The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898. Volume 13 of 55. Unknown

father, who was an Indian of high standing and governor of the village. He made excuses, saying that he did not wish to receive the sacrament until he had been married. But God our Lord did not allow him to fulfil this desire, on account of which he deferred holy baptism until he paid for the delay by an untimely death. Besides dying as he did, in his heathenism, and very hastily, the character of his death was violent and horrible; for he was carried away by a poison which caused the flesh to fall from his body in pieces. Another man was continually ill, and, fearing that any day he might die, he asked me to baptize him. Upon summoning him one day for instruction, he failed to appear, having abandoned his purpose. Soon afterward he embarked for a neighboring island, where he died in his paganism. One day, the children of a village came together to be baptized, but one of the pagans refused to allow her child to receive the sacrament; neither entreaties nor arguments availing to soften her. Accordingly, we had to give her up—our Lord taking charge of this obdurate one, as He did, suddenly deprived her one night of life."

      But the event which caused among these Indians the greatest surprise and terror, was the death of two of their most esteemed and respected chiefs. The first was an Indian who in former days had married six wives. He was so arrogant and cruel that whenever he made a journey he sent Indians ahead of him to cut the branches of the trees, in order that he might pass without bending his body; and if any of his followers neglected to clear away a branch he paid for his carelessness with his life. This chief became sick, and a father entreated him with much earnestness to receive baptism. This he refused, and, having no fear of death, said: "Father, as yet I have sufficient strength in my eyes to see, in my hands to work, and in my feet to walk. Leave me for the present, for, since thou art near by, I will send one of my slaves for thee if I find that I am in distress." The father left him, seeing that he would do nothing for us; and within two days was told that this man was dead, having gone where he must expiate his obstinacy as well as his pride and cruelty.

      For the better understanding of the second case, we must assume that one of the ways in which God has been best served in that mission is in persuading the Indians who have two or three wives to abandon them and to content themselves with one. The means used to accomplish this end was to condemn polygamy, to the assembled natives, as a state unworthy of the nobility of man, saying that they ought not to make themselves beasts and brutes by having so many wives. Our Lord granted a fortunate outcome to this effort, for the men were thus persuaded to give up their wives. The Indians were so impressed by this teaching that once when a swarm of locusts lit in the grain-fields of a certain village, they accounted for it by saying that God had sent this pest on the people of that village, because the men were wont to keep two wives. There was an Indian chief of high rank in the island of Leite, by the name of Umbas, one of the most prominent among the chiefs on account of his riches and the good government which he maintained in the villages under his rule, and the thoroughness with which he fulfilled all his responsibilities; he was esteemed by not only the Indians but the Spaniards. All eyes were turned to him, and consequently, had he but become a Christian, large numbers of people would have followed his example, for he was regarded by the rest, even in distant parts, as a pattern to follow. This Indian had two wives, and being frequently urged, with many entreaties and arguments, to abandon one of them, so great was his love for his sons that he could not make up his mind to divorce one of the women, preferring not to be separated from their children. He was urged in the church, before all the people of the village, to divorce one of his wives; but he only answered that he had already been told this. Many of our fathers, as well as his encomendero, therefore besought him with great earnestness to be baptized, but all in vain. But finally, seeing that all the rest (and especially one of his sons, also much esteemed and beloved) were abandoning their wives, he said that he would do the same after he had harvested his rice, for which the time had arrived—alleging as a reason that since he and they had toiled together in the sowing, they should together enjoy the harvest; and when that had been done, he would remain with but one wife. But the Lord, who already had just cause against him, by His lofty judgments prevented him from carrying out this intention; for, very soon afterward, when he suspected no misfortune, he was stabbed by an Indian whom he tried to seize. No second blow was needed, for he fell to the ground dead, thus ending his disobedience and obduracy.

      Of the fervor of the Christians of Ogmuc. Chapter XXXXV.

      Our fathers in the residence at Ogmuc, having proceeded with due prudence and caution, had up to this time baptized only eighty-eight adults. There was, however, a goodly number of catechumens, who were very earnest in seeking baptism. Those who are baptized seem to have known for many years the things of our holy faith, to judge by their knowledge of its mysteries, especially those concerning Christ our Lord and His most holy mother. They highly esteem the confessional, and when they become sick they clamor at once for the father, and find relief in making their confession. A sick man said that day and night he thought of the father, who was absent, and desired him for confession, adding that what most aggravated his sickness was to know that he did not have the father at hand for that purpose. His relatives, desirous of taking him to another place, had no success, nor could they persuade him to go; for he maintained that they were about to take him where he must die without confession, and where there was no church in which he could be buried after death. As soon as he learned that the father had arrived, he went, although very ill, to make his confession, weeping for gladness, and never ceasing to render thanks to the Lord that he had permitted the father to arrive at such a time; and he declared that he could die consoled, now that he had made his confession. During Holy Week there was a great concourse of people who devoutly attended the divine services, keeping the receptacle of the most holy sacrament handsomely adorned. On Holy Thursday, in the afternoon, after the sermon a very devout procession was formed, by which the people were more thoroughly instructed in the faith, and taught what Christ our Lord had done for our salvation. The most pleasing and touching sight was to see all the children disciplining themselves with scourges which they themselves had made for that day. At Easter some Spaniards chanced to be here, who augmented the solemnity of the occasion with salvos from their arquebuses. Peace was restored between many married people who had been living in discord; and some abuses were corrected, especially two very baneful practices anciently common among them, namely, usury in loans, and enslavement through tyranny. In order that my readers may better understand and recognize the power of God, who has unrooted these evils, it has seemed to me best to describe them in greater detail.

      Of usury and slavery among the Filipinos. Chapter XXXXVI.

      Among other vicious practices common to these nations and proceeding from that fountain and abyss of evil, idolatry, one was that insatiable cupidity mentioned by the evangelist St. John as one of the three which tyrannize over the world.1 This caused them, forgetful of that natural compassion which we owe to one another, never to lend succor in cases of need without assurance of profit. Consequently, whenever they made loans (not of money, which they did not use or possess, but of other things, most commonly rice, bells, and gold—this last more than all else, for when weighed it took the place of money, for which purpose every one carried in his pouch a balance), they must always agree upon the profit which should be paid them in addition to the sum that they were to lend. But the evil did not stop here, for the profit or gain itself went on increasing with the delay in making payment—until finally, in the course of time, it exceeded all the possessions of the debtor. The debt was then charged to his person, which the poor wretch gave, thus becoming a slave; and from that time forth all his descendants were also slaves. There was another form of this usury and slavery, by which the debtor or his son must remain from that time a slave, until the debt, with all the usury and interest which were customary among them, was repaid. As a result of this, all the descendants of him who was ether a debtor or security for the debt, remained slaves. Slaves were also made through tyranny and cruelty, by way of revenge and punishment for offenses of small account, which were made to appear matters of injury. Examples of these are: failure to preserve silence for the dead (which we have already mentioned), or happening to pass in front of a chief who was bathing (alluded to in the fable of Actæon), and other similar oppressions. They also captured slaves in war by means of ambuscades and attacks, keeping as such all those whom they did not wish to kill. Since these cruelties were so usual among them, and, on the other hand, the poor are commonly oppressed by the powerful, it was easy to increase the number of slaves. Consequently they used to have, and still

1

Marginal reference: "I John, 2."