Chapter XXThe same continued, and some miracles that afterwards followed[The mighty work described, being beyond human power, must have been of God; and, to make this clear, God showed His power in this region. At one time the father vicar was going to hear confessions in one of those villages, and was met by a leading Indian already converted, by name Don Pablo Taclanmanoc, who asked where he was going. When he said: “To hear the confessions of the people in this village,” the Indian replied, “Well then, Father, you have inquired about their debts, so that they may be able to confess?” “I cannot know them,” answered the father, “if they do not tell me them; and for that reason I have taken care to instruct them in my sermons that those who owe debts must paythem.” “More than that is necessary,” said Don Pablo; “give me the charge of investigating the debts in this village, so that they may make a good confession.” The religious thanked him and put off the confessions that he might see what would come of this undertaking. Don Pablo made his investigation with much care. He made inquiry throughout the village, and he ascertained that there were much usury and many other unjust and wrongful acts which had been committed in it. He took this all, written down in a memorandum-book, to the minister, who governed himself by it and made his inquiries in the confessions as it suggested. The confessions were very accurate, and in this way many wrongs were undone without any further pressure or force than this. When he saw how useful and necessary this undertaking had been, he had it done in all the villages, making use of the idea of the Indian Don Pablo—whom the Lord had given to these missionaries in this region as a teacher; and by whose instruction they might dig out many evil roots, which had grown strong with age, and were certain to be a great hindrance to the growth of the good seed of the gospel. This result these ministers at that time could not attain, because they were then new; nor would they have been able to attain them later, if the Indians had been silent with regard to them, and had followed the bad habit of confessing the rest while being silent on this point, which to them is the hardest thing in our law. But as they were at that time at the very beginning, and as this course was followed with all, and as it agreed with the truth and with all the evidence obtained by Don Pablo, they all accepted it very well. The results were most beneficial to thisdistrict. The Indians of it came to have such a reputation for devotion, for frequenting the holy sacraments, for obedience to their ministers, and for peace and brotherly love among themselves—being free from the vanities and excesses to which these Indians are naturally inclined—that when the ecclesiastical judges desired to bring to order any persons in other regions, they used to send them to Bataan, because of the good example set there. The Lord cared for these Indians with a very loving providence, as He showed by the special works that He wrought to rescue them from their course of perdition. Though we must be silent in regard to the greater number, we cannot pass over some. An old Indian woman who was preparing for baptism was one day absent from the class, and the father under whose care she was, sent a boy to call her. He came back saying she was dying; and the father, running with all his might to her side, found her still breathing. He was just in time to baptize her. The preservation of her life just up to that moment astonished all, and especially the bishop Don Fray Domingo de Salaçar. Several instances are recorded, in which persons were barely kept alive up to the time of their baptism. Several cases are also preserved in which insane persons were allowed a lucid interval in which to receive the holy sacrament of baptism. On the other hand, the devil played some tricks upon the fathers. One of the most important was to deceive them as to the character of some Indian women accused of witchcraft. They were so ingenious in concealing their wickedness that the fathers refused to listen to charges against them. Their daring reached so high a point that, at the command of oneof them, the devil appeared before one of the chiefs of the village, by voice but not by sight, bidding him go thence. This was told the father. The devil answered, and said to the father: “Thou shalt believe only what thou seest.” At last the Lord was pleased to reveal the deceit, by the means of a sick woman in a hospital, who declares that one of these witches had punished her with this illness because of her refusing to give the witch the small fruit that she had asked for. An investigation followed, and it was discovered that they were most subtle witches; that they had wrought great evils, and had two accomplices in their work. They were punished with banishment, and therewith this country was freed of this evil remnant of its heathen condition; and, though there have been more of this sort since then, their punishment has required some less severe penalty. There have been a number of notable miracles by which the Lord gave authority to His gospel and His ministers among these Indians—though, on account of the care which the former have taken to conceal them, the particulars are not known. Still there is one miracle that is almost universal in all these regions; this is, that when the devil torments some Indian, under the influence of witches with whom he has made an agreement to torment those whom they desire to harm, he loses his power before the command of the religious. The Indians fear the witchcraft so that they do not dare deny the witches anything they ask; and thus they become masters of the property, the food, and the persons of all the Indians. The devil is driven out by the very presence of the religious, while in their absence he is kept away by merely having the sickhold a scapular. All this is accomplished without exorcisms, except the command in the name of the Lord that they shall cease their tormenting. In many cases miracles of healing have been wrought by baptism, or by confession.]
