by Daniel Defoe
exceedingly in his conversation; and he first began with me about
religion 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 your
ship, and by your obliging civility have taken me into your family,
giving me an opportunity of free conversation. Now, sir, you see
by my habit what my profession is, and I guess by your nation what
yours is; I may think it is my duty, and doubtless it is so, to use
my utmost endeavours, on all occasions, to bring all the souls I
can to the knowledge of the truth, and to embrace the Catholic
doctrine; but as I am here under your permission, and in your
family, I am bound, in justice to your kindness as well as in
decency and good manners, to be under your government; and
therefore I shall not, without your leave, enter into any debate on
the points of religion in which we may not agree, further than you
shall give me leave."
I told him his carriage was so modest that I could not but
acknowledge it; that it was true we were such people as they call
heretics, but that he was not the first Catholic I had conversed
with without falling into inconveniences, or carrying the questions
to any height in debate; that he should not find himself the worse
used for being of a different opinion from us, and if we did not
converse without any dislike on either side, it should be his
fault, not ours.
He replied that he thought all our conversation might be easily
separated from disputes; that it was not his business to cap
principles with every man he conversed with; and that he rather
desired me to converse with him as a gentleman than as a
religionist; and that, if I would give him leave at any time to
discourse upon religious subjects, he would readily comply with it,
and that he did not doubt but I would allow him also to defend his
own opinions as well as he could; but that without my leave he
would not break in upon me with any such thing. He told me
further, that he would not cease to do all that became him, in his
office as a priest, as well as a private Christian, to procure the
good of the ship, and the safety of all that was in her; and
though, perhaps, we would not join with him, and he could not pray
with us, he hoped he might pray for us, which he would do upon all
occasions. In this manner we conversed; and as he was of the most
obliging, gentlemanlike behaviour, so he was, if I may be allowed
to say so, a man of good sense, and, as I believe, of great
learning.
He gave me a most diverting account of his life, and of the many
extraordinary events of it; of many adventures which had befallen
him in the few years that he had been abroad in the world; and
particularly, it was very remarkable, that in the voyage he was now
engaged in he had had the misfortune to be five times shipped and
unshipped, and never to go to the place whither any of the ships he
was in were at first designed. That his first intent was to have
gone to Martinico, and that he went on board a ship bound thither
at St. Malo; but being forced into Lisbon by bad weather, the ship
received some damage by running aground in the mouth of the river
Tagus, and was obliged to unload her cargo there; but finding a
Portuguese 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 master
of the Portuguese ship being but an indifferent mariner, had been
out of his reckoning, and they drove to Fayal; where, however, he
happened to find a very good market for his cargo, which was corn,
and therefore resolved not to go to the Madeiras, but to load salt
at the Isle of May, and to go away to Newfoundland. He had no
remedy in this exigence but to go with the ship, and had a pretty
good voyage as far as the Banks (so they call the place where they
catch the fish), where, meeting with a French ship bound from
France to Quebec, 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 vessel proceeded no further; so the next voyage
he shipped himself for France, in the ship that was burned when we
took them up at sea, and then shipped with us for the East Indies,
as I have already said. Thus he had been disappointed in five
voyages; all, as I may call it, in one voyage, besides what I shall
have occasion to mention further of him.
But I shall not make digression into other men's stories which have
no relation to my own; so 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 were upon the island), and it happened to be just when
I was going to visit the Englishmen's colony, at the furthest part
of the island; I say, he came to me, and told me, with a very grave
countenance, that he had for two or three days desired an
opportunity of some discourse with me, which he hoped would not be
displeasing to me, because he thought it might in some measure
correspond with my general design, which was the prosperity of my
new colony, and perhaps might put it, at least more than he yet
thought it was, in the way of God's blessing.
