Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	eternal_a	life_n	lord_n	11,091	5	3.8914	3	true

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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

minds but Gold and Silver The Condition to which they advance themselves in the Indies is so far above their former state that it inspires 'em with intolerable Pride and Arrogancy They pass away their time in pleasure and feasting and clothe themselves after so sumptuous a manner that nothing in the World can be more magnificent And withal it may well be said that nothing can equal the corruption licentiousness and dissoluteness of their Manners and to supply all these superfluous Expences and Excesses they suck out the very Blood of the poor Indians Now seeing there 's no hope of obliging the Spaniards to alter their Conduct and both the Laws of God and right Reason and all the Maxims of Policy and Prudence oppose the giving of any Government into the hands of covetous and indigent Persons who are prejudic'd with a violent desire of gain Much less ought your Majesty to suffer the Spaniards to usurp a Title to the Indians as their Free-hold when they are so greedy and insatiable that they 'l make no difficulty to sacrifice all kinds of duty to the desire they have of raking sums of Mony together any way in the World For all their Industry will be employ'd in pillaging their Vassals and which is yet more to be lamented while they cruelly deprive 'em of temporal Life they likewise take a course to expose 'em to eternal Death Therefore your Majesty ought to incorporate the Indies with the Inheritance of your Crown that you may be the universal Father Protector Governor and Lord of all the Indians I add to all the foregoing Reasons that the Spaniards impose intolerable Burdens on the Indians and exact such Services of 'em as reduce 'em to the extremity of misery and despair 'T is their first and principal duty to serve and obey their own natural Princes because this is founded on the Law of Nature In the second place they owe your Majesty service and obedience as being their universal Soveraign which is an obligation of Divine Right founded on the Engagement your Majesty has contracted to send 'em the Light of the Gospel and to take care for their Instruction in the orthodox Faith The third kind of Service is that which the Spaniards oblige 'em to render them whether they will or no which is a severe and tyrannical Yoke nay more intolerable than what the Heathen Tyrants impos'd on the primitive Christians it may be liken'd to the torment the Devils inflict on the Damned in Hell The Violence of it is contrary to all the Laws of Nature and Reasons nor can it be justified by any human Laws It must be remembred that the Indians are naturally weak going always naked and continually expos'd to the heat of the Sun 't is therefore contrary to all Justice that they should be oppress'd with heavy Burdens far above their strength as well as contrary to Charity and the Custom of all reasonable Men. All the service these poor Creatures do can't satisfy the Spaniards who therefore set an Officer over 'em strictly to inspect their Actions and render their servitude still more terrible This Employ is usually bestow'd on some cruel and inexorable Monster who always stands over 'em to make 'em work the harder and punctually to obey all his Commands The Executioners of the divine Wrath in Hell can't be more wicked and hard-hearted than this sort of Men They brand 'em with hot Irons and are continually beating and abusing 'em they are not content to make 'em labor without intermission and to set 'em unreasonable Tasks but always reproach and chide 'em while they undergo this Toil and besides all this violate their Wives and Daughters or make Presents of many of 'em together to their Masters on whom they depend and who set 'em to work as so many principal Tyrants who also make it their business to invent cruel and unsufferable Torments And to hinder the Indians from complaining of their Miseries they threaten to inform against 'em that they have seen 'em worship their Idols This is the sad state to which these People are reduc'd They depend on no less than four several Masters on your Majesty their Caciques the Spaniard to whom they are inslav'd and his Deputy who is the greatest Plague to 'em that can be Nay 't is impossible to tell how many Masters they have seeing all the Spaniards domineer over 'em as so many Tyrants robbing 'em by turns and making no scruple cruelly to abuse and murder ' em Seeing the preaching of the Orthodox Faith is the only thing that could warrant the reduction of the Indians to a state of dependance on any foreign Power in order to their Conversion and seeing none can pretend on this account to be their lawful Soveraign but your Majesty it follows that your Majesty ought with all your might to oppose the Power which private Men assume over 'em and which can't be look'd upon as any better than Tyranny Your Majesty is oblig'd for the common good of all your Subjects to establish a regular and stable form of Government