would break out upon me, and my very heart would sink within me, to
think of the woods, the mountains, the desarts I was in; and how I was a
prisoner locked up within the eternal bars and bolts of the ocean, in an
uninhabited wilderness, without hopes, and without redemption: In this
condition I would often wring my hands, and weep like a child: And even
sometimes, in the middle of my work, this fit would take me; and then I
would sit down and sigh, looking on the ground for an hour or two
together, till such time as my grief got vent in a flood of tears.

One morning as I was sadly employed in this manner, I opened my Bible,
when I immediately fixed my eyes upon these words, _I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee!_ Surely, thought I, these words are directed to
me, or else why should they appear just at a moment when I am bemoaning
my forlorn condition? and if God does not forsake, what matters it,
since he can me more happy in this state of life, than if I enjoyed the
greatest splendour in the world? But while I was going to return God
thanks for my present state, something seemed to shock my mind, as if it
had thus said: _Unworthy wretch; can you pretend to be thankful for a
condition, from which you would pray to be delivered_? Therefore I
stopt:--and tho' I could not say, I thanked the Divine Majesty for
being there, yet I gave God thanks for placing in my view my former
course of life, and granting me a true knowledge of repentance. And
whenever I opened or read the Bible, I blessed kind Providence, that
directed my good friend in England to send it among my goods without
any order, and for assisting me to save it from the power of the
raging ocean.

And now beginning my third year, my several daily employments were
these: _First_, My duty to Heaven, and diligently reading the Holy
Scriptures, which I did twice or thrice every day: _Secondly_, Seeking
provision with my gun, which commonly took me up, when it did not rain,
three hours every morning: _Thirdly_, The ordering, curing, preserving,
and cooking what I killed, or catched for my supply which took me up
great part of the day: for, in the middle of the day, the sun being in
its height, it was so hot, that I could not stir out; so that I had only
but four hours in the evening to work in: and then the want of tools, of
assistance, and skill, wasted a great deal of time to little purpose. I
was no less than two and forty days making a board fit for a long s