Sermon On Moses Paul Sparknotes

The Identity of Native Americans over the Religious Imperialism
There are always different stories acquainted about the various challenges incurred before settling peacefully, on subjects concerning the existence of a given group of people especially indigenous American. Samson Occom wrote the primary text Sermon on Moses Paul (1772) which addresses the sermon preached about the life of a young Indian man called Moses Paul who faced execution in the year 1772 after allegedly being drunk and killing Moses Cock. The second primary text by Mary Rowlandson is Sovereignty and Goodness of God (1682). It is a religious narration based on Christianity by the writer on her encounter with Native Americans after they attacked Lancaster and took her along

with her family and other people into captivity. These two primary texts address the fact that Christianity and British Imperialism were the leading causes of interfering with the identity of the Native Americans in the Colonial Period prior to 1750. Both aspects of the texts came as a result of bias and intimidation brought by the social and political issues that existed during the era. The Native Americans embraced Christianity in the early years while still under the British Empire, yet they still faced oppression and discrimination that led to the Natives being rebellious against the British Empire.
The identity of Native Americans can be described in connection with Christianity consider their stand on religious matters. In the text Sermon on Moses Paul, the writer, Samson Occom explains how grave sins can be and the fact that they can produce severe consequences as the singular mode of address. During his sermon, there is the mention of the matter regarding crime was a direct reference to alcoholism that Moses Paul had indulged himself. The consequences thereof, being a death penalty (Occom 657). Mary Rowlandson converse this mode of address in her text The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, which she does not seem to explicates the consequences that may be brought about as a result of commitment of sin. She asserts that the claim of Indians attempts to murder the pregnant woman and her unborn child was wrong but does not explicitly say whether there were consequences. Uniquely, both books coil the naïve concepts of society into the modern practicability. The two authors Occom and Rowlandson consequently seek to explore the importance of having a peculiar way of life and living.
In the light of Christianity, Mary Rowlandson states that the Native Americans were adversaries of Christianity. She links the reason why she thinks that the Native Americans were enemies of Christianity to how they handled her, as well as her daughter when they were in captivity. When she stayed with the Indians, and they had to move to the wilderness, they fall off the horse carrying them, and the Native Americans laugh at them. This reason is a different point of view from that of Samson Occom’s mode of address over Indigenous Americans. In addition, he portrays the Native Americans as caring people who love and treat people equally in his book. The picture he paints of the Native Americans being caring people is evident from the words he quotes from the Bible about having the same body. Samson here was showing the love that was shared by the Indian people and not the love that they showed to outsiders or people who did not belong to their community (Occom 17).
The Native Americans had become closely associated with Christianity which is the main reason why Moses Paul requested to preach during his execution (Occom 12). One can prove their association by the fact that the author of the Sermon on Moses Paul, Samson Occom, shares the gospel about the Christian God using the Bible. The God who if he is received by anyone who has committed any sin, will be accepted and forgiven hence get a chance of entering heaven. On the other hand, in her book, The Sovereignty Goodness of God, Mary Rowlandson implies that the Native Americans do not exercise anything that tries to identify them as people who believe in God. She holds the thought of Native Americans not being real believers of God. Her assumption is based on the incident when the Indians burnt and killed a woman with her child. In Mary Rowlandson’s perspective, the act of burning a person who is alive did not observe to be godly.
Apart from the differences mentioned earlier, there are also similarities cited by the two authors concerning Christianity among the Native Americans in the both texts. Samson Occom talks of the goodness of Jesus who came to the world to pay the price for the sinners such as Moses Paul who had sinned. The goodness of God depicted here was to teach the people the importance of being concerned with other people's problems and helping them. The same is also evident in Mary Rowlandson's book where she talks of an instance where the Native Americans were kind enough to offer her help when she cries before them. The Native Americans started practicing Christianity which is shown by their act towards Mrs. Rowlandson. They offered her food and gave her the assurance of being safe with them, which is a Christian virtue.
Another similarity that stands out in both books in regards to Christianity is the ideas of God spare those who have sinned and, offer them a chance to change before taking action against them. In Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and the Goodness of God, she points to a scenario where the English who were to attack the Native Americans but are halted at the river. The act of the English people being stopped by the river and denied supremacy over the Indians was perceived as a way of allowing them to live in a godly manner. To live in a godly way would then be an entering wedge to enable them to know about God and his purpose for their lives.
The British Imperialism and the Native American are the two major features that contrast in the two texts, in terms of the different pictures about this relationship by the authors print. In Samson Occom’s Sermon on Moses Paul, he explores how the Native Americans were treated by the British and how they faced intimidation under their rule (Occom 657). Proof of this mistreatment is the fact that one of the Natives, execution of Moses Paul occurs because of alcoholism and murder even without getting a chance to defend himself. On the other side, in Mary Rowlandson's book The Sovereignty and the Goodness of God, the narrative is different because the writer explains how the Native Americans attack the Lancaster and they destroy their property. She narrates on how they were taken into captivity and tortured by the Native Americans whom she claims took them through hell.
The two authors explicitly address the relationship between the Native Americans and the British imperialism. British imperialism here referring to the rule and power exercised through military force. Samson Occom explains the fears he has in connection to the treatment of the Native Americans by the British. When it came to issues concerning alcoholism, the Native Americans were considered unpleasant by the non-Natives (Occom 657). Therefore, Samson imagined the possibility of the Native Americans to be forgiven when they involved themselves in alcoholism. Samson addresses the forgiving of those associated with addiction after the action that was taken against Moses Paul. On the other hand, Mary Rowlandson does not clarify the issue of punishment of Native Americans by the British Empire.
Samson Occom suggests even further, that the Native American were voiceless under the rule non-Natives who seemed to be dominant in their society.

