The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 42, 1670-1700: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 42, 1670-1700: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
Many (and most) persons are greatly deceived in imagining that the
Sangleys who live among the Indian natives outside of Manila do no
harm to the faith, saying that the Chinese are more atheists than
idolaters, and that they only seek worldly advantages. But this is
not always the rule, for some teach sects and doctrines that are very
evil, as experience shows. In the year 1706, father Fray Antolín de
Alzaga, one of the apostolic missionaries whom we have in the remote
mountains of the province of Pampanga, converting and instructing the
warlike peoples called Italones, Ituriés, and Abacas--whose wonderful
conversions present notable material to him whose duty it is to write
the history of those times--this apostolic missionary came to Manila,
making light of the hardships of [travel by] those roads so long
and rough, in order to ask the governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu,
to take measures for banishing from these mountains two infidel
Sangleys, who with greed for the trade in wax had penetrated even
those unexplored hills, where they taught false dogmas and perverse
opinions, such as palingenesis, or transmigration of souls--a dogma
which Pythagoras taught, and which was propagated much among heathen
peoples. At the present time it is accepted by all nations of Asia,
and in China and Japon with the greatest tenacity; they believe
that when a man dies his soul goes to animate another body, either
rational or brute, according to the deserts of him who is dead,
and for either punishment or reward; and thus they allot an infinite
succession of transmigrations. This diabolical dogma was taught by
these Sangleys to the Italon Indians, with other evil doctrines,
such as polygamy (which permits a man to have many wives), idolatry,
and others which ensue from it. That accursed doctrine spread rapidly
among those simple mountaineers, so much so that it became necessary
to have recourse to the said governor--who, being so zealous for
the increase of the Christian faith, sent to the alcalde-mayor of
Pampanga a very urgent command to expel from those missions the two
Sangleys, and to be very careful to prevent the entrance of others
therein; and this order was carried out, to the great tranquillity
of the new Christian church. Experience has shown the same thing in
other villages where Sangleys have fixed abodes. I will not delay
longer over a matter on which there is an endless amount to be said,
since I have sufficiently exceeded the limits of my obligation; and
I refer to many persons who have officially discussed these matters,
although they have obtained no results from their earnest efforts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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