We know that to an unbelieving world, the publishing of the gospel is folly and madness. Far from rejoicing, modern infidels, like infidels of old, are grieved at the preaching of Jesus and the resurrection. The carnal mind is enmity against God; but yet carnal minds derive many temporal advantages from the very system they abhor.1 The destruction of the tares is delayed, because the wheat is yet in the field.
The diffusion of Christianity is a most joyful event in regard of the restraints it imposes on vice. It lessens the number of vicious examples. It sets iniquity before men in the most hateful light. Conviction glares on the guilty mind, hidden, awful, unexpected as the lightning, and the finner trembles in spite of himself.2
Contemplate its influence on idolatry. Wherever the christian flandard has been planted, idols have been broken and confounded.3 Where are the deities of Greece and Rome? Who now adores the divinity of Juno, or as a suppliant, places a sacrifice on her altars? Aeolus and Neptune cease to be venerated, since he hath appeared who holds the winds in his fist, and the waters in the hollow of his hand. Pluto and Proserpina are worshipped no more; the astonished idolater perceives, that he who was dead and is alive again, hath the keys of hell and death. Venus the adulterers and Jove the whoremonger,4 have fled before a religion which declares, that whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Their names are yet known, because heathen authors are still read in christian schools; but their worship is abolished forever; their temples exhibit only broken arches and proftrate columns. The Dagons are fallen, because the ark of truth has been brought near them. Once he who would commit incest, he who would indulge intoxication, might gratify his vicious defires in adoration of a god or a goddess, but this pretence for the propriety of vice is urged no longer.
The holy scriptures provide a perpetual preventive against idolatry, in the appointment of one day in seven for religious instruction and worship.5 6
Contemplate the influence of Christianity on nations at war with each other. Since it is the tendency of the gospel to establish peace; since, when the latter days come, in which the christian religion shall be universal, the people shall learn war no more; it may reasonably be expelled, that the horrors of hostility, in proportion as it prevails, will be diminished. Formerly, the laws of war were rigorous in the extreme; Christianity has ameliorated them.7 Formerly, confident that vassalage or death must be the fate of the vanquished, men fought with a ferocity approaching to madness; but, Christianity has taught the shewing of mercy, has established a habit of exchanging prisoners, and rendered war less disruptive, by making captivity less dreadful. In the present day, through countries where the gospel is not known, prisoners of war are victims devoted to torture and death. The Indians, among whom you, my friends, are desirous of diffusing the light of life, afford a most painful proof of this truth.8 May this reflection fire your zeal.
Contemplate the influence of christianity on civil government. There have been and are bad governments, where our holy religion has been professed; but were it absent, such governments would be far worse. The evils that have attended political administration in Europe, since the reign of Constantine, have arisen from the monstrous association of the church and state.9 Ambition for the sceptre gave rise to the mitre, and transformed the pretended defendants of humble fishermen into haughty pontiffs. Christianity, itself, an angel of light, has been pressed into services suited to a demon of darkness. But as this age of revolutions advances, the vile absurdity of being vicious for virtue’s fake is exposed, and the political union of the kingdom of heaven with the government of the world is generally condemned; for what concord hath Christ with Belial?
Yet even in countries, where this unnatural connexion subsists, when the Bible has been free, for the perusal of the people in their native language,10 governments have witnessed the value of the christian system. A member11 of a national church thus expresses himself. “The effects of Christianity have been important. It has softened the administration of despotic, or of nominally despotic governments. It has abolished polygamy. It has restrained the licentiousness of divorces. It has put an end to the exposure of children, and the immolation of slaves. It has suppressed the combats of gladiators, and the impurities of religious rites. It has banished if not unnatural vices, at lest the toleration of them. It has greatly ameliorated the condition of the laborious poor, that is to say, of the great mass of every community, by procuring for them a day of weekly rest. In all countries in which it is professed, it has produced numerous establishments for the relief of sickness and poverty, and in some a regular and general provision by law. It has triumphed over the slavery established in the Roman empire: it is contending and I trust will one day prevail against the worse slavery of the West-Indies.”12
The same divine system commands and teaches magistrates to be ministers of God for good. It enjoins on men a faithful regard to the just laws of their country. It exposes and condemns the sins which are a disgrace to any people, and enforces the righteousness which exalteth a nation. The correct ideas of liberty and equality, America possesses, have been drawn from this source. It eclipses that splendour of the rich and the mighty, before which the vulgar shrink into veneration and servility. It regards all men as sinners, and proclaims a common salvation. It directs men of every class to assemble for worship together, and foretells their general meeting around the throne of the Judge of all. It is now renovating the civil institutions of the earth, and presaging the period, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Chrift.
Contemplate its influence on agriculture. It beats swords into ploughshares, and spears into pruning- hooks. It cherishes the social temper: as naturally as streams flow together into the ocean, real christians seek the communion of saints. Instead of roving far distant, each one, with pious ardour says to his friend, where thou lodged; I will lodge, thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou dieth will I die, and there will I be buried. With this fervour of spirit it combines diligence in business, and excites that contemplation of the works and character of God, with which the culture of the earth is so congenial.13
To the absence of these we must ascribe the appearance of prodigious forests in the interior of this country, with scarce a spot devoted to tillage. Indians are so frequently fending the red hatchet from nation to nation, their passion for hunting which separates them from their villages and connexions is so powerful, and so great is their aversion to labour and contemplation, that husbandry, the most essential support of animal life, is little regarded. But, brethren, circulate the gospel among them; then, instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and indead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; then shall the wilderness and solitary place be glad, and the desert shall blossom as the rose. [ed. See note 13]
Contemplate the influence of Christianity on literature. We are ready to acknowledge that learning contrasted with piety is trifling, and that God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the wise; but we believe that while religion prostrates the pride of pedantry, it promotes solid literary information.14
What is literature? Is it knowledge in languages? Only the volume of inspiration teaches us the origin of their confusion. To be able to receive and convey ideas in several languages is fo far from being contrary to the religion of Jesus, that one important evidence of its truth is the gift of tongues. Is it acquaintance with history? The Bible is the most ancient history, and is so full of allusions to the customs of different nations, that an able expositor must be a historian. Is it the knowledge of the heavens? The man after God’s own heart was a devout astronomer. Bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, loose the bands Orion, and then prove that the contemplation of the stars does not influence to humility and devotion. Does it consist in researches into nature? The wisest of men spake of trees; from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall. He spake also of hearts, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes. Our divine Lord refers us to the lilies of the field, and to the birds of the air, for lessons of wisdom. Is it acquaintance with moral philosophy? The New Testament contains a system of morals, general as the connections of man, and pure as the character of its author. Is it the knowledge of the belle-lettres Literally, belles-lettres is a French phrase meaning "beautiful" or "fine" writing. In this sense, therefore, it includes all literary works—especially fiction, poetry, drama, or essays—valued for their aesthetic qualities and originality of style and tone. The term thus can be used to refer to literature generally. The Nuttall Encyclopedia, for example, described belles-lettres as the "department of literature which implies literary culture and belongs to the domain of art, whatever the subject may be or the special form; it includes poetry, the drama, fiction, and criticism," while the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition describes it as "the more artistic and imaginative forms of literature, as poetry or romance, as opposed to more pedestrian and exact studies."? Where are the human compositions which equal the song of Moses, the psalms of David, the prophecies of Nahum, the prayer of Habakkuk, the revelation of John, the sermons of Jesus?
