The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 16

Yet the Portuguese proceeded not against them with that severity. But it seems that God revenged their quarrel, in afflicting the Spaniards with a contagious fever, which destroyed the greatest part of their fleet. It was a sad spectacle to behold the mariners and soldiers, lying here and there in their ships, or on the shore, in cabins, covered only with leaves. The disease which consumed them, kept all men at a distance from them; and the more necessity they had of succour, the less they found from the people of the island.

At the first report which came to Xavier of this pestilence, he left all things to relieve them; and it is scarce to be imagined, to what actions his charity led him on this occasion. He was day and night in a continual motion, at the same time administering to their bodies and their souls; assisting the dying, burying the dead, and interring them even with his own hands. As the sick bad neither food nor physic, he procured both for them from every side; and he who furnished him the most, was a Portuguese, called John d'Araus, who came in his company from Malacca to Amboyna. Nevertheless the malady still increasing day by day, Araus began to fear he should impoverish himself by these charities; and from a tender-hearted man, became so hard, that nothing more was to be squeezed out of him. One day Xavier sent to him for some wine, for a sick man who had continual faintings: Araus gave it, but with great reluctance, and charged the messenger to trouble him no more; that he had need of the remainder for his own use; and when his own was at an end, whither should he go for a supply? These words were no sooner related to Father Francis, than inflamed with a holy indignation, "What," says he, "does Araus think of keeping his wine for himself, and refusing it to the members of Jesus Christ! the end of his life is very near, and after his death all his estate shall be distributed amongst the poor." He denounced death to him with his own mouth; and the event verified the prediction, as the sequel will make manifest.

Though the pestilence was not wholly ceased, and many sick were yet aboard the vessels, the Spanish fleet set sail for Goa, forced to it by the approach of winter, which begins about May in those quarters. Father Xavier made provisions for the necessities of the soldiers, and furnished them, before their departure, with all he could obtain from the charity of the Portuguese. He recommended them likewise to the charity of his friends at Malacca, where the navy was to touch; and wrote to Father Paul de Camerine at Goa, that he should not fail to lodge in the college of the company, those religious of the order of St Augustin, who came along with the army from Mexico, and that he should do them all the good offices, which their profession, and their virtue, claimed from him.

After the Spaniards were departed, Xavier made some little voyages to places near adjoining to Amboyna; and visited some islands, which were half unpeopled, and desart, waiting the convenience of a ship to transport him to the Moluccas, which are nearer to Macassar than Amboyna. One of those isles is Baranura, where he miraculously recovered his crucifix, in the manner I am going to relate, according to the account which was given of it by a Portuguese, called Fausto Rodriguez, who was a witness of the fact, has deposed it upon oath, and whose juridical testimony is in the process of the saint's canonization.

"We were at sea," says Rodriguez, "Father Francis, John Raposo, and myself, when there arose a tempest, which alarmed all the mariners. Then the Father drew from his bosom a little crucifix, which he always carried about him, and leaning over deck, intended to have dipt it into the sea; but the crucifix dropt out of his hand, and was carried off by the waves. This loss very sensibly afflicted him, and he concealed not his sorrow from us. The next morning we landed on the island of Baranura; from the time when the crucifix was lost, to that of our landing, it was near twenty-four hours, during which we were in perpetual danger. Being on shore, Father Francis and I walked along by the sea side, towards the town of Tamalo, and had already walked about 500 paces, when both of us beheld, arising out of the sea, a crab-fish, which carried betwixt his claws the same crucifix raised on high. I saw the crab-fish come directly to the Father, by whose side I was, and stopped before him. The Father, falling on his knees, took his crucifix, after which the crab-fish returned into the sea. But the Father still continuing in the same humble posture, hugging and kissing the crucifix, was half an hour praying with his hands across his breast, and myself joining with him in thanksgiving to God for so evident a miracle; after which we arose, and continued on our way." Thus you have the relation of Rodriguez.

