having been examined, he might assemble the council of Manila and represent the matter to it; and, in accordance with their vote, the religious shall be or shall not be sent, without its being necessary to have recourse to the reverend generals. Of a truth, it was a most just arrangement, not only because we are twice as far [from Roma] as are the other provinces of Indias, but in accordance with the special rule and ordinance of this province. Although there is always a great need of religious in it, yet he who is rendered disconsolate is superfluous, and willingly becomes a violent soldier who gives and receives signal injury--although God does not wish that they complain of what is given to them. The illness of the man is learned in this consultation, and the remedy is immediately applied without exigency or delay, which is not slavery. Those who return to España and do not keep this holy province much in mind are very few, when they are undeceived, and find that that bad humor was in themselves, was not the fault of the land, and that they must live with unrest in this world; for the center of our desire is heaven, for which we are born. In no place can we live with greater freedom and, consequently, with less fear and more quiet unless we go hunting for encumbrances to put in it. Unusquisque in suo sensu abundet. [34] [The deceased religious mentioned in that junta are as follows: The lay-brother Fray Juan de San Jacinto, who died in 1648, was a son of the convent of Valencia, and on account of his good work was sent to Japan. After his return to Manila he was sent to Spain (1630) by way of East India, and returned by way of Nueva España. Christoval de Leon, of the royal convent of Granada, died at the age of seventy in the province of Pangasinán, that same year. He had filled some important offices in the order, among them being definitor (1633), and prior of the Manila convent, returning thence to his labors in Pangasinán. Geronimo de Sotomayor Orato, a native of Mexico and son of that convent, and Tomàs Ramos, son of the convent of San Vicente in Plasencia, who had been captured by the Dutch, died at sea while being sent back to Manila. Pedro Benitez died in 1650; he had been assigned to the Nueva Segovia missions, where he was studying the language at the time of his death.]