BOOK V.

_The situation of Japan, and the nature of the country. The estate of the

government of Japan. The religion of the Japonese when the Father arrived

in that country. The six jesuits who were sent to Siam in_ 1685, _in

their relation of the religion of the Siamois, which much resembles this

of Japan, guess, with more probability, that these opinions were the

corruptions of the doctrine preached in the Indies by St Thomas. Paul de

Sainte Foy goes to wait on the king of Saxuma. That which passed at the

court of Saxuma. The saint applies himself to the study of the Japonian

tongue. He baptizes the whole family of Paul de Sainte Foy. He goes to

the court of Saxuma, and is well received. He begins to preach at

Cangorima, and converts many. He visits the Bonzas, and endeavours to

gain them. He proves the soul's immortality to the chief of the Bonzas.

The Bonzas rise against him. The Bonzas succeed not in their undertaking.

He leads a most austere life. He works divers miracles. He raises a maid

from death. God avenges the saint. A new persecution raised against

Xavier by the Bonzas. The king of Saxuma is turned against Xavier and the

Christians. The saint fortifies the Christians before he leaves them. He

causes his catechism to be printed before his departure. He departs from

Cangoxima. He goes to the castle of Ekandono. He declares the gospel

before Ekandono, and the fruits of his preaching. What he does for the

preservation of the faith in the new Christians of the castle. Thoughts

of a Christian of Ekandono. He leaves a disciple with the steward of

Ekandono, and the use he makes of it. He leaves a little book with the

wife of Ekandono, and for what it served. He arrives at Firando; and what

reception he had there. He preaches at Firando with great success. He

takes Amanguchi in his way to Meaco. He stays at Amanguchi; his actions

there. What hindered the fruit of his preaching at Amanguchi. He appears

before the king of Amanguchi, and expounds to him the doctrine of

Christianity. He preaches before the king in Amanguchi without success.

He pursues his voyage for Meaco. His sufferings in the voyage of Meaco.

He follows a horseman with great difficulty. He instructs the people in

passing through the towns. He arrives at Meaco, and labours there

unprofitably. He departs from Meaco to return to Amanguchi. Being

returned to Amanguchi, he gains an audience of the king. He obtains

permission to preach. He is visited by great multitudes. The qualities

which he thinks requisite in a missioner to Japan. He answers many men

with one only word. He preaches in Amanguchi. He speaks the Chinese

language without learning it. The fruit of his preaching. His joy in

observing the fervour of the faithful. His occasions of sorrow amongst

his spiritual joys. The faith is embraced, notwithstanding the prince's

example; and by what means. Divers conversions. He declares against the

Bonzas. The Bonzas oppose the Christian religion. He answers the

arguments of the Bonzas. The Bonzas provoke the king against the

Christians. The number of Christians is augmented together with the

reputation of the saint. He sends a Japonian Christian to the kingdom of

Bungo; and for what reason. He departs from Amanguchi, and goes for

Bungo. He falls sick with overtravelling himself; and after a little

rest, pursues his journey. He is received with honour by the Portuguese,

and complimented from the king of Bungo. He is much esteemed by the king

of Bungo. The letter of the king of Bungo to Father Xavier. In what

equipage he goes to the court of Bungo. His entry into the palace of the

king of Bungo. He receives the compliments of several persons in the

court. He is introduced to an audience of the king of Bungo, and what

passes in it. What passes betwixt the king of Bungo and Xavier. The

honour of Xavier in the kingdom of Bungo, and the success of his labours

there. He converts a famous Bonza. In what manner he prepares the

Gentiles for baptism. What happens to the companions of Xavier at

Amanguchi. The death of the king of Amanguchi, and the desolation of the

town. The brother of the king of Bungo is chosen king of Amanguchi: the

saint rejoices at it. He prepares to leave Japan, and takes leave of the

king of Bungo. The advice which he gives to the king of Bungo. The Bonzas

rise anew against Xavier. A new artifice of the Bonzas against the saint.

The beginning of the conference betwixt Xavier and Fucarandono. The

advantage of the dispute on the side of Xavier. The fury of the Bonzas

forces the Portuguese to retire to their ship. The captain of the ship

endeavours to persuade Xavier to return, but in vain. The captain takes

up a resolution to stay with Xavier. A new enterprize of the Bonzas

against him. He returns to the palace, to renew the conference with

Fucarandono. The dispute renewed. The answer of Xavier to the first

question of Fucarandono. The second question of Fucarandono, to which the

Father answers with the same success as to the former. The sequel of the

dispute betwixt Xavier and Fucarandono. The honour which the king of

Bungo does to Xavier. The Bonzas present a writing to the king, but

without effect. They wrangle about the signification of words. They

dispute in the nature of school-divines. He answers the objections of the

Bonzas, and their replies. The fruit of his disputation with the Bonzas.

He leaves Japan, and returns to the Indies. God reveals to him the siege

of Malacca. What happens to him in his return from Japan to the Indies.

How Xavier behaves himself during the tempest. What happens to the chalop

belonging to the ship. He expects the return of the chalop, or cockboat,

notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary. He renews his prayers

for the return of the chalop. He prays once more for the return of the

chalop. The chalop appears, and comes up with the ship. He arrives at the

isle of Sancian; and goes off after a little time. His prediction to the

pilot. A marvellous effect of the saint's prophecy. He forms the design

of carrying the faith to China. He takes his measures with Pereyra, for

the voyage of China. He dissipates a tempest; his prophecy concerning the

ship of James Pereyra. His reception at Malacca. The history of the ship

called Santa Cruz. He arrives at Cochin; and finishes the conversion of

the king of the Maldivias. He writes into Europe, and comes to Goa. He

cures a dying man immediately upon his arrival. He hears joyful news of

the progress of Christianity in the Indies. The conversion of the king of

Tanor. The conversion of the king of Trichenamalo. The letter from the

bishop of the Indies to Father Ignatius. He hears other comfortable news.

He is afflicted with the misdemeanors of Father Antonio Gomez. How Gomez

attacks the authority of Paul de Camerine. The extravagances of Gomez in

matters of religion. The violence and injustice of Gomez. Xavier repairs

the faults committed by Gomez. He expels Gomez from the Society._

I undertake not to make an exact description of Japan, after those which

have been made of it by geographers and travellers: by an ordinary view

of the charts, and common reading of the relations of the Indies, it is

easy to understand, that Japan is situate at the extremity of Asia, over

against China; that it is a concourse of islands which compose as it were

one body, and that the chiefest of them gives the name to all the rest;

that this world of islands, as it is called by a great geographer, is

filled with mountains, some of which are inaccessible, and almost above

the clouds; that the colds there are excessive, and that the soil, which

is fruitful in mines of gold and silver, is not productive of much grain

of any sort necessary to life, for want of cultivation. Without dwelling

longer either on the situation or nature of the country, or so much as

on the customs and manners of the inhabitants, of which I have already

said somewhat, and shall speak yet farther, as my subject requires it, I

shall here only touch a little on the government and religion, which of

necessity are to be known at the beginning, for the understanding of the

history which I write.

Japan was anciently one monarchy. The emperor, whom all those isles

obeyed, was called the Dairy; and was descended from the Camis, who,

according to the popular opinion, came in a direct line from the Sun. The

first office of the empire was that of the Cubo, that is to say,

captain-general of the army. For the raising of this dignity, which in

itself was so conspicuous, in process of time, the name of Sama was added

to that of Cubo; for Sama in their language signifies Lord. Thus the

general of Japan came to be called Cubo Sama.

Above three hundred years ago, the Cubo Sama then being, beholding the

sceptre of Japan in the hands of a Dairy, who was cowardly and

effeminate, revolted from him, and got possession of the regal dignity.

His design was to have reduced the whole estate under his own dominion;

but he was only able to make himself master of Meaco, where the emperor

kept his court, and of the provinces depending on it. The governors of

other provinces maintained themselves in their respective jurisdictions

by force of arms, and shook of the yoke as well as he; insomuch, that the

monarchy came to be suddenly divided into sixty-six cantons, which all

assumed the names of kingdoms.

Since these revolutions, the king of Meaco took the title of Cubo Sama,

and he who had been deprived of it still retained the name of Dairy; and,

excepting only the power, there was still left him all the privilege of

royalty, in consideration of the blood of the Camis. His descendants have

had always the same title, and enjoyed the same advantages. This, in

general, was the face of the government, in the time of St Francis

Xavier. For some years afterwards, Nabunanga, one of the neighbour kings

to him of Meaco, defeated the Cubo Sama in a pitched battle, and followed

his blow with so much success, that, having destroyed all those petty

princes, he re-united the whole empire of Japan under his sole obedience.

As to what concerns religion, all the Japonians, excepting some few who

make profession of atheism, and believe the soul mortal, are idolaters,

and hold the transmigration of souls, after the doctrine of Pythagoras.

Some of them pay divine worship to the sun and moon; others to the Camis,

those ancient kings of whom we have made mention; and to the Potoques,

the gods of China. There are divers of them who adore some kinds of

beasts, and many who adore the devil under dreadful figures. Besides

these, they have a certain mysterious deity, whom they call Amida; and

say, this god has built a paradise of such distance from the earth, that

the souls cannot reach it under a voyage of three years. But the god Xaca

is he of whom they report the greatest wonders, who seems to be a

counterfeit of the true Messiah, set up by the devil himself, or by his

ministers. For if one would give credit to them, Xaca being born of a

queen, who never had the carnal knowledge of man, retired into the

deserts of Siam, and there underwent severe penances, to expiate the sins

of men: that coming out of his wilderness, he assembled some disciples,

and preached an heavenly doctrine in divers countries.

It is incredible how many temples have been built to the honour of Amida

and Xaca; all the cities are full of them, and their magnificence is

equal to their number. Nor is it easy to imagine how far their

superstition carries the worshippers of these two deities. They throw

themselves headlong down from rocks, or bury themselves alive in caves;

and it is ordinary to see barques, full of men and women, with stones

hanging at their necks, and singing the praises of their gods, after

which they cast themselves into the sea.

For what remains, the spirit of lies has established in Japan a kind of

hierarchy, not unlike that of the Catholic church. For these people have

a chief of their religion, and a kind of sovereign priest, whom they call

Saco. He keeps his court in the capital city of the empire; and it is he

who approves the sects, who institutes the ceremonies, who consecrates,

if I may be allowed to say so, the Tundi, who resemble our bishops, and

whose principal function is to ordain the priests of idols, by conferring

on them the power of offering sacrifice. These priests, who are called

Bonzas, part of them living in desarts, the rest in towns, all affect a

rigid austerity of manners, and are amongst the Japonese what the

Brachmans are amongst the Indians, unless that they are yet more impious,

and greater hypocrites.

