on a small sled to the bank of the river, without any coffin, with the bloody knife tied upon it, and buried it, as they would have buried the carcase of a beast, between high and low water mark.

The corpses of the unhappy family were the next day carried, with every mark of respect, to the Church, where a sermon was preached to a very numerous concourse of sincere mourners. They were then interred in the common burying-ground, and in one grave.

MRS. BEADLE was thirty-two years of age and the eldest child about fifteen. BEADLE was fifty-two years of age, of small stature, and of an ordinary appearance. He was contemplative, possessed good sense, loved reading, and delighted in intelligent conversation. His manners were gentlemanly, and his disposition hospitable. His countenance exhibited a strong appearance of determination; yet he rarely looked the person, with whom he was conversing, in the face, but turned his eye askance, the only suspicious circumstance which I observed in his conduct, unless a degree of reserve and mystery, which always attended him, might merit the name of suspicious. Such as he was, he was cheerfully admitted to the best society in this town; and there is no better society.

COLONEL BELDEN adds to his account the following note:

"This deed of horror seems to have been marked by the indignation of Heaven in the treatment of the body of the perpetrator. "The ground, in which he was first buried, happened to belong to the township of Glastenbury, although lying on the western side of the river. The inhabitants of Glastenbury, thinking themselves insulted by the burying of such a monster within its limits, manifested their uneasiness in such a manner as to induce the select-men of the town of Wethersfield to order a removal of the body. Accordingly, it was removed in the night, secretly, and by a circuitous route, and buried again at some distance from the original place of sepulture. Within a few days, however, the spot where it was interred was discovered. It was removed again in the night, and buried near the western bank of the river, in Wethersfield. The following spring it was uncovered by the freshet. The flesh was washed from the bones. At this season, a multitude of persons customarily resort to Wethersfield, to purchase fish. By these and various other persons, in the indulgence of a strange, and, I think, unnatural curiosity, the bones were broken off, and scattered through the country."

99

Pride was unquestionably the ruin of BEADLE. He was, obviously, a man of a very haughty mind. This passion induced him, when he had once determined that the paper-currency would escape a depreciation, to continue selling his goods at the former prices, after the whole community had, with one voice, adopted a new rate of exchange. Under the influence of this passion, he refused to lay out his money in fixed property, although prudence

When he saw his circumstances

plainly dictated such a measure. reduced, so as to threaten him with a necessary and humiliating change in his style of living, pride prompted him, instead of making new exertions to provide for his family, to sit down in a sullen hostility against GoD and man, and to waste the whole energy of his mind in resentment against his lot, and in gloomy determinations to escape from it. He doated upon his wife and children. His pride could not bear the thought of leaving them behind him, without a fortune sufficient to give them undisputed distinction in the world.

A gentleman, who had long been a friend to BEADLE, offered him letters of credit, to any amount which he should wish. Of this his friend informed me personally.-Pride induced BEADLE to refuse this offer.

In these charges I am supported by BEADLE's own writings. He alleges this very cause for his conduct, and alleges it every where, not in so many words indeed, but in terms which, though specious, are too explicit to be misconstrued.

BEADLE, as I have observed, denied the existence of a Divine Revelation; yet he placed a strong reliance upon dreams, as conveying direct indications of the will of GOD,-so strong as to make them the directories of his own moral conduct in a case of tremendous magnitude. He appears, by his writings, to have been long persuaded that he had a right to take the lives of his children, because they were his children; and therefore, in his own view, his property, and to be disposed of according to his pleasure; i. e. as I suppose, in any manner which he should judge conducive to their good. But he thought himself unwarranted to take away the life of his wife; because, being the child of another person, she was not in the same sense his property, nor under his. control. This you will call a strange current of thought; but the manner in which he removed his scruples was certainly not less strange. His wife, under the influence of very painful impressions from his extraordinary conduct, particularly from the fact, that he continually brought an axe, and other instruments of death, into his bed-chamber, dreamed frequently, and in a very disturbed manner. One morning she told him, that in her sleep, the preceding night, she had seen her own corpse, and the corpses of her children, exposed in coffins in the street; that the sun shone on them for a long time; and that they were ultimately frozen. This dream made a deep impression on BEADLE's mind. In his writings he mentions it as having solved all his doubts, and as a direct revelation from heaven, that it was lawful for him to put his wife also to death!

We have here a strong proof of the propriety with which infidels boast of their exemption from superstition and credulity.

Had this man possessed even a little share of the patience and fortitude of a Christian; had he learned to submit to the pleasure of God with resignation; had that humility, which is so charm

ing a feature of the christian character, formed any part of his own; he might even now have been alive, and might, in all probability, have seen his children grow up to be the support and joy of his declining years.

He died worth three hundred pounds sterling. The farmers in Connecticut were, at an average, probably, not worth more, at the same period. Every one of them, at least every one of them whose property did not overrun this sum, might, therefore, with equal propriety, have acted in the same manner. What would become of the world, if every man in it, who was worth no more than three hundred pounds sterling, were to murder himself and his family!

