Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	good_a	life_n	merit_v	5,864	5	10.8367	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69842	An account of the first voyages and discoveries made by the Spaniards in America containing the most exact relation hitherto publish'd, of their unparallel'd cruelties on the Indians, in the destruction of above forty millions of people : with the propositions offer'd to the King of Spain to prevent the further ruin of the West-Indies / by Don Bartholomew de las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa, who was an eye-witness of their cruelties ; illustrated with cuts ; to which is added, The art of travelling, shewing how a man may dispose his travels to the best advantage.; Selections. English. 1699	Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1474-1566.	1699 (1699)	Wing C797; ESTC R21602	188,943	313

for 'em than for Dogs or Horses One would think they believ'd these People to have no immortal Souls but were uncapable of Rewards or Punishments in the other Life The Spaniards are no way qualified either to be Lords and Masters of the Indians or to teach 'em the Doctrin of the Gospel or to induce 'em to imbrace it by their Examples A considerable number of Indians were committed to the care of John Colmenero to be instructed in our Religion tho he was so ignorant that he knew not well how to make the sign of the Cross or give any tolerable account of his own Faith in so much that when he was ask'd what he taught those Indians under his Conduct he could make no other Answer than that he taught 'em to make the sign of the Cross but pronounc'd the words wrong that are us'd in that Ceremony When the Indians of one Province had brought all their Idols to the Missionaries with Protestations that they now detested that impious Worship and were resolv'd to serve the true God for time to come the Spaniards sold these very Idols to other Indians or exchang'd 'em for Slaves What concern of Mind can the Spaniards be suppos'd to have for the Salvation of these People when they only design to enrich themselves and thereby to be qualified for Employments above their Rank and when they are so ignorant that they don't know the Creed or ten Commandments They are sordidly covetous and indeed give themselves up to all sorts of Vices so that their Lives are infamous and abominable The Indians are comparatively more honest and virtuous than they are for tho they are Pagans and Idolaters yet are content with one Wife as Nature teaches 'em while they see Christians take fourteen or fifteen Women how expresly soever the Law they profess forbids it Many of the Indians scarce know what it is to rob one another to offer Violence to any one or to commit Murder Whereas they see the Christians guilty of all these against all Reasons and Justice and that they violate all their Oaths so that there is no ground to put the least confidence in ' em The poor Indians that are Witnesses of the Crimes of such as call themselves Christians think the God they worship is the vilest and most unjust God in the world because he does not immediately inflict some signal Punishment on those that pretend to serve him for their flagitious Lives They also think your Majesty the most cruel of all Princes because your Subjects are so abominably vicious they fancy as I have before said that your Majesty drinks human Blood and eats the Flesh of Men. And tho these things may appear strange and surprizing to your Majesty they are no news to us who have been accustom'd to ' em And we can't but wonder that some extraordinary marks of the Divine Anger and Indignation have not been inflicted on Spain to make her smart for the Crimes committed by the Spaniards in America Your Majesty may by this time very well perceive the Character of those Men to whom the charge and care of the Souls of the Indians is committed And 't is no wonder that there 's so little done either for their temporal or spiritual Advantage since the discovery of the Indies under such Conduct God is no more known there now than he was before unless it be in the Province of Mexico And that slight Instruction the People have had there has cost 'em very dear Tho the Son of God commanded his Disciples to give that freely which they had freely receiv'd The Indians were committed to the Spaniards on condition they would undertake to teach 'em the Christian Religion therefore since they have acquitted themselves so ill of that Commission they ought to make restitution of all they have taken from 'em under this pretext However God will not be mocked who sees all things and is a witness of all the wicked Actions of the Spaniards who have made it their business only to torment and inslave these poor People instead of taking care to inform 'em of the Truth And indeed these secular Men are not very proper to be made Preachers of the Gospel Your Majesty has been ill serv'd in not having had good Information given you of the ill deportment of your Subjects For 't is not to be doubted but your Majesty would have provided a Remedy if due care had been taken to give you advice of it Or if your Majesty had not done it you would have very much wrong'd your Conscience in sending such Men into the new World to preach the Faith and give testimony to the Doctrin of Jesus Christ who are absolutely uncapable of so honourable a Ministry and even decry and debase it by their scandalous Conversation 'T is therefore necessary that this Employment be taken away from Secular