he, "whatever you may have known of the life of
that man you call Will Atkin's, I believe he is the only sincere convert
among them: I will not despair of the rest; but that man is apparently
struck with the sense of his past life, and I doubt not, when he comes to
talk of religion to his wife, he will talk himself effectually into it:
for attempting to teach others is sometimes the best way of teaching
ourselves. If that poor Atkins begins but once to talk seriously of
Jesus Christ to his wife, he will assuredly talk himself into a thorough
convert, make himself a penitent, and who knows what may follow."

Upon this discourse, however, and their promising, as above, to endeavour
to persuade their wives to embrace Christianity, he married the two other
couple; but Will Atkins and his wife were not yet come in. After this,
my clergyman, waiting a while, was curious to know where Atkins was gone,
and turning to me, said, "I entreat you, sir, let us walk out of your
labyrinth here and look; I daresay we shall find this poor man somewhere
or other talking seriously to his wife, and teaching her already
something of religion." I began to be of the same mind; so we went out
together, and I carried him a way which none knew but myself, and where
the trees were so very thick that it was not easy to see through the
thicket of leaves, and far harder to see in than to see out: when, coming
to the edge of the wood, I saw Atkins and his tawny 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 showed him where they were, we
stood and looked very steadily at them a good while. We observed him
very earnest with her, pointing up to the sun, and to every quarter of
the heavens, and then down to the earth, then out to the sea, then to
himself, then to her, to the woods, to the trees. "Now," says the
clergyman, "you see my words are made good, the man preaches to her; mark
him now, he is telling her that our God has made him, her, and the
heavens, the earth, the sea, the woods, the trees, &c."--"I believe he
is," said I. Immediately we perceived Will Atkins start upon his feet,
fall down on his knees, and lift up both his hands. We supposed he said
something, but we could not hear him; it was too far for that. He did
not continue kneeling half a minute, but comes and sits down again by his
wife, and talks to her again; we perceived then the woman very atte