They staid eight days upon the island, and afterwards set sail for Rosalao, where Xavier preached at his first coming, as he had done at Baranura. But the idolaters, who inhabited these two islands, being extremely vicious, altogether brutal, and having nothing of human in them besides the figure, gave no credit to his words; and only one man amongst them, more reasonable than all the rest, believed in Jesus Christ. Insomuch, that the holy apostle, at his departure from Rosalao, took off his shoes, and shook off the dust, that he might not carry any thing away with him, which belonged to that execrable land.

Truly speaking, the conversion of that one man was worth that of many. The saint gave him in baptism his own name of Francis; and foretold him, that he should die most piously, in calling upon the name of Jesus. The prophecy was taken notice of, which has recommended the fame of this new convert to posterity, and which was not accomplished till after forty years. For this Christian, forsaking his barbarous island, and turning soldier, served the Portuguese, on divers occasions, till in the year 1588 he was wounded to death in a battle given by Don Sancho Vasconcellos, governor of Amboyna, who made war with the Saracen Hiamo. Francis was carried off into the camp; and many, as well Indians as Portuguese, came about him, to see the accomplishment of the prediction, made by the blessed Francis Xavier. All of them beheld the soldier dying, with extraordinary signs of piety, and crying, without ceasing, "Jesus, assist me!"

The island of Ulate, which is better peopled, and less savage than those of Baranura and Rosalao, was not so deaf nor so rebellious to the voice of the holy man. He found it all in arms, and the king of it besieged in his town, ready to be surrendered, neither through want of courage, nor of defendants, but of water; because the enemy had cut off the springs, and there was no likelihood of rain; insomuch, that during the great heats, both men and horses were in danger of perishing by thirst.

The opportunity appeared favourable to Father Xavier, for gaining the vanquished party to Jesus Christ, and perhaps all the conquerors. Full of a noble confidence in God, he found means to get into the town; and being presented to the king, offered to supply him with what he most wanted. "Suffer me," said he, "to erect a cross, and trust in the God, whom I come to declare to you. He is the Lord and Governor of nature, who, whenever he pleases, can open the fountains of heaven, and water the earth. But, in case the rain should descend upon you, give me your promise, to acknowledge his power, and that you, with your subjects, will receive his law." In the extremity to which the king was then reduced, he consented readily to the Father's conditions; and also obliged himself, on the public faith, to keep his word, provided Xavier failed not on his part of the promised blessing. Then Xavier causing a great cross to be made, set it up, on the highest ground of all the town; and there, on his knees, amongst a crowd of soldiers, and men, women, and children, attracted by the novelty of the sight, as much as by the expected succour, he offered to God the death of his only son, and prayed him, by the merits of that crucified Saviour, who had poured out his blood for the sake of all mankind, not to deny a little water, for the salvation of an idolatrous people.

Scarcely had the saint begun his prayer, when the sky began to be overcast with clouds; and by that time he had ended it, there fell down rain in great abundance, which lasted so long, till they had made a plentiful provision of water. The enemy, now hopeless of taking the town, immediately decamped; and the king, with all his people, received baptism from the hand of Father Xavier. He commanded also, that all the neighbouring islands, who held of him should adore Christ Jesus, and engaged the saint to go and publish the faith amongst them. Xavier employed three months and more in these little voyages; after which, returning to Amboyna, where he had left his companion, John Deyro, to cultivate the new-growing Christianity, and where he left him also for the same intention, embarked on a Portuguese vessel, which was setting sail for the Moluccas.

That which is commonly called by the name of the Moluccas, is a country on the Oriental Ocean, divided into many little islands, situated near, the equator, exceeding fruitful in cloves, and famous for the trade of spices. There are five principal islands of them, Ternate, Tidor, Motir, Macian, and Bacian. The first of these is a degree and a half distant from the equinoctial to the north, the rest follow in the order above named, and all five are in sight of one another. These are those celebrated islands, concerning which Ferdinand Magellan raised so many disputes amongst the geographers, and so many quarrels betwixt Spain and Portugal. For the Portuguese having discovered them from the east, and the Spaniards from the west, each of them pretended to inclose them, within their conquests, according to the lines of longitude which they drew.

