Miscellaneous Letters Exchanged Between Jose Rizal and Others in 1892

094. Victoriano Fernz Lobato, Manila,3 July 1892

The aide-de-camp of the Captain General notifies Rizal of the postponement of the interview with Governor General Despujol to 6 July 1892, 8 a.m.

095. Rizal, Dapitan, 3 September 1892 || To Fr. Pablo Pastells

Rizal thanks Fr. Pastells for his gift of a book by Sarda – Replies to Fr. Pastells' message sent through Fr. Obach of Dapitan. - Expresses his opinion frankly and sincerely - "Self-esteem is dignity" - Thanks him for his advice.

096. Fr. Pastells, Manila, 12 October 1892

Father Pastells goes into lengthy philosophic-religious disquisitions – Sends him a booklet, Contemptus Mundi – Reminds him of his Ateneo days at Manila.

097. Rizal, Dapitan, 25 October 1892 || To Ricardo Carnicero

Rizal would like to see his relatives and the townsmen of Calamba exiled to Jolo in Dapitan – The would attract settlers who would cultivate the immense lands of Mindanao – He would engage in farming if he were completely fre – His parents would come and he would have his books brought – He promises not to abuse his liberty.

098. Rizal, Dapitan, 11 November 1892 || To Father Pablo Pastells

Rizal is grateful for a copy of Kempis’ Imitation of Christ, of Fr. Chirino, Fr. Delgado, and Cartas de las Misioneros – Brilliant defense of his espousal of the Philippine cause – Noli me tangere is not inspired by any resentment or by the Germans – He is not a Protestant – He prefers “light” to “shade” He bears his misfortunes philosophically.

099. Fr. Pablo Pastells, Manila, 8 December 1892

Fr. Pastells is deeply interested in Rizal’s eternal salvation. He claims Rizal has expressed Protestant ideas in his books – Quotes the Bible, St. Augustine, etc.

100. Rizal (Dapitan) 30 December 1892 || To Father Francisco de Paula Sáchez

How to prepare bakhaw paste – Rizal’s recipe.

101. Nellie Boustead, without date or address

Miss Boustead breaks her relations with Rizal.

102. Adelina Boustead, Biarritz (no date)

Miss Boustead sends Rizal a postcard thanking him for a gift of a book. She writes in English.

–—

094. Victoriano Fernz Lobato, Manila,3 July 1892

The aide-de-camp of the Captain General notifies Rizal of the postponement of the interview with Governor General Despujol to 6 July 1892, 8 a.m.

El Capitan General

Manila, 3 July 1892

MR. JOSÉ RIZAL

Manila

His Excellency, Captain General Eulogio Despujol orders me to tell you that it would be impossible for him to receive you tomorrow, Monday, having to postpone the interview until next Wednesday at eight in the morning.

The Aide-de-Camp

Victoriano Fernz Lobato

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095. Rizal, Dapitan, 3 September 1892 || To Fr. Pablo Pastells

NOTE: For a different translation go here: http://www.geocities.com/cavitesu/pastells.htm

Dapitan, 1 September 1892

Very Reverend Fr. Pastells

My ever esteemed Father:

Though I have not had the honor of meriting a letter from Your Reverence, the precious gift that you have deigned to send me through my beloved professor, Fr. Sanchez, and all the lines that you devote to me in your letter to Fr. Obach place me under obligation to write you, for I have no one in Manila whom to ask to thank Your Reverence on my behalf. I have known for a long time the writings of Mr. Sarda for having read them in college and in my humble opinion he is the most skillful polemicist in diffusing in a certain social class the ideas he upholds. You may judge then if his works will be of great value to me. This is with respect to the works themselves, but with regard to their sender, would that the tomes arrive blank, it is enough that Your Reverence had sent them for me to profess them consideration and affection. I only regret that being an exile in a poor town like Dapitan, I have nothing with which to return your kindness, but I hope I shall have an opportunity to do so some day if we shall still be alive and if not, I will say to you like the Bisayos: Dios magbayad! (God repay you!)

Now I take up the lines that Fr. Obach read to me which to me are as interesting as or even more so than your precious gift. They begin thus: "Tell him to set aside the foolishness (majaderias) of looking at his affairs through the prism of his judgment and self-esteem - nemo judex in cause propia. (No one is a judge of his own cause.) Here what greatly attracts my attention is not the word majaderias, which I fully deserve, though it seems rather strong for the fine pen of Your Reverence. I have been accustomed for sometime now to the most acrimonious criticisms and harshest accusations of friends and strangers, of superiors and inferiors, but for Your Reverence to consider majaderia the desire to regard one's affairs through the prism of one's judgment and self-esteem, really I cannot see your meaning, I must be mistaken in my interpretation of your words. Though I am completely ignorant of the acts in my life to which Your Reverence refers nevertheless it does not seem to me so censurable for one to look at his affairs through the prism of his own judgment and self-esteem for God must have given these faculties to him for some purpose. Because if we have to do it through another's prism, besides its being a little impractical, there being as many prisms as there are individuals, we would not know which one to choose; and in choosing we would have to make use of our own judgment, unless we should choose endlessly which will turn out that we would be wise men in one another's house, they directing our actions and we theirs and everything would be in confusion, unless for the sake of the others we renounce our own judgment and self-esteem, a thing which in my humble opinion is to offend God and to disdain His most precious gifts. And I speak thus because I imagine that when God gave each one the faculty to judge that he possesses, He did what was most convenient and He did not want that he who has less think like the one who has more and vice versa, in the same way that one should not digest with his neighbor's stomach but rather like perfect machines, varied and adapted to the purpose that He must know, each one ought to consume so much coal in its boiler, to run so many miles and at so much velocity and He should know why He made it thus. The faculty to judge is to me like a lantern that a father gives to each one of his children before their pilgrimage through rugged and tortuous paths. To one who has to pass through dells and precipices He will not give him an oil lamp that will spill; if he has to go through tempests, a lamp with thick glass will protect him; if through inflammable gasses, wirecloth like that of the miners; if the bearer suffers from photophobia, smoked glass, if on the contrary he has cataracts, electric light and especially if he has to go through very dark roads. Unlucky is he who on the road, through caprice or madness, should exchange his lantern for that of another! That each one endeavor to preserve and improve his own; that he may not envy or despise any one, without nevertheless failing to take advantage of the reflections of the others or of the signals and advices that those who have preceded him have left behind them.

With regard to self-esteem, I confess candidly that I have for a long time asked God very sincerely to deprive me of it, but He who knows better what suits us, has left it to me. Now I understand that a man never should be deprived of this sentiment, though it must never be exaggerated. In my opinion self-esteem is the greatest good that God has endowed man with for his perfection and purity saving him from many unworthy and base acts when he forgets the precepts he had learned or had been inculcated in him. Precisely for me self-esteem is dignity when it is not passionate and it is moderated by judgment. It is like the sap that impels the tree to turn upward in search of the sun, the force that launches a steamship on its course. 'To me man is the masterpiece of creation, perfect within his conditions, who cannot be deprived of any of his component parts, moral as well as physical, without disfiguring him and making him miserable.

I do not know how Your Reverence will take these ideas of mine, perhaps as very independent, but I am so, I have been educated thus, and I would offend you if in writing you I should fail to be sincere. I do not believe that they are dictated by pride, nor do I know if I am proud or not. Only God who cannot make a mistake in His judgment will be able to say it.

The letter of Your Reverence continues: "Daring to give him this advice is one who guided his mind in times very much better for him without any exaggeration than the present ones... " Your Reverence can and should give me all the advices your good heart may prompt you, for it is the duty of men to help one another and do believe that I will always listen to them with gratitude and attention, weighing each one and reflecting deeply on its meaning, for I esteem greatly all that comes from Your Reverence not only for what you have been to me but also for what you are and I would not want that some day when God should ask me what I had done with your advices I would not be able to reply. With regard to whether those times were better than the present ones, I cannot say so absolutely. I consider myself fortunate to be able to suffer a little for a cause that I believe sacred. I do not accuse myself of any act that humiliates me before my conscience. I admit that at first I was grieved by the change of my fortune, but afterward I consoled myself by thinking of others more just and more worthy who had suffered greater injustices and one cannot make everything run according to his desire. If this is fanaticism, may God forgive me, for however much I search myself I cannot see it thus.

"Whose advices I hope he will receive gratefully inasmuch as they are now the only efficacious redeemers that might return to him his old tranquility as prefect of the congregation of students of 1875 that he now lacks," adds Your Reverence.

