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 UNITED STATES OF AMEBIC A. 
 
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^HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 THE CASCO CAPTIVE; 
 
 OR THi: ^rmiT^zi—- 
 
 CATHOLIC RELIGION IN CANADA^ 
 
 INFLUENCE ON THE INDIANS OF MAINE* 
 
 WRITTEN FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS SABBATH SCHOOL 
 SOCIETY, AND REVISED BY THE COM- 
 MITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 
 
 ^•^ B O S T O N : 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS SABBATH SCHOOL SOCiKtl% 
 Depository No. 13 Cornhilh 
 
 1837. 
 
f€*^ 
 
 C^' 
 
 
 Entered gtccording to ^ct of Congi-ess, in the year I83t, hf 
 
 CHRISTOPHER C. DEAN^ 
 •ri the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts, 
 
 J/X/ 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Mrs. Swanton's removal from Massa- 
 chusetts to Casco Bay in Maine, - 5 
 Conference of Bommaseen, an Indian 
 
 Chief, with a Minister of Boston, - 10 
 How Roman Catholics corrupt the Gos- 
 pel, - 12 
 
 Scenery in Casco, now Portland, - 16 
 Evil influence of Roman Catholics on 
 
 the Indians of Maine, - - 21 
 Mrs, Swanton taken captive by the In- 
 dians, ----- 25 
 Mrs. Swanton arrives at Quebec, - - 33 
 Roman Catholic arguments, - - 36 
 Fellowship with the Roman Catholic re- 
 ligion declined, - - - - 39 
 Sorrow for sin, - - - - - 41 
 Comfort in religion, - - - 43 
 Deliverance from captivity, - - 47 
 Maine flourishes by religion and peace, 48 
 Appendix. Roman Catholic principles 
 in Canada, - - - - 51 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 What is here presented to the reader, is taken chief- 
 ly from the Rev. Cotton Mather's " Magnalia, or Ec- 
 clesiastical History of New England." The object has 
 been to keep to historical truth. The dates and places 
 mentioned, testify that you have here fact, and not 
 fiction. 
 
HANNAH SWANTON. 
 
 RESIDENCE IN CASCO BAT. 
 
 Hannah Swanton removed, with her 
 husband and children, from Beverly in Mas- 
 sachusetts, to Casco Bay in Maine, when 
 there were only a few families settled along 
 the shores and near the mouths of the rivers, 
 and several miles in the interior. She left 
 religious privileges, and exposed herself and 
 family to many privations, and to the attacks 
 of savage Indians, that the family might ob^ 
 tain earthly gain. She afterwards thought it 
 folly and sin to forsake the worship of God 
 for mere worldly advantage. The result, in 
 her case, remarkably resembled that of Lot, 
 who lifted up his eyes and looked on the 
 
 well-watered and fertile plains of Sodom, 
 1* 
 
b HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 when he chose the place of his abode, and 
 did not sufficiently regard the spiritual dan- 
 gers to which he might expose himself The 
 soil of Sodom was indeed rich, but its people 
 were wicked ; and if the luxuriance of the 
 country produced him abundance, yet the 
 guilt of its inhabitants brought utter ruin on 
 them and him. We may look at the local 
 situation of Mrs. Swanton's residence, that 
 we may understand how she met with the 
 calamities following a fatal Indian assault. 
 
 The place of her habitation was that which 
 is now occupied by the busy population of 
 Portland. This is a peninsula extending into 
 Casco Bay, but protected from the violence 
 of the ocean by Cape Elizabeth, and by nu- 
 merous islands, which form a wall, unbroken, 
 in appearance, against the winds and the 
 waves of the great deep. Here, therefore, 
 was a favorable place for light Indian canoes 
 to float securely on the water, or for their 
 temporary wigwams to be erected on the 
 land. Only about six thousand Indians ob- 
 tained a miserable, scanty subsistence in all 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 
 
 the great forests, and along all the great 
 rivers of Maine. The gospel had not come 
 among them to teach them to labor, and to 
 lay aside the tomahawk and scalping knife, 
 the arrow and the gun, and love their neigh- 
 bor as themselves, and worship God and hear 
 his holy word on the sacred Sabbath. They 
 were therefore immoral and wretched, as the 
 heathen generally are. And this is to be 
 deplored, that they were the worse for the 
 influence of professed Christians over them. 
 The French and English, though neighbors 
 to each other, and bearing the Christian 
 name, were often engaged in the unnatural, 
 unchristian work, of doing each other all the 
 harm they could, even to the destruction of 
 life. From the French, therefore, in Can- 
 ada, the Indians came with powder and guns, 
 and with French priests and military officers 
 to lead them on to the dreadful work of mur- 
 dering and plundering and enslaving the Eng- 
 lish famihes along the shores of Maine. They 
 came down the rivers, as the Androscoggin 
 and the Kennebec ; both to subsist on the 
 
b HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 fish they caught in their waters, and to trans- 
 port themselves in then' birch canoes. As 
 these rivers meet together within a few nliles 
 of the north-eastern arm of Casco Bay, here 
 was a favorable place for their passage, and 
 then, after carrvino' terror and distress and 
 havoc to the settlements along in Maine, in 
 Casco, Saco, Wells and Berwick, they re- 
 tired by Salmon Falls river, and perhaps by 
 Connecticut river, or Lake Champlain, back 
 to Canada. Where, all this time, were the 
 ministers of Jesus ? Where Y>^as the peaceful 
 and benevolent spirit of His religion ? One 
 might think, as he looked at these melan- 
 choly scenes, that his followers were sent 
 out, not to sav^e men's lives, but to destroy 
 them. Had all the professed Christians, 
 who had access to the Indians, given them 
 the Bible, instead of the musket, and the 
 spelling-book instead of the murderous knife, 
 other scenes would have been witnessed ; 
 and this interesting race of men might now 
 have been happy cultivators of the soil, and 
 have presented a living, enlightened, Chris- 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 
 
 tian population, where now they are remem- 
 bered only as an extirpated people. Never 
 more may the intercourse of Christians prove 
 so fatal to any nation ! May we not involve 
 them in our quanels to their destruction ; 
 but go together in the spirit of brotherly love, 
 to present them the gospel — and to preserve, 
 instruct, reform, evangelize and bless them. 
 
 The early settlers of Maine were the vic- 
 tims not only of national ambition, but of 
 religious bigotry. Men are necessarily reli- 
 gious in some way, for their reason teaches 
 them that there must be some being or beings 
 superior to themselves ; and their conscience 
 convinces them of sin, and they have natu- 
 ral fears of evil. If therefore they have no 
 revelation of the true God, and of the right 
 way of escaping his displeasure by the only 
 sufficient sacrifice for sin, the offering of the 
 divine Redeemer, they will fear false gods, 
 and will depend on burdensome ceremonies, 
 empty forms, austerities, or cruel rites. If 
 men do not adopt the true religion, they will 
 adopt a corrupt or false religion ; and such a 
 
10 HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 religion will curse rather than bless a people, 
 and will make them intolerant, cruel and 
 vicious, instead of reforming them and making 
 them holy. 
 
 Such was the religion of the French of 
 Canada ; — it was the bigotry of the Church 
 of Rome. This people have been repre- 
 sented as naturally kind and hospitable. 
 Mrs. Swanton found them such ; and others 
 have borne the same testimony of them ; but 
 their religion did not encourage this disposi- 
 tion ; and this fact may appear in the follow- 
 ing narrative. The true character of Cath- 
 olic bigotry, and the danger experienced by 
 the first settlers of Maine from this spirit, 
 may be seen by what will now be related of 
 a conference between a minister of Boston 
 and a company of captive Indian warriors, 
 in 1696. 
 
