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, ; ^ my CHEROKEE FHlfeNIX, AND INDIANS’ ADVOCATE. 4 PRINTED UNDER THE PATRONAGE, AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CIlEtOKLE RATION, AND DEVOTED TO 'IDE CAUSE OF INDIANS. E. JSOUDINOTT, Editor. NEW ECIIOTA, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 11,1829. VOL, 1.--NO. Afe* PRINTED WEEKLY BY • JNO. P. WHEEXBR, At '$2 50 if paid in advance, $3 in six months, or $3 50 if paid at the end of the year. To subscribers who can read only th Cherokee language the price will be $2,00 in advance, or $2,50 to be paid within th year. Every subscription will be considered a 1 - uontinued unless subscribers give notice t< the contrary before the commencement of a new year. Any person procuring six subscribers, and becoming responsible for the payment, shall receive a seventh gratis. Advertisements will be inserted at seven ty-five cents per square for the first inser tion, and thirty-seven and a halt’ cents for each continuance; longer ones in propor tion. letters addressed to the Editor, post paid, will receive due attention. -owy JiTAVO-A AD hjl JEtSd. VOAVEoB-l TAAf 5 3MBAJI J*4<».I. B©AE UliWftJo^y KTA D^?P (PG.Tn.I IMh*-!, TGFZ TEiHSO-T 3 nft.I^FiiSa. TCTZ ¥»LP TddO-A TB DOJ^E-mLI, KT D'S'R 0>6.IBa DSJ/5m)EZ TB y'V 0-y/LT D?P O’OJBH P4cS>H. .Ctvyz (PO.R ahC5Ii.Tot>y, WF.r D9-T 0^0 IB A Iv4d®a FSHBtP, TGTZ TEdSO-fl 1 ’ DO' KTJ1Z D^P 8i?yr tf.JR D0J^ii»Ivm!vI. AGENTS FOR THE CHEROKEE PHOENIX. The following persons are authorized to receive subscriptions and payments for the Cherokee Phoenix. Messrs. Peirce &, Williams, No. 20 Market St. Boston, Mass. George. M. Tracy, Agent ofthe A, B. {£. F. M. N nv York. Rev. A. D. Eody, Canandaigua, N. Y. ^ . Thomas Hastings, Utica, N. Y. Pollard & Converse, li.chmond, Va. Rev. James Campbell, Beaufort, S. C William Moultrie Reid, Charleston, ■s. c. Col, George Smith, Statesville, W. T. William M. Combs, Nashville Ten. Rev. Bennet Roberts—Powal Me. Mr. Thos. R. Gold, (an itinerant Gen tleman.) Jeremiah Austil, Mobile Ala. M2UdT.*i«t airrucK irtrjzs* nBLimous. A LETTER FROM A CHEROKEE TO HIS BROTHER. The author of the following letter is a jounj man who has be n brought to the experimental knowledge of Jesus Christ, through the instrumentality ofthe mission aries. March 8th, 1828. My dear and beloved Brother—I write you these few lines, which 1 hope you will leceive as coming from an affectionate brother. I hope you will not be displeased with any thing that I write, but try to derive good from it. I have a little Book from which I will select a few re marks, and which I think, is address ed to such as you are upon the most weighty and interesting concerns, on Which depend your present comfort and your everlasting salvation. You ace that people all around you are dying; and you know that soon you must die, and be fixed in a state that is unchangeable. Is it not then a question of great importance for you to put to yourself, “Have I any solid ground of hope that I shall go to heav en when I die, or have I not rather awful reasons to fear that I shall sink down into hell, and there lift up my eyes in everlasting torments?” If you live in sin, and die in sin, this must be your portion. Attend, therefore, with seriousness to the following considera tions: While you live in sin, you are in the greatest danger. You would pity a poor man who was thoughtless and un concerned, while on the brink of some frightful gulf; but the gulf, on the borders of which you are thoughtless ly standing, is infinitely more tremen dous. You would eonsider him a mad man, who for one short hour of pleas ure, would expose himself to misery all his future life; but you are more inexcusable, who for those pleasures of sin which are but for a season, are veil luring upon a miserable eternity. Thei e is an impressive voice which sounds i«: the word of Gud,thu'te“xcept a man b« jorn again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John, iii, 3. A voice whici. was uttered by that Saviour who will shortly, judge you; and if you should then be found to be a stranger to this new birth, it would be better for yon that you had never been born; for he will say concerning you, “Take him, and bind him hand and foot, and casi him into outer darkness. There shftll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”— Matt, xxii, 13. If you were to think of these things, as becomes men that have never dy ing souls, they would ever be upper most in your mind. Yon would think of them when at labour in the held, or when busy in the house. O, happy would it be for you, if an abiding sense of them would drive you to Christ, the strong bold as a prisoner of hope "B it if you should determine to banish all these thoughts, because they make you uneasy, and go on dream-ng of hap piness over the pit of dost ruction, be assured that your delusion will not last long. Soon death will come and take you out of this world; and oh, what sights will you then see! what, sounds iviil you then hear! what anguish will you then feel! You who could not hear to hear of hell how will you en dure tlie lire that shall never be quenched? (), iny brother, it seems to me that you arc fast preparing for that place of torment: only think, 27 yea;s, 324 months, 1.408 weeks, 0855 days, 130 520 hours, 8,191,200 min utes or 491,472,000 sec’s of your pre cious t me are gone,never to return: for time that is gone, is gone forever. How have you spent most of this precious time? The whole of it I might say has been spent in idleness and intem perance;-but this is very wrong, for time thus idled away is, precious time lost in vain; and time spent in intem perance. is a great deal worse, for it is said, “drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” If you only got drunk and did nothing more, it would not appear very bad; but when you are drunk you will do any tiling. If you have a thousand dollars, when you become drunk you will soon get rid of it; therefore 1 say get drunk and you will do any thing. If you want to kill a man, get drunk. If you want to light, get drunk. If you want to be poor, or if you want to be covered with rags, get drunk. If you want to fall out with your best friend, get drunk. Ifyou want to make all your friends and neighbors enemies, get drunk. Ifyou want to shorten your life, get drunk. 1 might mention ma ny other things; but oniy think of these, and you will be paid lor your trouble. Lastly, It you want to be suie to have your soul go to hell, get drunk, again apd again, and continue to become drunk, and it will go there. Men of this world are destroying their souls fast enough, but those who make a practice of excessive d; inking, are go ing before all others, and if they per sist in it they are ruined forever. It is no wonder that God has published such a threatening as he has. What would a drunkard do in heaven? The spirits of the just are there, and an innumerable company of angels, and God himself, a Being glorious in holi ness. Ifyou want to see God, Jesus Christ, and those holy beings in heav en, turn, turn now I say, before you go any further in your intemperate course; for the longer you delay it will be more difficult to turn Oh, then put it off no longer, for who knows that you will live another month longer, or even another day? The Lord only. Therefore he says “be hold, now is the accepted time; be hold, now is the day of salvation.” If you put it off, the Lord may say to you, as he did to one of old, “thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee.” Then., O my brother, in hell you will find your soul, as in a mo ment, when you die, and with the rich man there, lifting up your eyes, and in vain calling for one Irop of wa ter to cool your parched taigue.” Remember iny brother that in a very little time, death and judgment, and eternity, will overtakt you. O what haste is death makinj! There is no post so swift, there is to messen ger so sure, and when lie cones, then, of all thy unjust gains, for vliieh you have sold your soul and salvation, and of all your sinful pleasurei, nothing will remain but the heavy reckoning and a bitter remembrance. Yes, you must stand before the judgment seat of Christ. You must tiere give an account to him of your stewardship, of your time, your talents, anil privi leges, and why you employed tlem for your sinful pleasure and prolt, and not for his glory. And when Ik shall say, “did 1 send thee into thaworld oniy to get wealth, and to forat thy immortal soul? Did I appoii my sabbaths, to be profained byWcu, and give you my word, only to It ne glected? Did I give you my law and commandments, only to be trarpled upon? Did I not send my faithful min isters, to set before you the biasings which my grace provided for the thief of sinners? And still, notwilhstnd- iug all this, did you not harden \our heart, and go on in the way of jpur own evil thoughts?” When the i\v- ful Judge shall put these questionsto your soul, what answer will you be able to give? Will you not be speech less with confusion and self conviction? And will not your heart sink within you when you shall hear him prouounee the awful sentence, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre pared for the devil and bis angels.” | O, that you would listen to glad tid ings with a heart warmed with love to that God who has been pleased to manifest such a display of