The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801)
TekstROBINSO NCRUSOE'S
VISION OF THE ANGELIC WORLD
CHAP. I. Of SOLITUDE
However solitude is looked upon as a restraint to the pleasure of the world, in company and conversation, yet it is a happy state of exemption from a sea of trouble, an inundation of vanity and vexation, of confusion and disappointment. While we enjoy ourselves, neither the joy not sorrow of other men affect us: We are then at liberty with the voice of our soul, to speak to God. By this we shun such frequent trivial discourse, as often becomes an obstruction to virtue: and how often do we find that we had reason to with we had not been in company, or said nothing when we were there? for either we offend God by the impiety of our discourse, or lay ourselves open to the violence of designing people by our ungarded expressions; and frequently feel the coldness and treachery of pretended friends, when once involved in trouble and affliction: of such unfaithful intimates (I should say enemies) who rather by false inuendoes would accumulate miseries upon us, than honestly assist us when under the hard hand of adversity. But in a state of solitude, when our tongues cannot be heard, except from the great Majesty of Heaven, how happy are we, in the blessed enjoyment of conversing with our Maker! It is then we make him our friend, which sets us above the envy and contempt of wicked men. When a man converses with himself, he is sure that he does not converse with an enemy. Our retreat should be to good company, and good books. I mean not by solitude, that a man should retire into a cell, a desert, or a monastry: which would be altogether an useless and unprofitable restraint: for as men ate formed for society, and have an absolute necessity and dependance upon one another; so there is a retirement of the soul, with which it converses in heaven, even in the midst of men; and indeed no man is more fit to speak freely, than he who can, without any violence himself, refrain his tongue, or keep silence altogether. As to religion, it is by this the foul gets acquainted with the hidden mysteries of the holy writings; here she finds those floods of tears, in which good men wash themselves day and night, and only makes a visit to God, and his holy angels. In this conversation the truest peace and most solid joy are to be found; it is a continual feast of contentment on earth, and the means of attaining everlasting happiness in heaven.
CHAP. II. Of HONESTY
Honesty is a virtue beloved by good men, and pretended to by all other persons. In this there are several degrees: to pay every man his own is the common law of honesty: but to do good to all mankind, is the chancery law of honesty: and this chancery court is in every man's breast, where his conscience is a Lord Chancellor. Hence it is, that a miser, though he pays every body their own, cannot be an honest man, when he does not discharge the good offices that are incumbent on a friendly, kind, and generous person: for, faith the prophet Isaiah, chap. XXXII. ver. 7, 8. The instruments of a churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal soul deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand. It is certainly honest to do every thing the law requires; but should we throw every poor debtor into prison till he has paid the utmost farthing, hang every malefactor without mercy, exact the penalty of every bond, and the forfeiture of every indenture, this would be downright cruelty, and not honesty: and it is contrary to that general rule, To do to another, that which you would have done unto you. Sometimes necessity makes an honest man a knave: and a rich man a honest man, because he has no occasion to be a knave. The trial of honesty is this: Did you ever want bread, and had your neighbour's loaf in keeping, and would starve rather than eat it? Were you ever arrested, having in your custody another man's cash, and would rather go to gaol, than break it? if so, this indeed may be reckoned honesty. For King Solomon tells us, That a good name is better than life, and is a precious ointment, and which, when a man has once lost, he has nothing left worth keeping.
CHAP. III Of the present state of Religion in the world
I doubt, indeed, there is much more devotion than religion in the world, more adoration than supplication, and more hypocrisy than sincerity; and it is very melancholy to consider, what numbers of people there are furnished with the powers of reason and gifts of nature, and yet abandoned to the grossest ignorance and depravity. But it would be uncharitable for us to imagine (as some Papists, abounding with too much ill nature, the only scandal to religion, do) that they will certainly be in a state of damnation after this life; for how can we think it consistent with the mercy and goodness of an infinite Being, to damn those creatures, when he has not furnished them with the light of the gospel? or how can such proud, conceited and cruel bigots, prescribe rules to the justice and mercy of God?