To resume our history: immediately after the arrival of Xavier and his

companions, Paul de Sainte Foy, whom formerly we called Anger, went to

pay his duty to the king of Saxuma; on which Cangoxima is depending, and

whose palace is about the distance of six leagues from it. That prince,

who had heretofore shewn great favour to him, received him with much

humanity, and with so much the greater joy, because he had believed him

dead. This kind reception gave Paul de Sainte Foy the confidence to

petition the king for the pardon of that action, which had occasioned his

departure, and it was not difficult for him to obtain it.

The king, naturally curious, as the Japonians generally are, enquired

much of him concerning the Indies; as, what was the nature of the

country, and the humour of the people, and whether the Portuguese were as

brave and as powerful as they were represented by common fame. When Paul

had satisfied him on these and the like particulars, the discourse fell

on the different religions in the Indies, and finally on Christianity,

which was introduced by the Portuguese in India.

Paul unfolded at large the mysteries of our faith; and seeing with what

pleasure he was heard, produced a tablet of the Virgin, holding the

little Jesus in her arms. The tablet was very curious, and Xavier had

given it to this Japonese, that he might shew it as occasion offered. The

sight alone of this excellent painting wrought so much upon the king,

that, being touched with thoughts of piety and reverence, he fell on his

knees, with all his courtiers, to honour the persons therein represented,

which seemed to him to have an air that was more than human.

He commanded it should be carried to the queen, his mother. She was also

charmed with it, and prostrated herself by the same instinct, with all

the ladies of her train, to salute the Mother and the Son. But as the

Japonian women are yet more inquisitive than the men, she asked a

thousand questions concerning the Blessed Virgin and our Saviour, which

gave Paul the desired opportunity of relating all the life of Jesus

Christ; and this relation so much pleased the queen, that some few days

after, when he was upon his return to Cangoxima, she sent one of her

officers to have a copy of the tablet which she had seen; but a painter

was not to be found to satisfy her curiosity. She required, that at least

she might have an abridgment in writing of the chief points of

Christianity, and was satisfied therein by Paul.

The Father, overjoyed at these good inclinations of the court, thought

earnestly of making himself capable to preach in the language of the

country. There is but one language spoken through all Japan; but that so

ample, and so full of variety, that, in effect, it may be said to contain

many tongues. They make use of certain words and phrases, in familiar

discourse; and of others in studied compositions. The men of quality have

a language quite differing from the vulgar. Merchants and soldiers have a

speech proper to their several professions, and the women speak a dialect

distinct from any of the rest. When they treat on a sublime subject, (for

example, of religion, or affairs of state,) they serve themselves of

particular terms; and nothing appears more incongruous amongst them, than

to confound these different manners of expression.

The holy man had already some light notions of all these languages, by

the communication he had with the three Japonian Christians; but he knew

not enough to express him with ease and readiness, as himself

acknowledges in his epistles, where he says, "that he and his companions,

at their first arrival, stood like statues, mute and motionless." He

therefore applied himself, with all diligence, to the study of the

tongue, which he relates in these following words: "We are returned to

our infancy," says he, "and all our business at present is to learn the

first elements of the Japonian grammar. God give us the grace to imitate

the simplicity and innocence of children, as well as to practise the

exercises of children."

We ought not to be astonished in this passage last quoted, that a man to

whom God had many times communicated the gift of tongues, should not

speak that of Japan, and that he should be put to the pains of studying

it. Those favours were transient, and Xavier never expected them;

insomuch, that being to make abode in a country, he studied the language

of it as if he could not have arrived to the knowledge of it but by his

own industry. But the Holy Spirit assisted him after an extraordinary

manner, on those occasions, as we have formerly observed. And we may say,

that the easiness wherewith he learnt so many tongues, was almost

equivalent to the lasting gift of them.

While Xavier and his companions were labouring to acquire that knowledge

which was necessary for their preaching the word of Jesus Christ to the

people of Cangoxima, Paul de Sainte Foy, with whom they lodged, himself

instructed his own family. God gave that blessing to his zeal, that,

besides his mother, his wife and daughter, many of his relations were

converted and baptized by Xavier. Within the compass of forty days, the

saint understood enough of the language to undertake the translation of

the apostles' creed, and the exposition of it, which he had composed in

India. As fast as he translated, he got every parcel of it by heart; and

with that help, was of opinion, that he might begin to declare the

gospel. But seeing that in Japan all the measures of the laws and customs

are to be taken, and observed with great exactness, and nothing to be

attempted in public without permission from the government, he would

first visit the king of Saxuma, and chose the time on the day of St

Michael the archangel He had put the whole empire under the protection of

that glorious general of the celestial host, who chased the rebellious

angels out of heaven, and recommended in his daily prayers to him, that

he would exterminate those devils from Japan, who had usurped the

dominion of it for so many ages.

The apostle of the Indies was not unknown at the court of Saxuma. Paul de

Sainte Foy had spoken of him there, in such a manner, as infused the

desire of seeing him into all hearts, and caused him to be looked on with

admiration when he first appeared. The king and queen treated him with

honour, testified great affection to him, and discoursed with him the

better part of the night. They could not but be astonished, that he and

his companions were come from another world, and had passed through so

many stormy seas, not out of an avaricious design of enriching themselves

with the gold of Japan, but only to teach the Japonese the true way of

eternal life. From the very first meeting, the king cautioned Xavier to

keep safely all the books and writings which contained the Christian

doctrine; "for," said he, "if your faith be true, the demons will be sure

to fly furiously upon you, and all manner of mischief is to be expected

from their malice." Afterwards he granted permission to the saint to

preach the Christian law within the whole extent of his dominions; and

farther, caused his letters patent to be expedited, by virtue of which,

all his subjects had free liberty of being made Christians, if they so

desired.

Xavier took advantage of this happy conjuncture, and deferred no longer

his preaching in Cangoxima. He began by explaining the first articles of

the creed. That of the existence of one God, all powerful, the Creator of

heaven and earth, was a strange surprise to his auditors, who knew

nothing of a first Being, on whom the universe depended, as on its cause

and principle. The other articles, which respect the Trinity and

Incarnation, appeared to them yet more incredible; insomuch, that some of

them held the preacher for a madman, and laughed him to scorn.

Notwithstanding which, the wiser sort could not let it sink into their

belief, that a stranger, who had no interest to deceive them, should

undergo so many hardships and dangers, and come so far, on set purpose to

cheat them with a fable. In these considerations, they were desirous of

clearing those doubts, which possessed them, in relation to those

mysteries which they had heard. Xavier answered them so distinctly, and

withal so reasonably, with the assistance of Paul de Sainte Foy, who

served him for interpreter in case of need, that the greatest part,

satisfied with his solutions, came over to the faith.

The first who desired baptism, and received it, was a man of mean

condition, destitute of the goods of fortune; as if God willed, that the

church of Japan should have the same foundations of meanness and poverty

with the universal church: The name of Bernard was given him, and, by his

virtue, he became in process of time illustrious.

In the mean time, Xavier visited the Bonzas, and endeavoured to gain

their good will; being persuaded that Christianity would make but little

progress amongst the people, if they opposed the preaching of the gospel:

And, on the other side, judging that all the world would embrace the law

of the true God, in case they should not openly resist it. His good

behaviour and frankness immediately gained him the favour of their chief:

he was a man of four-score years of age, and, for a Bonza, a good honest

man; in that estimation of wisdom, that the king of Saxuma entrusted him

with his most important affairs; and so well versed in his religion, that

he was sirnamed Ningit, which is to say, the Heart of Truth. But this

name was not altogether proper to him; and Xavier presently perceived,

that the Veillard knew not what to believe concerning the immortality of

the soul; saying sometimes, "That our souls were nothing different from

those of beasts;" at other times, "That they came from heaven, and that

they had in them somewhat of divine."

These uncertainties of a mind floating betwixt truth and falsehood, gave

Xavier the occasion of proving the immortality of the soul, in the

conversations they had together; and he reasoned strongly thereupon,

according to natural principles alone. Yet his arguments had no other

effect, than the praises which were given them. Ningit commended the

knowledge of the European Bonza, (so they called the Father,) and was

satisfied that no man had a deeper insight into nature. But he still

remained doubtful on the business of religion, either out of shame to

change his opinion at that age, or perhaps because those who have doubted

all their life, are more hard to be convinced, than those who have never

believed at all.

The esteem which Ningit had for Xavier, caused him to be had in great

repute with the rest of the Bonzas. They heard him with applause, when he

spoke of the divine law; and confessed openly, that a man who was come

from the other end of the 'world, through the midst of so many dangers,

to preach a new religion, could only be inspired by the spirit of truth,

and could propose nothing but what was worthy of belief.

The testimony of the Bonzas authorised the preaching of the gospel; but

their scandalous way of living, hindered them from following our holy

law. Notwithstanding, before the conclusion of the year, two of them of

less corrupt manners than the rest, or more faithful to the grace of

Jesus Christ, embraced Christianity; and their example wrought so far

upon the inhabitants of Cangoxima, that many of them desired to be

baptized.

These first fruits of preaching promised greater, and the faith

flourished daily more and more in Cangoxima, when a persecution, raised

on a sudden, ruined these fair expectations, and stopt the progress of

the gospel The Bonzas, surprised to see the people ready to forsake the

religion of the country, opened their eyes to their own interest, and

manifestly saw, that if this new religion were once received, as they

only lived on the alms and offerings which were made to their deities,

they should be wholly deprived of their subsistence. They judged, in

consequence, that this evil was to be remedied, before it grew incurable;

and nothing was to be spared for the rooting out these Portuguese

preachers. It was then manifest, that those religious idolaters, who at

first had been so favourable to Xavier, now made open war against him.

They decried him in all places, and publicly treated him as an impostor.

Even so far they proceeded, that one day as he was preaching, in one of

the public places of the city, a Bonza interrupted him in the midst of

his discourse, and warned the people not to trust him; saying, "That it

was a devil, who spoke to them in the likeness of a man."

This outrageousness of the Bonzas failed of the effect which they

desired; the Japonians, who are naturally men of wit, and plain dealers,

came easily to understand the motives of their priests, to change their

manner of behaviour, and finding interest in all they said or did, grew

more and more attentive to the doctrine of the Father.