In that sublime specimen of ancient composition the xxviiith chapter of the book of Job 28, the patriarch represents the miner as setting an end to darkness, overturning mountains by their roots, and searching out all perfection; the stones of darkness and the shadow of death. The subterranean cavity he forms is termed a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye [ed. Job 28:7-8] hath not seen. The providence of
Jehovah is an obscure profound.
Deep in unfathomable mines,
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will.
There is in them a way which no mortal knows, which angelic penetration hath not seen. A proof of this we may derive from the manner in which the literature of the ancients and the New Testament itself were preserved, when the barbarous nations laid waste the whole empire of Rome, Constantinople excepted.
Christianity is native wisdom; superstition is imitative folly. Divine providence had prepared the cloister of the monastery, a way the vulture's eye had not seen, for the security of monuments so valuable. But it was the superstition of monks which gave being to monastic institutions; it was superstition in the barbarians which made them venerate the cell and the temple. More than seven successive centuries were ancient writings sacred and profane thus astonishingly preserved.
In the seventh century, Anglo Saxons were as illiterate as American Indians, but their conversion enlightened their minds and promoted the interests of literature. Before that event there was no such thing as learning nor the means of obtaining it, in that part of Britain which they inhabited. Their ancient religion had a tendency to inspire them with nothing but a brutal contempt of death and a savage delight in war. As long, therefore, as they continued in the belief and in the practice of that wretched superstition, they seem to have been incapable either of science or civility, but by their conversion to Christianity they became accessible to both.15 You know the application I wish to make of this circumstance to the people whose conversion is the object of your exertions and prayers.
Soon as the gospel at the Reformation began to spread; soon as the chains of superstition were broken, science came forth from her cave bound hand and foot with the grave clothes which the rude manners of ages had call around her.16 Then the voice of prevailing truth said, Loose her, and let her go! In the same proportion as the light of the gospel increased, the province of learning was irradiated, and the same valuable effect will follow on its propagation to the end of time. There are blessings which men in general enjoy from the diffusion of the word of life, but there are blessings infinitely superior which abound to believers in particular.
But O how great, how numerous are they! Born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The joyful Christian looks up to the ruler of heaven and cries, abba, father! Behold, says Jesus, I make all things new; the believer feels his creating power. Old things pass away; his hopes, his fears, his joys, his sorrows, his companions, his prospects, all things become new. He looks over the lift of his offences, and his heart is filled with confusion and deep repentance; he looks to his suffering Redeemer, and rejoices with joy unspeakable, while he hears him say, son, thy sins are forgiven thee. He is blest with access by the new and living way to the heavenly throne. While a believer is lifting his cry and looking up, Jehovah is bowing the heavens and coming down. He draws nigh to God; God draws nigh to him. God contemplates and is delighted with his own perfections; the believer contemplates in his humble measure, and is delighted with the perfections of his God. A Christian holds communion with the supreme majesty. Laugh ye profane! employ your railings against the good man’s experience; he minds it not. If we say we have no fellowship with him we lie, for truly our fellowship is with the father and with his Son Jesus Christ. “So the moon holds bright communion with the sun the sovereign planet; so she receives and reflects his beams, she shines gloriously in a dark hemisphere and moves onward, sublime in her heavenly course regardless of all the barking animals which betray their senseless malice.”
The servant of Christ possesses the pleasures of a good conscience. Why did Cain exclaim, every one that findeth me shall slay me? Why smote the knees of Belshazzar together? why were the joints of his loins loosed? Because a hand wrote he knew not what upon a wall. Why did Herod on hearing the same of Jesus cry, John Baptist is risen from the dead. Why? because the horrors of a guilty conscience terrified and confounded them. But believers, exercising themselves in the work of faith and labour of love, have a conscience void of offense toward Cod and toward men.
The day glides sweetly o’er their heads,
Made up of innocence and love;
And soil, and silent as the shades,
Their nightly minutes gently move.
Undisturbed by the accusations of guilt in his own conscience, he anticipates with calm delight the solemnities of the final judgment, justified by faith in Christ freely from all things, his fears vanish; For who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? God that justifieth? Who is he that condemneth? Christ that died? He is risen again and is at the right hand of God making intercession!
When afflictions come upon a Christian, he can perceive they are intended for his good, and that they are imposed by the hand of his best friend. He regards himself as a fellow sufferer with the long train of Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs. He knows his afflictions work out his glory, his light afflictions, a weight of glory, afflictions which are but for a moment end in a weight of glory, far more exceeding and eternal.
He overcomes the false maxims, the hard speeches, and fierce resentments of an evil world, and has a right to the tree of life. The hopeless physician, the throbbing pulse, the filmed eye, the measured grave, the descending coffin, to a believing mind are not horrible, they are divinely pleasing. Sin, the sting of death, the worm of hell, is destroyed. Let worms riot on this body, this corruptible shall put on incorruption. This earthly house may now be demolished, and it may lie for ages uninhabited and desolate, but it shall become a temple inconceivably glorious. When the trumpet sounds, on the resurrection morning, believers shall spring from their tombs, shake themselves from their dust, trample on the broken powers of the grave, put on their beautiful garments, and rise in a cloud to meet their coming Lord. They shall pass the gate into the Holy City, receive the crown of life and the palm of victory, and join with the harpers on the sea of glass in an everlasting anthem of praise.
