An American Writes About Non-Christians In The United States: “The Savages Roaming In The Howling Wilderness In Ignorance And The Darkness And Shadow Of Death, Unenlightened By The Radiant Beams Of The Gospel Of The Son Of God…What Gratitude Ought To Flow From The Heart Of Everyone Whose Birth And Education Is In A Land Of Christianity”

ALS. 3pg. 8” x 10”. Cummington, Massachusetts. May 14, 1820. An autograph letter signed “Galen Holbrook” to his future wife Ann Gould Torrey of Ontario County, New York. Holbrooke wrote about the ABCFM and the Native Americans who are not Christian: “…The last Sabbath we had a solicitation from an agent of the Board of Com. [American Board of Commissioner for Foreign Missions, the ABCFM] for the object of the mission as the several stations among the Indians. Many hearts were sensibly touched and opened to liberality by the feeling and impressive manner that surged the claims of the Heathen upon our civilized and Christianized country; and whose soil once was theirs. What a contrast in our circumstances: behold the savages roaming in the howling wilderness in ignorance and the darkness and shadow of death, unenlightened by the radiant beams of the gospel of the Son of God, strangers to the blessings of refined social circle and to almost all the comforts of life. Unhappy lot, denied the favor of Heaven, exiles to misery and wretchedness, persecuted & driven away by a Christian people, possessed of little more humanity than they. We are blessed with civil and religious privileges, with the means to acquire knowledge useful & entertaining, of ourselves, of the world and of the Creator, who has given a revelation of himself in the sacred scriptures and of his will concerning mankind. Can we contemplate the subject without raising a supplicating cry to him who has the destinies of all nations in his hand, to emancipate these unfortunate class of the human race from that region of moral darkness, ignorance & misery, whose distant vices are reaching in our ears to provide for their neglect. What gratitude ought to flow from the heart of everyone whose birth and education is in a land of Christianity instead of the savage wilderness, or among the Barbarians of Africa or Heathen idolaters of Asia. What strong obligations are we under to the Author of every good & perfect gift for our distinguished favors. Let that love of pity & benevolence which brought down the Saviour of the world & which was exercised toward men, ever actuate our hearts. Let us exercise those sympathetic feelings which proceed from principled virtue; that integrity, firmness, patience & forbearance which characterize the dignity of human nature. But alas! How debased is human nature, what depravity exists among mankind even in a Christian land. What insensibility and inconsideration to futurity & what dissipation and vice pervades our beloved Country. In view of the misery of the world, how will every feeling heart deplore the evil that procured them, and exert its benevolence for their relief. But the day is apparently dawning, if we may credit sacred writ when there will be a universal renovation of principles & morals among men, when millions with joy will hail the day of millennial glory. I can devote no more time nor room to this pathetic subject. You are doubtless now agreeably in school, in that useful responsible employment of teaching “the young idea how to shout.” I hope you pass the time pleasantly; I think you do especially in your leisure hours; when perusing books of a correct, refined, philosophical & moral taste. By inuring our meditation to books of this kind, will give a disrelish to novelty & romance, will regulate our judgment, correct our reason & control our imagination & give it a direct and proper tendency and store our minds with a font of wisdom and knowledge. However pleasant and agreeable are external accomplishments, they can bear no comparison with intellectual acquisitions. Your are well aware that many claim a dignity of character; who have no virtue, no merit & who make an ostentatious display of some gifts of nature and assume an haughty & arrogant deportment, who condemn, despise, and ridicule sobriety or anything of a religious nature; who give a loose to the calumniating tongue, who foster a spirit of envy and revenge & deviation and who will depress the character of a person of merit, in order to raise their own; but such when put in the balance with the virtuous, modest, candid and unassuming will then be found wanting…Galen Holbrook”. The letter is in fine condition. (Inventory #: 4194)