but God, in his mercy, had brought him to the truth. Learned men were called in to wean him from his errors, but they declared his pertinacity to be terrible and that, with his knowledge of Hebrew, he would be most dangerous. He refused to have an advocate or to make defence, persisting that he was a Jew and would die for the Law of Moses. On August 8th the alcaide reported that he had circumcised himself with a bone, and the physician sent to examine him verified this and reported that he said he hoped to be burnt alive, for he sought the honor of martyrdom and would go to paradise. [Sidenote: _PROSELYTISM_] Earnest and protracted efforts were made to reclaim him but in vain. Then he was asked to set forth the Hebrew texts on which he relied, so that the calificadores could confute them. To enable him to do this he was furnished, December 23d, with a Bible, paper, ink and a goose-quill, but the latter he rejected, saying that it was forbidden by the Law of Moses, and a bronze pen (pluma de bronce) was given to him. Further conferences followed, and much patience was manifested, until he refused absolutely to speak in the audiences. The baffled tribunal appealed to the Suprema, which ordered fifty lashes; he endured them unflinchingly on June 17, 1642, and maintained his unbroken silence. This was most obstructive, for his ratification of his confessions was necessary but, when they and the evidence were read to him, he closed his ears with his fingers and refused even to listen. It was proposed to torture him, but the Suprema humanely discarded formalities and ordered the case to be closed and voted upon. The vote was taken, January 27, 1643, to relax him with confiscation, but in confirming it the Suprema ordered further efforts for his conversion. There was no haste in executing the sentence. In January, 1644, he was still persisting in silence, except that, when the inquisitors made their weekly visits, he would cry "Viva la ley de Moisen," after which not another word could be extracted from him. At length, on June 25, 1644, he was burnt alive, maintaining to the end his unalterable constancy. The inquisitor Moscoso, in a letter to the Countess of Monterey, declared that he had never witnessed so ardent a desire for death, such perfect assurance of salvation, or such unconquerable firmness. His fate made a profound impression on his co-religionists. Some years later, Juan Pereira, a youth on trial before the Valladolid tribunal, referred to him repeatedly and declared that he had seen him after death, riding on a mule and glistening with the sweat that was on him when he was taken to the quemadero.[807]