Some of them upbraided the Bonzas, that their proper concernments had

kindled their zeal to such an height: that religion was not to be

defended by calumnies and affronts, but by solid arguments: that if the

doctrine of the European was false, why did they not demonstrate clearly

the falsehood of it: that, for the rest, it was of little consequence

whether this new preacher was a demon or a man; and that truth was to be

received, whosoever brought it: that, after all, he lived with great

austerity, and was more to be credited than any of them.

In effect, Xavier, for the edification of the people, who commonly judge

by appearances of things, abstained entirely both from flesh and fish.

Some bitter roots, and pulse boiled in water, were all his nourishment,

in the midst of his continual labours. So that he practised, rigorously

and literally, that abstinence of which the Bonzas make profession, or

rather that which they pretend to practise. And he accustomed himself to

this immediately, upon what Paul de Sainte Foy had told him, that it

would look ill if a religious Christian should live with less austerity

than the priests of idols should in their course of life.

The wonders which God wrought, by the ministration of his servant, gave

farther confirmation to the Christian law. The saint walking out one day

upon the sea-shore, met certain fishers, who were spreading their empty

nets, and complained of their bad fortune. He had pity on them, and,

after making some short prayers, he advised them to fish once more. They

did so on his word, and took so many fish, and of such several sorts,

that they could hardly draw their nets. They continued their fishing for

some days after with the same success; and what appears more wonderful,

the sea of Cangoxima, which was scarce of fish, from that time forward

had great plenty.

A woman, who had heard reports of the cures which the apostle had made in

the Indies, brought him her little child, who was swelled over all the

body, even to deformity. Xavier took the infant in his arms, looked on

him with eyes of pity, and pronounced thrice over him these words, "God

bless thee;" after which, he gave the child back to his mother, so well

and beautiful, that she was transported with joy and admiration.

This miracle made a noise about the town; and gave occasion to a leper to

hope a cure for his disease, which he had sought in vain for many years.

Not daring to appear in public, because his uncleanness had excluded him

from the society of men, and made him loathsome to all companies; he sent

for Xavier, who at that time happened to be engaged in business, and

could not come; but deputed one of his companions to visit him; giving

orders to ask him thrice, if he was content to believe in Christ, in case

he should be healed of his leprosy; and thrice to make the sign of the

cross over him, if he promised constantly to embrace the faith. All

things passed according to the commission of the Father: the leper

obliged himself to become a Christian, upon the recovery of his health;

and the sign of the cross was no sooner made over him, but his whole body

became as clean as if he had never been infected with leprosy. The

suddenness of the cure wrought in him to believe in Christ without

farther difficulty, and his lively faith brought him hastily to baptism.

But the most celebrated miracle which Xavier wrought in Cangoxima, was

the resurrection of a young maid of quality. She died in the flower of

her youth, and her father, who loved her tenderly, was ready to go

distracted with his loss. Being an idolater, he had no source of comfort

remaining for his affliction; and his friends, who came to condole with

him, instead of easing, did but aggravate his grief. Two new Christians,

who came to see him before the burial of his daughter, advised him to

seek his remedy from the holy man, who wrought such wonders, and beg her

life of him, with strong assurance of success.

The heathen, persuaded by these new believers, that nothing was

impossible to this European Bonza, and beginning to hope against all

human appearances, after the custom of the distressed, who easily believe

what they infinitely desire, goes to find Father Xavier, throws himself

at his feet, and, with tears in his eyes, beseeches him to raise up from

death his only daughter; adding, that the favour would be to give a

resurrection to himself. Xavier moved at the faith and affliction of the

father, withdraws, with Fernandez, his companion, to recommend his desire

to Almighty God; and having ended his prayer, returns a little time

after: "Go," says he to the sorrowful father, "your daughter is alive."

The idolater, who expected that the saint would have accompanied him to

his house, and there called upon the name of his God, over the body of

his daughter, thought himself ill used and cheated, and Trent away

dissatisfied. But before he had walked many steps homeward, he saw one of

his servants, who, transported with joy, cried out aloud to him, at a

distance, that his daughter lived. Soon after this, his daughter came

herself to meet him, and related to her father, that her soul was no

sooner departed from her body, but it was seized by two ugly fiends, who

would have thrown her headlong into a lake of fire; but that two unknown

persons, whose countenances were venerably modest, snatched her out of

the gripe of her two executioners, and restored her to life, but in what

manner she could not tell.

The Japonian suddenly apprehended who were the two persons concerned in

her relation, and brought her straight to Xavier, to acknowledge the

miraculous favour she had received. She no sooner cast her eyes on him,

and on Fernandez, than she cried out, "Behold my two redeemers!" and at

the same time both she and her father desired baptism. Nothing of this

nature had ever been seen in that country: no history ever made mention,

that the gods of Japan had the power of reviving the dead. So that this

resurrection gave the people a high conception of Christianity, and made

famous the name of Father Xavier.

But nothing will make more evident how much a favourite he was of heaven,

and how prevalent with that God, whom he declared, than that exemplary

judgment with which Divine Justice punished the bold impiety of a man,

who, either carried on by his own madness, or exasperated by that of the

Bonzas, one day railed at him, with foul injurious language. The saint

suffered it with his accustomed mildness; and only said these words to

him, with somewhat a melancholy countenance, "God preserve your mouth."

Immediately the miscreant felt his tongue eaten with a cancer, and there

issued out of his mouth a purulent matter, mixed with worms, and a stench

that was not to be endured. This vengeance, so visible, and so sudden,

ought to have struck the Bonzas with terror; but their great numbers

assured them in some measure; and all of them acting in a body against

the saint, each of them had the less fear for his own particular. What

raised their indignation to the height, was, that a lady of great birth

and riches, wife to one of the most considerable lords of all the court,

and very liberal to the pagods, was solemnly baptized with all the

family.

Seeing they prevailed nothing by the ways they had attempted, and that

persons of quality were not less enamoured of the Christian doctrine than

the vulgar; and, on the other side, not daring to use violence, in

respect of the king's edicts, which permitted the profession of

Christianity, they contrived a new artifice, which was to address a

complaint to the king, of the king himself, on the part of their country

deities. The most considerable of the Bonzas having been elected, in a

general assembly for this embassy, went to the prince, and told him, with

an air rather threatening than submissive, that they came, in the name of

Xaca and Amida, and the other deities of Japan, to demand of him, into

what country he would banish them; that the gods were looking out for new

habitations, and other temples, since he drove them shamefully out of his

dominions, or rather out of theirs, to receive in their stead a stranger

God, who usurps to himself divine honours, and will neither admit of a

superior nor an equal. They added haughtily, that it is true he was a

king; but what a kind of king was a profane man? Was it for him to be the

arbiter of religion, and to judge the gods? What probability was there

too, that all the religions of Japan should err, and the most prudent of

the nation be deceived after the run of so many ages? What would

posterity say, when they should hear, that the king of Saxuma, who held

his crown from Amida and Xaca, overthrew their altars, and deprived them

of the honours which they had so long enjoyed? But what would not the

neighbouring provinces attempt, to revenge the injury done to their

divinities? that all things seemed lawful to be done on such occasions;

and the least he had to fear was a civil war, and that, so much the more

bloody, because it was founded on religion.

The conjuncture in which the Bonzas found the king, was favourable to

them. It was newly told him, that the ships of Portugal, which usually

landed at Cangoxima, had now bent their course to Firando, and he was

extremely troubled at it; not only because his estates should receive no

more advantage by their trade, but also because the king of Firando, his

enemy, would be the only gainer by his loss. As the good-will which he

shewed in the beginning to Father Xavier had scarce any other principle

but interest, he grew cold to him immediately after this ill news; and

this coldness made him incline to hearken to the Bonzas. He granted all

they demanded of him, and forbade his subjects, on pain of death, to

become Christians, or to forsake the old religion of their country.

Whatsoever good inclinations there were in the people to receive the

gospel, these new edicts hindered those of Cangoxima from any farther

commerce with the three religious Christians; so easily the favour or

displeasure of the prince can turn the people.

They, notwithstanding, whose heart the Almighty had already touched, and

who were baptized, far from being wanting to the grace of their vocation,

were more increased in faith, not exceeding the number of an hundred;

they found themselves infinitely acknowledging to the Divine Mercy, which

had elected them to compose this little flock. Persecution itself

augmented their fervour; and all of them declared to Father Xavier, that

they were ready to suffer banishment or death, for the honour of our

Saviour.

Though the Father was nothing doubtful of their constancy, yet he would

fortify them by good discourses, before he left a town and kingdom where

there was no farther hope of extending the Christian faith. For which

reason he daily assembled them; where, having read some passages of

scripture, translated into their own language, and suitable to the

present condition of that infant church, he explained to them some one of

the mysteries of our Saviour's life; and his auditors were so filled with

the interior unctions of the Holy Spirit, that they interrupted his

speech at every moment with their sighs and tears,

He had caused divers copies of his catechism to be taken for the use of

the faithful Having augmented it by a more ample exposition of the creed,

and added sundry spiritual instructions, with the life of our Saviour,

which he entirely translated, he caused it to be printed in Japonese

characters, that it might be spread through all the nation. At this time

the two converted Bonzas, and two other baptized Japonians, undertook a

voyage to the Indies, to behold with their own eyes, what the Father had

told them, concerning the splendour of Christianity at Goa; I mean the

multitude of Christians, the magnificence of the churches, and the beauty

of the ecclesiastic ceremonies.

At length he departed from Cangoxima, at the beginning of September, in

the year 1550, with Cozmo de Torrez, and John Fernandez, carrying on his

back, according to his custom, all the necessary utensils for the

sacrifice of the mass. Before his departure, he recommended the faithful

to Paul de Sainte Foy. It is wonderful, that these new Christians, bereft

of their pastors, should maintain themselves in the midst of Paganism,

and amongst the persecuting Bonzas, and not one single man of them should

be perverted from the faith. It happened, that even their exemplary lives

so edified their countrymen, that they gained over many of the idolaters;

insomuch, that in the process of some few years, the number of Christians

was encreased to five hundred persons; and the king of Saxuma wrote to

the viceroy of the Indies, to have some of the fathers of the Society,

who should publish through all his territories a law so holy and so pure.

The news which came, that the Portuguese vessels, which came lately to

Japan, had taken their way to Firando, caused Xavier to go thither; and

the ill intelligence betwixt the two princes, gave him hopes that the

king of Firando would give him and his two companions a good reception.

