and expense; and if still accustomed to their own language only, they would have no advantage of hearing other ministers occasionally, or in my absence. So that my having a perfect acquaintance with the Indian language, would be of no great importance with regard to this congregation of Indians in New-Jersey, although it might be of great service to me in treating with the Indians elsewhere. SECT. II. Method of Instructing the Indians. "The method which I am taking to instruct the Indians in the principles of our holy religion, are, to preach, or open and improve some particular points of doctrine; to expound particular paragraphs, or sometimes whole chapters of God's word to them; to give historical relations from Scripture of the most material and remarkable occurrences relating to the church of God from the beginning; and frequently to catechise them upon the principles of Christianity. The latter of these methods of instructing, I manage in a twofold manner. I sometimes catechise systematically, proposing questions agreeably to the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. This I have carried to a considerable length. At other times I catechise upon any important subject which I think difficult to them. Sometimes, when I have discoursed upon some particular point, and made it as plain and familiar to them as I can, I then catechise them upon the most material branches of my discourse, to see whether they had a thorough understanding of it. But as I have catechised chiefly in a systematical form, I shall here give some specimen of the method I make use of in it, as well as of the propriety and justness of my people's answers to the questions proposed to them. 66 Questions upon the benefits believers receive from Christ at 66 death. Q. "I have shown you, that the children of God receive a great many good things from Christ while they live, now have they any more to receive when they come to die? A. Yes. Q. Are the children of God then made perfectly free from sin? A. Yes. Q. Do you think they will never more be troubled with vain, foolish, and wicked thoughts? A. No, never at all. Q. Will they not then be like the good angels I have so often told you of? A. Yes. Q. And do you call this a great mercy to be freed from all sin? A. Yes. Q. Do all God's children count it so? A. Yes, all of them. Q. Do you think this is what they would ask for above all things, if God should say to them, Ask what you will, and it shall be done for you? A. O yes, besure, this is what they want. Q. You say the souls of God's people at death are made perfectly free from sin, where do they go then? A. They go and live with Jesus Christ. Q. Does Christ show them more respect and honour, and make them more happy* than we can possibly think of in this world? A. Yes. Q. Do they go immediately to live with Christ in heaven, as soon as their bodies are dead? or do they tarry somewhere else a while? A. They go immediately to Christ. Q. Does Christ take any care of the bodies of his people when they are dead, and their souls gone to heaven, or does he forget them? A. He takes care of them. "These questions were all answered with surprising readiness, and without once missing, as I remember. In answering several of them, which respected deliverance from sin, they were much affected, and melted with the hopes of that happy state." "Questions upon the benefits which believers receive from Christ at the resurrection. Q. You see I have already shown you what good things Christ gives his good people while they live, and when they come to die now, will he raise their bodies, and the bodies of others, to life again at the last day? A. Yes, they shall all be raised. Q. Shall they then have the same bodies they now have? A. Yes. Q. Will their bodies then be weak, will they feel cold, hunger, thirst, and weariness, as they now do? A. No, none of these things. Q. Will their bodies ever die any more after they are raised to life? A. No. Q. Will their souls and bodies be joined together again? A. Yes. Q. Will God's people be more happy then, than they were while their bodies were asleep? A. Yes. *The only way I have to express their "entering into glory," or being glorified; there being no word in the Indian language answering to that general term. Q. Will Christ then own these to be his people before all the world? A. Yes. Q. But God's people find so much sin in themselves, that they are often ashamed of themselves, and will not Christ be ashamed to own such for his friends at that day? A. No, he never will be ashamed of them. Q. Will Christ then show all the world, that he has put away these people's sins,* and that he looks upon them as if they had never sinned at all? A. Yes. Q. Will he look upon them as if they had never sinned, for the sake of any good things they have done themselves, or for the sake of his righteousness accounted to them as if it was theirs? A. For the sake of his righteousness counted to them, not for their own goodness. Q. Will God's children then be as happy as they can desire A. Yes. to be? Q. The children of God while in this world, can but now and then draw near to him, and they are ready to think they can never have enough of God and Christ, but will they have enough there, as much as they can desire? A. O yes, enough, enough. Q. Will the children of God love him then as much as they desire, will they find nothing to hinder their love from going to him? A. Nothing at all, they shall love him as much as they desire. Q. Will they never be weary of God and Christ, and the pleasures of heaven, so as we are weary of our friends and enjoyments here, after we have been pleased with them a while? A. No, never. Q. Could God's people be happy if they knew God loved them, and yet felt at the same time that they could not love and honour him? A. No, no. Q. Will this then make God's people perfectly happy, to love God above all, to honour him continually, and to feel his love to them? A. Yes. Q. And will this happiness last for ever? A. Yes, for ever, for ever. "These questions, like the former, were answered without hesitation or missing, as I remember in any one instance." 