These are glories which are reserved for believers above; but there are glories, which are foretold and shall be enjoyed here below. He is looking for what is termed the latter-day of glory,17 when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the place of the sea; when, before the ministry of the gospel, mountains and hills shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the forest shall clap their hands.
But may we hope this blessed period is nigh at hand? We may. Are our reasons asked for our indulging so pleasing an expectation? They are such as the following.
First, the rapid fulfilment of ancient prophecies. There is a general correspondence between the writings of one prophet, and those of another; but the book of Daniel, and the Revelations of John are peculiarly harmonious. Daniel exhibits strong outlines; John a more finished likeness; but the object is the fame. Their predictions are singularly explicit on the future state of the christian church. — Perilous times and times of refreshing are foretold. Though of the day and the hour of their arrival no man knoweth, so as to be able to speak with justifiable confidence, yet there are such allusions18 to the period in both John and Daniel, as must powerfully strike, while they seriously employ the pious mind. The time when the powers of the earth shall be shaken, may be known in some measure by the great and visible suppression of Papal Power. Rome at the Reformation received a blow, she has never recovered; but, lately her plagues have come upon her with dreadful violence. The event which has engaged the prayers of saints on earth, and of martyrs at the foot of the altar, is now accomplishing. Arrayed in purple and scarlet, Rome, the mother of harlots, shall be drunken with the blood of the faints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, no more. The angel has dallied the millstone into the waters. The beast is exiled; Babylon is falling; the horns are broken; the merchants are weeping; all heaven is rejoicing.19 Why should the christian world be silent as midnight, when the rays of the morning are beaming upon them? Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. Rejoice over her, ye inhabitants of the earth, join with the people in heaven in saying, Alleluia, salvation, and glory, and honour, and power unto the Lord our God.
Old Babylon, after the conquests of Cyrus, continued gradually to decay. In the same proportion as the israelites were loosened from their captivity and reinstated in the goodly land, the pride of nations became a desolation. So we may expect that as the church of Rome the mystical Babylon declines, the church of Christ the true Israel will rise. The ebbing of the tide produces a flood on opposite shores.
The Eastern as well as the Western Antichrist is evidently declining; the great river Euphrates is drying up, and a way being made for the kings of the East; the sovereigns probably of Persia and Tartary. Enfeebled by Russia on the north, and above all by its internal corruptions, the Turkish empire is tumbling into ruin. The signs of the times inspire a vigorous hope, that the follies of the Koran will foon be forgotten, and the mosque and the brothel be known no more.20
Our expectations are lengthened, secondly, by observing what we suppose to be the harbingers of the day, when mountains and hills (hall break forth into song.
Perhaps the predicted events that attended the destruction of Jerusalem, are emblems of the general destruction of vice: it is certain much of our Saviour’s language in the xxivth of Matthew (Mat. 24), carries our views beyond the then, coming catastrophe. Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. If familiar events to those which preceded the ruin of the Jewish polity shall precede the overthrow of the anti-christian governments of the earth, their end is assuredly not distant. The trees now shoot forth, and we see and know, that summer is now nigh at hand.21
Wars and commotions introduced the final victory of Titus over Jerusalem;22 but at what time has war prevailed more destructive than at the present? Nation is rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There is now upon the earth the distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring. Men’s hearts are failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. The ocean is burdened with fleets and the shores all notify with warlike preparations. The object of modern wars is not the acquisition of lost territory, the reparation of injuries, or the punishment of insult; it is the entire destruction of the opposing power.23 When these things begin to come to pass, then, faith our Lord, look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh.
Did pestilences precede Jerusalem’s visitation? How much are they now prevailing! We need not cross the Atlantic for proofs. The wasting that destroys at noon-day, has in this city slain its hundreds. There is scarcely a principal town in the United States, in which men have not fallen victims to pestilential fever.
Were many deceived in Judea by false prophets? Men of this description are to be found both in America and Europe, and their numbers are increasing.
Did the slaughter of the Jews follow the prevalence of gross infidelity among them? When did infidelity ever raise the head of opposition against the truth, so vigorously as in the present day? It was common with the Jews just before their overthrow, to make a jest of divine things, and to deride as so many fanciful tales and juggling impostures, the sacred oracles of their prophets! Such is the testimony of Josephus. Who cannot bear testimony that at the present time, divine subjects are held up to public derision; that Christianity is termed a juggle; that its defenders are pronounced impostors; its prophecies absurd, and that in the view of thousands it merits the contempt of every philosophic mind? It deserves to be well considered, that since the gospel system has been introduced, there never was a time when infidels were so numerous. Ecclesiastical History informs us of the various opposition it has suffered. At one time it was opposed by attempts to reconcile it with heathen philosophy, at another by clothing it with the trappings of superstition. With a fickleness resembling king Nebuchadnezzar’s, men have at one season declared its enemies ought to be put to death, and at another have martyred millions of its friends: but infidelity like the present is no where recorded.
Until within these few years, infidels were few as serpents in a cultivated country. Their characters were concealed under the name of christians, and their sentiments when published, occasionally and cautiously introduced in the midst of a relation of historical facts.24 But now restraints are shaken off, and men glory in their unbelief. The hoary sinner and the deluded youth unite to assert that the religion of Jesus is folly; while hand in hand they practice the vices it condemns.
But what means this mighty revolution in the world of seeming christians? Are ye at a loss, my hearers, to form a judgment on what you daily see and hear? Let Jude instruct you: “Beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jefus Chrift; how that there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.” Jesus hath told us that God will avenge his own elect, he will avenge them speedily. “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the earth?" Shall he not rather find infidel infatuation? Peter tell us, that “there shall come in the last days, scoffers walking after their own lulls and faying, where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Indeed, while we indulge all that diffidence, which the nature of prophecy and our subjection to mistake require, there is such general, such great, such novel and such various opposition now made against the Lord and his Christ, that we feel little difficulty in saying, Little children, it is the last time: and, as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists, whereby we know it is the LAST TIME.
In conjunction with these remarks, we may observe that the important improvements which of late years have been made in science, seem to be opening the way for the introduction of the latter days.