They happened upon a fortress on their way, belonging to a prince called

Ekandono, who was vassal to the king of Saxuma. It was situate on the

height of a rock, and defended by ten great bastions. A solid wall

encompassed it, with a wide and deep ditch cut through the middle of the

rock. Nothing but fearful precipices on every side; and the fortress

approachable by one only way, where a guard was placed both day and

night. The inside of it was as pleasing as the outside was full of

horror. A stately palace composed the body of the place, and in that

palace were porticoes, galleries, halls, and chambers, of an admirable

beauty; all was cut in the living stone, and wrought so curiously, that

the works seemed to be cast within a mould, and not cut by the chizzel.

Some people of the castle, who were returning from Cangoxima, and who had

there seen Xavier, invited him, by the way, to come and visit their lord;

not doubting but Ekandono would be glad to see so famous a person.

Xavier, who sought all occasions of publishing the gospel, lost not that

opportunity. The good reception which was made him, gave him the means

of teaching immediately the true religion, and the ways of eternal life.

The attendants of the prince, and soldiers of the garrison, who were

present, were so moved, both by the sanctity which shone in the apostle's

countenance, and by the truth which beamed out in all his words, that,

after the clearing of their doubts, seventeen of them at once demanded

baptism; and the Father christened them in presence of the Tono, (so the

Japonese call the lord or prince of any particular place) The rest of

them were possessed with the same desire, and had received the same

favour, if Ekandono had not opposed it by reason of state, and contrary

to his own inclinations, for fear of some ill consequences from the king

of Saxuma; for in his heart he acknowledged Jesus Christ, and permitted

Xavier privately to baptize his wife and his eldest son. For the rest, he

promised to receive baptism, and to declare himself a Christian, when his

sovereign should be favourable to the law of God.

The steward of Ekandono's household was one who embraced the faith. He

was a man stepped into years, and of great prudence. Xavier committed

the new Christians to his care, and put into his hands the form of

baptism in writing, the exposition of the creed, the epitome of our

Saviour's life, the seven penitential psalms, the litanies of the saints,

and a table of saints' days as they are celebrated in the church. He

himself set apart a place in the palace proper for the assemblies of the

faithful; and appointed the steward to call together as many of the

Pagans as he could, to read both to the one and the other sort some part

of the Christian doctrine every Sunday, to cause the penitential psalms

to be sung on every Friday, and the litanies every day The steward

punctually performed his orders; and those seeds of piety grew up so

fast, that some few years after, Louis Almeyda found above an hundred

Christians in the fortress of Ekandono. all of an orderly and innocent

conversation; modest in their behaviour, assiduous in prayer, charitable

to each other, severe to themselves, and enemies to their bodies;

insomuch that the place had more resemblance to a religious house, than

to a garrison. The Tono, though still an idolater, was present at the

assemblies of the Christians, and permitted two little children of his to

be baptized.

One of these new converts composed elegantly, in his tongue, the history

of the redemption of mankind, from the fall of Adam to the coming down of

the Holy Ghost The same man being once interrogated, what answer he would

return the king, in case he should command him to renounce his faith? "I

would boldly answer him," said he, "in this manner: 'Sir, you are

desirous, I am certain, that, being born your subject, I should be

faithful to you; you would have me ready to hazard my life in your

interests, and to die for your service; yet, farther, you would have me

moderate with my equals, gentle to my inferiors, obedient to my

superiors, equitable towards all; and, for these reasons, command me

still to be a Christian, for a Christian is obliged to be all this. But

if you forbid me the profession of Christianity, I shall become, at the

same time, violent, hard-hearted, insolent, rebellious, unjust, wicked;

and I camiot answer for myself, that I shall be other."

As to what remains, Xavier, when he took leave of the old steward, whom

he constituted superior of the rest, left him a discipline, which himself

had used formerly. The old man kept it religiously as a relique, and

would not that the Christians in the assemblies, where they chastised

themselves, should make a common use of it. At the most, he suffered not

any of them to give themselves above two or three strokes with it, so

fearful he was of wearing it out; and he told them, that they ought to

make use of it the less in chastising their flesh, that it might remain

for the preservation of their health. And indeed it was that instrument

which God commonly employed for the cures of sick persons in the castle.

The wife of Ekandono being in the convulsions of death, was instantly

restored to health, after they had made the sign of the cross over her,

with the discipline of the saint.

Xavier, at his departure, made a present to the same lady of a little

book, wherein the litanies of the saints, and some catholic prayers, were

written with his own hand. This also in following times was a fountain of

miraculous cures, not only to the Christians, but also the idolaters; and

the Tono himself, in the height of a mortal sickness, recovered his

health on the instant that the book was applied to him by his wife. So

that the people of the fortress said, that their prince was raised to

life, and that it could not be performed by human means.

The saint and his companions being gone from thence, pursued their

voyage, sometimes by sea, and sometimes travelled by land. After many

labours cheerfully undergone by them, and many dangers which they passed,

they arrived at the port of Firando, which was the end of their

undertaking. The Portuguese did all they were able for the honourable

reception of Father Xavier. All the artillery was discharged at his

arrival; all the ensigns and streamers were djsplayed, with sound of

trumpets; and, in fine, all the ships gave shouts of joy when they beheld

the man of God. He was conducted, in spite of his repugnance, with the

same pomp to the royal palace; and that magnificence was of no small

importance, to make him considered in a heathen court, who without it

might have been despised, since nothing was to be seen in him but

simplicity and poverty. The king of Firando, whom the Portuguese gave to

understand, how much the man whom they presented to him was valued by

their master, and what credit he had with him, received him with so much

the greater favour, because he knew the king of Carigoxima had forced

him to go out of his estates: for, to oblige the crown of Portugal, and

do a despite to that of Cangoxima, he presently empowered the three

religious Christians to publish the law of Jesus Christ through all the

extent of his dominions.

Immediately they fell on preaching in the town, and all the people ran to

hear the European Bonzas. The first sermons of Xavier made a great

impression on their souls; and in less than twenty days, he baptized more

infidels at Firando, than he had done in a whole year at Cangoxima. The

facility which he found of reducing those people under the obedience of

the faith, made him resolve to leave with them Cosmo de Torrez, to put

the finishing hand to their conversion, and in the mean time to go

himself to Meaco, which he had designed from the beginning; that town

being the capital of the empire, from whence the knowledge of Christ

Jesus might easily be spread through all Japan.

Departing with Fernandez, and the two Japonian Christians, Matthew and

Bernard, for this great voyage at the end of October, in the year 1550,

they arrived at Facata by sea, which is twenty leagues distant from

Firando; and from thence embarked for Amanguchi, which is an hundred

leagues from it. Amanguchi is the capital of the kingdom of Naugato, and

one of the richest towns of all Japan, not only by the traffic of

strangers, who come thither from all parts, but also by reason of silver

mines, which are there in great abundance, and by the fertility of the

soil; but as vices are the inseparable companions of wealth, it was a

place totally corrupted, and full of the most monstrous debaucheries.

Xavier took that place only as his passage to Meaco; but the strange

corruption of manners gave him so much horror, and withal so great

compassion, that he could not resolve to pass farther without publishing

Christ Jesus to those blind and execrable men, nor without making known

to them the purity of the Christian law. The zeal which transported him,

when he heard the abominable crimes of the town, suffered him not to ask

permission from the king, as it had been his custom in other places. He

appeared in public on the sudden, burning with an inward fire, which

mounted up into his face, and boldly declared to the people the eternal

truths of faith. His companion Fernandez did the same in another part of

the town. People heard them out of curiosity; and many after having

inquired who they were, what dangers they had run, and for what end,

admired their courage, and their procedure, void of interest, according

to the humour of the Japonians, whose inclinations are naturally noble,

and full of esteem for actions of generosity. From public places they

were invited into houses, and there desired to expound their doctrine

more at large, and at greater leisure. "For if your law appear more

reasonable to us than our own," said the principal of the town, "we

engage ourselves to follow it."

But when once a man becomes a slave to shameful passions, it is difficult

to follow what he thinks the best, and even to judge reasonably what is

the best. Not a man amongst them kept his word. Having compared together

the two laws, almost all of them agreed, that the Christian doctrine was

most conformable to good sense, if things were only to be taken in the

speculation; but when they came to consider them in the practice, and saw

how much the Christian law discouraged vengeance, and forbade polygamy,

with all carnal pleasures, that which had appeared just and reasonable

to them, now seemed improbable, and the perversity of their wills

hoodwinked the light of their understanding; so that, far from believing

in Jesus Christ, they said, "That Xavier and his companions were plain

mountebanks, and the religion which they preached a mere fable." These

reports being spread abroad, exasperated the spirits of men against them,

so that as soon as any of them appeared, the people ran after them, not

as before, to hear them preach, but to throw stones at them, and revile

them: "See," they cried, "the two Bonzas, who would inveigle us to

worship only one God, and persuade us to be content with a single wife."

Oxindono, the king of Amanguchi, hearing what had passed, was willing to

be judge himself of the Christians' new doctrine. He sent for them before

him, and asked them, in the face of all his nobles, of what country they

were, and what business brought them to Japan? Xavier answered briefly,

"That they were Europeans, and that they came to publish the divine law.

For," added he, "no man can be saved who adores not God, and the Saviour

of all nations, his Son Christ Jesus, with a pure heart and pious

worship." "Expound to me," replied the prince, "this law, which you have

called divine." Then Xavier began, by reading a part of the book which he

had composed in the Japonian tongue, and which treated of the creation of

the world, of which none of the company had ever heard any thing, of the

immortality of the soul, of the ultimate end of our being, of Adam's

fall, and of eternal rewards and punishments; in fine, of the coming of

our Saviour, and the fruits of our redemption. The saint explained what

was needful to be cleared, and spoke in all above an hour.

The king heard him with attention, and without interrupting his

discourse; but he also dismissed him without answering a word, or making

any sign, whether he allowed or disapproved of what he said. This

silence, accompanied with much humanity, was taken for a permission, by

Father Xavier, to continue his public preaching. He did so with great

warmth, but with small success: Most of them laughed at the preacher, and

scorned the mysteries of Christianity: Some few, indeed, grew tender at

the hearing of our Saviour's sufferings, even so far as to shed tears,

and these motions of compassion disposed their hearts to a belief; but

the number of the elect was inconsiderable; for the time pre-ordained for

the conversion of that people was not yet come, and was therefore to be

attended patiently.

Xavier then having made above a month's abode in Amanguchi, and gathered

but small fruit of all his labours, besides affronts, continued his

voyage towards Meaco with his three companions, Fernandez, Matthew, and

Bernard. They continually bemoaned the blindness and obduracy of those

wretches, who refused to receive the gospel; yet cheered up themselves

with the consideration of God's mercies, and an inward voice was still

whispering in their hearts, that the seed of the divine word, though cast

into a barren and ungrateful ground, yet would not finally be lost.