 BOMMASEEN, AN INDIAN CHIEF. 
 
 BoMMASEEN was ouc of the Indian chiefs 
 or princes, and was taken, with some fel- 
 
'IHE CASCO CAPTIVE. 11 
 
 low warriors, in one of the settlements of 
 Maine. Being now, with some other Indians, 
 a prisoner in Boston, he desired a conference 
 with a minister of the city, which was grant- 
 ed him. Bommaseen, with the assent of the 
 other IndianSj then told the minister that he 
 wished for his instruction in the Christian re- 
 ligion ; as he feared that the French, in what 
 they taught about this reUgion, had deceiv- 
 ed them. The minister inquired of him, 
 what instructions of the French appeared most 
 suspicious. He replied, that the French 
 tauo-ht them, that the Lord Jesus Christ was 
 of the French nation ; that his mother, the 
 Virgin Mary, was a French lady ; that they 
 were the English who had murdered him ; 
 and that whereas he rose from the dead, and 
 ascended into heaven, all who would recom- 
 mend themselves to his favor, must avenge 
 him on the English as far as they could. He 
 asked the minister whether these things were 
 so, and prayed for instruction in the true 
 Christian religion. The minister, considering 
 that it was the disposition and manner of the 
 
12 HANNAH S WANTON, 
 
 Indians to use much similitude in their dis- 
 courses, looked about for some agreeable ob- 
 ject, by which he might with apt comparison, 
 convey the ideas of truth into the minds of the 
 savages ; and he thought none would be more 
 agreeable to them than a tankard of drink, 
 which happened then to be standing on the 
 table. He proceeded,! therefore, in the fol- 
 owing manner with them. 
 
 HOW ROMAN CATHOLICS CORRUPT 
 THE GOSPEL. 
 
 He told them, as with proper actions he 
 presented the signs to them, that our Lord 
 Jesus Christ had given us a good religion, 
 which might be compared to the good drink 
 in the cup upon the table 
 
 That if we take this good religion, (even 
 that good drink) into our hearts, it will do us 
 good, and preserve us from death. That 
 God's Book, the Bible, is the cup wherein 
 that good drink of religion is offered us. 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 13 
 
 That the French, having the cup of good 
 drink in their hands, had put poison into it, 
 and had then made the Indians drink that poi- 
 soned hquor ; by which they run mad, and be- 
 gan to kill the English, though they could not 
 but know that it must unavoidably end in their 
 own destruction at last. 
 
 That it was plain the English had put no 
 poison into the good drink ; for they set the 
 cup wide open, and invited all men to come 
 and see before they tasted, even the very In- 
 dians themselves ; for they had translated the 
 Bible into Indian. That they might infer from 
 this that the French had put poison into the 
 good drink, as they had kept the cup fast shut, 
 (the Bible in an unknown tongue, the Latin,) 
 and kept their hands upon the eyes of the In- 
 dians, when they put it to their mouths. 
 
 The Indians, expressing themselves to be 
 well satisfied with what the minister had thus 
 far said, prayed him to go on, and shew them 
 what was the good drink, and what was the 
 poison which the French had put into it. 
 
 He then stated to them distinctly the chief 
 2 
 
14 HANNAH SWAJSfTOlJfj 
 
 articles of the Christian religioiij with all the 
 simplicity and sincerity of a protestant ; ad- 
 ding upon each, This is the good drink in the 
 Lord's cup of life ; and they still professed 
 that they liked it all. 
 
 He further demonstrated to them, how the 
 Papists had, in their idolatrous popery, in some 
 way or other depraved every one of these ar- 
 ticles^ with base ingredients of their own in- 
 vention ; adding upon each, This is the poi- 
 son which the French have put into the cup. 
 At last he mentioned this article. 
 To obtain the pardon of your sins, you 
 must confess them to God, and pray to him 
 to pardon them for the sake of Jesus Christ, 
 who died for the sins of his people. God 
 loves Jesus Christ infinitely ; and if you place 
 your eye on Jesus Christ, and him only, when 
 you beg the pardon of your sins, God will par- 
 don them. You need confess your sins to 
 none but God, except when men have known 
 your sins, or have been hurt by them ; and 
 then those men should know that you confess 
 your sins ; but, after all, none but God can 
 pardon them. 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE, 15 
 
 He then added, The French have put poi- 
 son into this good drink. They tell you, that 
 you must confess your sins to a priest, and 
 submit to a penance enjoined by a priest ; and 
 this priest is to give you a pardon. There is 
 no need of all this ceremony to obtain par- 
 don. It is nothing but French poison, all of it. 
 
 The Indians appeared astonished to meet 
 with one who would put them in a way to ob- 
 tain the pardon of their sins without paying 
 their beaver skins for it ; and, in a rapture of 
 admiration, they fell on their knees, took the 
 minister's hand into theirs, and began to kiss 
 it with an extreme show of affection. 
 
 He shook them off, however, with dislike 
 of their posture ; and Bommaseen, with the 
 rest, stood up ; and lifted up his eyes and 
 hands to heaven, and declared that God should 
 be judge of his heart in what he said. He 
 then said, " Sir, I thank you for these things ; 
 I resolve to spit up all the French poison ; 
 you shall be my father ; I will be your son ; 
 I beseech you to continue to instruct me in 
 that religion which may bring me to the sal* 
 vation of my soul," 
 
16 HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 Of the result of this conference it is only- 
 added — Now God knows what heart this In- 
 dian had when he so expressed himself ; and 
 to him let us leave it. 
 
 SCENERY ABOUT PORTLAND. 
 
 The powerful influence of artful priests op- 
 erated, therefore, upon the savage spirits of 
 the Indians, to urge them on to assault, and 
 harass and destroy the young families of 
 Maine. Thus a cloud was gathering afar oflT, 
 that was to move on sullenly, and pour its ru- 
 inous storm upon the little settlement on the 
 Neck in Casco Bay. This Neck is a tract of 
 land between Fore River and Back Cove 
 which the buildings of Portland now cover. 
 It is a graceful sweep between two hills, nar- 
 rowing as it sinks, till the middle forms a neck, 
 and then widening as it rises again to the op- 
 posite hill. From the hill on the east at the 
 end of the peninsula, called Munjoy's hill, an 
 extensive, and now a beautiful prospect is pre- 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 17 
 
 sented. Immediately under your eye lies the 
 populous and spacious grave-yard ; and then 
 the houses, interspersed with churches and 
 other public buildings stretch along, till the eye 
 rests upon the agreeable and yet unoccupied 
 plain \\ hich forms the summit of the hill on 
 the other side of the city. Along the left, on 
 Fore River, is the shipping, which adds much 
 life and cheerfulness to the scenery. Beyond 
 the city. West and North, the land gently 
 rises like an amphitheatre spreading to the 
 view, through the distance of thirty miles ; 
 and then, beyond these hills, at about sixty 
 miles distance, rises the majestic White 
 Mountains, white almost through the year 
 with their lastino; snow^s, and thus suo-crestinG: 
 the name they bear. Over this prospect are 
 presented to the vision, villages adorned with 
 temples of the living God. At the east is 
 exhibited a delightfully mingled scenery of 
 land and water, furnished by the expanse of 
 Casco Bay and its many Islands, with the 
 rivers that rim, and the points that project in- 
 to it. On the south extends the great and 
 2# 
 
18 HAi^NAH SWANTON; 
 
 wide sea, spotted here and there with sails^ 
 that appear large or small according to their 
 distance ; and all suggest interesting thoughts 
 of the life and bustle and wealth which they 
 contain. Iri a spot where the prospect all 
 around is so wide, and the objects seen are so 
 various, so beautiful, or interesting in them-' 
 Selves, and so finely grouped, the religious 
 mind will adore in thought the power, skill 
 and beneficence of God. 
 
