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.
Io pregava Dio com’uomo oppresso dal peso di una grande afflizione e costernazione, com’uomo cinto di pericoli d’ogni intorno e che si aspettava ogni notte di essere ucciso, ogni mattina di essere divorato. Posso dire dietro l’esperimento fattone su me stesso, che una disposizione pacifica, grata, lieta, affettuosa è molto più propria alla preghiera che quella d’un animo scompigliato ed atterrito.