The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 16

In the most hazardous undertakings, he hoped all things from God, and from thence drew his assurance of daring all things. Behold what he says himself concerning his voyage of Japan: "We set out full of confidence in God, and hope, that, having him for our conductor, we shall triumph over all his enemies.

"As to what remains, we fear not to enter into the lists with the doctors of Japan; for what available knowledge can they have, who are ignorant of the only true God, and of his only Son our Lord Jesus? And besides, what can we justly apprehend, who have no other aim than the glory of God and Jesus Christ, the preaching of the gospel, and the salvation of souls? supposing that we were not only in a kingdom of barbarians, but in the very dominion of devils, and that naked and disarmed, neither the most cruel barbarity, nor the rage of hell, could hurt us without God's permission. We are afraid of nothing but offending God Almighty; and provided that we offend not him, we promise ourselves, through his assistance, an assured victory over all our enemies. Since he affords sufficient strength to every man for his service, and for avoiding sin, we hope his mercy will not be wanting to us. But as the sum of all consists in the good or evil use of his benefits, we also hope he will give us grace to employ ourselves for his glory, by the prayers of his spouse, and our holy mother the Church, and particularly by the intercession of our Society, and those who are well affected to it. Our greatest, comfort proceeds from this, that God beholds the scope of this our voyage, that our only aim is to make known the Creator of the universe to souls which are made after his own image; to bring those souls to give him the worship due to him, and to spread the Christian religion through all regions.

"With these encouragements, we doubt not but the issue of our voyage will be prosperous; and two things especially seem to assure us, that we shall vanquish all the opposition of hell; the one is the greatness of our holy enterprize, the other is the care of Divine Providence, whose dominion is of no less extent over devils than over men. I acknowledge, that in this voyage, I foresee not only great labours, but also dangers of almost inevitable death; and this imagination is frequently presented to my thoughts, that if those of our Society, who are endued with the greatest stock of knowledge, should come into the Indies, they would certainly accuse us of too much rashness, and would be apt to think, that, in exposing ourselves to these manifest dangers, we tempted God. Nevertheless, upon a more serious reflection, I cease to fear; and hope that the spirit of our Lord, which animates our Society, will regulate their judgments concerning it. For my own particular, I think continually on what I have heard our good Father Ignatius often say, that those of our Society ought to exert their utmost force in vanquishing themselves, and banish from them all those fears which usually hinder us from placing our whole confidence in God. For, though divine hope is purely and simply the grace of God, and that he dispenses it, according to his pleasure, nevertheless, they who endeavour to overcome themselves, receive it more frequently than others. As there is a manifest difference betwixt those, who, abounding with all things, trust in God, and those, who, being sufficiently provided with all necessaries, yet bereave themselves of them, in imitation of Jesus Christ; so is there also, in those who trust in God's providence, when they are out of danger, and those who, with the assistance of his grace, dare voluntarily expose themselves to the greatest hazards, which are in their proper choice and power to shun."

It was in the spirit of this holy confidence, that the saint, writing to Simon Rodriguez, speaks in this manner to him: —

"Our God holds in his hand the tempests which infest the seas of China and Japan; the rocks, the gulphs, and banks of sands, which are formidably known by so many shipwrecks, are all of them under his dominion. He is Sovereign over all those pirates which cruize the seas, and exercise their cruelties on the Portuguese: and for this reason I cannot fear them; I only fear lest God should punish me for being too pusillanimous in his service; and so little capable, through my own frailty, of extending the kingdom of his Son amongst those nations who know him not."

He speaks in the same spirit to the Fathers of Goa, in giving them an account of his arrival at Japan: "We are infinitely obliged to God, for permitting us to enter into those barbarous countries, where we are to be regardless, and in a manner forgetful of ourselves; for the enemies of the true religion, being masters every where, on whom can we rely, but on God alone? and to whom can we have recourse besides him? In our countries, where the Christian faith is flourishing, it happens, I know not how, that every thing hinders us from reposing ourselves on God; the love of our relations, the bonds of friendship, the conveniences of life, and the remedies which we use in sickness; but here, being distant from the place of our nativity, and living amongst barbarians, where all human succours are wanting to us, it is of absolute necessity that our confidence in God alone should be our aid."

