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

That he might the better execute his design, by concealing it, he wrote from thence to the governor Melo, "That he had armed a fleet against the king of Patan, his enemy, but that having been informed of the defeat of the Portuguese, he was come as a friend and brother of the king of Portugal, to succour Malacca, against the king of Achen, who would not fail to master the town, if the course of his victories was not stopped; that therefore he desired only to be admitted into the place before it came into the possession of the conqueror; after which he had no farther cause of apprehension."

Melo, whom the constancy of Father Xavier had reassured, discovered the snare which was laid for him; and tricked those, who had intended to circumvent him. He answered the king of Bintan, "That the town had no need of relief, as being abundantly provided both of men and ammunition: That so great a conqueror as he, ought not to lay aside an expedition of such importance, nor to linger by the way: That, for themselves, they were in daily expectation of their fleet; not defeated, according to some idle rumours concerning it, but triumphant, and loaden with the spoils of enemies: That this report was only spread by Saracens, whose tongues were longer than their lances: " For these were the expressions which he used.

The Mahometan prince, judging by the governor's reply, that his artifice was discovered; and that, in reason, he ought to attempt nothing till it were certainly known what was become of the two fleets, kept himself quiet, and attended the success.

To return to the Christian navy: Before they could get to Tenasserim, their want of fresh water forced them to seek it nearer hand, at Queda, in the river of Parlez; where being entered, they perceived by night a fisher-boat, going by their ships. They stopped the boat, and the fishermen being examined, told them, "That the Achenois were not far distant; that they had been six weeks in the river; that they had plundered all the lowlands, and were now building a fortress." This news filled the Portuguese with joy; and Deza, infinitely pleased to have found the enemy, of whom he had given over the search, putting on his richest apparel, fired all his cannon, to testify his joy; without considering that he spent his powder to no purpose, and that he warned the barbarians to be upon their guard. What he did with more prudence, was to send three gallies up the river, to discover the enemy, and observe their countenance, while he put all things in order for the fight, The three foysts, in their passage, met with four brigantines, which the enemies had detached, to know the meaning of the guns which they had heard. Before they had taken a distinct view on either side, the three foysts had grappled each a brigantine, and seized her; the fourth escaped. The soldiers put all the enemies to the sword, excepting six, whom they brought off, together with the brigantines. These prisoners were all put to the question; but whatsoever torments they endured, they could not at first get one syllable out of them, either where the enemy lay, or what was the number of his men, or of his ships. Two of them died upon the rack, and other two they threw overboard; but the remaining couple, either more mortified with their torments, or less resolute, being separated from each other, began at last to open: And told the same things apart; both where the Achenois were lying, and that their number was above ten thousand, reckoning into it the mariners, which were of more consideration than the soldiers; that the king of the country, where now they lay, had been constrained to avoid a shameful death, by flight; that having massacred two thousand of the natives, and made as many captives, they were building a citadel, on the passage which the ships ordinarily make from Bengal to Malacca; and that their design was not only to block up that road, but to murder all the Christians who should fall into their hands.

This report inflamed anew the zeal and courage of the soldiers. The admiral was not wanting to encourage them to fight. Entering into a skiff, with his drawn sword, he went from vessel to vessel, exhorting his men to have Christ crucified before their eyes, while they were in fight, as Father Francis had enjoined them; and ever to keep in mind the oath which they had taken; but, above all things, to have an assured hope of victory, from the intercession of the holy Father, who had promised it.

All unanimously answered, "That they would fight it out to death; and should be happy to die in defence of their religion." Deza, animated by this their answer, posted himself advantageously on the river, so as to be able from thence to fall upon the enemy, without endangering his little fleet, to be encompassed by their numbers.

