Chapter VI: Appendix (2)

They pay no religious worship to stocks, or stones, after the manner of the old eastern pagans; neither do they worship any kind of images whatsoever.[16] And it deserves our notice, in a very particular manner, to invalidate the idle dreams of the jesuitical fry of South-America, that none of all the various nations, from Hudson’s Bay to the Missisippi, has ever been known, by our trading people, to attempt to make any image of the great Divine Being, whom they worship. This is consonant to the Jewish observance of the second commandment, and directly contrary to the usage of all the ancient heathen world, who made corporeal representations of their deities—and their conduct, is a reproach to many reputed Christian temples, which are littered round with a crowd of ridiculous figures to represent God, spurious angels, pretended saints, and notable villains.

The sacred penmen, and prophane writers, assure us that the ancient heathens had lascivious gods, particularly מפלצת, 2 _Chron._ xv. 16, which was the abominable Priapus. But I never heard that any of our North-American Indians had images of any kind. There is a carved human statue of wood, to which, however, they pay no religious homage: It belongs to the head war-town of the upper Muskohge country, and seems to have been originally designed to perpetuate the memory of some distinguished hero, who deserved well of his country; for, when their _cusseena_, or bitter, black drink[17] is about to {22} be drank in the synedrion, they frequently, on common occasions, will bring it there, and honour it with the first conch-shell-full, by the hand of the chief religious attendant: and then they return it to its former place. It is observable, that the same beloved waiter, or holy attendant, and his co-adjutant, equally observe the same ceremony to every person of reputed merit, in that quadrangular place. When I past that way, circumstances did not allow me to view this singular figure; but I am assured by several of the traders, who have frequently seen it, that the carving is modest, and very neatly finished, not unworthy of a modern civilized artist. As no body of people we are acquainted with, have, in general, so great a share of strong natural parts as those savages, we may with a great deal of probability suppose, that their tradition of the second commandment, prevented them from having one, not to say the same plentiful variety of images, or idols, as have the popish countries.

Notwithstanding they are all degenerating apace, on account of their great intercourse with foreigners, and other concurring causes; I well remember, that, in the year 1746, one of the upper towns of the aforesaid Muskohge, was so exceedingly exasperated against some of our Chikkasah traders, for having, when in their cups, forcibly viewed the nakedness of one of their women, (who was reputed to be an hermaphrodite) that they were on the point of putting them to death, according to one of their old laws against crimes of that kind.—But several of us, assisted by some of the Koosah town, rescued them from their just demerit. Connecting together these particulars, we can scarcely desire a stronger proof, that they have not been idolaters, since they first came to America; much less, that they erected, and worshipped any such lascivious and obscene idols, as the heathens above recited.

The Sidonians and Philistines worshipped Ashtaroth, in the figure of the _celestial luminaries_; or, according to others, in the form of a _sheep_: but the Americans pay the former, only, a civil regard, because of the beneficial influence with which the deity hath impressed them. And they reckon _sheep_ as despicable and helpless, and apply the name to persons in that predicament, although a ram was the animal emblem of power, with the ancient eastern heathens. The Indians sometimes call a nasty fellow, _Chookphe_ {23} _kussooma_, “a stinking sheep,” and “a goat.” And yet a goat was one of the Egyptian deities; as likewise were all the creatures that bore wool; on which account, the sacred writers frequently term idols, “the hairy.” The despicable idea which the Indians affix to the species, shews they neither use it as a divine symbol, nor have a desire of being named Dorcas, which, with the Hebrews, is a proper name, expressive of a wild she goat. I shall subjoin here, with regard to Ashtaroth, or Astarte, that though the ancients believed their deities to be immortal, yet they made to themselves both male and female gods, and, by that means, Astarte, and others, are of the fæminine gender. Trismegistus too, and the Platonics, affirmed there was deus masculo-fæmineus; though different sexes were needful for the procreation of human beings.

Instead of consulting such as the heathen oracles—or the Teraphim—the Dii Penates—or Dii Lares, of the ancients, concerning future contingencies, the Indians only pretend to divine from their dreams; which may proceed from the tradition they still retain of the knowledge their ancestors obtained from heaven, in visions of the night, _Job_ xxxiii. “God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed, then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction.” When we consider how well stocked with gods, all the neighbouring nations of Judæa were; especially the maritime powers, such as Tyre and Sidon, Carthage and Egypt, which continually brought home foreign gods, and entered them into their own Palladia; and that these Americans are utterly ignorant both of the gods and their worship, it proves, with sufficient evidence, that the gentlemen, who trace them from either of those states, only perplex themselves in wild theory, without entering into the merits of the question.

As the _bull_ was the first terrestrial _cherubic emblem_, denoting fire, the ancient Egyptians, in length of time, worshipped Apis, Serapis, or Osiris, under the form of an ox; but, when he grew old, they drowned him, and lamented his death in a mourning habit; which occasioned a philosopher thus to jest them, _Si Dii sunt, cur plangitis? Si mortui, cur adoratis?_ “If they be gods, why do you weep for them? And, if they are dead, why do you worship them?” A bull, ox, cow, or calf, was the favourite deity of {24} the ancient idolaters. Even when YOHEWAH was conducting Israel in the wilderness, Aaron was forced to allow them a golden calf, according to the usage of the Egyptians: and at the defection of the ten tribes, they worshipped before the emblematical images of two calves, through the policy of Jeroboam. The Troglodites used to strangle their aged, with a cow’s tail: and some of the East-Indians are said to fancy they shall be happy, by holding a cow’s tail in their hand when dying: others imagine the Ganges to wash away all their crimes and pollution. The Indian Americans, on the contrary, though they derive the name of cattle from part of the divine essential name, (as shall be elsewhere observed) and use the name of a buffalo as a war appellative, and the name of a tribe; yet their regard to them, centres only in their usefulness for the support of human life: and they believe they can perform their religious ablutions and purifications, in any deep clean water.