Ternate is the greatest of the Moluccas, and it was on that side that Father Xavier took his course. He had a gulph to pass of ninety leagues, exceedingly dangerous, both in regard of the strong tides, and the uncertain winds, which are still raising tempests, though the sea be never so calm. The ship which carried the Father was one of those vessels, which, in those parts, are called caracores, of a long and narrow built, like gallies, and which use indifferently sails and oars. Another vessel of the same make carried a Portuguese, called John Galvan, having aboard her all his goods. They set out together from Amboyna, keeping company by the way, and both of them bound for the port of Ternate.

In the midst of the gulph, they were surprised with a storm, which parted them so far, that they lost sight of each other. The caracore of Xavier, after having been in danger of perishing many times, was at length saved, and recovered the port of Ternate by a kind of miracle: as for that of Galvan, it was not known what became of her, and the news concerning her was only brought by an evident revelation.

The first saint's day, when the Father preached to the people, he stopped short in the middle of his discourse, and said, after a little pause, "Pray to God for the soul of John Galvan, who is drowned in the gulph." Some of the audience, who were friends of Galvan, and interested in the caracore, ran to the mariners, who had brought the Father, and demanded of them, if they knew any certain news of this tragical adventure? They answered, "that they knew no more than that the storm had separated the two vessels." The Portuguese recovered courage at those words, and imagined that Father Francis had no other knowledge than the seamen. But they were soon undeceived by the testimony of their own eyes; for three days after, they saw, washed on the shore, the corpse of Galvan, and the wreck of the vessel, which the sea had thrown upon the coast.

Very near this time, when Xavier was saying mass, turning to the people to say the Orate Fratres, he added, "pray also for John Araus, who is newly dead at Amboyna." They who were present observed punctually the day and hour, to see if what the Father had said would come to pass: ten or twelve days after, there arrived a ship from Amboyna, and the truth was known not only by divers letters, but confirmed also by a Portuguese, who had seen Araus die at the same moment when Xavier exhorted the people to pray to God to rest his soul. This Araus was the merchant which refused to give wine for the succour of the sick, in the Spanish fleet, and to whom the saint had denounced a sudden death. He fell sick after Xavier's departure; and having neither children nor heirs, all his goods were distributed amongst the poor, according to the custom of the country.

The shipwreck of Galvan, and the death of Araus, gave great authority to what they had heard at Ternate, concerning the holiness of Father Francis, and from the very first gained him an exceeding reputation. And indeed it was all necessary; I say not for the reformation of vice in that country, but to make him even heard with patience by a dissolute people, which committed, without shame, the most enormous crimes, and such as modesty forbids to name.

To understand how profitable the labours of Father Xavier were to those of Ternate, it is sufficient to tell what he has written himself: "That of an infinite number of debauched persons living in that island when he landed there, all excepting two had laid aside their wicked courses before his departure. The desire of riches was extinguished with the love of pleasures. Restitutions were frequently made, and such abundant alms were given, that the house of charity, set up for the relief of the necessitous, from very poor, which it was formerly, was put into stock, and more flourishing than ever."

The change of manners, which was visibly amongst the Christians, was of no little service to the conversion of Saracens and idolaters. Many of those infidels embraced Christianity. But the most illustrious conquest of the saint, was of a famous Saracen lady, called Neachile Pocaraga, daughter to Almanzor, king of Tidore, and wife to Boliefe, who was king of Ternate, before the Portuguese had conquered the island. She was a princess of great wit and generosity, but extremely bigotted to her sect, and a mortal enemy to the Christians, that is to say, to the Portuguese. Her hatred to them was justly grounded; for, having received them into her kingdom with great civility, and having also permitted them to establish themselves in one part of the island, for the convenience of their trade, she was dealt with so hardly by them, that, after the death of the king, her husband, she had nothing left her but the bare title of a queen; and by their intrigues, the three princes, her sons, lost the crown, their liberty, and their lives. Her unhappy fortune constrained her to lead a wandering life, from isle to isle. But Providence, which would accomplish on her its good designs, brought her back at last to Ternate, about the time when Xavier came thither. She lived there in the condition of a private person, without authority, yet with splendour; and retaining still in her countenance and behaviour, somewhat of that haughty air, which the great sometimes maintain, even in their fetters.