The art of printing has contributed greatly to the illumination of the minds of men.25 Books, the grand medium of information, are now widely circulated and easily obtained. The labor of transcribing is no longer requisite. In each quarter of the world the press is in motion, and will, we trust, under the divine hand, prove an auxiliary mean of causing the earth soon to be full of the knowledge of the Lord.26 Improvements in natural philosophy have of late been great and rapid. Numerous machines are invented which lessen manual labour. The tilling of the ground is better understood, earlier effected, and far more advantageous. The properties of vegetables are better known, and more generally appropriated. The science of medicine has undergone an amazing revolution. The diseases of the animal system are chided with greater perspicuity and removed with increasing facility. Improvements in navigation have been equally great. The confident seaman now crosses an ocean of a thousand leagues with more safety, than men anciently pafled a river of a thousand yards. Guided by his faithful compass, he ventures on the pathless deep, bids adieu to joyful shores, and through awful billows in company with the dolphin, the shark, the whale, and the sea-snake, searches for lands on the other side of the globe. By ingenious traversings, the opposition of the winds is overcome and the same blast is made to drive along: vessels in every direction. It is from hence that lands separated from each other by wide and turbulent waters are united in manners, in interest, and in prosperity. It is by means of navigation we look for the establishment of the gospel in the islands of the earth.27 Surely, Great Redeemer! the isles wait for thee, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy foils from far. Missionaries upon the ocean shall go out with joy, weaves like mountains shall break forth before them into singing, and as they approach the remote shores, the trees of the forests shall clap their hands.
The natural rights of men have been more clearly ascertained and more confidently asserted than in ages pad, and a revolutionary spirit is now gaining ground through the whole province of civil and ecclesiastical institution. Wickedness is employed by Providence in ruining wickedness. Among the powers of the earth as in the army of the Midianites, the Lord seems to be setting every man’s hand against his fellow'. Infidelity demolishes superstition, and impatience of every restraint is the ruin of tyranny.
For several years past, how has the mind of man been agitated! Events which anciently occupied an age, are now accomplished in a day. Political calculation is altogether defeated, and men land wondering what will be the issue of the extraordinary process. As an accelerated velocity in matter implies an approximation to the point of attraction, so the increasing rapidity in the motions of the governments of the earth, intimates their nearness to that state of rest, when the Prince of Peace shall sway an universal sceptre. The four grand monarchies are destroyed, in the latter of which the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. The stone, which brake in pieces the image, composed of the gold of Assyria, the silver of Persia, the brass of Greece, and the iron of Rome, has swelled into a mountain and is filling the earth. Its progress many of the offended sons of men are striving to retard; but the effort is as foolish and useless as the conduct of the Thracians This is an allusion to an account given by the Greek historian Heodotus in his history about the arrogance of the Thracians who tried to kill gods who were not theirs by shooting arrows into the sky. in discharging arrows at the heavens, because angry at unreasonable showers. Stop the revolution of the earth, arrest time in its flight, and then try to hinder the advance of the Redeemer’s kingdom. Hush the roaring of summer thunders, and then silence the deepening groans of creation, waiting for the adoption.
It is a pleasing preface that a Missionary Spirit has gone forth in the world. Among the rivers in Asia, in the wilds of Africa, and on the mountains of America, publishers of salvation are to be found. The firmament of the church is widening and new stars are displaying the new creation’s glory. Hindus are ceasing to worship their Ganges, and idols are famished. The Ethiopian is chilled with the view of his crimes, and the Greenlander warmed with redeeming love. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even, glory to the righteous.
My Brethren,
In the interior of the country we inhabit, there are thousands of Indians who are covered with gross darkness. We have brought our families and our manners to their shores, let us shew them, that we have brought with us a volume which may prove a light unto their feet and a lamp to their paths. Let us point them to the mark of the prize of the high calling of christians, a mark by which they may “steer” with confidence through “the wilderness” of this perplexing world.
Let neither their imagined virtues28 nor their real vices prevent your exertions.
Are indians unclean? Send the gospel among them. This will teach everyone how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour. It will shew to them that marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled; but that whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Are they filthy in their manners and persons? Send them the gospel. They will learn from it to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit.?? Having their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, their bodies will be washed as with pure water. The body will be respected when regarded as a temple for the Holy Ghost. Health and cleanliness follow the pious observance of the Lord’s day.
Are Indians drunkards? Send the gospel among them. Let Missionaries cry at the door of their tents. Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness! Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink, that continue unto night, until wine (or rum) inflame them. When they know that drunkenness at last biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder, and that drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God, we may expect that by this vice, whole tribes will be no more destroyed, and that Indians will cease to glory in their shame.
Are they gluttonous? Send them the gospel, and their belly will soon cease to be their God. The body will be kept under, and be brought into subjection. Assisted to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, provision will not be made for the flesh to fulfil its lusts. They will use the world as not abusing it.
Are Indians treacherous? Send the gospel among them, that they may have their conversation in simplicity and godly sincerity. It is only by this means that with respect to public treaties, or private dealings, you will be prevented from saying their tongue is an arrow shot out, it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably with his mouth, but in heart he layeth wait. Embracing the religion of the king of truth, they will become true men.
Are they cruel? Send them the gospel! In Head of regarding compassion as effeminacy, they will consider it as a mark of human greatness. Instruments of cruelty shall be sought for in vain, in their habitations. Under the influence of Christianity the scalping knife and the hatchet will become useless, and the war-hoop and death-song be forgotten. The lion and the wolf shall become gentle as the kid or the lamb. That heart cannot be cruel in which the love of God is shed abroad.
Are Indians idle?29 Send the gospel among them. We commanded you, fay the apostles, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. We beseech you that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, that ye may walk honestly.
Are they dishonest? Send them the gospel. Let them know, that this is the will of God that no man go beyond or defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such. Let him that steal, steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good. Let none suffer as a thief.
Are Indians fond of gaming? Send the gospel among them! By teaching its converts to come out from ungodly company, to care for them of their own household, and to shun deceit and lying, it destroys the injurious practice. Such who beguile unstable souls, having hearts exercised with covetous practices are cursed children. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings, who shall receive the reward of unrighteousness.
Are they in the habit of degrading their women? Send them the gospel, which says, Let the husband render to the wife due benevolence, giving honour to her as the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life. Let every one of you love his wife even as himself.