and committed to Religious Persons as agreeing better with their Character which may be done without giving these Ecclesiastical Ministers any occasion to claim a temporal Jurisdiction over the Indians for if that should be allow'd we should fall into the same Inconveniences we are endeavouring to avoid The corrupt Lives and evil Examples of the Spaniards do more hurt than the preaching of an infinit number of Priests and Monks can do good Therefore your Majesty is oblig'd in Conscience to deprive the Spaniards of the power they usurp over the Indians and never suffer 'em to make 'em their Vassals One principal Reason that proves this Proposition is that People ought to enjoy Peace and Tranquillity that they may be in a condition to attend the Worship of God and the good Works prescrib'd by the Christian Religion and not to be diverted from the Sacraments by being condemn'd to continual Labor Which state of Peace and Rest can't subsist without preserving to every Man his Property and guarding him from all the assaults of Injury and Injustice The Governors of Commonwealths are bound by the Law of God to remove out of the way all Obstructions to so necessary a Peace and speedily to allay those Dissensions and Troubles that may continue Discord among such as profess Christianity because 't is directly opposit to the end of God in creating Men for he sends 'em into the World to observe his Commands and to apply themselves to the exercise of Religion and good Works that they may thereby merit eternal Life This good order is necessary in every Christian Republic but there especially where the Christian Faith has been but lately entertain'd The Spaniards are too covetous and self-interested to have any Jurisdiction over the Indians granted 'em because they 'l never give 'em any respit or repose but go on to rob and torment 'em all the ways they can invent There is no kind of Injustice but they commit it to spoil these poor People and therefore there is no way to shelter 'em from their Oppressions but by annexing the Indies to the proper Inheritance

confine eighty thousand of 'em in the Mines who were all married Men while their desolate Wives were forc'd to labor in the Villages in digging the ground making Ditches and throwing up Banks a sort of work fit only for the strongest Men and the rather because they had neither Shovels nor other Instruments proper for their business In other places they put 'em upon spinning and other works of that kind which they found would turn to account and would sometimes keep Husbands and Wives from seeing one another a whole year together and when they met after this long separation they were often so fatigued and consum'd with Hunger and Labor that they were incapable of Multiplication Sometimes the Children dy'd for want of Sustenance their Mothers Milk being exhausted with hard Labor and Hunger by this means there dy'd seven thousand Infants in the space of three months in the Isle of Cuba of which I was an Eye-witness Some of the Women transported with despair strangl'd their own Children others that were with Child took poisonous Herbs to destroy their Fruit. Thus the Men dy'd with hardship in the Mines and the Women in the Villages so that the whole Country became desert in a little time because the Women ceas'd to bring forth Children into the World This Governor deliver'd up all the Indians to the Discretion of the Spaniards and suffer'd 'em to treat 'em with all the Rigor and Severity they pleas'd and to oppress 'em with the hardest Labor they could They employ'd Men to chastise 'em that were more savage and barbarous than Tygers these scourg'd and beat 'em most unmercifully and gave them all the ill Treatment they could devise they would never discover the least sign of Kindness or Pity but always shew'd themselves austere and barbarously cruel It would be very inhuman to treat the Moors themselves after this manner tho they are so very cruel to the Christians and do 'em all the mischief they can when they have the Ascendent over ' em But the Indians are naturally a good-humour'd easy peaceable submissive and tractable sort of People Some of 'em have by the many Miseries they suffer'd been driven to despair of any mitigation of 'em and therefore fled into the Mountains where they expected Death every moment The Spaniards to hinder 'em from flying after this manner appointed a bloody Fellow to make it his whole business to hunt out these Indian Refugees upon the Mountains The Governor besides establish'd a sort of Officers in the Spanish Cities of great Consideration and Authority whom he call'd Visitors to each of these he gave a hundred Indians to serve him besides his ordinary Domesticks the better to support his Dignity He chose such to this Office as had signaliz'd themselves by their Cruelty When the Alquazils presented the Indians they found on the Mountains to these Visitors there were Persons suborn'd and instructed to accuse 'em after this manner This Indian is a lazy Dog that fled into the Mountains to avoid Work therefore I desire he may be chastiz'd as he deserves After the giving of this Evidence the Visitor us'd to cause the poor Indian to be tied to a Stake and beat with a tarr'd Rope which the Seamen call a Salt-Eel and indeed is like a Rod of Iron till the Blood would start out in I know not how many parts of his Body and the poor Creature would lie for dead upon the place God is witness of all the Cruelties these miserable Innocents have endur'd 'T is not possible