I think you will agree with me, that we have here a strong specimen of the weakness of infidelity, and of the wickedness to which it conducts its votaries.

Religious and Missionary Intelligence.

Fifth Anniversary of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. THE Fifth Anniversary of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was celebrated in the Church in John-Street, New-York, on the evening of the 23d of April. Long before the appointed hour, the house was crowded with a highly respectable and attentive audience. At half past 6 o'clock, the Rev. PETER P. SANDFORD, the Third Vice President, took the chair. After a prayer by the Presiding Officer, the Rev. NATHAN BANGS read the Annual Report. The following resolutions were then offered.

On motion of the Rev. WILBUR FISK, Seconded by the Rev. EBENEZER BROWN, Resolved, That the Report be accepted, and that it be printed under the direction of the Board of Managers.

On motion of the Rev. FITCH REED, seconded by Mr. JOSEPH SMITH, Resolved, That this Society, view with pleasure the progress of the Gospel among the Aborigines of our country, and that it is our indispensable duty to prosecute the plan of evangelizing them with vigour and perseverance.

On motion of the Rev. Mr. HANNAH, seconded by the Rev. Mr. CASE, Resolved, That the thanks of this Society are due to those individuals and to the Auxiliary and Branch Societies, who have aided the plans of this Institution. On motion of the Rev. JOHN SUMMERFIELD, seconded by Mr. THOMAS Car

PENTER,

Resolved, That this Society heartily congratulate their European brethren in their success in spreading the Gospel by Missionary exertions in Europe, in the East and West Indies, in Africa, and in the Islands of the South Seas.

The Reverend Gentlemen in moving and seconding the resolutions, addressed the meeting in eloquent and impressive terms, after which a collection was taken up, which amounts to $170 10.

REPORT.

THE experience of another year's labour in the missionary cause, adds another proof in favour of the vast importance and utility of a combination of effort in the great work of evangelizing the world. With increased pleasure do the Managers of this Society view the annual accession of strength to the missionary body. The union, the zeal, and the persevering industry, with which the noble enterprise of conquering the world to Christ, is espoused by almost all parties, affords a delightful anticipation to

the zealous Christian of yet witnessing the complete triumph of truth over error, and of righteousness over iniquity. The blessed results of this lovely combination of talent, zeal, and of active exertion, appear delightful even in anticipation. What then must be the realization? In the midst of this generous and general movement, which so peculiarly marks the present era, and in which is concentrated all that is excellent among men, and on which the Saviour must look with approbation, the Managers

congratulate this Society on the success of its operations, and the additional proof it has afforded of the practicability of evangelizing the Heathen of our wilder

ness.

visited by the stated ministry, particularly in some of the dissolute places in New-York, the inhabitants of which are as destitute of the knowledge of God, and as deeply sunk in moral wretchedWhatever may be the opinion of some ness, as the heathens themselves. The men respecting the future destiny of missionary, the Rev. SAMUEL D. FERthese tribes-whether they are destined GUSON, entered upon his work with zeal, to extermination or to be amalgamated and some success has attended his laamong our own population-this society bours Meetings were opened in Banckcan present actual demonstrations that er-Street, which, with the aid of the it is possible, through the power of the local preachers and exhorters, were atgospel, to reclaim them from their hear tended by some of that unhappy class thenish customs, and to bring them under the influence of Christian principles. And however we may speculate on the propriety and utility of the various means now using for their conversion, the benevolent Christian, conscious of the purity of his motives and the integrity of his conduct, can retire within himself, and calmly and confidently commit into the hands of God the cause in which he is engaged, "knowing that his labour is not in vain in the Lord." So far, however, he may ground his expectations of future success on what has already been accomplished. Many of these out casts of men have heard "the joyful sound," and have "turned unto the living God." Metaphysical speculations may amuse the mind, but actual experiment drives the truth home to the heart, and produces conviction when all other means have failed.

Confiding in the integrity of their own conduct and those with whom they have the happiness to be associated in this glorious work; and fully believing their plans and efforts have been sanctioned by the great Head of the Church; the Managers proceed to detail, as briefly as possible, the operations of this Society for the past year; premising, however, that its labours have not been confined to the Indian Tribes, but in perfect accordance with the original intention of the Society, the Superintendents have seconded its views, in filling up, as far as practicable, those intermediate places which could not be conveniently provided for by the regular ministry, and of supplying those exterior settlements of the white population in which the gospel had not been preached.

Missionary Stations.

1. New-York Conference.-A missionary was appointed at the last session of this Conference, to labour on the west end of Long Island, and on York-Island The object of this appointment was to carry the light of gospel truth to those places which could not be conveniently VOL. VII.

of the community for whose benefit they were especially designed; but no very permanent good has as yet been effected. On the west end of LongIsland the mission has been more successful. As the prospect of doing good here appeared to open, it was thought most advisable for the missionary in the latter part of the year, to confine his labours chiefly to this place, leaving the other places to be supplied by the local preachers and exhorters in the city. The missionary reports that he has raised two classes, consisting of fifty-two mem bers. The east end of Long-Island has also had the labours of a missionary the present year,

2. New-England Conference.-The REV. GEORGE PICKERING is the Missionary of this Conference, whose duty it has been to visit as many destitute places as possible, to assist at special revivals and to make collections for missignary purposes. No particular communication has been received from him by the board, respecting the extent and success of his labours.