They departed toward the end of December, in a season when the rains were

continually falling, during a winter which is dreadful in those parts,

where the winds are as dangerous by land as tempests are at sea. The

colds are pinching, and the snow drives in such abundance, that neither

in the towns nor hamlets, people dare adventure to stir abroad, nor have

any communication with each other, but by covered walks and galleries: It

is yet far worse in the country, where nothing is to be seen but hideous

forests, sharp-pointed and ragged mountains, raging torrents across the

vallies, which sometimes overflow the plains. Sometimes it is so covered

over with ice, that the travellers fall at every step; without mentioning

those prodigious icicles hanging over head from the high trees, and

threatening the passengers at every moment with their fall.

The four servants of God travelled in the midst of this hard season, and

rough ways, commonly on their naked feet, passing the rivers, and ill

accommodated with warm clothes, to resist the inclemencies of the air and

earth, loaden with their necessary equipage, and without other provisions

of life than grains of rice roasted or dried by the fire, which Bernard

carried in his wallet. They might have had abundantly for their

subsistence, if Xavier would have accepted of the money which the

Portuguese merchants of Firando offered him, to defray the charges of his

voyage, or would have made use of what the governor of the Indies had

supplied him with in the name of the king of Portugal: But he thought he

should have affronted Providence, if he should have furnished himself

with the provisions needful to a comfortable subsistence; and therefore

taking out of the treasury a thousand crowns, he employed it wholly for

the relief of the poor who had received baptism. Neither did he rest

satisfied with this royal alms, he drew what he could also from his

friends at Goa and Malacca; and it was a saying of his, "That the more

these new converts were destitute of worldly goods, the more succour they

deserved; that their zeal was worthy the primitive ages of the church;

and that there was not a Christian in Japan, who would not choose rather

to lose his life, than forfeit the love of Jesus Christ."

The journey from Amanguchi to Meaco is not less than fifteen days, when

the ways are good, and the season convenient for travelling; but the ill

weather lengthened it to our four travellers, who made two months of it;

sometimes crossing over rapid torrents, sometimes over plains and forests

thick with snow, climbing up the rocks, and rolling down the precipices.

These extreme labours put Father Xavier into a fever from the first

month, and his sickness forced him to stop a little at Sacay; but he

would take no remedies, and soon after put himself upon his way.

That which gave them the greatest trouble was, that Bernard, who was

their guide, most commonly misled them. Being one day lost in a forest,

and not knowing what path to follow, they met a horseman who was going

towards Meaco; Xavier followed him, and offered to carry his mail, if he

would help to disengage them from the forest, and shew them how to avoid

the dangerous passages. The horseman accepted Xaviers offer, but trotted

on at a round rate, so that the saint was constrained to run after him,

and the fatigue lasted almost all the day. His companions followed him at

a large distance; and when they came up to the place where the horseman

had left him, they found him so spent, and over-laboured, that he could

scarcely support himself. The flints and thorns had torn his feet, and

his legs were swelled so that they broke out in many places. All these

inconveniences hindered him not from going forward: He drew his strength

from the union he had with God, continually praying from the morning to

the evening, and never interrupting his devotions but only to exhort his

friends to patience.

In passing through the towns and villages where his way led him, Xavier

always read some part of his catechism to the people who gathered about

him. For the most part they only laughed at him; and the little children

cried after him, "Deos, Deos, Deos," because, speaking of God, he had

commonly that Portuguese word in his mouth, which he seldom pronounced

without repetition; for, discoursing of God, he would not use the

Japonese language till they were well instructed in the essence and

perfections of the Divine Majesty: and he gave two reasons for it; the

first, because he found not one word in all the language which well

expressed that sovereign divinity, of which he desired to give them a

distinct notion; the second, because he feared lest those idolaters might

confound that first Being with their Camis, and their Potoques, in case

he should call it by those names which were common to their idols. From

thence he took occasion to tell them, "That as they never had any

knowledge of the true God, so they never were able to express his name;

that the Portuguese, who knew him, called him Deos:" and he repeated that

word with so much action, and such a tone of voice, that he made even the

Pagans sensible what veneration was due to that sacred name. Having

publicly condemned, in two several towns, the false sects of Japan, and

the enormous vices reigning there, he was drawn by the inhabitants

without the walls, where they had resolved to stone him. But when they

were beginning to take up the stones, they were overtaken by a violent

and sudden storm, which constrained them all to betake themselves to

flight: The holy man continued in the midst of this rack of heaven, with

flashes of lightning darting round about him, without losing his habitual

tranquillity, but adoring that Divine Providence which fought so visibly

in his favour.

He arrived at length at Meaco with his three companions in February 1551.

The name of that celebrated town, so widely spread for being the seat of

empire and religion, where the Cubosama, the Dairy, and the Saso kept

their court, seemed to promise great matters to Father Xavier; but the

effect did not answer the appearances: Meaco, which in the Japonian

tongue signifies a thing worth seeing, was no more than the shadow of

what formerly it had been, so terribly wars and fires had laid it waste.

On every side ruins were to be beheld, and the present condition of

affairs threatened it with a total destruction. All the neighbouring

princes were combined together against the Cubosama, and nothing was to

be heard but the noise of arms.

The man of God endeavoured to have gained an audience from the Cubosama,

and the Dairy, but he could not compass it: He could not so much as get

admittance to the Saso, or high-priest of the Japonian religion. To

procure him those audiences, they demanded no less than an hundred

thousand caixes, which amount to six hundred French crowns, and the

Father had it not to give. Despairing of doing any good on that side, he

preached in the public places by that authority alone which the Almighty

gives his missioners. As the town was all in confusion, and the thoughts

of every man taken up with the reports of war, none listened to him; or

those who casually heard him in passing by, made no reflections on what

he said.

Thus, after a fortnight's stay at Meaco to no purpose, seeing no

appearance of making converts amidst the disturbance of that place, he

had a strong impulse of returning to Amanguchi, without giving for lost

all the pains he had taken at Meaco; not only because of his great

sufferings, (and sufferings are the gains of God's apostles) but also

because at least he had preached Christ Jesus in that place, that is to

say, in the most idolatrous town of all the universe, and opened the

passage for his brethren, whom God had fore-appointed in the years

following, there to establish Christianity, according to the revelations

which had been given him concerning it.

He embarked on a river which falls from the adjoining mountains, and

washing the foot of the walls of Meaco, disembogues itself afterwards

into an arm of the sea, which runs up towards Sacay. Being in the ship,

he could not turn off his eyes from the stately town of Meaco; and, as

Fernandez tells us, often sung the beginning of the 113th Psalm, _In

exitu Israel de Ægypto, domus Jacob de populo Barbaro,_ &c. whether he

considered himself as an Israelite departing out of a land of infidels by

the command of God, or that he looked on that barbarous people, as one

day destined to be the people of God. As for what remains, perceiving

that presents are of great force to introduce foreigners to the princes

of Japan, he went from Sacay to Firando, where he had left what the

viceroy of the Indies and the governor of Malacca had obliged him to

carry with him to Japan, that is to say, a little striking clock, an

instrument of very harmonious music, and some other trifles, the value of

which consisted only in the workmanship and rarity.

Having also observed, that his ragged habit had shocked the Japonese, who

judge by the outside of the man, and who hardly vouchsafe to hear a man

ill clothed, he made himself a new garment, handsome enough, of those

alms which the Portuguese had bestowed on him; being verily persuaded,

that an apostolic man ought to make himself all to all, and that, to gain

over worldly men, it was sometimes necessary to conform himself a little

to their weakness.

Being come to Amanguchi, his presents made his way for an audience from

the king, and procured him a favourable reception. Oxindono, who admired

the workmanship of Europe, was not satisfied with thanking the Father in

a very obliging manner, but the same day sent him a large sum of money,

by way of gratification; but Xavier absolutely refused it, and this very

denial gave the king a more advantageous opinion of him. "How different,"

said Oxindono, "is this European Bonza from our covetous priests, who

love money with so much greediness, and who mind nothing but their

worldly interest!"

On the next morning Xavier presented to the king the letters of the

governor and of the bishop of the Indies, in which the Christian faith

was much extolled; and desired him, instead of all other favours, to

grant him the permission of preaching it, assuring him once again, that

it was the only motive of his voyage. The king increasing his admiration

at the Father's generosity, granted him, by word of mouth, and also by a

public edict, to declare the word of God. The edict was set up at the

turnings of streets, and in public places of the town. It contained a

free toleration for all persons to profess the European faith, and

forbade, on grievous penalties, any hinderance or molestation to the

new Bonzas in the exercise of their functions.

Besides this, Oxindono assigned them, for their lodgings, an old

monastery of the Bonzas, which was disinhabited. They were no sooner

established in it, than great numbers of people resorted to them: Some

out of policy, and to please the king; others to observe their carriage,

and to pick faults in it; many out of curiosity, and to learn something

that was new. All in general proposed their doubts, and disputed with so

much vehemence, that most of them were out of breath. The house was never

empty, and these perpetual visits took up all the time of the man of God.

He explains himself on this subject, and almost complains, in the letters

which he writes to Father Ignatius concerning his voyage to Japan. For

after he had marked out to him the qualities which were requisite in a

labourer of the Society, proper to be sent thither, "That he ought, in

the first place, to be a person of unblameable conversation, and that the

Japonese would easily be scandalised, where they could find occasion for

the least reproach; that, moreover, he ought to be of no less capacity

than virtue, because Japan is also furnished with an infinite number of

her own clergymen, profound in science, and not yielding up any point in

dispute without being first convinced by demonstrative reasons; that, yet

farther, it was necessary, that a missioner should come prepared to

endure all manner of wants and hardships; that he must be endued with an

heroic fortitude to encounter continual dangers, and death itself in

dreadful torments, in case of need," Having, I say, set these things

forth, and added these express words in one of his letters, "I write to

Father Simon, and, in his absence, to the rector of Coimbra, that he

shall send hither only such men as are known and approved by your holy

charity," he continues thus:

"These labourers in the gospel must expect to be much more crossed in

their undertaking than they imagine. They will be wearied out with

visits, and by troublesome questions, every hour of the day, and half the

night: They will be sent for incessantly to the houses of the great, and

will sometimes want leisure to say their prayers, or to make their

recollections. Perhaps, also, they will want time to say their mass or

their breviary, or not have enough for their repast, or even for their

natural repose, for it is incredible how importunate these Japonians are,

especially in reference to strangers, of whom they make no reckoning, but

rather make their sport of them. What therefore will become of them, when

they rise up against their sects, and reprehend their vices?" Yet these

importunities became pleasing to Father Xavier, and afterwards produced a

good effect. As the Japonese are of docible and reasonable minds, the

more they pressed him in dispute, they understood the truth the more: So

that their doubts being satisfied, they comprehended easily, that there

were no contradictions in our faith, nothing that would not abide the

test of the most severe discussion.