But the saint perhaps never discoursed better on this subject, than in a letter written at his return from the Moluccas, after a dangerous navigation. His words are these: "It has pleased God, that we should not perish; it has also pleased him, to instruct us even by our dangers, and to make us know, by our own experience, how weak we are, when we rely only on ourselves, or on human succours. For when we come to understand the deceitfulness of our hopes, and are entirely diffident of human helps, we rely on God, who alone can deliver us out of those dangers, into which we have engaged ourselves on his account: we shall soon experience that he governs all things; and that the heavenly pleasures, which he confers on his servants on such occasions, ought to make us despise the greatest hazards; even death itself has nothing in it which is dreadful to them, who have a taste of those divine delights; and though, when we have escaped those perils of which we speak, we want words to express the horror of them, there remains in our heart a pleasing memory of the favours which God has done us; and that remembrance excites us, day and night, to labour in the service of so good a Master: we are also enlivened by it to honour him during the rest of our lives, hoping, that, out of his abundant mercy, he will bestow on us a new strength, and fresh vigour, to serve him faithfully and generously, even to our death."

"May it please the Divine Goodness," he says elsewhere, "that good men, whom the devil endeavours to affright in the service of God, might fear no other thing besides displeasing him, in leaving off what they have undertaken for his sake. If they would do this, how happy a life would they then lead! how much would they advance in virtue, knowing, by their own experience, that they can do nothing of themselves, but that they can do all things by the assistance of his grace!"

He said, "that our most stedfast hold in dangers and temptations, was to have a noble courage against the foe of our salvation, in a distrust of our own strength, but a firm reliance on our Lord, so that we should not only fear nothing under the conduct of such a general, but also should not doubt of victory." He said also further, "that, in those dangerous occasions, the want of confidence in God was more to be feared, than any assault of the enemy; and that we should run much greater hazard in the least distrust of the divine assistance, in the greatest dangers, than in exposing ourselves to those very dangers." He added, lastly, "that this danger was so much the more formidable, the more it was hidden, and the less that we perceived it."

These thoughts produced in the soul of this holy man an entire diffidence of himself, together with a perfect humility. He was the only discourse of the new world; Infidels and Christians gave him almost equal honour; and his power over nature was so great, that it was said to be a kind of miracle, when he performed no miracle But all this served only to raise confusion in him; because he found nothing in himself but his own nothingness; and being nothing in his own conceit, he could not comprehend, how it was possible for him to be esteemed. Writing to the doctor of Navarre, before his voyage to the Indies, he told him, "That it was a singular grace of heaven to know ourselves; and that, through the mercy of God, he knew himself to be good for nothing."

"Humbly beseech our Lord," he wrote from the Indies to Father Simon Rodriguez, "that I may have power to open the door of China to others; where I am, I have done but little." In many other passages of his letters, he calls himself an exceeding evil man; a great sinner; and conjures his brethren to employ their intercessions to God in his behalf. "Bring to pass, by your prayers," says he to one of them, "that though my sins have rendered me unworthy of the ministerial vocation, yet God may vouchsafe, out of his infinite goodness, to make use of me."

"I beseech you," says he to another, "to implore the heavenly assistance for us; and to the end you may do it with the greater fervency, I beseech our Lord, that he would give you to understand, how much I stand in need of your intercession."

"It is of extreme importance to my consolation," he writes to the fathers of Goa, "that you understand the wonderful perplexity in which I am. As God knows the multitude and heinousness of my sins, I have a thought which much torments me; it is, that God perhaps may not prosper our undertakings, if we do not amend our lives, and change our manners: it is necessary, on this account, to employ the prayers of all the religious of our Society, and of all our friends, in hope that, by their means, the Catholic church, which is the spouse of our Lord Jesus, will communicate her innumerable merits to us; and that the Author of all good will accumulate his graces on us, notwithstanding our offences."