Chapter XXThe same continued, and some miracles that afterwards followed[The mighty work described, being beyond human power, must have been of God; and, to make this clear, God showed His power in this region. At one time the father vicar was going to hear confessions in one of those villages, and was met by a leading Indian already converted, by name Don Pablo Taclanmanoc, who asked where he was going. When he said: “To hear the confessions of the people in this village,” the Indian replied, “Well then, Father, you have inquired about their debts, so that they may be able to confess?” “I cannot know them,” answered the father, “if they do not tell me them; and for that reason I have taken care to instruct them in my sermons that those who owe debts must paythem.” “More than that is necessary,” said Don Pablo; “give me the charge of investigating the debts in this village, so that they may make a good confession.” The religious thanked him and put off the confessions that he might see what would come of this undertaking. Don Pablo made his investigation with much care. He made inquiry throughout the village, and he ascertained that there were much usury and many other unjust and wrongful acts which had been committed in it. He took this all, written down in a memorandum-book, to the minister, who governed himself by it and made his inquiries in the confessions as it suggested. The confessions were very accurate, and in this way many wrongs were undone without any further pressure or force than this. When he saw how useful and necessary this undertaking had been, he had it done in all the villages, making use of the idea of the Indian Don Pablo—whom the Lord had given to these missionaries in this region as a teacher; and by whose instruction they might dig out many evil roots, which had grown strong with age, and were certain to be a great hindrance to the growth of the good seed of the gospel. This result these ministers at that time could not attain, because they were then new; nor would they have been able to attain them later, if the Indians had been silent with regard to them, and had followed the bad habit of confessing the rest while being silent on this point, which to them is the hardest thing in our law. But as they were at that time at the very beginning, and as this course was followed with all, and as it agreed with the truth and with all the evidence obtained by Don Pablo, they all accepted it very well. The results were most beneficial to thisdistrict. The Indians of it came to have such a reputation for devotion, for frequenting the holy sacraments, for obedience to their ministers, and for peace and brotherly love among themselves—being free from the vanities and excesses to which these Indians are naturally inclined—that when the ecclesiastical judges desired to bring to order any persons in other regions, they used to send them to Bataan, because of the good example set there. The Lord cared for these Indians with a very loving providence, as He showed by the special works that He wrought to rescue them from their course of perdition. Though we must be silent in regard to the greater number, we cannot pass over some. An old Indian woman who was preparing for baptism was one day absent from the class, and the father under whose care she was, sent a boy to call her. He came back saying she was dying; and the father, running with all his might to her side, found her still breathing. He was just in time to baptize her. The preservation of her life just up to that moment astonished all, and especially the bishop Don Fray Domingo de Salaçar. Several instances are recorded, in which persons were barely kept alive up to the time of their baptism. Several cases are also preserved in which insane persons were allowed a lucid interval in which to receive the holy sacrament of baptism. On the other hand, the devil played some tricks upon the fathers. One of the most important was to deceive them as to the character of some Indian women accused of witchcraft. They were so ingenious in concealing their wickedness that the fathers refused to listen to charges against them. Their daring reached so high a point that, at the command of oneof them, the devil appeared before one of the chiefs of the village, by voice but not by sight, bidding him go thence. This was told the father. The devil answered, and said to the father: “Thou shalt believe only what thou seest.” At last the Lord was pleased to reveal the deceit, by the means of a sick woman in a hospital, who declares that one of these witches had punished her with this illness because of her refusing to give the witch the small fruit that she had asked for. An investigation followed, and it was discovered that they were most subtle witches; that they had wrought great evils, and had two accomplices in their work. They were punished with banishment, and therewith this country was freed of this evil remnant of its heathen condition; and, though there have been more of this sort since then, their punishment has required some less severe penalty. There have been a number of notable miracles by which the Lord gave authority to His gospel and His ministers among these Indians—though, on account of the care which the former have taken to conceal them, the particulars are not known. Still there is one miracle that is almost universal in all these regions; this is, that when the devil torments some Indian, under the influence of witches with whom he has made an agreement to torment those whom they desire to harm, he loses his power before the command of the religious. The Indians fear the witchcraft so that they do not dare deny the witches anything they ask; and thus they become masters of the property, the food, and the persons of all the Indians. The devil is driven out by the very presence of the religious, while in their absence he is kept away by merely having the sickhold a scapular. All this is accomplished without exorcisms, except the command in the name of the Lord that they shall cease their tormenting. In many cases miracles of healing have been wrought by baptism, or by confession.]
