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.