| Title: | Israel Pemberton, Philadelphia, to the Delaware Indians |
|---|---|
| ID | 2117 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | Pemberton, Israel/8 |
| Year | 1773 |
| Sender | Pemberton, Israel |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | linen trader |
| Sender Religion | Quaker |
| Origin | Philadelphia, Penn., USA |
| Destination | USA |
| Recipient | Delaware Indians |
| Recipient Gender | unknown |
| Relationship | Mr. Pemberton invites the Indians to conver to the |
| Source | D 1044/918: From the Correspondence of the Greer family of Dungannon, County Tyrone, a Quaker Family. Deposited by the Late U. McG. Greer |
| Archive | The Public Record Office, N.Ireland |
| Doc. No. | 9909161 |
| Date | 08/07/1773 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 08:09:99. |
| Word Count | 1134 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | "8th July 1773 To Netanattnalentan and the rest of the Head Men of the Delaware Indians of Kekailammapaikung; and to John Papunehang and the rest of the Indian Brethren at Welhick Thuppeck, and all other Indians living beyond the Ohio, to whom these may come. Brethren Your Friends the People call'd [called?] Quakers in Pennsylvania & New Jersey often remember you with desires for your Welfare and Happiness and that the old Friendship which was made between your Fathers and Ours, may still be maintained, & may ever continue between your & our Children & Grandchildren from one Generation to another, then it will always be pleasing to us to hear from and to see one another. Brethren The several Messages receiv'd [received?] from you by our Brothers Kilbuck, & Joseph Pepys last year & the year before, made deep Impressions on the Minds of such as were present, when they were deliver'd [delivered?], & have often since excited our Thoughts of them. We in our Answers informed you, we were in hopes the Love of God, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ would engage & constrain some of the Ministers of the Gospels to visit you, and until such should be sent amongst you, we desired you to attend diligently to the Instruction of the Spirit of Christ within you, by which you may come to know your Duty to God and one unto another. Brethren We are all of us unable rightly to obtain this saving Knowledge by our own Wisdom & Strength, we should therefore humbly & diligently wait for the Spirit of Christ to enlighten our Minds, and to give us the right Understanding, by which we may see, that in a State of Nature we are weak & blind & miserable, and can never come to a State of true Happiness without a Saviour & if we receive this Understanding with thankful Hearts & sincerely Desire the Help of Christ our Saviour, He will by the renewed Working of his good Spirit instruct us more & more. Brethren The Ministers of Christ, who are really led by his Spirit and faithfully attend to his Instructions may be useful, & a great Help to others by informing them, what they have tasted & felt of his Love, and when they speak from the Constraints of that Love are often instrumental to raise the feeling Sense of it in those to whom they speak, but all they can do or should desire to do is to bring Men to Christ, that they may know & feel him for themselves, as he is graciously manifesting himself by his Spirit within them, for that which is to be known of God, is manifested within, & without this knowledge, no outward performance of any kind, will work out their Salvation and bring them from a State of Nature to a State of Grace, wherein they may witness Salvation thro' [through?] the Blood of Christ, wch. was shed for the Redemption of all Men. We fervently desire you may come truly to know & experience this, every one of you, in and for yourselves, for no man can do this work for his Brother nor for his nearest friends. Brethren We write this to you, by our beloved Friend Zebulon Heston, whose Mind being influenced with the Love of Christ and constrained thereby, engages him to go and visit you, being desirous tho' [though?] an old Man to see you before he dies, and to express something of the Goodness of God, which he hath known to preserve him from his Youth to this Day. He hath aproved [approved?] himself faithful Minister of Christ, both in Work & Doctrine & in Life and Conversation, and We hope you will receive him as our true Friend & Brother. As the Journey is long, he is accompanied by our Friend and Brother John Parish, whose Love to you is so great, that he is willing likewise to go and see you. We sincerely desire & pray that they may be instrumental to do you good, & that you may shew forth to them, that first Mark of the Disciples of Christ, which is true Love, one to another. Your desire of having some religious Instructors for your Children we very heartily approve, and as you have been before informed, whenever we can find any rightly qualified, & willing to undertake the service, we intend to assist & encourage them. The letter from John Papunehang & his Brethren at Welhick Thuppeck was lately sent to some of us by John [--ivein?], and it is very pleasing to us to hear of your Prosperity & Settlement there, the Increase of which we sincerely desire. In much brotherly Love we salute you & are your Friends & Brethren. Sign'd [Signed?] at a Meeting of Friends appointed to represent our Friends in Pennsylvania & New Jersey, held at Philadelphia this 8th Day of the 7th Month 1773. Israel Pemberton and many other Friends. Kekailammapaikung 28th: 7th Month 1773 After a meeting held for Divine Worship, Capt Whiteyes spoke as follows. The foregoing Epistle having been read & interpreted to them. "We are glad and rejoice in our Hearts, to see our Brothers the Quakers speaking before us, and what you have said, we believe to be right & we heartily join in with it. Since our Saviour came a Light into the World, there has been a great stir amongst the People about Religion, some are for one way & some are for another; we have had offers of Religion many times, but would not accept of it, till we see our Brothers the Quakers, and hear what they would say unto us, & now you have come & opened the Road, we have heard what you said, and we feel the Grace that was in your Hearts conveyed to us. We think that as we two Brothers, the Quakers and Delawares were brought up together, as the Children of one Man, it is our Saviour's Will, we should be of one Religion. Now you have come & open'd [opened?] the Road, we expect to see the Way from Town to Town, quite over to the great King (meaning the King of Great Britain etc) over the Water, then our King will know that the Quakers and Delaware are as one Man & make one Religion. We are poor & weak, and not able to judge for ourselves; and when we think of our poor Children it makes us sorry. We hope you will instruct us in the right way both in things of this Life, as well as the World to come. Now what we have said, we hope to be strengthen'd [strengthened?] to abide by." They then delivered the Bell. |