to recount the hundredth part of what I have seen with my own Eyes A man had need have a Body of Iron to undergo the Labor they endure in getting Gold out of the Mines They must delve and search a thousand times over in the bowels of the Mountains till they dig 'em down from top to bottom they must work the very Rocks hollow After this the Gold must be wash'd in some River and the poor Creatures that do this work must be perpetually in the Water which gradually alters and spoils the Constitution of their Bodies and if the Mines happen to be full of Water they are forc'd to empty ' em That your Majesty may the better judg of the Labor and Toil they suffer in the Gold Mines your Majesty may please to consider that the Pagan Emperors accounted this the worst and most intolerable Punishment to inflict on the Martyrs next to Death it self The Indians are sometimes kept a whole year in these Mines but since the Spaniards have observ'd that it kill'd most of 'em to keep 'em there so long together because their Bodies were uncapable of sustaining the Fatigues of such a tedious and continual Labor they resolv'd to make 'em work only for the space of five months successively and then to give 'em a respite of forty days wherein they employ'd 'em in melting Gold But this pretended Rest did 'em no great good for they were not much less incommoded during this time than before being employ'd in other very troublesom kinds of Work The Indians don 't know what Holy-days are for they work as hard and as long on those days as at other times Nor have they a sufficiency of Bread allow'd 'em and what they have is a very ordinary sort that has not much strength in it being made of Roots and Cassave so that if they don't eat Flesh or Fish with it it yields very little Nourishment They likewise give 'em a sort of Pepper that grows in the Country and looks much like a dry'd Grape Those Spaniards that pretend to keep their Slaves extraordinary well distribute a Porker every week among fifty Indians but he that presides over 'em at the Mine keeps one half of it for his share and gives them the other which is but every one a bit Some of the Spaniards are so wretchedly covetous that they send their Slaves into the Fields and Mountains to feed upon what Fruit they can find and then oblige 'em to work two or three days without giving 'em any thing to eat Your Majesty may easily imagine that such kind of Food can't possibly sustain their weak and languishing Bodies that are continually enfeebled and exhausted with hard Labor or that these poor Creatures that are macerated with all manner of Hardship and Fatigue without any rest or relaxation of their Misery can live long under the pressures of so cruel a Servitude The abovemention'd Governor at last order'd they should have Wages distributed among 'em viz. that three Blancs should be given each of 'em to spend every two days as the Reward of the hard Labors they exacted of ' em This was only to mock the poor Wretches for this Mony would scarce buy 'em the least Trifle But for many years they had nothing at all given 'em yet this does not disturb 'em so much as want of Victuals for there is nothing in the world they so much desire as to eat well

more evidently two things must be suppos'd First that there were no Slaves in New Spain on the Borders of which there dwelt divers Nations especially the Mexicans that are more dexterous and politic than other Indians This every one knows who is acquainted with the new World Secondly That the term Slave does not signify the same thing among the Indians as among the Europeans but only denotes a Servant with the former or one that has some particular obligation to assist us in our necessary Affairs so that to be the Slave of an Indian is to be but one degree below his Son 't is to dwell in his House to take care of his Goods and Silver to wait on his Wife and Children which is consistent with the enjoyment of his Liberty He sets the House in order sows the Land and does any necessary work as occasion requires And his Master on his part treats him with a great deal of Kindness and Humanity as if he were not oblig'd to render him this Service Those Missionaries that have learn'd the Indian Language and know the import of their words can testify the truth of what I say It is farther to be suppos'd that in New Spain and Mexico many unlawful ways have bin us'd by the Spaniards to inslave the Indians in so much that one would have thought they knew nothing of the true God nor had ever heard of the Precepts of the Gospel When there was a Famin there which seldom happens in those rich and fertil Countries those Indians that had a stock of Corn perswaded them that were poor to sell 'em their Children for some of their Corn with this proposal they comply'd very willingly because their Servitude is so easy their Slaves not being oblig'd to any very hard Labor And the Indians are naturally obsequious and submissive to those on whom they depend they would give one of their Children for five Bushels of Corn and this was the ordinary Price they gave 'T is true this was an unjust method of making Slaves because all things ought to be common in a time of extreme Necessity for the Law of Nature obliges us freely to give or lend to those that are under pressing want Another occasion on which the Spaniards made the Indians their Slaves was this when any one had found an Indian with some Ears of Corn which he had stolen he had Authority to make him his Slave The Missionaries have observ'd