David McClure Preaches To The Indians

I have really enjoyed reading David McClure’s journal of his missionary journey to the trans-Appalachian Indians in the years immediately preceding the War for Independence.  It’s refreshing just to see his transparency about his personal feelings, but his descriptions of the scenes he viewed are especially helpful to those who are interested in history.  In this post, I wanted to look more into his efforts at evangelizing the native populations.

       The Muskingum is a beautiful country. The soil is rich and deep. The land gradually rises from the river & forms extensive meadows and plains. Some places are covered with luxuriant grass, & neither tree or bush growing upon them for some miles in length and breadth, & in a state of immediate preperation [sic] for the plow. I sometimes paused to enjoy the prospect, and was ready to anticipate the speedy approach of the time, when, there would be another race of people there, who would properly estimate the advantages which that country will give to its future inhabitants. When populous town & cultivated fields shall arise; and Schools and Colleges & Churches, erected for the advancement of Science and the honor of the Saviour be seen through that extensive & now howling wilderness.  ¹   

While this certainly isn’t politically correct today, it seems obvious that McClure didn’t ascribe to cultural relativism.  That is, he seems to be in agreement with the idea that it is not true that each and every culture is exactly equal and worthy of replication.  It is those cultures that are truly Christian, those that have most closely followed the teachings of Christ and His apostles, that have enjoyed the greatest amount of prosperity and personal liberty.  The native American cultures were and are no different than any and every other culture in the history of man… they are comprised of depraved sinners.  The fact that the native Americans exhibited greater levels of depravity relative to the cultures surrounding them has more to do with their ignorance of the life-changing Gospel message than it has to do with anything inherent in them.  It’s too bad that McClure uses the term “another race” in his vision of the future.  The Bible says all men are “of one blood” (Acts 17:26), and it is also clear the native populations that had embraced Christian civilization had “populous towns and cultivated fields.”  Just look at the Stockbridge, Moravian Indians and others!  McClure was probably influenced in his thinking by his recent treatment in the Indian villages where the drunken revellings of the inhabitants kept him in fear of his life, supposing that having lost any inhibitions the Indians would come after him.  He actually left the village to avoid any such confrontation.  

       We arrived at Kekalemehpehoong, a little before sun setting. The Indians had nearly exhausted the quantity of rum. I found the king sober. He had ordered the remainder of the rum to be carried out of town, to a house about 2 miles up the river. A number were fast bound in sleep. Those who were able to walk, went along the bank of the river, following the keg of rum, which was carried in front. They made a long file, staggering and singing as they went. I was glad to see them depart. Among these poor savages, the Devil seems to hold an uncontrouled power. They appear to be given over to all manner of vice. To venture back among them, before they had finished the rum, especially considering what had taken place in the morning, was somewhat hazardous, and I should have tarried at the village, had I not apprehended that the night there might be similar to that which I had already passed. Seeing the drunkards go out of town, on our entrance, I persuaded myself that we should find rest. ²

It’s easy to look back on the various Indian tribes and wag our fingers at their lack of civilization and sophistication.  We smugly act as if we are so morally superior, more intelligent, etc. but how many in our day are also under the power of the Devil?  How many in our day “appear to be given over to all manner of vice?”  That’s seems to be more of an indictment of our day than McClure’s.

       Accordingly the night following, the town was still, and I slept in peace. My companions were alarmed for my safety in the evening, for I had retired into the woods, partly to avoid being seen by the Indians, and for contemplation. It was to me a consoling consideration, that God rules in the moral as well as the natural world; and that he will permit the wrath of the heathen to rage no further than shall be for his glory, and the best good of those who humbly confide in his almighty & fatherly protection. Under the omnipotent protection of his providence, who moves the planetary worlds, and all the stars in their regular order, beauty & harmony, I felt a humble confidence, that in the way of my duty, and feeble attempts to spread the knowledge of Christ among the heathen, I was most safe; & to God endeavoured to commit myself. ³

What a precious truth to realize that we serve a sovereign God who works “all things after the counsel of His own will!” (Eph. 1:11)  It is interesting to watch McClure go from being somewhat fearful to be being a bold preacher.

       Thursday.  The Indians, about 50 met in the Council House, and I preached to them with freedom, on  Sin.  My subject was drawn from the first chapter of the epistle to the Romans, in which the Apostle gives a dreadful catalogue of the vices, to which the Gentiles were addicted. I dwelt particularly on the vices of drunkenness & fornication, which were shockingly common among those pagans. Some seemed affected with conscious guilt. One observed to my Interpreter, after Sermon, "that if all the things which I had mentioned were sins, he believed that all were sinners, and no one was free from sin." Another asked him, how the white man knew what he had done, and who told him? for said he, he mentioned all the bad things I have ever done, and he talked to none but me? Thus the Divine Spirit is pleased in some instances, to make application of the word even to a heathen, who only occasionally hears it. But this Indian shunned me; and his temporary conviction served to make him my enemy.

       They gave me liberty to preach again to them the next day. I preached to them to-day (Friday) on the depravity of our nature, and sins of the heart. The audience was small and attentive. At the close, I mentioned that I would preach again the next day, Saturday, Sept.  3. Having shown them, in preceding discourses the Apostacy and pollution of our nature by sin, and the condemnation of sin on all men, to-day I gave them an historical account of the coming of Jesus Christ into the world, his Obedience & satisfaction for sin, and the terms of pardon & life through him. ⁴

Can you imagine? McClure stands in front of the assembled Indians and what does he do?  Does he tell them “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!”?  No.  In fact, he preaches the Gospel to them!  He preaches from the very text that probably exposes their sins more than any other.  He gives them the whole truth, the Law and the Gospel.  He doesn’t affirm their culture; he doesn’t try to “fit in” with the Indians by dressing or acting like them; he doesn’t speak to them solely about moral reformation.  He presents to them the resurrected Christ Who is their only hope, and the only hope of every other man no matter what his skin color, or heritage, or ethnic background.  Modern missions and the church as a whole today would do well to learn from McClure’s example here.

Christ, not man, is King!

Dale

1)      Franklin B. Dexter, ed., Diary of David McClure (New York, NY: Knickerbocker Press, 1899), p. 77.

2)      Ibid., p. 78.

3)      Ibid., p. 78-9.

4)      Ibid., p. 79-80.