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08 - The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe · Classic Adventure Books Collection

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Chapter seven, conversation betwixt will Atkins and his wife. I was astonished at
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the sincerity and temper of this pious papist, as much as I was oppressed
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by the power of his reasoning. And it presently occurred to my thoughts that
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if such a temper was universal, we might be all Catholic Christians, whatever
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church or particular profession. We joined in that a spirit of charity would soon
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work us all up into right principles. And as he thought that the like
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charity would make us all Catholics, so I told him I believed had all
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the members of his church the like moderation, they would soon all be Protestants.
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And there we left that part, for we never disputed at all.
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However, I talked to him another way, and taking him by the hand,
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my friend says I, I wish all the clergy of the Romish church
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were blessed with such moderation and had an equal share of your charity. I
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am entirely of your opinion, but I must tell you that if you should
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preach such doctors in Spain or Italy, they would put you into the inquisition.
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It may be so, said he, I know not what they would
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do in Spain or Italy. But I will not say they would be the
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better Christians for that severity, for I am sure there is no heresy in
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abounding with charity. Well as will Atkins and his wife were gone, our
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business there was over. So we went back our own way, and when
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we came back, we found them waiting to be called in. Observing this,
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I asked my clergyman if we should not discover to him that we had
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seen him under the bush or not, And it was his opinion we should
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not, but that we should talk to him first and hear what he would
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say to us. So we called him in alone, nobody being in the
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place but ourselves, and I began by asking him some particulars about his parentage
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and education. He told me, frankly enough, that his father was a
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clergyman who would have taught him well, but that he Will Atkins despised all
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instruction and correction, and by his brutish conduct, cut the thread of all
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his father's comforts and shortened his days. For that he broke his heart by
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the most ungrateful, unnatural return for the most affectionate treatment a father ever gave.
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In what he said there seemed so much sincerity of repentance that it painfully
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affected me. I could not but reflect that I too had shortened the life
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of a good tender father by my bad conduct and obstinate self. Will.
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I was indeed so surprised with what he had told me that I thought,
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instead of my going about to teach and instruct him, the man was made
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a teacher and instructor to me in a most unexpected manner. I laid all
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this before the young clergyman, who was greatly affected with it, and said
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to me, did I not say, sir, that when this man was
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converted, he would preach to us all? I tell you, sir,
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if this one man be made a true penitant, there will be no need
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of me. He will make Christians of all in the island. But,
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having a little composed myself, I renewed my discourse with will Atkins. But
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Will said, I, how comes the sense of this matter to touch you?
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Just now? Sir? You have set me about a work that has
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struck a dart through my very soul. I have been talking about God and
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religion to my wife in order as you directed me, to make a Christian
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of her, and she has preached such a sermon to me, as I
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shall never forget while I live. No, no, it is not your
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wife has preached to you, But when you were moving religious arguments to her
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conscience has flung them back upon you. Ay, sir, with such force
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as is not to be resisted. Pray, will let us know what passed
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between you and your wife? For I know something of it already, Sir.
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It is impossible to give you a full account of it. I am
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too full to hold it, and yet have no tongue to express it.
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But let her have said what she will. Though I cannot give you an
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account of it. This I can tell you that I have reason to amend
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and reform my life. But tell us some of it. How did you
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begin? Will? For this has been an extraordinary case. That is certain
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she has preached a sermon. Indeed, if she has wrought this upon you,
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why I first told her the nature of our laws about marriage, and
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what the reasons were that men and women were obliged to enter into such compacts,
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as it was neither in the power of one nor other to break that
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otherwise order and justice could not be maintained, and men would run from their
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wives and abandon their children mix confusedly with one another, and neither families be
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kept entire nor inheritance, says, be settled by legal dissent. You talk
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like a civilian. Will could you make her understand what you meant by inheritance
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and families? They know no such things among the savages. But marry anyhow
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without regard to relation, consanguinity or family, brother and sister, nay,
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as I have been told, even the father and daughter, and the son
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and the mother. I believe, sir, you are misinformed, And my
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wife assures me of the contrary, and that they abhor it. Perhaps for
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any further relations, they may not be so exact as we are, But
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she tells me never in the near relationship you speak of. Well, what
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did she say to what you told her? She said she liked it very
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well, as it was much better than in her country. But did you
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tell her what marriage was? I? Ay, there began our dialogue.
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I asked her if she would be married to me our way? She asked
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me what way that was? I told her marriage was appointed by God.
