Chapter VI. The French Clergyman's Counsel

by Daniel Defoe

　　Having thus given an account of the colony in general, and prettymuch of my runagate Englishmen, I must say something of theSpaniards, who were the main body of the family, and in whose storythere are some incidents also remarkable enough.I had a great many discourses with them about their circumstanceswhen they were among the savages. They told me readily that theyhad no instances to give of their application or ingenuity in thatcountry; that they were a poor, miserable, dejected handful ofpeople; that even if means had been put into their hands, yet theyhad so abandoned themselves to despair, and were so sunk under theweight of their misfortune, that they thought of nothing butstarving. One of them, a grave and sensible man, told me he wasconvinced they were in the wrong; that it was not the part of wisemen to give themselves up to their misery, but always to take holdof the helps which reason offered, as well for present support asfor future deliverance: he told me that grief was the mostsenseless, insignificant passion in the world, for that it regardedonly things past, which were generally impossible to be recalled orto be remedied, but had no views of things to come, and had noshare in anything that looked like deliverance, but rather added tothe affliction than proposed a remedy; and upon this he repeated aSpanish proverb, which, though I cannot repeat in the same wordsthat he spoke it in, yet I remember I made it into an Englishproverb of my own, thus:-"In trouble to be troubled,Is to have your trouble doubled."He then ran on in remarks upon all the little improvements I hadmade in my solitude: my unwearied application, as he called it;and how I had made a condition, which in its circumstances was atfirst much worse than theirs, a thousand times more happy thantheirs was, even now when they were all together. He told me itwas remarkable that Englishmen had a greater presence of mind intheir distress than any people that ever he met with; that theirunhappy nation and the Portuguese were the worst men in the worldto struggle with misfortunes; for that their first step in dangers,after the common efforts were over, was to despair, lie down underit, and die, without rousing their thoughts up to proper remediesfor escape.I told him their case and mine differed exceedingly; that they werecast upon the shore without necessaries, without supply of food, orpresent sustenance till they could provide for it; that, it wastrue, I had this further disadvantage and discomfort, that I wasalone; but then the supplies I had providentially thrown into myhands, by the unexpected driving of the ship on the shore, was sucha help as would have encouraged any creature in the world to haveapplied himself as I had done. "Seignior," says the Spaniard, "hadwe poor Spaniards been in your case, we should never have got halfthose things out of the ship, as you did: nay," says he, "weshould never have found means to have got a raft to carry them, orto have got the raft on shore without boat or sail: and how muchless should we have done if any of us had been alone!" Well, Idesired him to abate his compliments, and go on with the history oftheir coming on shore, where they landed. He told me theyunhappily landed at a place where there were people withoutprovisions; whereas, had they had the common sense to put off tosea again, and gone to another island a little further, they hadfound provisions, though without people: there being an islandthat way, as they had been told, where there were provisions,though no people - that is to say, that the Spaniards of Trinidadhad frequently been there, and had filled the island with goats andhogs at several times, where they had bred in such multitudes, andwhere turtle and sea-fowls were in such plenty, that they couldhave been in no want of flesh, though they had found no bread;whereas, here they were only sustained with a few roots and herbs,which they understood not, and which had no substance in them, andwhich the inhabitants gave them sparingly enough; and they couldtreat them no better, unless they would turn cannibals and eatmen's flesh.They gave me an account how many ways they strove to civilise thesavages they were with, and to teach them rational customs in theordinary way of living, but in vain; and how they retorted uponthem as unjust that they who came there for assistance and supportshould attempt to set up for instructors to those that gave themfood; intimating, it seems, that none should set up for theinstructors of others but those who could live without them. Theygave me dismal accounts of the extremities they were driven to; howsometimes they were many days without any food at all, the islandthey were upon being inhabited by a sort of savages that lived moreindolent, and for that reason were less supplied with thenecessaries of life, than they had reason to believe others were inthe same part of the world; and yet they found that these savageswere less ravenous and voracious than those who had better suppliesof food. Also, they added, they could not but see with whatdemonstrations of wisdom and goodness the governing providence ofGod directs the events of things in this world, which, they said,appeared in their circumstances: for if, pressed by the hardshipsthey were under, and the barrenness of the country where they were,they had searched after a better to live in, they had then been outof the way of the relief that happened to them by my means.They then gave me an account how the savages whom they livedamongst expected them to go out with them into their wars; and, itwas true, that as they had firearms with them, had they not had thedisaster to lose their ammunition, they could have been serviceablenot only to their friends, but have made themselves terrible bothto friends and enemies; but being without powder and shot, and yetin a condition that they could not in reason decline to go out withtheir landlords to their wars; so when they came into the field ofbattle they were in a worse condition than the savages themselves,for they had neither bows nor arrows, nor could they use those thesavages gave them. So they could do nothing but stand still and bewounded with arrows, till they came up to the teeth of the enemy;and then, indeed, the three halberds they had were of use to them;and they would often drive a whole little army before them withthose halberds, and sharpened sticks put into the muzzles of theirmuskets. But for all this they were sometimes surrounded withmultitudes, and in great danger from their arrows, till at lastthey found the way to make themselves large targets of wood, whichthey covered with skins of wild beasts, whose names they knew not,and these covered them from the arrows of the savages: that,notwithstanding these, they were sometimes in great danger; andfive of them were once knocked down together with the clubs of thesavages, which was the time when one of them was taken prisoner -that is to say, the Spaniard whom I relieved. At first theythought he had been killed; but when they afterwards heard he wastaken prisoner, they were under the greatest grief imaginable, andwould willingly have all ventured their lives to have rescued him.They told me that when they were so knocked down, the rest of theircompany rescued them, and stood over them fighting till they werecome to themselves, all but him whom they thought had been dead;and then they made their way with their halberds and pieces,standing close together in a line, through a body of above athousand savages, beating down all that came in their way, got thevictory over their enemies, but to their great sorrow, because itwas with the loss of their friend, whom the other party findingalive, carried off with some others, as I gave an account before.They described, most affectionately, how they were surprised withjoy at the return of their friend and companion in misery, who theythought had been devoured by wild beasts of the worst kind - wildmen; and yet, how more and more they were surprised with theaccount he gave them of his errand, and that there was a Christianin any place near, much more one that was able, and had humanityenough, to contribute to their deliverance.They described how they were astonished at the sight of the reliefI sent them, and at the appearance of loaves of bread - things theyhad not seen since their coming to that miserable place; how oftenthey crossed it and