 How monstrous that, amidst the grandeur, 
 ihe beauty, the luxuriance, and the nameless 
 accommodations for man, which the earth pre^ 
 sents, through the goodness of the Creator^ 
 there should be hypocrisy, bigotry, encroach- 
 ment, fraud, ^doleiice and bloodshed* How 
 strong is the contrast between the glory of 
 God's works of creation, and the depravity of 
 the rational beings who dwell amidst these 
 works ! 
 
 Was this fair world made to be marred by 
 the various operations of war ; and by scenes 
 of cruelty, fraud and sensuality ? We might 
 think the earth would refuse to bear so much 
 
iTHfi CASCO CAPTIVE. 19 
 
 Wickedness, and that the sun would refuse to 
 look upon it. 
 
 There have been times when this ides, 
 has been realized ; when God has caused the 
 earth to open and swallow up daring offen- 
 ders, and when the heavens have poured down 
 destructive storms lipofi a wicked and ac- 
 cursed people; 
 
 Let the reader pause and reflect that man's 
 wickedness is suffered to rage for this reason^ 
 that^ as he is created with the powers of a 
 moral agent, he is left to act in this capacity ^^ 
 that he may form and exhibit his character, 
 and may, according to it^ be either cursed or 
 blessed. 
 
 The history, therefore, of every village, of 
 every family, and, indeed, of every individual^ 
 will be rich in instruction. It will exhibit man's 
 guilt and folly, and their fatal consequences 5 
 or it will display his fear of God — ^his wis- 
 dom, and the happy result of faith and obedi- 
 ence. 
 
 Munjoy's hill is now completely bare 5 with-^ 
 out tree or shrub, and with only short and 
 
20 HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 scanty grass cropped close by the cows that 
 in summer days pasture on it, and crowned on 
 its summit by the Observatory and a few 
 dwelhng houses, and occupied on its brow by 
 a decaying battery, and about its sides and 
 base by the habitations of a populous city. 
 But at the period to which this history re- 
 lates, it was covered with a forest ; and, if 
 you could look through its trees, upon the 
 wilderness below, you might near the shore 
 see the abodes of twenty-five families, some 
 of them garrisoned houses ; and at the left, 
 on a point, projecting into Fore River, and 
 terminating in a cliff,^ Fort Loyal, the place 
 of refuge and defence, to which families re- 
 tired when their garrisons could not resist a 
 powerful foe. Here lived the family of Mrs. 
 Swan ton. 
 
 * Where King street terminates, and where is 
 now the Steamboat Landing. 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 21 
 
 EVIL INFLUENCE OF ROMAN CATHO- 
 LIC PRIESTS ON THE INDIANS 
 OF MAINE. 
 
 Over the Indians of New England, the 
 French of Canada early acquired a powerful 
 influence ; and from Quebec they excited the 
 tenants of the woods to attack the young and 
 feeble settlements on the coast of Maine. 
 Thury, about 1690, was a Catholic missiona- 
 ry on the banks of the Penobscot ; and in his 
 zeal for his faith, he labored to persuade the 
 Indians that, by exterminating all the English 
 families in Maine, they would again become 
 sole masters of the land, and would do God 
 service. "My children," said this warrior 
 missionary to his flock, " God commands you 
 to shake the sleep from your eyes. The 
 hatchet must be cleaned of its rust, to avenge 
 him of his enemies and to secure to you your 
 rights. Night and day a continual prayer 
 shall ascend to him for your success ; an un- 
 
2/i HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 ceasing rosary shall be observed until you re- 
 turn covered with the glory of triumph." 
 
 Monsieur Denonville, a French ruler in 
 Canada, acknowledged to the Minister of 
 Marine in France, that he owed to the mis- 
 sionaries, and particularly to two priests, the 
 friendship of the Indians in Maine, and their 
 success in their expeditions against the En- 
 glish. 
 
 In 1688, the Indians, encouraged by prom- 
 ise of assistance from the French in. Canada, 
 began to assail the eastern plantations in Maine, 
 after some years of peace. The next year a 
 large body of Indians in 120 canoes attacked 
 Falmouth, now Portland. In the merciful 
 providence of God, Col. Benjamin Church, 
 with soldiers from Massachusetts, arrived the 
 very day before the attack was made, and 
 thus saved the whole population of the town 
 from the merciless savages. In 1690 the 
 place was assailed again, the enemies consist- 
 ing of French and Indians. The inhabitants 
 had no public military force for their defence, 
 and they fled to their garrisons, which were 
 
THfi CASCO CAPTlVlii. 23 
 
 dwelling houses, built in such a manner as to 
 allow of being defended against an enemy. 
 From the garrisons they retreated to the fort. 
 Here they defended themselves for several 
 days ; but at length, on the 20th of May, they 
 surrendered, on condition that they should be 
 safely conducted to the next Enghsh town^ 
 and that the Governor of the French should 
 hold up his hand and swear, by the great and 
 ever living God, that the condition should be 
 observed. 
 
 But when they had delivered themselves 
 up, the engagement was violated, and men, 
 women, and children were suffered to be made 
 captives in the hands of the heathen, and to 
 be cruelly murdered, especially the wounded 
 men. Such are the fatal fruits of the custom 
 of war ! Such is the offspring of the bigotry 
 of a corrupt church I Such are the conse- 
 quences of man's apostacy from God ! If in- 
 dividuals of Christian nations have suffered 
 from the violence and perfidy of pagans ; oth- 
 ers, disgracing the Christian name, have in- 
 flicted enormous wrongs upon uncivilized na- 
 
24 
 
 tions. Our ancestors are not guiltless. They 
 visited this country, with the sword in one 
 hand, while they held the Bible in the other, 
 and they looked upon the Indians too much 
 as savages, who were to be coerced or extir- 
 pated, rather than as rational beings who might 
 be Christianized. It is humbling to observe 
 how little has been done, from the time when 
 Maine was explored and settled, to this day, 
 to instruct the Indians in the knowledge of the 
 Gospel, by Protestant teachers. At this day, 
 missionaries labor with safety in all countries ; 
 and the opposition they encounter, is from 
 Papal rather than from pagan enemies. — 
 God has, however, wrenched the sword from 
 the hand of antichrist, and he can only rage 
 and threaten, not smite and destroy. But it 
 was not so in the early days of New England. 
 The Pope has the same disposition now as 
 then, but not the same power. The Roman 
 Church professes to be infallible, and must 
 therefore be immutable ; and what it was in 
 the days of its power, it is in disposition now 
 in the days of its weakness. Now, however, 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 25 
 
 we see the lion, not roaring and ravening in 
 the forest, but confined in a cage, and incapa- 
 ble of shewing his natural ferocity. 
 
 Among the persons who suffered by French, 
 Indian, and Roman Catholic hostility, when 
 Falmouth was assailed, was Hannah Swan ton. 
 She thus describes her captivity and deliver- 
 ance. 
 
 MRS. SWANTON TAKEN CAPTIVE BY 
 THE INDIANS. 
 
