o make some purchases
in the town of Ternate. I suppose they had treated us with civility at
first, not understanding that our ship was entirely lost, and perhaps
expecting that our countrymen would have punished them had they behaved
ill to us. The chief seemed very angry at finding we had so little of
value about us. He now made us a sign that we were to be gone from his
presence. We sat down in the shade before the house, in the centre of
the deck, where Macco began to bewail our hard fate, observing that he
was sure the natives would kill and eat us. I endeavoured to comfort
him by saying, that as they were Mohammedans they certainly would not
eat us, though I could not be answerable for their not taking our lives;
and, as far as I could, I endeavoured to persuade him to be prepared for
whatever might happen.

"The great thing, Macco," said Oliver, joining in the conversation, "is
to be sure that He who lives up there,"--(and he pointed to the blue
sky)--"who made this world, and all those stars we see, loves us, his
creatures whom he has placed on the earth; and if we trust him, he will
do everything that is best for us."

"But how I know he does love us?" asked Macco. "He let many people die;
many be drowned; many be killed with blow up mountain or shake of earth;
many die fever, plague; many kill each other."

"Very true," answered Oliver. "Sometimes he lets those who love him
best die. He does not say that he will keep even his friends alive; but
if he takes them out of a bad world and puts them into a good one, does
not that show his love? Some of those who are killed in the terrible
way you say, are not his friends; but we know he loves us, because he
gave One he loves better than anything else, to die for us, to be
punished instead of us. We deserve punishment; we all feel that. He
has told us, too, that he loves us; and if we believe the Bible, we must
believe that. If man had not sinned, but had always been good and
obedient, we might have reason to doubt God's Word; but we are sure that
man has sinned, and continues sinning, and it was sin which brought all
this suffering on man. Besides, again, as I said, we must not look upon
death--the mere death of the body--as a punishment. It may be a great
blessing; it is indeed so to many. But then, again, Macco, we cannot
pretend to understand all God's dealings with us."

I listened very attentively to these remarks made by Oliver. A new
light