He attributed all the fruits of his labours to an evident miracle of the Divine Power, which made use of so vile and weak an instrument as himself, to the end it might appear to be the work of God. He said, "that they who had great talents, ought to labour with great courage for the safety of souls; since he, who was wanting in all the qualities which are requisite to so high a calling, was not altogether unprofitable in his ministry."

As he had a mean opinion of himself, and that his own understanding was suspected by him, he frequently, by his letters, requested his brethren of Italy, and Portugal, to instruct him in the best method of preaching the gospel profitably. "I am going," said he, "to publish Jesus Christ, to people who are part Idolaters, and part Saracens; I conjure you, by Jesus Christ himself, to send me word, after what manner, and by what means, I may instruct them. For I am verily persuaded, that God will suggest those ways to you, which are most proper for the easy reduction of those people into his fold; and if I wander from the right path, while I am in expectation of your letters, I hope I shall return into it, when I shall have received them."

All that succeeded well to his endeavours in the service of our Lord, he attributed to the intercession of his brethren. "Your prayers," he writ to the Fathers at Rome, "have assuredly obtained for me the knowledge of my infinite offences; and withal the grace of unwearied labouring, in the conversion of Idolaters, notwithstanding the multitude of my sins."

But if the designs which he was always forming, for the advancement of religion, happened to be thwarted, he acknowledged no other reason of those crosses than his own sins, and complained only of himself.

As for those miracles which he continually wrought, they passed, in his opinion, as the effects of innocence in children, or for the fruits of faith in sick persons. And when, at the sight of a miraculous performance, the people were at any time about to give him particular honours, he ran to hide himself in the thickest of a forest; or when he could not steal away, he entered so far into the knowledge of himself, that he stood secure from the least temptation of vain glory. It even seemed, that the low opinion which he had of his own worth, in some sort blinded him, in relation to the wonders which he wrought, so that he perceived not they were miracles.

It was the common talk at Goa, that he had raised the dead on the coast of Fishery. After his return to Goa, James Borba and Cozmo Annez, his two intimate friends, requested him to inform them, for God's further glory, how those matters went; and particularly they enquired concerning the child who was drowned in the well. The holy man, at this request, hung down his head, and blushed exceedingly: when he was somewhat recovered of his bashfulness, "Jesus," said he, "what, I to raise the dead! can you believe these things of such a wretch as I am?" After which, modestly smiling, he went on, "Alas, poor sinner that I am! they set before me a child, whom they reported to be dead, and who perhaps was not; I commanded him, in the name of God, to arise; he arose indeed, and there was the miracle."

Ordognez Cevalio, who travelled almost round the world, tells us, in the relations of his voyages, that, in India, he happened to meet a Japonese, who informed him, in a discourse which they had together of these particulars: "Know," said he, "that being in Japan, a Bonza by profession, I was once at an assembly of our Bonzas, who, upon the report of so many miracles as were wrought by Father Francis Xavier, resolved to place him in the number of their gods; in order to which, they sent to him a kind of embassy; but the Father was seized with horror at the proposition of their deputies. Having spoken of God to them, after a most magnificent and elevated manner, he spake of himself in terms so humble, and with so much self-contempt, that all of us were much edified by his procedure; and the greatest part of us seriously reflecting, rather on his carriage than his words, from priests of idols, which we were, became the worshippers of Jesus Christ."