The Achenois no sooner were informed by their brigantine of the Portuguese navy, than they put themselves into a condition of attacking it. They were not only insolent by reason of their strength, but provoked also by the late affront they had received in their brigantines; so that, full of fury, without the least balancing of the matter, they set sail with all their navy, excepting only two vessels, and two hundred land soldiers, which were left in guard of two thousand slaves, and all their booty. Having the wind for them, and coming down the river, they were carried with such swiftness, that Deza was hardly got aboard the admiral, when he heard their drums, and their yelling shouts, which re-echoed from the shores and neighbouring mountains. They were divided into ten squadrons, and each of them composed of six vessels, excepting only the first, which consisted but of four, but those the strongest of the fleet. The admiral, on which the king of Pedir was on board, was in the first squadron, and with him were three Turkish gallions.

That fury, which transported the barbarians, caused them, at the first sight of the Portuguese navy, to discharge against it their whole artillery; but they aimed so ill, that they did them little or no mischief. Immediately after, the two admirals met, and stemmed each other. They engaged on either side with so much resolution, that the advantage was not seen, till a shot was made from the vessel of John Soarez, and out of the cannon called the camel It took place so justly, that Soora's vessel sunk to rights. The three gallions which were in front with him, on the same time, immediately changed their order, and left off fighting, to save their general, and the principal lords of his retinue. But these gallions, which were across the stream, and took up half the breadth of it, stopped their own vessels, which followed file by file; insomuch, that those of the second rank striking against the first, and those of the third against the second, they fell foul on each other, with a terrible confusion.

The Portuguese seeing the army of the enemy, on a heap together, without being able to disengage their ships, encompassed them, and battered them with their cannon. They discharged every tier, three rounds successively, and so to purpose, that they sunk nine great ships, and disabled almost all the rest. Then four of the Portuguese foysts set upon six Mahometans, which the cannon had used more favourably than the rest; the soldiers boarded them with their swords in their hands, and calling on the name of Jesus, in less than half an hour they destroyed above 2000 men. The fright and the disorder of the enemy was redoubled, at the sight of this slaughter, and at the thundering of the guns, which did such dreadful execution; insomuch, that the Achenois leaped into the river of their own accord, chusing rather to die in that manner, than by the hands of the Christians.

Their general being taken up, when he was just drowning, and drawing new courage from despair, endeavoured to have heartened up the remainder of those who were about him. But having himself received a musket-shot, he lost all manner of resolution, and made away with only two vessels. The five hundred gentlemen Orobalans were either slain or drowned, with all the Janisaries. None escaped, but those who followed Soora in his flight. On the side of the Christians there were twenty-six slain, of whom four only were Portuguese by nation The spoil was great; for, besides the two guard-ships which came into the power of the conquerors, and wherein was all the pillage which the enemy had gained, they took at least forty-five vessels, which might again be made serviceable. There was found amongst the spoils a prodigious quantity of Saracen and Turkish arms; 300 pieces of cannon of all sorts; and, what was yet more pleasing, sixty-two pieces of ordnance, whereon were graven the arms of Portugal, and which had been lost in divers wars, returned at length to the possession of their lawful lord and owner.

The king of Parlez no sooner had notice of the enemy's defeat, than, issuing out of the woods where he lay concealed, he came with 500 men, and fell upon the workmen, who, by Soora's orders, were building a fortress, and on the soldiers appointed for their guard. Having cut them in pieces, he went to visit Captain Deza, and congratulated the valour of the Portuguese, and their success. He owned the preservation of his kingdom to their arms; and offered, by way of acknowledgment, a yearly tribute to the king of Portugal.

Deza immediately ordered a frigate to carry the news of his victory to Malacca; but it was fully known in that city, with all its circumstances, before the frigate was sent off, and thus it happened.

Father Xavier, preaching in the great church, betwixt nine and ten of the clock on Sunday morning, which was the 4th of January, according to the old calendar, at the same time when the two fleets were actually engaged, stopped short on the sudden, and appeared transported out of himself, so manifest a change appeared, both in his countenance, and his whole person. Having somewhat recovered himself, instead of following his discourse, inspired with a divine impulse, he declared to his audience the encounter, and shock of the two navies, but in a mysterious and figurative manner.

