that these works of cunning and these heretical counsels, unfriendly
to our holy Catholic faith, should have no success, and so at present
they have not. For the emperor has commanded that in no way shall any
Japanese be martyred for turning Christian; but that they should be
exiled from the realms of Japon, and landed in a Christian country,
so that, since they had accepted that faith, they might there be
supported and given the necessaries of life. The reason which moved
the emperor to order that they be not martyred is because he fears
that through the martyrdom many heathen Japanese would be converted,
if they were to see those who are martyred dying unwavering in their
Christian faith. Accordingly, in the month of May in the past year of
one thousand six hundred and thirty-two there arrived in this city of
Manila a Japanese ship with more than a hundred Japanese, with their
wives and children. They were exiled Christians who had been told in
their own country that if they abandoned the faith not only would they
not be exiled from their fatherland, but that they would be cared for
at the expense of the emperor. They chose to set out as exiles, fathers
parting from their sons, wives from their husbands, and children
from their parents, to preserve the faith of Jesus Christ, trusting
solely to the providence of God. They arrived at this city of Manila,
having suffered ill-treatment and disease. As soon as they had landed
and been received by the Christians of this city, they all began--men,
women, and children--to sing _Laudate Dominum omnes gentes_, and other
psalms, so that it would have moved stones to pity. They were taken
immediately to a church, at their own request, in procession. And no
sooner did they find themselves in the temple of the Lord for whom
they had suffered so much, than they all commenced to sing aloud
_Nunc dimittis_, from beginning to end, so that the Christians of the
primitive church could have done no more. They were then taken to a
hospital, where they are being cared for at present with liberal good
cheer, for on every hand they are supplied with plentiful alms. The
heathen Japanese went back astonished at this charitable reception
which they received; and therefore they now make martyrs no more,
because they realize that this affects the people, and that more
are converted in the public martyrdoms which they were inflicting
in order to strike the others with fear. What they now do with the