blessed it as bread sent from heaven; and whata reviving cordial it was to their spirits to taste it, as also theother things I had sent for their supply; and, after all, theywould have told me something of the joy they were in at the sightof a boat and pilots, to carry them away to the person and placefrom whence all these new comforts came. But it was impossible toexpress it by words, for their excessive joy naturally driving themto unbecoming extravagances, they had no way to describe them butby telling me they bordered upon lunacy, having no way to give ventto their passions suitable to the sense that was upon them; that insome it worked one way and in some another; and that some of them,through a surprise of joy, would burst into tears, others be starkmad, and others immediately faint. This discourse extremelyaffected me, and called to my mind Friday's ecstasy when he met hisfather, and the poor people's ecstasy when I took them up at seaafter their ship was on fire; the joy of the mate of the ship whenhe found himself delivered in the place where he expected toperish; and my own joy, when, after twenty-eight years' captivity,I found a good ship ready to carry me to my own country. All thesethings made me more sensible of the relation of these poor men, andmore affected with it.Having thus given a view of the state of things as I found them, Imust relate the heads of what I did for these people, and thecondition in which I left them. It was their opinion, and minetoo, that they would be troubled no more with the savages, or ifthey were, they would be able to cut them off, if they were twiceas many as before; so they had no concern about that. Then Ientered into a serious discourse with the Spaniard, whom I callgovernor, about their stay in the island; for as I was not come tocarry any of them off, so it would not be just to carry off someand leave others, who, perhaps, would be unwilling to stay if theirstrength was diminished. On the other hand, I told them I came toestablish them there, not to remove them; and then I let them knowthat I had brought with me relief of sundry kinds for them; that Ihad been at a great charge to supply them with all thingsnecessary, as well for their convenience as their defence; and thatI had such and such particular persons with me, as well to increaseand recruit their number, as by the particular necessaryemployments which they were bred to, being artificers, to assistthem in those things in which at present they were in want.They were all together when I talked thus to them; and before Idelivered to them the stores I had brought, I asked them, one byone, if they had entirely forgot and buried the first animositiesthat had been among them, and would shake hands with one another,and engage in a strict friendship and union of interest, that sothere might be no more misunderstandings and jealousies.Will Atkins, with abundance of frankness and good humour, said theyhad met with affliction enough to make them all sober, and enemiesenough to make them all friends; that, for his part, he would liveand die with them, and was so far from designing anything againstthe Spaniards, that he owned they had done nothing to him but whathis own mad humour made necessary, and what he would have done, andperhaps worse, in their case; and that he would ask them pardon, ifI desired it, for the foolish and brutish things he had done tothem, and was very willing and desirous of living in terms ofentire friendship and union with them, and would do anything thatlay in his power to convince them of it; and as for going toEngland, he cared not if he did not go thither these twenty years.The Spaniards said they had, indeed, at first disarmed and excludedWill Atkins and his two countrymen for their ill conduct, as theyhad let me know, and they appealed to me for the necessity theywere under to do so; but that Will Atkins had behaved himself sobravely in the great fight they had with the savages, and onseveral occasions since, and had showed himself so faithful to, andconcerned for, the general interest of them all, that they hadforgotten all that was past, and thought he merited as much to betrusted with arms and supplied with necessaries as any of them;that they had testified their satisfaction in him by committing thecommand to him next to the governor himself; and as they had entireconfidence in him and all his countrymen, so they acknowledged theyhad merited that confidence by all the methods that honest mencould merit to be valued and trusted; and they most heartilyembraced the occasion of giving me this assurance, that they wouldnever have any interest separate from one another.Upon these frank and open declarations of friendship, we appointedthe next day to dine all together; and, indeed, we made a splendidfeast. I caused the ship's cook and his mate to come on shore anddress our dinner, and the old cook's mate we had on shore assisted.We brought on shore six pieces of good beef and four pieces ofpork, out of the ship's provisions, with our punch-bowl andmaterials to fill it; and in particular I gave them ten bottles ofFrench claret, and ten bottles of English beer; things that neitherthe Spaniards nor the English had tasted for many years, and whichit may be supposed they were very glad of. The Spaniards added toour feast five whole kids, which the cooks roasted; and three ofthem were sent, covered up close, on board the ship to the seamen,that they might feast on fresh meat from on shore, as we did withtheir salt meat from on board.After this feast, at which we were very innocently merry, I broughtmy cargo of goods; wherein, that there might be no dispute aboutdividing, I showed them that there was a sufficiency for them all,desiring that they might all take an equal quantity, when made up,of the goods that were for wearing. As, first, I distributed linensufficient to make every one of them four shirts, and, at theSpaniard's request, afterwards made them up six; these wereexceeding comfortable to them, having been what they had long sinceforgot the use of, or what it was to wear them. I allotted thethin English stuffs, which I mentioned before, to make every one alight coat, like a frock, which I judged fittest for the heat ofthe season, cool and loose; and ordered that whenever they decayed,they should make more, as they thought fit; the like for pumps,shoes, stockings, hats, &c. I cannot express what pleasure satupon the countenances of all these poor men when they saw the careI had taken of them, and how well I had furnished them. They toldme I was a father to them; and that having such a correspondent asI was in so remote a part of the world, it would make them forgetthat they were left in a desolate place; and they all voluntarilyengaged to me not to leave the place without my consent.Then I presented to them the people I had brought with me,particularly the tailor, the smith, and the two carpenters, all ofthem most necessary people; but, above all, my general artificer,than whom they could not name anything that was more useful tothem; and the tailor, to show his concern for them, went to workimmediately, and, with my leave, made them every one a shirt, thefirst thing he did; and, what was still more, he taught the womennot only how to sew and stitch, and use the needle, but made themassist to make the shirts for their husbands, and for all the rest.As to the carpenters, I scarce need mention how useful they were;for they took to pieces all my clumsy, unhandy things, and madeclever convenient tables, stools, bedsteads, cupboards, lockers,shelves, and everything they wanted of that kind. But to let themsee how nature made artificers at first, I carried the carpentersto see Will Atkins' basket-house, as I called it; and they bothowned they never saw an instance of such natural ingenuity before,nor anything so regular and so handily built, at least of its kind;and one of them, when he saw it, after musing a good while, turningabout to me, "I am sure," says he, "that man has no need of us; youneed do nothing but give him tools."Then I brought them out all my store of tools, and gave every man adigging-spade, a shovel, and a rake, for we had no barrows orploughs; and to every separate place a pickaxe, a crow, a broadaxe, and a saw; always appointing, that as often as any were brokenor worn out, they should be supplied without grudging out of thegeneral stores that I left behind. Nails, staples, hinges,hammers, chisels, knives, scissors, and