to go in or
out by the ladder, I had placed a kind of trapdoor, which if it had been
attempted on the outside, would not have opened at all, but would have
fallen down, and made a great noise; and as to weapons, I took them all
in to my side every night.

But I needed none of all this precaution; for never man had a more
faithful, loving, sincere servant than Friday was to me; without
passions, sullenness, or designs; perfectly obliging and engaging; his
very affections were tied to me, like those of a child to a father; and
I dare say, he would have sacrificed his life for the saving mine, upon
any occasion whatsoever: the many testimonies he gave me of this put it
out of doubt; and soon convinced me, that I needed to use no precautions
as to my safety on his account.

This frequently gave me occasion to observe, and that with wonder, that,
however it had pleased God in his providence, and in the government of
the works of his hands, to take from so great a part of the world of his
creatures the best uses to which their faculties, and the powers of
their souls, are adapted; yet that he has bestowed upon them the same
powers, the same reason, the same affections, the same sentiments of
kindness and obligation, the same passions and resentments of wrongs,
the same sense of gratitude, sincerity, fidelity, and all the capacities
of doing good, and receiving good, that he has given to us; and that
when he pleases to offer them occasions of exerting these, they are as
ready, nay more ready, to apply them to the right uses for which they
were bestowed, than we are. And this made me very melancholy sometimes,
in reflecting, as the several occasions presented, how mean a use we
make of all these, even though we have these powers enlightened by the
great lamp of instruction, the Spirit of God, and by the knowledge of
his word, added to our understanding; and why it has pleased God to hide
the life saving knowledge from so many millions of souls, who, if I
might judge by this poor savage, would make a much better use of it
than we did.

From hence I sometimes was led too far to invade the sovereignty of
Providence; and, as it were, arraign the justice of so arbitrary a
disposition of things, that should hide that light from some, and reveal
it to others, and yet expect a like duty from both: but I shut it up,
and checked my thoughts with this conclusion: first, that we do not know
by what light and law these should be condemne