Peter Jones

“ He informed me that he had lately been down to Toronto, and there saw one of the Credit Indians, who informed him that the white people who arrived from England brought word that my dearest wife and Catherine Sunegoo had both died in England, but that they had received no letters to that effect, only a report in circulation. This sad news went through me like a dagger, and I began to imagine a thousand things. I said within myself. If this be true, what shall I do? Is it possible that my best beloved, my only earthly comfort is no more! ”

“ The people, the trees of the woods, the gentle winds, the warbling notes of the birds, and the approaching sun, all declared the power and goodness of the Great Spirit. And what was I that I should not raise my voice in giving glory to God, who had done such great things for me!
My heart was now drawn out in love and compassion for all people, especially for my parents, brothers, sisters, and countrymen, for whose conversion I prayed, that they might also find this great salvation. ”

“ Now, brothers and friends, if I should follow the example of those that once worshipped like the white man I should expect to incur the anger of the Great Spirit, and share the same fate of them that perished. I will therefore remain as I am, and sit down alone and worship in that way that the Munedoo Spirit appointed our forefathers to do and to observe. Brothers and friends, how can I, who have grown old in sins and in drunkenness, break off from these things, when the white people are as bad and wicked as the Indians! ”

“ The more I understood the plan of salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, the more I was convinced of the truth of the Christian religion and of my need of salvation. In spite of my old Indian heart, tears flowed down my cheeks at the remembrance of my sins. I saw many of the white people powerfully awakened, and heard them crying aloud for mercy, whilst others stood and gazed, and some even laughed and mocked. ”

“ Sometimes whilst reading the Word of God, or hearing it preached, I would be almost persuaded to become a Christian; but when I looked at the conduct of the whites who were called Christians, and saw them drunk, quarreling, and fighting, cheating the poor Indians, and acting as if there was no God, I was led to think there could be no truth in the white man's religion, and felt inclined to fall back again to my old superstitions. ”

“ O that the Indian had more of such, kind friends! how soon would the wounds made by the wicked whites be healed, and joy and gladness spring up in the Indian's heart! But alas, too many of those who have gone amongst the Indians have rather manifested a domineering spirit, which has proved his want of success. The Indian is a free man and will not be driven. Gain his confidence and esteem, and then you can do anything with him. Some white people have imagined that in order to christianize the heathen, you must first teach them the arts and sciences as a necessary preparation for the Gospel ”

“ No wonder the Indians pine away and die; their life after all is a hard one.
At one time I accompanied an Indian by the name of Old Peter, in his hunting excursion. Whilst traversing the howling wilderness, all at once he said that he heard from a distance the shouts of Pahguk, a flying skeleton, a description of which will be found in my Indian history. I was greatly alarmed at the idea of being so near this powerful Munedoo, who is said to cause the stoutest heart to quail at his war-whoop. ”

“ Admitted into society the two oldest Indians, (a man and his wife) I ever saw. The man was quite bald, the first bald-headed Indian I have ever seen. I should take them to be more than a hundred years old. On asking the old man the state of his mind, he said, "The Great Spirit has given me a great many days; I have always remembered the Great Spirit all the days of my past life, and now I rejoice to see our grand-children and great grand-children worship our Great Father in heaven." ”

“ 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." In answer to these arguments, I told him that the good book said there was only one way to worship God, and that the Great Spirit required all nations to believe and accept the offers of salvation. ”

“ Most of our heathen brethren knelt down with us, which was a sure token that they were prepared to receive the Gospel; for no heathen Indian kneels only when he is resolved to become a Christian. After prayers, I gave them an account of the fall of man, and the misery he has brought upon himself and posterity; and that the Great Spirit out of compassion, gave his only begotten Son to come into our world and die for man, and thus opened a door of mercy to all; that God was now willing to save man on condition of repentance and faith in his Son Jesus Christ. ”

“ Blessed be God for his great mercy to these children of the forest, who have long been in darkness, and in the region and shadow of death! O Lord, still continue to stretch out thine arm of power, and gather all the nations of the earth into the fold of Christ, and thy name shall have all the glory, now and for ever more! ”

“ He then led me into the prayer meeting. I fell upon my knees and began as well as I could to call upon the name of the Lord. The old man prayed for me, and exhorted me to believe on our Lord Jesus Christ, who, he said, had died for Indians as well as for white people. Several of the Preachers prayed for me. When I first began to pray my heart was soft and tender, and I shed many tears, but strange to say, sometime after my heart got as hard as a stone. I tried to look up, but the heavens seemed like brass. I then began to say to myself there is no mercy for poor Indian. ”

