University of Virginia Library

Ever since the settlement of this country by the Europeans, the Mohawks have been noted for their fierceness, and the terror they inspired among the surrounding tribes. Their original territory was in the vicinity of Hudson's river, though they have now removed to the countries under the British jurisdiction. At the period of Capt. Smith's history, which was published in London in 1627, they are mentioned as “a great nation, and very populous.” Gookin's “Historical Collections of the Indians of New-England,” bearing date in 1692, contains the following testimony to the warlike and imposing character of this tribe. “These Mohawks, or Maquas, are given to rapine and spoil, and hostility with the neighbouring Indians. In truth, they were, in time of war, so great a terror to our Indians, even though ours were far more in number than they, that the appearance of four or five Mohawks in the woods would frighten them from their habitations and corn-fields, and reduce many of them to get together into forts, by which means they were brought to straits and poverty. For they were driven from their planting-fields through fear, and from their fishing and hunting places; yea, they durst not go into the woods to seek roots and nuts to sustain life. To sum up all concerning them, you may see that they are a stout and cruel people, much addicted to bloodshed and barbarity; and very prone to vex and spoil the peaceable Indians.”

“The Delawares, or Leni Lenape Indians,” says the Rev. Mr. Heckewelder, “according to the traditions handed down to them by their ancestors, resided many hundred years ago, in a very distant country, in the western part of the American continent. They afterwards emigrated, and settled on the four great rivers, Delaware, Hudson, Susquehannah, and Potomac, making the Delaware, to which they gave the name of Lenapewihittuck (the river or stream of the Lenape) the centre of their possessions. The word Hittuck, in the language of the Delawares, means a “rapid stream.” “Sipo, or Sepu, is their word for river.” The Delawares, who were formerly very fierce and powerful, have greatly decreased in numbers, but still retain their ancient courage, and are considered an intelligent and respectable tribe.

This excellent man, who is usually styled the Apostle of the Indians, felt his benevolence excited by their wretchedness, at a time when they were generally considered objects of contempt and of degradation. He was the minister of Roxbury, in Massachusetts, and added, in the year 1646, to his parochial duties, the office of spiritual teacher of the natives. In this he persevered both with firmness and delight, notwithstanding the features of enthusiasm, which his design assumed to a generation, not familiar, like our own, with the energies of missionary exertion. “In this work,” says Gookin, a contemporary writer, “did this good man industriously travel for many years, without external encouragement from man, or the receiving of any salary or reward. The truth is, that Mr. Eliot engaged in this laborious work of preaching to the Indians, on a very pure and sincere account.” In answer to those who questioned him with expressions of surprize respecting his undertaking, he gives as reasons, his desire of making God known to those miserable heathen, his ardent affection for them and his wish to conform to the promise which New-England had made the king in return for her Charter, “to communicate the gospel to the natives, as one principal end of determining to plant in their country.” It is remarked by another historian, that after more intimate acquaintance with the original customs and traditions of the Indians, Eliot traced such frequent resemblances to the ancient Israelites, that he could not but indulge the supposition of their affinity, and he adds, “the fatigue of his labour went on the more cheerfully, or at least the more hopefully, because of such probabilities.”

Mather, in his Magnalia, affirms, that Eliot completed the whole translation of the Bible into the language of the Indians, entirely with one pen, which he consecrated to that holy office. After his acquisition of this language, which was attended with many difficulties, he composed a grammar of it, and translated such a number of treatises on Practical Piety, that a small library was soon formed for those who had never before seen their barbarous articulations arrested or arranged. Through his instrumentality some of the most promising native youths were educated at Cambridge, where they became regular graduates. For their assistance in their preparatory studies, he translated some scientific essays, and works explaining more abstruse points in Theology. But what he had most at heart was an entire Indian bible. The New Testament, which was printed in 1661, with a dedication to King Charles II, was the first edition of the Scriptures ever published in America. A Society for aiding in the propagation of the Gospel among our aborigines, was about this period incorporated in London, and some letters are preserved from the venerable Eliot, to the Hon. Robert Boyle, its Governor, who had furnished some assistance in the expense of publishing the Old Testament. In one of them the faithful and meek Apostle, thus expresses his gratitude and his christian perseverance. “Your charity hath greatly revived and refreshed us. The great work that I now travail about is the printing of the Old Testament, that they may have the whole Bible. They are importunately desirous of it. I desire to see it done before I die, and I am already so deep in years, that I cannot expect to live long. Besides, we have but one man, the Indian printer, who is able to compare the sheets, and correct the press, with understanding. As soon as I received the sum of near £ 40 for the bible work, I presently set it on foot, and am now in Leviticus. I have added some part of my salary, to keep up the work, and many more things I might mention, as reasons of my urgency in this matter.”