liis love to a lost world, as to ’‘give bis only be gotten son that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have ever lasting life.” Though your sins are many, there is yet hope. Jesus the blessed son of God has died, to save the ehiefest of sinners. Come then and buy salvation without money, and without price. O be entreated by your affectionate brother to tuin from your wickedness and live; yes, the Lord says unto you “turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die.” From your affectionate brother, From the Christian Watchman. THE CHRISTIAN IND .AN GIRL. It is delightful to trace the indenti- ty of the operations ofthe Spirit of oud, as well in the untutored as in the civilised and educated, in that change which he affects in regenera tion. The sameness to which i\e re fer, is not that which respects the means of operation, but that which relates to the effect produced. All the converted are brought to an un conditional submission to God, and to a full surrender of their hearts to his service. Whatever falls short of this, falls below that religion which the gospel requires, and will not stand in the final day. The Indian girl a part of lyhose gracious exercises we here present from the missionary Herald of the present month, was a member of the mission school at Mackinaw, and the account, in her own language, is given in a communication from Mr. Ferry, missionary at Mackinaw. After stating the manner in which she w r as first awakened to see her ru ined state as a sinner, by hearing the bible read and explained, and also how her convictions were from time to time and by different means, re vived and deepened, she proceeds to state the manner of her enlight ening and deliverance of follows:— “After a time, becoming more con scious of my state, and collected in mind, these were my feelings: 1 have tried every way, and all in vain. I cannot help mvself. Neither prayers nor anxiety todo any -joodjthcy lead mo to no relief. U is right, it is just in God to destroy me: 1 ought to perish. Ho may do v\bat he pleases. If he senus me to hell, let him doit, and if he shows me mercy, well; let him do just as he wishes with me. Here, es in a moment, I l^d such a kind of one, or ivliulc vii4v ol myself, and a willingness to kb i» God s hands, that I could lie nvlonger, and resolved to go in prayyf and throw myself for the last tiiae/t the feet of the Saviour, and solt^nly beg of him to do what he wc4*d with me. Just at this time Elba [an Indian pious woman in the family, w;ho, from the very filth of degradation, has become as we hope one of Christ s lambsj came and talk ed a good deal with me. She told me how easy it was to believe in the Saviour il 1 would; and after talking sometime said, “We will,pray togeth er.” Here 1 lost all my burden: 1 felt light; a feeling that I cannot de scribe. I had n© thought that I loved Chiist; but 1 was happy; was afraid to give indulgence to these feelings, for it would be dreadful, after all, it appeared to me, to go to hell with no feeling of distress about il! Rising f.om our knees, I was conscious of a smile on my countenance, which 1 designedly concealed w ith my hand kerchief, lest Eliza should observe it. Leaving the room, Miss 0. called me to her bed-room, to eat some supper prepared for me. I went, but could lot eat. JSliss 0. and Mis C. urged ne, and asked why I refused, to ivliich 1 made no direct answer. When they saw that I either could or would not eat, they proposed uniting in prayer, in which they each led in suc cession. Here I was filled with that happiness which I hope to enjoy in 'heaven. I do not know but my enjoy ment was as great as it was possible for my soul to have, arising from a view of the love, the nearness, and glory of the Saviour. I seemed to see it, to feel it all, in a fulness of joy beyond expression. At the close of prayer my mind ran on this hymn —“Alas, and did nay Saviour bleed!” and without expressing the wish I had to hear this hymn sung, Miss C. in a few moments commenced singing it. The whole hymn possessed my soul in mingled joy, and wonder, and love, espically the last verses, so that I was here as much lost to myself in the bliss of joy, as 1 had >been before in the anguish of despair. Perhaps, my countenance told my feelings; and Miss O. asked me if I could now love that Saviour. I answered, 1 hope I do. This was the first intimation I had dared to give of the peace of my soul. But my joy had swallowed up all fear, and I could not resist the an swer. Now I had such a love for all around, as well as for the Saviour, •that I could have folded them to my bosom. For tw’o days following, night and day, there was no abate ment of happiness