We are told by some people, that the great image which King Nebuchadnezzar set up to be adored by his people held the representation of the sun in it's right hand, as the principal object of adoration. But to wave this discourse of Heathens, how many self-contradicting principles are there held among Christians? and how do we doom one another to the devil, while all profess to worship the same Deity, and to expect the same salvation.
When I was at Portugal, there was held at that time the court of justice of the Inquisition. All the criminals were carried in procession to the great church, where eight of them were habited in gowns and caps of canvass, whereon the torments of hell were displayed, and they were condemned and burnt for crimes against the Catholic faith and blessed Virgin.
I am sorry to make any reflection upon Christians; but indeed, in Italy the Roman religion seems the most cruel and mercenary upon earth; and a very judicious person, who travelled through Italy from Turkey, tells, That there is only the face and outward pomp of religion there; that the church protects murderers and assassins; and then delivers the civil magistrate over to Satan for doing justice; interdicts whole kingdoms, and shuts up the churches for want of paying a few ecclesiastical dues, and so puts a stop to religion for want of their money; that the court of Inquisition burnt two men for speaking dishonourably of the Blessed Virgin; and the missionaries of China tolerated the worshipping the devil by their new converts: that Italy was the theatre, where religion was the grand opera: and that the Popish clergy were no other than stage players.
As to religion in Poland, they deny Christ to be the Messiah, or that the Messiah has come in the flesh. And as to their Protestants, they are the followers of Laelius Socinus, who denied our Saviour's divinity; and have no concern about the divine inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
In Muscovy their churches are built of wood, and, indeed, they have but wooden priests, though of the Greek church; they pray as much to St. Nicholas, as the Papists do to the Virgin Mary, for protection in all their difficulties or afflictions.
As to Lutherans, they only differ from the Romans in believing consubstantiation, instead of transubstantiation; but like them, they are much pleased with the external gallantry and pomp, more than the true and real practice of it.
In France I found a world of priests, the streets every where crowded with them, and the churches full of women: but surely never was a nation so full of blind guides, so ignorant of religion, and even as void of morals, as those people who confess their sins to them.
Does it not seem strange, that, while all men own the Divine Being, there should be so many different opinions as to the manner of paying him obedience in the Christian church? I know not what reason to assign for this, except it be their different capacities and faculties.
And, indeed, upon this account, we have perceived, in all Christian countries, what mortal feuds have been about religion; what wars and bloodshed have molested Europe, till the general pacification of the German troubles at the treaty of Westphalia: and since those times, what persecution in the same country among the churches of the Lutherans; and should I take a prospect at home, what unhappy divisions are between Christians in this kingdom, about Episcopacy and Presbytery; the church of England and the Dissenters opposing one another like St. Paul and St. Peter, even to the face; that is, they carry on the dispute to the utmost extremity.
It might be a question, why there are such differences in religious points, and why these breaches should be more hot and irreconcileable? All the answer I can give to this, is, that we inquire more concerning the truth of religion, than any other nation in the world; and the anxious concern we have about it, makes us jealous of every opinion, and tenacious of our own; and this is not because we are more furious and rash than other people; but the truth is, we are more concerned about them, and being sensible that the scripture is the great rule of faith, the standard for life and doctrine, we have recourse to it ourselves, without submitting to any pretended infallible judge upon earth.
There is another question, pertinent to the former, and that is, What remedy can we apply to this malady? And to this I must negatively answer, Not to be less religious, that we may differ the less. This is striking at the very root of all religious differences; for, certainly, were they to be carried on with a peaceable spirit, willing to be informed, our variety of opinions would not have the name of differences; nor should we separate in communion of charity though we did not agree in several articles of religion.