The venerable Eliot attained a great age, and his exertions and example were to the last consistent with ardent piety, and disinterested benevolence. Like Polycarp, he might have said, “eighty and six years have I served my Lord Jesus Christ.” As his soul gently departed, his expiring lips uttered the request, “Lord! revive and prosper thy gospel among the Indians, and grant it to live when I am dead.” How would his pious spirit have rejoiced, could it have looked through the mists of time, and traced the accomplishment of this fervent desire. Much had been performed by him, for the spiritual instruction of the natives, the correction of their vices; the establishment of family-prayer, and the foundation of regular societies for religious worship. The first Church ever gathered among the wanderers of the forest, was at Natick, in 1651. Connected with this, was a humble attempt, at civil government; for they were permitted to hold jurisdiction over slight offences. Mr. Eliot assisted them in appointing rulers over hundreds, fifties and tens, according to the model in the 18th of Exodus, which he explained to his approving auditors. He gave them also the following form, which may be considered as the first imitation of the ancient Theocracy of Israel.

“We are the sons of Adam, and with our forefathers have a long time been lost in our sins. But now the mercy of God beginneth to find us out. Therefore, the grace of Christ helping us, we do give ourselves and our children unto God to be his people. He shall rule all our affairs. The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King, he will save us. The wisdom which God hath taught us in his book shall guide us. Oh! Jehovah, teach us wisdom. Send thy spirit into our hearts. Take us to be thy people, and let us take thee to be our God.”

The name of Mayhew, is still embalmed with gratitude, by the remnant of aboriginal population on the island of Martha's Vineyard. The ministry of these benefactors of wretchedness commenced about the year 1648, in the person of the Rev. Thomas Mayhew, son to the governor of that island. Both father and son had acquired the language of the Indians, and upon the death of the latter in the ninth year of his missionary labours, the venerable parent assumed the falling mantle of the younger prophet, and until the advanced age of 93, continued his spiritual instructions, and benevolent deeds to a despised race. Such peculiar success attended their exertions, that 1500 natives were numbered as the fruits of their holy toil. Others of their descendants inherited the same disinterested and pious spirit, and condescended to seek in the wilderness those lost sheep who had never heard the call of the Shepherd, or the promise of a fold.

One of the chief Sachems, or princes of Martha's Vineyard, by the name of Mitark, who had embraced christianity, died in the beginning of the year 1683. The day before his decease, Mr. John Mayhew, who attended him, inquired concerning his hope, and the dying chief answered, “I have hope in God, that when my soul departeth out of this body, he will send his angels to conduct it to himself, and to dwell with Jesus Christ.” Then with great earnestness he exclaimed,—“Where that everlasting glory is! As for my reasons: I have had many wrongs of enemies, of whom I have sought no revenge, neither retained evil in thought, word, or deed. Therefore expect I the same from God. But I proceed no further, for He is merciful. It is now seven nights since I was taken sick, and not yet have I asked of God to live longer in this world. Here are some benefits to be enjoyed, also many troubles to be endured: yet with respect to the hope I have in God, am I willing to die. Here am I in pain, there I shall be freed from all pain, and enjoy the rest that never endeth.” Pointing to his three daughters, he said “and you my daughters, if you lose your father, mourn not for him. Rather mourn for yourselves, and for your sins. Mourn not for me, though you are unwilling to spare me, and I might be helpful to you by living longer in this world, yet to die, is far better for me.”—

It has been urged among the objections against sending the gospel to our aborigines, that their prejudices and hardness of heart must interpose insuperable obstacles to its progress. Yet the penitence and humility with which they received the religious instructions of their earlier teachers were remarkable. It was observed of the venerable Eliot, that his heart was affected, “to see what floods of tears fell from the eyes of those degenerate savages, yea, from the worst of them all, at the first addresses which he made to them.” A contemporary divine, who had witnessed their mode of worship, states, “we saw and heard them perform their duties with such grave and sober countenances, such comely reverence in their gesture, and whole carriage, and with such plenty of tears trickling down the cheeks of many of them, as did argue that they felt the holy fear of God: and it much affected our hearts.”

The Rev. Thomas Mayhew, Jun. the first of that benevolent family who commenced preaching to the natives, undertook a voyage to England, in 1647, on business connected with his mission. But no intelligence of the vessel in which he embarked, was ever received. This affliction was deeply deplored by his family, by the church, and by the grateful Indians whose affections he had so strongly engaged, that for many years his name was seldom mentioned even by the younger and more thoughtless of them without tears. May we not apply to this excellent and lamented man, those beautiful lines in Milton's Lycidas?

