Sermon before the Soc. for the Prop. of the Gospel, 1731, p. 19. Cotton Mather's ſpeculations on their origin illuſtrate the temper of the times.
"We know not When or How theſe Indians firſt became Inhabitants of this mighty Continent, yet we may gueſs that probably the Devil decoy'd theſe miſerable Salvages hither, in hopes that the Goſpel of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt would never come here to deftroy or diſturb his Absolute Empire over them." Magnalia, Book iii., Part iii.
The inſtructions from the Commiſſioners of the United Colonies to Major Gibbons, on being ſent againft the Narraganſetts in 1645, further illuſtrates this ſpirit.
He was directed to have "due regard to the honour of God, who is both our ſword and ſhield, and to the diſtance which is to be obſerved betwixt Christians and Barbarians, as well in warres as in other negociations." Of this Hutchinſon says: "It was indeed ſtrange that men, who profeſſed to believe that God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, ſhould upon every occaſion take care to preſerve this diſtinction. Perhaps nothing more effectually defeated the endeavors for Chriſtianizing the Indians. It ſeems to have done more: to have ſunk their ſpirits, led them to intemperance, and extirpated the whole race." Hutchinſon's Collection of Papers, 151.
In 1646, the Commiſſioners of the United Colonies made a very remarkable order, practically authorizing, upon complaint of treſpaſs by the Indians, the ſeizure of “any of that plantation of Indians that ſhall
