History of the War with Indian Savages, Part 3
III. In the WAR that hath been upon us, Whoſe is Wiſe, may obſerve, That the very Objects, of our Sins, have been made the very Engines of our Plagues. It is a thing Extraordinarily Obſervable, though it ordinarily happens; That, In quo quis peccat, in eo punitur; Men are Plagu'd by thoſe very Things, with which they have Sinn'd. If an Eli omit his Duty towards his Children, it follows, in 1 Sam. 2.33. Thoſe very Children, ſhall conſume thine Eyes, and grieve thine Heart. I am very much miſtaken, if our Eyes have not been conſumed, and if our Hearts not grieved, by thoſe, to whom we have omitted our Duty Exceedingly. The Grand crime of the Jews, was in relation to the Romans, and God made the Romans the Deſtroyers of the Jews. You will now demand of me, Whether I think, that we are chargeable, with any Crime, relating to the Indians, which have been ſo bloodily Deſtroying of us. I muſt freely tell you, I Think, we are, The old Britons, did not what they ſhould have done, to Convert the Saxons unto Chriſtianity; and when the Britons were afterwards fearfully Deſtroy'd by the Saxons, their famous Countreyman Gildas told them, This is the Vengeance of God upon you, becauſe you did no more, for the Converſion of thoſe Miſerable Heathen. And I admire, that the Engliſh Proteſtants in Ireland, after ſuch Maſſacres from the Iriſh Papiſts, do no more Effectually make this Reflection. But that which I am now to Reflect upon, is This: Had we done, but half ſo much as the French Papists have done, to Proſelyte the Indians of our Eaſt, unto the Chriſtian Faith, inſtead of being, Snares and Traps unto us, and Scourges in our Sides, and Thorns in our Eyes they would have been, A wall unto us, both by Night and Day. What a Sting was there in thoſe words, which the Indians have uſed unto ſome of our Captives, Had the Engliſh been as careful to Inſtruct us, as the French, we had been of your Religion! Indeed, it can Scarce, without an harſh Catechreſis, be called, The Chriſtian Faith, which the French Papiſts have made the Salvages to Swallow: But it the Salvages had been Enlightened with The Christian Faith, f…om us, the French Papists could never have inſtill'd into them thoſe French Poiſons, that have made ſuch Raging Devils of them. Through the Bleſſing of God, upon the Endeavours of Good men, in this one Maſſachuſet Province, the Indians have moſtly Embraced the Christian Religion. [*Of that matter ſee a Printed Account, at the end of Mr. Noyes's Election-Sermon; whereto I have here this to add, That an Hopeful and Worthy Young man, Mr. Experience Mayhew, omitted in that Printed Journal, meerly becauſe he was more largely mentioned in the annexed Propoſals of the Gentlemen that made it, which are not Printed with it, muſt now have the Juſtice done him, of this Character, That in the Evangelical Service of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, among the Indians, there is no man that Exceeds tha… Mr. Mayhew, if there be any that Equals him. So I am informed concerning him.]There are, I ſuppoſe, more than Thirty Congregations of Indians, and many more than Thirty Hundred Indians, in this one Province, calling on God in Chriſt, and Hearing of His Glorious Word. Whoſo is wiſe, will obſerve a Notable Smile of God upon thoſe that have Worthily Encouraged and proſecuted this Evangelical Work. But ſhall we not, at the ſame Time Obſerve, how Signally the Wrath of God hath fallen upon the Perſons, or Eſtates, of them that have Debauched the Indians, by Selling of Drink unto them. The Trading Houſes, where the Indians of the Eaſt, had ſo much, of their Drink and Bane, what is become of them, Every one of them? The Sword ha's been Drunk with the Blood, of the Engliſh, in the Hands of thoſe very Indians, which have been ſo often Drunk among them. And theſe Bloody Merchants of the Souls of the Indians, when they have Summed up all their Gains, the Foot of the Account ha's been this, Wo to him that gives his Neighbour Drink, that puts the Bottel to him, to make him Drunk. Thoſe Men, are not Wiſe but Mad, who can Obſerve theſe things, and now dare to Repeat this Iniquity, or dream that any Gains are to be got by feeding the Indian Lust of Drunkenneſs.