y the Great
Spirit, he formed the first red man and woman, who were very large of
stature, and lived to an extreme old age; that he often held council
with his creatures, gave them laws and instructed them, but that the red
children became rebels against their Great Father, and he then withdrew
himself in sorrowful anger from among them, and left them to the
vexations of the Bad Spirit. But still this merciful Father, from afar
off, where he may be seen no more, showers down upon them all the
blessings they enjoy. The Indians are truly filial and sincere in their
devotions; they pray for what they need, and return hearty thanks for
such mercies as they have enjoyed.[251] They supplicate him to bestow
courage and skill upon them in the battle; the endurance which enables
them to mock the cruel tortures of their enemies is attributed to his
aid; their preparation for war is a long-continued religious ceremony;
their march is supposed to be under omnipotent guidance, and their
expeditions in the chase are held to be not unworthy of divine
superintendence. They reject all idea of chance on the fortune of war,
and believe firmly that every result is the decision of a Superior
Power.[252] Although this elevated conception of the One God[253] is
deeply impressed upon the Indian's mind, it is tainted with some of the
alloy which ever must characterize the uninspired faith. Those who have
inquired into the religious opinions of the uneducated and laborious
classes of men, even in the most enlightened and civilized communities,
find that their system of belief is derived from instruction, and not
from instinct or the results of their own examination: in savage life
it is vain to expect that men should reason accurately, from cause to
effect, and form a just idea of the Creator from the creation. The
Indian combines the idea of the Great Spirit with others of a less
perfect nature. The word used by him to indicate this Sovereign Being
does not convey the notion of an immaterial nature; it signifies with
him some one possessed of lofty and mysterious powers, and in this sense
may be applied to men and even to animals.

To the first inquirers into the religious faith of the native Americans,
the subject of their mythology presented very great difficulties and
complications; those Indians who attempted to explain it to Europeans
had themselves no distinct or fixed opinions. Each man put forward
peculiar notions, and was constantly ch