The saint gained access to her, and found an opportunity of conversing with her. In his first discourse, he gave her a great idea of the kingdom of God; yet withal informed her, that this kingdom, was not difficult to obtain; and that being once in possession of it, there was no fear of being after dispossessed. Insomuch, that the Saracen princess, who had no hopes remaining of aught on earth, turned her thoughts and her desires towards heaven. It is true, that, as she was endued with a great wit, and was very knowing in the law of Mahomet, there was some need of argumentation; but the Father still clearing all her doubts, the dispute only served to make her understand more certainly the falseness of the Alcoran, and the truth of the gospel. She submitted to the saint's reasons, or rather to the grace of Jesus Christ, and was publicly baptized by the apostle himself, who gave her the name of Isabella.

He was not satisfied with barely making her a Christian. He saw in her a great stock of piety, an upright heart, a tenderness of mind, inclinations truly great and noble, which he cultivated with admirable care, and set her forward, by degrees, in the most sublime and solid ways of a spiritual life: So that Neachile, under the conduct of Father Xavier, arrived to a singular devotion; that is to say, she grew humble and modest, from disdainful; and haughty as she was, mild to others, and severe to herself, suffering her misfortunes without complaint of injuries; united to God in her retirements, and not appearing publicly, but to exercise the deeds of charity to her neighbour; but more esteemed and honoured, both by the Indians and Portuguese, than when she sat upon the throne, in all the pomp and power of royalty.

During the abode which Xavier made in Ternate, he heard speak of certain isles, which are distant from it about sixty leagues eastward; and which take their name from the principal, commonly called the Isle del Moro. It was reported to him, that those islanders, barbarians as they were, had been most of them baptized, but that the faith had been abolished there immediately after it was introduced, and this account he heard of it.

The inhabitants of Momoya, which is a town in the Isle del Moro, would never embrace the law of Mahomet, though all the neighbouring villages had received it. And the prince, or lord of that town, who chose rather to continue an idolater, than to become a Mahometan, being molested by the Saracens, had recourse to the governor of Ternate, who was called Tristan d'Atayda, promising, that himself and his subjects would turn Christians, provided the Portuguese would take them into their protection. Atayda receiving favourably those propositions of the prince of Momoya, the prince came in person to Ternate, and desired baptism; taking then, the name of John, in honour of John III., king of Portugal. At his return to Momoya, he took along with him a Portuguese priest, called Simon Vaz, who converted many idolaters to the faith. The number of Christians, thus daily increasing more and more, another priest, called Francis Alvarez, came to second Vaz, and both of them laboured so happily in conjunction, that the whole people of Momoya renounced idolatry, and professed the faith of Jesus Christ.

In the mean time, the Portuguese soldiers, whom the governor of Ternate had promised to send, came from thence to defend the town against the enterprizes of the Saracens. But the cruelty which he exercised on the mother of Cacil Aerio, bastard son to King Boliefe, so far exasperated those princes and the neighbouring people, that they conspired the death of all the Portuguese, who were to be found in those quarters. The inhabitants of Momoya, naturally changeable and cruel, began the massacre by the murder of Simon Vaz, their first pastor; and had killed Alvarez, whom they pursued with flights of arrows to the sea side, if accidentally he had not found a bark in readiness, which bore him off, all wounded as he was, and saved him from the fury of those Christian barbarians.