The gospel is suited to the removal of the vices which disgrace the Indian tribes; and where it is received in power, instead of the brier, will come up the fir-tree, and instead of the thorn, the myrtle tree. Instead of uncleanness, there will be purity; instead of drunkenness, sobriety; instead of treachery, integrity; instead of cruelty, mercy; instead of indolence, industry; instead of theft, honesty; and instead of contempt for females, the mother, the wife, the daughter, and the sister will be loved and respected as tender, faithful friends.30
This conviction, united with an ardent desire to glorify God in the exercise of Christian benevolence towards the heathen, gave birth to the Philadelphia Missionary Society.31 This Society, while it is anxious that the heathen may hear the faithful saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; is desirous of introducing among the Indians fome of those arts which lead the way to civilization, ignorance of which is an indirect auxiliary to the commission of various crimes. The introduction of the loom, the forge, and the plough, of tame animals, and of useful metals is contemplated; that by the increase of civil information, the wall of partition between Indians and the United States may be broken down, and the tomahawk and the bayonet become useless.
Every institution of this nature merits patronage; and it becomes each individual to exercise his influence for the advancement of so pious a design.
Shall I attempt to produce further arguments to excite you to fulfil the good pleasure of God? Shall I remind you of the prodigious numbers of fellow men who are yet involved in ignorance and misery? Shall I press on you the value of the gospel, that it consists of glad tidings to perishing sinners? Shall I remind you of the example of Jesus who went about doing good, and whose zeal for the house of God consumed him? Shall I refer you to the holy apostles, who counted not their lives dear, so they might fulfil their ministerial course? Shall I press on you, that zeal for the Lord of hosts has lately given rise to many missionary societies, and refer you to Scotland, to Germany, to England and to New York? Need I tell you that carelessness is guilt, and indolence ignoble? Shall I point you to nature, full of labor all around you, and invite restless winds, rolling tides, riling vegetables, and revolving orbs to put your inactivity to the blush? [ed. Psalm 46:10] Shall I exhibit the encouragements to fending missionaries among the Indians, derivable from an Indian’s believing in the Great Spirit and in a future state; from the peace now fubfifting between them and us, and from their proximity to us? Shall I alert the honor of being fellow-workers with God,?? the pleasure that springs from fulfilling our duty and doing good, and the probability of success deducible from the signs of the times? I persuade myself the talk is unnecessary. I persuade myself that you are ready to cry out, How shall we begin to testify our zeal? [ed. Phil. 3:6)] What immediate measure shall we adopt for aiding so benevolent a design? I congratulate myself on being able to assist your pleasures, in hopes of feeling this evening a fulfilment of that animating prophecy. They shall bring their silver and their gold with them unto the name of the Lord thy God.32 At the close of this service your liberality will have a fair opportunity for its exertion. The society, for which I have this evening the honor to plead, is weak;33 it has implored the fatherly care of Heaven, and now would welcome assistance from you. As yet ’tis a little one, but we trust the little one will become a thousand. In the exercise of that onerous zeal which will give pleasure in death, an expecting the Masters blessing, we hope to see mountains and hills, the Andes and the Alleghany break forth into singing, and the trees of wilderness clap their hands in gospel harmony. The Lord will hasten it in his time.
THE END.
[ed. 1These "temporal" advantages which we suppose refer to the passage in the Gospels where Jesus speaks of the sun rising on both the evil and the good (Matt. 5:45) will avail the evil little in the end. They are still destined for hell.]
[ed. 2We would like for Mr. Stoughton to show us where the law improves men in some way. We are told that government is designed to punish does that Do evil. But where are we told that this punishment restrains evil doers? We are told that law was made for the unrighteous Gal. 3:5, but it also does not state that is reduces the amount of evil in the world. The law was our schoolmaster or tutor was to lead us Christ not to some reduction of our sinning. In the Old Testament where the the nation of Israel was under the Mosaic Law, we see many instances of apostasy, as well as all kinds of violation of irs precepts. We see in the Bible no indication that Israel improved itself because they had a law, despite its death sentences. Similarly, we see the same in modern day society, who's fluctuations in crime seem to have a life of their own and are not connected to the stringency of the laws passed or the number. Thus we reject this "civil" use of the law as presented by Calvin and is followers.]
[ed. 3Really? Christianity has never totally supplanted other religions. Even today, in age where science is deified, we still have the ancient religions. Even in Europe where "christianity" has been the dominant religion for a thousand years, there still exist groups that openly worship the ancient greek and Roman gods. What about in India and Burma (now called Myanmar)? Professing Christians are only 2.3% of the population, despite the efforts of the Catholic and Protestant churches. This does not take into account the "idolatry" found within Christian congregations where money is worshipped or some sort of hedonistic lifestyle.
[4“Quis locus eft templis auguftior? hac quoque vitet. In culpam fi quae est ingeniola fuam.
Cum steterit Jovis arde: Jovis fuccurret in aede, Quam multas matres fecerit illc Deus.” Ovid.]
[5“If it be examined into, how it came to pass that the Jews were fo prone to idolatry before the Babylonish captivity, and so strongly and cautiously even to superstition fixed against it after that captivity, the true reason hereof will appear to be, that they had the law and the prophets every week constantly read unto them after that captivity, which they had not before. And it is not to be doubted, but that if this method of reading and explaining the scriptures on the Lord’s day, were once dropped among us, the generality of the people, whatever else may be done to obviate it, would in seven years relapse into as bad a state of barbarity, as was ever in practice among the worst of our Saxon and Danish ancestors.” Prideaux]
[ed. 6Where is this assertion found in the scriptures? The second temple Jews although they did not formally worship pagan gods,it is true, but, rejected the Son of God through its leaders. How is this an improvement? They exchanged the commands of God for those of men. Besides, the Lord's Day was never the Jewish Sabbath. The meeting of christians on the first day of the week (not the seventh) was never commanded, but it was the custom. Should a group of christians meet instead on another day, they would violate no command found in the New Testament. As for the Arminian notion that the reading of the bible produces Christians, if this was true, there would be none who would reject the gospel, despite having been exposed to it from childhood. The natural mind may understand the facts of the bible, and even formally agree with them in his mind, but the spiritual understanding cannot happen unless there is a supernatural intrusion by God through the new birth.]
[ed. 7"Christian Nations" (of which there is no such thing, if we judge from scriptural terminology, have shown horrible viciousness in warfare. Scalping your enemy was encouraged by the civilized Christians in America with bounties offered for scalps as proof that they had been actually been killed. In modern times, since this sermon was preached we have seen the worst wars in human history started among the supposed christian countries, wanton destruction of women and children being helpless civilians.]
