issionary into his hut, and
conversed long and earnestly with him. He had revolted in spirit from
the degradation of his countrymen, and had gone to live apart in the
woods, where he had worked out a system of natural religion for himself,
which he believed the Great Spirit had taught him, and which had at last
led him to return to his people and endeavour to restore them to that
purity which of course he believed to have once existed. He believed
there were good men somewhere, and he meant to wander till he found them;
meantime, he was kindly to all who came near him, and constantly uplifted
his testimony against their vices, especially when the love of strong
drink was brought among them. When all was in vain, he would go weeping
away into the woods, and hide himself there till the hateful fire-water
was all consumed and the madness over. Brainerd was greatly touched by
this red-skinned Epictetus, who, he said, had more honesty, sincerity,
and conscientiousness than he had ever met with in an Indian, and more of
the temper of true religion; and he expounded to him the Christian
doctrine with great carefulness and double earnestness. The self-taught
philosopher broke in now and then with "Now that I like,"--"So the Great
Spirit has taught me;" but when the missionary came to the regions where
faith surpasses the power of the intellect and the moral sense, the
Indian would not follow him, and rejected his teaching. It was curious
that he particularly denied the idea of a devil, declaring that there was
no such being, according to the ancient Indians. Now, the incantations
of the Powaws were generally supposed to be addressed to evil spirits,
and probably the perception of the falsehood of these pretended rites led
to his disclaiming the Christian doctrine.

Whether time and further teaching would have overpowered his belief in
his own inspiration does not appear, for Brainerd found the Indians too
vicious and hardened to pay the least heed either to him or to their own
reformer; and he went back to Crossweeksung, where his flock was still
increasing, and in a most satisfactory condition, renouncing their
heathen customs and their acquired vice of drunkenness, and practising
some amount of industry. A school was set up, old and young learnt
English, the children in three or four months could read the Bible in
English, and Brainerd's sermons and prayers were understood without an
interpreter.

This improved condi