by Daniel Defoe
I take that man to be a true penitent; I won'tdespair of the rest; but that man is perfectly struck with the sense ofhis past life; and I doubt not but when he comes to talk of religion tohis wife, he will talk himself effectually into it; for attempting toteach others is sometimes the best way of teaching ourselves. I knew aman," added he, "who having nothing but a summary notion of religionhimself, and being wicked and profligate to the last degree in his life,made a thorough reformation in himself by labouring to convert a Jew:and if that poor Atkins begins but once to talk seriously of JesusChrist to his wife, my life for it he talks himself into a thoroughconvert, makes himself a penitent; and who knows what may follow?"
Upon this discourse, however, and their promising as above to endeavourto persuade their wives to embrace Christianity, he married the otherthree couple; but Will Atkins and his wife were not yet come in. Afterthis, my clergyman waiting awhile, was curious to know where Atkins wasgone; and turning to me, says he, "I entreat you, Sir, let us walk outof your labyrinth here and look; I dare say we shall find this poor mansomewhere or other, talking seriously with his wife, and teaching heralready something of religion." I began to be of the same mind; so wewent out together, and I carried him a way which none knew but myself,and where the trees were so thick set, as 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 his tawnysavage wife, sitting under the shade of a bush, very eager in discourse.I stopped short till my clergyman came up to me, and then having shewedhim where they were, we stood and looked very steadily at them agood while.
We observed him very earnest with her, pointing up to the sun, and toevery quarter of the heavens; then down to the earth, then out to thesea, then to himself, then to her, to the woods, to the trees. "Now,"says my clergyman, "you see my words are made good; the man preaches toher; mark him; now he is telling her that our God has made him, and her,and the heavens, the earth, the sea, the woods, the trees, &c."--"Ibelieve he is," said I. Immediately we perceived Will Atkins start upupon his feet, fall down upon his knees, and lift up both his hands; wesupposed he said something, but we could not hear him; it was too faroff for that: he did not continue kneeling half a minute, but comes andsits down again by his wife, and talks to her again. We perceived thenthe woman very attentive, but whether she said any thing or no we couldnot tell. While the poor fellow was upon his knees, I could see thetears run plentifully down my clergyman's cheeks; and I could hardlyforbear myself; but it was a great affliction to us both, that we werenot near enough to hear any thing that passed between them.
Well, however, we could come no nearer for fear of disturbing them; sowe resolved to see an end of this piece of still conversation, and itspoke loud enough to us without the help of voice. He sat down again, asI have said, close by her, and talked again earnestly to her, and two orthree times we could see him embrace her passionately; another time wesaw him take out his handkerchief and wipe her eyes, and then kiss heragain, with a kind of transport very unusual; and after several of thesethings, we saw him on a sudden jump up again and lend her his hand tohelp her up, when immediately leading her by the hand a step or two,they both kneeled 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; thereforeI entreated him to withhold himself awhile, that we might see an end ofthe scene, which to me, I must confess, was the most affecting, and yetthe most agreeable, that ever I saw in my life. Well, he strove withhimself, and contained himself for awhile, but was in such raptures ofjoy to think that the poor heathen woman was become a Christian, that hewas not able to contain himself; he wept several times: then throwing uphis hands, and crossing his breast, said over several thingsejaculatory, and by way of giving God thanks for so miraculous atestimony of the success of our endeavours: some he spoke softly, and Icould not well hear; others audibly; some in Latin, some in French; thentwo or three times the tears of joy would interrupt him, that he couldnot speak at all. But I begged that he would compose himself, and let usmore narrowly and fully observe what was before us, which he did for atime, and the scene was not ended there yet; for after the poor man andhis wife were risen again from their knees, we observed he stood talkingstill eagerly to her; and we observed by her motion that she was greatlyaffected with what he said, by her frequent lifting up her hands, layingher hand to her breast, and such other postures as usually express thegreatest seriousness and attention. This continued about half a quarterof an hour, and then they walked away too; so that we could see no moreof them in that situation.
