The History of the Devil by Paul Carus

Author:Paul Carus
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780486122892
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2012-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

A SUCCESSFUL RAIN-MAKER SLAYING His RIVALS. (See pp. 268—269.) (Elijah and Baal priests. After Schnorr von Carolsfeld.)

TENSKWATAWA, THE SHAWANO PROPHET IN 1808.136

We look with contempt upon the Indian prophet who poses as a rain-maker, but read the story of Elijah with great edification, and while we justify the holy zeal of the latter, we would make no allowance for the severity of Indian reformers who fail to spare the lives of their rivals. One instance will suffice : Tenskwatawa, the Shawano prophet, preached in the beginning of the nineteenth century a nobler religion and a purer morality to the tribes of the prairie, and was revered by his followers as an incarnation of Manabozho (i. e., first doer). Drunkenness, the besetting sin of the Indians since their acquaintance with the whites, and the traditional superstition practised by the medicine-men ceased. But reform was coupled with persecution. Tenskwatawa “ inaugurated a crusade against all who were suspected of dealing in witchcraft or magic arts,” and he took advantage of the faith of his followers “to effectually rid himself of all who opposed his sacred claims.” All his rivals were successively marked by the prophet, and doomed to be burned alive.137

All these facts are so many instances which prove the truth of the proverb, that if two do the same thing it will not be regarded as the same thing: and thus the miracle of our own religion is mere magic and witchcraft in other religions.

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