sible for that to pass without justice being done, without something resulting from it? If this confusion existed in the universe, it were better to be bad than good, and yet thou seest the contrary. Understand then that he who has made all things also measures the [81] actions of men, and that he will deal with them according to their works. You say that you all go to the same place; there are among you most detestable men; dost thou wish to go with them? Then you will be fighting and quarreling in the other world, as you do in this. That is not credible. The good all go to Heaven, the bad all into the flames. God has placed us between Heaven and Hell, to teach us that we can go to one of these two extremes. And, as our soul is immortal, it will be forever happy or miserable. This life is short, the other is very long; do not be like dogs, which think only of the body. These arguments and others like them made some impression upon his mind. He asked me many questions, of which I may speak hereafter. He said to me sometimes, "Our belief is very silly; we have no sense, we follow only what our eyes believe, we do not reason.' At other times he said to me, "Nikanis, I have not slept all night; I have been going over in my mind all thou hast taught me, like a man following a path." Sometimes, fear entering into his soul, he dreaded [82] the long duration of the other life. "This life," said he, "is very short, the other very long, since it has no end; to be sad without consolation, to be hungry and to eat only serpents and toads, to be thirsty and drink nothing but flames, to wish to die and not be able to kill oneself, and to live forever, for an eternity, in these afflictions-it is upon

vie, ceste vie, faifoit-il, eft bien courte, l'autre est bien longue, puis qu'elle n'a point de bout: eftre trifte fans confolation, auoir faim & ne manger que des ferpens & des crapaux, auoir foif & ne boire que des flammes, vouloir mourir & ne fe pouuoir tuër & demeurer vn iamais, vne eternité dans ces peines. C'est à cela que ie pense quelquesfois, tu me ferois bien plaifir de me baptiser bien tost.

Pendant que ie l'inftruifois il eut vne forte tentation, c'eft qu'en quittant fes façons de faire pour en prendre de nouuelles il mourroit bien toft. Le Diable fe feruoit de quelques-vns pour luy mettre ceste pensée bien auant dans l'efprit, luy difant que la plus grande partie de ceux qu'on baptifoit, paffoient bien toft en l'autre vie. Ie luy reprefente que nous estions tous baptisez: Toutes les nations, disoit-il, ont quelque chofe de particulier. Le Baptefme vous eft bon à vous autres, & non pas à nous. Si le Baptefme luy repliquay-je vous causoit la mort pas vn de ceux qui font baptisez n'en escha[p]peroit, & tu vois bien qu'il n'y a que les malades & tres-malades qui meurent apres leur baptefme, voire mefme quelques-vns [83] gueriffent foudainement, que crains-tu? Dieu a deffendu de tuër, pense-tu que ie te voudrois faire mourir, tu es bafty de chair & d'os comme nous. Dieu eft ton Pere auffi bien que le noftre. Il te veut aymer plus que nous, fi tu crois en luy plus fortement. En fin Dieu luy fit la grace de furmonter cefte tentation. Il n'importe, dit-il, que ie meure, ie ne veux point aller dedans les feux. Nous mourons tous les iours dans noftre infidelité, i'ayme autant mourir en croyant, que reftant infidelle. Nous l'affeurafmes le plus qu'il nous fut poffible, à peine

that that I think sometimes; thou wouldst do me a great favor to baptize me soon."

Baptism is good for "If Baptism," I reyou, not one of those

While I was instructing him he had a great temptation, arising from the fear that, in giving up his ways of action to take up new ones, he would soon die. The Devil made use of certain persons to strengthen this idea in his mind, saying to him that the majority of those who had been baptized soon passed into the other life. I represented to him that we all were baptized. "All nations," said he, "have something peculiar to them. you others, and not for us." plied to him, "causes death to who have been baptized would escape it; and thou seest clearly that it is only the sick and the very sick that die after their baptism; yes, some of them even [83] suddenly recover. What dost thou fear? God has forbidden to kill; thinkest thou I would make thee die? Thou art made of flesh and bone as we are, God is thy Father as well as ours; he will love thee more than he does us, if thou hast a stronger belief in him." In fine, God gave him the grace to overcome this temptation. "It does not matter," said he, "whether I die, but I do not want to go into the fires. We die every day in our unbelief; I would as soon die believing as to continue in unbelief." We inspired him with as much faith as we could. Scarcely had he become free from this temptation when he fell sick.

Now the majority of the Savages looked upon him. as dead. I kept him for some time in our house and we cared for him tenderly, addressing ourselves to God and to the Physicians. He was bled, and nursed as well as possible; he seemed to be very firm, and

On
Il

eftoit-il libre de ceste tentation qu'il tomba malade.
C'eft icy que la plufpart des Sauuages le tenoient
pour mort, ie le fis demeurer quelque temps en
noftre maison. Nous auions foin de luy auec amour,
nous nous addreffions à Dieu & aux Medicins.
le fait seigner, on le traicte le mieux qu'on peut.
se monstra constant & nous confola. Nikanis, s'efcria-
il vn iour, ne doute point de mon cœur, ie croiray
iufques à la mort. Ie ne me feray point fouffler par
nos Sorciers. Ses cõpatriotes nous attriftoient dauã-
tage, car allãs aux Cabanes ils nous demãdoient cõme
il se portoit, & s'il mourroit bien toft, nous [84] re-
partifmes que ne croyons pas qu'il deut mourir. I1
en mourra dirent quelques-vns n'en doute point.
Leur prophetie fe trouua fauffe par la grace de N.
S. au bout de quelques iours il se trouua fain & gail-
lard. Ce qui nous apporta de la ioye & de l'admira-
tion à quelques Sauuages qui croyoient que noftre
cognoiffance enuers Dieu l'auoit guery. C'est pour-
quoy cefte pauure Apoftate dont i'ay parlé cy deffus,
nous fouftenoit toufiours qu'il ne tenoit qu'à nous de
la remettre en fanté. Pendant fa maladie qui ne fut
pas fi grande que nous craignons, comme ie luy difois
que i'auois demandé à Dieu de mourir en fa place, fi
tant est que noftre Seigneur le voulust appeller: non
pas cela Nikanis me fit-il, tu ne fais pas bien, il faut
que tu viue pour instruire noftre nation, pour moy il
importe peu que ie meure. Ie trouuay ceste affe-
ction bien estrange, car ces peuples ayment extreme-
ment la vie, ils fe cheriffent demefurément. Mais
fermons ce chapitre, il eft defià trop long; difons
deux mots de fes bons fentimens.

gave us consolation. Nikanis," he exclaimed one day, "do not doubt my heart; I will believe until death. I will not have myself blown upon by our Sorcerers. His countrymen saddened us more than he did, for when we went to the Cabins they would ask us how he was, and if he would die soon. We [84] answered that we did not think he was going to die. "He will die," said some of them, "do not doubt it." Their prophecy turned out to be false. By the grace of Our Lord, at the end of a few days he found himself well and happy. This gave us joy, and caused wonder among some of the Savages, who believed that our knowledge of God had cured him. It was for this reason that the poor Apostate mentioned above always declared to us that it depended upon us alone to restore her to health. During his sickness, which was not so serious as we feared, when I said to him that I had asked God to let me die in his place, if it should be that our Lord wished to call him, "Not so, Nikanis," he replied, “thou dost not do well; thou must live to instruct our nation; as for me, it matters little if I die." I found this affection quite wonderful, for these people have a great fondness for life, cherishing it immoderately. But let us close this chapter, it is already too long; let us say a few words about his good sentiments.