 I WAS taken by the Indians when Casco"^ 
 fort was taken, in May, 1690. My husband 
 was slain, and my four children were taken 
 with me. The eldest of my sons they killed 
 about two months after I was taken ; and the 
 rest were scattered from me. I was left a 
 widow, and as bereaved of my children ; for, 
 though they were alive, I could see them but 
 very seldom, and had not liberty to converse 
 
 * Falmouth, being in Casco Bay, was often call- 
 ed Casco. 
 
 3 
 
26 HANNAH SWANTONj 
 
 with them without danger either to my Hfe or 
 theirs ; for our mutual condolence and affec- 
 tion so displeased our Indian masters, to whose 
 share we fell, that they would threaten to kill 
 us, if we conversed much, or cried together. 
 Thus my condition was like what the Lord 
 threatened in Ez. xxiv. 22, 23. — "Ye shall 
 not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. 
 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and 
 your shoes upon your feet ; ye shall not mourn 
 nor weep ; but ye shall pine away for your 
 iniquities, and mourn one toward another." 
 We dared not mourn nor weep in the sight of 
 our enemies, lest we should lose our lives. 
 At first, while the enemy feasted on our En- 
 glish provisions, I might have had some with 
 them, but then I was so filled with sorrow and 
 tears, that I had httle appetite to eat ; and 
 when my appetite returned, our English food 
 was spent ; and the Indians themselves want- 
 ed, and we much more, and then I pined with 
 hunger. We had no corn nor bread ; but 
 sometimes ground nuts, acorns, purslain, hog- 
 weed, weeds, roots and sometimes dogs' flesh, 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 27 
 
 but not sufficient of these to satisfy hunger. 
 We had no success at hunting, except that 
 one bear was killed, of which I had part. 
 Another time I had a very small part of a tur- 
 tle ; and once an Indian gave me a piece of a 
 moose's liver, which was a sweet morsel to 
 me. We had fish also, when we could catch 
 it. Thus I continued with them, hurried up 
 and down the wilderness, from May 20th to 
 the middle of February, continually carrying a 
 great burden. I must go, too, at their pace, 
 or be immediately killed. At the same time 
 I suffered from cold through want of clothing, 
 being dressed by them in Indian apparel, with 
 a slight blanket, no stockings, and but one 
 pair of Indian shoes, and of their leather stock- 
 ings for the winter. My feet were sometimes 
 wounded by sharp stones and prickly bushes, 
 and at other times they were pinched by snow 
 and ice ; for upon this I traveled, ready to be 
 frozen, and to faint from want of food, so that 
 I often thought I could go no further, but 
 must lie down and let them kill me if they 
 would, Yet then, God so renewed my 
 
28 HANNAH SWANTONj 
 
 Strength, that I went on still further, as my 
 master required, and held out with them. 
 
 Though many Englishmen were taken, and 
 I was with them, at times, while about Casco 
 Bay and Kennebec River, yet at Norridge- 
 wock we were separated, and none of the 
 English were in our company, but a man 
 named John York, and myself. We were 
 both almost starved, and yet we were told that 
 if we could not travel on with them they would 
 kill us. And accordingly when Mr. York 
 grew weak from want of food, they killed him, 
 and threatened me with the same fate. Once 
 my Indian mistress and myself were left alone, 
 while the rest of the party went away to fish ; 
 and they left us no food from Sabbath morn- 
 ing to the next Saturday, except a piece of an 
 animal that could not be eaten. On Satur- 
 day I was sent by my mistress to that part of 
 the island where I should most probably see 
 some canoe, and there make a fire and smoke, 
 to invite some Indians, if I should spy any, to 
 come and relieve us. I discovered a canoe, 
 and by signs I invited them to the shore. 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 29 
 
 They proved to be Indian women, who un- 
 derstood our wants, and one of them gave me 
 a roasted eel, which seemed to me the most 
 palatable food I ever eat. Sometimes we 
 lived on whortleberries, and sometimes on a 
 kind of wild cherry which grew on bushes- 
 These I was once sent to gather in a season 
 so bitterly cold, that I was not able to grasp 
 them with my benumbed fingers. Amidst 
 these hardships God preserved me from sick- 
 ness, and from such weakness as would have 
 disabled me from travehng when required. 
 
 My Indian mistress had been brought up by 
 the English at Black Point, in Scarborough, near 
 to Falmouth, and was now married to a Canada 
 Indian, and had become a Papist ; she would 
 sometimes say, that, had the English been as 
 careful to instruct her in their religion as the 
 French were to instruct her in theirs, she might 
 have been of their religion ; and she would 
 say, that God delivered us into their hands to 
 punish us for our sins, and this I knew was 
 true as to myself. And as I desired to recol- 
 lect all the sins, for which the Lord punished 
 3* 
 
30 HANNAH SWANTON5 
 
 me, so this lay many a time very heavy upon 
 my spirit, that I had left the public worship 
 and ordinances of God, where I formerly livedo 
 at Beverly, and removed to Casco Bay, where 
 there was no church nor minister of the Gos- 
 pel. And this w^e did, for large accommoda- 
 tions in the world, thereby exposing our chil- 
 dren to be brought up ignorantly like Indians, 
 and exposing ourselves also to forget what we 
 had been taught. Thus we turned our back 
 upon God's ordinances, to get this world's 
 goods. But now God stripped me of these 
 things also ; and I could not but justify him in all 
 that befel me, and acknowledge that he had 
 punished me less than my iniquities deserved* 
 I was now bereaved of husband, children, 
 friends, neighbors, house, estate, bread, clothes j 
 and suitable lodging. My very life was daily 
 exposed, as I was in continual danger of being 
 killed by the Indians, or of pining to death 
 from famine, or of tiring to death by hard trav- 
 elling, or of perishing wdth cold in the winter 
 season. I was so amazed with many troubles, 
 and perplexed by anxious cares, how to pre- 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 
 
 31 
 
 serve myself from danger, and supply my ur- 
 gent wants, that I had not time nor leisure to 
 consider aright the great concerns of my soul ; 
 neither had I any Bible or good book to look 
 into, or Christian friend to consult, in these 
 distresses ; but I may say, the words of God, 
 which I had formerly heard or read, came often 
 into my mind, and kept me from perishing in 
 my afflictions. For example, when they 
 threatened many times to kill me^ I often 
 thought of the words of our Saviour to Pilate, 
 — '' Thou couldst have no power at all against 
 me, except it were given thee from above." 
 I knew they had no power to kill me but what 
 the Lord gave them, and I hoped he would 
 not suffer them to slay me, but dehver me out 
 of their hands, and in his time restore me to 
 my country again. When they told me that 
 my eldest son was killed by the Indians, I 
 thought of Jer. xxxiii. 8, — ^'I will cleanse 
 them from all their iniquity whereby they have 
 sinned against me, and I will pardon all their 
 iniquities." I hoped, though the enemy had 
 barbarously killed his body, yet that the Lord 
 
32 
 
 HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 had pardoned his sins, and that his soul was 
 safe. When I thought of my many troubles, 
 I remembered Job's complaint — "Thou num- 
 berest my steps, and watchest over my sin ; 
 my transgression is sealed up in a bag ; and 
 thou sewest up mine iniquity." This hum- 
 bled me, and made me pray to God for his 
 pardoning mercy in Christ ; and I thought of 
 David's complaint, and used it in my prayers, 
 " How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord ? for- 
 ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from 
 me ? How long shall I take counsel in my 
 soul, having sorrow in my heart daily ? how 
 long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?" 
 I sometimes bemoaned myself as Job. — "He 
 hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the 
 crown from my head. He hath destroyed me 
 on every side, and I am gone : and my hope 
 hath he removed like a tree." Yet sometimes 
 I was encouraged by those words in Job, — 
 "Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and 
 he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy 
 vows." I made my vows to the Lord that I ' 
 would give myself up to him, if he would ac- 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 33 
 
 cept me in Jesus Christ, and would pardon 
 my sins ; and I desired and endeavored to pay 
 my vows to the Lord. I prayed to him, — 
 ^' Remember not against me the sins of my 
 youth ;" and I besought him,— "Judge me, 
 O God, and plead my cause against an ungod- 
 ly nation ; deliver me from the deceitful and 
 unjust man. Why go I mourning because of 
 the oppression of the enemy.'' By many 
 other scriptures also, that were brought to my 
 remembrance, was I instructed, directed, and 
 comforted. 
 