Not only now, but always I will receive with pleasure your advices be they redeeming or not, for I always appreciate what is given sincerely, but it depends upon my criterion whether to follow them or not. It is for this reason that one is responsible for his acts, but gratitude always remains underneath! As to tranquility, I believe I have it as ever. Many in truth pity me and regret my fate; many regard me as a fallen tree. Perhaps, to many people, my spirit is what heaven is to observers; pardon me the comparison. Heaven gets clouded, in heaven there is tempest, they say, but in reality it continues the same. It is our atmosphere that is clouded, that becomes tempestuous. Some kilometers higher up absolute calm prevails. I should like to clear the lands of my country; why should it be strange that the reptiles whistle upon seeing themselves thrown out of their burrows, that rocks leap and crush me in their fall? Am I doing wrong? It is possible that I may be mistaken, but if I am, it will never be for selfish interest or egoism.

Now it is another thing with respect to consulting you about my doubts. Willingly I would state here three or four of the many I have, if this letter were not already too long, in the certainty that Your Reverence will give me great light, but I shall leave them for another occasion.

I remain very grateful to Your Reverence for your prayers. I too pray now and then, but really when I do so, it never occurred to me to ask for anything. I believe I have everything and as all that happens to me is His will, I am contented and resigned. Is this oriental fatalism? I do not know, but indeed I always say to myself: I will work and I will do this and that, for God will always have His way. Therefore, forward.

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096. Fr. Pastells, Manila, 12 October 1892

Father Pastells goes into lengthy philosophic-religious disquisitions – Sends him a booklet, Contemptus Mundi – Reminds him of his Ateneo days at Manila.

Manila, 12 October 1892

DR. JOSÉ RIZAL

MY MOST BELOVED IN CHRIST DON JOSE

I received your very affectionate letter of 1^st September last. In it I admired the brilliant endowments of your privileged genius and the adorned phrases that naturally slip from your correct and well-made pen; yet I could not help but exclaim upon reading it: What a pity that such an excellent young man had not lavished his talents on the defense of better causes! How much better it would have been for him to have imitated the skillful polemicist Sarda, spreading among his compatriots the lofty redeeming ideas of the Catholic religion, the only true religion, and of the only legitimate Mother Country of the Philippine Archipelago, the noble Spain! ... Oh, and how the precious natural faculties of my dear friend would have gone up in weight had he supported such doctrines in the Noli me tangere, El Filibusterismo, and his Anotaciones a la Historia de Morga, and his other writings!

Then jure meritoque[01] for his works Rizal would have achieved immortal laurels and his name would have been borne on the wings of fame throughout the world and extolled by good men and his memory blessed by future generations. However, unfortunately for us and to the greatest detriment of the good cause, this holy coffer fell into the Philistines, as another man would say, and he has not been rescued yet.

There was a critical period in the story of his youth that decided his departure for abroad. He went away from the Philippines personally embittered and resentful for reasons or motives that I do not wish nor can I now judge. The thorn that he carried stuck in his heart irritated and intoxicated his mind, leaving deep scars in all his faculties, and creating prejudices which were rooted by remembrances and feelings of his own dignity which in his opinion had been wounded. That exaggerated self-judgment and this extreme self-esteem finally prepared him to cross the great bridge of inconsequence or to take the great leap or great fall in Germany that submerged him into the deep abyss of prevarication, separated him from the Catholic religion and Spanish nationality, and raised the standard of filibusterismo.

This, in fact, was foreseen by the foreign enemies of our religion and our mother country and since then they worked ceaselessly with the greatest perseverance and skill to muddle his clear intelligence with reformist and separatist doctrines, inoculating his already wounded heart with sectarian virus; and you having drank unwarily the lethal poison that they offered you in a golden cup, the inevitable happened. A certain Austrian professor, very friendly with you, had already predicted, namely, that the Protestants took possession of you and shortly after the Freemasons, the result of the first captivity being Mr. Rizal of the Noli me tangere and of the second, Mr. Rizal of El Filibusterismo. Here is, my most beloved Pepe, the explanation in a few words of the generating cause of your present adversity. If I could erase those premises with the blood of my veins, do not doubt, my dear friend, that I would be the first one who will work with the most ardor to save you from their worst consequences. In what a bad position are you in! Believe me. Draw near with sincerity to better trees so that better shade may henceforth shelter you. Foreign heretics sowed in your soul those bad winds from which you are now reaping tempests. And how dark and cloudy is the weather that is glimpsed for you in the future!

Ah, my dear child! For this sole reason and not for another and for the great confidence and affection that I have for you, never –

God save me - with the intention of reproaching you in the least, did I dare write - perhaps with a certain indiscretion or disrespect towards you - Father Obach these words: "Tell him to set aside the foolishness of wishing to look at his affairs through the prism of his judgment and self-esteem: Nemo judex in causa propria."

You interpreted the meaning of the phrase perfectly, paying more attention to its substance than to its literary style. In the same sense, taking for granted in advance what is aforesaid in this letter, I wished by means of a simple hint to exhort you to stop now your stubbornness of desiring to emancipate the Filipinos from the gentle yoke of the Catholic religion and the Spanish nation, advocating and propagating among them the spurious doctrines of reform and separatism that only a wounded self-esteem (which I call a misunderstood sentiment of personal dignity) that adulterates your own judgment, could suggest to you. Because such stubbornness, even granting you the greatest good faith in the world and you have acted at the impulse of a mistaken conscience and even dispensing still with the moral responsibility consequently incurred by voluntary act, does not cease to be in itself at least a great madness or blind fanaticism.

Now then, limiting to these matters the proverb Nemo judex in causa propria, which is pertinent to the case, I say: That you cannot be guided with respect to them by the prism of self-judgment and self-esteem for the reason that these are obstructed and adulterated by erroneous principles and inordinate inclinations.

A modern author has very well said that truth is to intellect what light is to polarization. Polarization as you know very well is a phenomenon of the reflection or refraction of light by which light is diminished or augmented or extinguished according to the angle it forms and the refracting medium or isotropy upon which the ray of light falls.

Light, continues the said author, is not to blame for what happens to it when it is subjected to the experiences of polarization whose law Brewester proved so brilliantly.

The same then happens to truth and to good faith when they go through the refracting medium of certain intellects and hearts: There takes place a kind of spiritual polarization by virtue of which truth and good faith diminish or disappear and error and bad faith reach the maximum intensity according to the angle from which things are seen. And has not your intellect suffered from such angles of reflection or refraction of ideas, at least a kind of spiritual polarization that does not let you see the truths such as they are in themselves?

What happens to the intellect happens also to the senses, which in order that they may function rightly, it is necessary that the object, medium of transmission, and the subject or animated organ should be in proper conditions. Furthermore. Just as the will still loves the bad under the concept of the good, so also the intellect though it may err, always errs under the appearance of truth.

For this reason, the truths in every science should be derived from their first principles, which are evidently true though indemonstrable, in order to pass from them, by means of demonstration, to other unknown truths. For the demonstration reasoning has its laws and it is composed and discomposed according to the strictest rules of logic and method; but as in this entanglement of truths, at times most difficult to understand, man proceeds by way of faculty to action, from here it follows that there is something that determines the power or cognitive faculty on the act itself of cognition. Intelligence is determined by what is perceived by the senses according to what Aristotle says, Nihil est intellectu quod prius non fuerit in sensibus^,[02] and for this reason it is said that mind is an attribute of the soul that in its decisions and acts externally depends on the senses. Giving the value that corresponds to the rest of the senses in their external influence so that the mind may be able to elaborate its ideas, the best medium for their transmission is the word. For this reason the professor is the great prop or factor of our intelligence, so much so that a great many times we would not know fully the truths without the written word in the book or the spoken words of the professor. From this is deduced that never shall we be able to know in this life all the truths that can form the object of understanding nor even one sole truth from all its knowable points of view; because, as it is desired that understanding be a power, it needs something that determines it, so that it may be converted into an act, and working within limits and successively, by gradation and occasionally, it cannot know successively many objects with perfection. From this is derived that aphorism that should be applied to our faculties as well as to the senses: Pluribus intentus minor est ad singula sensus. [03] For this reason, though our knowledge may be relatively very vast, for having acted on them profitably many times, our intellect, however, speaking absolutely, is extremely limited in extent as in scope and never shall we know in this world all the objects with objective and subjective evidence that on the strength of the objective, is produced in our soul. Therefore, however learned we may be, we shall never be so learned that we shall not need to make use of the knowledge of others ... From all of which I infer that in many of the truths we have to abide, and in fact we do abide, not by our own criterion or judgment but by the criterion or judgment of others. And if this is a fact and a manifest truth in scientific and artistic matters, it is even more so in moral and historical matters in which external authority comes to constitute a true criterion that draws from our soul an assent of certitude which is in reality infallible. So you see, my dear friend, how many times one's own criterion is a little blind person who has to let himself be led by the lantern of another or by the locomotive of foreign ownership, and even if one cannot digest with the neighbor's stomach, he can however think and discuss, taking advantage of the fruit of the ideas and of the ratiocination of others; and it is not offending God nor disdaining His most precious gifts to recognize humbly how limited are our faculties, and well may one commiserate with one who is ignorant in his own house and sensible at the same time for helping himself with the light, guidance, and good counsel of his friendly neighbor. It is a great truth that the Great Father of families has given to each one of His children during his pilgrimage in this life his corresponding lantern or own judgment; but it may also happen that this lamp as a result of the poor oil that our disinherited forefathers provided us throw little light and that on account of our indolence, its glass gets soiled or the wick gets wet, or its content is spilled and we prefer then fugacious and phosphorescent light that dazzles us suddenly, afterwards leaving us in the middle of the road in a terrible and desolate gloom.