The assembly, not comprehending their preacher's meaning, were of opinion that he was distracted; still as the fight grew warmer, and the engagement came to be more close, he seemed to be more and more inflamed, with all the motions of a man inspired, and speaking still prophetically. At the length, fixing his eyes on the crucifix that was before him, he said, with tears in his eyes, accompanied with sighs, but with an audible and distinct voice, "Ah Jesus, thou God of my soul, and Father of all mercies, I most humbly implore thee, by the merits of thy sacred passion, not to forsake those who fight thy battle!" After these words, he hung down his head, as overwearied, and leaned upon his pulpit, without farther speaking. Having continued in that posture for some time, he sprung up, on the sudden, and said aloud, with all the motions of joy, which he could not master, "My brethren, Jesus Christ has vanquished for you. At this moment, while I am speaking, the soldiers of his blessed name have completed their victory, by the entire defeat of the enemy's navy. They have made a great slaughter, and we have lost but four of our Portuguese. You shall receive the news of it on Friday next, and may shortly expect the return of your victorious fleet."

How incredible soever this appeared, yet Melo, and the principal persons of the town there present, gave credit to it, without the least scruple; considering the manner of his speaking, and his air, which had somewhat of divine in it, and bore the testimony of its truth. Yet the wives and mothers of the absent soldiers, apprehending still it might be false, and fearing the more, the more they desired it should be true, the Father assembled them all in the afternoon, at the church of our Lady del Monte, and there repeated so distinctly the whole series of what he had said in the morning, that they durst no longer doubt of it.

Even in the beginning of the week, they had almost evident signs of the victory, by the news which came of the king of Bintan; who having sent on all sides to be informed, whether the Portuguese had been defeated, being advertised from the river of Parlez of what had passed, forsook Muar, and retired with expedition, bewailing the misfortune of his allies, and ashamed of his ill-timed enterprize.

The frigate dispatched away by Deza, under the conduct of Emanuel Godigno, arrived exactly on the day mentioned by the saint. The fleet followed shortly after, and made a triumphant entry into the port, with trumpets sounding, and a general discharge of all their artillery. The town received them with repeated shouts of welcome; and Father Francis, who was at the head of the people on the shore, held forth a crucifix in his hand, to give both the inhabitants and soldiers to understand, that they owed their victory to Christ alone.

Both the one and the other joining their voices, gave solemn thanks to the Saviour of mankind; but they also broke out into the praises of the saint, upon the truth of his predictions, and could not hold from publishing, that it was he who had obtained from heaven this wonderful success.

The burden of these praises did no less hasten the saint's intended voyage to Goa, than the necessity of those affairs which called him thither. He had remained four months together at Malacca, since his return from the Moluccas, and was just on his departure, when the ships, which early come from China, arrived in the port. A Japonese, whose name was Anger, came with these vessels, expressly to see Xavier. He was about thirty-five years of age, rich, nobly born, and one whose life had been sufficiently libertine. The Portuguese, who two years before had made the discovery of Japan, had been acquainted with him at Cangoxirna, the place of his birth, and understood, from his own mouth, that, having been much troubled with the remembrance of the sins of his youth, he had retired himself amongst the solitary Bonzes; but that neither the solitude, nor the conversation of those heathen priests, had been able to restore him the tranquillity of his soul, and that thereupon he had returned into the world, more disquieted than ever with his remorse of conscience.

Some other Portuguese merchants, who at that time came to Cangoxima, and who had seen Father Francis at Malacca, the first voyage he had made thither, made an intimate acquaintance and friendship with Anger. And this Japonese, discovering to them the perplexity of his soul, which augmented daily more and more, they told him that in Malacca there was a religious man, eminent for his holy life, well experienced in the conduct of souls, and most proper to settle his perplexed conscience; and that if he would try this remedy, they would facilitate the means to him, and bring him to the saint, of whom they had spoken: That it was Father Francis Xavier, their friend, the refuge of sinners, and comforter of troubled minds.

