No More Learning

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.

In these entertainments, which were surprising to all the assistants,
they passed into another hall, where there were many gentlemen richly
habited, and of good mein. At the moment when the Father entered, all of
them bowed with reverence; which action they repeated thrice, and so very
low, that they touched the ground with their foreheads, as the Japonese
are very dextrous at that exercise. And this reverence, which they call
Gromenare, is only performed by the son to the father, and by the vassal
to his lord. After this, two of them separating from the company, to
testify their general joy at the sight of him, one of them spoke in this
manner: "May your arrival, holy Father Bonza, be as pleasing to our king
as the smiles of a babe are to his mother, who holds him in her arms;
which certainly will be, for we swear to you by the hairs of our heads,
that every thing, even to the very walls, which seem to dance for joy at
your desired presence, conspires to your good reception, and excites us
to rejoice at your arrival; we doubt not but it will turn to the glory of
that God. of whom you have spoken so greatly at Amanguchi. " This
compliment being ended, these young lords were following the Father; but
the child of whom we made mention, and whom Xavier led by the hand, made
a sign to them, that they should go no farther. They mounted on a terrace
bordered with orange trees, and from thence entered into another hall,
more spacious than either of the former. Facharandono, the king's
brother, was there, with a magnificent retinue. Having done to the saint
all the civilities which are practised to the greatest of Japan, he told
him, "that this day was the most solemn and auspicious of all the year
for the court of Bungo; and that his lord the king esteemed himself more
rich and happy to have him in his palace, than if he were master of all
the silver contained in the two-and-thirty treasuries of China. In the
mean time," added the prince, "I wish you an increase of glory, and an
entire accomplishment of that design, which brought you hither from the
extremities of the earth. "

Then the child, who had hitherto been the master of the ceremonies to the
Father, left him in the hands of Facharandono, and retired apart. They
entered into the king's antichamber, where the principal lords of the
kingdom were attending him. After he had been received by them with all
possible civilities, he was at last introduced to his audience in a
chamber which glittered with gold on every side. The king, who was
standing, advanced five or six paces at the first appearance of the
Father, and bowed himself even to the ground thrice successively, at
which action all the company were in great amazement. Xavier, on his
side, prostrated himself before that prince, and would have touched
his foot, according to the custom of the country, but the king would not
permit him, and himself raised up the saint; then taking him by the hand,
he caused him to sit down by him on the same estrade. The prince, his
brother, was seated somewhat lower; and the Portuguese were placed over
against them, accompanied by the most qualified persons of the court. The
king immediately said all the obliging things to the Father which could
be expected from a well-bred man; and, laying aside all the pomp of
majesty, which the kings of Japan are never used to quit in public,
treated him with the kindness and familiarity of a friend. The Father
answered all these civilities of the prince with a most profound respect,
and words full of deference and submission; after which, taking occasion
to declare Jesus Christ to him, he explained, in few words, the principal
maxims of Christian morality; but he did it after so plausible a manner,
that at the conclusion of his discourse, the king cried out in a
transport of admiration, "How can any man learn from God these profound
secrets? Why has he suffered us to live in blindness, and this Bonza of
Portugal to receive these wonderful illuminations? For, in fine, we
ourselves are witnesses of what we had formerly by report; and all we
hear is maintained by proofs so strong and evident, and withal so
conformable to the light of nature, that whoever would examine these
doctrines, according to the rules of reason, will find that truth will
issue out, and meet him on every side, and that no one proposition
destroys another. It is far otherwise with our Bonzas; they cannot make
any discourse without the clashing of their own principles; and from
thence it happens, that the more they speak, the more they entangle
themselves. Confused in their knowledge, and yet more confused in
the explication of what they teach, rejecting to day as false what
yesterday they approved for true; contradicting themselves, and recanting
their opinions every moment, insomuch, that the clearest head, and the
most ready understanding, can comprehend nothing of their doctrine; and
in relation to eternal happiness, we are always left in doubt what we
should believe; a most manifest token that they only follow the
extravagancies of their own fancies, and have not, for the rule and
foundation of their faith, any permanent and solid truth. "

In this manner spoke the king; and it was easy to judge by the vehemence
of his action, that he spoke from the abundance of his heart. There was
present a Bonza, very considerable in his sect, and of good knowledge,
but too presuming of his understanding, and as much conceited of his own
abilities as any pedant in the world. This Bonza, whose name was
Faxiondono, either jealous of the honour of his profession, or taking to
himself in particular what the king had said of all in general, was often
tempted to have interrupted him, yet he mastered his passion till the
king had done; but then losing all manner of respect, and not keeping any
measures of decency, "How dare you," said he, "decide matters relating to
religion; you who have never studied in the university of Fianzima, the
only place where the sacred mysteries of the gods are explicated? If you
know nothing of yourself, consult the learned. I am here in person to
instruct you. "