Chapter XXThe same continued, and some miracles that afterwards followed[The mighty work described, being beyond human power, must have been of God; and, to make this clear, God showed His power in this region. At one time the father vicar was going to hear confessions in one of those villages, and was met by a leading Indian already converted, by name Don Pablo Taclanmanoc, who asked where he was going. When he said: “To hear the confessions of the people in this village,” the Indian replied, “Well then, Father, you have inquired about their debts, so that they may be able to confess?” “I cannot know them,” answered the father, “if they do not tell me them; and for that reason I have taken care to instruct them in my sermons that those who owe debts must paythem.” “More than that is necessary,” said Don Pablo; “give me the charge of investigating the debts in this village, so that they may make a good confession.” The religious thanked him and put off the confessions that he might see what would come of this undertaking. Don Pablo made his investigation with much care. He made inquiry throughout the village, and he ascertained that there were much usury and many other unjust and wrongful acts which had been committed in it. He took this all, written down in a memorandum-book, to the minister, who governed himself by it and made his inquiries in the confessions as it suggested. The confessions were very accurate, and in this way many wrongs were undone without any further pressure or force than this. When he saw how useful and necessary this undertaking had been, he had it done in all the villages, making use of the idea of the Indian Don Pablo—whom the Lord had given to these missionaries in this region as a teacher; and by whose instruction they might dig out many evil roots, which had grown strong with age, and were certain to be a great hindrance to the growth of the good seed of the gospel. This result these ministers at that time could not attain, because they were then new; nor would they have been able to attain them later, if the Indians had been silent with regard to them, and had followed the bad habit of confessing the rest while being silent on this point, which to them is the hardest thing in our law. But as they were at that time at the very beginning, and as this course was followed with all, and as it agreed with the truth and with all the evidence obtained by Don Pablo, they all accepted it very well. The results were most beneficial to thisdistrict. The Indians of it came to have such a reputation for devotion, for frequenting the holy sacraments, for obedience to their ministers, and for peace and brotherly love among themselves—being free from the vanities and excesses to which these Indians are naturally inclined—that when the ecclesiastical judges desired to bring to order any persons in other regions, they used to send them to Bataan, because of the good example set there. The Lord cared for these Indians with a very loving providence, as He showed by the special works that He wrought to rescue them from their course of perdition. Though we must be silent in regard to the greater number, we cannot pass over some. An old Indian woman who was preparing for baptism was one day absent from the class, and the father under whose care she was, sent a boy to call her. He came back saying she was dying; and the father, running with all his might to her side, found her still breathing. He was just in time to baptize her. The preservation of her life just up to that moment astonished all, and especially the bishop Don Fray Domingo de Salaçar. Several instances are recorded, in which persons were barely kept alive up to the time of their baptism. Several cases are also preserved in which insane persons were allowed a lucid interval in which to receive the holy sacrament of baptism. On the other hand, the devil played some tricks upon the fathers. One of the most important was to deceive them as to the character of some Indian women accused of witchcraft. They were so ingenious in concealing their wickedness that the fathers refused to listen to charges against them. Their daring reached so high a point that, at the command of oneof them, the devil appeared before one of the chiefs of the village, by voice but not by sight, bidding him go thence. This was told the father. The devil answered, and said to the father: “Thou shalt believe only what thou seest.” At last the Lord was pleased to reveal the deceit, by the means of a sick woman in a hospital, who declares that one of these witches had punished her with this illness