 MRS. SWANTON ARRIVES AT Q,UEBEC, 
 
 Now I traveled over steep and hideous 
 mountains, and again over swamps and thick- 
 ets of fallen trees, lying one, two, or three feet 
 from the ground, stepping from one to anoth- 
 er, and thus passing near a thousand in a day, 
 and carrying a great burden on my back. Yet 
 I dreaded going to Canada, from fear that I 
 should be persuaded to adopt their religion ; 
 
34 HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 which I had vowed to God that I would not 
 do. But at length my sufferings became so 
 extreme, that I was willing to go to preserve 
 my life. After many wearisome journeys 
 through frost and snow, we came to Canada 
 about the middle of February, 1691 ; and, 
 traveling over the river, my master pitched 
 his wigwam in sight of some French houses ; 
 and then they sent me to those houses to beg 
 victuals for them. This I did, and found the 
 French very kind to me, giving me beef, and 
 pork, and bread, of which I had been destitute 
 for nine months, so that I experienced a hap- 
 py change in my diet. But so wounded were 
 my limbs by the roughness of my way, that 
 as I traveled, I might be tracked by my blood 
 in the snow. When 1 was about to go again 
 to beg of the French, I asked leave to stay all 
 night, to which my master consented, and sent 
 me eastward, to houses which w^ere towards 
 Quebec, though then I knew it not. Having 
 therefore begged provisions at a French house, 
 as it was near night, as I was myself refreshed, 
 ^nd had food to carry to the Indians, I signi« 
 
THE, CASCO CAPTIVE. 35 
 
 tied as well as I could to the French woman 
 that I desired to stay by her fire that night. 
 
 On this, she laid a good bed on the floor, 
 arid good coverings for me, and there I lodged 
 comfortably. The next morning before I left 
 the house to return to my Indian master, two 
 men came in, and one of them said to me iri 
 English — ^"^I am glad to see you, country wo- 
 man ! " It was exceedingly reviving to me 
 to hear the voice of an Englishman. The 
 other man was a French tavern keeper. Af- 
 ter some conversation, he asked me to go with 
 him to Quebec, which ^ he told me, was about 
 four miles off. I replied that my Indian mas- 
 ter might kill me on my return. After my 
 English friend had conversed in French with 
 his fellow traveler, he said to me that this 
 Frenchman engaged, that if I would go with 
 them, he would keep me from returning to the 
 Indians, and I should be ransomed, and my 
 French hostess persuaded me to comply with 
 their invitation. I went accordingly, and was 
 conveyed to the house of the Lord-Intendantj 
 Monsieur le Tenant, who was Chief Judge, 
 
36 HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 and second to the Governor, by whose lady I 
 was kindly entertained, and had French clothes 
 given me instead of my Indian dress, with 
 good food and lodging ; and then I was re- 
 moved to the hospital, where I received med- 
 ical attention and was very courteously provi- 
 ded for. After some time, when my Indian 
 master and mistress came for me, the lady-in 
 tendant paid my ransom, and I became her 
 servant. To the honor of the French, I must 
 say, they were exceedingly kind to me at firsts 
 even as much as I could expect from my own 
 countrymen, so that I wanted nothing for my 
 accommodation which they could supply. 
 
 IIOMAN CATHOLIC ARGUMENTS. 
 
 Thus 1 experienced a great and happy 
 change in my circumstances, being delivered 
 from my former hardships, and from my cruel 
 oppressors ; but now I met with stronger 
 temptations, and spiritual trouble, and danger 
 to my soul. For the lady, my mistress, the 
 
iiiins, the priests, the friars^ and others, assailed 
 me, with all their strength of argument^ from 
 Scripture^ as they interpreted it, to persuade 
 me to become a Papist. They urged me 
 with very much zeal, love, entreaties, and 
 promises, to turn to them ; and with many 
 threatenirigSj and sometimes with harsh usage, 
 because I did not adopt their religion. In- 
 deed, they sometimes threatened to send me 
 to France to be burned, because I would not 
 be a Papist. Then was I consoled by that 
 Scripture — ^^ We were pressed out of measure 
 above strength, insomuch that we despaired 
 even of hfe ; but we had the sentence of death 
 in ourselves that we should not trust in our- 
 selves." I knew God w^as able to deliver me^ 
 as he did Paul, and as he did the three chil* 
 dren out of the fiery furnace ; and I believed 
 hcAvould either dehver me from them, or fit 
 me for what he called me to sujfFer for his sake 
 and name. For their praying to angels they 
 brought the history of the angel who was sent 
 to the virgin Mary. I answered them from 
 Rev. xix. 10, and xxii. 9,—*'^ And I fell at 
 4 
 
38 HANNAH SWANTON^ 
 
 his feet to worship him. And he said unto 
 me^ See thou do it not : I am thy fellow ser- 
 vant, and of thy brethren that have the testi- 
 mony of Jesus : worship God." '' And when 
 I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship 
 before the feet of the angel which showed me 
 these things. Then saith he unto me. See 
 thou do it not : for I am thy fellow servant, 
 and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them 
 which keep the sayings of this book : worship 
 God." 
 
 For purgatory, they adduced Matt. v. 25, 
 — ''Agree with thine adversary quickly, 
 while thou art in the way with him ; lest at 
 any time the adversary deliver thee to the 
 judge, and the judge dehver thee to the offi- 
 cer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, I 
 say unto thee. Thou shalt by no means come 
 out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost 
 farthing." I replied that, to agree with our 
 adversary in the way, was, to agree with God 
 while here on earth ; and if we did not agree 
 with him, we should be cast into hell, and 
 should not come out till we had paid the ut- 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 39 
 
 termost farthing, which would never be paid. 
 But it is needless for me, a poor woman, to 
 inform the world what arguments I used, even 
 if I could now remember them, and many of 
 them have escaped from my memory. 
 
 FELLOWSHIP WITH THE II M I S F 
 RELIGION DECLINED. 
 