And bear in mind, my dear Rizal, that in the darkness of this life, we need in addition another lantern to guide us; we need a supernatural light to provide us with light and point to us like a bright beacon the reefs of this life and the port of salvation. Habemus, St. Peter tells us firmiorem prophetieum sermonem, cui benefacitis attendentes quasi lucernae lucenti in caliginoso loco, donec dies elucescat, et Lucifer oriatur in cordibus vestris; hoc primurn intelligentis, quod omnis prophetia Scriptura propria interpretatione non fit. Non enim voluntate humana allata est aliquando prophetia: sed Spiritu Sancto inspirati, locuti sunt sancti Dei homines. [04]

Even clearer and more refulgent than that of the lantern with which Jesus Christ illumines us: Multifarium, multisque modis, St. Paul tells us, ohm Deus locuens patribus in prophetis, novissime diebus istis locutus est nobis in Filio. [05] Consequently, we have besides the lantern of our own judgment, which frequently is uncertain, two other lanterns fed by the oil of external authority and correlative of the two orders of truths or diverse knowledge with which human intelligence is illumined, one natural and the other supernatural or revealed. This aforesaid double order of knowledge is distinct not only in the principle from which it is derived but also in the object that it pursues. In the principle, because in the first we know by means of straight natural reason and in the second by means of divine faith. In the object, because besides these things that can be reached by means of natural reason it proposes to us the belief in the mysteries hidden in God which cannot be known except through divine revelation.

Such are the mysteries God reveals to the humble who voluntarily submit their own judgment out of reasonable respect for the faith and which He hides from the learned who are infatuated with their knowledge, who do not recognize other horizons than those their limited human knowledge can reach by themselves.

I have said that the gift of our faith subjecting our own judgment to revealed truths is reasonable. In fact, as man depends entirely on God as his Creator and Lord, created reason is subject for everything to the uncreated truth; we are obliged consequently by means of our faith to render full tribute or gift of our intellect and will to revealing God. This faith which is the beginning of our justification and salvation is a supernatural virtue by means of which, aided (as you know very well) by divine grace and God's aspiration, we believe as true all the truths revealed by Jesus Christ, not by virtue of the intrinsic truth of things, known by the light of natural reason but by virtue of the authority of the same revealing God who cannot deceive Himself nor deceive us. And so that this faith mad be rational God wished that to the internal aids of the Holy Ghost be joined the external and irrefutable arguments of His revelation that theologians call Motives of Credibility, namely, divine deeds done by the infinite omnipotence and wisdom of God in confirmation of those revealed truth, and as most certain signs of divine revelation adapted to every kind of intelligence. For which reason, Moses, as well as the prophets and above all Jesus Christ, performed numerous and most patent miracles and made prophecies, and we read that the apostles, obeying God's mandate, went out to preach everywhere, the Lord cooperating and confirming their words with the miracles.

All the truths revealed by God constitute the material object of faith. The formal object of faith is formed by the authority of the same revealing God who by virtue of his infinite wisdom and kindliness cannot deceive himself nor deceive us.

Notwithstanding, even if faith may exceed reason, there cannot exist between the two any true disagreement, because God himself who reveals the mysteries and infuses faith has endowed the human soul with the light of reason. It is thus that God cannot deny Himself to Himself, consequently one truth cannot contradict another truth. In case then that some apparent contradiction may exist, it should be attributed rather to the fact that the dogmas of the faith have not been understood nor expounded in accordance with the mind of the Church or rather to the fact that the ravings of opinions have been considered axioms of reason. Consequently, a priori, any child who has learned the dogmas of the faith, with the torch of his faith can reject as false whatever proposition is evidently contrary to these dogmas. Here indeed comes fittingly that blow that Jesus Christ dealt the wise and prudent persons of this world: Ita eater quoniam sic fuit placitum ante te: abscondisti enim haec a sapientibus et prudentibus et revelasti ea parvulis. [06]

This faith in revelation has been like the standard raised by Jesus Christ and his Church before the face of the nations in order to attract all men in this manner to Him, to the understanding of supernatural truth, to the observance of divine law, and to eternal salvation. And in this sense, it must be said that revelation is necessary, inasmuch as God in His infinite kindliness ordained man for a supernatural end, namely, to share in the divine possessions that surpass entirely the intelligence of the human mind; since neither eye saw nor ear heard nor in the heart of man will ever penetrate what God has prepared for those who love Him.

And believe, my beloved Mr. Rizal, that there is no act of man on earth that is really deserving of eternal life except that which is clothed in the habit of the living faith that by another name is called habitual charity. Faith without charity is dead, and faith and hope in God without the same charity cannot obtain eternal life for you for whose acquisition we have been created in this world. Consequently, this is the will of God, our own sanctification and as its abiding fruit, eternal life.

You tell me that sometimes you also pray. Who prays hopes, and who hopes in God, believes in God. If this hope is supernatural, your faith is also supernatural. You say that it does not occur to you to ask for anything. Ask Him for the supernatural gift of faith, of hope, and of charity, and of the ultimate perseverance in these virtues, and thus the will of God will be done in you, for thus He tells us in behalf of St. Paul: Haec est voluntas Del sanetificatio vestra. Deus volt homines salvos fieri et ad agnitionem veritatis venire. [07] Obey it, my dear Rizal, for it is the most holy will of God, procuring in all earnestness your own sanctification and eternal salvation. There are many who do not obey the most holy will of God. With them God himself will justify his ire on judgment Day, and then indeed God will have his way after all in spite of the regrets of His enemies. In God there are two wills: One antecedent and the other consequent. With the antecedent will He wants us all saved; with the consequent will He gives to each one after this life his just reward. While we are on the way, let us work to win the game for heaven with our own merits aided by divine grace: for the hour will come and then no one can deserve it because the end of our merits had already arrived. The graces that God grants mortals are sufficient or efficacious according to whether man profits from them or not. Let us make use then of the talents that God has given us while we live, because our course or career being ended, having arrived already at the limit of this life, the disillusionment would be irremediable if we had to sing at that sad hour the eternal public recantation, the ergo erravimus[08] of the condemned.

The new man in us may vanquish the old man with all his erroneous judgments and inordinate inclinations; let us work, as St. Ignatius says in his book of Holy Exercises until he is overthrown... This self-esteem and self-judgment of the old man that is sought to be knocked down has certainly not been given to us by God but we have inherited them from our first parents as fruit of their original fall. There I send you the little golden booklet, Contemplus Mundi or Contemptus sui.

Read it often, especially when you find yourself desolate or upset; and believe me that to whatever page you may turn by chance, you will see there indicated the remedy for your ills; be guided by the light of this lantern; nourish yourself with the sap of its doctrine, and run swiftly aided by this locomotive towards the place of eternal peace and happiness that I ask God for you, interpreting faithfully by it the most holy will of God; Not the peace of the godless who says, Pax, pax, et non erat pax, [09] but the true peace of the children of God.

Count me as your sincere friend, especially at the present hour when you are sucking the bitter cup of deportation.