[8When Indian victors with their captives arrive “ at the village or camp, the women and children arm themselves with sticks and bludgeons, and form themselves into two ranks, through which the prisoners are obliged to pass. The treatment they undergo before they reach the extremity of the line is very severe. Sometimes they are so beaten over the head and face as to have scarcely any remains of life, and happy would it be for them, if by this usage an end was put to their wretched beings. But their tormentors take care that none of the blows they give prove mortal, as they wish to reserve the miserable sufferers for more severe inflictions. The prisoners destined to death are stripped, every part of their bodies blackened, the skin of a crow or raven is fixed on their heads; they are then bound to a stake, with faggots heaped around them, and obliged, for the last time to sing their death song.” Carver’s Travels.]
[ed. 9Of course what Mr. Stoughton fails to mention is that this form of government was supported by the "christian bishops" at the time of Constantine and then defended by the Popes and ALL the "reformers", backed up by burnings and drownings for all who diverged from the prescribed "orthodoxy".]
[ed. 10One wonders if this man is on the same planet as us. Bibles being allowed to be read in the native language? Only 259 years earlier there was no legally authorized English Bible in England. And although the reading of the Bible was not ilegal, there was none available legally. So this "freedom" did not mean much before 1539.]
[11Archdeacon Paley]
[ed. 12It was "christian" nations that introduced slavery to the new world. The English became the most profitable in it. It was "christian" America that fought a war at whose end slavery was abolished that cost 600,000 lives, more lives than in any of the other American wars combined.]
[ed. 13Apparently the Native Americans knew enough about agriculture that they taught the Puritans who arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620 how to plant and how to fertilize food in the new world. If we look at South and Central America we see rather sophisticated farming and irrigation systems that surpassed the backward Europeans by the Aztecs, Inca and Mayas. Not all the Native Americans in the United States were hunters. The Iroquois are providing modern lessons to sophisticated Western farmers.]
[ed. 14This passage is where see the slippery slope Mr. Stoughton walks. First he speaks of "Christianity" by which we suppose he means that collection of gospel teachings. The further down he refers to "religion" which confuses things in our minds. But either way, neither Christianity or religion can produce humility. Only the new birth can do that! This strikes precisely at the heart of Stoughton's problem. He confuses the collection of gospel teachings which the natural mind can comprehend and assent to WITHOUT the new birth (as many false christian pretenders have), and a true elect child of God in whom Christ lives the hope of glory.]
[15Illustrations of Prophecy, Vol. II. p. 677.]
[ed. 16Rev. Staughton has apparently the founding of medieval universities still in existence today like University of Bologna (1088), Oxford, (1096), University of Paris.(1150), University of Modena (1175), University of Cambridge (1209), University of Salamanca (1218), University of Montpellier (1220), University of Padua (1222), University of Toulouse (1229), University of Orleans (1222), University of Orleans (1235), University of Sienna (1240), University of Valladolid (1241), University of Northampton (1261), University of Coimbra (1288), University of Pisa (1343), Charles University in PRague (1348), Jagiellonian University (1364), Heidelberg University (1386) and University of St. Andrews (1413), just to name a few. All of these were Roman Catholic universities and founded before the Reformation. He also forgets the ancient Greek & Roman philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Anaximander, Ptolemy, and scores of others who discovered many things about the world around them and mathematics. When it comes to the "heathens" especially in India, they invented modern mathematics and concept of the number zero long before it was discovered in the West. Also the Babylonians and the Egyptians and Sumerians had advanced observatories and a forerunner of calculus , long before Newton.]
[ed. 17This was a typical view popular among Baptists of the day, due in part to the influence of Daniel Whitby and Jonathan Edwards. We will quote an author who we think explains the error in this phrase:
Haggai 2:9 is often quoted as a verse that God will do a worldwide revival in the end times. When I was involved in the IHOP movement briefly this was one of their theme verses. That the latter glory would be greater than the first glory. All of this preceding the return of Jesus Christ.
This morning I woke up and the thought came into my mind that we are in the latter glory. What Jesus accomplished on His cross by bringing in the New Covenant through His sacrificial death. The latter glory of God was released upon His body. The latter glory has come by the Holy Spirit dwelling in the hearts of his people in the church. That is the spiritual bride of Christ.
The Lord says and Haggai 2:9 that the latter glory all the house will be greater than the first. We are the latter glory of the house. Consider Ephesians 2:19-22,
... So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple of the Lord, and whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit...
Brothers and sisters we are the latter glory of the house of God. Paul writes about this in Colossians 1:25-27,
... Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is the mystery of which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been manifested to his saints, in whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory...
The glory of God is Jesus dwelling in the hearts of His people by faith in the church by His Holy Spirit. Paul sums it up so beautifully in his prayer in Ephesians 3:14-19,
... For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up in all the fullness of God...
Dear saints this should astound and amaze us. As we say in Arkansas we should be spellbound and amazed. That Jesus Christ in His glory dwells in us both individually and corporately.
Then why are we praying for a 'visitation' of "latter glory' when when we are the latter glory? The latter glory is Jesus Himself dwelling in our midst, living in our hearts by His Holy Spirit? We might say this is His present glory on us. This is the glory of the New Covenant.
What we should be praying for is to be a 'habitation' of His glory. We should be praying to be vessels of His glory.
]
[18Both John and Daniel speak of a time, times, and the half or dividing of a time, which period answers to the forty-two months, in which the Holy City shall be trodden under foot, and in which the ten horned beast should enjoy his power; aid to the thoufar.d two hundred and threescore days in which the two witnesses shall prophesy in sackcloth, and in which God shall feed the woman in the wilderness; each intending in prophetic style the space of one thousand two hundred and fifty years. Did we know when to fix the beginning of this period, calculation would be easy and decide; but this is involved in darkness . ... It deserves remark, that in the year 529 the Justinian code, the basis of ecclesiastical usurpation, was published, about the fame time, the power of the Pope was declared supreme, and then the order of Benedictine monks was founded. 1,260 years added to this date brings us down to the year 1789, when the Assembly in France asserted civil and religious liberty. Mighty commotions have followed and continue still to astonish the nations.]