Anger found himself possessed with a strong desire of going to see the holy man; but the length of the voyage, which was 800 leagues, the dangers of a tempestuous sea, and the considerations of his family, somewhat cooled him. A troublesome affair, which he had upon his hands at the same time, at length resolved him. For, having killed a man in a quarrel, and being pursued by justice, he could not find a more secure retreat than the ships of Portugal, nor a surer way of preserving his life, than to accept the offer they had made him.

Alvarez Vaz, who had most importuned him to take this voyage, and who had many times offered to bring him to Father Xavier, had not yet finished all his business, when this Japonese came to take sanctuary in his ship. He therefore gave him letters of recommendation to another Portuguese, called Ferdinand Alvarez, who was at another port of Japan, and who was suddenly to set sail for Malacca.

Anger departed by night, attended by two servants. Being arrived at the port, and enquiring for Ferdinand Alvarez, he lighted accidentally on George Alvarez, who was just ready to weigh anchor. This George was a wealthy merchant, a man of probity, and who had an extreme affection for the Father. He received the letters of Alvarez as if they had been addressed to himself, took the three Japonians into his ship, entertained them with all kindness, and brought them to Malacca; taking great satisfaction in the good office he should do in presenting them to the man of God, who might, perhaps, make them the first Christians of their country. But the misfortune was, that they missed the Father, who was just gone for the Moluccas. Anger, more disquieted in a foreign land than he had been at home, and despairing of ever seeing him, whom he had so often heard of from his friends, had it in his thoughts to have returned to Japan, without considering the danger to which he exposed himself, and almost forgetting the murder which had caused his flight, according to the custom of criminals, who blind themselves in those occasions, and whom divine justice oftentimes brings back to the same place where they had committed their offence. Whereupon, he went again to sea, and having made some little stay in a port of China, he pursued his voyage. Already some Japonian islands were in sight, when there arose a furious tempest, which endangered the sinking of the ship, and which in four days brought him back into the same port of China, from whence he had set out. This was to Anger a favourable effect of God's providence; for the same hand which drives the guilty to the precipice, sometimes preserves them from falling into it, and pulls them back, after a miraculous manner.

The Japonese, very happily for himself, met there Alvarez Vaz, just ready to set sail for Malacca. The Portuguese, who loved Anger, reproved him for his impatience, and offered to reconduct him to the place which he had so abruptly left; withall telling him, that, according to all appearances, the Father by this time was returned from the Moluccas. Anger, who still carried about him a troubled conscience, and thereby was easily induced to any proposition which tended to compose it, followed the advice of Vaz, and returned with him.

Coming on shore, he there found George Alvarez, the same person who had brought him the first time to Molucca. Alvarez, surprised to see him once again, told him, that Father Xavier was returned from the Moluccas, and immediately brought Anger to his presence. The Father, who foresaw, not only that this Japonian should be the first Christian of that kingdom, but also, by his means, the gospel should be preached in it, was transported with joy at the first sight of him, and embraced him with exceeding tenderness. The sight of the saint, and his embracements, gave such consolations to Anger, that he no longer doubted of receiving an entire satisfaction from him. Understanding, in some measure, the Portuguese language, Xavier himself assured him, that the disquiets of his mind should be dissipated, and that he should obtain that spiritual repose, in search of which he had undertaken so long a voyage; but that before he could arrive to it, it concerned him first to understand and practise the law of the true God, who alone could calm the troubles of his heart, and set it in a perpetual tranquillity. Anger, who desired nothing so much as to have his conscience in repose, and who was charmed with the great goodness of the Father, offered himself to be directed in all things by him. The servant of God instructed him in the principles of faith, of which his friends, the Portuguese, had already given him some knowledge, as far as men of their profession were capable of teaching him. But to the end his conversion might be more solid, he thought it convenient to send him and his servants to the seminary of Goa, there to be more fully taught the truths and practice of Christianity before their baptism. The Father had yet a further purpose in it, that these first fruits of Japonian Christianity should be consecrated to God by the Bishop Don John d'Albuquerque, in the capital city of the Indies.

