ial; but he himself had never despaired of his
recovery: and the day when Xavier arrived, he said, with a dying voice,
"That if God would grant him the favour of beholding their good Father,
he should infallibly recover."

The relation which Xavier made to the Fathers of Goa, concerning the
church of Japan, was infinitely pleasing to them: and he himself was
filled with equal consolation, in learning from them the present
condition of Christianity in the Indies. The missioners, whom he had
dispersed before his departure, were almost all of them united at his
return. Some of them were come by his command, and others of their own
motion, concerning urgent business; as if the Holy Spirit had
re-assembled them expressly, that the presence of the man of God might
redouble in them their apostolic zeal, and religious fervour. God had
every where blest their labours. The town of Ormus, which fell to the lot
of Father Gaspar Barzaeus, had wholly changed its countenance; idolaters,
Saracens, and Jews, ran in multitudes to baptism: the temples of idols
were consecrated to Christ; the mosques and synagogues were dispeopled,
ill manners were reformed, and ill customs totally abolished.
Christianity flourished more than ever in the coast of Fishery, since the
death of Father Antonio Criminal, who had cultivated it with care, and in
that cultivation was massacred by the Badages. The blood of the martyr
seemed to have multiplied the Christians: they were reckoned to be more
than five hundred thousand, all zealous, and ready to lay down their
lives for their religion. The gospel had not made less progress at
Cochin, and at Coulan; at Bazain and at Meliapore, at the Moluccas, and
in the Isles del Moro. But it is almost incredible, with what profit the
gospel labourers preached at Goa. All the priests of idols have been
driven out of the Isle of Goa, by order from the governor, and at the
solicitation of one of the Fathers belonging to the college of St Paul.
It was also prohibited, under severe penalties, to perform any public
action of idolatry within the district of Goa; and those ordinances, by
little and little, reduced a multitude of Gentiles. As for the
Portuguese, their lives were very regular; amidst the liberty of doing
whatsoever pleased them, they refrained from all dishonest actions; and
concubines were now as scarce as they had been common. The soldiers lived
almost in the nature of men in orders; and even their piety edified