Great trouble of mind - 1765
Samson Occom, undervalued Indian preacher, educator, author, hymn writer, and missionary.
Introduction
Samson Occom was an American Indian from the Mmoyouheeunnuck (Mohegan) tribe who became an evangelist and educator. His fundraising efforts helped bring into existence the college now known as Dartmouth. Despite poor eyesight, he learned to read both English and Hebrew and wrote books and hymns in English. The Presbyterian church ordained him and employed him as a missionary to fellow Indians, but paid him only a small fraction of what they paid white evangelists, forcing him to labor in deep poverty. In a brief account of his early years, written on this day 28 November 1765, Occom described the events that led to his conversion.
Quote
“When I was 16 years of age, we heard a strange Rumor among the English that there were extraordinary Ministers Preaching from Place to Place and a Strange Concern among the White People. This was in the Spring of the Year. But we saw nothing of these things till Some Time in the Summer, when Some ministers began to visit us and Preach the Word of God; and the Common People also came frequently and exhorted us to the things of God which it pleased the Lord, as I humbly hope, to Bless and accompany with Divine Influences to the Conviction and Saving Conversion of a Number of us, amongst whom I was one that was Impresst with the things we had heard.”
https://www.madisoncounty.ny.gov/motf/brothertownone%5b1%5d.pdf