 I SHALL proceed to relate my trials on this 
 subject. I was compelled, either to maintain 
 the religion in which I was brought up, and 
 which in my conscience I believed to be true ; 
 or adopt another which I beheved was false. 
 1 was preserved from apostacy by that Scrip- 
 ture — ''Whosoever shall confess me before 
 men, him will I confess also before my Father 
 which is in heaven. But whosoever shall de- 
 ny me before men, him will I also deny before 
 my Father which is in heaven." I thought 
 that if I should deny the truth, and own their 
 religion, I should deny Christ. Yet at their 
 persuasion; I went to see, and attend their 
 
40 Hannah swanton^ 
 
 worship sometimes ; but never to receive their 
 sacrament. And once when I was at their 
 worship, this Scripture came to my mind — 
 '^ What communion hath hght with darkness ? 
 And what concord hath Christ with Behal ? 
 or what part hath he that beheveth with an 
 infidel ? And what agreement hath the temple 
 of God with idols ? Wherefore come out from 
 among them, and be ye separate, salth the 
 Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and 
 I will receive you ; and I will be a Father 
 unto you, and ye shall be my sons and my 
 daughters, saidi the Lord Almighty." This 
 Scripture so impressed my mind that I thought 
 I erred in being present at the idolatrous wor- 
 ship, and I resolved never more to attend it. 
 But when the time drew nigh, that I was to 
 go again, I was so restless that night, that 1 
 could not sleep ; for L was thinking what I 
 should say, w^hen urged again to attend, and 
 what I should do. In the morning, a French 
 woman of my acquaintance, said to me, that 
 if I would not be of their religion, I did but 
 mock at it, to go to their worship ; and she 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 41 
 
 told me that if I would not be of their religion, 
 I should go no more. Accordingly I went 
 no more, for they did not force me to it. 
 
 SORROW FOR SIN. 
 
 I HAD many conflicts in my mind, fearing 
 that I was not truly converted, and that I had 
 no saving interest in Christ. I could not be 
 of a false religion, to i)lease men; for it was 
 against my conscience , and I was not fit to 
 suffer for the true religion, and for Christ ; for 
 I then feared I had no interest in him. I was 
 neither fit to live, nor fit to die ; and once I 
 was brought to the very pit of despair, about 
 what would become of my soul. By this time 
 I had got an English Bible, and other good 
 books, by the help of juy fellow captives. I 
 looked over the Scriptures, and was arrested 
 by the prayer of Jonah, — ^'I said I am cast 
 out of thy sight, yet will I look again toward 
 thy holy temple.'' I rerolved I vvould do as 
 Jonah did ; and in meditation upon this Scrip 
 4# 
 
49 HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 ture, the Lord was pleased by his Spirit to 
 come into my soul, and to fill me with com- 
 fort so ravishing that I cannot describe it- 
 Then came to my mind the history of the 
 transfiguration of Christ, and of Peter's say- 
 ing — '^ Lord, it is good for us to be here." I 
 thought it was good for me to be here ; and I 
 was so filled with comfort and joy, that I even 
 wished I could be so always, and never sleep ; 
 or else die in that rapture of joy, and never 
 live to sin any more against the Lord. Now 
 I thought God was my God, and that my sins 
 were pardoned through Christ ; and now I 
 could suffer for Christ, yea, die for Christ, or 
 do any thing for him. My sins had been a 
 burden to me ; and I desired to see them all, 
 and repent of them with my whole heart, and 
 of that sin which had especially oppressed 
 me, namely, that I left the public worship 
 and ordinances of God, to go to live in a re- 
 mote pla:e, without the public ministry ; de- 
 priving ourselves and our children of so great 
 a benefit to our souls ; and all this for tvorld- 
 ly cdiantages. I found a heart to repent of 
 
THE CASco Captive. 43 
 
 them all ; and to lay hold of the blood of 
 Christ, to cleanse me from them alL 
 
 COMFORT IN RELIGION. 
 
 I found much comfort, while among the 
 French, in the opportunities I sometimes had 
 to read the Scriptures and other good bookS| 
 and to pray to God in secret. I enjoyed 
 greatly also the conferences about the things 
 of God, and the seasons of social prayer 
 which some of us captives held ; and I spe- 
 cially enjoyed myself with one that was in 
 the same house with me, Margaret Stilson. 
 Then was the word of God precious to us ; 
 and they that feared the Lord, spake one to 
 Another as we had opportunity. Colonel 
 Tyng and Mr. Alden, as they were permitted, 
 spake to us to confirm and strengthen us in 
 the ways of the Lord. At length the French 
 debarred our coming together for rehgious 
 conference or other duties ; and word was 
 sent us by Mr. Alden, that this was G^e kiiid 
 of persecution that we must suffer for Christ. 
 
44 HANNAH SWANTON^ 
 
 These are some of the Scriptures which have 
 been my support and comfort in the affliction 
 of my captivity among the papists. That in 
 Ezek. xvi. 6 — 8, I apphed to myself, and I 
 desired to enter into covenant with the Lord^ 
 and to be his ; and I prayed to the Lord, and 
 hoped he would return me to my country 
 again, that I might enter into covenant with 
 hin), among his people, and enjoy communion 
 with him in his churches and public ordi- 
 nances. These prayers the Lord has now 
 heard and graciously answered ; praised be 
 his name ! The Lord enable me to live 
 suitably to his mercy, and to those precious 
 public privileges which I now enjoy. That 
 passage in the eleventh chapter of Ezekiel 
 was a great comfort to me in my captivity ; 
 ^' Although I have cast them far off an ong 
 the heathen, yet will I be a little sanctuary to 
 them : — I will gather you from the people, 
 where you have been scattered." I found 
 God a little sanctuary to me there, and I hop- 
 ed he w ould tiing me into the country from 
 
THE casco captive* 45 
 
 whence I had been scattered. And the Lord 
 hath heard the prayer of the destitute and not 
 despised my prayer, but he has granted me 
 the desire of my soul, in bringing me to his 
 house, and to my relations again. I often 
 thought on the history of the man bom blind ; 
 of whom Christ, when his disciples asked, 
 " Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he 
 was born Wind ? " answered, " Neither hath this 
 man sinned, nor his parents: but that the 
 works of God should be made manifest in him." 
 So, though I had desired all this, yet I knew 
 not but that one reason of God's bringing all 
 these afflictions upon me, and then enabling 
 me to bear them, was, that the works of God 
 might be made manifest. In my great dis- 
 tress I was re\dved by that Scripture — "I shall 
 not die but Hve, and declare the works of the 
 Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore, 
 but he hath not given me over to death." I 
 had very often a secret persuasion, that I 
 should live to declare the works of the Lord. 
 TheSChron. vi. 36 — 39, was also a precious 
 Scripture to me in the day of evil. " If they 
 
46 HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 sin against thee, (for there is no man Avhich 
 sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, 
 and deUver them over before their enemies, 
 and they carry them away captives unto a 
 land far off or near; yet if they bethink 
 themselves in the land whither they are car- 
 ried captive, and turn and pray unto thee, in 
 the land of their captivity, saying, We have 
 sinned ; w e have done amiss, and have dealt 
 wickedly ; if they return to thee w^ith all their 
 heart and with all their soul in the land of 
 their captivity, whither they have carried them 
 captives, and pray tow^ard their land which 
 thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward 
 the city which thou hast chosen, and toward 
 the house w^hich I have built for thy name ; 
 then hear thou from the heavens, even from 
 thy dwelling place, their prayer and their 
 supplications, and maintain their cause, and 
 forgive thy people w^hich have sinned against 
 the^e." 
 
 Margaret and I have read over, and pray- 
 ed over this Scripture, and talked together of 
 it ; how the Lord had promised, though they 
 
THE CASCO CAPTIVE. 47 
 
 were scattered for their sins, yet they should 
 return, if they did bethink themselves, and 
 turn, and pray. Thus we did bethink our- 
 selves in the land where we were carried cap- 
 tive, we did return, did pray, and endeavored 
 to return to God with all our hearts. And as 
 they were to pray toward the temple, I took 
 it that I should pray toward Christ : and ac- 
 cordingly I did so, and hoped the Lord would 
 hear ; and he hath heard from heaven, his 
 dwelling place, my prayer and supplica- 
 tion, and maintained my cause, and not re- 
 jected me, but returned me. And oh ! how 
 affectionate was my reading of the 84th Psalm 
 in this condition. 
 