because of her refusing to give the witch the small fruit that she had asked for. An investigation followed, and it was discovered that they were most subtle witches; that they had wrought great evils, and had two accomplices in their work. They were punished with banishment, and therewith this country was freed of this evil remnant of its heathen condition; and, though there have been more of this sort since then, their punishment has required some less severe penalty. There have been a number of notable miracles by which the Lord gave authority to His gospel and His ministers among these Indians—though, on account of the care which the former have taken to conceal them, the particulars are not known. Still there is one miracle that is almost universal in all these regions; this is, that when the devil torments some Indian, under the influence of witches with whom he has made an agreement to torment those whom they desire to harm, he loses his power before the command of the religious. The Indians fear the witchcraft so that they do not dare deny the witches anything they ask; and thus they become masters of the property, the food, and the persons of all the Indians. The devil is driven out by the very presence of the religious, while in their absence he is kept away by merely having the sickhold a scapular. All this is accomplished without exorcisms, except the command in the name of the Lord that they shall cease their tormenting. In many cases miracles of healing have been wrought by baptism, or by confession.]
Chapter XXThe same continued, and some miracles that afterwards followed[The mighty work described, being beyond human power, must have been of God; and, to make this clear, God showed His power in this region. At one time the father vicar was going to hear confessions in one of those villages, and was met by a leading Indian already converted, by name Don Pablo Taclanmanoc, who asked where he was going. When he said: “To hear the confessions of the people in this village,” the Indian replied, “Well then, Father, you have inquired about their debts, so that they may be able to confess?” “I cannot know them,” answered the father, “if they do not tell me them; and for that reason I have taken care to instruct them in my sermons that those who owe debts must paythem.” “More than that is necessary,” said Don Pablo; “give me the charge of investigating the debts in this village, so that they may make a good confession.” The religious thanked him and put off the confessions that he might see what would come of this undertaking. Don Pablo made his investigation with much care. He made inquiry throughout the village, and he ascertained that there were much usury and many other unjust and wrongful acts which had been committed in it. He took this all, written down in a memorandum-book, to the minister, who governed himself by it and made his inquiries in the confessions as it suggested. The confessions were very accurate, and in this way many wrongs were undone without any further pressure or force than this. When he saw how useful and necessary this undertaking had been, he had it done in all the villages, making use of the idea of the Indian Don Pablo—whom the Lord had given to these missionaries in this region as a teacher; and by whose instruction they might dig out many evil roots, which had grown strong with age, and were certain to be a great hindrance to the growth of the good seed of the gospel. This result these ministers at that time could not attain, because they were then new; nor would they have been able to attain them later, if the Indians had been silent with regard to them, and had followed the bad habit of confessing the rest while being silent on this point, which to them is the hardest thing in our law. But as they were at that time at the very beginning, and as this course was followed with all, and as it agreed with the truth and with all the evidence obtained by Don Pablo, they all accepted it very well. The results were most beneficial to thisdistrict. The Indians of it came to have such a reputation for devotion, for frequenting the holy sacraments, for obedience to their ministers, and for peace and brotherly love among themselves—being free from the vanities and excesses to which these Indians are naturally inclined—that when the ecclesiastical judges desired to bring to order any persons in other regions, they used to send them to Bataan, because of the good example set there. The Lord cared for these Indians with a very loving providence, as He showed by the special works that He wrought to rescue them