among 'em which may conduce to their Conversion and Salvation and seeing the soveraign and single Power you have over 'em is sufficient for the end propos'd other Jurisdictions are not to be tolerated because they can only prove burdensom and incommodious and contrary to the common Maxims of Government receiv'd in the World which will not allow a People to be subject to several different Princes much less should the Indians be thus subjected because of their Poverty Meekness Patience Humility and the tenderness of their Constitution partly occasion'd by their going naked their unwholsom Food and the Labor they undergo to get their living After all this 't would be sufficiently tedious and uneasy to 'em if no other Duties were exacted of 'em than those which your Majesty and their Caciques who are their immediat Princes impose How then can they be able to endure those excessive Tasks those heavy Blows Vexations and Abuses of which we have spoken above If your Majesty has a mind to preserve the Indians from utter Destruction these new Burdens ought not to be impos'd on 'em nor should they be condemn'd to this severe Slavery This would be to violate the Laws of Justice and Charity For the Masters of Policy and Prudence usually say that tho a Prince require extraordinary assistance of his Subjects in some pressing Exigencies of the Commonwealth yet where these Subjects are under other subordinate and immediate Lords to whom they are oblig'd to pay the same Duties this cannot be done because this would be to overcharge 'em with endless Taxes for 't is contrary to all Justice to oppress 'em with a double Burden and all good Laws formally condemn it for the Rules of Equity forbid all Oppression and Injury Therefore since the Indians are already bound to serve their natural and immediate Princes and to pay 'em all the homage and duty of Subjects

was violated as has been said by a Spanish Captain a Wretch unworthy of the Christian Name This Prince might have waited for an opportunity to revenge himself of this Outrage but chose rather to retire and live in Obscurity and Exile in the Province of one of his Subjects voluntarily abidicating his Kingdom and Government The Spaniards being inform'd of the place of his Retreat pursued him with the utmost Fury without giving him time to hide himself They cruelly declar'd War against that Indian Lord that had given him Sanctuary and had receiv'd him with a becoming Humanity and Respect they ravag'd all his Country and never left off their Cruelties till they had found and seiz'd this Fugitive Prince whom they loaded with Chains and put on Ship-board to be carried into Spain as their Prisoner This Vessel was cast away in the Voyage a great many Spaniards drown'd and an incredible sum of Gold and Silver lost Among the rest there was a prodigious lump of Gold as big as a great Loaf which weighed 3600 Crowns Thus did the Vengeance of God meet with 'em for the enormous Crimes they had committed in the Indies The second Kingdom is called Marien where there is a fine Port just at the end of the other Kingdom on the North-side This Kingdom is larger than Portugal and more fruitful and was stor'd with vast numbers of Inhabitants there are divers Mountains in it and several Mines abounding with Gold and Copper The Name of the King of this Country was Guacanagari who had divers Lords under his Jurisdiction 'T was in this Country that famous Pilot who first discover'd America landed Guacanagari receiv'd him with all imaginable Hospitality and Civility he made the best Entertainment he could for all the Spaniards who accompanied him when their Ship was sunk they were receiv'd at this Prince's Court as kindly as if they had been in the Houses of their own natural Relations here they met with all manner of Refreshments and Recruits the Country afforded which were given 'em with great Expressions of Humanity and Compassion on the account of their Hardships This King afterwards to secure himself from the barbarous Usage of the Spaniards when they began to commit their Massacres in his Country abandon'd his Kingdom and was forc'd to retreat into some of the remote Mountains where he died with the Fatigues and Inconveniencies to which he was expos'd Those Indian Lords that depended on him found no better Treatment but perish'd under that horrible Slavery to which the Spaniards had reduc'd ' em Maguana is the third Kingdom of this Island and is an admirable Country both for Health and Fruitfulness Here is made the best Sugar in America Caonabo was the King of it who surpass'd all the other Kings both in regard of his Power the Riches of his Kingdom and the Respect and Ceremony with which he was honour'd This Prince not keeping on his Guard nor at all distrusting what Tricks the Spaniards design'd to play him was surpriz'd in his own House by the Artifices they had laid to insnare him He was put in a Ship to be carried into Spain and there were at the same time six Vessels in the Port ready to set Sail when all on a sudden there rose a horrible Tempest which batter'd the Ships to pieces and sunk 'em with all the