“Withdraw,” she said to her grandmother, who was near her: “withdraw from here; what a vision I see! you hinder me.
This is a pretty powerful statement. I know kin/ancestors are very important to the natives, so for her to verbally rebuke her GRANDMOTHER as a hindrance to herself is a pretty big deal. This makes me think of Muslims who are saved and how big of a step it is for them to have to rebuke and turn away from their own culture and family to follow Christ.
sport of me,
Again, they are so unwilling to be helped by the missionaries that they are willing to put their loved ones in danger. It is strange because I feel like many times when people are nearing death they become desperate and are willing to go along with anything they think could save/heal them.
dying man,
The natives are so opposed/against the missionaries being near them that instead of allowing them to try to heal their family member, they are willing to let him die?
they refine it and test it in the fire.
This reminds me of the scriptural analogy of the potter and the clay.
enchantments
Does he mean prayers/scripture readings?
our governor
I wonder if this report is totally accurate. Since Lalemant is himself a priest and missionary, I wonder if there could be any bias in what he has recorded? Since he is a missionary, he wouldn't want to record any maltreatment of the natives, but that doesn't necessarily mean it did not occur.
Gospel laborers have toiled since Autumn
It's crazy reading this work after the last one. It's wild to think the disgusting actions committed by those in the last work and the loving/serving actions in this were both done by people professing to be Christians. It makes me think back to that age old saying, "actions speak louder than words".
Christians
How come they are referred to as "Christians" instead of Americans, but the Spaniards are called Spaniards? And are the "christians" actually American, or are they Spaniards/French?
d threw them into the rivers
Like Pharaoh mercilessly throwing babies in the Nile