from their course of perdition. Though we must be silent in regard to the greater number, we cannot pass over some. An old Indian woman who was preparing for baptism was one day absent from the class, and the father under whose care she was, sent a boy to call her. He came back saying she was dying; and the father, running with all his might to her side, found her still breathing. He was just in time to baptize her. The preservation of her life just up to that moment astonished all, and especially the bishop Don Fray Domingo de Salaçar. Several instances are recorded, in which persons were barely kept alive up to the time of their baptism. Several cases are also preserved in which insane persons were allowed a lucid interval in which to receive the holy sacrament of baptism. On the other hand, the devil played some tricks upon the fathers. One of the most important was to deceive them as to the character of some Indian women accused of witchcraft. They were so ingenious in concealing their wickedness that the fathers refused to listen to charges against them. Their daring reached so high a point that, at the command of oneof them, the devil appeared before one of the chiefs of the village, by voice but not by sight, bidding him go thence. This was told the father. The devil answered, and said to the father: “Thou shalt believe only what thou seest.” At last the Lord was pleased to reveal the deceit, by the means of a sick woman in a hospital, who declares that one of these witches had punished her with this illness because of her refusing to give the witch the small fruit that she had asked for. An investigation followed, and it was discovered that they were most subtle witches; that they had wrought great evils, and had two accomplices in their work. They were punished with banishment, and therewith this country was freed of this evil remnant of its heathen condition; and, though there have been more of this sort since then, their punishment has required some less severe penalty. There have been a number of notable miracles by which the Lord gave authority to His gospel and His ministers among these Indians—though, on account of the care which the former have taken to conceal them, the particulars are not known. Still there is one miracle that is almost universal in all these regions; this is, that when the devil torments some Indian, under the influence of witches with whom he has made an agreement to torment those whom they desire to harm, he loses his power before the command of the religious. The Indians fear the witchcraft so that they do not dare deny the witches anything they ask; and thus they become masters of the property, the food, and the persons of all the Indians. The devil is driven out by the very presence of the religious, while in their absence he is kept away by merely having the sickhold a scapular. All this is accomplished without exorcisms, except the command in the name of the Lord that they shall cease their tormenting. In many cases miracles of healing have been wrought by baptism, or by confession.]
Chapter XXThe same continued, and some miracles that afterwards followed[The mighty work described, being beyond human power, must have been of God; and, to make this clear, God showed His power in this region. At one time the father vicar was going to hear confessions in one of those villages, and was met by a leading Indian already converted, by name Don Pablo Taclanmanoc, who asked where he was going. When he said: “To hear the confessions of the people in this village,” the Indian replied, “Well then, Father, you have inquired about their debts, so that they may be able to confess?” “I cannot know them,” answered the father, “if they do not tell me them; and for that reason I have taken care to instruct them in my sermons that those who owe debts must paythem.” “More than that is necessary,” said Don Pablo; “give me the charge of investigating the debts in this village, so that they may make a good confession.” The religious thanked him and put off the confessions that he might see what would come of this undertaking. Don Pablo made his investigation with much care. He made inquiry throughout the village, and he ascertained that there were much usury and many other unjust and wrongful acts which had been committed in it. He took this all, written down in a memorandum-book, to the minister, who governed himself by it and made his inquiries in the confessions as it suggested. The confessions were very accurate, and in this way many wrongs were undone without any further pressure or force than this. When he saw how