Spaniards that were on board King Caonabo loaded with Chains perish'd together with the Vessel in which he was embarqu'd The Almighty was pleas'd to display his just and terrible Judgment by this sudden Storm in destroying so many Spaniards and thereby punishing the Crimes they had committed in abusing the poor Indians This King had three or four Brothers all of 'em valiant and couragious Princes who being much provok'd at the unjust Captivity of the King their Brother and Soveraign and inform'd of the Ravage and Massacres the Spaniards had made in other neighbouring Kingdoms and after all hearing the News of the fatal End of their Brother betook themselves to Arms and sought means of revenging themselves on their Enemies The Spaniards attack'd 'em with their Cavalry which is very formidable to the Indians whom they soon conquer'd and made so prodigious a Slaughter among 'em that half the Kingdom was depopulated and became desert after this Defeat Xavagua is the fourth Kingdom of Hispaniola and is as it were the Heart and Centre of all this Island the Language of it is the most refin'd and polite The People of this Kingdom are the most civiliz'd and their Manners more cultivated than those of other parts of the Country and there are a greater number of great Lords and Persons of Quality among ' em These People are better shap'd and have a finer Aspect than those of the other Kingdoms The King's Name was Behechio he had a Sister call'd Anacaona both of 'em heap'd their Favours on the Spaniards when they landed in their Country and with a great deal of Generosity sav'd 'em from Death which they could not otherwise have avoided They left no Stone unturn'd to shew themselves obliging to the Kings of Spain After Behechio's Death his Sister Anacaona continued absolute Mistress of the whole Kingdom One day the Governor of the Island accompanied with 60 Horse and 300 Foot sends a Summons to about 300 of the greatest Lords of the Country to attend his Person These few Horsemen alone were able to have ravag'd and laid waste not only all this Island but even the whole Continent so defenceless were these poor People The Indian Nobles not at all suspecting any treacherous Design were by the Governor's Order brought into a House cover'd with Straw which he commanded to be set on fire where they perish'd miserably Those of 'em who attempted to escape were pursued by the Spanish Troopers and kill'd without Mercy They also kill'd a vast multitude of the common People cutting 'em and running 'em through with their Swords and Lances This same Governor caus'd Queen Anacaona who had the soveraign Authority after the Death of her Brother as has been said to be hang'd that he might disgrace the Memory of that Princess as much as he could by so vile and ignominious a Death If at any time a Spaniard either touch'd with the Sentiments of Compassion or prompted with those of Avarice thought fit to spare one of these poor Wretches for his own Service another would come transported with Rage and fall upon him in his presence and either run him through the Body or cut off his Legs so as to render him unserviceable Some of these Indians who escap'd this Massacre retir'd into an Island not above eight Leagues distant from this Kingdom to shelter themselves from the Fury of the Spaniards but these were condemned by the Governor to perpetual Slavery The Name of the fifth Kingdom is Hiquey Hiquanama the Queen who govern'd it tho very much advanc'd in Years and decrepit was hang'd by order of the Spaniards who tormented an infinite

the Indians before the Faith of the Gospel be preach'd to 'em and whether these People will be in any condition to receive the Light of the Gospel after they have bin subdu'd by force of Arms whether they will be more tractable and docil and better dispos'd to receive the Impressions design'd to be given so as to reject their Errors and embrace the Doctrine of the Gospel Dr. Sepulueda maintains that this War is not only allowable and lawful but necessary The Bishop of Chiapa is of the contrary Opinion and pretends that this War is unjust and an invincible Obstacle to the propagation of the Faith in the Indies Sepulueda supports his Opinion by four principal Arguments The first is founded on the enormous Crimes of which the Indians have bin and are every day guilty especially their Idolatry and their Sins against Nature His second Reason is taken from their Barbarity and Ignorance which may be reform'd under the Government of a People so intelligent and polite as the Spaniards His third Reason respects the facility he supposes of publishing the Christian Faith to the Indians when they are once subdu'd His fourth Argument is taken from the cruel Treatment the Indians give one another in that they offer human Sacrifices to their false Gods He confirms his first Reason three ways 1 st By Examples and Authorities taken out of the holy Scripture 2 dly By the Suffrage of Doctors and Canonists 3 dly By a particular account of the gross Crimes which the Indians commit He cites a Passage out of Deut. 20. to explain after what manner War ought to be