Ohio History Journal
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CHARACTERISTICS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF DAVID ZEISBERGER. REV. WILLIAM N. SCHWARZE, M. A., Professor of Historical Theology, Moravian College
and Theological Seminary, Bethlehem, Pa. In the middle of the eighteenth century Nathaniel
Seidel and David Zeisberger were deputed by the Board
controlling |
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Moravian activity in America to re- port to Count Zinzendorf and his coadjutors, in Europe, the character which the mission among the Indians was assuming, as well as to explain its needs. The second of the two men was peculiarly fitted for the task. Though not yet thirty years of age, he had been seasoned in five years of missionary effort of unusual difficulty among the aborigines of America. The Count conceived so high a re- gard for him that with the imposition of hands he appointed him perpetual missionary to this people. The com- |
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mission thus laid upon him was faithfully executed by
Zeisberger in a missionary career perhaps not equalled,
certainly not sur- passed, in point of length of service by any
missionary of any Church among any people. In the eighty-seventh year
of his age he rounded out Sixty-two years of continuous and
unwearied labor in behalf of the "red man," the
narrative of which forms one of the most uplifting stories of early American
daring and enterprise. Characteristics and achievements of such
a career are of manifold interest. Imbued with a spirit at once unselfish and devout,
the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
naturally turned 182 |
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W. N. SCHWARZE. |
Characteristics and Achievements of
David Zeisberger. 183
with pious yearning to the savages who
roamed the American
forests. In Zeisberger, grown out of
such fine missionary soil,
this yearning quickly ripened into the
fixed purpose to devote
his life to Christian work among them.
Unselfish devotion
focussed his energies and abilities on
the effort. He began his
labors by applying himself to the study
of the Indian languages,
not only taking instruction from a
competent teacher but also
taking up his residence among the
Indians for months at a time.
Self-denial such as this involved he
practiced always. Self-
denial became wellnigh complete in him.
No selfish interest
was allowed to cross his purpose to
devote his life to the ser-
vice of the Lord among the heathen.
Through the channel of
this devotion he poured all the power of
a consecrated life into
what he conceived to be his mission. It
was a devotion clear in
its aim, as it was strong in its
purpose, because it was free from
fanaticism. 'He wearied under no labors,
however exacting,
and shrank from no hardships, however
severe. His burning
zeal for the religion which was his life
ever held his aims dis-
tinctly before him, though he might have
to face the fury of a
white mob or the opposition of Indian
conjurors, but it never
consumed itself in uncharitable feelings
for fellow Christians or
fellow laborers. His devotion was as
sane and kindly as it was
unselfish and intense. It was capable of
husbanding the re-
sources of his energy and applying them
freely and unhesitat-
ingly to every effort that commended
itself to his sound judg-
ment.
His work, directed by an intense and
wise devotion, ex-
tended over a wide field of operations.
Necessities proceeding
from conditions of the time determined
that Zeisberger's mis-
sionary life should be largely a
succession of missionary jour-
neys. In many respects the frequent
enforced wanderings were
a hindrance to his work. They foredoomed
the failure of cer-
tain hopes entertained in the
prosecution of missionary work
among any people.. No Christian Indian
state was established
to crown his own and other faithful
missionaries' labors. Yet
frequent removal of the mission from
place to place and the
journeys incident thereto served to
spread the knowledge of the
Gospel over vast stretches of territory
and among many tribes.
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184 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Comparing his work with that of other missionaries to the aborigines of our land, Zeisberger stands foremost in respect of extensive missionary effort. One of the "Master Missionaries," as he has been called, he traveled through Massachusetts, Con- necticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and entered Michigan and Canada, preaching to many nations in many tongues. He brought the Gospel to the Mohicans and Wampanoags, to the Nanticokes and Shawanese, to the Chippewas, Ottawas, and Wyandots, to the Unamis, Unalachtgos and Monseys of the Delaware race, to the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas of the "Six Nations," and those who heard often carried the message |
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of the truth into regions where the missionary never appeared. These journeys acquire additional significance when it is re- membered that they represent Zeisberger's resolute faithfulness to the remnant of his people, cruelly and heartlessly driven from one locality to another. Like a Moses he led his people always. The route of many wanderings, in quest of an asylum for them, is quite unique in missionary annals. The history of missions presents no instance of more intrepid persistence in seeking the welfare of a wronged community amid endless perils and dan- gers, reviled by men who should have known better but were incapable of appreciating the motives of Moravian missionaries. Scarcely a journey or undertaking of any kind did the devoted |
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Characteristics and Achievements of
David Zeisberger. 185
missionary enter upon that had not the
welfare of the Indians
as its object.
Constant inspiration for such continuous
endeavor despite
never ending, and sometimes
heart-rending, discouragements was
supplied by a pure and holy passion for
souls. Zeisberger was
not attracted to the Indians by any
romantic notions about the
character and traits of these men of the
woods. He learned
to know them if ever man did. In his
historical account* of
the Indians, their country, manners and
customs, he denounces
their cowardice, treachery,
licentiousness, indolence in all but
unmeasured terms, even as he does full
justice to their few re-
deeming qualities. His testimony is
clear and well-founded, is
couched in calm and deliberate language
and must be regarded
as conclusive evidence of the
degradation and moral deformity
of the savages. More than this, he shows
in a single significant
sentence how the pen of romance could
have been misguided to
invest them with a distinction they
could not rightfully claim.