The superstitious heathens, whom the Hebrews called, _Yedonim_, pretended that the bones of those they worshipped as gods when alive, revealed both present and future things, that were otherwise concealed: and the hieroglyphics, the priestly legible images, which the Egyptians inscribed on the tombs of the deceased, to praise their living virtue, and incite youth to imitate them, proved a great means of inducing them in process of time to worship their dead. But the Americans praise only the virtues of their dead, as fit copies of imitation for the living. They firmly believe that the hand of God cuts off the days of their dead friend, by his pre-determined purpose. They are so far from deifying fellow-creatures, that they prefer none of their own people, only according to the general standard of reputed merit.

The Chinese, likewise, though they call God by the appellative, _Cham Ti_, and have their temples of a quadrangular form, yet they are gross idolaters; like the ancient Egyptians, instead of offering up religious oblations to the great Creator and Preserver of the universe, they pay them to the pictures of their deceased ancestors, and erect temples to them, in solitary places without their cities—likewise to the sun, moon, planets, spirits, and inventors of arts; especially to the great Confucius, notwithstanding he strictly prohibited the like idolatrous rites. And the religious modes of the ancient inhabitants {25} of Niphon, or the Japanese, are nearly the same; which are diametrically opposite to the religious tenets of the wild Americans.

The diviners among the Philistines pretended to foretel things, by the flying, chirping, and feeding of wild fowls. The Greeks and Romans called fowls, Nuncii Deorum. And Calchas is said to have foretold to Agamemnon, by the number of sparrows which flew before him, how many years the Trojan war should last. The Assyrians worshipped pigeons, and bore the figure of them on their standards, as the sacred oracles shew us, where the anger of the pigeon, and the sword of the pigeon, points at the destroying sword of the Assyrians. But, though the American woods swarm with a surprizing variety of beautiful wild fowl, yet the natives do not make the least pretension to auguries. They know it is by a certain gift or instinct, inferior to human reason, that the birds have a sufficient knowledge of the seasons of the year. I once indeed observed them to be intimidated at the voice of a small uncommon bird, when it pitched, and chirped on a tree over their war camp. But that is the only trace of such superstition, as I can recollect among them. Instead of calling birds the messengers of the gods, they call the great eagle, _Ooōle_; which seems to be an imitation of _Eloha_.—This may be accounted for, from the eagle being one of the cherubic emblems, denoting the air, or spirit. They esteem pigeons only as they are salutary food, and they kill the turtledove, though they apply it as a proper name to their female children.

The Babylonians were much addicted to auguries: and they believed them to be unerring oracles, and able to direct them in doubtful and arduous things, _Ezek._ xxi. 21. Those auguries always directed their conduct, in every material thing they undertook; such as the beginning and carrying on war, going a journey, marriage, and the like. But, as we shall soon see, the Americans, when they go to war, prepare and sanctify themselves, only by fasting and ablutions, that they may not defile their supposed holy ark, and thereby incur the resentment of the Deity. And many of them firmly believe, that marriages are made above. If the Indian Americans were descended from any of the states or people above mentioned, they could not well have forgotten, much less could they have so essentially departed from their idolatrous worship. It is hence probable, they came here, {26} soon after the captivity, when the religion of the Hebrew nation, respecting the worship of Deity, was in its purity. And if any of the ancient heathens came with them, they became proselytes of habitation, or justice—hereby, their heathenish rites and ceremonies were, in process of time, intirely absorbed in the religious ceremonies of the Jews.

Had the nine tribes and half of Israel which were carried off by Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, and settled in Media, continued there long, it is very probable, that by intermarrying with the natives, and from their natural fickleness and proneness to idolatry, and the force of example, they would have adopted, and bowed before the gods of the Medes and the Assyrians, and carried them along with them. But there is not a trace of this idolatry among the Indians. The severe afflictions they underwent in captivity, doubtless humbled their hearts, and reclaimed them from the service of the calves, and of Baalam, to the true divine worship—a glimpse of which they still retain. And that the first settlers came to America before the destruction of the first temple, may be inferred, as it is certain both from Philo and Josephus, that the second temple had no cherubim. To reflect yet greater light on the subject, I shall here add a few observations on the Indians supposed religious cherubic emblems, the cherubimical names of their tribes, and from whence they, and the early heathens, may be supposed to have derived them.