The insolence of the Bonza raised the indignation of all the company, the
king excepted, who, smiling, commanded him to proceed, if he had more to
say. Faxiondono growing more arrogant by this moderation of his prince,
began raising his note by extolling the profession of a Bonza: "That
nothing was more certain than that the Bonzas were the favourites of
heaven, both observing the law themselves, and causing it to be observed
by others; that they passed the longest nights, and the severest colds,
in praying for their benefactors; that they abstained from all sensual
pleasures; that fresh fish never came upon their tables; that they
administered to the sick, instructed the children, comforted the
distressed, reconciled enemies, appeased seditions, and pacified
kingdoms; that, which was first and chiefest, they gave letters of
exchange for another life, by which the dead became rich in heaven;
that, in fine, the Bonzas were the familiar friends of the stars, and the
confidents of the saints; that they were privileged to converse with them
by night, to cause them to descend from heaven, to embrace them in their
arms, and enjoy them as long as they desired. " These extravagancies set
all the company in a laughter; at which the Bonza was so enraged, that he
flew out into greater passion, till the king commanded his brother to
impose silence on him; after which, he caused his seat to be taken from
under him, and commanded him to withdraw, telling him, by way of
raillery, "That his choler was a convincing proof of a Bonza's holiness;"
and then seriously adding, "That a man of his character had more commerce
with hell than heaven. " At these words, the Bonza cried out with excess
of rage, "The time will come, when no man of this world shall be worthy
enough to serve me; there is not that monarch now breathing on the face
of the earth, but shall be judged too vile to touch the hem of my
garment. " He meant, when he was to be transformed into one of their
deities, and that God and he should be mixed into one divinity, which is
the reward of a Bonza after death. Though the king could not hear his
madness without smiling, yet he had so much compassion on his folly, that
he took upon him to confute those extravagant propositions; but Xavier
desired him to defer it to a fitter time, till he had digested his fury,
and was more capable of hearing reason. Then the king said only to
Faxiondono, "That he should go and do penance for the pride and insolence
of his speech, wherein he had made himself a companion of the gods. "
Faxiondono did not reply, but he was heard to mutter, and grind his
teeth, as he withdrew. Being at the chamber door, and ready to go out,
"May the gods," said he aloud, "dart their fire from heaven to consume
thee, and burn to ashes all those kings who shall presume to speak like
thee! "

The king and Xavier prosecuted their discourse on several articles of
religion till dinner time; when the meat was on the table, the king
invited the Father to eat with him. Xavier excused himself with all
possible respect, but that prince would absolutely have it so. "I know
well," said he, "my friend and father, that you are not in want of my
table; but, if you were a Japanner, as we are, you would understand, that
a king cannot give those he favours a greater sign of his good will, than
in permitting them to eat with him; for which reason, as I love you, and
am desirous of shewing it, you must needs dine with me; and farther, I
assure you, that I shall receive a greater honour by it, than I bestow. "
Then Xavier, with a low reverence, kissing his scymitar, which is a mark
of most profound respect, much practised in Japan, said thus to him: "I
petition the God of heaven, from the bottom of my heart, to reward your
majesty for all the favours you have heaped on me, by bestowing on you
the light of faith, and the virtues of Christianity, to the end you may
serve God faithfully during your life, and enjoy him eternally after
death. " The king embraced him, and desired of God, on his side, that he
would graciously hear the saint's request, yet on this condition, that
they might remain together in heaven, and never be divided from each
other, that they might have the opportunity of long conversations, and of
discoursing to the full of divine matters. At length they sat to dinner:
while they were eating, the Portuguese, and all the lords of the court,
were on their knees, together with the chief inhabitants of the town,
amongst whom were also some Bonzas, who were enraged in their hearts; but
the late example of Faxiondono hindered them from breaking into passion.

These honours which Xavier received from the king of Bungo, made him so
considerable, and gave him so great a reputation with the people, that
being at his lodgings with the Portuguese, they came thronging from all
quarters to hear him speak of God. His public sermons, and his private
conversations, had their due effect. Vast multitudes of people, from the
very first, renounced their idols, and believed in Jesus Christ.