lest they, like their forefathers, should be condemned to everlasting punishment

Coleridge, Henry. The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier. (1872) pp. 338-9, 347

Letter of St. Francis Xavier written in 29th of January, 1552 (table of contents p. xv )
...
Before their baptism the converts of Amanguchi were greatly troubled and pained by a hateful and annoying scruple—that God did not appear to them merciful and good, because He had never made Himself known to the Japanese before our arrival, especially if it were true that those who had not worshipped God as we preached were doomed to suffer everlasting punishment in hell. It seemed to them that He had forgotten and as it were neglected the salvation of all their ancestors, in permitting them to be deprived of the knowledge of saving truths, and thus to rush headlong on eternal death. It was this painful thought which, more than anything else, kept them back from the religion of the true God.

But by the divine mercy all their error and scruple was taken away. We began by proving to them that the divine law is the most ancient of all. Before receiving their institutions from the Chinese, the Japanese knew by the teaching of nature that it was wicked to kill, to steal, to swear falsely, and to commit the other sins enumerated in the ten commandments, a proof of this being the remorse of conscience to which any one guilty of one of these crimes was certain to be a prey. We showed them that reason itself teaches us to avoid evil and to do good, and that this is so deeply implanted in the hearts of men, that all have the knowledge of the divine law from nature, and from God the Author of nature, before they receive any external instruction on the subject .

If any doubts were entertained on the matter, an experiment might be made in the person of a man without any instruction, living in absolute solitude, and in entire ignorance of the laws of his country. Such a man, ignorant of and a stranger to all human teaching, if he were asked whether it were or were not criminal to kill, to steal, or to commit the other actions forbidden by the law of God, and whether it were right to abstain from such actions, then, I say, this man, so fundamentally without all human education, would most certainly reply in such a manner as to show that he was by no means without knowledge of the divine law. Whence then must he be supposed to have received this knowledge, but from God Himself, the Author of nature ? And if this knowledge is seen among barbarians, what must be the case with civilized and polished nations? This being so, it necessarily follow that before any laws were made by men the divine law existed innate in the hearts of all men. The converts were so satisfied with this reasoning, as to see no further difficulty; so that this net having been broken, they received from us with a glad heart the sweet yoke of our Lord.
...
One of the things that most of all pains and torments these Japanese is, that we teach them that the prison of hell is irrevocably shut, so that there is no egress therefrom. For they grieve over the fate of their departed children, of their parents and relatives, and they often show their grief by their tears. So they ask us if there is any hope, any way to free them by prayer from that eternal misery, and I am obliged to answer that there is absolutely none. Their grief at this affects and torments them wonderfully ; they almost pine away with sorrow. But there is this good thing about their trouble—it makes one hope that they will all be the more laborious for their own salvation, lest they, like their forefathers, should be condemned to everlasting punishment. They often ask if God cannot take their fathers out of hell, and why their punishment must never have an end. We gave them a satisfactory answer, but they did not cease to grieve over the misfortune of their relatives; and I can hardly restrain my tears sometimes at seeing men so dear to my heart suffer such intense pain about a thing which is already done with and can never be undone.

St. Francis Xavier explaining the justice of EENS

The elder Bonza's, in the mean time, more harden'd in their Sect, and more obstinate than the young, spar'd for nothing to maintain their possession. They threatn'd the people with the wrath of their Gods, and denounc'd the total destruction of the Town and Kingdom; they said, The God whom the Europeans believ'd, was not Deos, or Deus, as the Portuguese call'd him, but Dajus, that is to say, in the Japonian Tongue, a Lie, or Forgery. They added, That this God impos'd on men a heavy Toke. What Iustice was it to punish those who transgress'd a Law, which it was impossible to keep· But where was Providence, if the Law of Jesus was necessary to Salvation, which suffer'd fifteen Ages to slide away, without declaring it to the most noble part of all the world? Surely a Religion, whose God was partial in the dispensation of his Favours, cou'd not posibly be true. And if the European Doctrine had but a shadow of truth in it, China cou'd never have been so long without the knowledge of it. These were the principal heads of their Accusation, and Xavier reports them in his Letters; but he gives not an account of what answers he return'd; and they are not made known to us by any other hand: Thus, without following two or three Historians, who make him speak according to their own Ideas, on all these Articles, I shall content my self with what the Saint himself had left in writing. The Idolaters instead of congratulating their own happiness, that they were enlighten'd by the Beams of Faith, bemoan'd the blindness of their Ancestors, and cry'd out in a lamentable tone; What are our Fore-fathers burning in hell-fire, because they didn't adore a God, who was unknown to them, and observ'd not a Law, which never was declar'd? The Bonza's added fuell to their Zeal, by telling them, The Portuguese Priests were good for nothing, because they cou'd not redeem a Soul from Hell, whereas they cou'd do it at their pleasure, by their Fasts and Prayers: That eternal punishments, either prov'd the cruelty or the weakness of the Christian God: His cruelty, if he did not deliver them, when he had it in his power; his weakness, if he cou'd not execute what he desir'd. Lastly, That Amida and Xaca, were far more merciful, and of greater power; but that they were only pleas'd to redeem from Hell, those who, during their mortal life, had bestow'd magnificent Alms upon the Bonza's