I should like to enlarge on some more considerations especially to refute your ideas on separatism for whose triumph you believe yourself sent almost by God when you say: "I consider myself fortunate to be able to suffer a little for a cause that I believe sacred; I do not remember having committed any act that humiliates me before my conscience; I admit that at the beginning I was grieved by the change of my fortune; but afterwards I consoled myself by thinking of other men more just and more worthy who have suffered much greater injustices, and as no one can make everything run here on earth in accordance with his desires, one must resign one's self. And I believe moreover that when a thing is undertaken, its success is more assured the more one suffers for it. If this is fanaticism may God forgive me for it, for my poor judgment does not see it thus.”

And in another place further down, you add: "I have planned to be useful to my fellowmen and to my country; I have wished to combat old errors and abuses; the forest that I would like to clean was very old; what is strange if the reptiles should whistle upon seeing themselves disturbed in their burrows, if the rocks should leap and crush me in their fall? It was an old muddy pit; what is strange if in stirring it, I catch a fever that may kill me? Am I mistaken? It is possible, but let my good faith and disinterestedness serve as my justification."

All of which deserves a careful reply, but in order not to prolong the present letter, I promise you, God willing, a reply by the next mail.

You know how dear you are to your friend and former director of the congregation.

Pablo Pastells

______________

[01] Right and merit.

[02] Nothing enters the mind which has not been previously felt by the senses.

[03] Literally, he who attempts too much accomplishes little! Or “All covet, all lose.”

[04] “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:19-21 (“Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the Holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.” New American Bible translation)

[05] God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son… Hebrews 1:1-2 (In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe,…” New American Bible translation)

[06] O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast thou revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. Luke 10:21 ("I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.” New American Bible translation).

[07] This is the will of God to make you holy. God wishes men to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 (“This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.” – New American Bible translation).

[08] Therefore we erred.

[09] Peace, peace, and there was no peace. Jeremiah 6:14 (“’Peace, peace!’ They say, though there is no peace.” – New American Bible translation).

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097. Rizal, Dapitan, 25 October 1892 || To Ricardo Carnicero

Dapitan, 25 October 1892

Mr. Ricardo Carnicero

Dapitan

Friend Mr. Carnicero,

I have thought well about the points in various conversations that we had these days and I write down here what occurs to me so as to put them on record and you may not forget them.

Not only would I have great pleasure in seeing here my relatives and fellow townsmen who are in Jolo, as I have stated to you on various occasions, but I even believe that their coming is advantageous for them and perhaps to the life of this district. They will like this place from the point of view of farming and I am sure that if they settle here, many from my town would come and who knows if from other parts of Luzon as well, to cultivate the immense lands of Mindanao. I myself though a descendant of farmers but not so by profession, would remain here forever and engage in farming with pleasure, if my situation would change and I could dispose of my complete freedom to cultivate my little land whose ownership, as you well know, I wish to register and insure. I would make my parents come and with them all my things, my furniture, my collection of paintings, arms, sculptures, and above all my books, so long as I am assured of their free entry and free use; otherwise I would prefer to bequeath them to any public library so that they may be utilized and not get lost.

It is needless for me to add that I promise the Government not to abuse the liberty that it may grant me.

Most affectionately yours,

Rizal

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098. Rizal, Dapitan, 11 November 1892 || To Father Pablo Pastells

Dapitan, 11 November 1892

Very Reverend Father Pablo Pastells

My very reverend Father,

Before answering your precious letter, I must thank you for the Kempis that you have presented to me. I had already leafed through the French translation and I have liked it so much that I consider it no little luck to have it now in Spanish, though they assure me that it is even better in its Latin original. Pearls abound in its pages and scarcely do I come across an axiom that my imperfect discernment cannot comprehend. With justifiable reason it has been translated into almost all languages, even into Tagalog by Fr. Vicente Garcia, one of the canons of the Cathedral.

I appreciate likewise the works of Fr. Chirino and of Fr. Delgado and the Cartas de los Misioneros that you present to me, according to Fr. Sanchez. I have asked for these works as a purchase, otherwise I would not have dared to ask for them for I do not believe I deserve from any one so many proofs of kindness nor do I have anything with which to return them. But Your Reverence, being of a lofty mind, will say that you give without ulterior motive, guided more by the goodness of your heart than by the merits or gratitude of the recipient and because you know that all that is done for a selfish end becomes odious, because it is converted into a kind of inescapable bond.

I shall overlook the forbearance with which Your Reverence received my previous letter and I will tell you nothing of the admiration that your letter inspires me in every respect. The time of Your Reverence is precious; it is not to be spent in listening to praises however deserved they are. I will pick up the phrases that have impressed me most and I am going to comment on them with due respect.

Your Reverence exclaims on the first page: "What a pity that such an excellent young man had not lavished his talents on the defense of better causes!"

It is very possible that there may be better ones than those I have embraced, but my cause is good and this is enough for me. Others undoubtedly will yield more profit, more renown, more honors, more glories, but the cane, on being born in this land, is for the purpose of supporting nipa huts and not the heavy bulk of the buildings of Europe. I do not regret neither the humbleness of my cause nor the meagerness of its rewards but the little talent that God has given me to serve it. If instead of weak cane I had been solid molave, better service I would be able to render. But He who has arranged it thus sees what the future brings, does not err in any of His acts, and knows very well for what use are even the smallest things.

As to honor, fame, or benefit that I might have been able to reap, I agree that all that is especially tempting to a young man like me of flesh and blood with so many weaknesses like anybody else. But as no one chooses the nationality or race in which he is born and as at birth, privileges or advantages inherent in both things are already in existence, I accept the cause of my country in the firm belief that He who has made me a Filipino would know how to forgive me for the mistakes that I commit, considering our difficult situation and the defective education that from birth we receive. Moreover, I do not aspire either for eternal fame or eternal renown; I do not aspire to equal others whose conditions, faculties, and circumstances could be and are in effect different from mine. My sole wish is to do what is possible, what is in my hands, the most necessary. I have glimpsed a little light and I believe that it is my duty to teach it to my countrymen. Others more fortunate, Sarda or anybody else, may soar to the summit.

Your Reverence does very well in limiting yourself to the philosophic-religious question laying aside politics for future discussion; I would ask you to reserve it ad kalendas graecas. The subject is very delicate and it is not to be touched on in the conditions in which I am in, as Your Reverence can understand. Without liberty, a somewhat independent view would be provocative and another that is affectionate would be considered baseness or adulation, and I cannot be either a provoker or base or flatterer. In order that politics may be discussed luminously and may produce results it needs, in my opinion, large spheres of freedom.

Concerning the genesis of my works and writings, Your Reverence suggests to me an idea that I did not suspect when you allude to certain resentments and my wounded dignity. I do not deny the possibility that such might have happened with respect to my latest writings, but with respect to the first... With the sincerity and impartiality that a man is susceptible in examining his past, I have turned back my eyes to the fresh years of my youth and I have asked myself if sometimes resentment had moved the pen with which I wrote the Noli me tangere and my memory answered me in the negative. If on various occasions they have treated me with marked injustice; if my works had been passed over in silence with marked disdain; if against all reason, my complaints have been ignored, I was very young yet I forgave more readily than I do now, and however deep were the wounds, they healed at last, thanks to the good crust with which nature has endowed me. There were not therefore swollen wounds; there were no thorns that had deepened; what there was a clear vision of the reality of my motherland, the vivid memory of what was happening, and a sufficient dexterity to judge the etiology in such a way that not only could^- I paint the event but also divine the future, inasmuch as even now I see being realized with such accuracy what I called novel that I can say that I attend a performance of my own work, taking part in it.

With regard to German inspirations, Protestant, etc. etc., I will tell you that I am sorry to see the erudite Fr Pastells being confused on this point along with the populace who believe all they hear without previous examination. It is true that I have read German works and I also discussed what I read. But to suppose that Germans had inspired me is to be totally ignorant of the German people, their character, and their pursuits -- half of the Noli me tangere was written at Madrid, one fourth at Paris, and the other fourth in Germany. Witnesses were my countrymen who saw me working. The populace when they find themselves with something that surprises them, having no patience or calmness to analyze it, attributes it immediately to causes that preoccupy them most -- if it is good, to friendly spirits, if it is bad, to enemies. In the Middle Ages everything bad was the work of the devil and everything good, of God or of His saints. The French of today see the hand of Germany in every misadventure and so are the rest.

