society of Christians there is no salvation: but especially," added he, a
little kindling in the face, "because it presumes to maintain, that the
holy Amida and Xaca, Gizon and Canon, are in the bottomless pit of smoke,
condemned to everlasting punishment, and delivered up in prey to the
dragon of the house of night." After he had thus spoken, the Bonza held
his peace; and Xavier, who had received a sign from the king to make
reply, said, at the beginning of his discourse, "that seeing Fucarandono
had mingled many things together, it was reasonable, for the better
clearing of the difficulties, to tie him up to one single proposition,
which was not to be left until it was evacuated, and plainly found to be
either true or false." All agreed this was fair; and Fucarandono himself
desired Xavier to shew cause, why he and his companions spoke evil of the
deities of the country.

[Footnote 1: An argument ready cut and dried for the use of any church
by law established]

The saint replied, "That he gave not to idols the name of gods, because
they were unworthy of it; and that so sacred a title was only proper to
the Sovereign Lord, who had created heaven and earth. Then he proceeded
to discourse of the Divine Being, and described those properties which
are known to us by the light of nature; that is to say, his independence,
his eternity, his omnipotence, his wisdom, goodness, and justice, without
circumscription. He made out, that those infinite perfections could not
be comprehended by any created understanding, how refined soever. And
thus having filled his auditors with a vast idea of the Deity, he
demonstrated, that the idols of Japan, who, according to the Japonians
themselves, had been men, subject to the common laws of time and nature,
were not to be accounted gods; and, at the most, were only to be
reverenced as philosophers, lawgivers, and princes, but not in the least
as immortal powers, since the date both of their birth and death was
registered in the public monuments: That, if their works were duly
considered, they were yet less to be accounted for omnipotent: That
having not been able, after their decease, to preserve their stately
palaces and magnificent sepulchres from decay, there was no appearance
that they had built the fabric of the universe, or could maintain it in
its present state. Lastly, that this appertained alone to the true God,
who is worshipped by the Christians; and that, considering the beau