useful and necessary this undertaking had been, he had it done in all the villages, making use of the idea of the Indian Don Pablo—whom the Lord had given to these missionaries in this region as a teacher; and by whose instruction they might dig out many evil roots, which had grown strong with age, and were certain to be a great hindrance to the growth of the good seed of the gospel. This result these ministers at that time could not attain, because they were then new; nor would they have been able to attain them later, if the Indians had been silent with regard to them, and had followed the bad habit of confessing the rest while being silent on this point, which to them is the hardest thing in our law. But as they were at that time at the very beginning, and as this course was followed with all, and as it agreed with the truth and with all the evidence obtained by Don Pablo, they all accepted it very well. The results were most beneficial to thisdistrict. The Indians of it came to have such a reputation for devotion, for frequenting the holy sacraments, for obedience to their ministers, and for peace and brotherly love among themselves—being free from the vanities and excesses to which these Indians are naturally inclined—that when the ecclesiastical judges desired to bring to order any persons in other regions, they used to send them to Bataan, because of the good example set there. The Lord cared for these Indians with a very loving providence, as He showed by the special works that He wrought to rescue them from their course of perdition. Though we must be silent in regard to the greater number, we cannot pass over some. An old Indian woman who was preparing for baptism was one day absent from the class, and the father under whose care she was, sent a boy to call her. He came back saying she was dying; and the father, running with all his might to her side, found her still breathing. He was just in time to baptize her. The preservation of her life just up to that moment astonished all, and especially the bishop Don Fray Domingo de Salaçar. Several instances are recorded, in which persons were barely kept alive up to the time of their baptism. Several cases are also preserved in which insane persons were allowed a lucid interval in which to receive the holy sacrament of baptism. On the other hand, the devil played some tricks upon the fathers. One of the most important was to deceive them as to the character of some Indian women accused of witchcraft. They were so ingenious in concealing their wickedness that the fathers refused to listen to charges against them. Their daring reached so high a point that, at the command of oneof them, the devil appeared before one of the chiefs of the village, by voice but not by sight, bidding him go thence. This was told the father. The devil answered, and said to the father: “Thou shalt believe only what thou seest.” At last the Lord was pleased to reveal the deceit, by the means of a sick woman in a hospital, who declares that one of these witches had punished her with this illness because of her refusing to give the witch the small fruit that she had asked for. An investigation followed, and it was discovered that they were most subtle witches; that they had wrought great evils, and had two accomplices in their work. They were punished with banishment, and therewith this country was freed of this evil remnant of its heathen condition; and, though there have been more of this sort since then, their punishment has required some less severe penalty. There have been a number of notable miracles by which the Lord gave authority to His gospel and His ministers among these Indians—though, on account of the care which the former have taken to conceal them, the particulars are not known. Still there is one miracle that is almost universal in all these regions; this is, that when the devil torments some Indian, under the influence of witches with whom he has made an agreement to torment those whom they desire to harm, he loses his power before the command of the religious. The Indians fear the witchcraft so that they do not dare deny the witches anything they ask; and thus they become masters of the property, the food, and the persons of all the Indians. The devil is driven out by the very presence of the religious, while in their absence he is kept away by merely having the sickhold a scapular. All this is accomplished without exorcisms, except the command in the name of the Lord that they shall cease their tormenting. In many cases miracles of healing have been wrought by baptism, or by confession.]