However, for the sake of truth, I will say that in correcting my work in Germany, I retouched it a great deal and shortened it further. But I have also tempered the fits, softening many phrases and reducing many things to their just proportion as I acquired a more ample vision of things seen from afar, as my imagination cooled off in the midst of the calm peculiar to that country. I can add more: no German knew about my work before its publication, neither Blumentritt, who always extolled the Catholic religion in his letters to me, nor Virchow, nor Jagor, nor Joest with whom I dealt in the societies to which I belonged, nor Schulzer in whose clinic I worked. Nevertheless I do not deny that the environment in which I lived might have influenced me especially on remembering my native land in the midst of that free people, industrious, studious, well governed, full of confidence in their future, and master of their own destiny.

As to being a Protestant... If Your Reverence knew what I had lost for not accepting Protestantism, you would not say such a thing. Had I not always respected the religious idea, had I held religion as a matter of convenience or an art of getting along in this life, instead of being a poor exile, I would now be a rich man, free, and covered with honors. Rizal, Protestant! There bursts in my breast a laughter which I suppress only out of my respect for all that Your Reverence say. Your Reverence should have heard my discussions with a Protestant curate in the long summer twilights there in the solitude of Odenwald. There, in calm and slow conversation, with freedom to speak, we talked about our respective beliefs, of the morality of peoples, and the influence of their respective creeds on them. A great respect for the good faith of the adversary and for the most contrary ideas that must necessarily arise due to the difference in race, education, and age, led us almost always to the conclusion that religions, whatever they might be, should not make men enemies of one another but rather brothers and real brothers. From these conversations, that were repeated almost every day for a period of more than three months, I do not believe I obtained anything, if my judgment does not deceive me, but a profound respect for every idea sincerely conceived and practiced with conviction.

Almost every month a Catholic curate of a little town on the banks of the Rhine went there to visit him, and this curate, intimate friend of the Protestant, gave me an example of Christian fraternity. They considered themselves two servants of the same God and instead of spending their time quarreling, each one fulfilled his duty, leaving it to their Lord to judge afterwards who had interpreted better His will.

I am very grateful for your immense charity when you say: "If with the blood of my veins I could erase those premises, etc., etc… It is true that my situation is not very pleasant, accustomed as I am to live under other atmospheres, to enjoy the liberty necessary for man to be responsible for his acts; it is true I have to deprive myself of many things, nay, to repress myself; that the loss of the family, the destruction of a future prepared during my whole youth, the seclusion from the social world -- all constitute a great penalty, but who does not have regrets in this life? A bit of philosophy and another bit of resignation will make me bear my little sorrows. What is my misfortune compared with that of many others? I know too well that there are better trees that provide better shade, but in the midst of the gloom that reigns in my country I do not look for the shade, I prefer light.

"And what dark and cloudy weather is glimpsed for his future!" Thus Your Reverence ends the paragraph in which the kindness of your heart can be seen. What can we do about it? The tempest will pass away and at the worse, I shall pass away with it. There are the beautiful pages of the Kempis that will tell you that "in this world there cannot be perfect security nor complete peace", that the life of man on the earth is miserable," etc. It is so brief and the happiest is so full of bitterness that in truth it is not worthwhile to sacrifice a conviction for round pieces of metal or in the form of a cross. And besides, it is all a question of temperament -- some seek happiness in riches, in honors; others in humiliating and bending their fellowmen; others in making the rest believe in what they themselves do not believe in or in believing in what nobody else believes; others are contented with their self-respect, with directing themselves cautiously, etc. Affaires d’ education as the French would say; of the nervous system, the physicians would say; egoism, the philosophers would say ... And who knows if the tempest that Your Reverence foretell, besides pulling out this weak plant, will not knock down century-old trees or at least shake them and tear off their branches, clear the air charged with the miasma that the stagnation of so many centuries has been exhaling in ominous silence? Who knows? Who can foresee all the consequences of an act? Let the tempest be welcome if it will produce something good, the advancement of my native land, if it can attract the favorable attention of Mother Spain to her eight million subjects who entrust their future to her!

Beautiful and accurate I find the similes that Your Reverence adduces from the genesis and conception of truth by the human mind. I will not deny the possibility that truth might have polarized in passing through my understanding. Polarization is a phenomenon presented by crystals when they have been pressed and compressed in their manufacture. How can I deny moreover since I am a man and am fallible. I agree that our intelligence cannot embrace all knowledge nor all truths principally those that can be known only through time and manifold experience and I believe more, I believe that, with the exception of mathematical truths, scarcely have we a few, more or less pure, more or less imperfect. In social, moral and political questions we move in such darkness (I speak for myself) that many times we confuse the truth with our convenience, if we do not gag it in order to let our passions speak. I also agree that our judgment is often deceived, our reason errs, but Your Reverence will also agree that only reason knows how to correct its blunders, only reason knows how to rise each time from its falls that it must suffer perforce in its long pilgrimage through the earth. Humankind in its greatest madness has not been able to extinguish that lamp given to it by God. Its light has dimmed at times and man has erred on his way but such a condition passes, afterwards its light shines more brightly, more powerfully, and the errors of the past are recognized in its rays and the abysses of the future are pointed out.

Of course I admit with Your Reverence that supernatural(divine) light is much more perfect than human reason. Who will doubt that Torch when we see in this world the effects of the tiny spark bestowed on mankind? What will God's reason be like when that of the inhabitant of tiny world is flung by Him into space like a snail among the giants of the sea surprises me? But, who with justifiable reason can call himself the reflector of that Light on this our little planet? All religions pretend to hold the truth. What religions do I say? Each man, the most ignorant, the most giddy, pretends to be right. On seeing so many beliefs and so many convictions, on hearing the disdain of every sectarian for the beliefs of others and the marvels miracles, testimonies with which every religion pretends to prove its divinity or divine origin at least; on seeing intelligent, honest, and studious men born in the same climate in the same society, with the same customs, with the same desires to perfect and save themselves, profess in religious matters diverse creeds, a simile comes to my mind that I will allow myself to transcribe here so that Your Reverence may understand my manner of thinking. I imagine men engages in the study of the truth like students of drawing who copy a statue seated around it, some nearer, others farther who from a certain height, who at its feet, see it in different manners; and the more they try to do their best in being faithful in their drawings, the more they differ from one another. Those who copy directly from the original are thinkers who differ from one another for starting from different principles, founders of schools or doctrines. A large number, for being very far, for not seeing well, for not being so skillful, for laziness, or for any other analogous cause, are contented with making a copy from another copy of the one nearest to them, or if they are willing, from what seemed to them best or what passes for the best. These copyists correspond to the partisans, the active sectarians of an idea. Others, even lazier and not daring to draw a single line in order not to commit a blunder, buy themselves a ready-made copy, perhaps a photograph, a lithograph, and they are so contented and cheerful. To this group belong the passive sectarians, those who believe everything in order not to think. Well now, who is to judge the drawings of the others by taking his own as the norm? He would have to move to the same place and judge from the same point of view of the other. And even for this, he ought to place his eyes at the same height and at the same distance in which the other had his, eau to have e curves of the retina identical to those of the other, the same conditions in the retracting media, and the same artistic sense.

And Your Reverence should not tell me that the truths, seen from all points will always show the same form; this would be for Him who is everywhere. For us, mathematical truths which are like plane figures present themselves only in one form. But religious, moral, and political truths are figures of extent and depth, they are complex truths, and human intelligence has to study them in parts.

From my way of thinking I infer that no one can judge the beliefs of others taking his own for the norm. Before discussing them the point of departure should be studied in order to see which was preferred, whether the side of the shadows (pessimism), or the part wholly bathed in light (optimism), or the adequate combination of the two to turn out a beautiful chiaroscuro [the use of light and shade to produce the illusion of depth or make a picture more dramatic - rly].

And if it is very difficult to place one's self in the same point of view of others in the material world, how much more difficult it is in the moral that is complex and hidden?

This is not the time or the occasion to tell Your Reverence why I have a point of view different from yours. I could tell Your Reverence what is mine if I knew it would interest you. But this letter is getting already too long and I will lay aside this question for the time. Your Reverence may ask me about it.