Nor is there a less useful question to start, namely, Where will our unhappy religious differences end? To which, I hope, I may answer, In Heaven; there we shall unchristian and unbrotherly differences will find a period; there we shall embrace many a sinner, that here we think it a dishonour to converse with; & perceive many a heart we have broken here with censures, reproachings, & revilings, made whole again by the balm of the same Redeemer's blood. Here we shall perceive there have been other flocks than those of our fold; that those we have excommunicated have been taken into that superior communion; and, in a word, that those contradicting notions and principles which we thought inconsistent with true religion, we shall then find reconcileable to themselves, to one another, and to the fountain of truth. If any man ask me, Why our differences cannot be ended on earth? I answer, Were we all thoroughly convinced, that then they would be reconciled, we would put an end to them before; but this is impossible to be done: for as men's certain convictions of truth are not equal to one another, or the weight or significancy of such veracity: so neither can a general effect of this affair be expected on this side of time.
Before I conclude this chapter, I shall beg leave to discourse a little of the wonderful excellency of negative religion and negative virtue. The latter sets out, like the Pharisee, with, God, I thank thee; it is a piece of religious pageantry, the hypocrite's hope: and, in a word, it is positive vice: for it is either a mask to deceive others, or a mist to deceive ourselves. A man that is clothed with negatives, thus argues: I am not such a drunkard as my landlord, such a thief as my tenant, such a rakish fellow, or a highwayman; No! I live a sober, regular, retired life: I am a good man, I go to church; God, I thank thee. Now, through a mans boasts of his virtue in contradiction to the vices mentioned, yet a person had better have them altogether than the man himself; or he is so full of himself, so persuaded that he is good and religious enough already, that he has no thoughts of any thing, except it be to pull of his hat to God Almighty now and then, and thank him that he has no occasion for him; and has the vanity to think that his neighbours must imagine well of him too.
The negative man, though he is no drunkard is yet intoxicated with the pride of his own worth; a good neighbour and peace-maker in other families, but a tyrant in his own; appears in church for a show, but never falls upon his knees in his closet; does all his alms before men, to be seen of them; eager in the duties of the second table, but regardless of the first; appears religious, to be taken notice of by men, but without intercourse or communication between God and his own soul: Pray, what is this man? or what comfort is there of the life he lives? he is insensible of faith, repentance, and a Christian mortified life: in a word, he is a perfectly a stranger to the essential part of religion.
Let us for a while enter into the private and retired part of his conversation: What notions has he of his mispent hours, and of the progress of time to the great centre and gulph of life, eternity? Does he know how to put a right value on time, or esteem the life-blood of his soul, as it really is, and act in all the moments of it, as one that must account for them? if then you can form an equality between what he can do and what he shall receive; less can be founded upon his negative virtue, or what he has forborne to do: And if neither his negative nor positive piety can be equal to the reward, and to the eternity that reward is to last for, what then is to become of the Pharisee, when he is to be judged by the sincerity of his repentance, and rewarded, according to the infinite grace of God, with a state of blessedness to an endless eternity?
When the negative man converses with the invisible world, he is filled with as much horror and dread as Felix, when St Paul reasoned to him of temperance, righteousness, and of judgment to come; for Felix, though a great philosopher, of great power and reverence, was a negative man, and he was made sensible by the Apostle, that, as a life of virtue and temperance was its own reward, by giving a healthy body, a clear head, and a composed life, so eternal happiness must proceed from another spring; namely, the infinite unbounded grace of a provoked God, who having erected a righteous tribunal, Jesus Christ would separate such as by faith and repentance he had brought home and united to himself by the grace of adoption, and on the foot of his having laid down his life as a ransom for them, had appointed them to salvation, when all the philosophy, temperance, and righteousness in the world besides had been ineffectual. And this, I say, it was, that made Felix, this negative man tremble.
CHAP. IV. Of listening to the voice of Providence
The magnificent and wise King Solomon bids us cry after knowledge, and lift up our voice for understanding; by which is meant, religious knowledge, for it follows: Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. By which undoubtedly he meant, to enquire after every thing he has permitted us to know, and not to search into those ways that are unsearchable, and are effectually locked up from our knowledge. – Now, as listening to the voice of Providence is my present subject, I intend, in the first place, to write to those who own, 1. That there is a God, a first great moving cause of all things, and eternal power, prior, and consequently superior to all created power or being. -2. That this eternal power, which is God, is the sovereign creator and governor of heaven and earth.
