eatest harmony and concord with
one another, and to regulate the catechism and method of teaching--so
that, since the faith and religion that they preach is one and the same
thing, their teaching, zeal, and purpose may be so likewise. They shall
aid one another in so holy and praiseworthy an object, as if all lived
under and professed the same rule and observance. If the nature of
the country and the progress in the conversion of its natives permit,
the orders shall be divided into provinces, making the assignment
of those provinces as shall appear best, so that, if possible, the
religious of the various orders shall not mingle. If any of those
religious who shall have been chosen are removed, others shall be
assigned in their place, so that, as workers of the holy gospel, they
shall labor in this work which is so to the service of God our Lord,
each order separately. They shall not engage in quarrels or disputes,
shall furnish a thoroughly good example, and shall avoid strictly all
manner of trade, business, and commerce, and all else that shows or
discloses a taint or appearance of greed for temporal goods. And since
it will be necessary, in the further establishment and increase of the
conversion in those provinces, to have therein three or four bishops,
or more, from all the orders--in order that they may confirm, preach,
ordain priests, meet whenever advisable, and discuss and enact what
they think will be necessary to facilitate, augment, and secure for
the conversion--they shall be suffragan, in so far as it concerns them,
to the archbishopric of Manila, because of the nearness and authority
of that church. That division of districts and dioceses shall be made
by our Council of the Indias. [Felipe IV--Madrid, February 22, 1632.]

[A later part of this law is as follows:]

Further, we order our viceroys, presidents, governors, and corregidors
to publish and execute the brief of our holy father, Clement Ninth,
dated June seventeen, one thousand six hundred and sixty-nine,
ordering that the religious of all the orders and the Society of
Jesus, and the secular clerics, shall not be authorized to carry on,
personally or through third parties, trade or commerce throughout
the territories of the Indias, or the islands or mainland of the
Ocean Sea. In that number are included those who go to Japon, as is
mentioned in the said brief to which we refer. [Carlos II and the
queen mother--Madrid, June 22, 1670.]

[The follo