I do not wish, however, to close this letter without manifesting to you my surprise at the conclusion of Your Reverence attributing to me more than I give myself when you say: "I should like to go further in some considerations, especially to refute your ideas of separatism for whose triumph you believe yourself sent, etc." I do not wish to suppose that Your Reverence has a tendency to rash judgments or to believe that you are somewhat influenced by the general custom in the Philippines of resorting to filibusterismo, separatism, patriotism, etc„ etc.; I would rather believe that I had expressed myself poorly if Your Reverence would not quote me the paragraphs from which you deduce such a conclusion; but I reread them and I do not find in them such thought. Is the one who believes himself sent by God doubts as I do? Do those who believe themselves predestined waver and err: But in conscience, does not Your Reverence believe that the humblest creature has some purpose to fulfill on earth; If there were useless beings, beings whose existence were absolutely unimportant, knowing that in this world there are more sorrows than pleasures, is it not cruelty to create them? I can very well be the partisan of an idea and I believe I am, but from this to the very envoy of God to make it triumph, there is a distance. Between the soldier who wields a pickaxe and the general who directs the campaign, there is a whole army register; between the advanced guard and the last charge that will gather the fruit of victory there intervenes transcendental time, there intervenes a whole battle. And next, who tells Your Reverence that the welfare of my country, which is all I pursue, can only be found in separatism?

And so that Your Reverence may see that I am always the common and ordinary man who submits to circumstances, I shall inform you that I am engaged in farming. To what else can one engage in Dapitan? Your Reverence sees an envoy of God planting coffee and cacao! Risum teneatis [01] I have bought here from different owners several parcels of abandoned land; I build myself a little house and as the land is a little far, I am intending to ask His Excellency to permit me to live on it in order to farm it better. It is hilly and rocky with some fruit trees which benefit the monkeys of the forests. It is about 25 minutes from the town; or better it can be reached in baroto [02] a thing many do, for sometimes there cannot be found a banca. I intend besides to register the property as soon as all the negotiations are concluded.

_______________

[01] Fragment of verse 5 of The Poetic Art of Horace. It is applied to ridiculous things.

[02] A small sailing vessel.

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099. Fr. Pablo Pastells, Manila, 8 December 1892

Fr. Pastells is deeply interested in Rizal’s eternal salvation. He claims Rizal has expressed Protestant ideas in his books – Quotes the Bible, St. Augustine, etc.

J H S

Manila, 8 December 1892

Mr. José Rizal

Dapitan

My most beloved in Christ Don Jose:

I received your esteemed letter of 11 November in which you state that you have a point of view in religious matters different from mine; that if I am interested in asking you about it, you will tell me in what it consists even though you do not believe it opportune for the present to tell me why. Why will I not be interested in asking you with all solicitude about the most important business you have at hand -- the sole, necessary, transcendental business of your eternal salvation which can not be defered? Therefore, please indicate to me in the most concrete way and as fully as possible your manner of thinking concerning religious matters.

You assure me that you are not a Protestant and that had it not been for your respect for the religious idea and for holding religion as a matter of convenience or as an art to get along well in this life, you would now be rich, free, and covered with honors. I am sincerely glad for such candid confession. You add besides that had I heard your discussions with a Protestant curate in the long summer twilights there in the solitude of Odenwald, when in slow, calm conversation, having the freedom to speak, you talked about your respective beliefs, about the morality of peoples,, and the influence of their respective creeds, I would not have formed such a hasty opinion.

Come on, my dear friend, what do you want me to tell you? For, even dispensing with all that you had written in conformity with Protestant doctrines in the Noli me tangere, El Filibusterismo, and in your annotations to Morga which books I have read and are now in my possession. What is the significance of the conclusion that you got from the discussions throughout the three months that the conversations tasted? You yourself state it: A profound respect. You for the good faith of the adversary and for the most contrary ideas... which led you almost always to the conclusion that religions, whatever they might be should not make men enemies of one another but brothers and real brothers So that from those conferences you did not get anything else but a profound respect for all ideas sincerely conceived and practiced with conviction?... Well, already you fell into the trap in which the curate of Odenwald put you. Yes, my friend, because this theory of respecting the most contrary ideas that diverse religions ought to unite men in their very diversity, professing profound respect for every idea sincerely conceived and practiced with conviction is thoroughly Protestant, because it is the consecration of the personal judgment of men.

The Catholic curate of the little town on the banks of the Rhine who gave you an example of this Christian fraternity, considering himself with the Protestant as two servants of the same God... if he did such a thing he would be a simpleton, ignorant, who had lost the Catholic common sense because he necessarily must be so to consider the Protestant servant of the God of the Catholics. This can only be affirmed by those who, like you, believe that the differences between Catholics and Protestants are only of opinion and not of faith and that a religious duty can fulfilled without knowing how the will of God is interpreted in it. This is interpreted well and better with Catholicism; neither better nor well but bad and worse with Protestantism.

The moderate Protestants believe that in all sects one can interpret and fulfill the will of God and be saved. The liberal Protestants even more progressive, like Lessing [Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: a German dramatist and critic. He held a view of evolutionary development in the Judaic, Christian and other religions toward a more rational state. - rly], Reymarus [Hermann Samuel Reymarus: Protestant minister espousing deism basing faith on reason. He held Christ to be human and questioned all miracles other than the miracle of creation. - rly], those of the evangelical alliance, with all the file of freethinkers of our days at whose head Draper pretends to be [John Henry Draper: British-American author of History of the Conflict Between History and Science which held that religion was incompatible with science and progress. He was especially critical of the Roman Catholic Church. Liberal Spanish intellectuals embraced the Spanish translation of his work. -- rly], affirm that in all the religions of the universe and even without any religion, man can fulfill his duty and gain happiness. It is evident that in this way they pretend to place on the pedestal the idol of reason, independent and separate from faith, and constitute it as the supreme judge and final arbiter of all truths. And is this not to pretend to dethrone God and elevate prostituted reason in His place as the philosophers of the French Revolution (supported by Draper in his Conflicts) did in the last century, putting up a statue of the Goddess of Reason, personified by a prostitute? … If this is admitted, all science and philosophy become unnecessary and the most contradictory principles and the most illogical and monstrous deductions will be respected as axioms of truth. Where shall we end with such absurdities if not in the destruction of reason and its objective which is truth and in universal skepticism? Is this practical and reasonable?... Well, there you have the consequences of that free and independent reason that could very well be called the reason of wrong inasmuch as far from being guided by the inexorable laws of legitimate reasoning, allows itself to be led quite often by the caprices of the madwoman of the house, Lady Imagination.

Such deviations or misbehavior of reason ought to be attacked and corrected decisively by reason itself illumined by faith and this system, the lone savior of true knowledge and of true religion, is what every one who values himself as a Catholic should practice exclusively.

Interficite errores,[01] St. Augustine says to us, et diligite homines from which I deduce that the good faith of the adversary deserves consideration but not any of the ideas contrary to truth. True religion ought to regard the false ones as enemies. Thus Christ said: qui non est pecum contra me est[02], nor can he tolerate their errors however much he may consider their followers as strayed sheep that live outside of the flock and the fold, love them as a Catholic, take an interest in them as fellowmen, attract them solicitously as children of the same Father who is in heaven into whose paternal dwelling he ought to endeavor to introduce them that in serving Him they may glorify Him. Et alias oves habeo, Christ himself said to the Apostles, quae non sunt ex hoc ovili, et illas oportet ad me adducere et vocem meam audient, et fiat unum ovile et unus pastor.[03] He came to the world with such purpose, ut salvurn faceret quod perierat, et ut filios Dei qui erant dispersi congregaret in unum. [To save what had perished and to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. John 11:52 - rly]

With identical purpose therefore we also ought to work, by means of the wholesome teachings of the Church combating error and falsehood in order to bring back those who err to the fold, to the gentle yoke of the law of Christ and perpetuate in this manner among men the extremely abundant fruits of their redemption. The Savior roused his disciples to such heroic undertaking when he told them: Ignem veni mittere in terram et quid volo nisi ut accendatur... Non veni pacem mittere sed gladium... [04]

As a summary of everything said, it is necessary to conclude by establishing the following bases: 1. The greatest benevolence and profound respect, complete acquiescence and even solidarity with every true idea sincerely conceived and practiced with conviction. 2. Profound hatred, implacable and ceaseless war against all false and erroneous ideas. 3. Commiseration towards persons who have sincerely conceived and practiced with conviction false and erroneous doctrines, offering them opportune and even inopportune and efficacious aid whenever an occasion arises in order to banish their errors and make them come out of the mire into which their bad convictions and habits have plunged them. 4. Persecute, isolate, silence, and confuse every erroneous idea maliciously conceived and practiced, especially if it is pernicious so that it will not contaminate society with its harmful purpose. In the latter case, severity is charity and pity would be cruelty.