I looked a little surprised at the last of his discourse, and
turning a little short, "How, sir," said I, "can it be said that we
are not in the way of God's blessing, after such visible
assistances and deliverances as we have seen here, and of which I
have given you a large account?" "If you had pleased, sir," said
he, with a world of modesty, and yet great readiness, "to have
heard me, you would have found no room to have been displeased,
much less to think so hard of me, that I should suggest 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, though it
were more so than is even possible to you, yet there may be some
among you that are not equally right in their actions: and you
know that in the story of the children of Israel, one Achan in the
camp removed God's blessing from them, and turned His hand so
against them, that six-and-thirty of them, though not concerned in
the crime, were the objects of divine vengeance, and bore the
weight of that punishment."
I was sensibly touched with this discourse, and told him his
inference was so just, and the whole design seemed so sincere, and
was really so religious in its own nature, that I was very sorry I
had 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 some
time, I told him I was going to the Englishmen's plantations, and
asked 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, because
there partly the thing was acted which he desired to speak to me
about; so we walked on, and I pressed him to be free and plain with
me in what he had to say.
"Why, then, sir," said he, "be pleased to give me leave to lay down
a few propositions, as the foundation of what I have to say, that
we may not differ in the general principles, though we may be of
some 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 principles
in which we both agree--that there is a God; and that this God
having given us some stated general rules for our service and
obedience, we ought not willingly and knowingly to offend Him,
either by neglecting to do what He has commanded, or by doing what
He has expressly forbidden. And let our different religions be
what they will, this general principle is readily owned by us all,
that the blessing of God does not ordinarily follow presumptuous
sinning against His command; and every good Christian will be
affectionately concerned to prevent any that are under his care
living in a total neglect of God and His commands. It is not your
men being Protestants, whatever my opinion may be of such, that
discharges me from being concerned for their souls, and from
endeavouring, if it lies before me, that they should live in as
little 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 granted
all he had said, and thanked him that he would so far concern
himself for us: and begged he would explain the particulars of
what he had observed, that like Joshua, to take his own parable, I
might 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 the
way of God's blessing upon your endeavours here, and which I should
rejoice, for your sake and their own, to see removed. And, sir, I
promise myself that you will fully agree with me in them all, as
soon as I name them; especially because I shall convince you, that
every one of them may, with great ease, and very much to your
satisfaction, be remedied. First, sir," says he, "you have here
four Englishmen, who have fetched women from among the savages, and
have taken them as their wives, and have had many children by them
all, 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 will
object that there was no clergyman or priest of any kind to perform
the ceremony; nor any pen and ink, or paper, to write down a
contract of marriage, and have it signed between them. And I know
also, sir, what the Spaniard governor has told you, I mean of the
agreement that he obliged them to make when they took those women,
viz. that they should choose them out by consent, and keep
separately to them; which, by the way, is nothing of a marriage, no
agreement with the women as wives, but only 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 to take one
another as man and wife, but in the formal and legal obligation
that there is in the contract to compel the man and woman, at all
times, to own and acknowledge each other; obliging the man to
abstain from all other women, to engage in no other contract while
these subsist; and, on all occasions, as ability allows, to provide
honestly for them and their children; and to oblige the women to
the 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;" and
here he added, with some warmth, "How, sir, is God honoured in this
unlawful liberty? And how shall a blessing succeed your endeavours
in this place, however good in themselves, and however sincere in
your design, while these men, who at present are your subjects,
under your absolute government and dominion, are allowed by you to
live in open adultery?"
I confess I was struck with the thing itself, but much more with
the convincing arguments he supported it with; but I thought to
have got off my young priest by telling him that all that part was
done when I was not there: and that they had lived so many years
with them now, that if it was adultery, it was past remedy; nothing
could be done in it now.
"Sir," says he, "asking your pardon for such freedom, you are right
in this, that, it being done in your absence, you could not be
charged with that part of the crime; but, I beseech you, flatter
not yourself that you are not, therefore, under an obligation to do
your utmost now to put an end to it. You should legally and
effectually marry them; and as, sir, my way of marrying may not be
easy to reconcile them to, though it will be effectual, even by
your own laws, so your way may be as well before God, and as valid
among men. I mean by a written contract signed by both man and
woman, and by all the witnesses present, which all the laws of
Europe would decree to be valid."
