The establishment of mission schools among the Indians within the territory of the United States. Read before the Society, August 15, 1815, by CYRUS KINGSBURY,

Missionary to the Choctaw Indians.

[After stating several considerations to exhibit our obligations to exert ourselves for the moral improvement of the Indians, the writer urges the universal obligation of Christians, to send the gospel to the destitute.]

While our hearts are deeply affected by the story of those human sacrifices which stain the altars of India, let us not be deaf to the cry of blood in our own country. If human sacrifices are not here offered to appease the wrath of an imaginary god, yet they are made to gratify a no less blind and cruel superstition.

In some tribes, when a sickness prevails among them, they suppose it to be the effect of poison, which some evil persons among them have secretly given to those who are sick. Their prophets are immediately consulted; who, to maintain their popularity, or to gratify their revenge, do not fail to designate some, as the authors of this ima ginary work of darkness. This oracular proscription, as might be expected, generally falls upon the Christian Indians, and is to them a sentence of death. The supersti tious Indians immediately devote them to the hatchet or the stake.

About the year 1806, several respectable Christian Indians, belonging to tribes within the state of Ohio, were in this way sacrificed. In June, 1809, Mr. George Anderson, teacher of the Indian school at Sandusky, thus writes;"Last week the Senecas of the town above us, (about ten miles up the Sandusky river) killed one of their nation, whom they had superstitiously suspected of making

many of them sick in past years. They told him, that if he would confess his sin they would pardon him. He replied, their pardon was worth nothing, and could do him. no good; that none but God could pardon sin. But they would not believe him, and two or three held him, while the rest cut him in pieces with their hatchets." Panoplist, 1810, p. 186.

To dispel this moral darkness and cruel superstition, requires only the light of the gospel. And in what way can this be so effectually communicated, as by sending missionaries to establish schools among them, where the minds of children and youth would be early impressed with correct religious and moral instruction, and where they would be gradually formed to habits of sober industry? In these schools they would acquire a knowledge of the English language, which would at once place in their hands, not only the Bible, but other valuable books. The industrious habits which they would acquire, would also be of vast importance to their religious improvement. Indeed the effect of religious instruction upon the Indians, must be greatly counteracted, while they are obliged to rove from place to place, in search of the necessaries of life. The observations of Mr. Brainerd on this point are worthy of particular notice. "I daily discover," says he more and more of what importance it is to the religious interests of the Indians, that they become industrious, acquainted with the affairs of husbandry, and able, in a good measure, to raise the necessaries of life themselves; for their present mode of living greatly exposes them to temptations of various kinds."

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It appears proper in this place to notice some of the objections, which are made to exertions generally, for the improvement of the Indians.

I. It is objected, that the attachment of the Indians to their present religion and mode of life is so strong, that no

means can overcome it, so far as to produce a lasting change; that all the the excrtions hitherto made, have accomplished but very little, and that we have no reason to expect future exertions will be attended with better

success.

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The first part of this objection, viz. That the attachment of the Indians to their present religion and mode of life is so strong, that no means can overcome it,' is substantially the same with that, which has so often and so strenuously been urged, during the late discussion in Parliament, against the introduction of Christianity into India; and the able and satisfactory manner in which it has been refuted, with respect to the heathen in India, precludes the necessity of a formal consideration of it with respect to the heathen of this country. We have precisely the same proof against the objection in the latter case, as in the former.

The other part of the objection, which is, "That very little success has attended the efforts heretofore made, for the improvement of the Indians, and that we have no reason to expect better success in future," demands a more particular consideration. I have, however, no doubt but an examination of facts, will convince us, that the success which has attended past exertions, both as it respects the spiritual and temporal interests of the Indians, has been much greater than is generally supposed.

That they have been highly beneficial to the temporal interests of the Indians, we have the testimony of competent and respectable witnesses. Several gentlemen who чave been in a situation to know the true state of the Indians, and to observe their progress towards civilization, have furnished us with evidence on this subject which is highly satisfactory. Among these we may mention Sir William Johnson, the present Post Master General, and Charles Thompson, Esq., late Secretary to Congress, men

who have been forward to patronize the labors of missionaries, and who have borne generous and decided testimony to their utility.

With regard to the tendency which these labors have had to promote the spiritual interests of the Indians, we have evidence still more satisfactory.

The precise number, who have been converted to Christianity, and who have lived and died in the faith of the gospel, cannot be ascertained. We have data, however, which warrant us to say, that it has been very considerable. The labors of the Mayhews, of Elliot, of Brainerd, of Wheelock, and of many others, particularly of the Moravians, have been greatly blessed; and thousands are now rejoicing in heaven and praising God, who put it into the hearts of these his servants to preach the gospel to the poor Indians. Under the instruction of the Mayhews on Mar.. tha's Vineyard, 282, including eight priests, made a public profession of the Christian religion, within the space of six years; being nearly double the number, that were baptized by all the Baptist missionaries in India, during the space of thirteen years. And within five months after Mr. Brainerd began to preach to the Indians at Crosweeksung, he baptized 26 adults, which is equal to the number of natives baptized by the Baptist missionaries during the first ten years of their mission. The writer hopes no one will suspect that he is disposed to undervalue the labors of those excellent men, who have done so much to spread the gospel among the millions of India. He believes, they have been the honored instruments of laying the foundation for extending the Redeemer's cause in those benighted regions. His only object, by the preceding comparison, was to show, that so far as immediate success is hoped for, the prospect is at least as favorable with the Indians, as with the Hindoos; and that the ob

jection, that missions among the Indians have hitherto been attended with little success, is unfounded.

success.

of

When we consider that the missions which have been carried on among the Indians, have been the temporary efforts of a few individuals, without the aid of adequate funds, and in many instances, in the face of powerful opposition, we find much occasion to admire the power that grace which has crowned their labors with so much Nor ought it to be forgotten that a profession of the Christian religion here, as in India, has frequently exposed the Indians to great trials, and sometimes to persecution and death. These sufferings they have generally borne with Christian fortitude and resignation, have proved firm in their attachment to the missionaries, and by their lives and death have honored the Christian character. Let us no longer hear it said, that the preaching of the gospel can produce no change in the belief and practice of the Indians.

II. It is further objected, that if missions and schools were established among the Indians, and proved successful, yet they would not accomplish anything very impor tant, since the Indians are rapidly diminishing in numbers, and must in a few years become extinct.

To this it may be answered, in the first place, that it is by no means certain, that the Indians of North America are a race of beings, so diverse from all others of the human family, that they cannot yield to the habits of civilized life. Although their numbers have greatly diminished since their connection with Europeans, yet it would be unwarrantable to suppose, that this resulted from their approximation towards civilization. So far as they have suffered from a want of the necessaries of life, an acquaintance with the arts of civilized life, is their only source of relief. Perhaps it may yet be proved, that a proper course of discipline begun in childhood and pursued judiciously,