by Daniel Defoe
he would do upon all occasions. Inthis manner we conversed; and as he was of a most obliginggentleman-like behaviour, so he was, if I may be allowed to say so, aman of good sense, and, as I believe, of great learning.
He gave me a most diverting account of his life, and of the manyextraordinary events of it; of many adventures which had befallen him inthe few years that he had been abroad in the world, and particularlythis was very remarkable; viz. that during the voyage he was now engagedin he had the misfortune to be five times shipped and unshipped, andnever to go to the place whither any of the ships he was in were atfirst designed: that his first intent was to have gone to Martinico, andthat he went on board a ship bound thither at St. Maloes; but beingforced into Lisbon in bad weather, the ship received some damage byrunning aground in the mouth of the river Tagus, and was obliged tounload her cargo there: that finding a Portuguese ship there, bound tothe Madeiras, and ready to sail, and supposing he should easily meetwith a vessel there bound to Martinico, he went on board in order tosail to the Madeiras; but the master of the Portuguese ship being but anindifferent mariner, had been out in his reckoning, and they drove toFyal; where, however, he happened to find a very good market for hiscargo, which was corn, and therefore resolved not to go to the Madeiras,but to load salt at the isle of May, to go away to Newfoundland. He hadno remedy in the exigence but to go with the ship, and had a pretty goodvoyage as far as the Banks, (so they call the place where they catch thefish) where meeting with a French ship bound from France to Quebec, inthe river of Canada, and from thence to Martinico, to carry provisions,he thought he should have an opportunity to complete his first design.But when he came to Quebec the master of the ship died, and the shipproceeded no farther. So the next voyage he shipped himself for France,in the ship that was burnt, when we took them up at sea, and thenshipped them with us for the East Indies, as I have already said. Thushe had been disappointed in five voyages, all, as I may call it, in onevoyage, besides what I shall have occasion to mention farther of thesame person.
But I shall not make digressions into other men's stories which have norelation to my own. I return to what concerns our affair in the island.He came to me one morning, for he lodged among us all the while we wereupon the island, and it happened to be just when I was going to visitthe Englishmen's colony at the farthest part of the island; I say, hecame to me, and told me with a very grave countenance, that he had fortwo or three days desired an opportunity of some discourse with me,which he hoped would not be displeasing to me, because he thought itmight in some measure correspond with my general design, which was theprosperity of my new colony, and perhaps might put it at least more thanhe yet thought it was in the way of God's blessing.
I looked a little surprised at the last part of his discourse, andturning a little short, "How, Sir," said I, "can it be said, that we arenot in the way of God's blessing, after such visible assistances andwonderful deliverances as we have seen here, and of which I have givenyou a large account?"
"If you had pleased, Sir," said he, with a world of modesty, and yetwith great readiness, "to have heard me, you would have found no room tohave been displeased, much less to think so hard of me, that I shouldsuggest, that you have not had wonderful assistances and deliverances;and I hope, on your behalf, that you are in the way of God's blessing,and your design is exceeding good, and will prosper. But, Sir," said he,"though it were more so than is even possible to you, yet there may besome among you that are not equally right in their actions; and you knowthat in the story of Israel, one Achan, in the camp, removed God'sblessing from them, and turned his hand so against them, that thirty-sixof them, though not concerned in the crime, were the objects of divinevengeance, and bore the weight of that punishment."
I was sensibly touched with this discourse, and told him his inferencewas so just, and the whole design seemed so sincere, and was really soreligious in its own nature, that I was very sorry I had interruptedhim, and begged him to go on; and in the meantime, because it seemedthat what we had both to say might take up some time, I told him I wasgoing to the Englishmens' plantation, and asked him to go with me, andwe might discourse of it by the way. He told me he would more willinglywait on me thither, because there, partly, the thing was acted which hedesired to speak to me about. So we walked on, and I pressed him to befree and plain with me in what he had to say.
"Why then, Sir," says he, "be pleased to give me leave to lay down a fewpropositions as the foundation of what I have to say, that we may notdiffer in the general principles, though we may be of some differingopinions in the practice of particulars. First, Sir, though we differ insome of the doctrinal articles of religion, and it is very unhappy thatit is so, especially in the case before us, as I shall shew afterwards,yet there are some general principles in which we both agree; viz.first, that there is a God, and that this God, having given us somestated general rules for our service and obedience, we ought notwillingly and knowingly to offend him, either by neglecting to do whathe has commanded, or by doing what he has expressly forbidden; and letour different religions be what they will, this general principle isreadily owned by us all, that the blessing of God does not ordinarilyfollow a presumptuous sinning against his command; and every goodChristian will be affectionately concerned to prevent any that are underhis care, living in a total neglect of God and his commands. It is notyour men 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 as littledistance from and enmity with their Maker as possible; especially if yougive me leave to meddle so far in your circuit."
I could not yet imagine, what he aimed at, and told him I granted allhe had said; and thanked him that he would so far concern himself forus; and begged he would explain the particulars of what he had observed,that, like Joshua, (to take his own parable) I might put away theaccursed thing from us.
"Why then, Sir," says he, "I will take the liberty you give me; andthere are three things which, if I am right, must stand in the way ofGod's blessing upon your endeavours here, and which I should rejoice,for your sake, and their own, to see removed. And, Sir," says he, "Ipromise myself that you will fully agree with me in them all as soon asI name them; especially because I shall convince you that every one ofthem may with great ease, and very much to your satisfaction, beremedied."
He gave me no leave to put in any more civilities, but went on: "First,Sir," says he, "you have here four Englishmen, who have fetched womenfrom among the savages, and have taken them as their wives, and have hadmany children by them all, and yet are not married to them after anystated legal manner, as the laws of God and man require; and thereforeare yet, in the sense of both, no less than adulterers, and living inadultery. To this, Sir," says he, "I know you will object, that therewas no clergyman or priest of any kind, or of any profession, to performthe ceremony; nor any pen and ink, or paper, to write down a contract ofmarriage, and have it signed between them. And I know also, Sir, whatthe Spaniard governor has told you; I mean of the agreement that heobliged them to make when they took these women, viz. that they shouldchoose them out by consent, and keep separately to them; which, by theway, is nothing of a marriage, no agreement with the women as wives, butonly an agreement among themselves, to keep them from quarrelling.
"But, Sir, the essence of the sacrament of matrimony (so he called it,being a Roman) consists not only in the mutual consent of the parties totake one another as man and wife, but in the formal and legalobligation that there is in the contract to compel the man and woman atall times to own and acknowledge each other; obliging the man to abstainfrom all other women, to engage in no other contract while thesesubsist; and on all occasions, as ability allows, to provide honestlyfor them and their children; and to oblige the women to the same, onlike conditions, _mutatis mutandis_, on their side.
"Now, Sir," says he, "these men may, when they please, or when occasionpresents, abandon these women, disown their children, leave them toperish, an
d take other women and marry them whilst these are living."And here he added, with some warmth, "How, Sir, is God honoured in thisunlawful liberty? And how shall a blessing succeed your endeavours inthis place, however good in themselves, and however sincere in yourdesign, while these men, who at present are your subjects, under yourabsolute government and dominion, are allowed by you to live in openadultery?"
I confess I was struck at the thing itself, but much more with theconvincing arguments he supported it with. For it was certainly true,that though they had no clergyman on the spot, yet a formal contract onboth sides, made before witnesses, and confirmed by any token which theyhad all agreed to be bound by, though it had been but the breaking astick between them, engaging the men to own these women for their wivesupon all occasions,