all sorts of ironwork, theyhad without reserve, as they required; for no man would take morethan he wanted, and he must be a fool that would waste or spoilthem on any account whatever; and for the use of the smith I lefttwo tons of unwrought iron for a supply.My magazine of powder and arms which I brought them was such, evento profusion, that they could not but rejoice at them; for now theycould march as I used to do, with a musket upon each shoulder, ifthere was occasion; and were able to fight a thousand savages, ifthey had but some little advantages of situation, which also theycould not miss, if they had occasion.I carried on shore with me the young man whose mother was starvedto death, and the maid also; she was a sober, well-educated,religious young woman, and behaved so inoffensively that every onegave her a good word; she had, indeed, an unhappy life with us,there being no woman in the ship but herself, but she bore it withpatience. After a while, seeing things so well ordered, and in sofine a way of thriving upon my island, and considering that theyhad neither business nor acquaintance in the East Indies, or reasonfor taking so long a voyage, both of them came to me and desired Iwould give them leave to remain on the island, and be entered amongmy family, as they called it. I agreed to this readily; and theyhad a little plot of ground allotted to them, where they had threetents or houses set up, surrounded with a basket-work, palisadoedlike Atkins's, adjoining to his plantation. Their tents werecontrived so that they had each of them a room apart to lodge in,and a middle tent like a great storehouse to lay their goods in,and to eat and to drink in. And now the other two Englishmenremoved their habitation to the same place; and so the island wasdivided into three colonies, and no more - viz. the Spaniards, withold Friday and the first servants, at my habitation under the hill,which was, in a word, the capital city, and where they had soenlarged and extended their works, as well under as on the outsideof the hill, that they lived, though perfectly concealed, yet fullat large. Never was there such a little city in a wood, and sohid, in any part of the world; for I verify believe that a thousandmen might have ranged the island a month, and, if they had notknown there was such a thing, and looked on purpose for it, theywould not have found it. Indeed the trees stood so thick and soclose, and grew so fast woven one into another, that nothing butcutting them down first could discover the place, except the onlytwo narrow entrances where they went in and out could be found,which was not very easy; one of them was close down at the water'sedge, on the side of the creek, and it was afterwards above twohundred yards to the place; and the other was up a ladder at twice,as I have already described it; and they had also a large wood,thickly planted, on the top of the hill, containing above an acre,which grew apace, and concealed the place from all discovery there,with only one narrow place between two trees, not easily to bediscovered, to enter on that side.The other colony was that of Will Atkins, where there were fourfamilies of Englishmen, I mean those I had left there, with theirwives and children; three savages that were slaves, the widow andchildren of the Englishman that was killed, the young man and themaid, and, by the way, we made a wife of her before we went away.There were besides the two carpenters and the tailor, whom Ibrought with me for them: also the smith, who was a very necessaryman to them, especially as a gunsmith, to take care of their arms;and my other man, whom I called Jack-of-all-trades, who was inhimself as good almost as twenty men; for he was not only a veryingenious fellow, but a very merry fellow, and before I went awaywe married him to the honest maid that came with the youth in theship I mentioned before.And now I speak of marrying, it brings me naturally to saysomething of the French ecclesiastic that I had brought with me outof the ship's crew whom I took up at sea. It is true this man wasa Roman, and perhaps it may give offence to some hereafter if Ileave anything extraordinary upon record of a man whom, before Ibegin, I must (to set him out in just colours) represent in termsvery much to his disadvantage, in the account of Protestants; as,first, that he was a Papist; secondly, a Popish priest; andthirdly, a French Popish priest. But justice demands of me to givehim a due character; and I must say, he was a grave, sober, pious,and most religious person; exact in his life, extensive in hischarity, and exemplary in almost everything he did. What then canany one say against being very sensible of the value of such a man,notwithstanding his profession? though it may be my opinionperhaps, as well as the opinion of others who shall read this, thathe was mistaken.The first hour that I began to converse with him after he hadagreed to go with me to the East Indies, I found reason to delightexceedingly in his conversation; and he first began with me aboutreligion in the most obliging manner imaginable. "Sir," says he,"you have not only under God" (and at that he crossed his breast)"saved my life, but you have admitted me to go this voyage in yourship, and by your obliging civility have taken me into your family,giving me an opportunity of free conversation. Now, sir, you seeby my habit what my profession is, and I guess by your nation whatyours is; I may think it is my duty, and doubtless it is so, to usemy utmost endeavours, on all occasions, to bring all the souls Ican to the knowledge of the truth, and to embrace the Catholicdoctrine; but as I am here under your permission, and in yourfamily, I am bound, in justice to your kindness as well as indecency and good manners, to be under your government; andtherefore I shall not, without your leave, enter into any debate onthe points of religion in which we may not agree, further than youshall give me leave."I told him his carriage was so modest that I could not butacknowledge it; that it was true we were such people as they callheretics, but that he was not the first Catholic I had conversedwith without falling into inconveniences, or carrying the questionsto any height in debate; that he should not find himself the worseused for being of a different opinion from us, and if we did notconverse without any dislike on either side, it should be hisfault, not ours.He replied that he thought all our conversation might be easilyseparated from disputes; that it was not his business to capprinciples with every man he conversed with; and that he ratherdesired me to converse with him as a gentleman than as areligionist; and that, if I would give him leave at any time todiscourse upon religious subjects, he would readily comply with it,and that he did not doubt but I would allow him also to defend hisown opinions as well as he could; but that without my leave hewould not break in upon me with any such thing. He told mefurther, that he would not cease to do all that became him, in hisoffice as a priest, as well as a private Christian, to procure thegood of the ship, and the safety of all that was in her; andthough, perhaps, we would not join with him, and he could not praywith us, he hoped he might pray for us, which he would do upon alloccasions. In this manner we conversed; and as he was of the mostobliging, gentlemanlike behaviour, so he was, if I may be allowedto say so, a man of good sense, and, as I believe, of greatlearning.He gave me a most diverting account of his life, and of the manyextraordinary events of it; of many adventures which had befallenhim in the few years that he had been abroad in the world; andparticularly, it was very remarkable, that in the voyage he was nowengaged in he had had the misfortune to be five times shipped andunshipped, and never to go to the place whither any of the ships hewas in were at first designed. That his first intent was to havegone to Martinico, and that he went on board a ship bound thitherat St. Malo; but being forced into Lisbon by bad weather, the shipreceived some damage by running aground in the mouth of the riverTagus, and was obliged to unload her cargo there; but finding aPortuguese ship there bound for the Madeiras, and ready to sail,and supposing he should meet with a ship there bound to Martinico,he went on board, in order to sail to the Madeiras; but the masterof the Portuguese ship being but an indifferent mariner, had beenout of his