Since in his voyage to Goa he was to visit the fishing coast, he would not take the three Japonians with him, and gave the care of conducting them to George Alvarez. He only wrote by them to the rector of the College of St Paul, giving him orders to instruct them with all diligence. He put on board the ship of another Portuguese, called Gonsalvo Fernandez, twenty or thirty young men whom he had brought from the Moluccas, in order to their studies in the same college; after which, himself embarked in another vessel, which went directly for Cochin.

In passing the Strait of Ceylon, the ship which carried Xavier was overtaken with the most horrible tempest which was ever seen. They were constrained, at the very beginning of it, to cast overboard all their merchandize; and the winds roared with so much violence, that the pilot not being able to hold the rudder, abandoned the vessel to the fury of the waves. For three days and nights together they had death continually present before their eyes; and nothing reassured the mariners but the serene countenance of Father Xavier amidst the cries and tumults in the ship. After he had heard their confessions, implored the help of heaven, and exhorted all of them to receive, with an equal mind, either life or death from the hand of God, he retired into his cabin. Francis Pereyra, looking for the man of God in the midst of the tempest, to have comfort from him, found him on his knees before his crucifix, wholly taken up and lost to all things but to God. The ship, driven along by an impetuous current, already struck against the sands of Ceylon, and the mariners gave themselves for lost, without hope of recovery; when the Father coming out of his cabin, asked the pilot for the line and plummet, with which he was accustomed to fathom the sea; having taken them, and let them down to the bottom of the ocean, he pronounced these words: "Great God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, have mercy on us!" At the same moment the vessel stopped, and the wind ceased; after which they pursued their voyage, and happily arrived at the port of Cochin on the 21st of January, 1548.

There the Father gave himself the leisure of writing divers letters into Europe, by a vessel of Lisbon, which was just in readiness to set sail. The first was to the King of Portugal, John III.: the letter was full of prudent counsels concerning the duties of a king: he advertised him anew, that his majesty should be guilty before God of the evil government of his ministers, and that one day an account must be given of the salvation of those souls which he had suffered to perish, through neglect of application, or want of constancy in his endeavours; but he did it with all manner of precaution, and softened his expressions with Christian charity.

"I have long deliberated," said he, "whether I should certify your majesty of the transactions of your officers in the Indies, and what ought further to be done for the establishment of our faith. On the one side, the zeal of God's service, and his glory, encouraged me to write to you: on the other, I was diverted from that resolution by the fear I had of writing to no purpose; but, at the same time, I concluded, that I could not be silent without betraying my ministerial function: and it also seemed to me, that God gave me not those thoughts without some particular design; which probably was, that I might communicate them to your majesty; and this opinion, as the more likely, has at length prevailed with me. Nevertheless, I always feared, that if I should freely give you all my thoughts, my letter would only serve for evidence against you at the hour of your death, and would augment against your majesty the rigour of the last judgement, by taking from you the excuse of ignorance. These considerations gave me great anxieties, and your majesty will easily believe me: For, in fine, my heart will answer for me, that I desire not to employ all my strength, or even my life itself, for the conversion of the Indians, out of any other prospect than to free your majesty's conscience, as much as in me lies, and to render the last judgment less terrible to you. I do in this but that which is my duty; and the particular affection which you bear our Society well deserves that I should sacrifice myself for you."

After he had informed his majesty, how much the jealousies and secret divisions of his officers had hindered the progress of the gospel, he declares, that he could wish the king would bind himself by a solemn oath, to punish severely whosoever they should be who should occasion any prejudice to the farther propagation of faith in the Indies; and farther assured him, that if such who had the authority in their hands were made sensible, that their faults should not escape punishment, the whole Isle of Ceylon, all Cape Comorine, and many kings of Malabar, would receive baptism in the space of one year; that as many as were living in all the extent of the Indies would acknowledge the divinity of Jesus Christ, and make profession of his doctrine, if those ministers of state, who had neglected the interests of the faith, had been deprived of their dignities and their revenues.

