You are very right there, said I, but pardon me if I presume to say that I deny that God had I no Concern in them. 'Tis unreasonable to suppose that Providence would bring a rational Creature into the World, and afterwards leave him intirely to himself. He is the Father of him, and is also inclin'd to be his Director and Preserver. Good Sense tells us this, and his Word, for that is what I always recur to, assures us of it so positively, that there is no Possibility of doubting it; I wish to God, cry'd I, that you could but see that Word. It carries with it so many Marks of the Dictator that you would be the first to read it with Veneration if it fell into your Hands; and I don't despair of its being brought to you one Day or other by some unhappy Wretch, or else by an intire Nation, which shall come to settle with you by the Appointment of Heaven, in order to facilitate the Conversion of a People so honest and humane.
I should be glad, said he, to see the Book you speak so much of, but very sorry that it should be brought to us by a Host of People, whom your own Laws, as sacred as you think 'em, would not restrain from tyrannizing over us. We had much rather that things should continue as they are. Be you but content with your Lot, as you see we are with ours, and you'll be more happy than you really are. But no more of this; methinks, said he, 'tis time to have done. I retire. Adieu.
After our Priest was gone, we convers'd a few Moments longer concerning the Immortality of the Soul, the Resurrection of the Dead, and Life Eternal, because the Judge took a Liking to the Discourse; and by the Notice I took, if I am not deceiv'd, it would be easy to bring those People into a good Opinion of our Religion.
Before we parted, my Landlord ask'd me if I did not see the Burning Mountain when I was at the Mines. I did not so much as hear any mention of it, said I. Probably, said he, it did not burn at that time, for otherwise you would infallibly have observ'd it. I should have been glad to have seen it, said I to him, but this is no Rarity in our Country. There's Hecla in Iceland, Ãtna in Sicily, Vesuvius in Naples, and several other such Mountains elsewhere, which burn also at times; but there's no approaching very near them, even when they don't burn, because of the Sulphureous Exhalations that arise out of them, the prodigious Quantity of Ashes that encompasses them, and the Danger there is of sinking into the Ground in several Places, where it is soft, trembling, or hollow.
Perhaps, said he, the Europeans who have been here before you, related the same thing to our Ancestors, and that the People came by that means to be undeceiv'd in the mistaken Notion they had entertain'd of the Cause of this Prodigy. For 'tis certain that the simple Vulgar were always of Opinion, that when God created the World, and determin'd to make certain Beings which should have Life and Motion, he erected a Laboratory under the burning Mountain, with an Oven, and a monstrous large Crucible in it, at the Mouth of which was a Bar that divided it into two equal Parts, and to this Bar there belong'd a Lamp. This great Workman, said they, every now and then fill'd this Vessel with Earth, which he took up behind him, in the Place of which there is now a great Lake, and when this Earth was become liquid by the Force of the Fire, he took out a small Portion of it, by means of a hollow Tube that he made use of for the purpose, at one end of which he only blew, and there immediately appear'd at the other an Animal, which he sent into the wide World. He had made but a small Number of them, when he observ'd his Lamp set Fire to the Mountain under which it hung. This unexpected Inconvenience soon made him change his Post, for fear of burning the whole Earth. He had not fought long, ere he found a deep Pit betwixt two Mountains, which he thought fit to fill with Water, to the end that the Fire might not spread, while he work'd underneath it. Mean time, as this Water soon attain'd to a very considerable Degree of Heat, which would have presently chang'd it into a Vapour, he pierc'd a neighbouring Mountain, in order that a Stream of fresh Water might issue from it to cool the Heat of the boiling Lake, which is undoubtedly the same that you tell me you saw, and which still retains the same Qualities.
There was an Addition to this Story, that under that very Place God form'd all other living Creatures in the same manner, except Man, who deriv'd his Origin elsewhere, as I may perhaps shew you another time, when I am more at leisure. Lastly, it was pretended that the Matter which was in the Crucible, being in a violent Agitation, the Sulphur, Mercury, and other mineral and metallic Parts, which evaporated in Smoke, were carry'd with Rapidity under the Arch of the neighbouring Mountains, into which they penetrated, and in some form'd Coal, and in others, Iron, or the Minerals and Metals that we find there.
This Fable, as gross as it is, and invented no doubt in honour to the Gentlemen Chymists, gave me occasion to think that Glass was not always unknown to them, and that formerly they had Blowers among them. Be this as it will, there the Conversation ended, because it grew late, and every one seem'd desirous to go to rest.
Some Days after this Discourse, the Priest was resolv'd to make an Entertainment for our Landlord, and we too were of the Party. Then he made an Apology for having been so outrageous against our Opinions; and to make us Amends, desired La Foret, who had read both the Old and New Testament more than I had done, to give him the most circumstantial Account he could remember of the Contents of the Bible. My Comrade did so, and he thank'd him, seeming to be very well satisfy'd with it, tho' I know full well that he only made a Jest of it; whereas I thought the Judge extremely edify'd with it: So that Affairs would have gone on very well, if we had always continued together; but to my great Sorrow, it was not the Will of Heaven it should be so.