, laden with the presents of their friends. Their journey sometimes lay through very difficult passes of the mountains, so that it was necessary to add fourteen oxen to their own, in order to climb the steep ascents. Sometimes they travelled for many days without the sight of a human being, surrounded only by steinbocks and ostriches. Here and there they found a cultivated spot; and were hospitably entertained by the farmers, who occasionally gave them sheep and other stores. other times they slept in the open desert, exposed to the danger of lions and tigers, which greatly abound in that country. The narrative, which will shortly be published, contains an account of some special deliverances from the attacks of lions, which were wonderfully providential.

At

About the end of July they passed the last inhabited house of Rockfield, and found the country almost without a blade of grass. The eggs of the ostriches, however, contributed to their comfortable support. After travelling seven days without meeting a human creature, they arrived at a place where a few Boschemen resided, three of whom came to them. Next day they were visited by about twenty more. At length they reached the spot intended for their abode, which they called Happy Prospect Fountain; and immediately began to build a house and plant a garden.

Here they commenced their labours, among thirty or forty people, first teaching them to spell Dutch. The Lord was Vol. III.-No. IX.

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now pleased to send them a man and his wife, who, understanding the language both of the Hottentots and of the Dutch, became very useful to them as their interpreter, &c. people among whom he laboured were chiefly Boschemen ; the most savage and ferocious of that country. The doctrine of a Supreme Being was entirely unknown to them; they did not know they had immortal souls; but were, in most respects, "like the beasts that perish.” Their habitations are generally among the rocks, where they dig a small round den, about three feet deep, which they sometimes cover with reeds. Here they spend most of their time in sleep, except when roused by hunger, when they sally forth in quest of some wild beasts; but when unsuccessful in this attempt, they make shift to subsist upon snakes, mice, or wild onions: and such is their idleness, that rather than be at the pains of seeking food, they will live several days together without it!

The people being in general afraid to come near an European, Mr. Kicherer was under the necessity of tempting them at first, by giving them a little tobacco; of which they are extravagantly fond. He would then take the opportunity of showing, that the great difference between the Christians and themselves, in the superior comforts enjoyed by the former, was occasioned by their knowledge of God; of whose nature and perfections they would hear with great astonishment.

At first, Mr. Kicherer attempted to preach to them systematically;—but he found little effect from this. He then had recourse to the method which the Moravians found the most useful, simply preaching the love and death of Jesus Christ, and inviting them to come to him, that they might have life. He would tell them, how happy he found his own heart when the love of God was shed abroad in it; and would advise them to go aside and pray that the Lord would teach them, and that he would cause them by his Spirit, to know whether he was his messenger or not.

For a considerable time he remained in painful uncertainty, whether his labours were blessed to the real conversion of any of his hearers. Yet, in this situation he was enabled to leave the matter with God,-desiring to be faithful, whether successful or not. From that time, his labours werc greatly blessed. He had the most undoubted evidence of the solid conversion of many souls. One of the first of these was a man, called John, who was brought under deep conviction of sin; for he had been a most notorious offender. He lived but about five or six months after; during which time his

experience was wonderful. His heart was wholly taken up with the love of Christ, so that he could scarcely bear to speak of worldly things: and he died rejoicing in the Lord, saying to his teacher, "I die, depending on the blood and righteousness of Christ; I go to heaven, and there I will wait for you."-His son, who came from a distance to see his dying father, was also converted, obtained his liberty from his master, and is now usefully employed as a schoolmaster in the settlement.

Mr. Kicherer would sometimes take a walk in the fields, and find, scattered here and there, prostrate on the ground, several of his congregation; and some with a child in each hand, pouring out their souls to God in the most lively and copious strains. Thus was he encouraged to go forward amidst his arduous labours. Before he left Zak River to visit Europe, he had baptized about thirty-four adult persons, and fifty children. He had a stated congregation of about six hundred persons, in a great measure civilized, and dwelling together.

(To be continued.)

OBITUARY.

The Editors regret, that circumstances beyond their control have prevented them from receiving the details of the following account at an earlier period.

DIED, at Newtown, Long-Island, March 13, the Rev. NATHAN WOODHULL, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in that place, aged 53 years.

Mr. WOODHULL was born at Brookhaven, Long-Island.He received the rudiments of his education in the common schools of that town. In 1775, he graduated at Yale College; and for the six succeeding years followed farming and merchandize. In 1779, he received his first religious impressions, and determined to devote himself to the ministry of the word. Having studied divinity under the Rev. John Davenport, at Oyster Ponds, on the east end of Long-Island, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Long-Island, in June, 1784, to preach the Gospel. In December, 1785, he was ordained pastor of the congregation at Huntington, which situation he left in December, 1788, on account of divisions in the congregation. In 1790, he became pastor of the congregation in Newtown, where he remained to his death.

From infancy, his health was infirm: and after entering college, he was prevented from proceeding in his studies, for one whole year, during a considerable part of which, his life was considered in danger. During his settlement in Newtown, he expected every year would terminate his labours. It was not an unusual thing for him to go from his bed to the pulpit; but more frequently from the pulpit to his bed.— Four different times he has fainted in the pulpit. But notwithstanding this ill health, he was enabled to preach to his people with less interruption than falls usually to the lot of more healthy ministers. His ministerial labours among his people had, for some months previous to his death, been considerably greater than usual, and their attention seemed somewhat awakened to the concerns of religion. This gave him new zeal, and made him more engaged in his public administrations, anxiously longing and hoping for an ingathering of souls.

He was taken ill on Saturday, the 24th February last, with a fever, which continued, with little abatement, to his death. His lungs, which for many years appeared to be affected, suffered most during his sickness. His breathing was difficult, and a distressing cough, with copious expectoration, attended him to the last. He decidedly, from the first, declared his opinion, that he should never recover. He was not, however, alarmed; for he knew in whom he believed. After being ill about a week, under the firm conviction that his sickness was unto death, he made his will, and mentioned the spot where he wished his body to be interred. After this, he seemed released from earth, and he conversed, almost exclusively, on the concerns of eternity.

He had for many years been subject to temporary and partial derangement of mind, especially when fatigued or indisposed. During his last illness, however, his mind was greatly composed and serene, seldom clouded, notwithstanding high fever. He repeatedly expressed his thankfulness to God for this great goodness; as also for the full experience he had of the consolations of those truths which he had preached to others. He blessed God, in that he had enabled him to preach these truths with plainness, and, he trusted, with faithfulness. In his petitions to the throne of God, which were constant, he always commended his dear flock to the care of the great Head of the Church; praying that the truths they had heard from his lips might not be like water spilled on the ground. He often spake in strong terms of the abundant fulness and all-sufficiency of the atonement made for sin by the blood of Christ, and blessed God for the gift of faith, by which he hoped to lay hold of that "inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, and which fadeth not away."

His bodily sufferings, though at times extreme beyond expression, he bore with Christian fortitude and patience. Frequently, on being asked if his hiccup, which was almost incessant, distressed him much, he answered, “Yes; but it is all right; my sufferings are the effect of sin, but they are infinitely less than my deserts. Glory, glory, give glory to God, who orders and disposes of all things in infinite wisdom, and who cannot err; the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever!"

On requesting a friend to read some comforting texts of Scripture to him, he added, "Not that my faith is in the least shaken, but it cannot be too strong, or firmly fixed."

Wednesday night, previous to his death, his bodily pain