When the goodness of Deity induced him to promise a saviour to fallen man, in paradise, he stationed flaming _cherubim_ in the garden. The type I shall leave; but when mankind became intirely corrupt, God renewed his promise to the Israelites, and to convey to posterity the true divine worship, ordered them to fix in the tabernacle, and in Solomon’s temple, _cherubim_, over the mercy-seat,—the very curtains which lined the walls, and the veil of the temple, likewise, were to have those figures. The cherubim are said to represent the names and offices of _Yehowah Elohim_, in redeeming lost mankind. The word כרבים, is drawn from כ, a note of resemblance, and רב, a great or mighty one; _i. e._ the “similitude of the great and mighty One,” whose emblems were the bull, the lion, the man, and the eagle. The prophet Ezekiel has given us two draughts of the cherubim (certainly not without an instructive design) in his two visions, described in the first {27} and tenth chapters. In chap. x. ver. 20, he assures us that “he knew they were the cherubim.” They were uniform, and had those four compounded animal emblems; “Every one had four faces—פגים,” appearances, habits, or forms; which passage is illustrated by the similar divine emblems on the four principal standards of Israel. The standard of Judah bore the image of a _lion_; Ephraim’s had the likeness of a _bull_; Reuben’s had the figure of a _man’s_ head; and Dan’s carried the picture of an _eagle_, with a serpent in his talons[VI]: Each of the cherubim, according to the prophet, had the head and face of a man—the likeness of an eagle, about the shoulders, with expanded wings; their necks, manes, and breasts, resembled those of a lion; and their feet those of a bull, or calf. “The sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot.” One would conclude, from Ezekiel’s visions, and _Psal._ xviii. 10.—_Ps._ xcix. 1. “He rode upon a cherub, and did fly:”—“The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubim, let the earth be moved,”—that Elohim chose the cherubic emblems, in condescension to man, to display his transcendent glorious title of King of kings. We view him seated in his triumphal chariot, and as in the midst of a formidable war camp, drawn by those four creatures, the bull, the lion, the man, and the eagle; strong and descriptive emblems of the divine essence. What animal is equal to the _bull_, or ox, for strength, indefatigable service, and also for food? In eastern countries, they were always used to plough, and beat out the grain, besides other services omitted in modern times; the _lion_ excels every other animal in courage, force, and prowess: _man_ far surpasses all other creatures, in understanding, judgment, and wisdom; and there is no bird so sagacious, or can fly so swift, or soar so high as the eagle, or that bears so intense a love to its young ones.

Footnote VI:

The MAN, which the lion on the standard of Judah, and the head on
Reuben’s, typified, was, in the fulness of time, united to the divine
essence.

These are the emblems of the _terrestrial cherubim_: and the Psalmist calls them Merabha Hashekina, “The chariot of Divine Majesty:” “God sitteth between, and rideth upon, the cherubim,” or divine chariot. The _celestial cherubim_ were _fire_, _light_, and _air_, or spirit, which were typified by the _bull_, the _lion_, and the _eagle_. Those divine emblems, in a long revolution of time, {28} induced the ancients by degrees, to divide them, and make images of the divine persons, powers, and actions, which they typified, and to esteem them gods. They consecrated the bull’s head to the fire, the lion’s to light, and the eagle’s to the air, which they worshipped as gods. And, in proportion as they lost the knowledge of the emblems, they multiplied and compounded their heads with those of different creatures. The Egyptians commonly put the head of a lion, hawk, or eagle, and sometimes that of a ram, or bull, to their images; some of which resembled the human body. Their Apis, or Osiris, gave rise to Aaron’s, and apostate Israel’s, golden calf: and their sphynx had three heads. Diana of Ephesus was triformis; Janus of Rome, biformis, and, sometimes, quadriformis; and Jupiter, Sol, Mercury, Proserpine, and Cerberus, were triple-headed.

Hesiod tells us, the ancient heathens had no less than thirty thousand _gods_. It is well known that the ancient heathens, especially the Greeks and Romans, abounded with male and female deities; and commonly in human effigy. As they imagined they could not safely trust themselves to the care of any one god, they therefore chose a multiplicity. They multiplied and changed them from childhood to old age. The Romans proceeded so far, as to make Cloacina the guardian goddess of each house-of-office. The heathens in general, appointed one god to preside over the land, and another over the water; one for the mountains, and another for the valleys. And they were so diffident of the power of their gods, that they chose a god, or goddess, for each part of the body; contrary to the religious system of their best poets and philosophers, and that of the present savage Americans: the former affirmed, _sapiens dominabitur astris_, &c.; “A wife, good man, will always be ruled by divine reason; and not pretend to be drawn to this or that, by an over-bearing power of the stars, or fortune:” and the latter assert, “that temporal good or evil is the necessary effect of their own conduct; and that the Deity presides over life and death.”

If this first institution of the cherubic emblems was not religious, nor derived from the compounded figures of the scripture cherubim, how is it that so many various nations of antiquity, and far remote from each other, should have chosen them as gods, and so exactly alike? Is it not most reasonable to suppose, that as they lost the meaning of those symbolical figures, and {29} their archetypes, fire, light, and air, or spirit, which represented the attributes, names, and offices of _Yohewah Elohim_, they divided them into so many various gods, and paid them divine worship. Yet, though the Indian Americans have the supposed cherubimical figures, in their synhedria, and, through a strong religious principle, dance there, perhaps every winter’s night, always in a bowing posture, and frequently sing _Halelu-Yah Yo He Wah_, I could never perceive, nor be informed, that they substituted them, or the similitude of any thing whatsoever, as objects of divine adoration, in the room of the great invisible divine essence. They use the feathers of the eagle’s tail[18], in certain friendly and religious dances, but the whole town will contribute, to the value of 200 deer-skins, for killing a large eagle; (the bald eagle they do not esteem); and the man also gets an honourable title for the exploit, as if he had brought in the scalp of an enemy. Now, if they reckoned the eagle a god, they would not only refuse personal profits, and honours, to him who killed it, but assuredly inflict on him the severest punishment, for committing so atrocious and sacrilegious an act.

