A SERMON Preached in the Chapel of HIS EXCELLENCY THE SPANISH AMBASSADOR, On the Second Sunday of ADVENT, December 4. 1687.  
On which was Solemnised the Feast of St. Francis Xaverius, of the Society of JESUS, Apostle of the INDIES and Kingdom of JAPAN.  
By the R. F. LEWIS SABRA● of the same Society.  
PERMISSU SUPERIORUM.  
LONDON, Printed by, Henry Hills, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, for His Household and Chapel; And are sold at his Printing-house on the Ditch-side in Blackfriars. 1687.   

A SERMON Preached in the Chapel of his Excellency The SPANISH Ambassador, On the Second Sunday of Advent, December 4. 1687.  
Caeci vident, claudi ambulant, leprosi mudantur, surdi audiunt, mortui resurgunt, pauperes Evangelizantur, & beatus qui non fuerit, scandalizatus in me.  Matt. 11. 5, 6. 
The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise to life, the poor have the Gospel preached to them, and happy is he who is not scandalised in me.  
IT is a weighty Doubt which, in this Sundays Gospel, St. John moves by his Disciples, his Chains not allowing him the liberty to offer it himself to our Blessed Lord to be resolved; 
a Tu es qui venturus es. Matt. 11.  Are you he who is to come? Are you that Saviour whom for so many Ages the sighing Prophets have asked, gracious Heaven hath promised, the longing Earth expected? An Important Quaere! For what can be of a nearer concern, than not to mistake our God? 
b Haec est vita aeterna ut cognoscant te solum Deum verum & quem misisti Jesum Christum. Joan. 17.  'Tis that Life everlasting which we hope for, to know by the light of Glory, our sole true God, and him he hath sent, Jesus Christ: And 'tis the only way leading to that Life, to know Both here by the light of Faith. But doth the Voice then question the Word that form and sent it? Is that Head-Mystery concealed from St. John, than whom a greater Prophet is not born of a Woman? No certainly: The Eternal Father lately bore in his presence witness to Christ at the Bank of the River Jordan; Even when yet enclosed in his Mother's Womb he owned his Lord, and Prophesied of him before he could speak; Lately he proclaimed him to be the Lamb of God, which takes away the Sins of the World; 'tis at the very proposal of this Doubt, that he receives that high Character of 
c Major inter natos mulierum propheta Joanne Baptista nemo est. Luc. 7. Joan. 1.  More than a Prophet, becoming by this his Embassy also an Apostle: for, 
d Ut sibi quaerens, illis disceret. Higher ad Aglas.  as St. Jerom observes, St. John proposes the Doubt of his mistaken Disciples, that they may be instructed by Jesus his Answer. 'Tis their Ignorance, 
e Non suae sed discipulorum ignorantiae Joannes consulit. Hil. sup. Matt.  says S. Hilary, that he designs to remove, not his own Knowledge that he would improve. Christians of England, (if I may call by one Name People of so different a Belief, of such opposite Persuasions) the Church of God asks in her Gospel the same Question this Day. Tu es? Are you the Lord? And well she may, when she finds her Subjects so divided about him. 
* Matt. 24.  Here is Christ, says one, with my Band only. No, There is Christ in that other different Party, says a Second. He is within, says a Third; this Private Spirit of mine singles him from amongst the false ones. He was in the Wilderness, another pretends; there he had been hidden for many Ages, till we lately discovered him. Thus each Sect, each Party, each Division challenges him. He is not in all these so different, so opposite Beliefs: for he is not 
f Non enim est dissentionis Deus sed pacis. 1 Cor. 14.  the God of Dissension, but of Peace and Unity. To correct these various Errors, to redress so dangerous Mistakes, the true Church, in imitation of St. John, asks him this Day the same Question, Tu es? Are you the Lord? you that are Adored by my Children, Worshipped on my Altars?  
I know each Sect will answer, Here he is, this is his true Worship which I pay. But we are never the nearer, some unquestionable and potent Proof must be offered. Hence our Blessed Lord answered not the Disciples of St. John by a bare Assertion, I am he. All Deceivers and Antichristian Cheats could give in that Answer for themselves; each false Prophet was ever the readiest to cry out, The Word of the Lord, the pure Word of the Lord. Jesus brought Facts in lieu of Words; and elsewhere assures us, that if he had 
g Si ego testimonium perhibeo de meipso, testimonium meum non est verum. Joan. 5. 31.  with bare words born witness to himself, and challenged thereupon to be believed, it ought to have been held as a false one, and not to have been regarded. This was his Answer, The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise to life. Behold the First Proof and Mark, Miracles, unquestionable by reason of their greatness, number, evidence. The poor are preached unto; behold the Second, to wit, those unusual Means (humanly of no force) used to convert and subdue the World, by poor, silly, ignorant Men; and again, their refusal of all human Helps towards so vast an Enterprise. And happy is he who is not scandalised in me; behold the Third, to wit, those eminent supernatural Gifts and Blessings bestowed on those who embraced his Poverty and Abjection, so unknown unto, or despised by the World, which were undeniable Proofs of his Apostles Holiness. We agree all about the Messiah, convinced by those undoubted Marks now observed; but many are the more miserable and guilty, whilst they debate about his Doctrine and Law, and so neither receive the one, nor obey the other. How shall a well-meaning Man clear these Doubts, and find out his true, Doctrine, Church, Worship, whom he owns to be his God and Redeemer? Can any of this Churches Witnesses give the same Evidence and Proofs which Christ gave for himself, our Differences would be at an end, our Doubts cleared, our Faith settled. Christian Auditors, God most mercifully offers us many, one I will produce this Day, the great Apostle of the Indies, and the Kingdoms of Japan, Xaverius. All things concur to move me to speak of him. First my Text; for I intent to prove, that his Life and Actions give the same Answer, the same Proofs for the truth of the Catholic Church, which Christ gave to evince himself to be the true Messiah: So that if we proceed on those Motives which Christ himself judged the clearest and safest, we must all be Catholics, or no Christians. Next, the general Devotion of the pious World towards this great Apostle of our Days, during this Octave of his Feast, exacts it of me. Again, the Habit I have the Honour to wear, the Society I am an unworthy Member of, challenges it; a Society he won such a Credit unto, and reciprocally so valued, that his last Letters from Cochino into Europen own, that he miraculously escaped an infinity of Dangers, by recommending himself to the Merits and Prayers of the living and deceased Members of it, that he could make no end when he spoke of the value of, and love for it which he had; that he should sooner forget his 
h Cum oblitus fuero tui, societas Jesus, oblivioni detur dextera mea. Epist. l. 2. Ep. 2. Ex Card. Anton. Zapata.  own Right-hand, than that tenderness. In fine, this very Chapel of the Catholic King forbids me to pass by a Saint of the Royal Blood of Navarre, whose prodigious Success in Apostolical Labours, hath gained to Spain the glorious Character which St. Prosper gave to Catholic Rome, to wit, That 
i Quidquid non possidet armis Religione tenet. Carm. de Ing.  what Parts of the World her Sword hath not subdued to her Empire, her Piety and Religion hath Conquered for Christ.  

k Maria sancta Mater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, obtine pro nobis ab amabili filio tuo ut credamus hanc veritatem sine ullo dubio. Epist. l. 1. Ep. 5.  Sacred Virgin, the great Xaverius never begun a Sermon or Catechism, without begging by your Intercession the Knowledge and Practice of the Virtue he treated of: In Imitation of him, I beg of your Divine Son, by the Mediation of your Intercession, that I may even to the most wilfully blind of Sectaries, show in the Life and miraculous Actions of Xaverius, the most evident Proofs of true Religion and Piety, to be found only in the Catholic Church; and to the Members thereof, the Security of their Faith, the Sanctity of their Law, the Piety of their Practices.  AVE MARIA. 
OUR Blessed Lord being to give convincing Proofs of his Divinity to St. John's Disciples, such as by their Evidence should lay them and the whole Nation of the Jews under a clear Obligation of owning him; drew them not from the written Law, or any part of Holy Scripture, nor from any Character of Divinity, or any such self-persuading Truth that appeared in his holy Word, tho' uttered from his own Blessed Mouth, or from the Holiness of his Principles, the Sanctity and Congruity of his whole Doctrine; such Marks could be comprehended by few, or were the very Points in Debate. He took them from plain Matters of Fact, exposed to the dullest, proportioned to the meanest Capacities; for such aught to be the Proofs of a Religion, which excluded none from its Profession, but opened Heaven equally to all. This was the first, the grand and certain Motive of Credibility, disposing all to reduce their Understandings unto a due, humble subjection to Faith, The blind see, the lame walk, the leprous are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life. By which he left to each Man this Argument to frame; Where such evident Prodigies are wrought, 'tis clear, that God's Hand subscribes to the Doctrine in Evidence whereof they are brought; But God's infinite Veracity cannot attest, and his equal Bounty cannot admit us to be most credibly persuaded, that he does attest an Untruth; Therefore all that Christ teaches is true, he is then the Son of God, since he declares himself to be so. In the beginning of his Preaching he had exposed to the Jews the same Motive, by which he pretended they were to be convinced of their Obligation of receiving him, to wit, because 
a Hunc enim signavit Deus. Joan. 6.  his Father Sealed his Commission by which he authorised him to Preach. Some Ages before the Prophet Isay warned that incredulous Nation, that the clear Marks by which they should undoubtedly know this great Prophet, should be these selfsame 
b Tunc aperientur oculi caecorum & aures surdorum tunc patebunt; & saltet tanquam Cervus claudus. Isa. 35.  miraculous Cures of their Sick, their blind, their lame, their leprous. Which Wonders were so convincing, that our Blessed Lord owned to the Jews, that altho' they refused to yield to those Motives which he offered them in his Sermons, yet they could not without obstinacy refuse 
c Opera quae Ego facio testimonium perhibent de me, illis credite si verbis non vultis. Joan 10.  a Belief to his Works, which could part from no other Hand but that of God. Such was their Blindness, yet such also was the Light his Miracles did yield towards the discovery of the Truths which he taught them, that he acknowledged they might have found an Excuse for their infidelity, and without sin have refused to submit to him, had he not 
d Si opera non fecissem in illis quae nemo alius fecit, peccatum non haberent. Joan. 15. 1 Cor. 4. 2 Cor. 12.  wrought greater Miracles than any before amongst them, to which consequently no other like Miracles could be pretended to be opposed; and therefore nothing that might weaken their Divine Authority, to which they could not without a heinous sin refuse Obedience and an entire Submission. This was the Method used by Christ, as the most natural and clear, the most capable to conquer men's proud, yet dull Minds, and to fasten their unsteady and wavering Hearts, to Faith and Religion.  
