“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 children, and the woman to the same and like conditions, nutatis mutandis, on their side:  whereas, Sir, these men, upon their own pleasure, on any occasion, may forsake those women and marry others, and by disowning their children, suffer them utterly to perish.  Now, Sir, ’added he, ’can God be honoured in such an unlawful liberty as this; how can a blessing succeed to the best endeavours, if men are allowed to live in so licentious a way?” I was indeed struck with the thing myself, and thought that they were much to blame, that no formal contract had been made, though it had been but breaking a stick between them, to engage them to live as man and wife, never to separate, but love, cherish, and comfort one another all their lives; yet Sir, said I, when they took these wommen, I was not here, and if it is adultery, it is past my remedy, and I cannot help it.  “True, Sir,’ answered the young priest, you cannot be charged with that part of the crime which was done in your absence:  but I beseech you, don’t flatter yourself, that you are under no obligation now to put a period to it:  which if you neglect to do, the guilt will be entirely on you alone, since