I have seen in several of the Indian synhedria, two white painted eagles carved out of poplar wood, with their wings stretched out, and raised five feet off the ground, standing at the corner, close to their red and white imperial seats: and, on the inner side of each of the deep-notched pieces of wood, where the eagles stand, the Indians frequently paint, with a chalky clay, the figure of a man, with buffalo horns—and that of a panther, with the same colour; from which I conjecture, especially, connected with their other rites and customs soon to be mentioned, that the former emblem was designed to describe the divine attributes, as that bird excels the rest of the feathered kind, in various superior qualities; and that the latter symbol is a contraction of the cherubimical figures, the man, the bull, and the lion. And this opinion is corroborated by an established custom, both religious and martial, among them, which obliges them to paint those sacred emblems anew, at the first fruit-offering, or the annual expiation of sins. Every one of their war-leaders must also make three successful _wolfish campaigns_, with their reputed holy ark, before he is admitted to wear a pair of a young buffalo-bull’s horns on his forehead, or to sing the triumphal war song, and to dance with the same animal’s tail sticking up behind him, while he sings _Yo Yo_, &c. {30}

Now we know it was an usual custom with the eastern nations, to affix horns to their gods. The Sidonian goddess Ashtaroth was horned: and Herodotus says, the Egyptians painted their Venus, or Isis, after the same manner: and the Greek Jo, (which probably was Yo) had horns, in illusion to the bull’s head, the chief emblem of the celestial cherubic fire, representing Yo (He Wah) as its name plainly indicates. A horn was, likewise, a Persian emblem of power[VII].

Footnote VII:

The metaphorical expressions, and emblematical representations, of the
law and the prophets, are generally suited to the usages of the
eastern countries. And this metaphor, of a horn, is commonly so used,
through all the divine registers, multiplying the number of horns of
the object they are describing, to denote its various, great, and
perfect power; unless where seven is mentioned as a number of
perfection, as in St. John’s figurative, magnificent, and sublime
description of Christ.

That the Indians derived those symbolical representations from the compounded figures of the cherubim, seems yet more clear, from the present cherubic names of their tribes, and the preeminence they formerly bore over the rest. At present, indeed, the most numerous tribe commonly bears the highest command; yet their old warriors assure us, it was not so even within their own remembrance. The title of the _old beloved men_, or _archimagi_, is still hereditary in the _panther_, or _tyger family_: As North-America breeds no lions, the panther, or any animal it contains, is the nearest emblem of it. The Indian name of each cherub, both terrestrial and celestial, reflects great light on the present subject; for they call the buffalo (bull) _Yanasa_; the panther, or supposed lion, _Koè-Ishto_, or _Koè-O_, “the cat of God;” the man, or human creature, _Ya-we_; and the eagle, _Ooóle_; fire is _Loak_; the solar light, _Ashtahále_; and air, _Màhàle_, in allusion to מי, water, and אל, the omnipotent; the note of aspiration is inserted, to give the word a fuller and more vehement sound. Their eagle and buffalo tribes resemble two other cherubic names or emblems. They have one they call _Spháne_, the meaning of which they have lost; perhaps it might have signified the _man_.

Near to the red and white imperial seats, they have the representation of a full moon, and either a half moon, or a breastplate, raised five or six feet high at the front of the broad seats, and painted with chalky clay; sometimes black paintings are intermixed. But, let it be noticed, that in the {31} time of their most religious exercises, or their other friendly rejoicings there, they do not pay the least adoration to any of those expressive emblems; nor seem to take any notice of them: which is the very reverse to the usage of all the ancient heathen world. Hence one would conclude, that they not only brought with them the letter, but the meaning of those reputed cherubimical figures, which were designed to represent the inseparable attributes of _Yohewah_.

It is universally agreed, by the Christian world, that every religious observance of the ancient heathens, which the Mosaic law approved of, was at first derived from divine appointment; and as we are assured in the first pages of the sacred oracles, concerning Cain, _Gen._ iv. 16. “that he went out from the _presence of the Lord_,” we learn, that God, in that early state of the world, chose a place for his more immediate presence,—פגים, his faces, appearances, or forms residing in, or between, the cherubim. We may, therefore, reasonably conclude, from the various gods, and religious worship of the ancient heathens, and from the remaining divine emblems, and family names of the Indian Americans, that the former deduced those emblems they deifyed, from the compounded cherubim in paradise: and that the Indians derived their cherubic figures, and names of tribes, from the cherubim that covered the mercy-seat, in the tabernacle, and in Solomon’s temple, alluded to and delineated in several parts of the sacred oracles.

ARGUMENT III.

Agreeable to the THEOCRACY, or divine government of Israel, the Indians think the Deity to be the immediate head of their state.

All the nations of Indians are exceedingly intoxicated with religious pride, and have an inexpressible contempt of the white people, unless we except those half-savage Europeans, who are become their proselytes. _Nothings_ is the most favourable name they give us, in set speeches: even the Indians who were formerly bred in amity with us, and in enmity to the French, used to call us, in their war orations, _hottuk ookproose_, “The accursed people.” But they flatter themselves with the name _hottuk oretoopah_, “The beloved people,” because their supposed ancestors, as they affirm, were under the immediate government of the Deity, who was present with them, in a {32} very particular manner, and directed them by prophets; while the rest of the world were aliens and out-laws to the covenant.

When the _archi-magus_, or any one of their magi, is persuading the people, at their religious solemnities to a strict observance of the old beloved, or divine speech, he always calls them, “The beloved,” or holy people, agreeable to the Hebrew epithet, _Ammi_, during the theocracy of Israel: he urges them, with the greatest energy of expression he is capable of, a strong voice, and very expressive gestures, to imitate the noble actions of their great and virtuous forefathers, which they performed, in a surprizing manner, by their holy things, and a strict observance of the old, beloved speech. Then, he flourishes on their beloved land that flowed with milk and honey, telling them they had good, and the best things in the greatest plenty: and speaks largely of their present martial customs, and religious rites, which they derived from their illustrious predecessors,—strictly charging them not to deviate, in the least, out of that old, beloved, beaten path, and they will surely meet with all the success that attended their beloved forefathers.