It was in the midst of these interrogations, with which the saint was

overburdened, that, by a prodigious manner of speech, the like of which

was scarcely ever heard, he satisfied, with one only answer, the

questions of many persons, on very different subjects, and often opposite

to each other; as suppose, the immortality of the soul; the motions of

the heavens; the eclipses of the sun and moon; the colours of the

rainbow; sin and grace; hell and heaven. The wonder was, that after he

had heard all their several demands, he answered them in few words, and

that these words, being multiplied in their ears, by a virtue all divine,

gave them to understand what they desired to know, as if he had answered

each of them in particular. They frequently took notice of this prodigy;

and were so much amazed at it, that they looked on one another like men

distracted, and regarded the Father with admiration, as not knowing what

to think or say. But as clear-sighted and able as they were, for the most

part, they could not conceive that it was above the power of nature. They

ascribed it to I know not what secret kind of science, which they

imagined him only to possess. For which reason, Father Cozmo de Torrez,

being returned from Firando to Amanguchi, the Bonzas said, "This man is

not endued with the great knowledge of Father Francis, nor has the art of

resolving many doubts with one only answer."

The process of the saint's canonization makes mention of this miracle;

and Father Antonio Quadros, who travelled to Japan four years after

Father Xavier, writes it to Father Diego Moron, provincial of Portugal,

These are his words: "A Japonese informed me, that he had seen three

miracles wrought by Father Xavier in his country. He made a person walk

and speak, who was dumb and taken with the palsy; he gave voice to

another mute; and hearing to one that was deaf. This Japonian also told

me, that Father Xavier was esteemed in Japan for the most knowing man of

Europe; and that the other Fathers of the Society were nothing to him,

because they could answer but one idolater at a time, but that Father

Xavier, by one only word, decided ten or twelve questions. When I told

him, that this might probably happen because those questions were alike,

he assured me it was not so; but that, on the contrary, they were very

different. He added, lastly, that this was no extraordinary thing with

him, but a common practice."

When Xavier and his companion Fernandez were a little disengaged from

these importunities, they set themselves on preaching twice a day, in the

public places of the town, in despite of the Bonzas. There were seven or

eight religions in Amanguchi quite opposite to each other, and every one

of them had many proselytes, who defended their own as best; insomuch,

that these Bonzas, who were heads of parties, had many disputes amongst

themselves: But when once the saint began to publish the Christian law,

all the sects united against their common enemy; which, notwithstanding,

they durst not openly declare, against a man who was favoured by the

court, and who seemed, even to themselves, to have somewhat in him that

was more than human.

At this time God restored to Father Xavier the gift of tongues, which had

been given him in the Indies on divers occasions; for, without having

ever learned the Chinese language, he preached every day to the Chinese

merchants, who traded at Amanguchi, in their mother-tongue, there being

great numbers of them. He preached in the afternoon to the Japonians in

their language; but so naturally and with so much ease, that he could not

be taken for a foreigner.

The force of truth, against which their doctors could oppose nothing that

was reasonable in their disputations; the novelty of three miracles,

which we have mentioned, and of many others which Xavier wrought at the

same time; his innocent and rigid life; the Divine Spirit which enlivened

his discourses;--all these together made so great an impression on their

hearts, that in less than two months time, more than five hundred persons

were baptized; the greatest part men of quality and learning, who had

examined Christianity to the bottom, and who did not render up themselves

for any other reason, than for that they had nothing farther to oppose.

It was wonderful, according to the report of the saint himself, to

observe, that there was no other speech but of Jesus Christ through all

the town; and that those who had most eagerly fought against the

Christian law in their disputes, were now the most ardent to defend it,

and to practise it with most exactness. All of them were tenderly

affectionate to the Father, and were ever loath to leave his company They

took delight in making daily questions to him, concerning the mysteries

of faith; and it is unspeakable what inward refreshments they found, in

seeing that all was mysterious even, in the most ordinary

ceremonies,--as, for example, in the manner wherewith the faithful sign

themselves with the cross.

The Father, on his side, had as ample a satisfaction; and he confesses it

himself, in a letter which he directed some time after to the Jesuits in

Europe: "Though my hairs are already become all hoary," says he to them,

"I am more vigorous and robust than I ever was; for the pains which are

taken to cultivate a reasonable nation, which loves the truth, and which

covets to be saved, afford me matter of great joy. I have not, in the

course of all my life, received a greater satisfaction than at Amanguchi,

where multitudes of people came to hear me, by the king's permission. I

saw the pride of their Bonzas overthrown, and the most inflamed

enemies of the Christian name subjected to the humility of the gospel. I

saw the transports of joy in those new Christians, when, after having

vanquished the Bonzas in dispute, they returned in triumph. I was not

less satisfied, to see their diligence in labouring to convince the

Gentiles, and vying with each other in that undertaking; with the delight

they took in the relation of their conquests, and by what arguments and

means they brought them over, and how they rooted out the heathen

superstitions; all these particulars gave me such abundant joy, that I

lost the sense of my own afflictions. Ah, might it please Almighty God,

that, as I call to my remembrance those consolations which I have

received from the fountain of all mercies in the midst of my labours, I

might not only make a recital of them, but give the experience also, and

cause them to be felt and considered as they ought, by our universities

of Europe, I am assured, that many young men, who study there, would come

hither to employ all the strength of their parts, and vigour of their

minds, in the conversion of an idolatrous people, had they once tasted

those heavenly refreshments which accompany our labours."

These inward delights of God's servant were not yet so pure, but that

some bitterness was intermixed. He was not without sorrow for Oxindono

king of Amanguchi; who, though persuaded of the excellence of

Christianity, was retained in idolatry by carnal pleasures: and for

Neatondono, first prince of the kingdom, who, having noble and virtuous

inclinations, might have proved the apostle of the court, if some trivial

reasons had not hindered him from becoming a Christian. He, and the

princess his wife, respected Xavier as their father, and even honoured

him as a saint. They also loved the faithful, and succoured them in all

their needs. They spoke of our faith in terms of great veneration; but,

having founded many monasteries of Bonzas, it troubled them, as they

said, to lose the fruit of charity: and thus the fear of being frustrated

of I know not what rewards, which the Bonzas promised them, caused them

to neglect that eternal recompence of which the holy man assured them.

But how powerful soever the example of princes is usually in matters of

religion, yet on all sides Christianity was embraced; and an action of

Xavier's companion did not a little contribute to the gaining over of the

most stubborn. Fernandez preached in one of the most frequented places of

the town; and amongst his crowd of auditors were some persons of great

wit, strongly opinioned of their sect, who could not conceive the maxims

of the gospel, and who heard the preacher with no other intention than to

make a sport of him. In the midst of the sermon, a man, who was of the

scum of the rabble, drew near to Fernandez, as if it were to whisper

something to him, and hawking up a mass of nastiness, spit it full upon

his face. Fernandez, without a word speaking, or making the least sign

that he was concerned, took his hand-kerchief, wiped his face, and

continued his discourse.

Every one was suprised at the moderation of the preacher:--the more

debauched, who had set up a laughter at this affront, turned all their

scorn into admiration, and sincerely acknowledged, that a man who was so

much master of his passions, as to command them on such an occasion, must

needs be endued with greatness of soul and heroic courage. One of the

chief of the assembly discovered somewhat else in this unshaken patience:

He was the most learned amongst all the doctors of Amanguchi, and the

most violent against the gospel He considered, that a law which taught

such patience, and such insensibility of affronts, could only come from

heaven; and argued thus within himself: "These preachers, who with so

much constancy endure the vilest of all injuries, cannot pretend to cozen

us. It would cost them too dear a price; and no man will deceive another

at his own expence. He only, who made the heart of man, can place it in

so great tranquillity. The force of nature cannot reach so far; and this

Christian patience must proceed alone from some divine principle. These

people cannot but have some infallible assurance of the doctrine they

believe, and of the recompence which they expect; for, in line, they are

ready to suffer all things for their God, and have no human expectations.

After all, what inconvenience or danger can it be to embrace their law?

If what they tell us of eternity be true, I shall be eternally miserable

in not believing it; and supposing there be no other life but this, is it

not better to follow a religion which elevates a man above himself, and

which gives him an unalterable peace, than to profess our sects, which

continue us in all our weakness, and which want power to appease the

disorders of our hearts?" He made his inward reflections on all these

things, as he afterwards declared; and these considerations being

accompanied with the motions of grace, touched him so to the quick, that,

as soon as the sermon was ended, he confessed that the virtue of the

preacher had convinced him; he desired baptism, and received it with

great solemnity.

This illustrious conversion was followed with answerable success. Many

who had a glimmering of the truth, and feared to know it yet more

plainly, now opened their eyes, and admitted the gospel light; amongst

the rest, a young man of five-and-twenty years of age, much esteemed for

the subtlety of his understanding, and educated in the most famous

universities of Japan. He was come to Amanguchi, on purpose to be made a

Bonza; but being informed that the sect of Bonzas, of which he desired

to be a member, did not acknowledge a first Principle, and that their

books had made no mention of him, he changed his thoughts, and was

unresolved on what course of living he should fix; until being finally

convinced, by the example of the doctor, and the arguments of Xavier, he

became a Christian. The name of Laurence was given him; and it was he,

who, being received by Xavier himself into the Society of Jesus,

exercised immediately the ministry of preaching with so much fame, and so

great success, that he converted an innumerable multitude of noble and

valiant men, who were afterwards the pillars of the Japonian church.

As to what remains, the monasteries of the Bonzas were daily thinned, and

grew insensibly to be dispeopled by the desertion of young men, who had

some remainders of modesty and morality. Being ashamed of leading a

brutal life, and of deceiving the simple, they laid by their habits of

Bonzas, together with the profession, that, coming back into the world,

they might more easily be converted. These young Bonzas discovered to

Xavier the mysteries of their sects, and revealed to him their hidden

abominations, which were covered with an outside of austerity.