The non-Natives did not accord the Indians an opportunity to express themselves, which "Moses Paul is only a Native American just as he is a detestable being." The author implies that there are a lot of partialities practiced by the non-natives who were the British at the time. The Indians suffered silently under the British Empire since they had nowhere to air their views and fight for their rights as the result. On the contrary, Mary Rowlandson book explains how the Native Americans did not allow them to say anything. Even when they were injured or fell sick such as it happened to Mrs. Rowlandson's daughter, there were no medications to be given to

them.
In his sermon, Samson Occom addresses the vices conducted against the Native Americans. He mentions the evils in his bid to ensure that everyone under the British Empire received equal treatment. The equal treatment anticipated was to see all the people under the British authority get to enjoy all the opportunities available in the same manner. Samson through his sermon at Moses Paul's execution was championing the need for fairness when dealing with crimes and any other mistakes committed by any person. Moreover, the writer of the Sovereignty and the Goodness of God narrates her experience with the Native Americans so as to show that they too are not innocent. She gives her experience with the Indians and the way they seemed merciless even when her daughter and passed away. She explains how at some point, the Indians afforded pity on them and could even allow her to meet her children who had separated from her.
The mistreatment brought out in the sermon by Samson during the execution of Moses Paul is portrayed to be having a foundation.

The foundation here is the action of committing murder under the influence of alcohol. Though the action is not right, the British Empire takes advantage of it and applies the punishment of death. The decision to execute a Native American, therefore, does not augur well with the preacher who feels that his people are despised. Contrarily, Mary Rowlandson in her narration implies that the Native Americans were on a revenge mission. The idea of a revenge mission is not mentioned in the book. However, the attack at Lancaster shows that Indians had a plan to revenge. Mary Rowlandson’s narration points out to a rescue plan by the English soldiers; this suggests that the Indians wanted to get even with the British

Empire.
In conclusion, Christianity and British Imperialism were the leading causes of interfering with the identity of the Native Americans as they came as a result of bias and intimidation brought by the social and political issues. Forcefully, the Native Americans had to embrace Christianity while under the rule of the British Empire. They had to accept the Christianity teaching since they were answerable to a regime that upheld Christianity. Later, they embraced the Christianity and as a result, people like Samson Occom became preachers. As explained earlier by Mary Rowlandson, the Native Americans were adversaries of Christianity, which proves that the ancient Indians were not Christians. The Native Americans faced intimidation from the British Empire where they had no representation hence those in power was deaf to their voices. The result of lack of representation, the Native Americans felt despised by the British Empire; therefore, all the factors discussed led the Native Americans losing their original identity.