reckoning, and they drove to Fayal; where, however, hehappened to find a very good market for his cargo, which was corn,and therefore resolved not to go to the Madeiras, but to load saltat the Isle of May, and to go away to Newfoundland. He had noremedy in this exigence but to go with the ship, and had a prettygood voyage as far as the Banks (so they call the place where theycatch the fish), where, meeting with a French ship bound fromFrance to Quebec, and from thence to Martinico, to carryprovisions, he thought he should have an opportunity to completehis first design, but when he came to Quebec, the master of theship died, and the vessel proceeded no further; so the next voyagehe shipped himself for France, in the ship that was burned when wetook them up at sea, and then shipped with us for the East Indies,as I have already said. Thus he had been disappointed in fivevoyages; all, as I may call it, in one voyage, besides what I shallhave occasion to mention further of him.But I shall not make digression into other men's stories which haveno relation to my own; so I return to what concerns our affair inthe island. He came to me one morning (for he lodged among us allthe while we were upon the island), and it happened to be just whenI was going to visit the Englishmen's colony, at the furthest partof the island; I say, he came to me, and told me, with a very gravecountenance, that he had for two or three days desired anopportunity of some discourse with me, which he hoped would not bedispleasing to me, because he thought it might in some measurecorrespond with my general design, which was the prosperity of mynew colony, and perhaps might put it, at least more than he yetthought it was, in the way of God's blessing.I looked a little surprised at the last of his discourse, andturning a little short, "How, sir," said I, "can it be said that weare not in the way of God's blessing, after such visibleassistances and deliverances as we have seen here, and of which Ihave given you a large account?" "If you had pleased, sir," saidhe, with a world of modesty, and yet great readiness, "to haveheard me, you would have found no room to have been displeased,much less to think so hard of me, that I should suggest that youhave not had wonderful assistances and deliverances; and I hope, onyour behalf, that you are in the way of God's blessing, and yourdesign is exceeding good, and will prosper. But, sir, though itwere more so than is even possible to you, yet there may be someamong you that are not equally right in their actions: and youknow that in the story of the children of Israel, one Achan in thecamp removed God's blessing from them, and turned His hand soagainst them, that six-and-thirty of them, though not concerned inthe crime, were the objects of divine vengeance, and bore theweight of that punishment."I was sensibly touched with this discourse, and told him hisinference was so just, and the whole design seemed so sincere, andwas really so religious in its own nature, that I was very sorry Ihad interrupted him, and begged him to go on; and, in the meantime,because it seemed that what we had both to say might take up sometime, I told him I was going to the Englishmen's plantations, andasked him to go with me, and we might discourse of it by the way.He told me he would the more willingly wait on me thither, becausethere partly the thing was acted which he desired to speak to meabout; so we walked on, and I pressed him to be free and plain withme in what he had to say."Why, then, sir," said he, "be pleased to give me leave to lay downa few propositions, as the foundation of what I have to say, thatwe may not differ in the general principles, though we may be ofsome differing opinions in the practice of particulars. First,sir, though we differ in some of the doctrinal articles of religion(and it is very unhappy it is so, especially in the case before us,as I shall show afterwards), yet there are some general principlesin which we both agree - that there is a God; and that this Godhaving given us some stated general rules for our service andobedience, we ought not willingly and knowingly to offend Him,either by neglecting to do what He has commanded, or by doing whatHe has expressly forbidden. And let our different religions bewhat they will, this general principle is readily owned by us all,that the blessing of God does not ordinarily follow presumptuoussinning against His command; and every good Christian will beaffectionately concerned to prevent any that are under his careliving in a total neglect of God and His commands. It is not yourmen being Protestants, whatever my opinion may be of such, thatdischarges me from being concerned for their souls, and fromendeavouring, if it lies before me, that they should live in aslittle distance from enmity with their Maker as possible,especially if you give me leave to meddle so far in your circuit."I could not yet imagine what he aimed at, and told him I grantedall he had said, and thanked him that he would so far concernhimself for us: and begged he would explain the particulars ofwhat he had observed, that like Joshua, to take his own parable, Imight put away the accursed thing from us."Why, then, sir," says he, "I will take the liberty you give me;and there are three things, which, if I am right, must stand in theway of God's blessing upon your endeavours here, and which I shouldrejoice, for your sake and their own, to see removed. And, sir, Ipromise myself that you will fully agree with me in them all, assoon as I name them; especially because I shall convince you, thatevery one of them may, with great ease, and very much to yoursatisfaction, be remedied. First, sir," says he, "you have herefour Englishmen, who have fetched women from among the savages, andhave taken them as their wives, and have had many children by themall, and yet are not married to them after any stated legal manner,as the laws of God and man require. To this, sir, I know, you willobject that there was no clergyman or priest of any kind to performthe ceremony; nor any pen and ink, or paper, to write down acontract of marriage, and have it signed between them. And I knowalso, sir, what the Spaniard governor has told you, I mean of theagreement that he obliged them to make when they took those women,viz. that they should choose them out by consent, and keepseparately to them; which, by the way, is nothing of a marriage, noagreement with the women as wives, but only an agreement amongthemselves, to keep them from quarrelling. But, sir, the essenceof the sacrament of matrimony" (so he called it, being a Roman)"consists not only in the mutual consent of the parties to take oneanother as man and wife, but in the formal and legal obligationthat there is in the contract to compel the man and woman, at alltimes, to own and acknowledge each other; obliging the man toabstain from all other women, to engage in no other contract whilethese subsist; and, on all occasions, as ability allows, to providehonestly for them and their children; and to oblige the women tothe same or like conditions, on their side. Now, sir," says he,"these men may, when they please, or when occasion presents,abandon these women, disown their children, leave them to perish,and take other women, and marry them while these are living;" andhere he added, with some warmth, "How, sir, is God honoured in thisunlawful liberty? And how shall a blessing succeed your endeavoursin this place, however good in themselves, and however sincere inyour design, while these men, who at present are your subjects,under your absolute government and dominion, are allowed by you tolive in open adultery?"I confess I was struck with the thing itself, but much more withthe convincing arguments he supported it with; but I thought tohave got off my young priest by telling him that all that part wasdone when I was not there: and that they had lived so many yearswith them now, that if it was adultery, it was past remedy; nothingcould be done in it now."Sir," says he, "asking your pardon for such freedom, you are rightin this, that, it being done in your absence, you could not becharged with that part of the crime; but, I beseech you, flatternot yourself that you are not, therefore, under an obligation to doyour utmost now to put an end to it. You should legally andeffectually marry them; and as, sir, my way of marrying may not beeasy to reconcile them to, though it will be effectual, even byyour own laws, so your way may be as