His Apostles used the same. To instance in one; St. Paul challenges a submissive Belief to what he had Preached, from the Corinthians, because he had proved himself an Apostle, not only by his Patience, (the true Test of Real and Solid Virtue) but also by Signs, Prodigies, and Power: And there being some false Apostles who opposed him, seduced from him his Neophytes, and valued themselves much on their Preaching and Discourses; he minds them that the Word of God is not chief attested by Words, but by Power. And indeed, as St. Chrysostom observes, 
a Quando novum a liquid, fit & praecipuum, signa Deus facere confuevit, praestat qurdam pignora suae potentiae, iisqui legem ejus accipiunt. Chrys. ho. 14. in Mat.  when God declares any new thing, or orders any of great importance, (and such is, if any, a General Reformation in Faith) he uses to work Wonders, yielding some pledges of his Power to those who receive his Law. 
b Adjuncta sunt paaedicatoribus miracula ut Fidem verbis daret virtus ostensa: & Nova facerent qui nova praedicarent. Greg. hom. 4. in Evang. Ut magnitudinem promissorum probet magnitudo signorum. Hier. Matt. 10. Infirmos curate, etc.  He joined, saith St. Gregory, Miracles to Preaching, that such an appearance of Power should give credit to Words, and their Works should be unusual, whose Doctrine was new. That their great Promises, saith St. Hierom, should find a fit warrant in equally great Wonders. Hence we no sooner read that Christ had chosen Twelve Apostles, and had sent them, but that we find him signing their Mission with these following words: Health Sick, raise the Dead, cleanse the Leprous, cast out Devils. And that we might not believe these singular Graces to attend only the first Apostles, he assures us, without any limitation of Time or Place, That those who believe in him, (John 14.) shall do the same Works which He did, and greater than those; that such Signs and Wonders shall follow those who believe. From this clear Method, and plain Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, and from this following unquestionable Truth, grounded on God's Goodness and Justice, to wit, That as men are bound to receive the Doctrine which God sends his Servants to preach to them, so he cannot induce them into an Error, by permitting it to be proposed in his Name, and upheld by Prodigies, which may prudently be believed to be wrought by his hand; it follows,  
First, That Miracles are clear proofs by which may be resolved all doubts about questioned Revelations, and consequently that there be undoubted Marks to know them by, otherwise they would be useless.  
Secondly, That God in his Mercy cannot permit that a man, slily covering his false Doctrine, pretending to be sent by him, and to teach only what is conformable to what he hath hitherto revealed in holy Scripture, should work Miracles to uphold Falsehood; and that no one of those who oppose him, should work greater in defence of Truth. These Principles being thus cleared and settled, I form this Argument for Christianity against a Jew or Pagan, to which I crave your attention, that you may observe if it falters in any part, or whether it concludes not rather in favour of Us Christians an impossibility of being mistaken in adoring Christ, and an evident Obligation to it.  
If there were such Persons as Christ and his Apostles, and if they wrought such clear Miracles in Proof of the Doctrine which they taught, as are related in the Testament; it is certain that all men, sufficiently informed of those Miracles, are bound to receive their Doctrine as a Truth revealed by God. But there were such Men, and such Miracles wrought by them, and we are all sufficiently informed of them; therefore we are all bound to believe and profess the Doctrine taught by Christ and his Apostles, that is, to be Christians.  
Is this Argument plain and convincing, or no? May not the Major Proposition, if denied, be easily proved beyond the possibility of a Reply, out of the two Principles before laid open? As for the Minor, no one can refuse his assent to it, who considers how those Miracles were wrought, in the sight of great Multitudes, of which most were declared Enemies to Christ and his Disclples; how the Records we find them in, were handed to us from Eye-witnesses, without any probable Objection ever being opposed to their Truth; how they were owned by the very Enemies of Christ for true Records; how the miraculous Effects of those Prodigies remain in the wonderful Conversion of the World to Christianity; how they have equally been sealed with the Blood of Martyrs, the Virtues and Heavenly Gifts of Confessors; how these Persons, and their miraculous Works, were prophesied before, and such Prophecies, preserved in the hands of their Enemies, did point out all the Circumstances that attended their Persons and Miracles; how (to conclude) no other Religion or Belief was ever thus evidently attested by the Omnipotency of God, ever thus visibly subscribed unto with his Hand, and marked with his Seal.  
Say, Christians, are these Proofs clear and convincing? Yea, or No? Do you believe yourselves strictly bound under pain of Eternal Damnation to believe God, speaking to you as plainly, as these Miraculous Proofs convince you, that 'tis He who spoke by Christ and his Apostles? Yes, or No? Yes? we may then well conclude ourselves all bound to be Christians, and we may convince Jew's and Gentiles, such as are not wilfully obstinate, of their obligation to become Proselytes to our Religion.  
But now we are at variance amongst ourselves. These Arguments I have offered convince indeed each of us, that what Christ and his Apostles did teach was the Truth; that all who can come to the Knowledge of that Faith which they preached, that Religion which they settled, that Church which they formed, are bound under pain of Eternal Damnation to embrace that Faith, to profess that Religion, and to be Members of that Church: but we differ as to the other main Point, to wit, what Faith they did preach, what Religion they settled, what Church they form. To reduce then all dissenting Christians to one Faith, one Religion, one Church, what can be a more infallible and unquestionable Motive, than to use the same Argument which moves us all to be Christians? Which I thus offer, altering only such words in it which fit it to our Case, without taking away any thing from its force.  
If there was such a man as Xaverius, and if he wrought such clear Miracles in proof of the Doctrine which he taught, as are related in all the Histories of the Indies, and of Japan, and in his Life written in all Countries and Languages; it is certain that all men, sufficiently informed of those Miracles, are bound to receive his Doctrine, as a Truth revealed by God. But there was such a Man, and such Miracles wrought by him, and we are all (or may be when we please) sufficiently informed of them; therefore we are all bound to believe and profess the Doctrine taught by him, that is to be Roman Catholics.  
Is this Argument clear and convincing? If so, why are we not Catholics? If not, how are we Christians, induced to it by the former, which is the very same with this? All that needs then to be attempted, is only to evince the parity; which I shall do, first, by exposing in short to your view those admirable Miracles of Xaverius, which will appear to be the same with those that were wrought by the Prophets, by Christ, by his Apostles; next, by showing that no Objection can be made against them, which may not be of equal force in a Pagan's or a Jew's mouth, in opposition to the Miracles and Prodigies wrought by the Prophets, by Christ, by his Apostles. If I make good these two Points, this Conclusion will unavoidable follow: Whoever is a Christian on the true grounds of Christianity, must also be a Catholic; or if no Catholic, no Christian.  
The Prodigies which God wrought by St. Xaverius were such, that I dare say of them in general, they are the best Instance the Church of God hath had, from the first Apostles time, of the truth of two Promises of Christ; the first, 
* Ecce, ego vobiscum sum usque ad consummationem saeculi.  Mat. 28. Behold, I shall be with you to the consummation of Ages; the second, † John 14. The Works which I do, they shall do; and greater than these they shall do. What greater Miracles can be an evident proof of a Prophet's or an Apostle's Mission, than to command and alter 
† ᵇ Opera quae ego facio ipse faciet & majora horum saciet.  the Elements, to cure all Diseases, to be obeyed by the mutest Fishes and wildest Beasts, to dive into Human Hearts and Thoughts, to break even the Bonds of Death, and restore to Life? Add to these, the Gift of Tongues, and that of Prophecy. All these Graces St. Xaverius possessed in a large measure, and the Miracles he wrought are in their credibility as unquestionable, as those we ground Christianity upon.  