“ Brothers, I am happy to see you worship in the way you do. It makes my heart glad. I worship God too. We will hold fast the blessing the Great Spirit has given the Indians. We will worship Pahtahmahwahsing, (our Creator) . Both ways of worship are good. We will worship your way and our way. We fear if we forsake our old way of worship, the Great Spirit will be displeased with us. If we knew he would send no evil among us, we would worship with you altogether. Brothers, I have told you our whole mind. ”

“ Troy is a fine flourishing city; the houses are mostly brick, and very elegant. In the evening we had a meeting in the Methodist Church, which was well filled.
Saturday 7th. — At 9 o'clock, a. m., we met the Sunday School children in the Methodist church. About a 1000 were present. Our Indian children exhibited their attainments in spelling, reading, singing, and speaking, to the great satisfaction of this vast assemblage of little ones; their eyes sparkled with joy and wonder, whilst they beheld and heard the red children of the forest sing the praises of the Lord and read his Holy Word. ”

“ The reflection of these Chiefs cast upon the whites is too true; for had it not been that the white people introduced the fire-water amongst the Indians, they would never have become drunkards. What an awful account must the wicked whites give at the great day of judgment, when the blood of those Indians slain and ruined by strong drink will be required at their hands! May the Lord have mercy upon the poor white heathens! ”

“ It is a matter of great satisfaction to me to know that my talk in general has been well received, and that many a heart has been made glad to know that their labour of love in the cause of Missions to the heathen has not been in vain. A fine Missionary spirit prevails in every part of this kingdom, and in this feeling they pray for the conversion of the world, and send Missionaries to all parts of the globe. ”

“ When the meeting was over I found two more Indians had arrived, and were sitting outside, one known by the name of John Sunday, and the other Moses. They had heard of our being in that part of the country,and came some distance to get us, and hear what we had to say. At the evening service these Indians attended with the others. I explained to them the broad road that leads to destruction, and the narrow road that leads to heaven. I was much encouraged to hope that these poor Indians would receive the Gospel from the serious attention they paid to what I said. ”

“ Before the time for service, felt my mind much encouraged. At 11 o'clock we had a meeting in a barn; both Indians and whites flocked in to worship the God of Israel. I endeavoured to speak from John iii. 14, 15. In the evening held a prayer meeting with the Indians. Here the Lord was graciously pleased to pour out His Holy Spirit upon us, so that our hearts were filled with love, joy, and peace. My soul was as happy as it could be. Surely the Lord hath heard and answered my prayer, for at evening time it was light. ”

“ I was shocked to find an intelligent man so benighted and degraded as to disbelieve in the truth of Divine revelation. Surely this man with all his advantages, is a greater heathen than my poor pagan brethren in the woods. The Lord have mercy upon this poor white heathen! ”

“ Father, we your children living at the River Credit desire to express our thanks to our great father for his kindness towards us in settling us down, and providing comfortable houses for our families; but having heard some bad birds crying that we did not own any lands on the Credit, we wish to know from our great father how much land we really possess, as it is the desire of our young men to become farmers, (the chase being almost destroyed by the white settlements) we therefore humbly ask, our father that each of our men may have or possess as much land as one farmer holds. ”

“ Sinners were crying for mercy. Professors were rejoicing, being quickened in spirit. I bless the Lord for what my eyes see, and for what my ears hear of the wonderful works of God among the children of men — even among the sons of the wilderness.
Friday 13th. — After breakfast, Elder Case spoke to the congregation, and gave liberty for any to tell their christian experience. A number of whites and Indians spoke with warm hearts. At the conclusion of this love feast, the Elder desired all who had experienced a change of heart to rise up; about thirty white people and as many Indians rose up. ”

“ Glory to God in the highest for these pleasing, manifestations of his favour to us poor Indians!
Sunday 21st. — Elder Case preached to us from the 12th chapter of Romans, which I interpreted in the Indian, after which Mr. Torry exhorted. About 2 o'clock I started with Elder Case to visit the Indians on the Bay of Quinte; arrived at York before evening, and heard Rev. Mr. Ryerson preach a Missionary Sermon from these words, "A light to lighten the Gentiles." I felt very reluctant to leave my Indians, but if I can be of any use where I am going, my desire is that the Lord's will may be done. ”

