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Show STATE PRESENT THE count for their ark’s degenerating into a sack 3 and for «in their views of the their verging nearer to idolatry ani- Great Spirit, mals. cestors, before ever any white man appeared in Amerifea. in certam embodied viewing him as 105. OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL. ae But the great peculiarity which white men would ° /naturally teach them (if they ; Jesus Christ the taught any thing.) Son of God is the that Saviour of the the west, -A chief of the Delaware Indians far in , from 1824 visited by Messrs. Dodge and Blight, Jan. on to \ the subiect. “‘to be a grave and venerable char ld d) wou ate tiv cul (if ch acter, POsses sing a mind whi rior to some of the first infe not ly bab pro render him : By information received of father Hoyt respecting | the former traditions, rites and ceremonies of the In- informati said by these the Union Mission, gave the following ‘The chief was these missionaries. missionaries On being inguired of by statesmen of ourcountry.”” them he replied; “ Long ago, before ever a preme Being! foot in his stepped a white man the existence of a Sa- believed in he whether Dela- the America, eved there wares knew there was one God ; and beli they die; n whe was a hell, where bad folks would go He went aida heaven, where good folks would go.” ‘he beon to state (these missionaries inform) that of him. afraid lieved there was a devil, and he was ded down by han were w These things (he said) he kne arrived in n Pen m his ancestors long before Willia be wrong to it He said, he also knew Pennsylvania. if a poor man to his door came turn him away empty. poorest of men hungry and naked, to For he believed God loved the better than he did’ rich proud men. custom amons (ong time ago, (he added) it was a good forlife. But that and his people to take put one wife, wicked, that and so now they Had become so foolish, s ata time ; and turn they would take a number of wive Fle was asked to state what them away at pleasure 1) ied He repl of God. he knew of Jesus Christ, the Son For his part, he bat little about him. that “he knew He did not know about knew there was one God. needs no comment to This evidenc two Gods.”? clitish tradition, i relashow that it appears to he [sra to tion to the one God, marriage, as taught to heaven, in the Old hell, the Testament, proud rich. Came These things he assures us do wh Cod’s estimation of the devil, and and from as welt a8 ine poor. their an > rvpctiv ec |; world, he honestly confesses he knew not this: part of © ane f co en is an extract of a letter from Mr. Cal‘ushman, missionary among the Choctaws, toa riend in Plainfield, Mass. in 1824. 2 . diaus of this region, ] think there is much reason to believe they are the descendants of Abraham.—They have had cities of refuge, feasts of first fruits, sacrifices of the firstliags of the flocks, which had to be perfect without blemish or deformity, a bone of which must notbe broken. They were never known to worship images, nor to offer sacrifice to any god made with hands. They all have some idea and belief of the Great Spirit. ‘Their fasts, holy days, &c. were regu- lated by sevens, as to time, 1. e. seven sleeps, seven moons, seven years, &c. They had a kind of box containing some kind of substance which was considered sacred, and kept an entire secret from the common people. Said box was borne by a number of men who were considered pure or holy, (if | mistake not sucha box was kept by the Cherokees.) And whenever they went to war with another tribe they carried this box ; and such was its purity in their view, that nothing would justify its being rested on the ground. A Clean rock or scaffold of timber only, was considered sufficiently pure for a resting place for this sacred cof- fer. And such was the veneration of all the tri bes for it, that whenever the party retaming it, was defeated and obliged to leave it on the field of battle the hide querors would by no means touch it.” This account ~ accords with accounts of various others from difwee peeione of the indians. put i is unaccountable pon every principle except that the lndians are th descendants of Israel. i |