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And here we had a strange talk together. Indeed, as ever man and
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wife had. I believe n B this dialogue between will Atkins and his wife,
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which I took down in writing just after he told it me, was
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as follows, Appointed by your God. Why have you a god in your
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country? Yes, my dear, God is in every country. Know your
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God in my country my country? Have the great old been a mooky god?
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Child? I am very unfit to show you who God is. God
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is in heaven and made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all
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that is in them. No make ye the earth, No you God,
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make ye all earth, nor make ye my country. Will Atkins laughed a
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little at her expression of God not making her country. No laugh? Why
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laugh me? Tis no ting to laugh. He was justly reproved by his
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wife, for she was more serious than he at first. That's true.
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Indeed, I will not laugh any more, my dear. Why you say
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you God make ye all? Yes? Child, Our God made the whole
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world and you and me and all things. For He is the only true
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God, and there is no god but him. He lives forever in heaven.
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Why you no tell me long ago? That's true? Indeed, But
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I have been a wicked wretch and have not only forgotten to acquaint thee with
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anything before but have lived without God in the world my life. What have
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you a great God in your country? You no know him? No say
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o to him? No too good thing for him? That no possible.
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It is true though for all that we live as if there was no God
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in heaven, or that he had no power on earth. But why God
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let you do so? Why He no makee you good? Live? It
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is all our own vault. But you say me, he is great,
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much great, have much great power? Can make ye kill when he will?
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Why he no make ye kill when you no serve him? No say
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o to him? No be good man's That is true. He might strike
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me dead, and I ought to expect it, for I have been a
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wicked wretch, that is true. But God is merciful and does not deal
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with us as we deserve. But then do you not tell God thankee for
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that too? No. Indeed, I have not thanked God for his mercy
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any more than I have feared God from his power. Then you God,
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no God, me no think believe he be such one great, much power
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strong? No make ye kill you though you make him much angry? What
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will my wicked life hinder you from believing in God? What a dreadful creature,
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am I? And what a sad truth is it that the horrid lives
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of Christians hinder the conversion of Heathens. A me tink you have great much
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God up there, she points up to heaven. And yet no do well?
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No do good? Ting? Can he tell? Sure? He no
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tell what you do? Yes? Yes, He knows and sees all things.
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He hears us speak, sees what we do, knows what we think,
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though we do not speak what He no hear you curse, swear speak
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the great damn? Yes, yes he hears it. All will be then,
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the much great power strong. He is merciful. That is all we
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can say for it. And this proves him to be the true God.
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He is God and not man, and therefore we are not consumed. Here.
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Will Atkins told us he was struck with horror to think how he could
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tell his wife so clearly that God sees and hears and knows the secret thoughts
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of the heart and all that we do. And yet that he had dared
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to do all the vile things he had done. Merciful, what do you
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call that? He is our father and maker? And he pities and spares
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us, so then he never make ye kill, never angry when you do
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wicked? Then he no good himself or no great able. Yes, yes,
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my dear, he is infinitely good and infinitely great, and able to
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punish too, And sometimes to show his justice and vengeance, he lets fly
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his anger to destroy sinners and make examples many are cut off in their sins.
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But no make ye kill you. Yet then he tell you maybe that
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he no makee you kill, So you make ye the bargain with him.
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You do bad thing, He no be angry at you when he be angry
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at other man's. No. Indeed, my sins are all presumptions upon his
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goodness, and he would be infinitely just if he destroyed me as he has
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done other men well. And yet no kill, No makee you dead.
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What you say to him for that? You no tell him thank'e for all
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that too. I am an unthankful, ungrateful dog, that is true.
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Why he no makee you much good? Better you say he makee you?
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He made me as he made all the world. It is I have deformed
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myself and abused his goodness and made myself an abominable wretch. I wish you
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make ye God know me. I know making him angry. I know do
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bad wicked thing? Here, Will Atkins said, his heart sunk within him
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to hear a poor, untaught creature desire to be taught to know God,
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and he such a wicked wretch that he could not say one word to her
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about God. But what the reproach of his own carriage would make most irrational
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to her to believe? Nay that already she had told him that she could
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not believe in God, because he that was so wicked was not destroyed.
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My dear, you mean you wish I could teach you to know God,
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not God to know you, For he knows you already and every thought in
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your heart? Why then he know what I say to you? Now he
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know me? He wished to know him? How shall me know? Who?