He shunned the offices of the Society, and believed himself unworthy of them. "I cannot tell you," wrote he from Cochin to Father Ignatius, "how much I stand obliged to the Japonese; in favour of whom, God has given me clearly to understand the infinite number of my sins; for till that time, I was so little recollected, and so far wandered out of myself, that I had not discovered, in the bottom of my heart, an abyss of imperfections and failings. It was not till my labours and sufferings in Japan, that I began at length to open my eyes, and to understand, with God's assistance, and by my own experience, that it is necessary for me to have one, who may watch over me, and govern me. May your holy charity be pleased, for this reason, to consider what it is you do, in ranging under my command so many saint-like souls of the fathers and brethren of our Society. I am so little endued with the qualities which are requisite for such a charge, and am so sensible that this is true, through God's mercy, that I may reasonably hope, that, instead of reposing on me the care of others, you will repose on others the care of me." He infinitely esteemed those missioners who were his seconds; and accounted his own pains for nothing, in comparison of theirs. After having related, what had been performed by Father Francis Perez in Malacca; "I confess, my brethren," said he to Paul de Camerino and Antonio Gomez, "that, seeing these things, I am ashamed of myself; and my own lazy cowardice makes me blush, in looking on a missioner, who, infirm and languishing as he is, yet labours without intermission in the salvation of souls." Xavier more than once repeats the same thing in his letter, with profound sentiments of esteem for Perez, and strange contempt of his own performances.

He recommends not any thing so much to the gospel-labourers as the knowledge of themselves, and shunning of pride; and we need only to open any of his letters, to behold his opinions on that subject,

"Cultivate humility with care, in all those things which depraved nature has in horror; and make sure, by the assistance of divine grace, to gain a thorough knowledge of yourselves; for that understanding of ourselves is the mother of Christian humility. Beware especially, lest the good opinion, which men have conceived of you, do not give you too much pleasure: for those vain delights are apt to make us negligent; and that negligence, as it were by a kind of enchantment, destroys the humility of our hearts, and introduces pride instead of it.

"Be distrustful of your proper strength, and build nothing upon human wisdom, nor on the esteem of men, By these means you will be in condition to bear whatsoever troubles shall happen to you; for God strengthens the humble, and gives him courage; he is proof against the greatest labours, and nothing can ever separate him from the charity of Jesus Christ; not the devil with his evil angels, nor the ocean with its tempests, nor the most brutal nations with all their barbarity. And if God sometimes permits that the devil put impediments in his way, or that the elements make war against him, he is persuaded, that it is only for the expiation of his sins, for the augmentation of his merits, and for the rendering him more humble.

"They who fervently desire to advance God's glory, ought to humble themselves, and be nothing in their own opinion; being diffident, even in the smallest matters, of their own abilities; to the end, that in great occasions, becoming much more diffident of themselves, through a principle of Christian humility, they may entirely confide in God; and this confidence may give them resolution; for he who knows that he is assisted from above, can never degenerate into weakness.

"Whatever you undertake will be acceptable in the sight of God, if there appear in your conduct a profound humility, and that you commit the care of your reputation into his hands; for he himself will not be wanting to give you both authority and reputation with men, when they are needful for you; and when he does it not, it is from his knowledge that you will not ascribe to him that which only can proceed from him. I comfort myself with thinking, that the sins of which you find yourselves guilty, and with which you daily upbraid your own consciences, produce in you an extreme horror of windy arrogance, and a great love of perfection; so that human praises will become your crosses, and be useful to admonish you of your failings.

"Take heed of yourselves, my dearest brethren; many ministers of the gospel, who have opened the way of heaven to other men, are tormented in hell for want of true humility, and for being carried away with a vain opinion of themselves; on the contrary, there is not to be found in hell one single soul which was sincerely humble."

These are the instructions which the saint gave in general to his brethren on the subject of humility; and, next, behold some particular admonitions which were addressed to some amongst them: —

"I conjure you to be humble and patient towards all the world," says he to Father Cyprian, who preached the gospel at Meliapore; "for, believe me, nothing is to be done by haughtiness and choler, when it cannot be accomplished by modesty and mildness." He continues; "We deceive ourselves, in exacting submission and respect from men, without any other title to it than being members of our Society, and without cultivating that virtue which has acquired us so great an authority in the world; as if we rather chose to recommend ourselves by that credit and reputation, than by the practice of humility and patience, and those other virtues by which our Society has maintained its dignity and honour with mankind."