After this he petitions the king to send him a supply of preachers, and those preachers to be of the Society, as judging them more proper than any others for the new world. "I beg and adjure your majesty," says he, "by the love you bear to our blessed Lord, and by the zeal wherewith you burn for the glory of the Divine Majesty, to send next year some preachers of our Society to your faithful subjects of the Indies: For I assure you, that your fortresses are in extreme want of such supplies; in garrison, and to the new Christians established in the towns and villages depending on them. I speak by experience; and that which I have seen with my own eyes obliges me to write concerning it. Being at Malacca, and at the Moluccas, I preached every Sunday, and all saints' days twice; and was forced upon it, because I saw the soldiers and people had great need of being frequently taught the word of God.

"I preached then, in the morning, to the Portuguese at mass: I went again into the pulpit in the afternoon, and instructed their children, their slaves, and idolaters newly converted, accommodating my discourse to the measure of their understanding, and expounding to them the principal points of Christian doctrine, one after another. Besides which, one day in the week, I assembled in the church the wives of the Portuguese, and catechised them on the articles of faith, on the sacraments of penance, and the eucharist. Much fruit would be gathered in a few years, if the same method were constantly observed in all places. I preached also, every day, in the fortresses, the principles of religion, to the sons and daughters of the soldiers, to their servants of both sexes; in fine, to the natives of the country, who were born Christians: and these instructions had so good effect, that they totally renounced the superstitions and sorceries which were in use amongst those stupid and ignorant new converts.

"I descend into all these petty circumstances, to the end your majesty may judge, according to your prudence, what number of preachers may be necessary here; and that you may not forget to send many to us: for if the ministry of preaching be not more exercised amongst us, we have reason to apprehend, that not only the Indians, who have embraced the faith, will leave it, but that the Portuguese also may forget the duties of Christianity, and live afterwards like Heathens."

As Father Simon Rodriguez, who governed the Society in Portugal, had great credit at the court, Father Xavier writ to him at the same time, desiring him, he would support his demands with his interest. He recommended to him in especial manner, "That he would make choice of those preachers, who were men of known virtue, and exemplary mortification." He subjoined, "If I thought the king would not take amiss the counsel of a faithful servant, who sincerely loves him, I should advise him to meditate one quarter of an hour every day, on that divine sentence, 'What does it profit a man to have gained the world, and to lose his soul?' I should counsel him, I say, to ask of God the understanding and taste of those words, and that he would finish all his prayers with the same words, 'What will it profit a man, to gain the world, and to lose his soul? 'Tis time," said Xavier, "to draw him out of his mistake, and to give him notice, that the hour of his death is nearer than he thinks: that fatal hour, when the King of kings, and Lord of lords, will summon him to judgment, saying to him these dreadful words, 'Give an account of your administration.' For which reason, do in such manner, my dear brother, that he may fulfil his whole duty; and that he may send over to the Indies all needful supplies, for the increase of faith."

Xavier also wrote from Cochin to the fathers of the society at Rome; and gave them an account, at large, of his voyages to Malacca, to Amboyna, to the Moluccas, and the Isle del Moro; with the success which God had given to his labours. But he forgot not the relation of his danger in the Strait of Ceylon, and made it in a manner which was full of consolation to them.

"In the height of the tempest," said he in his letter, "I took for my intercessors with God, the living persons of our society, with all those who are well affected to it; and joined to these, all Christians, that I might be assisted with the merits of the spouse of Christ, the holy Catholic Church, whose prayers are heard in heaven, though her habitation be on earth: afterwards I addressed myself to the dead, and particularly to Piere le Fevre, to appease the wrath of God. I went through all the orders of the angels, and the saints, and invoked them all. But to the end that I might the more easily obtain the pardon of my innumerable sins, I desired for my protectress and patroness, the most holy Mother of God, and Queen of Heaven, who, without difficulty, obtains from her beloved Son whatsoever she requests. In conclusion, having reposed all my hope in the infinite merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, being encompassed with this protection, I enjoyed a greater satisfaction, in the midst of this raging tempest, than when I was wholly delivered from the danger.