However, the fruit which may be gathered from this mission will be great, if it please God. If the Fathers who are assigned to go to the Hurons, a stationary tribe, are able to enter the country, and if war does not trouble these people, probably in [115] two years it will be seen that there is not a nation so barbarous as not to recognize and honor God. Some are astonished that they hear nothing about the conversion of Savages during the many years that we have been in New France. It is necessary to clear, till, and sow, before harvesting. Who of the Religious who have been here have ever known perfectly the language of any tribe in these countries? _Fides ex auditu_, faith enters by the ear. How can a mute preach the Gospel? When Father Brebeuf was beginning to make himself understood, the arrival of the English compelled him to leave these poor people, who said to him, at his departure: "Listen, thou hast told us that thou hast a Father in Heaven who made all, and that he who did not obey him was cast into the flames. We have asked thee to instruct us; [116] when thou goest away, what shall we do?" A Captain, approaching, said to him: "_Eschom_,[44] I am not baptized and thou art going away; my soul will be lost. What can I do for it? Thou sayest thou wilt return. Go then, and have courage; return before I die." An old man, in a village other than that where the Father lived, hearing him speak of the end of all things, of the reward of the good, and of the punishment of the wicked, said to him: "_eschom_, the people of thy village are worthless; they are wicked men; they do not tell us what you tell them, and, nevertheless, it is so important that we ought to talk of it at the Council of the whole land." Are not these indications of a very gratifying harvest? The Devil foresees this harvest; for, while I am speaking, he is doing all in his power to prevent the Hurons from coming and consequently to shut [117] them out from the Gospel and from those who bring it to them.