Chapter XXThe same continued, and some miracles that afterwards followed
[The mighty work described, being beyond human power, must have been of God; and, to make this clear, God showed His power in this region. At one time the father vicar was going to hear confessions in one of those villages, and was met by a leading Indian already converted, by name Don Pablo Taclanmanoc, who asked where he was going. When he said: “To hear the confessions of the people in this village,” the Indian replied, “Well then, Father, you have inquired about their debts, so that they may be able to confess?” “I cannot know them,” answered the father, “if they do not tell me them; and for that reason I have taken care to instruct them in my sermons that those who owe debts must paythem.” “More than that is necessary,” said Don Pablo; “give me the charge of investigating the debts in this village, so that they may make a good confession.” The religious thanked him and put off the confessions that he might see what would come of this undertaking. Don Pablo made his investigation with much care. He made inquiry throughout the village, and he ascertained that there were much usury and many other unjust and wrongful acts which had been committed in it. He took this all, written down in a memorandum-book, to the minister, who governed himself by it and made his inquiries in the confessions as it suggested. The confessions were very accurate, and in this way many wrongs were undone without any further pressure or force than this. When he saw how useful and necessary this undertaking had been, he had it done in all the villages, making use of the idea of the Indian Don Pablo—whom the Lord had given to these missionaries in this region as a teacher; and by whose instruction they might dig out many evil roots, which had grown strong with age, and were certain to be a great hindrance to the growth of the good seed of the gospel. This result these ministers at that time could not attain, because they were then new; nor would they have been able to attain them later, if the Indians had been silent with regard to them, and had followed the bad habit of confessing the rest while being silent on this point, which to them is the hardest thing in our law. But as they were at that time at the very beginning, and as this course was followed with all, and as it agreed with the truth and with all the evidence obtained by Don Pablo, they all accepted it very well. The results were most beneficial to thisdistrict. The Indians of it came to have such a reputation for devotion, for frequenting the holy sacraments, for obedience to their ministers, and for peace and brotherly love among themselves—being free from the vanities and excesses to which these Indians are naturally inclined—that when the ecclesiastical judges desired to bring to order any persons in other regions, they used to send them to Bataan, because of the good example set there. The Lord cared for these Indians with a very loving providence, as He showed by the special works that He wrought to rescue them from their course of perdition. Though we must be silent in regard to the greater number, we cannot pass over some. An old Indian woman who was preparing for baptism was one day absent from the class, and the father under whose care she was, sent a boy to call her. He came back saying she was dying; and the father, running with all his might to her side, found her still breathing. He was just in time to baptize her. The preservation of her life just up to that moment astonished all, and especially the bishop Don Fray Domingo de Salaçar. Several instances are recorded, in which persons were barely kept alive up to the time of their baptism. Several cases are also preserved in which insane persons were allowed a lucid interval in which to receive the holy sacrament of baptism. On the other hand, the devil played some tricks upon the fathers. One of the most important was to deceive them as to the character of some Indian women accused of witchcraft. They were so ingenious in concealing their wickedness that the fathers refused to listen to charges against them. Their daring reached so high a point that, at the command of oneof them, the devil appeared before one of the chiefs of the village, by voice but not by sight, bidding him go thence. This was told the father. The devil answered, and said to the father: “Thou shalt believe only what thou seest.” At last the Lord was pleased to reveal the deceit, by the means of a sick woman in a hospital, who declares that one of these witches had punished her with this illness because of her refusing to give the witch the small fruit that she had asked for. An investigation followed, and it was discovered that they were most subtle witches; that they had wrought great evils, and had two accomplices in their work. They were punished with banishment, and therewith this country was freed of this evil remnant of its heathen condition; and, though there have been more of this sort since then, their punishment has required some less severe penalty. There have been a number of notable miracles by which the Lord gave authority to His gospel and His ministers among these Indians—though, on account of the care which the former have taken to conceal them, the particulars are not known. Still there is one miracle that is almost universal in all these regions; this is, that when the devil torments some Indian, under the influence of witches with whom he has made an agreement to torment those whom they desire to harm, he loses his power before the command of the religious. The Indians fear the witchcraft so that they do not dare deny the witches anything they ask; and thus they become masters of the property, the food, and the persons of all the Indians. The devil is driven out by the very presence of the religious, while in their absence he is kept away by merely having the sickhold a scapular. All this is accomplished without exorcisms, except the command in the name of the Lord that they shall cease their tormenting. In many cases miracles of healing have been wrought by baptism, or by confession.]