To avoid all needless distinctions, what persons in the God-head exercise the creating, and what the governing power, I offer that glorious text, Psal. xxiii. 6. where the whole Trinity is entitled to the whole creating work: and, therefore, in the next place, I shall lay down these two propositions.
I. That the eternal God guides, by his providence, the whole universe, which was created by his power.
II. That this providence manifests a particular care over, and concern in, the governing and directing man, the most noble creature upon earth.
It is plain, that natural religion proves the first, by intimating the necessity of a providence guiding and governing the world, from the consequence of the wisdom, justice, prescience, and goodness of the Almighty Creator: for otherwise it would be absurd to think, that God should create a world, without any care or providence over it, in guiding the operations of nature, so as to preserve the order of his creation.
Revealed religion gives us a light into the care and concern of his providence, by the climate's being made habitable, the creatures subjected and made nourishing, and all vegetative life made medicinal; and all this for the sake of man, who is made viceroy to the King of the earth. The short description I shall give of providence is this: That it is that operation of the power, of the wisdom, and goodness of God, by which be influences, governs, and directs, not only the means, but the events of all things, which concern us in this sublunary world; the sovereignty of which we ought always to reverence, obey its motions, observe its dictates, and listen to its voice. The prudent man forseeth the evil, and hideth himself; that is, as I take it, there is a secret providence intimates to us, that some danger threatens, if we strive not to shun it.
The same day that Sir John Hotham kept out Hull against the royal martyr King Charles I. the same day Sir John Hotham was put to death by the parliament for that very action: The same day that the King himself signed the warrant for the execution of the Earl of Stafford, the same day of the month was he barbarously murdered by the blood-thirsty Oliverian crew: and the same day that King James II. came to the crown against the bill of exclusion, the same day he was voted abdicated by the parliament, and the throne filled with King William and Queen Mary.
The voice of signal deliverances from sudden dangers, is not only a just call to repentance, but a caution against falling into the like danger; but such who are utterly careless of themselves after, show a lethargy of the worst nature, which seems to me to be a kind of practical atheism or at least, a living in a contempt of Heaven, when he receives good at the hand of his Maker, but is unconcerned from whence it comes, or to thank the bountiful hand that gave it; neither, when he receives evil, does it alter his manner of life, or bring him to any state of humiliation.
We have a remarkable story of two soldiers being condemned to death in Flanders. The general being prevailed upon to spare one of them, ordered them to cast dice upon the drumhead for their lives; the first having thrown two sixes, the second fell a wringing his hands, having so poor a chance to escape; however, having thrown, he was surprised when he also threw other two sixes. The officer appointed to see the execution, ordered them to throw again; they did so, and each of them threw fives; at which the soldiers that stood round, shouted, and said, neither of them was to die. Upon this, the officer acquainted the council of war, who ordered them to throw a third time, when they threw two fours: the general being acquainted with it, sent for the men, and pardoned them. I love, said he, in such extraordinary cases, to listen to the voice of Providence.
We read in the holy writings, how God speaks to men by appearance of angels, or by dreams and visions of the night. As God appeared to Abraham, Lot, and Jacob: so angels have appeared to many in other cases, as to Manoah and his wife, Zechariah, the Virgin Mary, and to the apostles; other have been warned in a dream as king Abimelech, the false prophet Balaam, and many others.
It is certainly a very great and noble inquiry, What we shall be after this life? for there is scarce a doubt, that there is a place reserved for the reception of our souls after death: for if we are to be, we must have a where, which the scriptures assert by the examples of Dives and Lazarus. The doctrine of spirits was long believed before our Saviour's time; for when the disciples of the blessed Jesus perceived our Saviour walking on the sea, they were as much surprised as though they had seen a spirit. Nay, in those ages of the world, it was believed that spirits intermeddled in the affairs of mankind; and, throughout the Old Testament, I do not find any thing that in the least contradicts is. All the pains and labour that some learned men have taken, to confute the story of the witch of Endor, and the appearance of an old man personating Samuel, cannot make such apparitions inconsistent with nature or religion; and it is plain, that it was either a good or bad spirit, that prophetically told the unfortunate king what should happen the next day; for, said the spirit, The Lord will deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines; and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.