“ The Indian Exhorters and Class Leaders were very active in bringing the pagan Indians into the Camp ground; and when they succeeded in getting them to enter their prayer meeting, they soon had pleasure and joy in seeing them set at full liberty. Before the meeting commenced, I met with a very aged man who wore a human face on his neck, about the bigness of a man's thumb, as a god. ”

“ Since my conversion to God, one thing has made my heart very glad, and which is, that amidst all the temptations and examples of drunkenness to which I was exposed, I never fell into that vice, although most of my young companions did. I always viewed drunkenness as beneath the character of an Indian. If at any time I was persuaded to take a little of the fire-water, I always felt sorry for it, afterwards, especially when I reflected how much evil it had done to my poor countrymen, many thousands of whom have had their days shortened by it, and been hurried to destruction. ”

“ Left York this morning for the Credit, where we arrived about the middle of the afternoon, We found the Indian brethren under great fears from having seen some unknown Indians or persons lurking about the village at night. They have been watching every night to apprehend them, but all in vain. It is my opinion, from what they tell me, that it is mere imagination, or the work of the devil, to disturb the peace of this people. About 4 o'clock Elder Case preached a sermon, the substance of which I interpreted, and then gave them a short account of my tour to the east. ”

“ As my brethren could now repeat the Lord's Prayer, I employed this day in teaching them the Ten Commandments. One Indian soon repeated them over and over again without making any mistake. At the close of this meeting, I gave them some instructions concerning the observance of the Sabbath. Felt quite rejoiced and encouraged to see the rapid improvement these Indians made in the knowledge of the will of God. May the Lord keep them from all evil! ”

“ The immortal spirit took its flight about 9 o'clock this morning. It was a severe stroke to us to see such a lovely child taken away from among us, but God called him and we must submit, for "the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." We are short-lived creatures, and all of us are travelling to our graves. Our people are greatly afflicted at the present time; many of them are confined to their beds with bad colds and fevers. O Lord, heal thine afflicted children and cause sickness to depart from them! ”

“ It is well known that the first step the priests take is to prejudice their minds against all other denominations, while they neglect to teach them the depravity of the human heart, and the necessity of coming to Christ alone for pardon and mercy: in this way they make the Indians ten times more the children of the devil than they were before. The Lord have mercy upon them, and dispose their hearts to receive the truth, that they may know nothing but the truth as it is in Christ Jesus our Lord. They finished dividing the presents about 5 o'clock. ”

“ The Council was opened by singing; and prayer. Brother John Asance then rose up and addressed himself to the preachers now present. John Sunday, of Grape Island, then rose up and said, That when the Methodists found them they were poor drunken people; but through their labours the Great Spirit had done much for them, and had gathered them together on an island, where they had built their houses; that in becoming a christian he had given his life to to the Lord; that whether he lived or died he should be the Lord's, and that he would die first before he would change his religion. ”

“ All these young men have been trying to keep the good words you told them last winter, and not one of them will taste or smell Skootawahpooh. Brother, we like to pray to the Great Spirit, and to be taught the good way, and as a token of our sincerity we cast in our mites. ”

“ The congregation appeared greatly interested, and it must have been a great satisfaction to those who contributed to aid this good cause. May the Lord increase the zeal of all his people, and make them instant in season and out of season! At the close of this exhibition, Miss Barnes gave a discourse on the incarnation, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Saviour; she spoke fluently, with a strong voice, and very figuratively. We had a very powerful prayer meeting in the evening, sinners crying for mercy, and professing christians seeking for sanctification. ”

“ May the Good Spirit stir up the white people that they may become as lights of the world, that the poor Indians who are looking upon them may see their good works, and so convince them of the reality of the Christian Religion. ”

“ I felt myself an outcast, a sinner bound for hell. About midnight, I got so fatigued and discouraged, that I retired from our prayer meeting and went to our tent, where I immediately fell asleep. I know not how long I had slept when I was awakened by the Rev. E. Stoney and G. Ferguson, who had missed me at the prayer meeting, and had come with a light to search for me. Mr. S. said to me, "Arise, Peter, and go with us to the prayer meeting, and get your soul converted. Your sister Mary has already obtained the Spirit of adoption, and you must also seek the same blessing." ”

“ They now know the true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent; they are clothed and in their right mind; they pray; they sing his praises; they shout and give glory to God! To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be ascribed everlasting praises, world without end. ”