I took this interval to talk with my clergyman: and first I told him, Iwas glad to see the particulars we had both been witnesses to; thatthough I was hard enough of belief in such cases, yet that I began tothink it was all very sincere here, both in the man and his wife,however ignorant they both might be; and I hoped such a beginning wouldhave yet a more happy end: "And who knows," said I, "but these two mayin time, by instruction and example, work upon some of theothers?"--"Some of them!" said he, turning quick upon me, "ay, upon allof them: depend upon it, if those two savages (for _he_ has been butlittle better as you relate it) should embrace Jesus Christ, they willnever leave till they work upon all the rest; for true religion isnaturally communicative, and he that is once made a Christian will neverleave a Pagan behind him if he can help it," I owned it was a mostChristian principle to think so, and a testimony of a true zeal, as wellas a generous heart in him. "But, my friend," said I, "will you give meliberty to start one difficulty here? I cannot tell how to object theleast thing against that affectionate concern which you shew for theturning the poor people from their Paganism to the Christian religion;but how does this comfort you, while these people are, in your account,out of the pale of the Catholic church, without which, you believe,there is no salvation; so that you esteem these but heretics still; and,for other reasons, as effectually lost as the Pagans themselves?"
To this he answered with abundance of candour and Christian charity,thus: "Sir, I am a Catholic of the Roman church, and a priest of theorder of St. Benedict, and I embrace all the principles of the Romanfaith. But yet, if you will believe me, and this I do not speak incompliment to you, or in respect to my circumstances and yourcivilities; I say, nevertheless, I do not look upon you, who callyourselves reformed, without some charity: I dare not say, though I knowit is our opinion in general, yet I dare not say, that you cannot besaved; I will by no means limit the mercy of Christ, so far as to thinkthat he cannot receive you into the bosom of his church, in a manner tous imperceivable, and which it is impossible for us to know; and I hopeyou have the same charity for us. I pray daily for your being allrestored to Christ's church, by whatsoever methods he, who is all-wise,is pleased to direct. In the mean time, sure you will allow it toconsist with me, as a Roman, to distinguish far between a Protestant anda Pagan; between him that calls on Jesus Christ, though in a way which Ido not think is according to the true faith; and a savage, a barbarian,that knows no God, no Christ, no Redeemer at all; and if you are notwithin the pale of the Catholic church, we hope you are nearer beingrestored to it than those that know nothing at all of God or his church.I rejoice, therefore, when I see this poor man, who, you say, has been aprofligate, and almost a murderer, kneel down and pray to Jesus Christ,as we suppose he did, though not fully enlightened; believing that God,from whom every such work proceeds, will sensibly touch his heart, andbring him to the further knowledge of the truth in his own time; and ifGod shall influence this poor man to convert and instruct the ignorantsavage his wife, I can never believe that he shall be cast away himself;and have I not reason then to rejoice, the nearer any are brought to theknowledge of Christ, though they may not be brought quite home into thebosom of the Catholic church, just at the time when I may desire it;leaving it to the goodness of Christ to perfect his work in his owntime, and his own way? Certainly I would rejoice if all the sava
ges inAmerica were brought, like this poor woman, to pray to God, though theywere to be all Protestants at first, rather than they should continuepagans and heathens; firmly believing, that He who had bestowed thatfirst light upon them, would farther illuminate them with a beam of hisheavenly grace, and bring them into the pale of his church, when heshould see good."
I was astonished at the sincerity and temper of this truly pious Papist,as much as I was oppressed by the power of his reasoning; and itpresently occurred to my thoughts, that if such a temper was universal,we might be all Catholic Christians, whatever church or particularprofession we were joined to, or joined in; that a spirit of charitywould soon work us all up into right principles; and, in a word, as hethought that the like charity would make us all Catholics, as I toldhim, I believed had all