I have heard the speaker, on these occasions, after quoting the war actions of their distinguished chieftains, who fell in battle, urging them as a copy of imitation to the living—assure the audience, that such a death, in defence of their beloved land, and beloved things, was far preferable to some of their living pictures, that were only spending a dying life, to the shame and danger of the society, and of all their beloved things, while the others died by their virtue, and still continue a living copy. Then, to soften the thoughts of death, he tells them, they who died in battle are only gone to sleep with their beloved forefathers; (for they always collect the bones)—and mentions a common proverb they have, _Neetak Intahah_, “the days appointed, or allowed him, were finished.” And this is their firm belief; for they affirm, that there is a certain fixt time, and place, when, and where, every one must die, without any possibility of averting it. They frequently say, “Such a one was weighed on the path, and made to be light;” ascribing life and death to God’s unerring and particular providence; which may be derived from a religious opinion, and proverb of the Hebrews, that “the divine care extended itself, from the horns of the unicorn, to the very feet of the lice.” And the more refined part of the old heathens believed the like. The ancient Greeks and Romans, who were great copiers {33} of the rites and customs of the Jews, believed there were three destinies who presided over human life, and had each of them their particular office; one held the distaff of life, while another spun the thread, and Atropos cut it off: a strong but wild picture of the divine fire, light, and spirit. When Virgil is praising the extraordinary virtue of Ripheus, who was killed in defence of his native city, Troy, he adds, _Diis aliter visum est_,—submitting to the good and wise providence of the gods, who thought fit to call him off the stage. However, he seems to be perplexed on the subject; as he makes fate sometimes conditional;

———————————————————_Similis si cura fuisset,
Nec pater omnipotens Trojam nec fata vetabant
Stare_,———————

“If the usual proper care had been taken, neither Jupiter nor fate would have hindered Troy from standing at this time.” But, if the time of dying was unalterably fixed, according to the Indian system, or that of our fatalists, how would its votaries reconcile the scheme of divine Providence? which must be in conformity to truth, reason, and goodness,—and how explain the nature of moral good and evil? On their principle, self-murder would be a necessary act of a passive being set on work by the first mover; and his obligations would be proportionable, only to his powers and faculties; which would excuse the supposed criminal from any just future punishment for suicide. But religion, and true reason, deny the premises, and they themselves will not own the consequence.

It is their opinion of the THEOCRACY, or, that God chose them out of all the rest of mankind, as his peculiar and beloved people,—which animates both the white Jew, and the red American, with that steady hatred against all the world, except themselves, and renders them hated or despised by all. The obstinacy of the former, in shutting their eyes against the sacred oracles, which are very explicit and clear in the original text, and of which they were the trustees, incites both our pity and reproof; whereas the others firm adherence to, and strong retention of, the rites and customs of their forefathers, only attract our admiration.

The American Indians are so far from being _Atheists_, as some godless Europeans have flattered themselves, to excuse their own infidelity, that they have the great sacred name of God, that describes his divine essence, and {34} by which he manifested himself to Moses—and are firmly persuaded they now live under the immediate government of the Deity. The ascension of the smoke of their victim, as a sweet savour to _Yohewah_, (of which hereafter) is a full proof to the contrary, as also that they worship God, in a smoke and cloud, believing him to reside above the clouds, and in the element of the, supposed, holy annual fire. It is no way material to fix any certain place for the residence of Him, who is omnipresent, and who sustains every system of beings. It is not essential to future happiness, whether we believe his chief place of abode is in _cælo tertio_, _paradiso terrestri_, or _elemento igneo_. God hath placed conscience in us for a monitor, witness, and judge.—It is the guilty or innocent mind, that accuses, or excuses us, to Him. If any farther knowledge was required, it would be revealed; but St. Paul studiously conceals the mysteries he saw in the empyreal heavens.

The place of the divine residence is commonly said to be above the clouds; but that is because of the distance of the place, as well as our utter ignorance of the nature of Elohim’s existence, the omnipresent spirit of the universe. Our finite minds cannot comprehend a being who is infinite. This inscrutable labyrinth occasioned Simonides, a discreet heathen poet and philosopher, to request Hiero, King of Sicily, for several days successively, to grant him a longer time to describe the nature of the Deity; and, at the end, to confess ingenuously, that the farther he waded in that deep mystery, the more he sunk out of his depth, and was less able to define it.

If we trace Indian antiquities ever so far, we shall find that not one of them ever retained, or imbibed, atheistical principles, except such whose interest as to futurity it notoriously appeared to be—whose practices made them tremble whenever they thought of a just and avenging God: but these rare instances were so far from infecting the rest, that they were the more confirmed in the opinion, of not being able either to live or die well, without a God. And this all nature proclaims in every part of the universe.

ARGUMENT IV.

We have abundant evidence of the Jews believing in the _ministration of angels_, during the Old-Testament dispensation; their frequent appearances, and their services, on earth, are recorded in the oracles, which the Jews themselves receive as given by divine inspiration. And St. Paul in his {35} epistle addressed to the Hebrews, speaks of it as their general opinion, that “Angels are ministring spirits to the good and righteous on earth.” And that it was the sentiment of those Jews who embraced christianity, is evident from _Acts_ xii. where an angel is said to deliver Peter from his imprisonment, and when the maid reported that Peter stood at the gate knocking, his friends doubting, said, “It is his angel.” Women also are ordered to have their heads covered in religious assemblies, because of the presence of the angels, and to observe silence, the modest custom of the eastern countries. The Indian sentiments and traditions are the same.—They believe the higher regions to be inhabited by good spirits, whom they call _Hottuk Ishtohoollo_, and _Nana Ishtohoollo_, “holy people,” and “relations to the great, holy One.” The _Hottuk ookproose_, or _Nana ookproose_, “accursed people,” or “accursed beings,” they say, possess the dark regions of the west; the former attend, and favour the virtuous; and the latter, in like manner, accompany and have power over the vicious: on which account, when any of their relations die, they immediately fire off several guns, by one, two, and three at a time, for fear of being plagued with the last troublesome neighbours: all the adjacent towns also on the occasion, whoop and halloo at night; for they reckon, this offensive noise sends off the ghosts to their proper fixed place, till they return at some certain time, to repossess their beloved tract of land, and enjoy their terrestrial paradise. As they believe in God, so they firmly believe that there is a class of higher beings than men, and a future state and existence.