 DELIVERANCE FROM CAPTIVITY. 
 
 The means of my deUverance were letters 
 that passed between the governments of New 
 England and of Canada. Mr. Cary was sent 
 with a vessel to bring captives from Quebec, 
 and when he came, I, among others, and 
 
48 HANNAH SWANTON, 
 
 my youngest son, had our liberty to come 
 away; and by God's blessing, we arrived in 
 safety, in November, 1695, at Boston^ our de- 
 sired haven. 
 
 I desire therefore to praise the Lord for his 
 goodnessj and for his wonderful works to me. 
 What shall I render to the Lord for all his 
 benefits ! 
 
 MAINE FLOURIsHliS BY RELIGION 
 AND PE ACE* 
 
 For about ten years the country endured 
 the calamities of war, until in 1698, they 
 ceased, in Consequence of the treaty of peace 
 concluded at Ryswick in 1797, between the 
 English and French. Until 1699 Falmouth 
 continued a desolation, a haunt of the savage 
 man and of the savage beast. At length the 
 white man came again, the worshiper of God. 
 The Bible was brought ; the altar of God 
 was reared in the family ; the sanctuary was 
 erected ; the minister of the gospel was estab- 
 
*HE CASCO CAPTIVE. 49 
 
 Ushed ; and the worship of Jehovah was com- 
 menced. A Christian population grew up, 
 and spread over the forest, settled along the 
 rivers, and gathered about the shores ; and 
 here and there thev soon built a house for 
 God ; and in the peaceiul worship of him and 
 in the great pursuits of useful business, they 
 experienced his blessing. And here is afford- 
 ed an example, among thousands of other 
 similar examples, that the gospel is the most 
 effectual security for public prosperity.- Would 
 that every parent and every child in New 
 England saw, in the history of our country^ 
 how greatly we have been blessed by the Sab- 
 bath being kept holy, by pious and well ed- 
 ucated ministers being supported, by famihes 
 generally and regularly attending the public 
 worship of God, and by children being in- 
 structed in the catechism, and in the first 
 principles of learning by the Primer. These 
 habits are the foundation of our safety and 
 greatness ; and we do not owe our blessings 
 mainly to the ghttering sword and musket, the 
 heavy cannon, the solid battery, and the 
 5 
 
50 tiANNAIi SWANTOKi 
 
 long and deep and regular array of soldiery* 
 It is not the ball and the sword, which has 
 cleared our woods, and dispossessed the sav- 
 age ; for, when we fought, we were driven 
 back and perished ; and when peace returned 
 we multiplied ; and the axe, the hoe, and the 
 plough extended our bounds, and reached 
 through the forest. We tell our children in 
 Maine, that while the Roman Catholic reli-» 
 gion keeps the French of Canada from im- 
 provement and growth^ we^ with the Bible, 
 the preacher^ and the school master, shall 
 spread and spread over the wilderness, tillj 
 with a peaceful population, we crowd to the 
 St. Lawrence, and scatter over the hills and 
 valleys the cheerful school house and the sa- 
 cred place of public worship* 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLrIC PRINCIPLES IN 
 CANADA. 
 
 Canada was settled by the French, who 
 introduced their religion, being that of the 
 church of Rome. That part which they oc- 
 cupied is now called Lower Canada, and nine 
 tenths of its inhabitants are now (in 1837) Ro- 
 man Catholics. The church of Rome calls 
 herself the Holy Catholic Church. The 
 word Catholic means Universal, and there- 
 fore, as some other churches claim to be uni- 
 versal or catholic, this is called the Roman 
 Catholic Church, or, for the sake of brevity, 
 the Catholic Church. It may be said of ac- 
 cusations against the Catholic church, that 
 they are untrue ; and that she does not hold 
 
52 APPENDIX. 
 
 the doctrines charged upon her as errors. 
 The words of the church itself, however, can 
 be appealed to, as found in the Catechism of 
 the Diocese of Quebec by John de la Croix 
 de Saint Valier, bishop of that See, printed in 
 the French lano-uacre in Paris, France. The 
 Catechism, though published so long ago, ex- 
 presses the Catholic faith of this day ; for the 
 Catholic church professes to be infallible ; as 
 may be seen by the following extracts. 
 
 "Make an act of faith." 
 
 "My God, I beheve firmly all that the 
 Church believes ; for thou hast revealed it to 
 the Church.'^ 
 
 " Are we obliged to believe all that the 
 Church proposes to us ? '^ 
 
 " Yes, if any one hears not the Church we 
 must hold him for a heathen man and a pub- 
 lican." 
 
 " Cannot the Church err ? " 
 
 "By no means, because it is the pillar and 
 ground of the truth." 
 
 " What do you understand by the Church ? " 
 
 "I understand that it is the assembly of be* 
 
APPENDIX. 53 
 
 lieversj who, under the care of legitimate pas- 
 tors, make but one and the same body, of 
 which Jesus Christ is the head." 
 
 ^' What is the fourth reason of their being 
 but one body ?" 
 
 ^'It is that they have but one invisible head 
 which is Jesus Christ, and one visible head, 
 which is the Pope, the vicar of Jesus Christ 
 upon earth, and the successor of St. Peter." 
 
 Whatever, therefore, have been the princi- 
 ples of the Catholic Church in any past age, 
 they are the same now ; and the Catechism 
 of the Diocese of Quebec must teach, in 1837, 
 what the Catechism of the Diocese taught in 
 1700. 
 
 Of this catechism, the Bishop says in the 
 preface, to the curates, missionaries, and be- 
 lievers of the Diocese, ^^ We command you 
 to confine yourselves exclusively to this cate- 
 chism, and we forbid you to make use in pub- 
 lic, of any other." Throughout Canada, 
 therefore, this catechism was the book from 
 which the young were instructed in the Cath- 
 olic religion. The copy in the possession of 
 5^ 
 
S4 APPENDIX.' 
 
 the author ?ippears to have been thorcii^lily 
 Used, particularly that part containing the lit- 
 tle catechism for children. 
 
 The youth, who are encouraged to read 
 and study the Bible for themselves in their 
 own lariguagej may see what the children of 
 Canada were taught to belie ve^ and what is 
 the Catholic faith d/er the world. 
 
 You are taught that the whole body of 
 men throughout the world, professing the faith 
 of the gospel, and obedience to God by Christ 
 according to itj not destroying their profession 
 by fundamental errors^ or unholiness, they and 
 their children with them are, and may be call- 
 ed the visible Catholic church of Christ. 
 
 But the children of Canada were taught 
 that " the church is the congregation of be-^ 
 lieving Christians, who make profession of the 
 doctrine of Jesus Christ in submission to their 
 holy father the Pope," and thus they were 
 m da to believe that none were of the church 
 of Christ but Roman Catholics, 
 
 You are taught that baptism is a sacrament) 
 wherein the washing with water in the name 
 
APPENDIX* 
 
 S3 
 
 bf the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our ingraft- 
 ing into Christ, and partaking of the benefits 
 bf the covenant of s^race, and our eno:ao:ement 
 to be the Lord's ; and, that grace and salva- 
 tion are not so inseparably annexed to this 
 ordinance as that no person can be regenera* 
 ted or saved without it ; or that all that are 
 baptized are undoubtedly regenerated. 
 
 You are taught, therefore, by baptism; 
 that you must have an inward, spiritual, holy 
 change, or you cannot be saved ; and that 
 you must seek this change. 
 