The Father, who was at open defiance with those men, who were the mortal

enemies of all the faithful, and whose only interest it was to hinder the

establishment of the faith, published whatsoever was told him in relation

to them, and represented them in their proper colours. These unmasked

hypocrites became the laughter of the people; but what mortified them

more, was, that they, who heard them like oracles before this, now

upbraided them openly with their ignorance. A woman would sometimes

challenge them to a disputation; and urge them with such home and

pressing arguments, that the more they endeavoured to get loose, the

more they were entangled: For the Father, being made privy to the secrets

of every sect, furnished the new proselytes with weapons to vanquish the

Bonzas, by reducing them to manifest contradictions; which, among the

Japonese, is the greatest infamy that can happen to a man of letters. But

the Bonzas got not off so cheap, as only to be made the derision of the

people; together with their credit and their reputation they lost the

comfortable alms, which was their whole subsistence: So that the greater

part of them, without finding in themselves the least inclinations to

Christianity, bolted out of their convents, that they might not die of

hunger in them; and changed their profession of Bonzas, to become either

soldiers or tradesmen; which gave the Christians occasion to say, with

joy unspeakable, "That, in a little time, there would remain no more

idolaters in Amanguchi, of those religious cheats, than were barely

sufficient to keep possession of their monasteries."

The elder Bonzas, in the mean time, more hardened in their sect, and more

obstinate than the young, spared for nothing to maintain their

possession. They threatened the people with the wrath of their gods, and

denounced the total destruction of the town and kingdom; they said, "The

God whom the Europeans believed, was not Deos, or Deus, as the Portuguese

called him, but Dajus, that is to say, in the Japonian tongue, a lie, or

forgery." They added, "That this God imposed on men a heavy yoke. What

justice was it to punish those who transgressed a law, which it was

impossible to keep? But where was Providence, if the law of Jesus was

necessary to salvation, which suffered fifteen ages to slide away without

declaring it to the most noble part of all the world? Surely a religion,

whose God was partial in the dispensation of his favours, could not

possibly be true; and if the European doctrine had but a shadow of truth

in it, China could never have been so long without the knowledge of it."

These were the principal heads of their accusation, and Xavier reports

them in his letters; but he gives not an account of what answers he

returned, and they are not made known to us by any other hand. Thus,

without following two or three historians, who make him speak according

to their own ideas on all these articles, I shall content myself with

what the saint himself had left in writing. The idolaters, instead of

congratulating their own happiness, that they were enlightened by the

beams of faith, bemoaned the blindness of their ancestors, and cried out

in a lamentable tone, "What! are our forefathers burning in hellfire,

because they did not adore a God who was unknown to them, and observed

not a law which never was declared?" The Bouzas added fuel to their zeal,

by telling them,

"The Portuguese priests were good for nothing, because they could not

redeem a soul from hell; whereas they could do it at their pleasure, by

their fasts and prayers: that eternal punishments either proved the

cruelty or the weakness of the Christian God; his cruelty, if he did not

deliver them, when he had it in his power; his weakness, if he could not

execute what he desired; lastly, that Amida and Xaca were far more

merciful, and of greater power; but that they were only pleased to redeem

from hell those who, during their mortal life, had bestowed magnificent

alms upon the Bonzas."

We are ignorant of all those particular answers of the saint, as I said

above: we only know from his relation, that, concerning the sorrow of the

Japonians for having been bereft for so many ages of Christian knowledge,

he had the good fortune to give them comfort, and put them in a way of

more reasonable thoughts; for he shewed them in general, that the most

ancient of all laws is the law of God, not that which is published by the

sound of words, but that which is written in hearts by the hand of

nature; so that every one who comes into the world, brings along with him

certain precepts, which his own instinct and reason teach him. "Before

Japan received its laws from the wise men of China," said Xavier, "it was

known amongst you, that theft and adultery were to be avoided; and from

thence it was that thieves and palliards sought out secret places,

wherein to commit those crimes. After they had committed them, they felt

the private stings of their own consciences, which cease not to reproach

the guilty to themselves, though their wickedness be not known to others,

nor even so much as prohibited by human laws. Suppose an infant bred up

in forests amongst the beasts, far from the society of mankind, and

remote from the civilized inhabitants of towns, yet he is not without an

inward knowledge of the rules of civil life; for ask him, whether it be

not an evil action to murder a man, to despoil him of his goods, to

violate his bed, to surprise him by force, or circumvent him by

treachery, he will answer without question, 'That nothing of this is to

be done.' Now if this be manifest in a savage, without the benefit of

education, how much more way it be concluded of men well educated, and

living in mutual conversation? Then," added the holy man, "it follows,

that God has not left so many ages destitute of knowledge, as your Bonzas

have pretended" By this he gave them to understand, that the law of

nature was a step which led them insensibly to the Christian law; and

that a man who lived morally well, should never fad of arriving to the

knowledge of the faith, by ways best known to Almighty God; that is to

say, before his eath, God would either send some preacher to him, or

illuminate his mind by some immediate revelation. These reasons, which

the fathers of the church have often used on like occasions, gave such

satisfaction to the Pagans, that they found no farther difficulty in that

point, which had given them so much trouble.

The Bonzas perceiving that the people preferred the authority of Xavier

above theirs, and not knowing how to refute their adversary, made a cabal

at court, to lessen the Christians in the good opinion of the king. They

gave him jealousies of them, by decrying their behaviour, and saying,

"They were men of intrigue, plotters, enemies of the public safety, and

dangerous to the person of the king;" insomuch, that Oxindono, who had

been so favourable to them, all on the sudden was turned against them. It

is true, that as the Japonese value themselves above all things, in the

inviolable observation of their word, when they have once engaged it, he

durst not revoke that solemn edict, which he had published in favour of

the Christians; but to make it of no effect, he used the faithful with

great severity, even so far as to seize upon their goods, and began with

men of the first rank in his dominions. At the same time, the Bonzas,

grown insolent, and swelled with this new turn of tide, wrote letters and

libels full of invectives against Xavier. They said, he was a vagabond

beggar, who, not knowing how to maintain himself in India, was come to

Japan to live on charity. They endeavoured above all things to make him

pass for a notorious magician, who, through the power of his charms, had

forced the devil to obey him, and one who, by the assistance of his

familiars, performed all sorts of prodigies to seduce the people.

But neither this alteration in the king, nor these calumnies of the

Bonzas, hindered the progress of the gospel. The number of Christians

amounted in few days to three thousand in Amanguchi, and they were all so

fervent, that not one of them but was ready, not only to forego his

fortunes, but also to shed his blood for the defence of his faith, if the

king should be carried on to persecute the growing church with fire and

sword, as it was believed he would. The reputation of the apostle was

also encreased, in spite of the false reports which were spread

concerning him; and his name became so famous in the neighbouring

kingdoms, that all the people round about were desirous to see the

European Bonza.

Xavier had of late some thoughts of returning to the Indies, there to

make a choice himself of such labourers as were proper for Japan; and his

design was to come back by China, the conversion of which country had

already inflamed his heart. For discoursing daily with such Chinese

merchants as were resident at Amanguehi, he had entertained a strong

opinion, that a nation so polite, and knowing, would easily be reduced to

Christianity; and on the other side, he had great hopes, that when China

should be once converted, Japan would not be long after it; at least the

more unbelieving sort of Japonese often said, "That they would not alter

their religion till the Chinese had led the way. Let him carry his gospel

to that flourishing and vast empire; and when he had subdued it to Jesus

Christ, then they would also think of turning Christians."

In the meantime, a Portuguese vessel, commanded by Edward de Gama,

arrived at the kingdom of Bungo, and news came to Amanguchi, that this

ship, which was sailed thither from the Indies, would be on its way back

again in a month or two. Xavier, to learn what truth there was in this

report, sent Matthew to those parts, who was one of the Japonian

converts, which accompanied him, and gave him a letter, directed to the

captain and merchants of the vessel. The saint desired them to send him

word, who they were, from whence bound, and how soon they intended to

return; after which he told them, "That his intentions were to return to

the Indies, and that he should be glad to meet them, in case they were

disposed to repass thither." In conclusion, he desired them earnestly,

that they would borrow so much time from their affairs of merchandize as

to think a little on their souls; and declared to them, that all the

silks of China, whatever gain they might afford them, could not

countervail the least spiritual profit which they might make, by a daily

examination of their consciences. The ship was at the port of Figen,

about fifty leagues from Amanguchi, and within a league of Fucheo, which

some call Funay, the metropolis of Bungo. The Portuguese were overjoyed

to hear news of Father Xavier. They sent him an account of theirs, and

withal advertised him, that, in the compass of a month at farthest, they

should set sail for China, where they had left three vessels laden for

the Indies, which were to return in January, and that James Pereyra, his

familiar friend, was on board of one of them. Matthew came back in five

days time; and, besides the letters which he brought the Father from the

captain, and the principal merchants, he gave him some from Goa; by which

the Fathers of the college of St Paul gave him to understand, that his

presence in that place was of absolute necessity, for the regulation of

affairs belonging to the Society.

Then Xavier, without losing time, after he had recommended the new

Christians to the care of Cosmo de Torrez, and John Fernandez, whom he

left at Amanguchi, put himself upon his way towards Mid-September, in the

year 1551. He might have made this voyage easily by sea, but he loved

rather to go by land, and that on foot, according to his custom. He took

for his companions, Matthew and Bernard; two Christian lords would be

also of the party. Their goods had lately been confiscated, as a

punishment for changing their religion; but the grace of Jesus Christ,

which was to them instead of all, rendered their poverty so precious,

that they esteemed themselves richer than they had been formerly. Another

Christian bore them company; that Laurence sirnamed the Squint-eyed,

because of that imperfection in his sight.

The Father walked cheerfully with his five companions, as far as

Pinlaschau, a village distant a league or two from Figen. Arriving there

he found himself so spent with travelling, that his feet were swollen,

and he was seized with a violent headach, so that he could go no farther.

Matthew, Laurence, and Bernard, went on to carry news of him to the

vessel. When Edward de Gama understood that the holy man was so near, he

called together all the Portuguese who resided at Fucheo; and having

chosen out the principal amongst them, got on horseback with them, to pay

him their respects in ceremony. Xavier, whom a little rest had now

recruited, and who was suspicious of the honour which they intended him,

was already on his journey, but fell into that ambush of civility, which

he would willingly have shunned. The cavalcade came up to him within a

league's distance of Figen; and found him walking betwixt the two lords

of Amanguchi, who had never left him, and himself carrying his own

equipage. Gama was surprised to see a person so considerable in the world

in such a posture, and alighting from his horse, with all his company,

saluted him with all manner of respect. After the first compliments were

over, they invited the Father to mount on horseback, but he could not be

persuaded; so that the Portuguese giving their horses to be led after

them, bore him company on foot even to the port.

