After he had informed his majesty, how much the jealousies and secret divisions of his officers had hindered the progress of the gospel, he declares, that he could wish the king would bind himself by a solemn oath, to punish severely whosoever they should be who should occasion any prejudice to the farther propagation of faith in the Indies; and farther assured him, that if such who had the authority in their hands were made sensible, that their faults should not escape punishment, the whole Isle of Ceylon, all Cape Comorine, and many kings of Malabar, would receive baptism in the space of one year; that as many as were living in all the extent of the Indies would acknowledge the divinity of Jesus Christ, and make profession of his doctrine, if those ministers of state, who had neglected the interests of the faith, had been deprived of their dignities and their revenues.

After this he petitions the king to send him a supply of preachers, and those preachers to be of the Society, as judging them more proper than any others for the new world.  “I beg and adjure your majesty,” says he, “by the love you bear to our blessed Lord, and by the zeal wherewith you burn for the glory of the Divine Majesty, to send next year some preachers of our Society to your faithful subjects of the Indies:  For I assure you, that your fortresses are in extreme want of such supplies; in garrison, and to the new Christians established in the towns and villages depending on them.  I speak by experience; and that which I have seen with my own eyes obliges me to write concerning it.  Being at Malacca, and at the Moluccas, I preached every Sunday, and all saints’ days twice; and was forced upon it, because I saw the soldiers and people had great need of being frequently taught the word of God.

“I preached then, in the morning, to the Portuguese at mass:  I went again into the pulpit in the afternoon, and instructed their children, their slaves, and idolaters newly converted, accommodating my discourse to the measure of their understanding, and expounding to them the principal points of Christian doctrine, one after another.  Besides which, one day in the week, I assembled in the church the wives of the Portuguese, and catechised them on the articles of faith, on the sacraments of penance, and the eucharist.  Much fruit would be gathered in a few years, if the same method were constantly observed in all places.  I preached also, every day, in the fortresses, the principles of religion, to the sons and daughters of the soldiers, to their servants of both sexes; in fine, to the natives of the country, who were born Christians:  and these instructions had so good effect, that they totally renounced the superstitions and sorceries which were in use amongst those stupid and ignorant new converts.

“I descend into all these petty circumstances, to the end your majesty may judge, according to your prudence, what number of preachers may be necessary here; and that you may not forget to send many to us:  for if the ministry of preaching be not more exercised amongst us, we have reason to apprehend, that not only the Indians, who have embraced the faith, will leave it, but that the Portuguese also may forget the duties of Christianity, and live afterwards like Heathens.”