well before God, and as validamong men. I mean by a written contract signed by both man andwoman, and by all the witnesses present, which all the laws ofEurope would decree to be valid."I was amazed to see so much true piety, and so much sincerity ofzeal, besides the unusual impartiality in his discourse as to hisown party or church, and such true warmth for preserving peoplethat he had no knowledge of or relation to from transgressing thelaws of God. But recollecting what he had said of marrying them bya written contract, which I knew he would stand to, I returned itback upon him, and told him I granted all that he had said to bejust, and on his part very kind; that I would discourse with themen upon the point now, when I came to them; and I knew no reasonwhy they should scruple to let him marry them all, which I knewwell enough would be granted to be as authentic and valid inEngland as if they were married by one of our own clergymen.I then pressed him to tell me what was the second complaint whichhe had to make, acknowledging that I was very much his debtor forthe first, and thanking him heartily for it. He told me he woulduse the same freedom and plainness in the second, and hoped I wouldtake it as well; and this was, that notwithstanding these Englishsubjects of mine, as he called them, had lived with these womenalmost seven years, had taught them to speak English, and even toread it, and that they were, as he perceived, women of tolerableunderstanding, and capable of instruction, yet they had not, tothis hour, taught them anything of the Christian religion - no, notso much as to know there was a God, or a worship, or in what mannerGod was to be served, or that their own idolatry, and worshippingthey knew not whom, was false and absurd. This he said was anunaccountable neglect, and what God would certainly call them toaccount for, and perhaps at last take the work out of their hands.He spoke this very affectionately and warmly."I am persuaded," says he, "had those men lived in the savagecountry whence their wives came, the savages would have taken morepains to have brought them to be idolaters, and to worship thedevil, than any of these men, so far as I can see, have taken withthem to teach the knowledge of the true God. Now, sir," said he,"though I do not acknowledge your religion, or you mine, yet wewould be glad to see the devil's servants and the subjects of hiskingdom taught to know religion; and that they might, at least,hear of God and a Redeemer, and the resurrection, and of a futurestate - things which we all believe; that they might, at least, beso much nearer coming into the bosom of the true Church than theyare now in the public profession of idolatry and devil-worship."I could hold no longer: I took him in my arms and embraced himeagerly. "How far," said I to him, "have I been from understandingthe most essential part of a Christian, viz. to love the interestof the Christian Church, and the good of other men's souls! Iscarce have known what belongs to the being a Christian." - "Oh,sir! do not say so," replied he; "this thing is not your fault." -"No," said I; "but why did I never lay it to heart as well as you?"- "It is not too late yet," said he; "be not too forward to condemnyourself." - "But what can be done now?" said I: "you see I amgoing away." - "Will you give me leave to talk with these poor menabout it?" - "Yes, with all my heart," said I: "and oblige them togive heed to what you say too." - "As to that," said he, "we mustleave them to the mercy of Christ; but it is your business toassist them, encourage them, and instruct them; and if you give meleave, and God His blessing, I do not doubt but the poor ignorantsouls shall be brought home to the great circle of Christianity, ifnot into the particular faith we all embrace, and that even whileyou stay here." Upon this I said, "I shall not only give youleave, but give you a thousand thanks for it."I now pressed him for the third article in which we were to blame."Why, really," says he, "it is of the same nature. It is aboutyour poor savages, who are, as I may say, your conquered subjects.It is a maxim, sir, that is or ought to be received among allChristians, of what church or pretended church soever, that theChristian knowledge ought to be propagated by all possible meansand on all possible occasions. It is on this principle that ourChurch sends missionaries into Persia, India, and China; and thatour clergy, even of the superior sort, willingly engage in the mosthazardous voyages, and the most dangerous residence amongstmurderers and barbarians, to teach them the knowledge of the trueGod, and to bring them over to embrace the Christian faith. Now,sir, you have such an opportunity here to have six or seven andthirty poor savages brought over from a state of idolatry to theknowledge of God, their Maker and Redeemer, that I wonder how youcan pass such an occasion of doing good, which is really worth theexpense of a man's whole life."I was now struck dumb indeed, and had not one word to say. I hadhere the spirit of true Christian zeal for God and religion beforeme. As for me, I had not so much as entertained a thought of thisin my heart before, and I believe I should not have thought of it;for I looked upon these savages as slaves, and people whom, had wenot had any work for them to do, we would have used as such, orwould have been glad to have transported them to any part of theworld; for our business was to get rid of them, and we would allhave been satisfied if they had been sent to any country, so theyhad never seen their own. I was confounded at his discourse, andknew not what answer to make him.He looked earnestly at me, seeing my confusion. "Sir," says he, "Ishall be very sorry if what I have said gives you any offence." -"No, no," said I, "I am offended with nobody but myself; but I amperfectly confounded, not only to think that I should never takeany notice of this before, but with reflecting what notice I amable to take of it now. You know, sir," said I, "whatcircumstances I am in; I am bound to the East Indies in a shipfreighted by merchants, and to whom it would be an insufferablepiece of injustice to detain their ship here, the men lying allthis while at victuals and wages on the owners' account. It istrue, I agreed to be allowed twelve days here, and if I stay more,I must pay three pounds sterling PER DIEM demurrage; nor can I stayupon demurrage above eight days more, and I have been here thirteenalready; so that I am perfectly unable to engage in this workunless I would suffer myself to be left behind here again; in whichcase, if this single ship should miscarry in any part of hervoyage, I should be just in the same condition that I was left inhere at first, and from which I have been so wonderfullydelivered." He owned the case was very hard upon me as to myvoyage; but laid it home upon my conscience whether the blessing ofsaving thirty-seven souls was not worth venturing all I had in theworld for. I was not so sensible of that as he was. I replied tohim thus: "Why, sir, it is a valuable thing, indeed, to be aninstrument in God's hand to convert thirty-seven heathens to theknowledge of Christ: but as you are an ecclesiastic, and are givenover to the work, so it seems so naturally to fall in the way ofyour profession; how is it, then, that you do not rather offeryourself to undertake it than to press me to do it?"Upon this he faced about just before me, as he walked along, andputting me to a full stop, made me a very low bow. "I mostheartily thank God and you, sir," said he, "for giving me soevident a call to so blessed a work; and if you think yourselfdischarged from it, and desire me to undertake it, I will mostreadily do it, and think it a happy reward for all the hazards anddifficulties of such a broken, disappointed voyage as I have metwith, that I am dropped at last into so glorious a work."I discovered a kind of rapture in his face while he spoke this tome; his eyes sparkled like fire; his face glowed, and his colourcame and went; in a word, he was fired with the joy of beingembarked in such a work. I paused a considerable while before Icould tell what to say to him; for I was really surprised to find aman of such sincerity, and who seemed possessed of a zeal beyondthe ordinary rate of men. But after I had considered it a while, Iasked him seriously if he was in earnest, and that he wouldventure, on the single consideration of an attempt to convert thosepoor people, to