o heart as well as you?"--"It is not too late
yet," said he; "be not too forward to condemn yourself."--"But what can
be done now?" said I; "you see I am going away."--"Will you give me
leave," said he, "to talk with these poor men about it?"--"Yes, with all
my heart," said I, "and I will oblige them to give heed to what you say
too."--"As to that," said he, "we must leave them to the mercy of
Christ; but it is our business to assist them, encourage them, and
instruct them; and if you will give me leave, and God his blessing, I do
not doubt but the poor ignorant souls shall be brought home into the
great circle of Christianity, if not into the particular faith that we
all embrace; and that even while you stay here." Upon this I said, "I
shall not only give you leave, but give you a thousand thanks for it."
What followed on this account I shall mention also again in its place.

I now pressed him for the third article in which we were to blame. "Why
really," says he, "it is of the same nature, and I will proceed (asking
your leave) with the same plainness as before; it is about your poor
savages yonder, who are, as I may say, your conquered subjects. It is a
maxim, Sir, that is, or ought to be received among all Christians, of
what church, or pretended church soever, viz. that Christian knowledge
ought to be propagated by all possible means, and on all possible
occasions. It is on this principle that our church sends missionaries
into Persia, India, and China; and that our clergy, even of the
superior sort, willingly engage in the most hazardous voyages, and the
most dangerous residence among murderers and barbarians, to teach them
the knowledge of the true God, and to bring them over to embrace the
Christian faith. Now, Sir, you have an opportunity here to have six or
seven-and-thirty poor savages brought over from idolatry to the
knowledge of God, their Maker and Redeemer, that I wonder how you can
pass by such an occasion of doing good, which is really worth the
expense of a man's whole life."

I was now struck dumb indeed, and had not one word to say; I had here a
spirit of true Christian zeal for God and religion before me, let his
particular principles be of what kind soever. As for me, I had not so
much as entertained a thought of this in my heart before, and I believe
should not have thought of it; for I looked upon these savages as
slaves, and people whom, had we any work for them to do, we would have
used as su