that some of 'em would maliciously scatter Ears of Corn in the High-ways that they might seize those for Slaves that had innocently gather'd 'em up Besides this the Parents and Relations of him that had the Corn found upon him were made Slaves for this imaginary Theft which is a very unjust and criminal Artifice They likewise had invented a sort of Play among 'em in which he that lost was made a Slave the best Players would make as if they knew not how to play to insnare those that were ignorant into their Service If any one whom they had thus caught presum'd to run away his nearest Relations were forc'd to supply his place When a Free-man had lain with a Woman that was a Slave her Master had power to seize him or his Wife if he were married and to oblige him to serve him till she was brought to bed Which Custom obtain'd throughout the whole Country He that had a young Maid to his Slave would inslave any one that lay with her which was attended with great Inconveniences for the Masters of these young She-slaves would put 'em upon enticing Men to lie with 'em on purpose to catch 'em in this Trap. If a Slave took any thing out of his Master's House to give it to his Relations they all immediately became his Master's Slaves When several Merchants went into other Countries for Slaves to sell in New Spain where they had the best trade for 'em they lent those that were poor their Goods and Corn upon Usury and when they were not in a condition to pay for what they had bought they seiz'd 'em for Slaves If he that ow'd the Sum died before the Debt was discharg'd and his Wife and Children were not capable of paying the Creditor they became his Slaves In time of Famin Parents would sell one of their Children to serve a Master for a certain number of years but indeed there was no end of this Servitude for if the Master dy'd his Relations would take possession of his Slave But the Bishop of Mexico who is a very pious and virtuous Prelat has written an account in Latin of all the Tricks the Spaniards have us'd to inslave the Indians by which 't is easy to see with how much Injustice they have abus'd the Simplicity and Necessity of these poor wretches to reduce 'em to a miserable state of Bondage From what I have been relating it appears that the Indians being Idolaters and destitute of the knowledg of the true God and the Rules of Christianity don't regulate their Actions by such Motives as the fear of Hell and the desire of Heaven and the hope of having their good Works rewarded hereafter Therefore they are vicious and corrupt in many respects for instance they don't observe the Law of Nations in the Wars they make one upon another by which one may well guess there are many other injust things done among ' em But the Faith of Christ and the Precepts of the Gospel are for preserving only good Laws and Customs and for abolishing those that are bad especially such as are opposite to the Law of Nature and prejudicial to Human Society Therefore those Indians that are converted who have bin guilty of Polygamy are oblig'd to put away all their Wives but one according to the prescription of the Law of God as well as to restore all the Goods they have gotten by unlawful ways of Robbery or Extortion If Christians follow the evil Customs of Infidels or tolerate 'em when they can hinder 'em they manifestly render themselves Accomplices in the Crimes of those Idolaters because we are oblig'd by the Divine Law to abstain from such Actions as may occasion Scandal or any way injure the temporal or spiritual Welfare of our Neighbor For this reason St. Paul commanded Christians not to eat things offer'd to Idols lest it should be thought they approv'd of those damnable Sacrifices tho they might eat of those very meats provided the Pagans did not see 'em and so were not scandaliz'd by the Action All Christians are oblig'd by the Divine Word to do what in 'em lies for the Abolition of sinful Customs or at least to abstain from 'em and disapprove 'em themselves And when a man doubts whether any Action he is about to do is just or injust he can't do it with a good Conscience this is a general Rule that admits of no exception because Christians are oblig'd by the Doctrin of the Gospel rather to lose all they have than to commit the least

of Spain a very good Christian and zealous for the Catholic Religion and the matter is of great importance because it concerns the preaching and propagation of the true Faith and Worship of God the Conversion of numerous Nations and the Government of 'em which is to be administred with Lenity and Prudence that Justice may be maintain'd among 'em and the love of Virtue inspir'd into 'em which is an Employ too great for any but Soveraign Princes to perform 'T is certain the Holy See has chosen the King of Spain to be entrusted with the Government of the Indies which may be prov'd by two considerable Circumstances The first of which is the Clause added in the Commission We rely upon your Fidelity Prudence and Justice which is inserted in the Bull of Grant and Commission of the Indies to the most serene Kings of Spain wherein the Pope says in express Terms Knowing you to be Kings truly Catholic as we have been assur'd by many experiences and that your Piety is every where regarded throughout the Christian World we doubt not but you will use all the care and diligence you can for the Exaltation and Increase of the Catholic Faith as you have spar'd no charge or pains to rescue the Kingdom of Grenada from the hands of Sarazens