be locked up in an unplanted island for perhaps hislife, and at last might not know whether he should be able to dothem good or not? He turned short upon me, and asked me what Icalled a venture? "Pray, sir," said he, "what do you think Iconsented to go in your ship to the East Indies for?" - "ay," saidI, "that I know not, unless it was to preach to the Indians." -"Doubtless it was," said he; "and do you think, if I can convertthese thirty-seven men to the faith of Jesus Christ, it is notworth my time, though I should never be fetched off the islandagain? - nay, is it not infinitely of more worth to save so manysouls than my life is, or the life of twenty more of the sameprofession? Yes, sir," says he, "I would give God thanks all mydays if I could be made the happy instrument of saving the souls ofthose poor men, though I were never to get my foot off this islandor see my native country any more. But since you will honour mewith putting me into this work, for which I will pray for you allthe days of my life, I have one humble petition to you besides." -"What is that?" said I. - "Why," says he, "it is, that you willleave your man Friday with me, to be my interpreter to them, and toassist me; for without some help I cannot speak to them, or they tome."I was sensibly touched at his requesting Friday, because I couldnot think of parting with him, and that for many reasons: he hadbeen the companion of my travels; he was not only faithful to me,but sincerely affectionate to the last degree; and I had resolvedto do something considerable for him if he out-lived me, as it wasprobable he would. Then I knew that, as I had bred Friday up to bea Protestant, it would quite confound him to bring him to embraceanother religion; and he would never, while his eyes were open,believe that his old master was a heretic, and would be damned; andthis might in the end ruin the poor fellow's principles, and soturn him back again to his first idolatry. However, a suddenthought relieved me in this strait, and it was this: I told him Icould not say that I was willing to part with Friday on any accountwhatever, though a work that to him was of more value than his lifeought to be of much more value than the keeping or parting with aservant. On the other hand, I was persuaded that Friday would byno means agree to part with me; and I could not force him to itwithout his consent, without manifest injustice; because I hadpromised I would never send him away, and he had promised andengaged that he would never leave me, unless I sent him away.He seemed very much concerned at it, for he had no rational accessto these poor people, seeing he did not understand one word oftheir language, nor they one of his. To remove this difficulty, Itold him Friday's father had learned Spanish, which I found he alsounderstood, and he should serve him as an interpreter. So he wasmuch better satisfied, and nothing could persuade him but he wouldstay and endeavour to convert them; but Providence gave anothervery happy turn to all this.I come back now to the first part of his objections. When we cameto the Englishmen, I sent for them all together, and after someaccount given them of what I had done for them, viz. what necessarythings I had provided for them, and how they were distributed,which they were very sensible of, and very thankful for, I began totalk to them of the scandalous life they led, and gave them a fullaccount of the notice the clergyman had taken of it; and arguinghow unchristian and irreligious a life it was, I first asked themif they were married men or bachelors? They soon explained theircondition to me, and showed that two of them were widowers, and theother three were single men, or bachelors. I asked them with whatconscience they could take these women, and call them their wives,and have so many children by them, and not be lawfully married tothem? They all gave me the answer I expected, viz. that there wasnobody to marry them; that they agreed before the governor to keepthem as their wives, and to maintain them and own them as theirwives; and they thought, as things stood with them, they were aslegally married as if they had been married by a parson and withall the formalities in the world.I told them that no doubt they were married in the sight of God,and were bound in conscience to keep them as their wives; but thatthe laws of men being otherwise, they might desert the poor womenand children hereafter; and that their wives, being poor desolatewomen, friendless and moneyless, would have no way to helpthemselves. I therefore told them that unless I was assured oftheir honest intent, I could do nothing for them, but would takecare that what I did should be for the women and children withoutthem; and that, unless they would give me some assurances that theywould marry the women, I could not think it was convenient theyshould continue together as man and wife; for that it was bothscandalous to men and offensive to God, who they could not thinkwould bless them if they went on thus.All this went on as I expected; and they told me, especially WillAtkins, who now seemed to speak for the rest, that they loved theirwives as well as if they had been born in their own native country,and would not leave them on any account whatever; and they didverily believe that their wives were as virtuous and as modest, anddid, to the utmost of their skill, as much for them and for theirchildren, as any woman could possibly do: and they would not partwith them on any account. Will Atkins, for his own particular,added that if any man would take him away, and offer to carry himhome to England, and make him captain of the best man-of-war in thenavy, he would not go with him if he might not carry his wife andchildren with him; and if there was a clergyman in the ship, hewould be married to her now with all his heart.This was just as I would have it. The priest was not with me atthat moment, but he was not far off; so to try him further, I toldhim I had a clergyman with me, and, if he was sincere, I would havehim married next morning, and bade him consider of it, and talkwith the rest. He said, as for himself, he need not consider of itat all, for he was very ready to do it, and was glad I had aminister with me, and he believed they would be all willing also.I then told him that my friend, the minister, was a Frenchman, andcould not speak English, but I would act the clerk between them.He never so much as asked me whether he was a Papist or Protestant,which was, indeed, what I was afraid of. We then parted, and Iwent back to my clergyman, and Will Atkins went in to talk with hiscompanions. I desired the French gentleman not to say anything tothem till the business was thoroughly ripe; and I told him whatanswer the men had given me.Before I went from their quarter they all came to me and told methey had been considering what I had said; that they were glad tohear I had a clergyman in my company, and they were very willing togive me the satisfaction I desired, and to be formally married assoon as I pleased; for they were far from desiring to part withtheir wives, and that they meant nothing but what was very honestwhen they chose them. So I appointed them to meet me the nextmorning; and, in the meantime, they should let their wives know themeaning of the marriage law; and that it was not only to preventany scandal, but also to oblige them that they should not forsakethem, whatever might happen.The women were easily made sensible of the meaning of the thing,and were very well satisfied with it, as, indeed, they had reasonto be: so they failed not to attend all together at my apartmentnext morning, where I brought out my clergyman; and though he hadnot on a minister's gown, after the manner of England, or the habitof a priest, after the manner of France, yet having a black vestsomething like a cassock, with a sash round it, he did not lookvery unlike a minister; and as for his language, I was hisinterpreter. But the seriousness of his behaviour to them, and thescruples he made of marrying the women, because they were notbaptized and professed Christians, gave them an exceeding reverencefor his person; and there was no need, after that, to inquirewhether he was a clergyman or not. Indeed, I was afraid hisscruples would have been carried so far as that he would not havemarried them at all; nay, notwithstanding all I was able to say tohim, he resisted me, though modestly, yet very steadily, and atlast refused absolutely to