To instance in some few, but wrought in such circumstances as remove all doubt: A great Miracle it was, when after three years' drought the Heavens, at the moment foretold by Elias, gathered into Clouds, these yielded to his first request abundant 
3 Reg. 18.  Rain: But was it a lesser Wonder, or less Illustrious, when St. Xaverius in the Island of Vlata, the King whereof with his 
Bartoli. Afia.  whole People were ready to yield up their Liberty and Life to their Enemy's Chains or Swords, who held them besieged, and by turning the Course of those Waters which relieved their Town, had already almost killed them with drought; when Xaverius, I say, promised those Mahometans and Idolaters a supply of Water from Heaven, and drew it by his first Prayers in such abundance, as forced their Enemies to raise the Siege; by which Miracle he converted, with which Waters he baptised them? Let us reverence the Prophet Elizeus, who turned bitter Waters 
4 Reg. 4.  into sweet, to refresh the Children of the Prophets: but let it not appear less prodigious in Xaverius to relieve several times in a greater distress Seamen and Passengers, changing by his Blessing salt Water into fresh, whilst he broke by his Commands 
Tursell. Vit. Xau.  the most swelling Billows, stilled the most stormy Winds. The Air, Fire, Earth, obeyed his voice as readily as the Water; when in the Island of Mero, the one gathered into Clouds, these were torn with Thunder and Lightning, followed by most terrifying Earthquakes, to strike fear into the more unmovable and deaf hearts of the most savage and barbarous Inhabitants. To cure the Sick was the Power by which our blessed Lord first and chief enabled his Apostles to prove they were sent by God: whoever had it in a fuller proportion than Xaverius! Behold him in the City of Pasim, surrounded by Three Thousand Idolaters all strucken with the Plague; who by his first Blessing (after a fervent Prayer) were all suddenly cured; by his second (after a sufficient Instruction) baptised. Most remarkable was 
4 Reg. 5.  the Cure of the Leprous Syrian General Naaman, who obeying the Orders which the Prophet sent him by his Servant Giezi, washing himself seven times in the Waters of Jordan, was cleansed, and perfectly cured. The hand of God appeared not less evidently at Xaverius' request, when sent for in Japan by an Ulcerous Lazarus of Noble Birth, unwilling to break off his Catechism, he commissioned his Companion to go, and cure him, by forming on him the holy sign of the Cross. But with what 
Bartoli V Xau.  lustre did this unlimited Power appear at Malaca, when after he had walked many nights through the Streets of that equally Rich and Sinful City, warning all, with the ringing of a Bell, and with a loud Voice, to pray for those who most unhappily perserved in Mortal Sin; finding at last he had but few to join in Prayers with him, that he might stir in those insensible Sinners, dull to all the threats of the Justice of God, some sense of his Mercy, he caused all the Sick to be brought forth, and at once healed them all; at the sight whereof a Rabbi, and Prince of the Jewish Synagogue, numerous in that City, was converted. The Fishes of the Sea paid that Obedience they owed to our Blessed Lord, when after the useless endeavours of a toilsome 
Joan. 21. 3.  Night, they fill'd the Nets of the three obedient Fishermen: the same blessed Lord honoured his Servant Xaverius with a more illustrious Miracle, when in the Japan-Sea of Cangaxima, at his Prayer, by his Lord's Power, not only the Nets and Boats of some Idolatrous Fishermen were filled, but that very Sea, by a Miracle continued to this day, was stored with abundance of Fish, having till then been very barren. Did Jesus our God show more patently his Divine Power, than in casting on the ground with two words, Ego sum, I am He, that wicked Band which came to lay Hands on his Sacred Humanity in the Garden of Getzemani? Yet, to verify his own Promise, he wrought a greater wonder by Xaverius, when the Saint, to protect the newly-converted Christians of Travancor, met undauntedly a fierce Army of the most Warlike and Cruel Nation of the Indians, 
Joan. 18. 6.  the Badages, and with these words, I forbidden you in the Name of the Living God to advance one step further; Moreover, I 
T●rsel. V Xau.  order you to go back; first fixed them all by fear, than put them to flight, being on that occasion first styled, the Great Father, and all the Subjects of the great King of Travancor being by Proclamation commanded to pay to this Saint the same Obedience which they owed to their Sovereign. That Power seems to be the most boundless, which is heard even by those who lie so low, 
Proc. Canoniz.  so fast asleep in their Graves, to which even Death itself is not deaf. Never did God more fully communicate this Power, than to Xaverius; five and twenty stood on Record, to whom he restored Life: To an Arabian Mahometan he restored his Son alive the fourth day after he had been drowned, falling from off a Ship on full Sails. In the City of Mutan he copied the Miracle 
Luca 7. 11.  wrought by Christ at Naim, in the sight of the whole Town, which mournfully followed the Corpse of their chiefest Burgess' Son; in Memory whereof a lofty Cross was erected on the place. At Travancor he moved that other Nineve, equally sinful, but more deaf to her Prophet's Summons, to ask what Miracle they pleased for proof of his Mission; then, at their instance, caused a Body buried the day before to be digged up, viewed by them, owned even by its insupportable stench to be half corrupted, and rendered it its Soul. He opened another Grave at Malaca the fourth day after it had received the dead Son of a pious Matron, and restored him alive to his comfortless Mother. What shall I say of that miraculous Gift of Tongues? That it was, which worked the Conversion of the greater part of those three thousand which St. Peter added to the Flock of Christ at his first Sermon. 
Actor. 2. 6.  This Grace appeared most frequently given to Xaverius: In a Sea-Voyage to Amboyna he was at once understood by the Portugezes, and Indians of most different Nations and Languages, which moved all these to ask Baptism: But much more unusual, and no where else that I remember recorded in Sacred History, 
Bartoli in Asia.  was that Gift of his, so admired by the Japonese, especially at Amanguchi, to wit, by one Answer to satisfy six or seven several Questions, moved to him at once by those Bonzies in the heat of Disputation. In that Kingdom it was, that twice a day he catechised the Chinese Merchants in their own Language, he had never been taught one word of, and so became their miraculous Apostle. In fine, the Gift of Prophecy, which was in the greatest Prophets but by measure, seemed wholly to reside in Him: In his familiar Discourses, unobservable to himself, he frequently foretold future Events, which no probable circumstance could suggest a guess of; to Voglio, a charitable Merchant, he foretold the day of his Death, assigning him a clear Signal or Warning that he should have of it; to most lose Livers he foretold not only their future Conversion, but the Religious Order they should enter into, and the Crown of Martyrdom they should at last receive. No Prediction could ever bear a more lasting Miracle, than that by which he assured the Pilot who brought him out of Japan, that his Ship should never suffer Shipwreck, but at last, without any Damage or Loss, should fall to pieces in the very place it had been built: Many Heathens several years after were converted, seeing this Prophecy so miraculously fulfilled, this Ship ever coming safe to the Haven through Tempests which Shipwrecked all others that set to Sail with it, the Pilot never fearing Rocks, Shelves, Quicksands, Hurricanes, or those ever fatal Typhons of the Tapanian Seas, which he owned he should not have dreaded the more, had his Ship been made of Glass, knowing it safe enough under the Protection of so unerring a Prophet. I conclude with a Prodigy that might seem (so unusual it is) almost to exceed Belief, had not Fifteen Eye-witnesses on the one hand, and Six score on the other, attested it; to wit, that for Three days he did at the same time comfort in their Ship those Portuguezes who had so faithfully shared his Dangers in the Kingdoms of Japan, assuring them that certainly they should recover their Friends, whom a dismal Tempest had born away in the Cockboat; and bore those Fifteen others company in their Cockboat, driven above Threescore Miles from the Ship, guiding and preserving it in the midst of the raging Billows and the highest Storms, till it bore up to the Ship again.  
Here I stop, to know whether any one can make any Objection against these few, but clear Instances of a Power Divine ever attending Xaverius, and Confirming his Doctrine, which would not equally strike at the Miracles wrought by our Blessed Lord and his holy Apostles. I shall neither omit nor disguise any one. Let us weigh them, if you please.  
Miracles (says one) are wrought in the dark, are believed on the Credit of few particular Persons, which pretend to have received some unusual Favours, and creep thence into a Legend, by the help of some superstitious Person, whose Weakness or Interest inclines to be willingly deceived, or slily to impose on others. Thus he. But how little can such a Censure reach Miracles, exposed to the view of whole Towns or Nations, wrought in favour of Mahometans, Idolaters, Jews, to oppose their Law, and condemn their Practices, owned by the Public and Sworn Depositions of several hundreds? If these Surmises can blast such Miracles, wrought to persuade a Religion, of which the Witnesses to them disowned each Article; how easily on the like ground shall a Pagan or Jew deny, and even ridicule those which we read in the Holy Gospel.  
But what Security, says another, have we, what Evidence for the matter of Fact, of these Miracles? The same as can be produced for the Miracles of Christ, or for the Bible in which they are couched. If Eye-witnesses, sworn to the truth, of unblemished and unquestionable Credit, be a good Proof; such, and many in number, by the Command of John the Third, King of Portugal, were produced by the Bishop of Goa, Grand Vicar of Malaca, and all the other Prelates spread over the Indies. If Historiographers never are refused a Belief when all agree in the same Narrative, even Enemies, even such whose Interest would lead them to assert the contrary; If standing Monuments, if the fresh Memory of an incident of high concern, uncontrolled, delivered by the general consent of many Nations, be an undoubted and certain Proof; all these jointly attest these Miracles. This (to instance Witnesses which lie not open to the least suspicion, being Enemies of the Ch. of Rome) our English Minister R. Hackluit styles him, The Evangelical Workman, and Divine Master of the Indians, of whose excellent Virtues and 
Praec. Argl. Navig. Vol. 2. P. 2. Collect. Var. Rel. Ling.  miraculous Works the Indian Histories are full. The French Calvinist Tavernier owns him another St. Paul, the true Apostle of the Indians. Baldaeus in his Indian History acknowledges him a true Copy of St. Paul, whose Gift cannot be expressed or conceived, whom in wonderful Works no one is capable to imitate. The very Mahometans, moved by the certain Fame of his unquestionable Miracles, built him a Mosque in the Coast of Comorino; the Heathen King of Travancor built him a Temple, as the Heathens of Lystris in Lycaonia would have sacrificed to St. Paul, whom by his Miracles they would needs judge to have been one of their Gods in Human, 
Actor. 14.  shape; and from his time the Indian Infidels have ever used to swear by him in most weighty matters. If any one, in favour of the Apostles Miracles, urges the Conversion of Nations procured by them; how clear a proof is drawn from thence for St. Xaverius his Miracles? So many Nations have by their evidence been drawn from a Lewd, Libertine, and Barbarous Life, to the Meek and  Humility of Christian Conversation; so that I may confirm his Miracles with that Observation of St. Augustin concerning those which the Apostles are said to have wrought, That if any one would obstinately deny those of St. Xaverius, it were a far greater Miracle that without the working of any he should have converted an infinity of Mahometans, Jews, Gentiles, in places so remote from any Christian Power, where there was none to countenance or protect those he brought over from their Established Religion to the Christian Relief and Practices; so as to baptise with his own hands above twelve hundred thousand Infidels.  