We are ignorant of all those particular answers of the Saint, as I said above: we only know from his Relation, that concerning the sorrow of the Iaponians, for having been bereft for so many Ages of Christian Knowledge, he had the good fortune to give them comfort, and put them in a way of more reasonable thoughts: For he shew'd them in general, That the most ancient of all Laws, is the Law of God, not that which is publish'd by the found of words, but that which is written in Hearts, by the hand of Nature; so that every one who comes into the World, brings along with him certain Precepts, which his own Instinct and Reason teach him. Before Japan receiv'd its Laws form the Wisemen of China, said Xavier, it was known amongst you, that Theft and Adultery were to be avoided; and from thence it was that Thieves and Palliards sought out secret places, wherein to commit those Crimes. After they had committed them, they felt the private stings of their own Consciences, which cease not to reproach the guilty to themselves, though their wickedness be not known to others, nor even so much as prohibited by Humane Laws. Suppose an Infant bred up in Forrests amongst the Beasts, far from the society of Mankind, and remote from the civilis'd Inhabitants of Towns, yet he is not without an inward knowledge of the Rules of Civil Life; for ask him, whether it be not an evil Action to murther a man, to despoil him of his Goods, to violate his Bed, to surprise him by Force, or circumvent him by Treachery, he will answer without question, That nothing of this is to be done. Now if this be manifest in a Salvage, without the benefit of Education, how much more may it be concluded, of men well educated· and living in mutual Conversation? Then, added the holy man, it follows, that God has not left so many Ages destitute of Knowledge, as your Bonza's have pretended. By this he gave them to understand, that the Law of Nature was a step, which led them insensibly to the Christian Law: And that a man who liv'd morally well, shou'd never fail of arriving to the knowledge of the Faith, by ways best known to Almighty God; that is to say, before his death, God wou'd either send some Preacher to him, or illuminate his Mind by some immediate Revelation. These Reasons, which the Fathers of the Church have often us'd on like occasions, gave such satisfaction to the Pagans, that they found no farther difficulty in that point, which had given them so much trouble.

The Life of St. Francis Xavier: http://www.archive.org/details/TheLifeOfSt.FrancisXavier
text version

St. Francis Xavier and the Salvation Dogma

The Admirable Life of St. Francis Xavier by Orazio Torsellino (1632). pp. 325-326

"...These, and many other such things were heard with exceeding good liking, so as they were all easily satisfied. But that which troubled them most, was, that God seemed neither bountiful nor indifferent, who having care of all other Countries besides Iaponia [Japan], had never declared himself to the Iaponians, before Francis his coming thither. Who likewise, had damned to the pains of Hell, all those who had not worshiped the God they knew not; and had permitted also their ancestors, who never enjoyed that heavenly light, to be carried headlong thither? Concerning this point Francis made it clear unto them, that the divine Law, which of all others is the most ancient, was imprinted in the hearts of men. For the Iaponians even before they had their laws from the Chinese, knew by the light of reason that it was an heinous offense to kill a man, to steal, forswear, and other things which were forbidden by the divine law. Whereupon if anyone had committed any of these crimes, he was tormented with the worm of conscience, which took as it were revenge of that wickedness. This (quotes he) we may undoubtedly find to be true, in a solitary man, who although he should be brought up in the wilderness, without any learning or knowledge of human law, would not for all that be ignorant of the divine law, concerning Man-slaughter, Theft, Perjury, and other the like things. And if this were so, even among barbarous nations, what should we think of those, that were civil, and well trained up? Should not they therefore be justly punished, who did violate the divine law, which was ingrafted in them by nature? which if they had observed, they should infallibly have been illuminated with light from heaven.

After he had satisfied them with this answer, they began by little and little to put themselves under the wholesome yoke of Christ. Whereupon within the compass of two months, there were well near 500 citizens baptized, who bewailing the state of their children, parents, kindred, and Ancestors, demanded often of Xaverius, whether there was yet any hope, or means to deliver them out of everlasting misery? But he with tears in his eyes affirming no, exhorted them, that they who had the divine light & salvation now offered them, should be so much the more thankful to God for it, and should mitigate the feeling of others' ruin, with the hope of their own salvation: so that Patience might make that lighter, which they could not avoid.

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