fhould go towards the south: then I brought out my little compafs which I had made before I left England, and took it in my hand and and steered by it, till we all came into the road ; for that inward sense I had did perfuade me, that we were to the westward of the road, fo leaning a little to the eastward of the fouth point, we came right as before, and when fo, the guides much rejoiced, and faid, I was fitter to be guide in a wilderness country than they. My compass was not fo big as a taylor's thimble, which had often been of use to me, and others with me.

Now the time came on for my leaving all my near and dear friends in thofe parts, and I embarked for the Islands the 6th of the ninth month, 1702, with my companion James Bates, on board of a floop, Samuel Salter, mafter, for Barbadoes, and we put into Bermudas in our way: foon after we landed, being on the 21ft of the fame month, we were sent for by governor Bennett to come before him, and being near his door, a man came and clapt me on the shoulder, as we were walking on our way, and said roughly to us, You must go before the governor, and feemed to haften us: I replied meekly, I am willing to go as. faft as I can, but I have been very fea-fick, and can go but weakly: the man fell from his roughness, and bid us take time, and carried himself very civilly to us, and put us by a man who was keeping centry at the governor's door with his mufket on his arm, and

when

when we were come into a large room the man left us, and we ftaying a while, I began to reafon in myself, What if the governor should be a rigid man, and be fevere to us, and either confine or punish us ?But I faid in my heart, Lord, thou that knoweft all. things, knowest that I have not only offered up my hberty, but life alfo, for thy name and gofpel's fake; and immediately all fear and reasonings about human power was taken away from me.

I being not well, and weary with walking from. the ship, fat down to rest myself unbidden, when there came a friendly well carriaged young woman, who I supposed to be a servant, and spoke kindly to us ; I defired her to do as much for us as to give us fomething that was small to drink, for we were very thirsty, and had been much out of health, and were not well recovered fince we came from the fea, having had rough weather: fhe brought us wine and! water, and a thing to mix them in; fo taking most of a glass of water, and a very little wine poured into it, I drank and was very well refreshed., By this time the governor called us into an upper room, and as I came near to the top of the stairs, going but faintly, for reasons before given, the governor put forth his hand and reached to take hold of mine, and like a tender father drew me up, and led me along towards a great window, and ftood and looked. on me and faid, He believed he knew what I was,

and

and my business too. I replied, It might be fo, and afked, if he was the governor of that place; he faid he was, and bowed his head. I then fpoke to him in the love of God and faid, Thy countenance befpeaks moderation, and the apofile faid, Let your moderation appear to all men, for the Lord is at hand and it was with me to say to him, The Lord of heaven and earth bless thee and all thine.

He bade us fit down,

and gave us each a glafs of wine, and enquired from whence we came; I told him, My home was in Old England, but it was long fince I was there; my companion's was in Virginia. He wanting to know the affairs in Europe, I told him, There was a merchant belonging to the same ship that we did, who was lately come from Europe, and I thought was a man of parts and memory, and well versed in the affairs of thofe parts of the world, and when we came into this place he was with us. The governor then fent for him, and when he came, he answered his expectation in refolving all or moft of his questions, for the knowledge of the news appeared to me to be the young man's talent. Having done with and difmiffed him, he said, He must now have fome difcourfe with us: then rose up all the great men who were with the governor, to make way that I might come near him. I faid, If it was the governor's mind, I had rather fit where I was, for I fat well in the air, and that fuited well with my prefent weakness. So he bade them all fit down, and they did fo.

Now,

Now, faid he, I want to know the reasons why you,... assa people, where you live, do not affil the king and country with men and arms, for their and your own defence and fafety, against all that may attempt or endeavour your burt: I replied, The most convincing. reasons I have to offer to the governor are, we have neither precept nor example from Chrift, or his apostles, to use the fword to hurt one another withal. Na, faid he, what then means that faying of our Saviour, when he bade him that had not a sword, fell his cloak or coat and buy one? I replied, One of his difciples anfwered and faid, Lord, here are two; Chrift faid, It is enough. Now how two fwords can be enough to anfwer for a general precept, I leave the governor and all thefe men to judge. So after a little pause he faid, In cafe you was affaulted by robbers that would break your boufe, and take what they could get from you; or upon the highway, and would take your purse or horse, what would you do in that cafe? I replied, I could not directly answer what I should do in fuch a case, because through the Lord's mercy I was never yet fo affaulted; but it appears most likely, that I should endeavour to keep my house from being broken up, and yet withal be tender. of men's lives and as to the other affault, inafmuch as it is well known I do not provide any outward weapon for my defence, neither fword, piftol, nor any other fuch like weapon, therefore I must rely upon the Lord for protection and help, who is able to rescue me out of the hands of all fuch ungodly men; or if he does not, I must

:

endeavour

me.

endeavour to bear what the Lord suffers fuch to do unto The governor faid, You fay well; for inafmuch as you have not provided any thing for your defence, you have nothing to fly to but the Lord; you fay very well; and faid, he hoped what he had offered had not given any offence. I replied, It was so far from that, we were glad he was fo free with us; yet if he pleased to difmifs us, we should be willing to be going, for night came on. He faid, There were fome of our friends would be glad to fee us: I replied, I underflood there were fome further on the island that did own us, but how mnch they were of us I could not tell, for I had not feen any of them. He asked, Whether we had a mind to go by water or by land, for he had a boat, and a couple of hands should carry us where we would; or if we had a defire to ride, he had two horfes, we might take them and keep them as long as we flaid upon the ifland. I endeavoured to perfuade him to let us go without troubling himself any further, for I was fenfible of his goodwill and love to us, and having his countenance, was more than we expected, and as much as we defired. He ftill urging to know, after what manner we would chofe to go; I told him, I' was very fenfible of his generosity to us who were frangers, and if he would be eafy and let us fass, we had wherewithal to defray our necessary charges either by water or land, as would anfwer beft with our conveniency. He preffed upon us to accept of his offer, for he faid, he did not do it in compliment to us :. then seeing