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MAKEE? Me? Poor creature? He must teach THEE. I cannot
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teach THEE. I will pray to him to teach THEE to know Him,
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and forgive me that I am unworthy to teach THEE. The poor fellow was
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in such an agony at her desiring him to make her know God and her
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wishing to know him, that he said he fell down on his knees before
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her and prayed to God to enlighten her mind with the saving knowledge of Jesus
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Christ, and to pardon his sins and accept of his being the unworthy instrument
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of instructing her in the principles of religion, after which he sat down by
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her again, and their dialogue went on. This was the time when we
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saw him kneel down and hold up his hands. What you put down the
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knee for what you hold up the hand for what you say? Who you
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speak to? What is all that? My dear, I bow my knees
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in token of my submission to him that made me. I said, oh
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to him as you call it, and as your old men do to their
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idol, being a mouchy, that is, I prayed to him what you
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say, O to him? For I prayed to him to open your eyes
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and your understanding that you may know him and be accepted by him. Can
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he do that too? Yes he can. He can do all things.
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But now he hear what you say. Yes, he has bid us pray
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to him, and promise to hear us. Bid you pray when he bid
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you? How he bid you? What you hear him speak? No,
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we do not hear him speak. But he has revealed himself many ways to
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us. Here he was at a great loss to make her understand that God
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has revealed himself to us by his word and what his word was, but
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at last he told it to her. Thus God has spoken to some good
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men in former days, even from heaven, by plain words. And God
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has inspired good men by his spirit, and they have written all his laws
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down in a book. Me no understand that where his book alas, my
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poor creature, I have not this book, but I hope I shall one
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to moor other get it for you and help you to read it. Here
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he embraced her with great affection, but with inexpressible grief that he had not
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a bible. But how you makee me know? That God teacheth them to
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write that book by the same rule that we know him to be God?
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What rule? What way you know him? Because he teaches and commands nothing
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but what is good, righteous and holy, and tends to make us perfectly
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good as well as perfectly happy. And because he forbids and commands us to
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avoid all that is wicked, that is evil in itself or evil in its
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consequence, that me would understand. Let me fain see if he teach ye
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all good thing. He make ye all good thing. He give all thing.
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He hear me when I say o to him as you do just now,
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He makee me good. If I wish to be good, he spare
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me, Nor make ye kill me when I know be good. All this
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you say he do. Yet he be great God. Me take think,
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believe him to be great God. Me say o to him with you,
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my dear. Here the poor man could forbear no longer, but raised her
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up, made her kneel by him, and he prayed to God aloud to
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instruct her in the knowledge of himself by his spirit, and that by some
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good providence, if possible, she might some time or other come to have
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a Bible, that she might read the Word of God and be taught by
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it to know him. This was the time that we saw him lift her
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up by the hand, and saw him kneel down by her. As above.
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They had several other discourses, it seems, after this, and particularly
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she made him promise that, since he confessed his own life had been a
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wicked, abominable course of provocations against God, that he would reform it and
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not make God angry any more, lest he should make him dead, as
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she called it, and then she would be left alone and never be taught
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to know this God better, and lest he should be miserable, as he
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had told her wicked men would be after death. This was a range account,
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and very affecting to us both, but particularly to the young clergyman.
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He was indeed wonderfully surprised with it, but under the greatest affliction, imaginable
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that he could not talk to her, that he could not speak English to
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make her understand him, and as she spoke but very broken English, he
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could not understand her. However, he turned himself to me and told me
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that he believed there must be more to do with this woman than to marry
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her. I did not understand him at first, but at length he explained
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himself viz. That she ought to be baptized. I agreed with him in
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that part readily, and wished it to be done presently. No no hold
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sir, says he. Though I would have her be baptized by all means.