Abundance of strange notions possessed me, when I was in the desolate island; especially on a moonshine night, when every bush seemed a man, and every tree a man on horseback. When I crept into the dismal cave where the old goat lay expiring, whole articulate groans even resembled those of a man, how was I surprised I my blood chilled in my veins, a cold sweaty dew sat on my forehead, my hair stood upright, and my joints, like Belshazzar's knees, struck against one another. And, indeed, though I afterwards found what it was, the remains of this surprise did not wear off for a great while; and I had frequently returns of those vapours on different occasions, and sometimes without any occasion at all.
One night, after having seen some appearance in the air, as I had just lain down in my bed, one of my feet pained me; after that came a numbness, succeeded with a tingling in my blood; when on a sudden I thought something alive lay upon me, from my knee to above half my leg. Upon this I flung myself out of bed where I thought the creature lay; but finding nothing, Lord deliver me from evil spirits, said I, what can this be? When I lighted a candle, I could perceive no living creature in the place with me, but the poor parrot, who, being frighted, cried out, Hold your tongue, and What's the matter with you, which words I had taught him, by saying so to him, when he made such screaming noises as I did not like. Lord, said I aloud, surely the devil has been here. Hold your tongue, says Poll. I was then mad at the bird, and putting on my clothes, cried, I am terribly frighted. What's the matter with you? says Poll. You toad, said I, I'll knock your brains out. Hold you tongue, cried he again, and so fell a chattering, and calling Robinson Crusoe, as he did before. But after I had composed myself, and went to bed again, I began plainly to see it was a distemper that affected my nerves, and so my terrors vanished at once.
How intelligences are given or received, we do not know; nor are we sensible how they are conveyed from spirits embodied to ours that are in life; or, on the contrary, from us to them; the latter is certainly done without help of the organs, and the former is conveyed by the understanding, and the retired faculties of the soul.
The spirits, without the help of voices, converse, and the more particular discoveries of converse of the spirits, seem to me as follow: to wit, dreams, voices, noises, impulses, hints, apprehensions, involuntary sadness, &c.
Dreams of old were the ways by which God himself was pleased to warn men what services to perform, and what to shun. Joseph was directed of God in a dream to go to Egypt; and so were the wise men warned in a dream to depart into their own country another way, to avoid the fury of Herod. I am not like those who think dreams are the mere designs of a delirious head, or the relics of a day's perplexities or pleasures; but, on the contrary, I must beg leave to say, I never met with any capital mischief in my life, but I had some notice of it by a dream; and had I not been a thoughtless unbelieving creature, I might have taken many a warning, and avoided many of the evils I afterwards fell into, merely by total neglect of those dreams.
I was once present at a dispute between a layman and a clergyman, upon the subject of dreams. The first thought no regard should be given unto them; that their communication from the invisible to the visible world was a mere chimera, without any solid foundation. For, first, said he, if dreams were from the agency of any prescient being, the motives would be more direct, and the discoveries more plain, and not by allegories and emblematic fancies, expressing things imperfect and obscure. 2. Since, with the notice of evil, there was not a power given to avoid it, it is not likely to proceed from a spirit, but merely fortuitious. 3. That the inconstancy of such notices, in cases equally important, proves they did not proceed from any such agent. 4. That as our most distinct dreams had nothing in them of any significancy, it would be irrational and vain to think that they came from heaven. And, 5. That as men were not always thus warned or supplied with notice of good or evil, so all men are not alike supplied with them; and what reason could we give, why one man or one woman should not have the same hints as another.