3. Genesee Conference.--Four Missionaries are employed in the bounds of this Conference this year. The REV. MESSRS. ALVIN TORRY and THOMAS DEMAREST are appointed to Upper Canada, the former on the Grand River, and the latter to the new settlements in that part of the Province. The Grand-River mission has been eminently owned by the Most High. Two societies, of about forty members, have been formed chiefly from among the Mohawk Indians, and a Sabbath School established for the benefit of Indian youth.

Messrs. FRANKLIN METCALF and SOLOMON WALDRON were appointed at the last session of the Genesee Conference to Perth and the back settlements. They have, in the midst of many difficulties, met with considerable success, having formed a four weeks circuit, and wit nessed the conversion of some souls.

4. Ohio Conference.-Two Missionaries, the REV. MESSRS. J. B. FINLEY and 30

CHARLES ELLIOT, are employed under the sanction of this Conference, principally among the Wyandott Indians at Upper Sandusky. This mission, so frequently mentioned with pleasure, continues to prosper, and to multiply its converts, meeting with the warmest approbation of all friendly to Indian improvement, and especially of all those who labour for their eternal welfare. The Chiefs who have been converted to God, continue to manifest their concern for the salvation of their fellow Indians, by preaching to them that gospel which they have found "to be the power of God to salvation." There are now two hundred and sixty members of the church in this place. Mr. FINLEY in his last communication, says that he has just returned from a visit, in company with two of his Indian brethren and an interpreter, to the Wyandotts on the Huron River, and the Canara, in Upper Canada, in the latter places a class of fifteen was formed.

Thus the way is opening to Christianize these long neglected sons of the American forests.

5. Kentucky Conference.-The REV. WM. CHAMBERS is employed as a Missionary within the bounds of this Conference, on what is called the Cumberland mission.

dren, several of whom have been truly awakened to the concerns of religion, and afford good reason to believe that they have attained to the knowledge of salvation by the remission of sin. It is hoped the time may soon arrive when the impediments in the way of announ cing the gospel of the kingdom freely to these people will be removed, and that they also shall hail the coming of Christ's ambassadors.

In addition to this station there are, within the bounds of this Conference, the following:-Monroe, Yellow River, Gwinnett, St. Augustine, and Chattahoochee Missions. By a recent communication from MR. GLENN, the mission at St. Augustine is very flourishing, and promises much success. A society is raised of about fifty members, and the congregation is large and attentive.

Though the number of Missionaries actually employed as such, is about the same as last year, yet several new places have been added, while some of those which were then considered missionary ground, have been so successfully cultivated as to be now included in the regular field of itinerancy, being supplied in the ordinary way, and the people evince an ability and a disposition to support themselves. This is an encouraging circumstance to the friends of missions. While the scattered population in the exterior parts of our country continues to extend by the continual emigration into the western wilderness, the demand upon missionary exertions will multiply; and as success shall crown such exertions, the means to increase them will augment in proportion to the increased demand. Thus while the river of gospel benevolence continues to flow, it receives in its course tributary streams, which will add to its depth and width, until, it is hoped, it will become suffi7. Tennessee Conference.-This Con- ciently large to water the whole length ference has within its bounds, two is- and breadth of Immanuel's Land. sionary stations. At its last session, the RFV. NICHOLAS D. SCALES, was appointed to the Upper, and the REV. RICHARD NEELEY to the Lower, Cherokee Indians. There is now a society of one hundred and eighty-eight members in

6. Missouri Conference.-Two Missionaries, the REV. MESSES. JESSE WALRER and WILLIAM STEVENSON, the former at Missouri, and the latter at Arkansas, are employed within the bounds of this Conference. These newly settled places, where the population is thin, open a wide field for missionary enterprize; and as the emigrants are principally poor, that the gospel may be preached to them freely, the preacher must derive his principal support at first from missionary funds.

this nation.

8. South Carolina Conference. This Conference employs eight Missionaries. The REV. MESSRS. ISAAC SMITH and DANIEL G. M'DANIEL have charge of the Asbury Mission, among the Creek Indians. Though the missionaries are not yet permitted to preach the Gospel to the adult Indians of this tribe, they continue to teach and catechize the chil

Auxiliary and Branch Societies.

In addition to the Auxiliary and Branch Societies reported last year, the board has received an account of the Mississippi Conference Auxiliary Society, which is assisted by seven Branch Societies, and also of Croton circuit Auxiliary Society. There have also been added thirty four branches to the Genesee Conference Auxiliary Society, and eight to the South-Carolina Conference Auxiliary Society. These, together with those reported last year, make the whole number of Auxiliary and Branch Societies to be one hundred and three.