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I must observe that Will l Atkins, her husband, has indeed brought
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her in a wonderful manner to be willing to embrace a religious life, and
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has given her just ideas of the being of a God, of his power,
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justice and mercy. Yet I desire to know of him if he has
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said anything to her of Jesus Christ, and of the salvation of sinnas of
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the nature of faith in Him, and redemption by Him, of the Holy
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Spirit, the Resurrection, the last judgment, and the future state. I
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called will Atkins again and asked him. But the poor fellow fell immediately into
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tears, and told us he had said something to her of all those things,
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but that he himself was so wicked a creature, and his own conscience
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so reproached him with his horrid, ungodly life, that he trembled at the
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apprehensions that her knowledge of him should lessen the attention she should give to those
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things, and made her rather condemn religion than receive it. But he was
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assured. He said that her mind was so disposed to receive newe impressions of
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all those things, and that if I would but discourse with her, she
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would make it appear to my satisfaction that my labor would not be lost upon
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her. Accordingly, I called her in, and placing myself as interpreter between
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my religious priest and the woman I entreated him to begin with her. But
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sure such a sermon was never preached by a popish priest in these latter ages
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of the world. And as I told him, I thought he had all
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the zeal, all the knowledge, all the sincerity of a Christian, without
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the error of a Roman Catholic, and that I took him to be such
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a clergyman as the Roman bishops were before the Church of Rome assumed spiritual sovereignty
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over the consciences of men. In a word, he brought the poor woman
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to embrace the knowledge of Christ and of redemption by Him, not with wonder
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and astonishment only as she did the first notions of a God, but with
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joy and faith, with an affection and a surprising degree of understanding scarce to
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be imagined, much less to be expressed. And at her own request she
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was baptized. When he was preparing to baptize her, I entreated him that
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he would perform that office, with some caution that the man might not perceive
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he was of the Roman Church, if possible, because of other ill consequences
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which might and the difference among us in that very religion which we were instructing
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the other in. He told me that as he had no consecrated chapel,
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nor proper things for the office, I should see he would do it in
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a manner that I should not know by it that he was a Roman Catholic
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myself, if I had not known it before. And so he did,
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for saying only some words over to himself in Latin which I could not understand.
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He poured a whole dishful of water upon the woman's head, pronouncing in
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French very loud, marry, which was the name her husband desired me to
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give her, for I was her godfather. I baptized the Indian name of
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the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, so that
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none could know anything by it what religion he was of. He gave the
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benediction afterwards in Latin, but either will Atkins did not know but it was
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French, or else did not take notice of it at that time. As
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soon as this was over, we married them. And after the marriage was
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over, he turned to will Atkins, and in a very affectionate manner,
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exhorted him not only to persevere in that good disposition he was in, but
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to support the convictions that were upon him by a resolution to reform his life,
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told him it was in vain to say he repented if he did not
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forsake his crimes. Represented to him how God had honored him with being the
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instrument of bringing his wife to the knowledge of the Christian religion, and that
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he should be careful he did not dishonor the grace of God, and that
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if he did, he would see the heathen a better Christian than himself.
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The savage converted and the instrument cast away. He said a great many things
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to them both, and then, recommending them to God's goodness, gave them
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the benediction again, I repeating everything to them in English, and thus ended
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the ceremony. I think it was the most pleasant and agreeable day to me
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that ever I passed in my whole life. But my clergyman had not done
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yet. His thoughts hung continually upon the conversion of the thirty seven savages,
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and fain Bee would have stayed upon the island to have undertaken it. But
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I convinced him first that his understanding was impracticable in itself, and secondly that
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perhaps I would put it into a way of being done in his absence,
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to his satisfaction. Having thus brought the affairs of the island to a narrow
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compass. I was preparing to go on board the ship when the young man
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I had taken out of the famished ship's company came to me and told me
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he understood I had a clergyman with me, and that I had caused the
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Englishmen to be married to the Savages. That he had a match too,
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which he desired might be finished before I went between two Christians, which he
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hoped would not be disagreeable to me. I knew this must be the young
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woman who was his mother's servant, for there was no other Christian woman on
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the island. So I began to persuade him not to do anything of that
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kind rashly or because he found himself in this solitary circumstance. I represented to
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him that he had some considerable sin substance in the world, and good friends,
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as I understood by himself and the maid. Also that the maid was
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not only poor and a servant, but was unequal to him, she being
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six or seven and twenty years old, and he not above seventeen or eighteen.
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That he might, very probably, with my assistance, make a remove
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from this wilderness and come into his own country again, and that then it
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would be one thousand to one, but he would repent his choice, and
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the dislike of that circumstance might be disadvantageous to both. I was going to
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say more, but he interrupted me, smiling, and told me, with
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a great deal of modesty, that I mistook in my guesses that he had
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nothing of that kind in his thoughts, and he was very glad to hear
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that I had an intent of putting them in a way to see their own
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country again, and nothing should have made him think of staying there, but
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that the voyage I was going was so exceeding long and hazardous and would carry
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him quite out of the reach of all his friends. That he had nothing
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to desire of me, but that I would settle him in some little property
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in the island where he was, give him a servant or two, and
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some few necessaries, and he would live here like a planter, waiting the
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good time, when, if ever I returned to England, I would redeem
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him. He hoped I would not be unmindful of him when I came to
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England, that he would give me some letters to his friends in London to
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let them know how good I had been to him, and in what part
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of the world, and what circumstances I had left him in. And he
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promised me that whenever I redeemed him the plantation and all the improvements he had
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made upon it, let the value be what it would should be wholly mine.
