ason to hope, and bless God for it, that
we were equally penitent, and comforted, restored penitents. We had here
the Word of God to read, and no farther off from His Spirit to instruct
than if we had been in England. I always applied myself, in reading the
Scripture, to let him know, as well as I could, the meaning of what I
read; and he again, by his serious inquiries and questionings, made me,
as I said before, a much better scholar in the Scripture knowledge than I
should ever have been by my own mere private reading. Another thing I
cannot refrain from observing here also, from experience in this retired
part of my life, viz. how infinite and inexpressible a blessing it is
that the knowledge of God, and of the doctrine of salvation by Christ
Jesus, is so plainly laid down in the Word of God, so easy to be received
and understood, that, as the bare reading the Scripture made me capable
of understanding enough of my duty to carry me directly on to the great
work of sincere repentance for my sins, and laying hold of a Saviour for
life and salvation, to a stated reformation in practice, and obedience to
all God's commands, and this without any teacher or instructor, I mean
human; so the same plain instruction sufficiently served to the
enlightening this savage creature, and bringing him to be such a
Christian as I have known few equal to him in my life.

As to all the disputes, wrangling, strife, and contention which have
happened in the world about religion, whether niceties in doctrines or
schemes of church government, they were all perfectly useless to us, and,
for aught I can yet see, they have been so to the rest of the world. We
had the sure guide to heaven, viz. the Word of God; and we had, blessed
be God, comfortable views of the Spirit of God teaching and instructing
by His word, leading us into all truth, and making us both willing and
obedient to the instruction of His word. And I cannot see the least use
that the greatest knowledge of the disputed points of religion, which
have made such confusion in the world, would have been to us, if we could
have obtained it. But I must go on with the historical part of things,
and take every part in its order.

After Friday and I became more intimately acquainted, and that he could
understand almost all I said to him, and speak pretty fluently, though in
broken English, to me, I acquainted him with my own history, or at least
so much of it as related to my coming