Ojebways and Munceys collected to hear. Peter Beaver gave an account of his conversion to God. Wm. Jackson spoke on the necessity of their becoming Christians. Attention was paid, and some wept much. In the afternoon, a prayer meeting was held; and in the evening Westbrook and Rufus Turkey prayed with much fervor. 17th. Peter Jones and his comrades went down the river, to Otomekoo's camp. The Indians listened to their visitors, but declined to give an answer, saying they had determined to wait until a general council should determine. 18th. They reached Moravian town, where was a Methodist meeting going on. The preacher desired Peter Jones to preach; and George Henry related his conversion in English, and Peter Beaver in Indian, which was interpreted for the people. 19th. They visited the Moravian missionaries, who were on their way to a funeral. One of them preached in the Delaware, but the visitors could not understand, or tell' which part was prayer, reading, or preaching, as all was done sitting. Peter Jones was requested to speak to the congregation afterwards; which he did, in English, through an interpreter. The congregation numbered about a hundred; but the Indians located here were two hundred. The Moravian missionaries had been labouring many years among this people, but with little success. Intemperance still prevailed, and they were still uncivilized. Peter Jones was now left alone, the other Indians had departed for the Credit river. 20th. Hearing of some Chippeways on the Bear river or creek, north of the Thames, he with the preacher of the Thames circuit, (George Ferguson,) visited the chief Kanootong, and requested him to call his people. In a few minutes, about a dozen met. Peter Jones discoursed on the depravity of man and the cure; describing the wonderful change in the tribes at the Credit, Grape Island, Rice Lake, and Lake Simcoe; also mentioning that the Governor had built them a village at the Credit. After a pause, Kanootong thus spoke: "Brother-I am glad to see you and hear from your people, but with respect to Indians becoming Christians, I cannot think it right; for when the Great Spirit made the white man and the Indian, he did not make them of one colour, and therefore did not design them to worship in the same way; for he placed the white man across the great waters, and there gave him his religion written in a book; he also made the white man to cultivate the earth, and raise cattle, &c., but when the Great Spirit made the Indian, he placed him in this country, and gave him his way of worship written in his heart, which has been handed down from one generation to another; for his subsistence, he gave him the wild beasts of the forest, the fowls that fly in the air, the fish that swim in the waters, and the corn for his bread; and, before the white man came to this country the Indian did not know the use of iron, but for an axe he used a stone sharpened at one end, tied to a split stick; with this he cut his wood; and for his hoe he split the limb of a tree; he had also stone pots to cook with; these things answered his purpose, and he was contented and happy. Now I suppose if the Great Spirit had intended the Indian to worship like the white man he would have made him white instead of red, &c. Our forefathers have told us that when an Indian dies, his spirit goes to a place prepared for him towards the sun-setting, where Indians dwell for ever in dancing and feasting; and should I become a Christian and throw away the religion of my fathers, I am not sure that the Great Spirit would receive me into heaven. And how should I look after worshipping like the white man? Perhaps when I come to die my soul might go up to heaven, and the Great Spirit would ask me, 'What have you come up here for, you Indian? This is not your place; you must go where your forefathers have gone; this place is only made for white people, not for Indians, therefore begone.' How foolish then should Í look to be driven from heaven; therefore I think I cannot become a Christian, and throw away my old ways; and, more than this, I do not see that the white men who are christians are any better than the red men, for they make fire-waters, get drunk, quarrel, fight, murder, steal, lie, and cheat. Now when the Indian gets drunk he sometimes quarrels and fights, but never when he is sober; but I have seen white men fight when they are sober, and go from their meeting-house straight to the tavern; so that I do not desire the white man's religion, neither do I think that I should be able to forsake the sins which I have already committed." To this speech Peter Jones replied, that the good Book spoke of only one way of worship, that all were required to worship in this way, that the Christian Indian had once the same objections, that they had found the white man's God the Indian's friend, and that the whites were of two classes, bad and good. But the chief merely replied that he thought that he could not become a Christian. 