66 Questions upon the duty which God requires of men. Q. Has God let us know any thing of his will, or what he would have us to do to please him? A. Yes. *The only way I have to express their being openly-acquitted. In like manner, when I speak of justification, I have no other way but to call it God's looking upon us as good creatures. Q. And does he require us to do his will, and to please him? A. Yes. Q. Is it right that God should require this of us, has he any business to command us as a father does his children? A. Yes. Q. Why is it right that God should command us to do what he pleases? A. Because he made us, and gives us all our good things. Q. Does God require us to do any thing that will hurt us, and take away our comfort and happiness? A. No. Q. But God requires sinners to repent and be sorry for their sins, and to have their hearts broken; now, does not this hurt them, and take away their comfort, to be made sorry, and to have their hearts broken? A. No, it does them good. Q. Did God teach man his will at first by writing it down in a book, or did he put it into his heart, and teach him without a book what was right? A. He put it into his heart, and made him know what he should do. Q. Has God since that time writ down his will in a book? A. Yes. Q. Has God written his whole will in his book; has he there told us all that he would have us believe and do? A. Yes. Q. What need was there of this book, if God at first put his will into the heart of man, and made him feel what he should do? A. There was need of it, because we have sinned, and made our hearts blind. Q. And has God writ down the same things in his book, that he at first put into the heart of man? A. Yes. "In this manner I endeavour to adapt my instructions to the capacities of my people; although they may perhaps seem strange to others who have never experienced the difficulty of the work. These, of which I have given an account, are the methods I am from time to time pursuing, in order to instruct them in the principles of Christianity. I think I may say, it is my great concern that these instructions be given them in such a manner, that they may not only be doctrinally taught, but duly affected thereby; that divine truths may come to them, not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost,' and be received not as the word of man.' SECT. III. "Difficulties attending the Christianizing of the Indians-First Difficulty, the rooted aversion to Christianity that generally prevails among them. "I shall now attempt something with relation to the last particular required by the Honourable Society in their letter, viz. To give some account of the difficulties I have already met with in my work, and the methods I make use of for surmounting the same.' I. "I have met with great difficulty in my work among these Indians, from the rooted aversion to Christianity which generally prevails among them.' They are not only brutishly stupid and ignorant of divine things, but many of them are obstinately set against Christianity, and seem to abhor even the Christian name. "This aversion to Christianity arises partly from a view of the immorality and vicious behaviour of many who are called christians.' They observe that horrid wickedness in nominal christians, which the light of nature condemns in themselves; and not having distinguishing views of things, are ready to look upon all the white people alike, and to condemn them alike, for the abominable practices of some.-Hence, when I have attempted to treat with them about Christianity, they have frequently objected the scandalous practices of Christians. They have observed to me, that the white people lie, defraud, steal, and drink worse than the Indians; that they have taught the Indians these things, especially the latter of them; who before the coming of the English, knew of no such thing as strong drink; that the English have, by these means, made them quarrel and kill one another; and, in a word brought them to the practice of all those vices which now prevail among them. So that they are now vastly more vicious, as well as much more miserable, than they were before the coming of the white people into the country.-These, and such like objections, they frequently make against Christianity, which are not easily answered to their satisfaction; many of them being facts too notoriously true. "The only way I have to take in order to surmount this difficulty, is to distinguish between nominal and real christians; and to show them, that the ill conduct of many of the former proceeds not from their being christians, but from their being christians only in name, not in heart. To this it has sometimes been objected, that, if all those who will cheat the Indians are christians only in name, there are but few left in the country to be christian in heart. This, and many other of the remarks they |