Some one may, perhaps, object, That such Proselytes were all rash and inconstant Barbarians, who suddenly took up a new Faith, and as easily parted again with it, having Entered themselves into a Religion of which they scarce knew more than the Name. Whatever place this Cavil might find in other Conversions, it hath none in these; not one small Village that Xaverius Converted, ever abandoned the Faith so miraculously received, except the only Town of Tolo, which yet soon resumed it, and ever since constantly retained it. Such was the servor of Xaverius' Neophites, that many Slaves he had Christened, 
I● piscariâ Boubours. V X. lib. 6.  especially amongst the Paravais, having recovered their Liberty, chose to forfeit it again by returning to their old Masters, rather than to lose the opportunity of frequenting the Sacraments. Almost all the Inhabitants of the Island Manar, by an illustrious Martyrdom, consigned to Posterity their Zeal for Religion, equal to the most generous Instances of the Primitive Church of Christ, near the whole Nation being destroyed by their Neighbour Heathen Kings, whilst not one would disown his Baptism, the very Mothers producing their Children, and alleging their Baptism as a Title to Martyrdom. In Congoxima, a Kingdom of Japan, he left but a hundred Christians, without the help or comfort such new Converts seemed to stand in need of from some Priest, yet not one fell off from his Faith, tho' pressed to it by a most severe and bloody Persecution raised against them by the Bonzies; their Blood and good Example of truly Christian Virtues, swelled up the number of Converts to Four hundred, and obliged their King by a solemn Embassy, to ask some Priest from the Viceroy of the Indies, who should Confirm so miraculously established a Christianity. Neither were his Converts only inconsiderable, unlearned and stupid People; He Baptised several Crowned Heads, their Families and Courts; He had the comfort to see Princes divested of their States and Personal Wealth, following him with Joy thus naked for Christ into Banishment, and that in Japan, a Country where Superstition was raised to its greatest height.  
What can be objected more against these Miracles, which if allowed, would not equally disprove those which the Apostles wrought? If we give belief to the one, how can we refuse it to the other? If these be of force to make us Christians, why shall not those convince us as unavoidably, that we must be of that Catholic Religion which Xaverius, Legat à Latere of the Bishop of Rome, and Priest of the Society of JESUS, did profess himself a Member of, and Converted so many Kingdoms unto? If any one puts this difference betwixt Xaverius' Miracles, and those of Christ and his Apostles, that these were foreseen by Prophets, whose Writings were preserved in the Hands of the very Enemies of Christ; that most pregnant Proof for Christian Religion, equally supports the Catholic Cause and Xaverius' Miracles; for not only Xaverius' Aunt, a Religious Virgin, of eminent and approved Virtue in the Monastery of S. Clare at Gandia Magd. Jasse, by Letters persuaded the Saint's Father 
In proc. Canon.  not to withdraw him from the University of Paris, as he designed, on the account of the great Expenses he put him unto there, because (writ she) he is a chosen Vessel of God, designed to be the Apostle of a new World; but the very barbarous Indians of Travancor acknowledged him their promised Apostle, according to the ancient Prophecy carved by St. Thomas on a Pillar of Freestone yet standing there, which assured them, that White Men should come from another World to teach them the way to Heaven, and to restore to its lustre decayed Christianity; when the Sea, than Eighty Miles distant, should reach that Pillar, which it did few Years before Xaverius came thither; and Xaverius in particular was foretold by the Proto-Martyr of the Indies, Peter Covillan, at the moment that stuck with Darts he shed by many Wounds his Blood for the Name of Christ, Fifty Years before Xaverius' Arrival into the Indies, Thirteen before his Birth. Now such Prophecies are the most infallible Tests of Miracles and Missions, because they take off all whatever 
Habemus propheticum sermonem certiorem voce delapsa de coelo. 2 Pet. 1.  suspicion of private Ends, which incredulous Men are willing to fasten on actual Miracles, as St. Augustin observes; which made St. Peter own such Prophecies to be more certain than a Voice coming down from Heaven.  
One further Objection some may offer at, to wit, That these Miracles were wrought only in proof of those common and general 
Certiorem dixit non meliorem, non veriorem, etc. Aug. Ser. 115. in Nou.  Articles of Christian Religion, not in debate amongst those who have the Name of Christian, and therefore are no Proof of the Catholic Faith, as to those Points which are not owned by Dissenting Sectaries. I had not believed this could have been objected, had I not met with it even in the studied Writings of those who pretend to Sense, and own, I believe, no small share of it, but employ it unsuccessfully in a bad Cause, against the very most authentic Declarations from God. Can not the Jews have returned the very same Objection to our Blessed Lord and his Apostles Miracles, and said they were brought only to prove the Sanctity of the Law which he owned that he came not 
Non veni legem solvere sed adimplere.  to break or repeal, but to fulfil. Again, If Miracles may thus be wrought in Confirmation of some Points only of a Doctrine, false otherwise in others and erroneous, how happens it, that no one ever, who was not a Catholic, happening to be in those Countries by the occasion of Reformed Plantations, could work a Miracle to persuade those Infidels of the truth of Christian Religion. But to clear this important Point, there is not an Article of Catholic Belief, not a Part of Catholic Practice, which this Saint hath not proved by evident Miracles, to be revealed by, and acceptable to God. To instance in few.  
If Devotion to the blessed Virgin, and the Rosary in particular, be a part of Catholic Belief and Practice; this Saint Confirmed it by an evident Miracle, when at Meliapor giving his Beads to a Merchant then Sailing off, he said to him, 'Twill not be of small use, be but devout to the Virgin Mary: For the Ship splitting on a Rock, this Merchant and some few others reached it; then on a Plank committed themselves again to the merciless Waves, to escape certain Death by Famine: He said his Beads, the only comfort or hope then left him being in that Devotion, and Xaverius' Prediction; when on a sudden, after a short Ecstasy, in which he seemed to Converse with S. Xaverius, he found himself alone on the Shore, without knowing where he lost his Companions, who perished all in the Stormy Waves.  
If Invocation and Litanies of Saints be our Practice, he hath proved both to be acceptable to God; for a little Prayer-Book, containing only the Saints Litanies, being left by him with the Princess of Ekandono, applied by her to her Lord, suddenly recovered him from the Agony and Convulsions of Death, and restored him to perfect Health.  
If we Honour their Relics, 'twas his Reliquary the Saint put usually in his young Neophites Hands, when he sent them to cure the Sick, or to cast the Devils out of possessed Persons, both which they scarce ever failed to perform by applying it.  
Do we value Holy-Water? (on the account of the Holy Church's Blessing, and the Prayers said over it) Armed with it alone he Encountered those Tigers, who in numerous Troops came out of their Forest in the Island Sancian, and ever devoured those Portugueses who ventured out of their Trenches: Casting it at them, he so put them to flight, that they have not since been seen in that Island.  
Do we believe God is Honoured by our Vows, but most singularly by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? It was by vowing a certain number of Masses, that this Saint in a moment conquered the stubborn Heart of a Great Man at Malaca, recalling him from an impious Despair the whole City was equally scandalised and afflicted at, and disposing him to a due Contrition, a firm Confidence in the Sacred Merits, and precious Blood of Christ, a happy Death.  
Are Pilgrimages to Places of particular Devotion in use amongst us, as approved by the pious Practice of all Ages and Christian Nations? This Saint undertook one of Fifty Miles to the Sepulchre of St. Thomas, and God approved his Devotion by a Revelation of his Divine Will, touching what he asked to be directed in.  
The Gift of Prophecy he often made use of, to call upon the Prayers of the Faithful for the Dead at the moment they departed this Life, at a vast distance of Place, as in particular for John Galvan, and at another time for John d'Araos, two Portugueze Merchants.  
If we Honour the glorious Trophy of our Redeemer's Cross, he planted it in almost all the Towns and Highways of the East-Indies, and of several Kingdoms of Japan. Such Miracles were wrought in favour of those who resorted to them, that in their presence they might adore their Crucified Lord, as raised a tender Devotion in all those pious Neophites towards that glorious Standard, the Pledge of Jesus' Victories over Sin and Death; So that the Christians of Amboyno, Besieged in their Castle by the Javares, a Heathenish and Barbarous Nation, unconcerned for themselves, only sought to withdraw from the Savage Fury of their Enemies, that Cross which Xaverius had arbored there, well knowing that Jesus could equally be Honoured or Insulted over in his Cross. They covered it with Cloth of Gold, and hide it under Ground, than opened their Gates to their Enemies; who having sought in vain the Cross, could not prevail with any one, even of the weaker Sex or tenderest Age, to discover where it lay; tho' most of them were maimed, many killed for that Refusal.  
I conclude with an Observation of St. Augustin on Miracles; which he says are wrought either per publicam Justitiam, or per 
Lib. octog. trium Q Q.  signa publicae Justitiae; that is, by a Virtue which God publishes to the World, or by the Signs, Sacraments, Practices of Piety and Virtue. That is, whenever a Miracle is wrought, 'tis certain, either that the Person, or that which he uses or would persuade to, is very Holy, and that God declares it so. Take whether you please: Do these Miracles wrought by Xaverius prove him a Saint, a Servant of God, who had intimate Communications with his Lord, was highly favoured by him? If so, can any one be persuaded, that so holy a Man used not his sincerest Endeavours to attain the Knowledge of the true Faith and Religion, or that God, who so extraordinarily favoured him, refused to reveal unto him so important a Truth? Can we conceive a Man of a Sanctity so approved by Almighty God, to have been an Idolater, a Man of an unsound Faith? Superstitious, Ignorant, Deluded? If you had rather conclude the Means he used in the working of these Prodigies, were holy, and that God declared them such, it follows, That all Catholic Devotions and Practices, and those Points of Belief from which they naturally flow, in which all Sectaries descent from us, are very holy, and confirmed by the Divine Authority of Miracles.  
