The Indian chief is usually a gentleman; and this,
though he may have never heard of Revelation, and has not the
smallest notion of the Atonement, and of the deep obligations it has
laid on the human race.
Amid the numberless exaggerations of the day, one of particular
capacity has arisen connected with the supposed character of a
gentleman. Those who regard all things through the medium of
religious feeling, are apt to insist that he who is a Christian, is
necessarily a gentleman; while he can be no thorough gentleman, who
has not most of the qualities of the Christian character. This
confusion in thought and language, can lead to no really useful
result, while it embarrasses the minds of many, and renders the
expression of our ideas less exact and comprehensive than they would
otherwise be.
We conceive that a man may be very much of a Christian, and very
little of a gentleman; or very much of a gentleman, and very little
of a Christian. There is, in short, not much in common between the
two characters, though it is possible for them to become united in
the same individual. That the finished courtesies of polished life
may wear some of the aspects of that benevolence which causes the
Christian "to love his neighbor as himself," is certainly true,
though the motives of the parties are so very different as to
destroy all real identity between them.
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