[220] Various Sentiments and opinions of the Fathers who are in New France. _Taken from their last letters of 1635._ 1 NEW France is truly a region where one learns perfectly to seek God alone, to desire God alone, to have sincere intentions toward God, and to trust to and rely solely upon his divine and paternal Providence; and it is a rich heart treasury, impossible to estimate. 2 Viure en la Nouuelle France, c'est à vray dire viure dans le sein de [221] Dieu, & ne respirer que l'air de sa Diuine conduite; on ne sçauroit croire la douceur de cét air là, si ce n'est quand actuellement on le respire. 2 To live in New France means truly to live in the bosom of [221] God, and to breathe only the air of his Divine guidance; the sweetness of that air can be realized only by actually breathing it. 3 Il n'est pas à propos que tout le monde sçache, combien il fait bon dans les sacrées horreurs de ces forests, & combien on trouue de lumieres du Ciel dans les tenebres espaisses de cette barbarie: nous aurions trop de monde qui y voudroit venir, & nos Habitatiõs ne seroient pas capables de loger tant de gens: & c'est ce qui nous confond qui Dieu nous ait choisis, pour nous faire participans de cette misericorde, voyãt qu'il y a tant de nos Peres en France, qui seroient mieux que nous. 3 It is not fitting that every one should know how agreeable it is in the sacred awe of these forests, and how much Heavenly light one finds in the thick darkness of this barbarism; we would have too many persons wishing to come here, and our Settlements would not be capable of accommodating so many; and what confounds us is that God has chosen us, to make us participants in this mercy, seeing that there are so many of our Fathers in France, who would do better than we. 4 La ioye qu'on a quand on a baptisé vn Sauuage, qui se meurt peu apres, & qui s'enuole droit au Ciel, pour deuenir vn Ange, certainemẽt [222] c'est vne ioye qui surpasse tout ce qu'on se peut imaginer: on ne se souuiẽt plus ny de la mer, ny du mal de la mer, ny de l'horreur des tempestes passées; on voudroit auec la souffrance de dix mille tempestes pouuoir aider à sauuer vne ame, puisque Iesus-Christ pour vne seule ame auroit volontiers respandu tout son pretieux sang. 4 The joy that one feels when he has baptized a Savage who dies soon afterwards, and flies directly to Heaven to become an Angel, certainly [222] is a joy that surpasses anything that can be imagined; one no longer remembers the sea, nor seasickness, nor the horror of past tempests; but one would like to have the suffering of ten thousand tempests that he might help save one soul, since Jesus Christ for one soul would have willingly shed all his precious blood.