The Saracens made their advantage of these disorders, and mastering Mamoya, changed the whole religion of the town. The prince himself was the only man, who continued firm in the Christian faith, notwithstanding all their threatening, and the cruel usage which he received from them. Not long after this, Antonio Galvan, that Portuguese, who was so illustrious for his prudence, his valour, and his piety, succeeding to Tristan d'Atayda in the government of Ternate, sent to the Isle del Moro a priest, who was both able and zealous, by whose ministry the people were once more reduced into the fold of Christ, and the affairs of the infidels were ruined. But this priest remained not long upon the island, and the people, destitute of all spiritual instructions, returned soon after, through their natural inconstancy, to their original barbarism.

In this condition was the Isle del Moro when it was spoken of to Father Xavier; and for this very reason, he determined to go, and preach the gospel there, after he had stayed for three months at Ternate. When his design was known, all possible endeavours were used to break it. His friends were not wanting to inform him, that the country was as hideous as it was barren: That it seemed accursed by nature, and a more fitting habitation for beasts than men: That the air was so gross, and so unwholesome, that strangers could not live in the country: That the mountains continually vomited flakes of fire and ashes, and that the ground itself was subject to terrible and frequent earthquakes. And besides, it was told him, that the people of the country surpassed in cruelty and faithlessness all the barbarians of the world: That Christianity had not softened their manners; that they poisoned one another; that they fed themselves with human flesh; and that, when any of their relations happened to die, they cut off his hands and feet, of which they made a delicate ragou: That their inhumanity extended so far, that when they designed a sumptuous feast, they begged some of their friends to lend them an old unprofitable father, to be served up to the entertainment of their guests, with promise to repay them, in kind, on the like occasion.

The Portuguese and Indians, who loved Xavier, added, that since those savages spared not their own countrymen and their parents, what would they not do to a stranger, and an unknown person? That they were first to be transformed into men, before they could be made Christians. And how could he imprint the principles of the divine law into their hearts, who had not the least sense of humanity? Who should be his guide through those thick entangled forests, where the greatest part of them were lodged like so many wild beasts; and when, by rare fortune, he should atchieve the taming of them, and even convert them, how long would that conversion last? at the longest, but while he continued with them: That no man would venture to succeed him in his apostleship to those parts, for that was only to be exposed to a certain death; and that the blood of Simon Vaz was yet steaming. To conclude, there were many other isles, which had never heard of Jesus Christ, and who were better disposed to receive the gospel.

These reasons were accompanied with prayers and tears; but they were to no purpose, and Xavier was stedfast to his resolution. His friends perceiving they could gain nothing upon him by intreaties, had recourse, in some measure, to constraint; so far as to obtain from the governor of Ternate a decree, forbidding, on severe penalties, any vessel to carry the Father to the Isle del Moro.

Xavier then resented this usage of his friends, and could not forbear to complain publicly of it. "Where are those people," said he, "who dare to confine the power of Almighty God, and have so mean an apprehension of our Saviour's love and grace? Are there any hearts hard enough to resist the influences of the Most High, when it pleases him to soften and to change them? Can they stand in opposition to that gentle, and yet commanding force, which can make the dry bones live, and raise up children to Abraham from stones? What! Shall he, who has subjected the whole world to the cross, by the ministry of the apostles, shall he exempt from that subjection this petty corner of the universe? Shall then the Isle del Moro be the only place, which shall receive no benefit of redemption? And when Jesus Christ has offered to the eternal Father, all the nations of the earth as his inheritance, were these people excepted out of the donation? I acknowledge them to be very barbarous and brutal; and let it be granted they were more inhuman than they are, it is because I can do nothing of myself, that I have the better hopes of them. I can do all things in Him who strengthens me, and from whom alone proceeds the strength of those who labour in the gospel."

He added, "That other less savage nations would never want for preachers; that these only isles remained for him to cultivate, since no other man would undertake them." In sequel, suffering himself to be transported with a kind of holy choler, "If these isles," pursued he, "abounded with precious woods and mines of gold, the Christians would have the courage to go thither, and all the dangers of the world would not be able to affright them; they are base and fearful because there are only souls to purchase: And shall it then be said, that charity is less daring than avarice? You tell me they will take away my life, either by the sword or poison; but those are favours too great for such a sinner as I am to expect from heaven; yet I dare confidently say, that whatever torment or death they prepare for me, I am ready to suffer a thousand times more for the salvation of one only soul. If I should happen to die by their hands, who knows but all of them might receive the faith? for it is most certain, that since the primitive times of the church, the seed of the gospel has made a larger increase in the fields of paganism, by the blood of martyrs, than by the sweat of missioners."