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His discourse was very prettily delivered, considering his youth, and was the
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more agreeable to me because he told me positively the match was not for himself.
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I gave him all possible assurances that if I lived to come safe to
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England, I would deliver his letters and do his business effectually, and that
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he might depend I should never forget the circumstances I had left him in.
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But still I was impatient to know who was the person to be married,
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upon which he told me it was my jack of all trades and his maid
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Susan. I was most agreeably surprised when he named the match, for indeed,
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I thought it very suitable the character of that man I have given already.
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And as for the maid, she was a very honest, modest,
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sober and religious young woman, had a very good share of sense, was
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agreeable enough in her person, spoke very handsomely, and to the purpose,
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always with decency and good manners, and was neither too backward to speak when
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requisite, nor impertinently forward when it was not her business. Very handy and
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housewifely, and an excellent manager, fit indeed to have been governess to the
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whole island, and she knew very well how to behave in every respect.
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The match being proposed in this manner, we married them the same day.
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And as I was father at the altar and gave her away, so I
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gave her a poor for I appointed her and her husband a handsome, large
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space of ground for their plantation. And indeed, this match, and the
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proposal the young gentleman made to give him a small property in the island,
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put me upon parceling it out amongst them, that they might not quarrel afterwards
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about their situation. This sharing out the land to them I left to will
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Atkins, who was now grown a sober, grave managing fellow, perfectly reformed,
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exceedingly pious and religious, And as far as I may be allowed to
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speak positively in such a case, I verily believe he was a true penitent.
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He divided things so justly, and so much to everyone's satisfaction, that
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they only desired one general writing under my hand for the whole which I caused
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to be drawn up and signed and sealed, setting out the bounds and situation
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of every man's plantation, and testifying that I gave them thereby severally a right
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to the whole possession and inheritance of the respective plantations, order farms, with
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their improvements to them and their heirs, reserving all the rest of the island
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as my own property, and a certain rent for every particular plantation after eleven
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years, if I or anyone from me or in my name came to demand
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it, producing an attested copy of the same writing. As to the government
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and laws among them, I told them I was not capable of giving them
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better rules than they were able to give themselves. Only I made them promise
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me to live in love and good neighborhood with one another. And so I
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prepared to leave them One thing I must not omit, and that is that,
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being now settled in a kind of commonwealth among themselves, and having much
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business in hand, it was odd to have seven and thirty Indians live in
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a nook of the island, independent and indeed unemployed, for except the providing
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themselves food, which they had difficulty enough to do. Sometimes they had no
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manner of business or property to manage. I proposed their to the governor's Spaniard
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that he should go to them with Friday's father, and proposed to them to
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remove and either plant for themselves or be taken in to their several families as
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servants, to be maintained for their labor, but without being absolute slaves.
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For I would not permit them to make them slaves by force by any means,
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because they had their liberty given them by capitulation, as it were articles
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of surrender which they ought not to break. They most willingly embraced the proposal
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and came all very cheerfully along with him. So we allotted them land and
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plantations, which three or four excepted of, but all the rest chose to
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be employed as servants in the several families we had settled. Thus my colony
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was in a manner settled as follows. The Spaniards possessed my original habitation,
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which was the capital city, and extended their plantations all along the side of
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the brook which made the creek that I have so often described as far as
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my bank. And as they increased their culture. It went always eastward.
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The English lived in the northeast part, where will Atkins and his comrades began,
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and came on southward and southwest towards the back part of the Spaniards.
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And every plantation had a great addition of land to take in if they found
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occasion, so that they need not jostle one another for want of room.
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All the east end of the island was left uninhabited, that if any of
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the savages should come on shore there only for their customary barbarities, they might
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come and go if they disturbed nobody. Nobody would disturb them, and no
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doubt they were often ashore and went away again, For I never heard that
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the planters were ever attacked or disturbed any more. End of Chapter seven