The labours of this distinguished missionary to the aborigines of our country, the hardships, the self-devotion, the depths of humility, the high aspirations of piety, which his short period of twenty nine years comprised, are familiar to every mind versed in the history of man's benevolence to man. His creed was founded on what the venerable Dr. Milner styles “the primitive tastes of christianity, to believe, to suffer, and to love.” Among the trophies of his victory, by which having past the gates of death, he “yet speaketh,” may we not number the event, that from the perusal of his life, sprang that emulation which “baptized by prayer,” dictated the choice, and sublimated the career of Henry Martyn? The closing sentences of Sargent, his animated biographer, will express the merits of that distinguished man, whose memory is embalmed in the churches. “Martyn followed the steps of Zeigenbalg in the old world, and of Brainerd in the new; and while he walks with them in white, for he is worthy, he speaks, by his example, to us who are still in our warfare and pilgrimage on earth. For surely as long as England shall be celebrated for that pure and apostolical Church, of which he was so great an ornament; as long as India shall prize that which is more precious to her than all her gems and gold, the name of the subject of this memoir, as a translator of the Scriptures and of the Liturgy, will not wholly be forgotten: and while some shall delight to gaze upon the splendid sepulchre of Xavier, and others choose rather to ponder over the granite stone which covers all that is mortal of Swartz, there will not be wanting those who will think of the humble and unfrequented grave of Henry Martyn, and be led to imitate those works of mercy which have followed him into the world of light and love.”

The work entitled “An account of the history, manners and customs of the Indian Nations, who once inhabited Pennsylvania, and the neighbouring states,” by the Rev. John Heckewelder of Bethlehem, sufficiently proves the compassionate interest which had prompted the exertions, and directed the pen of the Author. “In what I have written,” he affirms, “concerning the character, customs, manners and usages of this people, I cannot have been deceived, since it is the result of personal knowledge, what I have myself seen, heard, and witnessed while residing among and near them, for more than thirty years.” Of the Lenni Lenapi, or Delaware tribe, he has collected a great number of interesting facts. These were the natives who first received the European settlers upon the island of New York, welcoming their arrival with an alacrity and reverence, which the gift of prescience would have changed into aversion and terror. Mr. Heckewelder, after describing the extent of territory and degree of prosperity which they then enjoyed, says, “On a sudden they are checked in their career, by a phenomenon they had till then never beheld; immense canoes arriving at their shores, filled with people of a different colour, language, dress and manners, from themselves. In their astonishment they call out to one another, ‘Behold! the Gods are come to visit us!’ They at first considered these wonderful beings, as messengers of peace, sent from the abode of the Great Spirit, and therefore employed their time in preparing and making sacrifices to that Great Being, who had so highly honoured them. Lost in amazement, fond of the enjoyment of this novel spectacle, and anxious to know the result, they were unmindful of those matters which hitherto had taken up their minds, and formed the object of their pursuits; they thought of nothing else but the wonders which now struck their eyes, and were constantly employed in endeavouring to divine this great mystery. Such is the manner in which they relate that event: the strong impression of which is not yet obliterated from their minds.”

“The Indians at first imagined that the white men originally sprang from the sea, and invaded their country, because they had none of their own. They sometimes called them in their songs, the “white foam of the Ocean,” and this name is still applied contemptuously by the aborigines of the North-West.”—

“The remnant of the Jewish nation having again rebelled, Adrian completed the destruction of what Titus had left standing in ancient Jerusalem. On the ruins of the city of David, he erected another town, to which he gave the name of Ælia Capitolinus; he forbade the Jews to enter it upon pain of death, and caused the figure of a hog, in sculpture, to be placed upon the gate leading to Bethlehem. St. Gregory Nazianzen nevertheless relates, that the Jews were permitted to enter Ælia once a year to give vent to their sorrows; and St. Jerome adds that they were forced to purchase at an exorbitant price the right of shedding tears over the ashes of their country.”—

The assembly who were to hear this interesting question decided, met in a beautiful vale, about eight miles to the westward of the Seneca Lake, on the 12th of June 1802. The tribe of Senecas, or Senekas, originally belonged to that powerful confederation of Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas, which existed at the first arrival of the Europeans. They now inhabit the territory on the banks of the Gennesee river; and the eastern shores of Lake Erie: and among their peculiar customs which point to ancient Israel, is that of annually sacrificing a white dog, as if in rude imitation of the paschal lamb. The celebrated orator, Red Jacket, belongs to them; but his name in their language is far more appropriate than this vulgar appellation, being Tsckuycaathaw, or “the Man who keeps you awake.”