I must confess, I cannot conceive what a Thinking Man can yet object to these Miracles wrought by Xaverius, whereby he may lessen the Obligation laid on him to betake himself to the Bosom of that Catholic Church, to the Sincerity of whose Doctrine only, to the Piety of whose Practices God gives so miraculous an Approbation as all these Prodigies make up!  
Can it be objected by any particular Man, that he himself hath seen no one of like Miracles? This would be as plausible a Plea for an Atheist against the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles. Herod himself, if this be received, is not guilty for mocking 
Erat cupiens signum Videre.  our Blessed Lord; he never saw him work a Miracle, tho' he much desired and sought it from Christ himself. 'Tis the same Impiety to require a fresh Miracle for the truth of Catholic Belief, after these so publicly wrought by Xaverius, as to exact the like in proof of Christ's Divinity, after those which he and his Apostles wrought. And considering the Conversions in the greatest part of the new World, effected by Xaverius' Miracles, I cannot but say to such an one in St. Augustin's words, 
* Accepimus Majores nostros visibilia miracula secutos esse, per quos id actum est ut necessaria non essent posteris.— Nec jam nobis esse dubium debet iis esse credendum qui cum ea praedicarent quae pauci assequuntur, se tamen sequendos populis persuadere potuerunt. Aug. de ver. Relig. cap. 25. Quisquis etiam num quaerit prodigium, magnum est ipse prodigium, qui mundo credente non credit. De Civit. Dei, l. 22. c. 8.  We are taught that our Ancestors followed visible Miracles, after which none others are necessary to guide us: We cannot doubt but that we ought to believe those Apostles, who Preaching such things as few can conceive or reach, yet persuaded whole Nations to follow them: For, what Doctrine it was Xaverius confirmed by his Miracles, is a known thing, and out of debate. Whoever after such, requires yet a Miracle, is to me himself a great Prodigy, who refuses to believe, what a World doth not doubt of.  
I know some will object, That should an Angel come from Heaven to teach them otherwise than the Gospel doth, we ought even not to return him any other Answer than Anathema; That Miracles are then only to be considered and valued, when the Doctrine in favour whereof they are wrought, is known to be true and sound. This had been an excellent Plea for the Scribes and Pharisees against Christ. The Jews had a positive Command to believe no Worker of Miracles, (Deut. 13.) that should teach them a Doctrine contrary to what they had received from Moses; they were bid, in Doubts of that nature, to have their recourse to the Highpriest, and they forfeited their Life who refused to obey him. The Scribes, Pharisees, Priests judging of the Miracles of Christ by his Doctrine, condemned both, as when he Cured upon the Sabbath-day, and reproached him as a Magician, for casting out Devils in the Power of Beelzebub. Did Christ alter his Method? Did he prove the reality of his Miracles by the soundness of his Doctrine? No; but charged the Jews with the Sin of Incredulity, (Joan. 15.) chief for not submitting themselves to him, for not embracing his Doctrine on the account of his Miracles. Doth this Method of Christ contradict the Law of God? Not at all; for Christ opposed neither Moses nor his Law, but was foretold by the one, accomplished the other. The Jews gave a false Sense and Interpretation to Moses, and the other Patriarches and Prophets Predictions, they pretended Christ mis-expounded them; this was the Debate, in which the Jews were obliged in Conscience to own Christ, to take from him the true Sense of the Prophecies, convinced by his Miracles that God sent and Commissioned him to Teach. So in our Circumstances, should any Person own (as Antichrist will) that he opposes himself to Christ, or a new Doctrine to his established one; 'tis clear, that no seeming Miracle could in reason move us to follow such a Person, the Predictions and Miracles of Christ would fence us against all the deceitful Temptations such a Person could offer. But when the Question is, What Doctrine Christ did teach, (to the decision of which Question no Miracles wrought heretofore by Christ can be of any use) when evident Miracles are wrought by those who are in a possession of the Doctrine delivered by Christ and his Apostles, such Miracles as Christ himself promised they should be impowered to work, who should believe as he had taught, to plead against these, that the opposite Doctrine is true, therefore those Miracles are of no force; and that Miracles are of no use, but when the Doctrine they are brought to uphold is owned and followed: This Answer hath less (if possible) of common Sense, than he who should maintain, That an excellent Antidote is of no use, but 
Regula Credend. per J. K.  for such as have not taken any Poison, as are out of all danger of any Infection: Less than that Criminal, who having heard clear, positive and unquestionable Evidences brought in against himself, should confidently say in his own defence, That he cannot indeed on any score reject or disprove the Witnesses, yet that the Judges cannot but see that they are not to be heard or minded, because he is innocent, and no Witnesses ought to be regarded, who depose against an innocent Person.  
Thus I have showed how insignificant all the Objections are, which may be offered against the undoubted Authority of S. Xaverius' Miracles: One Scruple I will yet remove, which I have known raised in some; 'tis this. If the Authority of these Miracles be so weighty, how come so many Learned Churchmen of our Persuasion not to yield to it? I could be willing to pass by that Quaere without an Answer, which must reflect somewhat severely on many; but I must not forget my meek Saviour's sharp and severe Replies to those Scribes and Pharisees, whose Credit with the People, and Infidelity, put an equal stop to the Conversion of the Jews. How many Scribes, Pharisees, or Jewish Priests do we read of, Converted by Christ? Scarce a Gamaliel, a Nicodemus, and those also Concealed Disciples, Night-Friends: the immediate Voice of Christ, his Hand, and a heavy one, were necessary to Convert a Saul. Xaverius affords a plain Instance in the Case; amongst the Twelve hundred thousand which he Instructed and Baptised, how many brahmin's, Bonzies, and such blind Guides, that Led others into Errors, were reckoned? But one only, or two. Then sure to teach Errors is that Sin against the Holy Ghost, which is so seldom pardoned, as to be said 
Matt. 12, 32.  never to be. Why then, thick is that Cloud which People ever raise before their Eyes who impugn Truth; and Error defended once with Heat, is commonly maintained with an incorrigible Stubbornness: No Miracle can equal such People's stubborn Insensibility, and alter them. It was such Scribes and Pharisees which Christ styled an Evil and Adulterous Generation, to whom a 
Matt. 12. 39 Generatio prava & adultera signum, petit & signum non dabitur ei.  Miracle should not be given. Many, 'tis true, were wrought in their Presence, but of which not any one was given them, that is, no such interior plentiful Grace was allowed them, as would so far move their stubborn Souls, as to submit to Truth made out by such Prodigies. Besides, two other main Let's stop such People in the pursuit of Truth; which appeared in the following Passage. Xaverius had convinced Two hundred brahmin's of the Errors of their Law, and the Sanctity of the Christian, they had owned both, all of them in one Assembly; The Saint hoped this Effect of God's Grace would prove a mighty inviting Example; But he no sooner pressed these Men to own the Favour God had done them, and demand Baptism, than he discovered his Error. Their general Answer was, And what will the World 
Bouhours l. 2. fol. 156.  think of us, who have so long plausibly taught so opposite a Religion? And next, who will maintain our Wives and Children? Alas! these are still the two unconquerable Difficulties of many at this day; that are like to those Disciples of the Learned Plato, who (as St Augustin observes) Probe sciebant, knew well that their whole Religious Frame was the Work of Man, occasioned by, and followed on Human Designs: But a long and public Custom had nursed them in it; it was established by Law, and could not easily be 
Ex Consuetudine tamen publicâ quae quoniam Legibus erat confirmata convelli non poterat & ne populos offenderent, etc. Aug. de Civit. Dei, l. 8. c. 8. & 12.  taken to pieces; in fine, not to offend the Crowd, they still sacrificed to those Idols which had no being but by the mere invention of men, by a Lay-Scripture of National Laws. And can such men's Examples be of any force with conscientious men, or prove a  to their Conversion? But so much the more are to be admired the Riches of the Goodness of God, and the force of his conquering Graces, whilst we see daily amongst us those in no small number, who discerning at last the true Religion through the mist of those false Aspersions and disfiguring Misrepresentations under which it had ever been concealed from them, remove all those strong Prejudices instilled with their first Education, deeper sunk in by a studious Application, slight the bitter Invectives and severer Raileries of those whose Errors they relinquish, abandon plentiful Live, overlook all their ancient Interest, the Esteem of their Friends, the Kindness of their Relations, the Favours of their greatest Supports, follow with Fidelity through Infamy and good Fame God's gracious Call, rejoicing with the two Apostles, that they are judged worthy to suffer such disgraces for his Holy Name. ONE such Example ought to counterpoise a thousand, whom Human Interest, a darling Credit, the Spirit of Opposition and Pride, have wedded unchangeably to their Error.  
Whoever, having well weighed the Authority of these Miracles of St. Xaverius as here discussed, will yet refuse to receive the Word of God from this his Apostle, whose Mission is by them so unquestionably proved; and will still reject the Catholic Faith which he offers, because he pretends obscurity and difficulty in some of her Mysteries: With whom can I rank such, but with those Jews who feigned to seek with Zeal and Concern the true Faith, saying to Christ, How long will you afflict our Soul with suspense by these obscure uncertainties? If you are the Christ, 
Quousque animam nostram tollis? si tu es Christus dic nobis palam— Loquor vobis & non creditis— Opera quae ego facio in nomine Patris mei, haec testimonia perhibent de me, Joan. 20.  say so plainly to us. What answered our blessed Lord to these Hypocrites? I speak clearly and distinctly enough, yet you believe not. But where, O Lord, where do you in plain and express words tell them you are their expected Messiah, and the Son of God? The Miracles I work in the Name of my Father (by my Servants) are a sufficient witness to me, (to the Truth which I teach by them.) 'Tis in vain to seek for a clearer; we have none for the general Articles of Christianity. I conclude then, that all who act reasonably in the choice of their Religion, and own those grounds to be the surest which our blessed Lord proposed as such, and will not bottom their Salvation on any other, must declare themselves necessarily Catholics, or no Christians.  