I appeared to lie in a new world; every thing led me to God. Not an object did I see but seemed to say, “How glorious and lovely is the gieat God.” INDIANS. From the Connecticut Journal. THE CHEROKEE INDIANS. , A Milledgeville, Geo. paper, the Southron, of the 1 Otli ult. has an arti cle alluding to the bill w hich has been reported to the House of Represen tatives of Georgia, providing for the extension of the jurisdiction of the laws of the 6tate to the territory oc cupied by the Cherokees. “They are not citizens of the state,” says the editor; “they are not the owners of the land they occupy. They can not be subjected to the tax law, to the militia law, or to all the civil laws in force in Georgia.” After institu ting the inquiry, how and in what manner the Cherokees can be sub jected even to the poll-tax, by ex tending (o them the jurisdiction of the slate laws, the editor comes to the point, that these Indians a;e tenants at will; that the federal government can never induce them to relinguisii their present possessions, and that , ( .e immediate use of coercive measures alone can possibly prevent the total extinction ofthe Cherokees, who ne pressed on all sides by a constantly increasing white population. “Y.e have,” says this writer, * a latgo black population, who consider the In dians very little better than them selves in point of independence to tlie whites;” amj as the Indians associate with the blacks more freely than v.iih the whites* the ciisi out cut j.r.d envy of the former (the slaves) will be great ly increased. The summing op of the whole chapter on the Cherokees, is this: They must be driven from lhe soil for which they have an inlu r- ent attachment, and driven at the point of sword and bayonet; for they have no right nor title to their pn s- ent homes. r l Ins is a very siirnmaiy improvement. The plan is one that might easily be carried into execution by a few divisions of Georgia mili tia. The Cherokees perhaps have doubt’ less assimilated nearer to the manners and customs of their more favored neighbors than any tribes, who have come in contact w ith civilization.— The very circumstance of their refu sal to migrate hence, whiie the le* moval can be effected of tribes less enlightened, is altogether in their favor. If they have a claim to the lands they hold; if they prefer lam's which they have cultivated in some degree, to wild forest lands; ai.d if, in tine, they do not choose to remove, they will do well to retain their pos sessions, and make the most of them. But when the Indians of the south are coerced those of the noith must be coerced in like manner; and the same act which forces the Cherokees of Georgia from their present groom s, must drive Red Jacket and the In dians of New York, the Six Nations, beyond Lake-Pepin. Why do not die neighboring farmers and editors of New-York, press the unqualified an nihilation of their Indians? Is it 1 e* cause they have no slaves? Or is it because they have less courage, that they are less solicitous to diavv the sabre upon Red Jacket, than the t d- itor ol the Southron to coerce the In dians of his state? It is quite idle, at this time, to talk of coercion.— The plan of extending to the unfortu nate aborigines an opportunity tp do well, as far as they may be well dis posed, would seem to’be the part of wisdom, of mercy, and of justice. We have the remnant of an Indian tribe in an eastern section of our own state. They have the benefit offer- tile and beautiful lands upon tlie Thames. The JUohegans, for the most part, have but poorly improved the property and privileges, of which they have been left in the undisturb ed possession; but their annihilation has, at no time w itliin our recollection, been seriously proposed. It is true that the most benevolent amongst us cannot confidently hope to see the un- staid, the wandering-end beggerly sons of Uncas, gathered within the pale of regular society. To abandoned de pravity, there are, however, excep tions among them. Many of the In dians of the Six Nations are no bet ter than the wors*t of ours, but it is doubtful whether the exceptions are not there upon the other score. They have churches, where they assemb'e for Christian worship; and although philanthropic eyes may be oft,en pain ed at the sight of the vices of many of them, yet we have never heard it urged by the citizens of New-York, as a matter of philanthropy, to massa cre them, and thus divest the soil of an incumbrance, as palpable as li e forest, which first stood upon the slopes and valleys where the white spires of their churches now point, to heaven. The public has supposed that the lauds ofthe Cherokees, as well as their soil, were susceptible of a