But this was the very thing that grieved him, because he had not come to that province to rest but to labor--insomuch that he feared those who were taking away his labors were depriving him of his merit. But the order of his superior made everything plain, and assured him that he would not lose but gain merit in this way, since his good-will was worth as much with God as many labors; and, besides this, he would gain in addition that merit which the position of prior could give him, which, for those who are such priors as this father was, is not a small but a great increase. Excellent ordinances were enacted in this chapter. The first was, that those confessors who had not been examined in the province should be examined before they received confessions. For this examiners were appointed--not because the few who were in the province were not of known competency and had not been examined in other provinces before, but to establish a matter of such importance firmly at the very beginning; and to have the medicine anticipate and prevent the disease, as the Holy Spirit counseled, and as was very wise. They established in the convent lectures in theology, and appointed as lecturer father Fray Juan Cobo. Anyone who will consider how few the religious were, and how much they had to do, one performing the work of many, will see the esteem which these fathers felt for the exercises of sacred theology (which are so appropriate to our order), and will think very highly of this care. It was ordained that the preachers to the Indians should follow in their sermons the form of the Roman catechism, teaching them the virtue and necessity of the holy sacraments, and the reverence and devotion with which they must be treated. Since by the mercy of God the Indians have given signs of approaching them in the spirit necessary to receive them, and since they were every day increasing in works of charity and mercy, and exhibiting their faith, it was ordained that they should be instructed thoroughly in regard to this matter; and that those sufficiently instructed should be admitted to the most holy sacrament of the altar, and in time to extreme unction. They repeatedly impressed upon their own memory the ordinance passed in the first chapter, namely, that they should treat the Indians with great love and charity, not only in words, but in works--aiding them in their necessities with alms, as much as might be possible for them, and in all things treating them with the spirit of mildness. This ordinance further provided that if at any time there should be necessity for punishment [of the Indians], it should be performed by the hands of others, in order that from our hands they might receive nothing but benefit and might thus become devoted to the law which we preached. The chapter was held with great solemnity and joy, as the church was then used for the first time. It was now very beautiful, and was built wholly of stone. To