There are not greater bigots in Europe, nor persons more superstitious, than the Indians, (especially the women) concerning the power of witches, wizards, and evil spirits.[19] It is the chief subject of their idle winter night’s chat: and both they, and several of our traders, report very incredible and shocking stories. They will affirm that they have seen, and distinctly, most surprising apparitions, and heard horrid shrieking noises. They pretend, it was impossible for all their senses to be deluded at the same time; especially at _Okmulge_,[20] the old waste town, belonging to the _Muskohge_, 150 miles S. W. of Augusta in Georgia, which the South-Carolinians destroyed about the year 1715. They strenuously aver, that when necessity forces them to encamp there, they always hear, at the dawn of the morning, the usual noise of Indians singing their joyful religious notes, and dancing, as if going down to the river to purify themselves, and then returning to the old town-house: with a great deal more to the same effect. Whenever I have been {36} there, however, all hath been silent. Our noisy bacchanalian company might indeed have drowned the noise with a greater of their own. But as I have gone the tedious Chikkasah war path[21], through one continued desart, day and night, much oftener than any of the rest of the traders, and alone, to the Chikkasah country, so none of those frightful spirits ever appeared to, nor any tremendous noise alarmed me. But they say this was “because I am an obdurate infidel that way.”

The Hebrews seem to have entertained notions pretty much resembling the Indian opinions on this head, from some passages in their rabbins, and which they ground even on the scriptures[VIII]. We read _Isa._ xiii. 21. “But wild beasts of the desart shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there[IX].”

Footnote VIII:

Lev. xix. 31. I Sam. xxviii. 3, &c. Isa. viii. 19.

Footnote IX:

Bochart supposes that _tsiim_ signify _wild cats_; and that אחים is
not any particular creature, but the crying or howling of wild beasts.
His opinion is confirmed by many judicious writers.

Several warriors have told me, that their _Nana Ishtohoollo_, “concomitant holy spirits,” or angels, have forewarned them, as by intuition, of a dangerous ambuscade, which must have been attended with certain death, when they were alone, and seemingly out of danger; and by virtue of the impulse, they immediately darted off, and, with extreme difficulty, escaped the crafty, pursuing enemy. Similar to this, was the opinion of many of the Jews, and several of the ancient and refined heathens, and is the sentiment of moderns, that intimations of this kind, for man’s preservation and felicity, proceed from God by the instrumentality of good angels, or superior invisible beings, which he employs for that purpose—who can so impress the imagination, and influence the mind, as to follow the suggestions, but not so as to destroy the liberty of the will.—Thus Homer introduces Minerva as suggesting what was proper for the persons she favoured—and other superior beings; but they deliberated on the counsel, and chose that which appeared to be right.

ARGUMENT V.

The _Indian language_, and _dialects_, appear to have the very idiom and genius of the _Hebrew_. Their words and sentences are expressive, concise, emphatical, {37} sonorous, and bold—and often, both in letters and signification, synonymous with the Hebrew language. It is a common and old remark, that there is no language, in which some Hebrew words are not to be found. Probably _Hebrew_ was the first, and only language, till distance of time and place introduced a change, and then soon followed a mixture of others. The accidental position of the characters, might also coincide with some Hebrew words, in various dialects, without the least intention. As the true pronunciation of the Hebrew characters, is lost in a considerable degree, it is too difficult a task, for a skilful Hebraist, to ascertain a satisfactory identity of language, between the Jews, and American Aborigines; much more so to an Indian trader, who professes but a small acquaintance with the Hebrew, and that acquired by his own application. However, I will endeavour to make up the deficiency of _Hebrew_, with a plenty of good solid _Indian roots_.

The Indian nouns have neither cases nor declensions. They are invariably the same, through both numbers, after the Hebrew manner. In their verbs, they likewise sometimes use the preterperfect, instead of the present tense of the indicative mood; as _Blahsas Aiahre, Apeesahre_, “Yesterday I went and saw;” and _Eemmako Aiahre, Apeesahre_, “Now I go and see.” Like the Hebrews, they have no comparative, or superlative degree. They express a preference, by the opposite extremes; as _Chekusteene_, “You are virtuous;” _Sahakse_, “I am vicious.” But it implies a comparative degree, and signifies, “You are more virtuous than I am.” By prefixing the adverbs, which express _little_, and _much_, to the former words, it conveys the same meaning; the former of which is agreeable to the Hebrew idiom. And a double repetition of the same adjective, makes a superlative, according to the Hebrew manner; as _Lawwa, Lawwa_, “most, or very many.” To add _hah_ to the end of an adjective, unless it is a noun of multitude like the former, makes it also a superlative; as _Hakse to hah_, “They are most, or very wicked.” _Hakse_ signifies vicious, probably when the vicious part of the Israelites were under the hand of the corrector, the judge repeated that word: _ta_, is a note of plurality, and _hah_ an Hebrew accent of admiration; which makes it a superlative. To join the name of God, or the leading vowel of the mysterious, great, divine name, to the end of a noun, likewise implies a superlative; as _Hakse-ishto_, or _Hakse-o_, “He, or she is very wicked.” The former method of speech exactly agrees with the Hebrew idiom; as the original text shews, in innumerable instances. {38}

When the Hebrews compare two things, and would signify a parity between them, they double the particle of resemblance; “I am as thou art; and my people as thy people:” And the Indians, on account of that original defective standard of speech, are forced to use the like circumlocution; as _Che Ahōba sia_, “I am like you;” and _Sahottuk Chehottuk tooah_, &c. for _Hottuk_ signifies people, and the _S_ expresses the pronoun my, or mine: and it likewise changes an active, into a passive verb. Although this Indian and Hebrew method of speech, is rather tedious and defective, yet, at the same time, they who attain any tolerable skill in the dialects of the one, and language of the other, will discover the sense plain enough, when a comparison is implied.