[The mighty work described, being beyond human power, must have been of God; and, to make this clear, God showed His power in this region. At one time the father vicar was going to hear confessions in one of those villages, and was met by a leading Indian already converted, by name Don Pablo Taclanmanoc, who asked where he was going. When he said: “To hear the confessions of the people in this village,” the Indian replied, “Well then, Father, you have inquired about their debts, so that they may be able to confess?” “I cannot know them,” answered the father, “if they do not tell me them; and for that reason I have taken care to instruct them in my sermons that those who owe debts must paythem.” “More than that is necessary,” said Don Pablo; “give me the charge of investigating the debts in this village, so that they may make a good confession.” The religious thanked him and put off the confessions that he might see what would come of this undertaking. Don Pablo made his investigation with much care. He made inquiry throughout the village, and he ascertained that there were much usury and many other unjust and wrongful acts which had been committed in it. He took this all, written down in a memorandum-book, to the minister, who governed himself by it and made his inquiries in the confessions as it suggested. The confessions were very accurate, and in this way many wrongs were undone without any further pressure or force than this. When he saw how useful and necessary this undertaking had been, he had it done in all the villages, making use of the idea of the Indian Don Pablo—whom the Lord had given to these missionaries in this region as a teacher; and by whose instruction they might dig out many evil roots, which had grown strong with age, and were certain to be a great hindrance to the growth of the good seed of the gospel. This result these ministers at that time could not attain, because they were then new; nor would they have been able to attain them later, if the Indians had been silent with regard to them, and had followed the bad habit of confessing the rest while being silent on this point, which to them is the hardest thing in our law. But as they were at that time at the very beginning, and as this course was followed with all, and as it agreed with the truth and with all the evidence obtained by Don Pablo, they all accepted it very well. The results were most beneficial to thisdistrict. The Indians of it came to have such a reputation for devotion, for frequenting the holy sacraments, for obedience to their ministers, and for peace and brotherly love among themselves—being free from the vanities and excesses to which these Indians are naturally inclined—that when the ecclesiastical judges desired to bring to order any persons in other regions, they used to send them to Bataan, because of the good example set there. The Lord cared for these Indians with a very loving providence, as He showed by the special works that He wrought to rescue them from their course of perdition. Though we must be silent in regard to the greater number, we cannot pass over some. An old Indian woman who was preparing for baptism was one day absent from the class, and the father under whose care she was, sent a boy to call her. He came back saying she was dying; and the father, running with all his might to her side, found her still breathing. He was just in time to baptize her. The preservation of her life just up to that moment astonished all, and especially the bishop Don Fray Domingo de Salaçar. Several instances are recorded, in which persons were barely kept alive up to the time of their baptism. Several cases are also preserved in which insane persons were allowed a lucid interval in which to receive the holy sacrament of baptism. On the other hand, the devil played some tricks upon the fathers. One of the most important was to deceive them as to the character of some Indian women accused of witchcraft. They were so ingenious in concealing their wickedness that the fathers refused to listen to charges against them. Their daring reached so high a point that, at the command of oneof them, the devil appeared before one of the chiefs of the village, by voice but not by sight, bidding him go thence. This was told the father. The devil answered, and said to the father: “Thou shalt believe only what thou seest.” At last the Lord was pleased to reveal the deceit, by the means of a sick woman in a hospital, who declares that one of these witches had punished her with this illness because of her refusing to give the witch the small fruit that she had asked for. An investigation followed, and it was discovered that they were most subtle witches; that they had wrought great evils, and had two accomplices in their work. They were punished with banishment, and therewith this country was freed of this evil remnant of its heathen condition; and, though there have been more of this sort since then, their punishment has required some less severe penalty. There have been a number of notable miracles by which the Lord gave authority to His gospel and His ministers among these Indians—though, on account of the care which the former have taken to conceal them, the particulars are not known. Still there is one miracle that is almost universal in all these regions; this is, that when the devil torments some Indian, under the influence of witches with whom he has made an agreement to torment those whom they desire to harm, he loses his power before the command of the religious. The Indians fear the witchcraft so that they do not dare deny the witches anything they ask; and thus they become masters of the property, the food, and the persons of all the Indians. The devil is driven out by the very presence of the religious, while in their absence he is kept away by merely having the sickhold a scapular. All this is accomplished without exorcisms, except the command in the name of the Lord that they shall cease their tormenting. In many cases miracles of healing have been wrought by baptism, or by confession.]