 But Roman Catholic children are^ taught 
 that " baptism is a sacrament which effaces 
 original sin, and makes us children of God^ 
 and of the church," and that ^^ without it no 
 one can be saved." 
 
 Such instruction would bewilder youir 
 minds, prevent you from seeking tru3 holi- 
 ness, and make you secure in your sins, 
 however immoral you might be. But your 
 parents and teachers, who protest against the 
 errors of the Roman Catholic Church, main* 
 
56 APPENDIX. 
 
 tain that it is not enough that you be bap- 
 tized ; but also that your heart must be re- 
 newed by the Holy Spirit, and your thoughts, 
 afiections and life made holy. 
 
 You are taught that the Lord's supper is 
 a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiv- 
 ing bread and wine, according to Christ's 
 appointment, his death is shew^ed forth, and 
 the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal 
 and carnal manner, but by faith, made par- 
 takers of his body and blood, with all his 
 benefits, to their spiritual nourishment and 
 growth in grace, and that it is required of 
 them that would worthily partake of the 
 Lord's supper, that they examine themselves, 
 of their knowledge to discern the Lord's 
 body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their 
 repentance, love and new obedience ; lest, 
 coming unworthily, they eat and drink judg- 
 ment to themselves. 
 
 But Roman Catholic children are taught 
 thus : — 
 
 '' What is the sacrament of the Eucha- 
 rist?^^ 
 
APPENDIX. 57 
 
 *^ It is a sacrament, which contains really 
 and truly the body, the blood, the soul and 
 divinity of our Saviour Jesus Christ, contain- 
 ed under the form or appearance of bread 
 and wine." 
 
 ^^ What then does one receive when he 
 
 communes 
 
 > " 
 
 " He receives the body, the blood, the soul 
 and divinity of our Lord, under the fonn or 
 appearance of bread or wine." 
 
 " What is it which you call the form or ap- 
 pearance of bread ? " 
 
 ^^ It is that which appears to our senses as 
 whiteness, bulk, figure and taste." 
 
 ^' Under these forms or appearances of 
 bread, is not the substance of bread also 
 there?" 
 
 ^^ No, it is changed into the body of our 
 Lord by the sacramental words." 
 
 ^^ Is our Lord then in all the hosts which 
 the priest consecrates ? " 
 
 ^' Yes, he is whole and entire in every 
 host." * 
 
 * Host from the Latin, hostiaj a sacrifice. 
 
58 APPENDIX. 
 
 *' When the priest breaks the host, does he 
 break the body of our Lord ? " 
 
 '^ No ; for they are only the forms or ap- 
 pearances of bread which are broken." 
 
 '' Does the body of our Lord remain whole 
 and entire under every part of the forms, 
 when they are broken ? " 
 
 ^' Yes, it is certain that, under every part 
 of the forms, he remains as entire as in the 
 whole host." 
 
 ^^ What is there in the cup which we adore 
 in the holy mass ? " 
 
 ^' It is the precious blood of our Savior, 
 and the same that was shed for us upon the 
 wood of the cross." 
 
 ^^ Is there any blood in the cup ? " 
 
 '' Pardon me. Jesus Christ is there whole 
 and entire, as well as under the forms and 
 appearances of bread." 
 
 They who are permitted and encouraged 
 to read the Bible, and to cultivate their minds 
 that they may think for themselves on reli- 
 gious subjects, may bless God, that they are 
 not, like many, compelled to believe what 
 
APPENDIX. 59 
 
 Iheir senses altogether contradict, and what 
 appears false to sound reason. You can see 
 that the bread, in the Lord's supper, remains 
 bread, that it looks like bread, feels to the 
 touch like bread, smells and tastes like bread ; 
 and yet the children of Roman Catholics are 
 made to believe that it is not bread ; and 
 they must believe further that it is the body 
 and blood, the soul and divinity of Jesus 
 Christ, contrary to their reason and the testi- 
 mony of their senses. Thus they are pre- 
 pared to believe whatever their church, their 
 priests, and their rehgious books may teach, 
 however unreasonable and opposite to all 
 their perceptions. They are prepared, also^ 
 to distrust in general their own senses, and 
 their own reasons, and to receive any absur- 
 dities, which cunning and wicked men may 
 wish to impose upon them* 
 
 You are taught that Christians are persons 
 who are convinced of their sin and misery, 
 whose minds are enlightened in the knowl- 
 edge of Christ, whose wills are renewed, and 
 who are persuaded and enabled to embrace 
 
60 APPENDIX, 
 
 Jesus Christ, freely offered to them in the 
 gospel ; but Roman Catholic children are 
 taught differently, as may be seen by the fol- 
 lowing questions and answers : — 
 
 " What is the mark of a Christian ?'^ 
 
 "It is the sign of the cross." 
 
 " How do you make it ? " 
 
 " I make it by putting my right hand to 
 my forehead, then to my breast, next to my 
 left shoulder, and lastly to my right shoul- 
 der." 
 
 All religion, which consists in outward 
 forms, rather than in true holiness, spiritual 
 worship and sound morality, is deceptive, cor- 
 rupting, Babylonish, and anti-christian, what- 
 ever name this religion may have, whether 
 Roman Catholic, or some other name. — 
 Many churches, which do not submit to the 
 Bishop of Rome, and many even which call 
 themselves Protestant, have the spirit of the 
 Catholic Church ; and they will partake of 
 the curse pronounced in Revelation on the 
 
APPENDIX. 61 
 
 beast, which makes war with the Lamb, and 
 with the saints. 
 
 Our youth may therefore thank God for 
 his mercy, that, by his grace they have learn- 
 ed to read the Bible for themselves, that 
 their minds have been educated ; that they 
 have been taught to think for themselves, to 
 believe in the testimony of their own senses, 
 and to rely upon the conclusions of their own 
 reason ; and that they have had secured to 
 them the liberty of choosing their own reli- 
 gious opinions and worship, while they do not 
 disturb others' liberty and rights. By being 
 so educated as to worship God spiritually and 
 truly, and to avoid marking ourselves by the 
 practice of any empty forms and superstitious 
 observances, we may escape from such judg- 
 ments, as an angel is represented in Revela- 
 tion, as uttering with a loud voice, " If any 
 man worship the beast and his image, and 
 receive the mark in his forehead, or in his 
 hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the 
 wrath of God, which is poured out without 
 6 
 
62 APPENDIX. 
 
 mixture into the cup of his indignation ; and 
 he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone 
 in the presence of the holy angelsj and in the 
 presence of the Lamb ; and the smoke of 
 thfeijT torment ascendeth up forever and ever ; 
 and they have no rest day nor night, who 
 worship the beast and his image, and who- 
 soever receiveth the mark of his name." 
 
 The principles described as those of the 
 Catholic Church iii Canada, in 1700, will 
 show why the French of that country, 
 though amiable in disposition, and kind in 
 deed, should have no charity for the religion 
 of Mrs. S wanton ; and should urge .her, even 
 beyond reason, to adopt their worship. It 
 may be seen too, what cause she had for 
 anxiety and distress, lest she should be in- 
 duced to embrace it. It may also be per- 
 ceived that the Christians of Maine, as the 
 population of the State shall extend to the 
 borders of Canada, will be near a great body 
 of Catholics, and will have occasion to guard 
 against an imposing religion, especially by 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 63 
 
 teaching the young divine truth in a sound 
 catechism, but above all, by the Bible itself; 
 and that they will be sacredly called, by 
 their love to Christ, and to their fellow men^ 
 to pray for, and to enlighten a people, whoj 
 though uneducated and superstitious, are in^ 
 dustrious, quiet and hospitable. 
 
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