24th. Peter Jones visited some Indians in their sugar camps, about six miles from the mouth of Bear Creek, and spoke to them about becoming Christians. Chief Yellowbird, like the other procrastinators in the route, heard with attention, but refused to give an answer, until a general council of the chiefs. He added, "We are so wicked and given to drunkeness, it would be impossible for them to be good." The former condition of other Indians was related, and how, by praying to the Great Spirit, they were reformed, and became His friends, through Jesus Christ. The chief seemed amazed, and said the news was wonderful. After being on the Thames circuit ten days, visiting camps of Indians, and preaching to whites, the Indian missionary passed the mouth of the Thames river, over low, marshy lands, abounding in wild duck. Along the south shore of the lake St. Clair, the French are the most numerous settlers. The soil is good, but very low, and in places covered with water. He stopped for the first night at a French house, within ten miles of Sandwich. The French generally speak the Chippeway; and when the master of the house found that his guest spoke it also, he became quite friendly. 29th. Peter Jones passed through Sandwich, and rode on to the Wyandott or Huron settlement, connected with the Amherstburgh circuit. He saw but a few of the people, as they were busy in the maple woods making sugar. But he learned that there was now no school for the Indian children, that the number of the families was only twenty, and that the greater part of the Indians were Roman Catholics, but twenty were members of the Methodist society, and met together every Sunday. April 1st. He rode to Sandwich, and crossing the St. Clair river, He visited Detroit, and related, in a Presbyterian meeting, the work of God among the natives of Canada. On the 5th, he had returned to the Moravian mission, and found the people preparing for a lovefeast. The missionary addressed the Indians in Delaware, and then read some hymns, which the people sung. Two men and two women then brought two baskets full of dumplings, made of Indian meal and beans, giving one to each person; 4 and next brought in cups of coffee, which were distributed to the congregation. Peter Jones related the work of God among the Indians. An old Delaware, in the Chippeway tongue said, "We rejoice much to hear what the Good Spirit is doing for your people. All our men and women join in sending their Christian love to them; for we are all serving the one Saviour, who died for all nations." In passing up the Thames, Peter Jones fell in with a council sitting, and again introduced the object of his visit, but the chiefs said that they were not inclined to change their religion; but they were willing to have schools, so that their children might be taught as the white children. He arrived home, April 11th, after an absence of five weeks, in which he had passed up and down the Thames river, revisiting some of the Indians, and seeing some for the first time; but found the most hardened and unyielding, or promising and procrastinating. The Thames Indians were very unlike the Indian bodies, east of the Grand River. However, two positions were taken for the Gospel in the west country; one in the Wyandott settlement, and the other by Mr. Carey, the school teacher, among the Munceys, not to mention the Moravian missionaries. But up to the time of Conference, not an Indian on the Thames is returned as a member of the Methodist society. However a change was soon to appear. The natives at the upper and lower Munceytown consisted of a body of Chippeways of about 260, and Delawares of about 200. They were settled on their own several lands, of several hundred acres. THE WORK ON THE CIRCUITS. Several of the circuits experienced the outpouring of the Divine Spirit; and also some of the villages and towns, as Prescott, Brockville, Hallowell, Belleville, Bath, Kingston, and York. The increase in the membership of whites was 690, and in the Indians 343. Nearly the whole of Upper Canada was travelled by the preachers, and the circuits included nearly all the villages and towns, with all the country settlements, excepting the parts where the Roman Catholics and Scotch Presbyterians prevailed; and in some of these settlements the preachers found an open door, declared the Gospel welcome, and even raised up societies of converted people. Having traced the work of God, by the agency of the Methodist preachers and people, up to the fall of 1828, when the Methodist people became an independent church, the writer will secure the propitious occasion for a pause, and rest his weary pen Appointments of the English Conference. James Knowlan, Chairman. 200 192 214 90 Members, 1,486 Stanstead and Barnston,-James Booth, William G. Shefford, Richard Pope... Odell Town and Burtonville,-Matthew Lang. |