made on the Indians the words are these When thou comest nigh unto a City to fight against it then proclaim Peace unto it And it shall be if it make thee answer of Peace and open unto thee then it shall be that all the People that is found therein shall be Tributaries unto thee and they shall serve thee And if it will make no Peace with thee but will make War against thee then thou shalt besiege it And when the LORD thy God hath deliver'd it into thy hands thou shalt smite every Male thereof with the Edg of the Sword ver 10 11 12 13. and ver 16. But of the Cities of these People which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an Inheritance thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth The Doctor adds that this Passage is not to be strictly taken and enforc'd against the Indians with so much severity tho 't is also said Thus shalt thou do unto all the Cities that are very far from thee by which Passage the Gloss understands those of different Religions From hence he concludes that we may lawfully declare War against those Nations that are of a Religion different from ours My Lord Bishop answers him four ways First he says it was not to punish the Sin of Idolatry that God commanded the Israelites to make War with the Gentiles and Infidels That God was pleas'd to single out precisely seven Nations the Canaanites the Jebusites c. mentioned in Deut. 7. who possess'd the Land of Promise bequeathed to Abraham and his Posterity He allows it to be true that God design'd to punish the Idolatry of those Heathen Nations in giving 'em up to the Israelites but he says if God's intention had bin only to chastise 'em for their Idolatry he would also have punish'd all the Nations of the whole World after the same manner seeing they were all polluted with the same Sin Whereas God specified only these Nations to be abandon'd to the Sword of the Israelites to shew that it was rather to accomplish the Promise he had made to Abraham than to punish these Idolaters that he deliver'd 'em into the hands of their Enemies That God himself expresly forbad the Israelites to offer any Violence to the Edomites or to the Egyptians who had entertain'd 'em when they were strangers in their Country Secondly That the Passage of Luke 14. where it is said Compel them to come in is not to be understood of an external Constraint by War and Arms but ought to be interpreted of internal Inspiration and the Motions which God produces in the Hearts of Men either immediatly or by the Ministration of Angels In the third place the Bishop maintains that Christian Emperors have never engag'd in War with Heathen Nations to oblige 'em to renounce Idolatry and to induce 'em to imbrace the Christian Faith that the Wars of Constantine were purely on a politic account and that the Passage of the Ecclesiastical Historian lib. 10. cap. 6. is to be understood in that sense That this Prince who was so animated with Piety when he subdued by his Arms the Goths Sarmatians and other barbarous Nations excepted those that sought his Friendship and desir'd Peace That because he subjected himself to the Divine Commands God was pleas'd to recompense his Virtue in subjecting all the People of the World to his Dominion Besides he says Constantine made War with the Goths and Sarmatians because they made incredible Ravage and Spoil wherever they came But when these barbarous People were at peace with the Christians and offer'd 'em no Injury they were suffer'd to live at quiet He adds in the 4 th place That if we would do any good upon Pagans it must be by the power of good Examples and not by Violence He cites to this purpose a passage of St. Augustin who says it belongs only to men transported with Rage and to Assassins to use force against those that are inferior to 'em in Power that this Father also condemns such as were not able to do the Pagans any hurt and yet rashly offer'd themselves to death to gain the reputation of Martyrs He also quotes a Passage out of Deut. 7. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the Land whither thou goest to possess it c. ver 1. Ye shall destroy their Altars and break down their Images and cut down their Groves and burn their graven Images with Fire ver 5. Upon which Passage he says St. Augustin expresses himself after this manner Many of the Pagans have Idols in their Fields must we take upon us to break these Idols in pieces 'T is much better to endeavour to get 'em out of their Hearts When they have embrac'd Christianity and exhort us themselves to break these Idols we shall do it with pleasure We must in the mean time pray for their Conversion without appearing violent and passionate against 'em because of their Idolatry We are not ignorant where they hide their Idols and yet we let 'em alone because God has not given us a Commission to take 'em away without their leave When then does God give us leave to take 'em from them Not till the owners of these Idols are become Christians He farther produces the examples of the Apostles and Martyrs who took no other course to overthrow Idols but by their Doctrine He grants that indeed