th
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