He concluded his discourse, by telling them, "That there was nothing really to fear in his undertaking; that God had called him to the isles del Moro; and that man should not hinder him from obeying the voice of God." His discourse made such impressions on their hearts, that not only the decree against his passage was revoked, but many offered themselves to accompany him in that voyage, through all the dangers which seemed to threaten him.

Having thus disengaged himself from all the incumbrances of his voyage, he embarked with some of his friends, passing through the tears of the people, who attended him to the shore, without expectation of seeing him again. Before he set sail, he wrote to the Fathers of the company at Rome, to make them acquainted with his voyage.

"The country whither I go," says he in his letter, "is full of danger, and terrible to strangers, by the barbarity of the inhabitants, and by their using divers poisons, which they mingle with their meat and drink; and it is from hence that priests are apprehensive of coming to instruct them: For myself, considering their extreme necessity, and the duties of my ministry, which oblige to free them from eternal death, even at the expence of my own life, I have resolved to hazard all for the salvation of their souls. My whole confidence is in God, and all my desire is to obey, as far as in me lies, the word of Jesus Christ: 'He who is willing to save his life shall lose it, and he who will lose it for my sake shall find it.' Believe me, dear brethren, though this evangelical maxim, in general, is easily to be understood, when the time of practising it calls upon us, and our business is to die for God, as clear as the text seems, it becomes obscure; and he only can compass the understanding of it, to whom God, by his mercy, has explained it; for then it will be seen, how frail and feeble is human nature. Many here, who love me tenderly, have done what possibly they could to divert me from this voyage; and, seeing that I yielded not to their requests, nor to their tears, would have furnished me with antidotes; but I would not take any, lest, by making provision of remedies, I might come to apprehend the danger; and also, because, having put my life into the hands of Providence, I have no need of preservatives from death: for it seems to me, that the more I should make use of remedies, the less assurance I should repose in God."

They went off with a favourable wind, and had already made above an hundred and fourscore miles, when Xavier, on the sudden, with a deep sigh, cried out, "Ah, Jesus, how they massacre the poor people!" saying these words, and oftentimes repeating them, he had turned his countenance, and fixed his eyes towards a certain part of the sea. The mariners and passengers, affrighted, ran about him. Inquiring what massacre he meant, because, for their part, they could see nothing; but the saint was ravished in spirit, and, in this extacy, God had empowered him to see this sad spectacle.

He was no sooner come to himself, than they continued pressing him to know the occasion of his sighs and cries; but he, blushing for the words which had escaped him in his transport, would say no more, but retired to his devotions. It was not long before they beheld, with their own eyes, what he refused to tell them: Having cast anchor before an isle, they found on the shore the bodies of eight Portuguese, all bloody; and then comprehended, that those unhappy creatures had moved the compassion of the holy man. They buried them in the same place, and erected a cross over the grave; after which they pursued their voyage, and in little time arrived at the Isle del Moro.

When they were come on shore, Xavier went directly on to the next village. The greatest part of the inhabitants were baptized; but there remained in them only a confused notion of their baptism; and their religion was nothing more than a mingle of Mahometanism and idolatry.

The barbarians fled at the sight of the strangers, imagining they were come to revenge the death of the Portuguese, whom they had killed the preceding years. Xavier followed them into the thickest of their woods; and his countenance, full of mildness, gave them to believe, that he was not an enemy who came in search of them. He declared to them the motive of his voyage, speaking to them in the Malaya tongue: For though in the Isle del Moro there were great diversity of languages, insomuch, that those of three leagues distance did not understand each other in their island tongues, yet the Malaya was common to them all.