Pauperes Evangelizantur; the Poor have the Gospel preached to them. St. Hierom observes, That Poverty in Effect, and in Spirit, is the twofold Character of a true Apostle, and the most unquestionable proof of Divine Wisdom and Power in him, who thus qualifies those he singles out to preach his Doctrine, and blesses their endeavours with a success which could not possibly attend their condition, so seemingly despicable, if a Divine Power supplied not their want of all those Materials which Human Wisdom would judge absolutely necessary for so great a Work. It follows, that the most surprising of those Miracles which accompanied the Apostles Preaching, was the Conversion of so great a part of the World from Errors and Vices: From Errors, sucked in with the first Milk, established by Laws, confirmed by Custom, strengthened by Superstition, proportioned to the short sight of Human Sense and Misapprehensions, fitted to the universal Corruption of Manners, sympathising with the most general and violent Inclinations, fostering the most pleasing Sins. From Vices, authorised by Example, heightened by Evil Habits, followed with Passion, changed into a second Nature. And this by Men who were to teach a Doctrine that soars above the reach of Reason, that contradicts our Senses, that requires a contempt of what vicious Nature most covets, a free choice of what she most dreads, or repines at; and offers on all hands a severe Check to that lose Liberty all men are naturally so fond of: By Men who promised not in this Life any of those so-valued Advantages of Fortune, but rather threatened with Crosses, Afflictions, Losses, Miseries, Separation from Kindred, Relations, Friends; Contempt, Persecution, Banishments, Chains, and those other severe Trials which the Gospel proposes as a necessary Test of the sincerity of those who undertake to serve God: By Men, in fine, not countenanced by Great Ones to whose Ends they served not, not supported by the Interest of Friends, not considerable by their private Fortunes, not upheld by any siding Faction; but Poor, Abject, unknown to all, Single, Proclaimers of harsh Truths, and appearing at first under the odious Character of Unknown Strangers, superciliously condemning the ancient Laws, Customs, Devotion, Faith, Religion of the Land. This, O this is the great Miracle, not exposed to the least Jealousy of Forgery, to any suspicion of Deceit. All these Circumstances attended Xaverius' Mission: He was sent to convert a newly-discovered World; the which savage Cruelty, blind Superstition, and all the odious Vices which Human Souls and Bodies are capable of, held enslaved. With reason did Paul the Third, sending St. Xaverius to the Indies, mind him that God (whenever he employs any one in a Work that surpasses Human Forces) supplies him with a strength capable to effect whatever is impossible to Nature; with reason he warned him that he was sent to tread on the footsteps of the first Apostle of the Indies, St. Thomas. What Preparatives, think you, are made for so vast a Conquest? He hath one Evenings warning allowed him to put himself in readiness, and his whole Equipage is his Breviary. Truly, O Lord, these strange Methods of yours 
Abscondisti haec à sapientibus & prudentibus, & revelasti ea parvulis, Mat. 11. Contemptibilia primo elegit Deus ut confunderet eos qui apud homines magni habentur, 1 Cor. 7.  are hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed to little ones; thus still you choose those first who are contemptible, to confound those whom the world esteems great. This Man, whose Employ is to destroy Idolatry in one half of the World, to root out Vices, to alter the Laws and Customs of Nations, to oppose himself to all the Corruptions of Nature and bad Habits, to change the Belief and Practices of Courts and People; observe him well in his first or last Missions, and promise, if you can, any success to his Undertake. After that for some time he bestowed his Labours on the Reformation of the Christians at Goa, his first Mission is to Comorino, 600 miles distant; thence he passes to the great Kingdom of Travancor; Piscaria is his next station; whence he brings the Light of the Gospel to the Molucan Islands, and thence to those of Moro. Some of these Nations were so barbarous, that they either furiously shot with Arrows, or treacherously poisoned, such Strangers as unhappily entered their Country; and fed on the Bodies of their nearest Relations: Others, parched by a scalding Sun, so barren as scarce to yield a small part of the Necessaries for Life: All, wholly Idolatrous, or acquainted with the sole Name of Christianity, abandoned to the foulest Vices, barbarously Savage, or most stupidly Dull. These Xaverius attempts to conquer; alone, without the help often of an Interpreter, or any knowledge of their Language; able only (without a Miracle) to yield some mute Services to their Sick; without any Provision to relieve him in most pressing wants; without any Human Help or Comfort; wand'ring through Deserts; crossing Valleys swelled with floods; breaking his way through thick Woods, without any other Guide besides God's Providence; in Hunger and Thirst, in Sweat and Labours, in Dangers from savage Beasts and fiercer Men. If he projects the Conversion of Japan, what Difficulties doth not offer a Voyage of many thousand miles, by Seas beset with Pirates, exposed to merciless Whirlwinds, full of unknown Quicksands and Rocks; no Christian Power even known or heard of there, to support him, or protect those whom he shall convert. When Landed, if he goes towards the Royal City Meaco, I invite you to view this Great Champion, fitted for his Mighty Achievements: Behold a poor despicable Man, bareheaded and barefoot, in ragged , and that in a Country where Poverty is held such a Disgrace, and so heavy a Curse of Heaven, that they believe the Poor out of a possibility of being Happy even in the next Life; with one Companion and an Interpreter, himself knowing but few Words of their Language; carrying on his Back a Pack of Church-stuff; and for his whole Provision a little Rice dried by the fire. Thus he continues two months' Journey through Mountains of Snow, such that even in Towns no House hath there any Communication with another, but by covered Galleries; endeavouring in every little Town to preach the Gospel, beaten and kicked out of each, dragged by the feet out of two, to be stoned to Death, if a sudden miraculous Storm had not rescued him, putting his Enemies to flight. Behold, being lost in a Wood, he accepts to carry the Portmanteau of a Japonian Gentleman, only to have him for Guide, and follows him well mounted a whole day, sweeting under his double Burden, till in the Evening he is found by his Companion and Interpreter fainting under it, half dead, his Feet and Legs wounded all over with Brambles and Thorns, and covered with gore Blood. Is not this a sad Original of a poor contemptible Wretch? Can any thing be possibly performed by so slighted a Creature, in such hard Circumstances? Humanly speaking, Nothing. Yet this Man converts a considerable Part of different Kingdoms, subdues Kings and whole Courts, hath whole Towns following him into the open Fields to hear him Preach from a Tree; is offered Divine Honours by the chiefest Bonzies of those Kingdoms; even, if he will accept them, Churches, Altars, and Sacrifices; this man converts the lasting Errors of many Ages, breaks inveterate Customs, destroys (there, and in other Kingdoms) 40000 Idols worshipped in that degree of violent Superstition, that those blind Infidels offered to many Human Blood, and sacrificed their very Children; subdues Hearts, Barbarous, Inhuman, Lewdly lose, and prodigiously Profane, to Meekness, Humility, Chastity, Devotion; so that Isay's Prophetical Promises made to the Catholic Church, were then perfectly accomplished: The Children of Aliens shall build up thy Walls, and their Kings shall serve thee: Thou shalt suck the 
Aedificabunt silii peregrinorum murostuos, & Reges eorum ministrabunt tibi, Is. 60. Suges lac gentium, & mamilla Regum lactaberis, Isa. 49.  Milk of Nations, and the Breasts of Kings shall nurse thee. And after such an Apostolical Conversion of Nations to Christianity, can any one wish for a more unquestionable, a more convincing Proof of the True Faith, and Admirable Virtues of Xaverius?  
But observe now with me, How highly he values that strange disproportion of his Condition and his Employ! what a Poverty and Abjection, what Sufferings he courts! the most certain Mark of a true Apostle. 'Tis the first evident Proof which St. Paul gave of his Mission, a complete Patience; that is, which loves the Burden that it bears. One night Xaverius sleeping in 
In omni patientià, 2 cor. 12.  the same Chamber with Father Simon Rodriguez (who first deserved 
●mplius, Domine, amplius.  in Portugal the Name of Apostle, and bequeathed it to his whole Order) was observed by him with a most pressing eagerness to cry out often, More! Oh more, Lord! Tho' often importuned, he would never open to Father Rodriguez the occasion and meaning of those words; till taking his last leave of him at his Embarquing for the Indies, he owned that God had then offered him a large view of vast Seas swelled with Billows, torn with Tempests, covered with Shipwrecks; of deserted Islands, of barbarous Wildernesses, and every where Want, Poverty, Hunger, Thirst, Wearisomeness, Dangers, Persecutions, Sweat, and Toil; thus discovering to him what he was to suffer for his holy Name. Behold a double Picture of Xaverius; a double Prospect, the one of his Life, the other of his Mind; that full of Sufferings, Wants, Miseries; this of a high value for so holy tho' so heavy a Cross. What was the whole Treasure of this Legate à Latere of the Pope, sent to a whole New World? An old patched Cassock, a Mat to lie on, a little Box of Writings and Catechisms, a Crucifix, a Breviary, a Hair-shirt, Iron-pointed Chains, and Disciplines. Behold the whole Inventory!  
