Accidents > Life and most surprising adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, mariner, who lived eight and twenty years in an uninhabited island on the coast of America, near the mouth of the great river Oroonoque

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ROBINSON WtJSOE.
thefe things dictated to me this juft reflefUon, That
the good things of this world are no farther good to
us than they are for our ufe ; and that whatever we
may heap up to give others, we can but enjoy as
much as we ufe and no more.
Thefe thoughts rendered my mind more eafy than
ufual. Every time I fat down to eat I did it with
thankfulnefs, admiring the providential hand of God,
that in this wildernefs had fpread this table to me.
And now I confidered what I enjoyed, rather than
what I wanted; compared my prefent condition
with what I at fir ft expe&ed it ftiould be; how I
fhould have done if I had got nothing out of the
fliip *, that I muft have periftied before I had caught
fifh or turtles ; or lived, had I found them, like a
mere favage, by eating them raw, and pulling them
in pieces with my claws, like a beaft. I next com¬
pared my ftation to that which I deferved ; how un-
dutiful I had been to my parents ; how deftitute of the
fear of God ; how void of every thing that was good ;
and how ungrateful for thofe abundant mercies I had
received from heaven, being fed, as it were by a
miracle, even as great Elijah's being fed by ra¬
vens ; and caft on a place where there was no veno¬
mous creature to poifon or devour me : In fhort,
making God’s tender mercies matter of great confo-
iation, I relinquiflied all fadnefs, and gave way to
contentment.
As long as my ink continued, which with water I
made laft as long as I could, I ufed to minute down
the days of th5 month on which any remarkable
thing happened. And,
Firfr, I obferved, That the fame day I forfook my
parents and friends, and ran away to //«//, in order
to go to fea, the fame day afterwards, in the next
year, I was taken and made a Have by the Salle:
rover.
The