and Infidels which has so much conduc'd to the Glory of the name of God The second Circumstance is that when any express Order is added in the Commission the first Clause of it is express'd in these Words We exhort you by your Holy Baptism which obliges you to submit to our Apostolic Orders and we conjure you by the Bowels of Compassion in Jesus Christ that you would generously undertake this Expedition to engage the People of the New World to embrace the Christian Religion nor let any Hardships or Perils discourage you but put your trust in God who will make your Work succeed to his Glory The other Clause contains a kind of Command and is thus express'd We command you in virtue of the holy Obedience you owe us and we doubt not but you will undertake this Affair with a great deal of zeal and fervor and send into the Islands and Continent Men fearing God able experienc'd and capable of instructing the Inhabitants of the New World in the Catholic Faith and of inspiring 'em with the love of Virtue These Circumstances make it sufficiently appear that the Pope gave the charge of causing the Indians to be instructed to the Kings of Spain in consideration of the signal Services render'd the Church by that Crown nay that he has oblig'd them to undertake this good work by his express Command to apply themselves to it in virtue of the holy Obedience they owe him Pursuant to this these Princes solemnly engag'd themselves to second the Pope's designs with all their Power Their Promise was turn'd into a Covenant and became a formal Obligation on 'em and consequently 't is the indispensible Duty of the Kings of Spain to be the Ministers of the Holy See in carrying the Word of God into the Indies and contributing all their Power to continue the work of converting the Indians Their care should be extended to their temporal as well as spiritual Concerns and they ought to neglect nothing that may be necessary for their preservation or conversion Nor is it lawful for these Princes to abdicate this Authority and divest themselves of this Jurisdiction Let your Majesty therefore please to consider seriously how strict and indispensible this Obligation is be pleas'd to remember that in the year 1499 when Christopher Columbus the first Discoverer and Admiral of the West-Indies had permitted each Spaniard that accompanied him to take one Indians in recompence of the great Services done the Crown of Spain in that Voyage when those Indians arriv'd in Spain your Majesty so much resented it that 't was not easy to appease your Anger on that occasion Your Majesty ask'd if the Admiral had power to destroy your Subjects and commanded the Spaniards to send back to the Indies all the Indians they had brought from thence on pain of Death Accordingly they return'd in the year 1500 when Francis Bobadilla went to take the Government of the New World The second reason that proves your Majesty under an obligation to incorporate the Indies into the Inheritance of your Crown and not to suffer the Spaniards in the least to usurp any thing in quality of Lords and Masters is that otherwise 't is impossible the People should ever be brought to espouse Christianity To comprehend the force of this Reason it must be remember'd that the Design of your Majesty's Title to possess these newly-discover'd Nations is no other than the publication of the Gospel to spread the knowledg of Jesus Christ among 'em and consequently your Majesty is oblig'd to remove all Impediments that oppose this end by establishing good Laws and Orders and using all other just ways and means to render this design prosperous The End is always the great Spring that should give motion and direction to our Actions and 't is this we ought to have principally in view that we may the better foresee what Obstructions are likely to lie in our way and take the most sutable measures to attain the end propos'd Now 't is certain that the Power usurp'd by the Spaniards over the Indians is one of the greatest hindrances to the preaching of the Gospel among 'em for their Conversion All the World knows their excessive Avarice makes 'em unwilling to suffer the Missionary Monks to preach the Gospel to the Indians whom those Tyrants look upon as their Vassals because the publication of the Gospel they say occasions a considerable damage to 'em two ways First because these Monks make the Indians lose too much time in hearing their Instructions these People say they are naturally lazy and negligent so that when they are diverted from their Work 't is hard to bring 'em to it again It has often happen'd when the Monks had got the Indians together in their Church to instruct 'em the Spaniards have come upon 'em and taken away a hundred or two by force beating 'em cruelly to the scandal of the rest in spite of what the poor Monks could say or do And such Violences can't but extremely impede the Salvation of the Indians Another Disadvantage the Spaniards pretend to receive from the Conversion of the Indians is that when they are once instructed in the Maxims of Christianity they grow proud and untractable and not so capable to serve 'em and is not this an open Confession that their private Interest is dearer to 'em than the Salvation of these Peoples Souls The frame of their mind is an habitual mortal Sin against Charity the Order of which they pervert not only in not promoting their Salvation themselves which they ought every day to do being oblig'd in Conscience either to instruct 'em or procure others to do so but also