You tell me that in the midst of the darkness that reigns over your country you do not want shadows but you prefer light. So much the better; however, you should try that this be the true light; Jesus Christ says of himself: Ego sum lux mundi, qui venit ad me non ambulat in tenebris. [05] Of this light the evangelist St. John writes: Erat lux vera quae illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum. [06] Therefore I add: Ambulate dum lucem habetis et dum lucem habetis credite in lucem ut filii lucis sit is. Jesus Christ said also: Ego sum veritas.[07] In another part of your letter however you add: "Of course I admit with Your Reverence that supernatural (divine) light is much more perfect than human reason. Who will doubt that Torch when we see in this world the effects of the little spark (?) granted (?) to mankind (?). What will the creator's operates in eternal matter and infinite producer of all the phenomena that develop in the universe.

Theories are all those that like castles of cards have been erected in the erring reason of freethinkers since the supposed reconstruction of philosophy and science owing to the first principle or false supposition of Descartes [René Descartes: French philosopher and mathematician - rly], Cogito, ergo sum;[08] a principle that its author never dreamed would give rise to materialism. idealism, and pantheism in philosophy, liberalism in politics, deism, rationalism, incredulity, and indifference in religion, romanticism and naturalism in literature and fine arts, and positivism and egoism in domestic, civil, and social economy, in all the branches of commercial, industrial, and agricultural life. In all these manifestations it always appears downright conceit and arrogance in the forefront with Satanic autolatria [automatic giving of the glory that belongs only to God - rly] or rather the apotheosis [raising a person to the status of God - rly] of the “I.”

I sincerely congratulate you that you are not a partisan of these systems; for you admit the existence of one God, Creator and Lord of all creation. But do you also admit the divinity of Jesus Christ and the divine institution of his church?

I ask you this question because I see that you continue in your letter thus: "But who with justifiable reason can call himself on this our planet the reflector of that Light? Who? Well... Jesus Christ God and true man. By virtue of his human nature he is the legitimate Reflector and by virtue of his nature and divine personality, the same light and splendor of his Eternal Father.

Credo, the Church sings, in unum Dominum Jesum Christum Filium Del unigenitum et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula, Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lunine, Deum verum de Deo vero. Genitum non factum, Consubstantialem Patri per quern omnia facta sent, qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de coelis et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria virgine et homo factus est. Crucifictus et iam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato passus et sepultus est et resurrexit tertio die secundum Scripturas et ascendit in coelos sedet ad dexterram Patris, et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare vivos et mnortuos cujus regni non erit finis. [09]

The Holy Ghost comes from the Father and the Son. Nor is the Church made pagan by believing in the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity because in it are three persons and one God. You ought to believe this if you are still a Catholic...

But, the following words that I read in your letter make my soul cold: "All religions pretend to possess the truth ... On hearing the marvels, miracles, and testimonies, etc. with which every religion pretends to prove its divinity or origin at least, on seeing intelligent, honest men... with the same desire to perfect and save themselves, profess in matters of religion diverse beliefs ...I imagine men engaged in the study of truth like students copying a statue. Seated around it ... they see it in different ways and the more they endeavor to be faithful in their drawings the more these drawings will be different from one another... And Your Reverence do not tell me that truths seen from all points always have to show the same form; this would be for Him who is everywhere and whose glance embraces everything. To us only mathematical truths that are like plane figures show themselves in that manner; but religious, moral, and political truths are figures of extent and depth ... and this is without speaking of preoccupations, of suggestions, of sympathies!... "

And the divine mission of Jesus Christ, my dear friend, and his divinity itself count for naught and weigh nothing on the disk of your intellectual balance with the object of tilting your assent?

The divine mission of Jesus Christ is more than sufficient, most abundantly proven by his miracles, which if they are true, are the most evident testimonies and constitute a kind of irrefutable proofs, digna infidelibus [convincing even the pagans - rly] ... I will cite you only one that is worth a thousand in order not to tire your attention, Ab uno disce omnes.[10] Who, on seeing a four-day buried corpse, fetid and decomposed, that at the sole voice of one man returns to life, will deny that a true miracle of the first order had been worked there? Well such was the resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus Christ. A public act, done before the face of an entire town, a transcendental act that its performance cost Jesus Christ himself his life. Will you deny it perchance? Well, you close all the pages of history inasmuch as from now on they are of no use to me. Either authenticity has no proofs or this is an unimpeachable authentic miracle. . .

Well now, Jesus Christ performed that miracle to prove his divine mission. Already on another occasion he had said to the Jews: St mihi non vultis credere, operibus credite. [If you do not wish to believe me, believe my works – rly (see John 10:38)] In relating the deed St. Luke [actually, the quotation is from the gospel of John 11:42-44 - rly] says thus: Jesus autem elevatis sursum oculis, dixit: Pater gratias ego tibi quoniam audisti me. Ego autem sciebam quia semper me audis, sed propter populum qui me circunstat, dixi, ut credant quia to me misisti. Haec cum dixisset, voce magna clamavit; Lazare vent foras et statum prodiit qui fuerat mortuus, ligatus pedes et manus institis et illius sudario eras ligata. Dixit eis Jesus, solve eum et smite abire. [11]

Let all the leaders of the other religions and other copyists come now and do as much beyond the reach of natural laws.

The miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus proves therefore the divine mission of Jesus Christ.

The miracle of the glorious resurrection of his own body likewise proves the divinity of Jesus Christ.

It is so public and resounding an act, the most transcendental of all for Christianity, because it constitutes the most evident proof of the truth of the religion established by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ himself had foretold it repeatedly before it occurred. Ecce ascendimus Jerosolyman, Jesus Christ once told his apostles, et consummabuntur omnia quae scripta sunt per Prophetas de Filio hominis. Tradetur enim gentibus et illudetur, et flagellabitur, et consepuetur; et postquam flagellaverint occident eum, et tertia die resurget.[12] On another occasion, after his transfiguration on the Tabor, he had prescribed to his three apostles who witnessed it. Peter, John, and James: Nemine dixeritis vi sionen donec Filius hominis a mortuis resurgat; [13] and at another place Solvite templum hoc et in tribus diebus excitabo illud. [14] Ipse autem, adds the evangelist loquebatur de templo corporis sui. [But he spoke of the temple of His body (John 2:21) - rly] And in other passages when he says, Praecedam vos in Galilea[15] and in the comparison of his burial with that of Jonas in the belly of the whale, etc.

The act of the resurrection of Christ was so evident and clear that St. Thomas himself so obstinately persistent in his incredulity formerly, had to admit it later, not till after he had put his fingers on the scars of the wounds of the hands, feet, and the side of Jesus Christ.

This event was so publicly known, universally admitted, and of such practical and transcendental consequences that I cannot resist copying here all that the Doctor of the Gentiles remarked about it in his letter to the Corinthians,: Chap. XV, v.1-23: Notum autem vobis facio, Fratres, evangelium quod praedicavi vobis, quod et accepistis, in quo et statis per quod et salvamini qua ratione praedicaverirn vobis, si tenetis, nisi frustra credidistis. Tradidi enim vobis in primis, quod et accepi; quoniam Christus mortuus est pro peccatis nostris, secundum Scripturas; et quia visus est Cephae et post hoc undecim; deinde visus est plus quam quimgentis fratribus simul, ex quibus multi manent usque ad huc, quidam autem dormierunt; deinde visus est Jacobo, deinde apostolis omnibus; novissima autem omnium tanquam abortivo, visus est et mihi. Ego enim sum minimus apostolorum, qui non sum dignus vocari quoniam persecutus sum ecclesiam Dei. Gratia autem Dei sum id quod sum et gratia ejus in me vacua non fuit; sed abundantius illis omnibus laboravi; non ego autem, sed gratia Dei mecum. Sive enim ego, sive illi, sic praedicamus, et sic credidistis.... Si autem Christus praedicatur quod resurrexit a mortuis, quomodo quidam dicunt in vobis quoniam resurrectio mortuorum non est? Si autem resurrectio mortuorum non est, neque Christus resurrexit. Si autem Christus non resurrexit, inanis est ergo praedicatio nostra, inanis est et fides vestra. Invenimur autem et (also testes Dei, quoniam testimonium diximus adversus Deum, quod suscitaverit Christum, quern non suscitavit si mortui non resurgunt. Num si mortui non resurgunt, neque Christus resurrexit. Quod si Christus non resurrexit, vana est tides vestra: adbuc enim estis in peccatis vestris. Ergo et qui dormierunt in Christo. perierunt. Si in hac vita tantum in Christo sperantes mus, miserabiliores sumus omnibus hominibus.

