The people of the Philippines, their religious progress and preparation for spiritual leadership in the Far East,

AMERICA ARRIVES

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5. Do you swear before our Lord Jesus that you will shed
your last drop of blood in defense of our mother
country?
6. Do you swear before our Lord Jesus that you will sacrifice your life and goods, when there is the slightest
possibility of our brothers being in need of help?
"For all this, that we, your brothers in the Katipunan, may
have evidence of all you have sworn, you will allow us to
extract a drop of your blood with which to write your name,
so that we, your brothers of the Katipunan, may know that
you will never betray our cause.
"This being done and the blood being drawn, his name will
be written in his own blood, and although it is but a little drop,
he will never up to the last hour of his life cease to remember
to be on his guard as a true brother, for it is blood drawn from
his own body.
"March 4, I900." (Signed) "MOESES ABUEG" 4
(If this oath sounds drastic, it was clearly an effort to
prevent another betrayal like that of I896.)
There was printed, too, with the "Constitutional Programme"
mentioned a few paragraphs above, a very interesting document called the "True Decalogue." This was a set of political
Ten Commandments, which started with the Christian doctrine
of the love of God and your fellow man, combining this noble
ideal with an intense patriotic appeal. This "decalogue" runs:
"I. Thou shalt love God and thy honor above all things:
God as the fountain of all truth, of all justice, and of all
activity; and thy honor as the only power which will oblige
thee to be truthful, just, and industrious.
"2. Thou shalt worship God in the form which thy conscience may deem most righteous and worthy; for in thy
conscience, which condemns thy evil deeds and praises thy
good ones, speaks thy God.
"3. Thou shalt cultivate the special gifts which God has
granted thee, working and studying according to thy ability,
'Le Roy, "Americans in the Philippines," p. 287.