From the beginning he courted Want and Misery. His first perpetual Vow made at Venice, in the hands of His Holiness' Nuncio Veralli, was of Poverty. Next, to prepare himself to his first Mass, he withdrew to Monselire near Milan, for forty days, where he took up in a forlorn Hovel, deserving well the Name he gave it of his Bethlehem, where exposed to all the injuries of the Air, he lay on the cold ground, begging the little Bread he eat. His following station was at Bolonia, where tho' he laboured incessantly the whole Day, and prayed the best part of the Night, yet he refused the pressing Charity of those who offered him their Table, and accepted only what Bread he begged from door to door. The Count of Castagnera enquiring of him in the King's Name what he likely would want in his long Voyage to the Indies, urging him to use freely his Master's Royal Bounty, had this answer from him, My Lord, he wants nothing who stands in need of nothing; I own much to His Majesty's gracious care for me, but much more to my God's Providence; you will not dissuade me from relying on it, and on it only, till it abandons me. On Shipboard he refused the Viceroy's Table, and lived of what he begged in the Sip, where he cooked the poor Soldiers and Passengers Meat, washed their Linen, served day and night the Sick, laying them in the Chamber and on the Bed assigned for him, sleeping himself ever on the Cables. When from Goa he begun his first Mission of 600 miles, all the Viceroy could oblige him to accept of towards it, was one pair of Shoes to keep off the excessive heats of burning Sands.  
I know some, less acquainted with the secrets of God, will ask, what need there was of ambitioning so naked a Poverty? Why there should be so much Virtue, where there appears so little Discretion? Why Human helps should be cast away, as if it were not enough to obey that Scripture, If you abound with 
Divitiae si asfluant, nolite cor apponere, Psal. 61. 11.  Riches, fasten not your heart to them? Such men have forgot our Blessed Lord's Instructions given to his Apostles, when he first sent them to preach. They are, I fear, as little disposed to seek true Perfection, as the young man in Matthew 19 1. who counselled by Christ to sell all, give it to the poor, and follow him; not able now to pretend Ignorance, steptback, and dejected at the very thought of abandoning all, withdrew from Christ. I know that is a harsh word to those that live at ease, and would willingly compound with God for some part, when he advises the giving up of the whole. And since it was a principal part of the Godly Reformation by suppressing all Religious Houses, to abolish the very Memory of Voluntary Poverty, no wonder if the Teachers in a Congregation grounded on Principles so opposite to the Counsels of Christ, cannot produce One in their numerous Multitude who would ever serve God gratis, and professedly follow this, or any other Evangelical Counsel. No; God would not permit that so holy an Imitation of Jesus should make a part of their Sheeps-clothing. But sure those who discover not in this twofold Poverty a Divine Virtue, have forgot the Condition those Men of God lived in even under the Old Law, of which the World was not worthy; they forget in the New the Poverty 
Circuierunt in melotis in pellibus caprinis, egentes angustiati, etc. Heb. 11. 37.  of Jesus from Bethlehem to Calvary; from the poor Hovel he was laid in the Manger of: to the borrowed Sepulchre he was laid in; they forget that the Happy in the first Rank amongst Jesus' Disciples are the Poor of Spirit, who by this Virtue have a just Claim to Heaven; they forget the Apostles first, left not only Unlawful Gains, and the Publicans Counter, but also both their Boat and their Net, that is, the enjoyment of present Possessions, and the hopes or desires of future Purchases; and then were imitiated by all the faithful Believers, who laid at the Apostles feet without any reserve, (the sin of Ananias and Saphira) after so holy a Profession, the value of all they had. These, these our Apostle did imitate, not without an infinity of Christian Motives. He believed Christ teaching him that Riches and Wealth are Thorns, and it would have been impossible to have overrun all the East as he did, in a way strewed with Thorns. His Life was short, only ten years being allotted him to preach the Gospel to above twenty Kingdoms or Nations; he was then following the Apostle's Advice, to redeem time because the days are 
Ephes. 5. Etiam cum detrimento corporalium commodorum ad quaerenda & capescenda bonaaeterna, spatia temporis comparare, Hom. 1, & 10. Ex. 50, Ipsi mundo omnes divitiae, omnes dignitates, & universarum cupiditatum materiae refundantur, & sancto beatoque commercio ematur Christiana Libertas fiantque Filii Dei de paupertate divites, etc. Ep. ad Demet. A●ctius terrena constringunt adepta quam concupita,— Illa velut extranea repudiantur; ista velut membra possidentur, Ep. 34. ad Pauli●.  evil; that is, saith St. Augustin, to withdraw the least part of it from the anxious cares of acquiring, increasing, preserving Earthly Goods, that all may be bestowed on the seeking and attaining Eternal Bliss. He was to break the Chains of others; and consequently, first to secure to himself a full Liberty; following that advice of St. Prosper, Let the Children of God return to the World its Riches and Dignities, the food of all our sensual desires, and by a holy and blessed Traffic buy Christian Liberty rich in their Poverty, and the contempt of transitory things; which, as St. Augustin observes, 'tis easier to slight when dispossessed of them, than not to love whilst we enjoy them: Those we easily reject, as not belonging to us; these we hug, as our own members and parts of us. For these reasons Xaverius, by the help of God's Grace, most Poor in Effect, Poorer in Spirit, measured several times the whole Extent of the Indies, content in his Sufferings, happy in his Wants, till in the Island of Sanciano he died, as he had lived, as poor, as abandoned as an Apostle, in an open Cottage, on a poor Mat, destitute of all Human Help or Comfort, having nothing of the Earth to leave but his Body, the readier to take possession of that Kingdom of Heaven to which he had so good a Title of Evangelical and Apostolical Poverty.  
Beatus qui non fuerit scandalizatus in me. Thrice happy is he to whom the Poverty, the Abjection, the Cross of Christ is not a Scandal that frights from his Service, who dares seek in them the Gifts of God; in what an unmeasurable proportion doth he receive them! Witness Xaverius, who might have wrote from almost each part of the Indies what he writ from the most miserable Coast of Piscaria, where Nature seemed to have forgot to provide for the Necessities of the Inhabitants. If there be true Joy possessed on Earth, 'tis that which they experience who labour here; I hear one say sometime, O Lord, moderate your Favours here below, or take me to yourself; 'tis too severe a Punishment thus to love, and to live thus far from you. These Joys his Heart then swelled with, when he single and alone, had all the Sick of that Coast to Tend, all the Afflicted to Comfort, the Ignorant to Instruct, the Sacraments to Administer to all; so that he seldom could allow himself three Hours to rest. These interior Joys ever attended him at the holy Altar, and when he was at his Meditations, often forced him to rip open the  that covered his Breast, and by the application of cold Water to moderate those Divine Flames that consumed his Breast, ever sighing out amorously, Enough, O Lord, this is more than frail Nature can support. Even when all the Powers of his Soul were oppressed with Sleep, that habitual Flame raised such pious Dreams, as forced from him devout Expressions of his tender Love for God; when awake, his Soul was so entirely possessed with that Love, that Rays of Glory frequently environed his Face, bright Glimmerings of that pure Flame within; which drew so violently his Soul towards Heaven, as to heave frequently his Body from the Earth, especially at that admirable Sacrifice of Love, the Holy Mass. No wonder he should pass the whole Night, when on Land, at the Foot of Altars in Churches, or in some Grove, where he could give a larger scope to his warm Affections. No wonder, when at Sea, he ever should be absorbed in Contemplation from Midnight to Sunrising; during which time the Seamen never seared a Storm; That besides the two Hours of fixed Meditation which he stole from his daily Apostolical Labours, even in these his Mind should be so lodged where his Love ever dwelled; that his God never was entirely eclipsed from his sight. If then Virtue, according to St. Augustin's Definition, be nothing else but well ordered Love; 
Definitio brevis & vera virtutis est ordo amoris. De Civit. l. 15. c, 22. Ille dilectionis nobis ordo servandus est, Deum principaliter diligamus, & propter ipsum & in ipso ea quae diligenda sunt quantum ipse praecipit diligamus. l. 3. 10. V cont. Apocal. 3. 18.  how great was this Saints Virtue, that put so great a distance in his Love betwixt God and all things else, that they all vanished frequently from his Thoughts, whilst God only ever reigned in his Heart? If the Second Duty of Charity be to love all things else for God's sake, in view only of the Report which they have to him, and in the Measure he requires, as St. Prosper observes; how perfect was the Love of Xaverius for God, when for his sake he embraced so tenderly what Nature so much loathes, so much abhors? As Toils, Want, Disgraces, Dangers, Pains, Death; and even hated all what Sense is charmed with, or what natural Inclinations most affect, whenever it failed that they opposed the increase of his Charity. This, this is the surest Test, the infallible Proof of a Divine and truly Apostolical Mission, that richest of God's Gifts, that Flaming Gold so prized in the Revelations, the Love of God.  
The Second unquestionable Mark by which, if we may believe our Blessed Lord, his true Disciples are to be discerned, is their tender Love for their Neighbour, a passionate Zeal for 
In hoc cognoscent omnes quod discipulimei istis si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem. Joan. 13.  his Salvation. In this Virtue Xaverius perfectly Copied the great Apostle of the Gentiles. His Voyages over most dangerous Seas, and his Journeys ever afoot by Land, in the pursuit of such Sinners as wandered from God, led him so far in Ten Years time, that he might with a far flower Motion have gone often round the Globe of the Earth: Yet in the Transports of his Zeal he designed (as his Letters witness) not only to Preach the Gospel to the vast Empire of China and Tartary, but after he had subdued those to the sweet Yoke of Christ, to return thence by the North into Europe, that he might retrieve those Lost, recover those Separated Heretics, and gather them again within the Pales of that One Sheepfold of the Catholic Church, where they should hear again with due Submission the Voice of their own only Shepherd. Nothing could fright his Zeal, not the three Shipwrecks he had suffered, not the Danger he had run, like another St. Paul, for three Days and Nights exposed on a narrow Plank to the mercy of the most boisterous Waves, and loudest Storms. He often dreamed before he was designed for the Conversion of the new World, that he carried an Indian on his Shoulders; he groaned under that Burden. 'Twas not One, but a Million of them he bore after in his Heart, weeping often most bitterly when he reflected on the almost inevitable danger of Eternal Misery they unhappily were exposed unto. He highly valued the Conversion of any one single Soul, rightly apprehending its worth, Redeemed with the most precious Blood of his Saviour, and capable to love and possess God for all Eternity. Hence he suddenly engaged himself in a long Sea-Voyage, only to use that Opportunity of winning to a true Repentance One single lose Liver who was on Shipboard. To retrieve three Soldiers from their wicked Life, he consigned himself for a whole Lent to their most uneasy Company Day and Night. He sent word to the only two impenitent Sinners he had left at Ternate, that whenever they should let him know that they had a thought of Repenting, and altering their lewd Life, he should instantly repair to them from the utmost Extremity of the East, to favour their pious Disposition, and direct them in so happy a Design. He seemed comfortless, when he observed that some Merchants, led by Covetousness, had discovered Countries, to which his Zeal for the Instruction of the Ignorant and Conversion of Sinners, had not yet brought him. As long as he found Children to Catechise, Europeans to Preach unto, Indians to Instruct, unmindful of himself, he joined Nights unto Days in those Apostolical Functions, without allowing his wearied Body and decayed Spirits the least refreshment of Food or Rest: Then, and then only, he conceived himself, with the blessed Martyr Ignatius, 
Nunc incipio esse discipulus Christi. S. Ig. Epist. ad Rom.  to begin to be a Disciple of Christ, a Member of the Society of JESUS.  
