thers, who are in the Indies, with much
mildness; not ordering them to do any thing without mature deliberation,
and in modest terms, without any thing of haughtiness or violence. Truly,
considering the knowledge I have of all the labourers of the society, at
this present day employed in the new world, I may easily conclude, they
have no need of any superior; nevertheless, not to bereave them of the
merit of obedience, and because the order of discipline so requires, I
have thought convenient to set some one above the rest, and have chosen
you for that purpose, knowing, as I do, both your modesty and your
prudence. It remains that I command and pray you, by that voluntary
obedience which you have vowed to our Father Ignatius, to live so well
with Antonio Gomez, that the least appearance of misunderstanding betwixt
you may be avoided, nay, and even the least coldness; but, on the
contrary, that you may he always seen in a holy union, and conspiring,
with all your strength, to the common welfare of the church.

"If our brethren, who are at Comorine in the Moluccas, or otherwhere,
write to you, that you would obtain any favour for them from the bishop
or the viceroy, or demand any spiritual or temporal supplies from you,
leave all things, and employ yourselves entirely to effect what they
desire. For those letters which you shall write to those unwearied
labourers, who bear the heat and burden of the day, beware that there be
nothing of sharpness or dryness in them; rather be careful of every line,
that even every word may breathe nothing but tenderness and sweetness.

"Whatsoever they shall require of you for their diet, their clothing, for
their preservation of health, or towards their recovery of it, furnish
them liberally and speedily; for it is reasonable you should have
compassion on them, who labour incessantly, and without any human
consolation. What I have said, points chiefly to the missioners of
Comorine and the Moluccas. Their mission is the most painful, and they
ought to be refreshed, lest they sink under the burden of the cross. Do
then in such manner, that they may not ask you twice for necessaries.
They are in the battle, you are in the camp; and, for my own part, I find
those duties of charity so just, so indispensible, that I am bold to
adjure you in the name of God, and of our Father Ignatius, that you would
perform your duties with all exactness, with all diligence, and with all
satisfaction imaginable