"Be mindful," writes he to Father Barzaesus, who was rector of' the college of Goa, "to read frequently the instructions which I have left with you, particularly those which concern humility; and take an especial care in considering what God has done by you, and by all the labourers of the Society, that you do not forget yourself: for my own particular, I should be glad, that all of you would seriously think how many things God leaves undone, because you are wanting to him in your fidelity; and I would rather that consideration should employ your thoughts, than those great works which it has pleased our Lord to accomplish by your ministry; for the first reflection will cover you with confusion, and make you mindful of your weakness; but, instead of that, the second will puff you up with vanity, and expose you to the danger of having thoughts of arrogance."

This well-grounded humility in Xavier, was the principle of a perfect submission to the will of God. He never undertook any thing without consulting him before-hand; and the divine decrees were his only rule. "I have made continual prayers," says he, speaking of his voyage to Macassar, "to know what heaven requires of me; for I was firmly resolved not to be wanting on my part to fulfil the will of God, whensoever it should be made known to me. May it please our Lord," said he on the same subject, "that out of his goodness we might understand what he designs by us, to the end we might entirely conform ourselves to his holy will so soon as it shall be discovered to us; for he commands us to be always in a readiness to obey him at the first signal; and it becomes us to be as strangers in this world, always prepared to follow the voice of our conductor."

"I wish," said he, in another place, "that God would declare to us his most holy will, concerning the ministries and countries where I may best employ my labours for his glory. I am ready, by his grace, to execute those things which he makes me understand to be most pleasing to him, of whatsoever nature they may be; and, undoubtedly, he has admirable means of signifying his good pleasure to us; such as are our inward sentiments and heavenly illuminations, which leave no remaining scruple concerning the place to which he has designed us, nor what we are to undertake for his service. For we are like travellers, not fixed to any country through which we pass. It is our duty to be prepared to fly from one region to another, or rather into opposite regions, where the voice of heaven shall please to call us. East and west, north and south, are all indifferent to me, provided I may have an opportunity of advancing the glory of our Lord."

He says elsewhere, "I could wish, that you had ever in your mind this meditation, that a ready and obedient will, which is entirely devoted to God's service, is a more pleasing sacrifice to the Divine Majesty, than all the pomp and glitter of our noisy actions, without the interior disposition."

Being thoroughly convinced that the perfection of the creature consists in willing nothing but the will of the Creator, he spoke incessantly of God's good pleasure, and concluded almost all his letters with his desires of knowing and fulfilling it. He sacrificed all to that principle; even his ardent wishes to die for Jesus by the hands of the barbarians: for though he breathed after martyrdom, he well understood that the tender of our life is not acceptable to God, when he requires it not; and he was more fearful of displeasing him, than desirous of being a martyr for him. So that he died satisfied, when he expired in a poor cabin of a natural death, though he was at that very time on the point of carrying the faith into the kingdom of China: And it may be therefore said, that he sacrificed not only his own glory, but even that of Jesus Christ, to the good pleasure of God Almighty.

A man so submissive to the orders of heaven, could not possibly want submission in regard of his superior, who was to him in the place of God. He had for Father Ignatius, general of the Society of Jesus, a veneration and reverence, mixed with tenderness, which surpass imagination. He himself has expressed some part of his thoughts on that subject, and we cannot read them without being edified. In one of his letters, which begins in this manner, "My only dear Father, in the bowels of Jesus Christ;" he says at the conclusion, "Father of my soul, for whom I have a most profound respect, I write this to you upon my knees, as if you were present, and that I beheld you with my eyes." It was his custom to write to him in that posture; so high was the place which Ignatius held within his heart.