marry them, unless he had first talkedwith the men and the women too; and though at first I was a littlebackward to it, yet at last I agreed to it with a good will,perceiving the sincerity of his design.When he came to them he let them know that I had acquainted himwith their circumstances, and with the present design; that he wasvery willing to perform that part of his function, and marry them,as I had desired; but that before he could do it, he must take theliberty to talk with them. He told them that in the sight of allindifferent men, and in the sense of the laws of society, they hadlived all this while in a state of sin; and that it was true thatnothing but the consenting to marry, or effectually separating themfrom one another, could now put an end to it; but there was adifficulty in it, too, with respect to the laws of Christianmatrimony, which he was not fully satisfied about, that of marryingone that is a professed Christian to a savage, an idolater, and aheathen - one that is not baptized; and yet that he did not seethat there was time left to endeavour to persuade the women to bebaptized, or to profess the name of Christ, whom they had, hedoubted, heard nothing of, and without which they could not bebaptized. He told them he doubted they were but indifferentChristians themselves; that they had but little knowledge of God orof His ways, and, therefore, he could not expect that they had saidmuch to their wives on that head yet; but that unless they wouldpromise him to use their endeavours with their wives to persuadethem to become Christians, and would, as well as they could,instruct them in the knowledge and belief of God that made them,and to worship Jesus Christ that redeemed them, he could not marrythem; for he would have no hand in joining Christians with savages,nor was it consistent with the principles of the Christianreligion, and was, indeed, expressly forbidden in God's law.They heard all this very attentively, and I delivered it veryfaithfully to them from his mouth, as near his own words as Icould; only sometimes adding something of my own, to convince themhow just it was, and that I was of his mind; and I always verycarefully distinguished between what I said from myself and whatwere the clergyman's words. They told me it was very true what thegentleman said, that they were very indifferent Christiansthemselves, and that they had never talked to their wives aboutreligion. "Lord, sir," says Will Atkins, "how should we teach themreligion? Why, we know nothing ourselves; and besides, sir," saidhe, "should we talk to them of God and Jesus Christ, and heaven andhell, it would make them laugh at us, and ask us what we believeourselves. And if we should tell them that we believe all thethings we speak of to them, such as of good people going to heaven,and wicked people to the devil, they would ask us where we intendto go ourselves, that believe all this, and are such wicked fellowsas we indeed are? Why, sir; 'tis enough to give them a surfeit ofreligion at first hearing; folks must have some religion themselvesbefore they begin to teach other people." - "Will Atkins," said Ito him, "though I am afraid that what you say has too much truth init, yet can you not tell your wife she is in the wrong; that thereis a God and a religion better than her own; that her gods areidols; that they can neither hear nor speak; that there is a greatBeing that made all things, and that can destroy all that He hasmade; that He rewards the good and punishes the bad; and that weare to be judged by Him at last for all we do here? You are not soignorant but even nature itself will teach you that all this istrue; and I am satisfied you know it all to be true, and believe ityourself." - "That is true, sir," said Atkins; "but with what facecan I say anything to my wife of all this, when she will tell meimmediately it cannot be true?" - "Not true!" said I; "what do youmean by that?" - "Why, sir," said he, "she will tell me it cannotbe true that this God I shall tell her of can be just, or canpunish or reward, since I am not punished and sent to the devil,that have been such a wicked creature as she knows I have been,even to her, and to everybody else; and that I should be sufferedto live, that have been always acting so contrary to what I musttell her is good, and to what I ought to have done." - "Why, truly,Atkins," said I, "I am afraid thou speakest too much truth;" andwith that I informed the clergyman of what Atkins had said, for hewas impatient to know. "Oh," said the priest, "tell him there isone thing will make him the best minister in the world to his wife,and that is repentance; for none teach repentance like truepenitents. He wants nothing but to repent, and then he will be somuch the better qualified to instruct his wife; he will then beable to tell her that there is not only a God, and that He is thejust rewarder of good and evil, but that He is a merciful Being,and with infinite goodness and long-suffering forbears to punishthose that offend; waiting to be gracious, and willing not thedeath of a sinner, but rather that he should return and live; andeven reserves damnation to the general day of retribution; that itis a clear evidence of God and of a future state that righteous menreceive not their reward, or wicked men their punishment, till theycome into another world; and this will lead him to teach his wifethe doctrine of the resurrection and of the last judgment. Let himbut repent himself, he will be an excellent preacher of repentanceto his wife."I repeated all this to Atkins, who looked very serious all thewhile, and, as we could easily perceive, was more than ordinarilyaffected with it; when being eager, and hardly suffering me to makean end, "I know all this, master," says he, "and a great deal more;but I have not the impudence to talk thus to my wife, when God andmy conscience know, and my wife will be an undeniable evidenceagainst me, that I have lived as if I had never heard of a God orfuture state, or anything about it; and to talk of my repenting,alas!" (and with that he fetched a deep sigh, and I could see thatthe tears stood in his eyes) "'tis past all that with me." - "Pastit, Atkins?" said I: "what dost thou mean by that?" - "I know wellenough what I mean," says he; "I mean 'tis too late, and that istoo true."I told the clergyman, word for word, what he said, and thisaffectionate man could not refrain from tears; but, recoveringhimself, said to me, "Ask him but one question. Is he easy that itis too late; or is he troubled, and wishes it were not so?" I putthe question fairly to Atkins; and he answered with a great deal ofpassion, "How could any man be easy in a condition that mustcertainly end in eternal destruction? that he was far from beingeasy; but that, on the contrary, he believed it would one time orother ruin him." - "What do you mean by that?" said I. - "Why," hesaid, "he believed he should one time or other cut his throat, toput an end to the terror of it."The clergyman shook his head, with great concern in his face, whenI told him all this; but turning quick to me upon it, says, "Ifthat be his case, we may assure him it is not too late; Christ willgive him repentance. But pray," says he, "explain this to him:that as no man is saved but by Christ, and the merit of His passionprocuring divine mercy for him, how can it be too late for any manto receive mercy? Does he think he is able to sin beyond the poweror reach of divine mercy? Pray tell him there may be a time whenprovoked mercy will no longer strive, and when God may refuse tohear, but that it is never too late for men to ask mercy; and we,that are Christ's servants, are commanded to preach mercy at alltimes, in the name of Jesus Christ, to all those that sincerelyrepent: so that it is never too late to repent."I told Atkins all this, and he heard me with great earnestness; butit seemed as if he turned off the discourse to the rest, for hesaid to me he would go and have some talk with his wife; so he wentout a while, and we talked to the rest. I perceived they were allstupidly ignorant as to matters of religion, as much as I was whenI went rambling away from my father; yet there were none of thembackward to hear what had been said; and all of them seriouslypromised that they would talk with their wives about it, and dotheir endeavours to persuade them to turn Christians.The clergyman smiled upon me when I reported what answer they gave,but said nothing a good while; but at