WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 9 



living blind and savage in slavery to the Devil, who kept them de- 

 ceived with countless varieties of sacrifices, unclean, loathsome and 

 cruel, of human beings whom they offered to him ; for the cure of 

 such great evils and sins, Christ our Redeemer and Lord came to the 

 world in the year 3967 after its creation, and 2179 after the confusion 

 of tongues. Herewith the Seventh Age commenced, and at 30 years 

 of age He began to preach ; and in order that the Holy Gospel might 

 be preached and might come to the notice and knowledge of all the 

 nations which had split up and scattered over the earth with such 

 confusion and diversity of tongues, in addition to the holy Apostles, 

 He designated ']2 other Disciples, as St. Luke states, chapter X : 

 "The Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two, 

 and said to them : The harvest truly is great, but the laborers few." 

 H the original and holy language was confounded into ^^2, with which 

 men scattered over the world and forgot God, sunk in their vices, 

 sins, and idolatries, the Lord nevertheless appointed 'J2 disciples for 

 their cure and in order to extricate them from the blindness in which 

 they were living, and sent them out to preach two by two, saying to 

 them : "The harvest is great, and the laborers few." 



22. And in order that they might do this better, and preach His 

 Divine Word among so many and such diverse nations with such dif- 

 ferent languages, He prepared and enriched them with gifts of 

 tongues, so that all might understand them, as is told in chapter I of 

 the Acts of the Apostles : "But ye shall receive the power of the 

 Holy Ghost coming upon you, and ye shall be witnesses upon me in 

 Jerusalem and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost 

 part of the earth." And in chapter H, he says: "They were all filled 

 with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with various tongues, as 

 the Spirit gave them what they should speak. They spoke in various 

 languages of the wonderful works of God." And in chapter XIX he 

 says : "When Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost 

 came on them ; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied." 



23. By the prophet Joel, in chapter H, he had promised this: "I 

 will pour out my spirit upon all flesh." And by Zephaniah, chapter HI, 

 he had promised them the same : "For I shall return and give to the 

 people a choice language, that they may all call upon the name of 

 the Lord and serve Him with one consent ; from beyond the rivers 

 of Ethiopia, even from there the suppliant sons of my dispersed and 

 scattered children shall bring me gifts and presents." 



