emember, I beseech you, Sir, that Achan, by his
crime, removed God's blessing from the camp of the children of Israel;
that though six and thirty where entirely innocent, yet they became the
object of divine vengeance, and bore the weight of his punishment
accordingly._

So sensibly was I touched with this discourse, and so satisfied with
that ardent piety that inflamed his soul, that I desired him to
accompany me to the Englishman's plantations, which he was very glad of,
by reason they were the subject of what he designed to discourse with me
about: and while we walked on together, he began in the
following manner:

"Sir, said he, I must confess it as a great unhappiness that we disagree
in several doctrinal articles of religion; but surely both of us
acknowledge this, that there is a God, who having given us some stated
rules for our service and obedience, we ought not willingly and
knowingly to offend him; either by neglecting what he has commanded, or
by doing what he has forbidden. This truth every Christian owns, that
when any one presumptuously sins against God's command, the Almighty
then withdraws his blessing from him; every good man therefore ought
certainly to prevent such neglect of, or sin against, God and his
commands." I thanked the young priest for expressing so great a concern
for us, and desired him to explain the particulars of what he had
observed, that according to the parable of Achan, I _might remove the
accursed thing from among us_ "Why then, Sir, said he, in the first
place, you have four Englishmen, who have taken savage women to their
wives, by whom they have several children, though none of them are
legally married, as the law of God and man requires; they, I say, Sir,
are no less than adulterers, and as they still live in adultery, are
liable to the curse of God. I know, Sir, you may object the want of a
priest or clergyman of any kind; as also, pen, ink and paper, to write
down a contract of marriage, and have it signed between them. But
neither this, nor what the Spanish governor has told you of their
choosing by consent, can be reckoned a marriage, nor any more than an
agreement to keep them from quarrelling among themselves; for, Sir, the
essence or sacrament of matrimony (so he called it) not only consists in
mutual consent, but in the legal obligation, which compels them to own
and acknowledge one another, to abstain from other persons, the men to
provide for their wives and child