[ed. 19Staughton dares to ascribe to the Reformation what Jesus himself did through his death and resurrection to the powers of darkness! "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Col. 2:13-15)]
[ed. 20The Koran has hardly disappeared, as can be clearly seen today. Where were all their boasts with all their vaunted Missionary Societies, Sunday Schools, Bible Societies, Mite Societies and the rest of their man-made apparatus?]
[ed. 21Staughton's body has long ago turned to dust and this prophecy has not come true. So much for trying to predict how soon the Lord will return. If he will come like a thief in the night, then how can he be expected?]
[22Vide Josephus, Newton on the Prophecies, Edward’s Miscellaneous Observations, & c. & c.]
[ed. 23We are confused. What happened to Dr. Stgaughton's argument that war was "ameliorated" by "Christian nations"?]
[24This was notoriously the case with Bolingbroke, Gibbons, and Hume.]
[25Confucius how much printing tends to disseminate knowledge, the Turks rigorously forbid it in their empire, led it should produce a change in their religion and government.]
[ed. 26To the Rev. Dr. Staughton the earth being filled with the knowledge of the Lord just means that there will be a lot of bibles printed and books about the bible written by other men. We would expect this of him who loved the dead letter and does not really value the fleshly tables written in the heart. Natural men can read the bible all day long and it will amount to nothing without the new birth, except formalism and phariseeism.]
[ed. 27Dr. Staughton has found yet another "means" by which God's kingdom is to be advanced. But why stop there? Why not thank his fork, or shoes as well? Or his roasted turkey if he has one as a means for the spread of the gospel? The list could be endless and silly.]
[28“It has become fashionable of late years for the philosophers of Europe to celebrate the virtues of the savages of America. — Whether the design of their encomiums was to expose Christianity and depreciate the advantages of civilization, I know not, but they have evidently had those effects upon the minds of weak people.” Dr. Rush’s Essays.
From the travels of Charlevoix, Hennepen, Carver, &c. the doctor demonstrates that uncleanness, nastiness, drunkenness, gluttony, treachery, cruelty, idleness, theft, gaming, and the degrading of their women are common vices. He concludes a short, but very instructive essay on the subject with saying; “How great is the efficacy of Christianity, which by purifying the heart, renders the practice of the contrary virtues natural and agreeable!”]
[29“Their work advances under their hand with fuch slowness, that an eye witness compares it to the imperceptible progress of vegetation. They spend so many years in forming a canoe, that it often begins to rot with age, before they finish it.” Robertson's America.]
[ed. 30The hypocrisy and blindness in Staughton's discussion of the Native Americans of his time is of amazing proportions. Apparently, to Mr. Stoughton, the gospel has the power to change an individual into well-adjusted socially ideal individual.
"Are the indians unclean?" Apparently, they were not the only ones who were unclean:
...in New England, winter washing was a severe trial, and bathing was unthinkable. "When the temperature of a bed-room ranges below the freezing-point, there is no inducement . . . to waste any unnecessary time in washing," wrote Charles Francis Adams, grandson of President John Quincy Adams and brother of historian Henry Adams.Another source speaks more on the subject:
Soap was mainly used for laundry and was often made at home, as evidenced by numerous homemade recipes. By the mid 19th century, Americans started using soap to clean their skin, and manufacturers quickly met the dual demand by producing a variety of toilet and laundry soaps. It logically followed that as Americans washed their bodies more often, they also became concerned with washing their clothes.But of the Native Americans we find this comment:
...so many of what had been unique practices among American Indians have been adopted by white people that they are not part of the dominant culture and no longer viewed as part of the "Indian way." Examples would include daily bathing..."Are Indians drunkards?" We do not know much about the morals of the non-Natives:
Americans in the early 19th century, but we do know about the non-native population's drinking habits:
After the Revolutionary war, Americans were drinking staggering amounts of alcohol. Tastes were swiftly changing from ciders and beers, the preference of colonial times, to hard liquors from the nation’s earliest distilleries. By 1830, each person, on average, was swilling more than seven gallons of alcohol per year.
“The tradition in a lot of communities was to have a drink for breakfast. You had a drink mid-morning. You might have whiskey with lunch. You had a beer with dinner, and you ended with a nightcap,” says Bruce Bustard, a curator at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. “There was a fair amount of alcohol consumption by children too.”
Alcohol was thought to stave off fevers and ease digestion. “If you did not drink, you were endangering your health,” says Mark Lender, a historian and coauthor of Drinking in America. “There was a point at which you could not buy life insurance if you did not drink. You were considered ‘crank-brained.’”"Are indians gluttonous?" We find an interesting response to that question in book titled, Curiosities Among the Savage Life, Vol 1 by James Greenwood. Quoting George Catlin, a famous painter of the Western tribes he writes:
It is time...that an error on this subject, which has gone generally abroad in the world, was corrected. It is everywhere asserted, and almost universally believed, that the Indians are enormous eaters, but comparatively speaking this is an error. There are no persons on earth who practise greater prudence and self-denial than the men do (amongst the wild Indians), who are constantly at war, and in the chase, or in their athletic sports and exercises; for all of which they are excited by the highest ideas of pride and honor...many a man who has been a few weeks along the frontier amongst the drunken,, naked, and beggared part of the Indian race, and run home and written a book on Indians, has, no doubts, often seen them eat to beastly excess; and he has seen them, alas! guzzle whiskey till, glutted and besotted, without will or energy; and many such things can always be seen where white people have made beggars of the Indians, and they have nothing to do but lie under a fence and beg of the the whole week to get meat and whiskey enough for one feast and one carouse; but amongst the wild Indians in this country there are no beggars, no drunkards, and every man, from a beautiful precept, studies to keep his body and mind in such a healthy shape and condition as well at all times enable him to use his weapons in self-defense, struggle for the prize in their manly games.
"Are indians idle?" This is most interesting to make of the original settlers of America. Let us see how idle they were?