last, shaking his head, "Wethat are Christ's servants," says he, "can go no further than toexhort and instruct: and when men comply, submit to the reproof,and promise what we ask, 'tis all we can do; we are bound to accepttheir good words; but believe me, sir," said he, "whatever you mayhave known of the life of that man you call Will Atkin's, I believehe is the only sincere convert among them: I will not despair ofthe rest; but that man is apparently struck with the sense of hispast life, and I doubt not, when he comes to talk of religion tohis wife, he will talk himself effectually into it: for attemptingto teach others is sometimes the best way of teaching ourselves.If that poor Atkins begins but once to talk seriously of JesusChrist to his wife, he will assuredly talk himself into a thoroughconvert, make himself a penitent, and who knows what may follow."Upon this discourse, however, and their promising, as above, toendeavour to persuade their wives to embrace Christianity, hemarried the two other couple; but Will Atkins and his wife were notyet come in. After this, my clergyman, waiting a while, wascurious to know where Atkins was gone, and turning to me, said, "Ientreat you, sir, let us walk out of your labyrinth here and look;I daresay we shall find this poor man somewhere or other talkingseriously to his wife, and teaching her already something ofreligion." I began to be of the same mind; so we went outtogether, and I carried him a way which none knew but myself, andwhere the trees were so very thick that it was not easy to seethrough the thicket of leaves, and far harder to see in than to seeout: when, coming to the edge of the wood, I saw Atkins and histawny wife sitting under the shade of a bush, very eager indiscourse: I stopped short till my clergyman came up to me, andthen having showed him where they were, we stood and looked verysteadily at them a good while. We observed him very earnest withher, pointing up to the sun, and to every quarter of the heavens,and then down to the earth, then out to the sea, then to himself,then to her, to the woods, to the trees. "Now," says theclergyman, "you see my words are made good, the man preaches toher; mark him now, he is telling her that our God has made him,her, and the heavens, the earth, the sea, the woods, the trees,&c." - "I believe he is," said I. Immediately we perceived WillAtkins start upon his feet, fall down on his knees, and lift upboth his hands. We supposed he said something, but we could nothear him; it was too far for that. He did not continue kneelinghalf a minute, but comes and sits down again by his wife, and talksto her again; we perceived then the woman very attentive, butwhether she said anything to him we could not tell. While the poorfellow was upon his knees I could see the tears run plentifullydown my clergyman's cheeks, and I could hardly forbear myself; butit was a great affliction to us both that we were not near enoughto hear anything that passed between them. Well, however, we couldcome no nearer for fear of disturbing them: so we resolved to seean end of this piece of still conversation, and it spoke loudenough to us without the help of voice. He sat down again, as Ihave said, close by her, and talked again earnestly to her, and twoor three times we could see him embrace her most passionately;another time we saw him take out his handkerchief and wipe hereyes, and then kiss her again with a kind of transport veryunusual; and after several of these things, we saw him on a suddenjump up again, and lend her his hand to help her up, whenimmediately leading her by the hand a step or two, they bothkneeled down together, and continued so about two minutes.My friend could bear it no longer, but cries out aloud, "St. Paul!St. Paul! behold he prayeth." I was afraid Atkins would hear him,therefore I entreated him to withhold himself a while, that wemight see an end of the scene, which to me, I must confess, was themost affecting that ever I saw in my life. Well, he strove withhimself for a while, but was in such raptures to think that thepoor heathen woman was become a Christian, that he was not able tocontain himself; he wept several times, then throwing up his handsand crossing his breast, said over several things ejaculatory, andby the way of giving God thanks for so miraculous a testimony ofthe success of our endeavours. Some he spoke softly, and I couldnot well hear others; some things he said in Latin, some in French;then two or three times the tears would interrupt him, that hecould not speak at all; but I begged that he would contain himself,and let us more narrowly and fully observe what was before us,which he did for a time, the scene not being near ended yet; forafter the poor man and his wife were risen again from their knees,we observed he stood talking still eagerly to her, and we observedher motion, that she was greatly affected with what he said, by herfrequently lifting up her hands, laying her hand to her breast, andsuch other postures as express the greatest seriousness andattention; this continued about half a quarter of an hour, and thenthey walked away, so we could see no more of them in thatsituation.I took this interval to say to the clergyman, first, that I wasglad to see the particulars we had both been witnesses to; that,though I was hard enough of belief in such cases, yet that I beganto think it was all very sincere here, both in the man and hiswife, however ignorant they might both be, and I hoped such abeginning would yet have a more happy end. "But, my friend," addedI, "will you give me leave to start one difficulty here? I cannottell how to object the least thing against that affectionateconcern which you show for the turning of the poor people fromtheir paganism to the Christian religion; but how does this comfortyou, while these people are, in your account, out of the pale ofthe Catholic Church, without which you believe there is nosalvation? so that you esteem these but heretics, as effectuallylost as the pagans themselves."To this he answered, with abundance of candour, thus: "Sir, I am aCatholic of the Roman Church, and a priest of the order of St.Benedict, and I embrace all the principles of the Roman faith; butyet, if you will believe me, and that I do not speak in complimentto you, or in respect to my circumstances and your civilities; Isay nevertheless, I do not look upon you, who call yourselvesreformed, without some charity. I dare not say (though I know itis our opinion in general) that you cannot be saved; I will by nomeans limit the mercy of Christ so far as think that He cannotreceive you into the bosom of His Church, in a manner to usunperceivable; and I hope you have the same charity for us: I praydaily for you being all restored to Christ's Church, by whatsoevermethod He, who is all-wise, is pleased to direct. In the meantime,surely you will allow it consists with me as a Roman to distinguishfar between a Protestant and a pagan; between one that calls onJesus Christ, though in a way which I do not think is according tothe true faith, and a savage or a barbarian, that knows no God, noChrist, no Redeemer; and if you are not within the pale of theCatholic Church, we hope you are nearer being restored to it thanthose who know nothing of God or of His Church: and I rejoice,therefore, when I see this poor man, who you say has been aprofligate, and almost a murderer kneel down and pray to JesusChrist, as we suppose he did, though not fully enlightened;believing that God, from whom every such work proceeds, willsensibly touch his heart, and bring him to the further knowledge ofthat truth in His own time; and if God shall influence this poorman to convert and instruct the ignorant savage, his wife, I cannever believe that he shall be cast away himself. And have I notreason, then, to rejoice, the nearer any are brought to theknowledge of Christ, though they may not be brought quite home intothe bosom of the Catholic Church just at the time when I desire it,leaving it to the goodness of Christ to perfect His work in His owntime, and in his own way? Certainly, I would rejoice if all thesavages in America were brought, like this poor woman, to pray toGod, though they were all to be Protestants at first, rather thanthey should continue pagans or heathens; firmly believing, that Hethat had bestowed the first light on them would farther illuminatethem with a beam of His heavenly grace, and bring them into thepale of His Church when He should see good."