And this I must observe, with grief, too, that the discomposure of my mind had great impression also upon the religious part of my thoughts; for the dread and terror of falling into the hands of savages and cannibals lay so upon my spirits, that I seldom found myself in a due temper for application to my Maker; at least, not with the sedate calmness and resignation of soul which I was wont to do: I rather prayed to God as under great affliction and pressure of mind, surrounded with danger, and in expectation every night of being murdered and devoured before morning; and I must testify, from my experience, that a temper of peace, thankfulness, love, and affection, is much the more proper frame for prayer than that of terror and discomposure: and that under the dread of mischief impending, a man is no more fit for a comforting performance of the duty of praying to God than he is for a repentance on a sick-bed; for these discomposures affect the mind, as the others do the body; and the discomposure of the mind must necessarily be as great a disability as that of the body, and much greater; praying to God being properly an act of the mind, not of the body.
Je puis affirmer par ma propre expérience qu'un cœur rempli de paix, de reconnaissance, d'amour et d'affection, est beaucoup plus propre à la prière qu'un cœur plein de terreur et de confusion; et que, sous la crainte d'un malheur prochain, un homme n'est pas plus capable d'accomplir ses devoirs envers Dieu qu'il n'est capable de repentance sur le lit de mort. Les troubles affectant l'esprit comme les souffrances affectent le corps, ils doivent être nécessairement un aussi grand empêchement que les maladies: prier Dieu est purement un acte de l'esprit.