When Spaniards arrived in Mesoamerica, they encountered the Maya, Aztecs and other prominent Indigenous groups. The land was rich, fertile, and filled with crops such as beans, pumpkins, chilies, avocados, elderberries, guavas, papayas, tomatoes, cocoa, cotton, tobacco, henequen, indigo, maguey, corn, and cassava.Speaking of the Spanish we believe would equally apply to other descendents of European ancestry:
As the Spanish arrived in the “new world” and initiated the European colonization of the Americas, they also brought with them the notion of cultural and class based distinctions that were founded on the types of food people ate. For example, upon their arrival, the Spaniards determined that guinea pig “meat” was a fundamentally “Indian” food, thus anyone who consumed guinea pig was considered “Indian.” The same was true for other staple Indigenous foods, such as maize and beans. The Spanish considered such Indigenous fare “famine foods,” fit for consumption only if all other “right foods” had been thoroughly exhausted.Speaking further on the subject of Native American "idleness" is the case of the Puritans in New England, we find that:
The Wampanoag grew corn, squash, and beans – crops known as the “Three Sisters” that make a potent growing team, especially in poor, sandy soil that doesn’t retain nutrients or water. The three plants work well together to create fertile soil. Beans are nitrogen fixers, pulling nitrogen from the air, and with the help of soil microbes, turning the nitrogen into plant food. The corn provides the beans a support on which to grow and the squash helps in water retention and with weed control.
The Wampanoag also used wood ash and fish as plant fertilizers. Sauer says wood ash “would have been a relatively concentrated nutrient source” that contains calcium, which acts as a liming agent to raise the pH level. It also contains potassium and smaller amounts of phosphorous and other nutrients.
“Since the yields weren’t very high, applying wood ash would probably have replaced quite a lot of the potassium and phosphorous removed with the crop,” Sauer tells Modern Farmer in an email.
Using fish as a fertilizer was a common practice by many of the Native peoples of the East Coast and provided nutrients and amino acids to help in plant growth, according to tradition. Fish fertilizer, albeit in liquid form, is still in use today. Sauer, on the other hand, doesn’t believe fish is a great plant nutrient source, but says that it would have helped the soil somewhat since “any organic material will release some nutrients when it decomposes. It may have also added organic matter that helped retain water near the seed so maybe it was more than just a nutrient source.” Either way, Native American farming practices helped save Pilgrims from starving to death."Are they dishonest"? In answer to this question, we are sure that many NAtive Americans committed sins just like the supposed-Christian non-natives. But what about the government of the United States? How did it treat the Native American nations it found previously existing on the continent? We quote:
To the United States, Native American nations were only de facto states. In the implementation of its diplomatic policy toward the Native American population, the United States assumed the role of an empire over a protectorate. This opened the door for segregation and near decimation of the Native American population. With its first treaty with an Indian state in 1778 (with the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware Indians) through the Treaty of Echota of 1835 (with the Cherokee in Georgia) the only policy has been removal. This is not to say that the treaties were one sided. In fact, the American government did provide re-compensatory provisions in exchange for title to Indian lands. Often a relocation allowance and future payments were given, as in the case of the controversial Treaty of Echota. However, subsequent acts of Congress and shifting political winds demoted many such provisions. Why then were these treaties signed?
Examining the major land cessions from 1784 to 1894, it is clear that nearly all of these treaties were forced on Native American nations. Most were negotiated after wars; as in the case of the Treaty of Greenville (1795), the Treaty of Fort Jackson (1814), and the Treaty of Fort Armstrong (1832). These wars were started by white settlers encroaching on Indian lands. Other treaties were brought about by the demands of the individual states, as with the Treaty of Echota. This treaty removed the Cherokee from their territory and resettled them in a designated Indian Territory in Oklahoma. They were forced out in a march that killed over 4000 Cherokee. Following the Civil War, those nations that had allied with the Confederacy (such as the Cherokee and Creek) were forced to give up more territory.Are Indians fond of gaming?" Let us see if we can compare their love of gaming with the general moral Christian population's love of gaming? Even Washington whom Mr. Stuahgton would have admired like to gamble. We quote:
A typical colonist in attitude was the untypical man George Washington, who was content to gamble at cards all day, especially if it was raining out. According to his ledgers—and assuming that in this one specific case a gambler’s own records can be trusted—he broke even overall, despite a stinging stretch from January 1768 to April 1769, when he never won once, and lost a total of twelve pounds, ten shillings, and threepence.During the time of this sermon by Staughton, gambling was widely accepted and endorsed by states in lotteries to raise money. We read:
Newspaper editors were quick to condemn professional gamblers as the scourge of the Earth...All across America, professional gamblers were not merely dangerous criminals. They were 'vampyres' [sic] 'bl;ood -suckers,''vultures.' 'harpies,' 'living ulcers,' plague spots,' and blood-gouts.' One of the most prominent newspapers of the, the New York Sun, called professional gamblers "bullying blackguards...who have been long draining the life blood from the moral walk of the community.'"
So much for the Arminian notion of moral superiority. Where do we find this concept in scripture? Do not the saints view themselves as sinners? Were apostolic christians preaching moral improvements for those who came to Christ? Was this the primary message? We doubt the Native Americans would have been overly impressed with American "christendom".]
[31The Philadelphia Missionary Society, was formed in the month of January 1798. Three sermons were preached on the occasion, by Rev. Morgan J. Rhees. The first from Rom. 1:15-16. — The second from Rom. 10:12-15. — The third from Luke 16:31 . — The object of the first discourse was to portray the character of a primitive Missionary, his commission, and the effect of its delivery on nations and on believing individuals. Additional motives were urged to encourage a mission among the American heathen. The second discourse had for its object to prove, that God is no respecter of persons, that the riches of his grace are communicated to men by means of preaching, and that the preachers are fent and supported by men as well as by God. It was concluded by enforcing it as a duty, incumbent on every Christian to contribute towards teaching all nations the principles of pure and undefiled religion. The third discourse was applied particularly to infidels and libertines, its principal object was to show the sufficiency of Revelation. That it contains ample evidence of its truth to convince any reasonable creature who will take the pains to examine it and that therefore we are not to expect Jehovah will raise any person from the dead, to convert nominal Christians or to convince the heathen; that therefore it is our duty to send messengers of peace among them, that they may have Moses and the prophets, Christ and his apostles to bear testimony to the truth. If they reject, we shall be clear from their blood. Since the above period the number of members and the prospects of doing good have gradually increased, and it is hoped that ere long Missionaries, under their cheerful guidance, and under the guidance of the God of love, will go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.]
[ed. 32Dr. Staughton again confuses the Missionary Societies with the Lord. What need does the Lord who owns the cattle on a thousand hills have for silver and gold? How much silver and gold did Peter carry in the book of Acts?]
[ed. 33The society is weak? Doubtful. They could afford nice edifices in New York and Philadelphia, at that time, the wealthiest and most expensive cities in the United States.]
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