To all this the clergyman gave answer: 1. That as to the signification of dreams, & the objections against them, as being dark and doubtful, they are expressed generally by hierogliphical representations, similies, allusions, and figurative emblematic ways, by which means, for want of interpretation, the thing was not understood, and, consequently, the evil not shunned. 2. That we charge God foolishly, to say, that he has given the notice of evil, without the power to avoid it; for, if any one had not power to avoid the evil, it was no notice to him; and it was want of giving due head to that notice, that men first neglected themselves, and then charged the Judge of all the earth with injustice. 3. That we ought not to find fault with the inconstancy of these notices; but rather with our weak understandings, by pretending dreams were not to be regarded, and negligent when the voice really spoke to us for our good. It is a mistake to say, dreams have no import at all: we might, with more reason, have said, none that we could perceive the reason of, owing to our blindness and supine negligence, too secure at one time, and too much alarmed at another; so that the spirit, which we might be said to be conversing with in a dream, was constantly and equally kind and careful; but our powers are not always in the same state of action, not equally attentive too, or retentive of the hints that were given. And, 5. To answer the last question, Why people are not equally supplied? This seemed to be no question; for Providence itself might have some share in the direction of it, and then that Providence might be limited by a superior direction; that as to the converse of spirits, he could not call it a stated converse: such a thing there was, but why there was so much of it, and no more, was none of his business, and that no such discovery had ever yet been made to mankind. Nor were we to imagine less of waking dreams, trances, visions, noises, hints, impulses, and all the waking testimonies of an invisible world, and of the communication that there is between us and them, which commonly entertain us with our open eyes.
One time my fancy soared on high, to see what discoveries I could make in those clearer regions. I found that such immense bodies as the sun, stars, planets, and moon, in the great circle of the lower heaven, are far from being found in the study of nature on the surface of the earth. Here I saw many things that we can entertain little or no notion of, in a state of common life, and the emptiness of our notion, that the planets are habitable worlds; that is, created like ours, for the subsistence and existence of man and beast, and the preservation of the vegitative and sensitive life: No, no, this is, I assure you, a world of spirits; for here I saw a clear demonstration of Satan being the prince of the power of the air, keeping his court or camp, with innumerable angels to attend him; but his power is not so great as we imagine, he can tempt us to the crime, but cannot force us to commit: Humanium est peccare. Neither has the devil power to force the world into a rebellion against heaven, though his legions are employed among savage nations, to set up their master for a god, who make the heathens either worship him in person, or by his representatives, idols and monsters, with the cruel sacrifices of human blood. Now, as to the limitations of the devil's power, you must understand, that as there are numbers of evil spirits employed in mischief, so there are numbers of good angels sent from the higher and blessed abodes to disconcert and oppose their measures; and this every Christian, I hope, believes, when he prays to God, the father of spirits, to give his angels charge over him while he slumbereth and sleepeth. For if by these preventing powers the devil was not restrained, the earth would be subjected to dearth, droughts, and famine; the air infected with noxious fumes; and, in a word, mankind would be utterly destroyed, which might oblige our Maker (if I may be allowed the expression) to the necessity of a new fiat, or else have no more creatures to honour and worship him.
As the devil never wanted insinuators, I shall observe, that I learned a way how to make a man dream of what I pleased. For instance, let us suppose one to be found asleep; let another lay his mouth close to his ear, and whisper any thing so softly as not to awake him, the sleeping man shall dream of what has been so whispered in his ear; nay, I can assure you, those insinuating devils can do this even when we are awake, which I call impulses of the mind: for from whence, but from these insinuators, come our causeless passions, involuntary wickedness, or sinful desires? Who else form ideas in the mind of man when he is asleep, or present terrible or, beautiful figures to his, fancy: Mr. Milton represents the devil tempting Eve in the shape of a toad, lying just at her ear, when in her bower she lay fast asleep; and brings in Eve telling Adam what an uneasy night's rest she had, and relating her dream to him. And likewise I believe that good spirits have the same intercourse with us, in warning us against those things that are evil, and prompting us to that which is good.