The ship was equipped in all its flourish, with flags hung out, and

streamers waving, according to the orders of the captain. They who were

remaining in her appeared on the decks, and stood glittering in their

armour. They gave him a volley at his first approach, and then discharged

all their cannon. Four rounds of the artillery being made, the noise of

it was heard so distinctly at Fucheo, that the city was in a fright, and

the king imagined that the Portuguese were attacked by certain pirates,

who lately had pillaged all the coasts. To clear his doubts, he

dispatched away a gentleman of his court to the ship's captain. Gama

shewing Father Francis to the messenger, told him, that the noise which

had alarmed the court, was only a small testimony of the honour which was

owing to so great a person, one so dear to heaven, and so much esteemed

in the court of Portugal.

The Japanner, who saw nothing but poverty in the person of the Father,

and remembered what had been written of him from Amanguchi, stopped a

little without speaking; then, with amazement in his face, "I am in

pain," said he, "what answer I shall return my prince; for what you tell

me has no correspondence either with that which I behold, or with the

account we have received from the Bonzas of Amanguchi; who have seen your

Father Bonza entertain a familiar spirit, who taught him to cast lots,

and perform certain magical operations to delude the ignorant. They

report him to be a wretch forsaken, and accurst by all the world; that

the vermin which are swarming all over him, are too nice to feed on his

infectious flesh; besides which, I fear, that if I should relate what you

say concerning him, our priests would be taken either for idiots, or men

of false understanding, or for envious persons, and impostors." Then Gama

replying, told the Japonian all that was necessary to give him a good

impression of the saint, and to hinder him from contempt of his mean

appearance. On this last article he declared to him, that he, who had so

despicable an outside, was of noble blood; that fortune had provided him

with wealth, but that his virtue had made him poor; and that his wilfull

want of all things was the effect of a great spirit, which despised those

empty pomps that are so eagerly desired by mankind. This discourse

ravished the Japanner with admiration; he made a faithful relation of it

to his king; and added of himself, that the Portuguese were more happy in

the possession of this holy man, than if their vessel were laden with

ingots of gold.

The king of Bungo had already heard speak of Father Francis; and gave no

credit to what the Bonzas of Amanguchi had written of him. He was a

prince of five-and-twenty years of age, very judicious, generous, and

civil; but too much engaged in carnal pleasures, after the manner of the

Japonian princes. What he had heard from the relation of the messenger,

increased his longing to behold Xavier; and the same day he writ to him,

in these very terms:--

"Father Bonza of Chimahicoghin, (for by that name they call Portugal,)

may your happy arrival in my estates be as pleasing to your God, as are

the praises wherewith he is honoured by his saints. Quansyonofama, my

domestic servant, whom I sent to the port of Figen, tells me, that you

are arrived from Amanguchi; and all my court will bear me witness, with

what pleasure I received the news. As God has not made me worthy to

command you, I earnestly request you to come before the rising of the sun

to-morrow, and to knock at my palace gate, where I shall impatiently

attend you. And permit me to demand this favour of you without being

thought a troublesome beggar. In the meantime, prostrate on the ground,

and on my knees before your God, whom I acknowledge for the God of all

the gods, the Sovereign of the best and greatest which inhabit in the

heavens, I desire of him, I say, to make known to the haughty of the

world, how much your poor and holy life is pleasing to him; to the end,

that the children of our flesh may not be deceived by the false promises

of the earth. Send me news of your holiness, the joy of which may give me

a good night's repose, till the cocks awaken me with the welcome

declaration of your visit."

This letter was carried by a young prince of the blood royal, attended by

thirty young lords belonging to the court; and accompanied by a venerable

old man, who was his governor, called Poomendono, one of the wisest and

most qualified of all the kingdom, and natural brother to the king of

Minato. The honour which was paid by the Portuguese to Father Xavier, so

surprised the prince, that, turning to his governor, he said aloud, "the

God of these people must be truly great, and his counsels hidden from

mankind, since it is his pleasure, that these wealthy ships should be

obedient to so poor a man as is this Bonza of the Portuguese; and that

the roaring of their cannon should declare, that poverty has wherewithal

to be pleasing to the Lord of all the world; even that poverty which is

so despicable of itself, and so disgraceful in the general opinion, that

it seems even a crime to think of it."

"Though we have a horror for poverty," replied Poomendono, "and that we

believe the poor incapable of happiness, it may be this poor man is

so much enamoured of his wants, and so esteems them, that he is pleasing

to the God whom he adores, and that practising it with all imaginable

rigour for his sake, he may be richer than the greatest monarch of the

world."

The young ambassador being returned to court, reported to the king with

what respect his letter had been received; and took upon him to persuade

that prince, that this European Bonza was to be treated with greater

honour, and far otherwise than their ordinary Bonzas; even so far as to

say, that it would be an enormous sin to level him with them; that for

the rest, he was not so poor as his enemies had suggested; that the

captains and Portuguese merchants would bestow on him both their ship and

all their treasure, in case he would accept of them; and that, properly

speaking, he was not to be accounted poor, who possessed as much as he

desired. In the mean time, the Portuguese being assembled, to consult how

Father Xavier should appear in court the next morning, all of them were

of opinion, that he should present himself with all the pomp and

magnificence they could devise. At first he opposed it, out of the

aversion he had for this pageant show, so unsuitable to the condition of

a religious man; but afterwards he yielded to the request, and withal to

the reasons of the assembly. Those reasons were, that the Bonzas of

Amanguchi, having written all they could imagine, to render Xavier

contemptible, it was convenient to remove those false conceptions from

the people; and at the same time, to let them see how much the Christians

honour their ministers of the gospel, that thereby the Heathens might be

the more easily induced to give credit to them; so that the honour would

reflect on Jesus Christ, and the preaching would be raised in value,

according to the esteem which was given to the preacher.

They prepared therefore, with all diligence, for the entry of the saint,

and set out the next morning before day-light, in a handsome equipage.

There were thirty Portuguese, of the most considerable amongst them,

richly habited; with their chains of gold, and adorned with jewels. Their

servants and slaves, well clothed likewise, were attending on their

masters. Father Xavier wore a cassock of black chainlet, and over it a

surplice, with a stole of green velvet, garnished with a gold brocard.

The chalop and the two barques, wherein they made their passage from the

ship to the town, were covered on the sides with the fairest China

tapestry, and hung round with silken banners of all colours. Both in the

sloop, and in the barques, there were trumpets, flutes, and hautboys, and

other instruments of music, which, playing together, made a most

harmonious concert: the news which was spread about Fucheo, that the

great European Bonza was to enter into the town that morning, drew many

persons of quality to the sea-side; and such a multitude of people ran

crowding together, at the sounding of the trumpets, that the Portuguese

could hardly find footing to come on shore.

Quansyandono, captain of Canafama, and one of the principal of the court,

was there attending them, by order from the king. He received the saint

with great civility, and offered him a litter to carry him to the palace;

but Xavier refused it, and walked on foot, with all his train, in this

order: Edward de Gama went foremost bare-headed, with a cane in his hand,

as the gentleman of the horse, or Major Domo to the Father. Five other

Portuguese followed him, who were the most considerable persons of the

ship. One of them carried a book in a bag of white satin; another a cane

of Bengal, headed with gold; a third his slippers, which were of a fine

black velvet, such as are worn only by persons of the first quality, a

fourth carried a fair tablet of Our Lady, wrapt in a scarf of violet

damask; and the fifth a magnificent parasol. The Father came next after

them, in the habit which I have described; with an air composed betwixt

majesty and modesty. The rest of the Portuguese followed; and to behold

their countenance, their dress, and the beauty of their train, they

resembled rather cavaliers and lords, than a company of merchants. They

passed in this manner through the chief streets of the city, with sound

of trumpets, flutes, and hautboys, followed by an infinite multitude of

people, without reckoning into the number those who filled the windows,

the balconies, and the tops of houses. Being arrived at the great place,

which fronts the royal palace, they found there six hundred of the king's

guards, drawn up, some armed with lances, others with darts, all of them

with rich scymiters hanging by their sides, and costly vests upon their

backs. These guards, at the sign given them by their captain, called

Fingeiridono, advanced in good order towards the saint, after which they

divided into two ranks, and opened a passage for the Father through the

midst of them.

Being come to the palace, the Portuguese, who walked immediately before

the Father, turned towards him, and saluted him with great respect. One

presented him the cane, and another the velvet slippers; he, who held the

parasol, spread it over his head; and the two others, who carried the

book and picture, placed themselves on each side of him. All this was so

gracefully performed, and with so much honour to the Father, that the

lords who were present much admired the manner of it: and they were heard

to say amongst themselves, that Xavier had been falsely represented to

them by the Bonzas; that questionless he was a man descended from above,

to confound their envy, and abate their pride.

After they had gone through a long gallery, they entered into a large

hall full of people; who, by their habit, which was of damask, heightened

with gold, and diversified with fair figures, seemed to be persons of the

highest quality. There a little child, whom a reverend old man held by

the hand, coming up to the Father, saluted him with these words: "May

your arrival in the palace of my lord the king, be as welcome to him, as

the rain of heaven to the labourers, in a long and parching drought:

Enter without fear," continued he, "for I assure you of the love of all

good men, though the wicked cannot behold you without melancholy in their

faces, which will make them appear like a black and stormy night." Xavier

returned an answer suitable to his age who had made the compliment; but

the child replied in a manner which was far above his age. "Certainly,"

said he, "you must be endued with an extraordinary courage, to come from

the end of all the world into a strange country, liable to contempt, in

regard of your poverty; and the goodness of your God must needs be

infinite, to be pleased with that poverty against the general opinion of

mankind. The Bonzas are far from doing any thing of this nature; they who

publicly affirm, and swear, that the poor are no more in a possibility of

salvation than the women." "May it please the divine goodness of our

Lord," replied Xavier, "to enlighten those dark and wretched souls with

the beams of his celestial truth, to the end they may confess their

error, both as to that particular, and to the rest of their belief."

The child discoursed on other subjects, and spoke with so much reason,

and with that sublimity of thought, that the Father doubted not but he

was inspired by the Holy Spirit, who, when he pleases, can replenish the

souls of infants with wisdom, and give eloquence to their tongues, before

nature has ripened in them the use of reason.