I was amazed to see so much true piety, and so much sincerity of
zeal, besides the unusual impartiality in his discourse as to his
own party or church, and such true warmth for preserving people
that he had no knowledge of or relation to from transgressing the
laws of God. But recollecting what he had said of marrying them by
a written contract, which I knew he would stand to, I returned it
back upon him, and told him I granted all that he had said to be
just, and on his part very kind; that I would discourse with the
men upon the point now, when I came to them; and I knew no reason
why they should scruple to let him marry them all, which I knew
well enough would be granted to be as authentic and valid in
England as if they were married by one of our own clergymen.
I then pressed him to tell me what was the second complaint which
he had to make, acknowledging that I was very much his debtor for
the first, and thanking him heartily for it. He told me he would
use the same freedom and plainness in the second, and hoped I would
take it as well; and this was, that notwithstanding these English
subjects of mine, as he called them, had lived with these women
almost seven years, had taught them to speak English, and even to
read it, and that they were, as he perceived, women of tolerable
understanding, and capable of instruction, yet they had not, to
this hour, taught them anything of the Christia
n religion--no, not
so much as to know there was a God, or a worship, or in what manner
God was to be served, or that their own idolatry, and worshipping
they knew not whom, was false and absurd. This he said was an
unaccountable neglect, and what God would certainly call them to
account 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 savage
country whence their wives came, the savages would have taken more
pains to have brought them to be idolaters, and to worship the
devil, than any of these men, so far as I can see, have taken with
them to teach the knowledge of the true God. Now, sir," said he,
"though I do not acknowledge your religion, or you mine, yet we
would be glad to see the devil's servants and the subjects of his
kingdom taught to know religion; and that they might, at least,
hear of God and a Redeemer, and the resurrection, and of a future
state--things which we all believe; that they might, at least, be
so much nearer coming into the bosom of the true Church than they
are now in the public profession of idolatry and devil-worship."
I could hold no longer: I took him in my arms and embraced him
eagerly. "How far," said I to him, "have I been from understanding
the most essential part of a Christian, viz. to love the interest
of the Christian Church, and the good of other men's souls! I
scarce 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
condemn yourself."--"But what can be done now?" said I: "you see I
am going away."--"Will you give me leave to talk with these poor
men about it?"--"Yes, with all my heart," said I: "and oblige them
to give heed to what you say too."--"As to that," said he, "we must
leave them to the mercy of Christ; but it is your business to
assist them, encourage them, and instruct them; and if you give me
leave, and God His blessing, I do not doubt but the poor ignorant
souls shall be brought home to the great circle of Christianity, if
not into the particular faith we all embrace, and that even while
you stay here." Upon this I said, "I shall not only give you
leave, 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 about
your poor savages, who are, as I may say, your conquered subjects.
It is a maxim, sir, that is or ought to be received among all
Christians, of what church or pretended church soever, that the
Christian knowledge ought to be propagated by all possible means
and on all possible occasions. It is on this principle that our
Church sends missionaries into Persia, India, and China; and that
our clergy, even of the superior sort, willingly engage in the most
hazardous voyages, and the most dangerous residence amongst
murderers and barbarians, to teach them the knowledge of the true
God, and to bring them over to embrace the Christian faith. Now,
sir, you have such an opportunity here to have six or seven and
thirty poor savages brought over from a state of idolatry to the
knowledge of God, their Maker and Redeemer, that I wonder how you
can pass such an occasion of doing good, which is really worth the
expense of a man's whole life."
I was now struck dumb indeed, and had not one word to say. I had
here the spirit of true Christian zeal for God and religion before
me. As for me, I had not so much as entertained a thought of this
in 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 we
not had any work for them to do, we would have used as such, or
would have been glad to have transported them to any part of the
world; for our business was to get rid of them, and we would all
