A General Complaint Is,
That It Seems Impossible To Convert These People To Christianity,
As, At First Sight, It Does;
And as for those in New Spain, they have
the Prayer of that Church in Latin by Rote, and know
The external Behaviour at
Mass and Sermons; yet scarce any of them are steady and abide with constancy
in good Works, and the Duties of the Christian Church. We find that
the Fuentes and several other of the noted Indian Families about Mexico,
and in other parts of New Spain, had given several large Gifts
to the Altar, and outwardly seem'd fond of their new Religion;
yet those that were the greatest Zealots outwards, on a strict Enquiry,
were found guilty of Idolatry and Witchcraft; and this seems to proceed from
their Cohabiting, which, as I have noted before, gives Opportunities of Cabals
to recal their ancient pristine Infidelity and Superstitions. They never
argue against our Religion, but with all imaginable Indifference own,
that it is most proper for us that have been brought up in it.
In my opinion, it's better for Christians of a mean Fortune
to marry with the Civiliz'd Indians, than to suffer
the Hardships of four or five years Servitude, in which they meet
with Sickness and Seasonings amidst a Crowd of other Afflictions,
which the Tyranny of a bad Master lays upon such poor Souls, all which
those acquainted with our Tobacco Plantations are not Strangers to.
This seems to be a more reasonable Method of converting the Indians,
than to set up our Christian Banner in a Field of Blood, as the Spaniards
have done in New Spain, and baptize one hundred with the Sword
for one at the Font.
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