Nunc autem Christus resurrexit a mortuis, primitiae dormientium; quoniam quidem per hominem morn, et Pet hominem resurrectio mortuorum. Et sicut in Adam omnis moriuntur, ita est in Christo omnes vivijicabuntur. [16]

Jesus Christ resurrected by his own virtue, according to his own testimony. When he drove out of the temple the merchants he told them: Auferte ista hint, et nolite facere. domum Patris mei, domun negociationis.[17] Then the Jews asked him to perform a miracle to prove his divinity as the Son of God for he acted with such authority, Quod signum ostendis nobis quia haec facis,[18] to which Christ replied Solvite templum hoc, et in tribes diebus excitabo illud. [“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” – John 2:18-19 - rly] The word in the Hebrew text signifies templum et corpus [both temple and body - rly] Jesus Christ was talking of the resurrection of his own body, through his own virtue, the Jews inasmuch as they were then in the temple, understood it as excitabo illud, [reconstruction of the physical temple - rly] that he was talking about its reconstruction, and so they told him: Quadraginta et sextannis aedificatum est templum hoc, et tu in tribus diebus excitabis illud? [19] But the evangelist, a witness of the deed, explains afterward the meaning of what the Lord said: Ille autem dicebat de temply corporis sui. Cum ergo resurrexist a mortuis recordati sunt discipuli ejus quia hoc dicebat, et credidierunt Scriptura et sermoni quem dixit Jesus. [20]

Therefore the example that you adduce of the students copying a statue does not apply; because it does not deal there any statues but of the very original and prototype Jesus Christ, God, and true man, author of religion, of revelation, and sanctification, founder of the Catholic church, consummator and object of our hope, cause, and motive of our being, knowledge, and natural inclinations, as God creator, and supernatural as Redeemer, and at the same time the end of our eternal happiness. Ego sum, he tells us, the principium et finis. [21] With what other point of view then can men regard the supernatural but with that given to them by the very same being and author of the supernatural who is God himself whose gaze embraces all? He has elevated our faculties and has put them in such conditions of aptitude by means of His divine grace, illuminative and impulsive, that our intelligence aided by it can know the existence of the mysteries and our will to believe them and to wish and act in conformity with the most holy will of God in such a way that all the acts of the virtues will entitle us to life eternal if we perform them invested with the sanctifying grace of habitual charity.

Inspice, ergo, et fac secundum exemplar quod tibi monstratum est. [22] Et noli vacari Rabbi super terram, unus est enim Magister noster, Christus. [23] At another place he teaches us saying: Ego sum via veritas et vita. [24] Blessed are those who listen to his teachings and keep them. Let us listen to Christ then. He has established his church to which he entrusted the body of his revelation and made it the dispenser of his graces, and for this purpose promised the church as well as its head or chief, the visible vicar of Christ himself on earth, His aid until the end of the centuries. I should like to tell you something of the origin and prerogatives of this divine institution; however I am afraid to prolong myself too much and we shall leave it in any case for the next mail. As you please, we shall leave the political question ad kalendas graecas [literally: "on the Greek day of Calende" an idiomatic expression such as "when pigs fly." - rly] concerning which I believe you are involved in a paralogism [reasoning contrary to the rules of logic, faulty argument - rly] called fallacy of the heart. Bear in mind, however, that first, the right of Spain to the occupation and later to the domination of the Philippines was a divine and natural right; second, that the prescription of the fact of Spanish domination over the Philippines with attending circumstances sanctioned her original right; third, that the fruits of the occupation and domination of Spain, secured for the benefit of the Philippines, thanks to the system of legislation, government, administration, and culture adopted and employed by Spain, corroborate the fact and right of her domination, and the abuses committed in all branches of the government by the personnel of the same, even if they ought to be corrected, cannot be used to destroy the fact or right of her domination; fourth, Philippine separatism constitutes, especially at present, the ugliest blot of downright ingratitude; fifth, that separatism in the Philippines is impossible of execution, indefensible in practice, and, in the end, unwise; and sixth and last, that united to Spain, the Philippines will run triumphantly until the end over the course of true progress, but separated from her she will inevitably run headlong into the chaos of anarchy, of slavery, of savagery.

I pity those people for their wretched condition in their muddy places during the planting season. Please see how all this could be avoided. We will try to remedy it as long as it is within my power. My regards to Mr. Ricardo.

I remain your affectionate friend and servant in Christ.

Pablo Pastells, S.J.

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[01] Destroy errors and love men.

[02] He who is not with me is against me.

[03] And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, and them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. John 10:16.

[04] I am come to send fire on the earth and what will I if it be already kindled? Luke 12:49. I came not to send peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34.

[05] I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness. John 8:12.

[06] That was the true Light which enlightens every man that comes into the world. John 1:9.

[07] I am the truth. From John 14:6.

[08] I think, therefore, I exist.

[09] I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, born of the Father before all ages, God of God; Light of Light; true God of true God. Begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father, by Whom all things were made, who for us, and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made Man. He was crucified also for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead and His kingdom shall have no end. [From the Nicene Creed]

[10] From one learn all.

[11] Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I know that you hear me always; but because of the people who stand by, I said it that they may believe that you have sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said unto them, “Loose him and let him go.” (John 11:42-44)

[12] Behold we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the SON of man shall be accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spit upon, and they shall scourge Him and put Him to death; and the third day He shall rise again. (Luke 18:31-33)

[13] Tell no one what things they had seen until the Son of man is raised from the dead. (Matthew 17:9)

[14] Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. (John 2:19)

[15] I will go before you into Galilee. (Matthew 26:32)

[16] Now I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me. Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

But if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then empty (too) is our preaching; empty, too, your faith. Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life.

[17] Take these things away; do not my father’s house a house of merchandise. [John 2:16]

[18] “What sign do you show unto us, seeing that you do these things?” Christ replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” [John 2:18-19]

[19] It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? [John 2:19]

[20] But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this to them, and they elevated the scriptures, and the word Jesus had said. [John 2:21-22]

[21] I am the beginning and the end. [Revelation 1:8]

[22] Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,… [Matthew 23:3]

[23] Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Messiah. [Matthew 23:10]

[24] I am the truth and the life. [from John 14:6]

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100. Rizal (Dapitan) 30 December 1892 || To Father Francisco de Paula Sáchez

How to prepare bakhaw paste – Rizal’s recipe.

(Dapitan), 30 December 1892

Dear Father Sáchez,

Body Last night Don Antonio told me that you would like to know how bakhaw paste is prepared. I follow the following procedure: With a knife I remove the peel of the fruit until the pulp comes out. I boil the pulp until the water turns reddish. Then I crush the hot pulp.

A small quantity of lime water mixed with the paste prevents it from getting damp.

Pardon me for writing you in pencil, for I have no ink. I am slightly indisposed, so that I cannot go out.

Happy New Year to all.

Very affectionately yours,

Rizal

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Note: Father Francisco de Paula Sánchez was Rizal’s favorite professor at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila.

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101. Nellie Boustead, without date or address

Miss Boustead breaks her relations with Rizal.

I am very sorry to have to disturb you with these few lines, but as I cannot forego the desire to tell you that you do me wrong in taking my reserved manner of doing things as a repulsion of your sentiments, you should know, then that I am but little expansive and (I do not have but) few words to respond to the protestations of (affection) that are lavished upon me (by those to whom) I am not less known:

I repeat once more, I do not think that my parents believe you capable of not ever loving me but for some financial reasons!

But (at last) I believe my duty to stop since you wish it to be so, as you say in your letter it should be! As for me, I cannot deny anything else, than to show you an example of another more profound affection than that of simple friendship, it is not in my character and consequently I cannot do it unless my parents consent to it. To tell them 1 leave it to whoever likes to do it.

Truly yours, H.

_______________

Note: This letter in English was published in the Philippines Herald, 29 December 1929, p. 3

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102. Adelina Boustead, Biarritz (no date)

Miss Boustead sends Rizal a postcard thanking him for a gift of a book. She writes in English.

Villa Eliada, Biarritz (No date)

(Mr. José Rizal)

Dear Mr. Rizal:

I (hop)e you will excuse me for not (havi)ng thanked you for the nic(e bo)ok you had the kindness to send me, but I thought mama had already thanked you, and it is only today while speaking about you, that she reminded me, about it. Again I thank you very much for it.

(Hop)ing that you are well, we all send you our kind remembrances, and happy journey.

Your (fri)end,

Adelina Boustead