There is not, perhaps, any one language or speech, except the Hebrew, and the Indian American, which has not a great many prepositions. The Indians, like the Hebrews, have none in separate and express words. They are forced to join certain characters to words, in order to supply that great defect. The Hebrew consonants, called _serviles_, were tools to supply the place of the prepositions. The Indians, for want of a sufficient number of radical words, are forced to apply the same noun and verb, to signify many things of a various nature. With the Cheerake, _Eeankke_, signifies a _prisoner_, _captive_, _slave_, _awl_, _pin_, _needle_, &c.; which occasions the Indian dialects to be very difficult to strangers. The Jewish Rabbins tell us, that the Hebrew language contains only a few more than a thousand primitive words, of which their whole language is formed. So that the same word very often denotes various, though not contrary things. But there is one radical meaning, which will agree to every sense that word is used in.

By custom, a Hebrew noun frequently supplied the place of a pronoun; by which means, it caused a tedious, and sometimes an ambiguous circumlocution. From this original defective standard of speech, the Indians have forgotten all their pronouns, except two primitives and two relatives; as, _Anòwah_, _Ego_, and _Ishna_, _Tu_: the latter bears a great many significations, both as singular and plural, viz. _Eeàpa_ and _Eeàko_; which signify he, she, this, that, &c.: And they are likewise adverbs of place; as here, there, &c. הוא _Hewa_, signifies he or she; אני _Ani_ we; and אנ, _Anowa_, he, she, him, her, &c. {39}

The Hebrew language frequently uses hyperboles, or magnifying numbers, to denote a long space of time: the Indians, accordingly, apply the words, _Neetak akroohah_, “all days,” or, in other words, “for ever,” to a long series of years. With the Jews, sitting, signified dwelling; and, with the Indians, it is the very same; for, when they ask a person where he dwells, they say, _Katèmuk Ishbeneele_ (_chuak?_), which is literally “where do you sit?” And when they call us irreligious, they say _Nãna U-bat_, “_No thing_,” or literally, “a relation to nothing;” for _Nãna_ signifies a relation: and the other is always a negative adverbial period; which seems also to proceed from a religious custom of the Hebrews, in giving despicable borrowed names to idols; as to בעלים, Baalim, “Particles of air,” meaning, _nothing_. To which the Psalmist alludes, saying, “I will not take up their names in my lips.” And St. Paul says, “We know that an idol is _nothing_.” This expression the Indians apply, in a pointed metaphor, to the white people, but never to each other.

Like the Hebrews, they seldom, if ever, double the liquid consonant _R_; for they generally seem desirous of shuffling over it, at any rate: And they often give it the sound of _L_; but, if it precedes a word, where the other consonant soon follows, they always give it its proper sound, contrary to the usage of the Chinese: as the name of a stone, they often call, _Tahle_, instead of _Tahrè_; but the Indians say, _“Tahre lakkana”_, literally, “Yellow stone,” _i. e._ gold.

The Hebrews subjoined one of their serviles, to words, to express the pronoun relative, _thy_ or _thine_: And as that particle was also a note of resemblance, it shews the great sterility of that language. As a specimen—They said אביך, (Abiche) “your father,” and אמך, (Ameche) “Your mother,” &c. Only that the Hebrew period is initial, in such a case, to the Indian nouns, they always use the very same method of expression. This I shall illustrate with two words in the dialects of the Chikkasah and Cheerake—as _Chinge_ and _Chatokta_, “your father;” _Angge_ and _Aketohta_ signifying “my father,” in resemblance of אב, _Abba_, of the same import; likewise _Chishka_ and _Chacheeah_, “your mother;” for _Saske_ and _Akachee_ signify “my mother,” in imitation of אשה, _Ashe_. Also _Sas Kish_ signifies podex meus, _Chish Kish_, podex tuus, and _Kish Kish_, podex illius; which I guess to be an {40} opprobrious allusion to Kish the father of Saul, for the son’s assuming the throne at the end of the Jewish theocracy. In their adjectives and verbs, they use the same method of speech; as _Nahoorèso Chin-Chookoma_, “Your book is good.” The former word is compounded of נא (_Na_) now, or the present time, and _Hoorèso_, delineated, marked, or painted. _Aia_ signifies _to go_, and _Maia-Cha_, “Go along,” or _Maia_, the same; for, by prefixing מ to it, it implies a requisite obedience. In like manner, _Apeesah_, to see, and _Peesàcha_, look, or “see you.” And, when that particle is prefixed to a verb, it always expresses the accusative case of the same pronoun; as _Chepeesahre_, “I saw you,” and _Chepeesahras_, “I shall see you.” Each of the Hebrew characters are radicals; although half of them are _serviles_, according to that proper term of the scholiasts; for, when they are prefixed, inserted, or subjoined, either at the beginning, middle, or end of a radical word, _they serve_ to form its various augments, inflexions, and derivatives. According to this difficult standard of speech, the Indian nouns, moods, and tenses, are variously formed to express different things. As there is no other known language or dialect, which has the same tedious, narrow, and difficult principles; must we not consider them to be twin-born sisters? The want of proper skill to observe the original fixed idea of the Indian words, their radical letters, and the due sounds in each of them, seems to have been the only reason why the writers on the American Aborigines, have not exhibited the true and genuine properties of any one of their dialects; as they are all uniform in principle: so far at least, as an extensive acquaintance reaches.