All other Virtues ever wait on their Queen, Charity. They were in Xaverius in as large a measure: His Humility was so unfeigned and great, that he never blamed the Stubbornness, Blindness, or other ill Dispositions of those Souls, in whose Conversions his Endeavours were frustrated, or who opposed the progress of the Gospel, but sincerely persuaded that his Sins put the whole obstruction to God's Graces, condemned himself to severe Penances for their Expiation. Tho' the Character of Legat à Latere from his Holiness, seemed to add such a Lustre to his Mission, and on several occasions could favour his Apostolical Attempts, yet his Humility never permitted him to publish it, or to use the Power it conferred, save once not long before his Death; when he conceived that nothing else could open him an Entrance into the Empire of China, which the Avarice and Envy of Alvares, Governor of Malaca, had shut up.  
His Obedience was so ready, so punctual, so nicely exact, that he consulted his Superior and Father, St. Ignatius, on every occasion, even at that vast distance, and never swerved from his precise Orders; acknowledging that the least Letter of the Alphabet, the least i, which in Latin signifies Go, dropped from Ignatius' Pen, should move him to abandon, without the least reluctancy, his greatest Enterprises for the Glory of God; tho' at the same instant the largest prospect of certain Hopes, the fairest appearance of Success, should Court his Stay; yet that small Letter should lead him with Joy to any part even of the unhabitable World.  
His Chastity was so Entire, that his Confessors judged him to have preserved that tender Virginity unsullied, without the least Blemish. So well guarded, that when the Enemy not daring to assail him awake, attempted by immodest Dreams to disturb the innocent Repose of his Soul, the violent motion of his Body in rejecting from him those Phantômes of tempting Objects, and the more eager reluctancy of his Soul, made him bleed.  
To omit the Particulars of his other Virtues, I shall conclude with the Maxim and Practice which gave them their first birth, favoured their growth, and preserved them in their full lustre. This great Principle of a Christian Life he had learned from St. Ignatius at his first Conversion, it had from that moment been deeply engrave in his Memory, and the sense of it in his Heart: 
a Tantum proficies, quantum tibi ipsi vim intuleris.  Your Self-denials, your Mortifications, the violence you use in curbing your own Inclinations, are the measure of your advancement in God's Service. He knew that Sacrifices have ever been the chiefest part of Divine Worship, and that no Victims are so acceptable as a mortified, 
b Cor contritum & humiliatum Deus non despicies. Psal. 18.  a contrite and humble Heart. He had learned from our Blessed Lord, how the Kingdom of God, that especially of his particular Graces and Favours possessing and guiding our Hearts, said therefore by Christ to be 
c Regnum Dei intra nos est.  within us, 
d Regnum Dei vim patitur & violenti rapiunt illud.  suffers violence, and those only attain to it, who use such force; that who loves his Soul will lose it, and who hates his Soul seemingly, by a severe and hard usage, will preserve it to Eternal Life; and esteemed those happy, with S. Augustin, 
e Si male amantris tunc odisti, si bene oderis, tunc amasti; felices qui custodiunt odiendo perdant amanda. Aug. Tract. 51. in Joan.  who support by that holy hatred, what by an indulging love they had destroyed; he knew that such Mortifications serve to stop those violent Inclinations which bear away our Souls from all attention to our Spiritual and Eternal Concerns, riveting them, as it were, in Temporal and Sensual ones; that such Affections being by those exterior checks driven back into our Hearts, increase mightily the strength of a Soul moving with united Forces towards God. Therefore in imitation of God's holy Servants, with a S. Paul 
f Perimat & amittar usum ejus scilicet perversum quo inclinatur temporalibus ut aeterna non quaerat. De Doct. Chr. l. 3. c. 16.  he chastized his Body with frequent bloody Disciplines; with St. Benedict, he tore his Flesh with Brambles and Thorny Rods, 
g Per cutis vulnera eduxit à corpore vulnus mentis quia voluptatem traxit in dolorem. G. G. l. Dial. c. 2.  by those wounds of his Body applying a Salve to those of his Mind, and driving away dangerous Pleasures by Pains. With holy Judith and virtuous Anna, he covered himself with a rude Hair Shirt, and passed his Life in long continued Watching and Praying; with Gregory Nazianzen, he lay on the bare Ground, or Cables, or when most at ease, on a Matt. 'Twas by the same Principle he acted, when aplying his Mouth to the purulent Ulcers of the Sick he attended, he sucked the filthy Matter out of them. Led away by the same, he refused passing near the Castle of Xavier, to see his loving Mother before he begun his Mission to a new World. And our Blessed Lord confirmed by a continued Miracle, how acceptable the Sufferings and Toils of Xaverius were; for a large Crucifix to be yet seen in the said Castle, the Side, Arms and Feet, remaining yet covered with a Crust of Blood, did from those Wounds yield abundance of it, whenever Xaverius was in imminent Dangers, or extraordinary Toils in the Indies. That Year the Saint died it issued every Friday, to that which fell on the Second of December An. 1552. the Forty sixth of his, the last Day of his Life on Earth, and the first of his, Happiness in Heaven.  
But if Xaverius during the Course of his Missions, to the end of that of his Life, was ever attended by those singular Graces from Heaven, which authorised so many different Nations to give him the Title of Apostle; God by a singular Providence equally glorifying himself in this Saint after his Death, hath added such an unquestionable Proof of his Mission, that no false Prophet nor Impostor was ever followed beyond Life by any shadow of it.  
Both Worlds know the frequent Miracles wrought, the innumerable Blessings obtained through his Intercession from Heaven. His Body left on Earth entire, after it had been buried near three Months in quick Lime, and after at Malaca, above five more in dampish Earth, bleeding afresh several Years after when hurt in the Foot, ever yielding a sweet Perfume, is a sufficient Instance, how glorious in the sight of God his Soul is in Heaven. If Elizaeus' his Bones were said in holy Writ to Prophetize after Death, by reason of the Miracle wrought at their touching a dead Corpse to which Life was restored; may I not say, that in 
Boubours To. 2. V. X.  Xaverius' dead Body still dwells an Apostle, so great Prodigies having ever waited on it. A raging Plague ceased suddenly at Malaca, when it was received there; Rocks split and divided themselves, to make way for the Ship it was conveyed in; All the Sick who saw it when brought to Goa, received their Health at that instant. And ever since, this Apostle, hath favoured with miraculous Graces obtained by his Intercession, all Nations in the old and his new World, which have brought even Mahometans, Jews and Infidels to his Sepulchre, to view that miraculous Body of a more miraculous Soul; which must force all, that shall stand to that most impartial Trial which our most Blessed Lord recommends to us, By their Fruits you shall know them, to own 
Ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos.  Xaverius an Apostle most highly favoured by Almighty God with most unquestionable Miracles, and equally prodigious Virtues.  
You are then still, great Saint, you are to this Age, to our Kingdom an Apostle; the Miracles you wrought when on Earth, and obtained since, still Preach the truth of that Catholic Religion which you Planted in so many Kingdoms. We are all forced to use those words to you, which Nicodemus spoke to our Blessed Lord when he owned him as yet but a Prophet, Scimus, 
Rabbi, scimus quia à Deo venisti Magister. Joan. 3.  We know God sent you to Preach and Teach; for no one can do those Wonders which you work, if God be not with him. Obtain, great Saint, obtain for this Nation a due Acknowledgement of this Truth, a pious Assent to it. This Kingdom hath a particular Title to your Protection, since the Alms which your holy Father St. Ignatius gathered here, enabled him to win himself into your Acquaintance and Favour, and so to work, under God, your total Conversion to a pious Life. One Favour more than a Neighbouring Kingdom that obtained the like through your Intercession, minds me to crave through your Merits, by the joint Prayers of this pious Assembly. Marguerit of Austria, after twenty years' Barrenness, obtained from Heaven a Son, who sits now on the Throne of France, and she ever owned, that you were the Saint by whose Intercession she sought chief that great Blessing for her and her Kingdom. These three Kingdoms expect a like Happiness from our Most Gracious and Pious Queen; Permit not, great Saint, that your devout Clients be disappointed in their Expectation of a Prince: May we owe to your Intercession so great a Blessing; a Prince, who may equal in Learning the great Alfred, in Piety St. Edward, in Prowess the Third and First of that Name, in Victories Henry the Fifth, the Seventh in Wisdom; that is, in a word, who may inherit soon his Royal Father's Virtues, and late his Throne.  
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.  
FINIS.