"They love to be deemed honest and
good, even when detected
in the worst villainies." To
gratify their eagerness for praise
they became past masters in the art of
dissembling. Yet Zeis-
berger loved them. He spent his life in
the effort to do them
good. So great was his passion for their
souls that, as Paul
"unto the Jews became as a Jew, in
order that he might gain the
Jews," so Zeisberger became to the
Indians as an Indian that he
might gain the Indians. He learned to
move with ease and
grace in the Indian forms of courtesy.
He employed the man-
ner of speech in vogue among them for
greetings and in the
council. He observed the Indian ideas of
propriety. He could
smoke the peace-pipe comformably to the
rules of the ceremony.
In some respects he became like the
natives, particularly in tac-
iturnity and adaptation to their modes
of thought. All this did
his unquenchable passion for souls bring
about, in order that he
might bring to bear on Indian hearts
those Scripture truths that
* A voluminous manuscript, now in the
archives of the Church at
Bethlehem, written by Zeisberger in
1778, giving a full account of the
Indian nations with which he was
acquainted. A translation of this
manuscript is about to be published by
the Ohio State Historical and
Archaeological Society.
186
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
are facts of prime moment for every man,
savage and civilized
alike.
No less significant are the achievements
of a career so
admirably furnished for successful
effort. It follows very
naturally from what has been stated that
Zeisberger should
have attained to great influence among
the Indians. No man
of this country was more sincerely
honored, loved and trusted
by the Indians. Early in his career, at
the Iroquois capital, he
was adopted a sachem of the Six Nations
in the Clan of the
Turtle: On that occasion an Indian name
was given him,
Ganousseracheri. Subsequently, he was
formally naturalized
among the Monseys. Whenever he appeared
among these or
related tribes, he was received not as a
stranger but as one of
their own people. At one time he was
keeper of the Archives
of the Iroquois Confederacy, said to
have comprised "the most
valuable collection of treaties and
letters from colonial gover-
nors ever made by an Indian nation on
this continent." For a
number of years he swayed the Council of
the Delawares. Dur-
ing the War of Independence of the
American Colonies, he was
able to keep that powerful people
neutral, else had the Colonies
experienced far greater difficulty in
making good their declara-
tion of independence. The power which
the attainment of such
influence placed in his hands Zeisberger
used both to christianize
and civilize the Indians.
No man of his century did more for the
development of
the Delaware language and the Onondaga
Dialect of the Iro-
quois, the two most important languages
of the North Ameri-
can Indians. The former particularly,
the Lenape tongue, he
set himself to master, and proved his
competency as a Lenapist
by reducing it to a uniform orthography.
In both languages he
left important philological works for
later students. In the
Delaware tongue he gave to the people
hymns, liturgies, ser-
mons and portions of Scripture. His
literary works represent-
ing life-long labor were a precious
heritage to the Christian
Indians and are the best earthly
monument to Zeisberger's
memory.
The most illustrious features of his
work were the Christian
Indian communities he established. He
founded no less than
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Characteristics and Achievements of David Zeisberger. 187
thirteen. They were a source of wonder to all who saw them. They proved beyond shadow of doubt how much could be ac- complished by a practical application of Christianity to savage life. They were not aggregations of hunting lodges, they were agricultural colonies. The chase was not neglected but played a subordinate part. These settlements, moreover, were gov- erned by a published set of laws. They proved that under the matchless power of the Gospel even the Indian could be con- |
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strained to exchange his wild habits and unsettled ways for peaceable life and regular duty, to give up unrestrained and ar- bitrarily used liberty in order to submit to municipal enactments that secured the greatest good to the greatest number. Most of all did Zeisberger exert his great influence to move the Indian heavenward. His pure and strong religious char- acter was such as to constrain his charges to holy living, to the cultivation of similar traits and the engaging in similar service. Amid multitudinous activities he never forgot that it |
188
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
was his vocation to preach the Gospel to
the Indians and spread
the Kingdom of God. Perseveringly,
zealously, faithfully and
courageously he presented his message.
Nothing afforded him
greater joy than the real conversion of
those to whom he
preached. Gracious seasons of revival
blessed his ministry.
Large numbers were through his
instrumentality brought into
the Church of Christ. Among the hundred
and more men sent
by the Moravian Church to the Indians he
stands pre-eminent as
the soul-winner, even as he takes rank
above them in other re-
spects. He was happily successful in the
character of the native
helpers whom he raised up, and thus his
missionary work sus-
tains one of the severest tests applied
in estimating the real value
and advance of such effort. Of the many
excellent natives who
came forward to preach with boldness
Anthony may be named.
Zeisberger himself bears this testimony,
"Anthony was as eager
to bring souls to Christ as a hunter's
hound is eager to chase the
deer." Anthony succeeded in winning amongst others Glikki-
kan, equally renowned as warrior and
orator. Glikkikan in turn
became a most efficient coadjutor of the
mission. Only that
great day, when "every man's work
shall be made manifest,"
will reveal how many precious souls were
led out of darkness
into light through the ministry of
Zeisberger and the faithful
men trained by him to be spiritual
leaders of their brethren.
Even so brief an outline of the
characteristics and achieve-
ments of this remarkable missionary
career points again the
admonition that we ought never to let
the memory of a great
and good man perish. It is worth too
much to the living age
to be suffered to go with him into the
grave. The memory of
Zeisberger's completed activity has now
blessed us a full hun-
dred years. To the devout and
thoughtful, to the seriously-
minded and those really desirous of
serving their day and gen-
eration it yields both instruction and
inspiration. They, appre-
ciating the towering excellence of this
man, recognize that un-
selfish devotion, large and generous
aims, pure passion for man-
kind should be incorporated in the lives
of noble purpose and
will assure achievements that are
profitable "for the life that
now is" and that will receive their
true rating and fullest valua-
tion in "the life that is to
come."