The Hebrew nouns are either derived from verbs, or both of them are one and the same; as ברכה, (Beroche) “Blessing,” from ברך, (Beroch) “to bless,” and דבר חבר, (Dabar Daber) “he spoke the speech.” This proper name signifies “loquacious,” like the Indian _Sekàkee_, signifying the “grasshopper.” The Indian method of expression, exactly agrees with that Hebrew mode of speech; for they say _Anumbole Anumbole (kis)_ “I spake the speaking;” and _Anumbole Enumbole (kis)_, “he spoke the speaking, or speech.” And by inserting the name of God between these two words, their meaning is the very same with those two first Hebrew words. I shall subjoin another word of the same sort—_Hookseeleta_ signifies “a shutting instrument;” and they say _Ishtookseelèta_, or _Hookseelèta, Ish-hookseetas_, or _Hookseetà Cha_, “You shall, or, shut you the door.” Their period of the last word, always denotes the second person singular of the imperative mood; {41} and that of the other preceding it, either the first or second person singular of the indicative mood; which is formed so by a fixed rule, on account of the variegating power of the serviles, by affixing, inserting, or suffixing them, to any root. According to the usage of the Hebrews, they always place the accusative case also before the verb; as in the former Indian words.

With the Hebrews, תפלח signified “a prayer,” or a religious invocation, derived from פלח, Phelac, “to pray to, or invoke the Deity.” In a strong resemblance thereof, when the Indians are performing their sacred dance, with the eagles tails, and with great earnestness invoking _Yo He Wah_ to bless them with success and prosperity, _Phale_ signifies, “waving,” or invoking by waving, _Ishphāle_, you wave, _Phalècha_, wave you, _Aphalàle_, I waved, _Aphalèlas_, I will wave, &c. Psalmodists seem to have borrowed the notes _fa_, _la_, from the aforesaid Hebrew words of praying, singing to, or invoking Elohim. פעל, (Phoole) “to work,” is evidently drawn from the former Hebrew word, which signifies to invoke (and probably to wave the feathers of the cherubic eagle before) _Yo He Wah_. The greatest part of the Levitical method of worshipping, consisted in laborious mechanical exercises, much after the Indian manner; which the popish priests copy after, in a great many instances, as pulling off their clothes, and putting on others; imagining that the Deity is better pleased with persons who variegate their external appearances, like Proteus, than with those who worship with a steady, sincere disposition of mind; besides a prodigious group of other superstitious ceremonies, which are often shamefully blended with those of the old pagans.

As the Hebrew word נא, _Na_, signifies the present time—so when the Indians desire a person to receive something from them speedily, they say, _Nà_ (short and gutturally) _eescha_, “take it, now.” He replies _Unta_, or _Omeh_, which are good-natured affirmatives. The pronoun relative, “you,” which they term _Ishna_, is a compounded Hebrew word, signifying (by application) the person present, or “you.”

With the Hebrews, הר הר, _Hara Hara_, signifies, “most, or very, hot;” the repetition of the word makes it a superlative. In a strict resemblance of that word, and mode of speech, when an Indian is baffled by any of their {42} humorous wits, he says, in a loud jesting manner, _Hara Hara_, or _Hala Hala_, according to their capacity of pronouncing the liquid _R_: and it signifies, “you are very hot upon me:” their word, which expresses “sharp,” conveys the idea of bitter-heartedness with them; and that of bitterness they apply only to the objects of taste.

With the Cheerake, Chikkasah, and Choktah Indians, _Nannè_ signifies “a hill:” and _Nannéh_, with the two last-mentioned nations, “a fish;” and _Unchàba_, “a mountain.” But they call an alligator, or crocodile, _Nannéh Chunchāba_, literally, “the fish like a mountain;” which the English language would abbreviate into the name of a mountain-fish; but, instead of a hyphen, they use the Hebrew כ, a note of resemblance, which seems to point at the language from which they derived it. In like manner, _Aà_ signifies to walk, and _Eette_, wood; but _Eette Chanáa_, any kind of wheel; which is consonant to the aforesaid Hebrew idiom; with many others of the like nature: but a specimen of this sort must suffice.

The Hebrew and Indian words, which express delineating, writing, decyphering, marking, and painting, convey the same literal meaning in both languages; as _Exod._ xvii. 14. כתב שפר (_Chethéba Sepháre_) “delineate this with delineations;” and, with the Indians, _Hoorèso_ is, in like manner, the radical name of books, delineating, &c.; and _Ootehna_ that for numbering, instead of reading. The nearest approach they can make to it, is, _Anumbōle hoorèso Ishanumbōlas_, “You shall speak the speech, which is delineated.”

They call a razor, _Baspoo Shaphe_, “A shaving knife:” and _Shaphe_ always signifies to shave; probably, because when they first began to shave themselves, they were ridiculed by the higher, or more religious part of the people, for imitating that heathenish custom. The Hebrew שפּה (_Shaphe_) signifying lip, confession, or worship; which divine writ assures us, the descendants of Noah changed, when they opposed the divine will of settling various parts of the earth, and built the great tower of Babel, as an emblem of greatness, to get them a name[X]. {43}

Footnote X:

_Skin_ signifies an eye; and _Skeeshāpha_, one-eyed; as if proceeding
from the divine anger. They often change _i_ into _ee_.