native philosophy held sway over his mind, either envy or desire to
imitate the splendid achievements of the white man. In his
own thought he rose superior to them! He scorned them, even as a
lofty spirit absorbed in its stern task rejects the soft beds, the
luxurious food, the pleasure-worshiping dalliance of a rich
neighbor. It was clear to him that virtue and happiness are
independent of these things, if not incompatible with them.

There was undoubtedly much in primitive Christianity to appeal
to this man, and Jesus' hard sayings to the rich and about the rich
would have been entirely comprehensible to him. Yet the religion
that is preached in our churches and practiced by our
congregations, with its element of display and
self-aggrandizement, its active proselytism, and its open contempt
of all religions but its own, was for a long time extremely
repellent. To his simple mind, the professionalism of the pulpit,
the paid exhorter, the moneyed church, was an unspiritual and
unedifying thing, and it was not until his spirit was broken and
his moral and physical constitution undermined by trade, conquest,
and strong drink, that Christian missionaries obtained any real
hold upon him. Strange as it may seem, it is true that the proud
pagan in his secret soul despised the good men who came to convert
and to enlighten him!

Nor were its publicity and its Phariseeism the only elements
in the alien religion that offended the red man. To him, it
appeared shocking and almost incredible that there were among this
people who claimed superiority many irreligious, who did not even
pretend to profess the national faith. Not only did they not
profess it, but they stooped so low as to insult their God with