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PAPERS RELATING TO THE SIX NATIONS.
SIR WM. JOHNSON TO THE REV. DR. AUCIIMUTY,
ON THE SUBJECT OF THE RECEPTION OF A LUTHERAN AND A PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER INTO THE CHURCH
Johnson hall July 4 th 1771.
Good Sir I have been favored with your Letter of last month, which I am sorry to find doesnot contain any agreeable Intelligence from London ; Indeed I do not believe the Societys funds willadmit of their extending their bounty to, or establishing new Missions, but those which they haveestablished are not all supplied with Missionaries , The Church of Canajoharee Seems intended bythe allowance made to Mr. Hall and that at Johnstown is Established but both are still vacant tho’from their situation if Supplied with Good Men they w d greatly Extend the Christian faith onthis frontier, and prove a vast addition to the Church, which already begins to bear a respectableappearance in this Country, As for Johnstown, I can find no body for it, tho the Congregation lastSunday to hear the Lutheran minister were upwards of 500, of which 250 were Communicants .And Mr. Hall whose Sailary goes on, and who was to have been long since at Canajoharee has notbeen since heard of, I think enquiries should be made about him and that he should be directedto go there according to the Expectations of the Society.
In short we must make the most of the Missions already established till a more favorableperiod, and in the mean time make tryal of the Generosity of the people of England under theCountenance of the Bishops in favor of any farther Religious Establishments.
I am intirely of your opinion with regard to the Lutheran Minister and shall after some furtherconversafo with him most willingly mention the affair in my Letters, and would have you Do thesame after you hear next from me to the end that some subscription may be set on foot or someassurance obtained previous to his undertaking it, to prevent disappointments, and indeed this pointshould be conducted in a private manner, to prevent the many obstructions that will be thrownin his Way by those to whom it would prove disagreable—I should not have mentioned the otherGentleman, who was desirous of taking orders but at his particular entreaty and I have somereason to think that your Observations thereon are Extremely Just.
I am inclined to hope that the Application you mention of the Maryland & Virginia Clergy, beingan additional proof of the General Wishes of the American Clergy will Merit some attention. Ilook upon that Establishment to be a Grand & Important object including in it almost every thingelse which we should never lose sight of, and I am persuaded that perseverance will at last obtain it.
I am sorry the recommendat" of his Grace of Canterbury, & the Bishop of London , has met withso little notice from a certain quarter, which I understand to be the case from the close of yourLetter, perhaps it is owing to his being of different Religious Sentiments, or to a total Indifference inthese matters.
D r . Auchmuty.