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

154 THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES
attributes and inimitable example, but not through actual
material sacrifice. It aims in its constitution and rules to reestablish a purer democracy and the common holding of wealth
which Jesus preached and the disciples practiced. The explanation afforded by its catechism of the creation of the world
follows recent geographical discoveries....
"In general, the advanced doctrines of the Iglesia Filipina
aim to re-establish evangelical truth, disfigured as it has been
by the Romanists, and to restore the pre-eminence of the
Filipino clergy, which has been usurped by the friars." 15
In I906 the fertile brain of De los Reyes began to turn
out the first volumes of an audacious work on the creation
of the universe and the origin of religion, under the title,
"The Divine Office of the Philippine Church." If not so
accurate as the now famous "Outline of History," by Wells,
it was equally original. The election of Sr. De los Reyes as
a senator and his advancing years have probably cut short this
work forever. In I908 there was published in Barcelona a
part of the Biblia Filipina, which selects, paraphrases, and supplements sections of the Bible. It is divided into two sections,
the Missal and the Gospel, "harmonized, explained and expurgated of the thousand interpolations and contradictions
which are carried by the canonical texts, in the light of the
writings of the Prophets and Apostles, and other ancient
codices which are conserved in the libraries of Jerusalem,
Rome, England, France, and Spain." Mark is taken as the
basis of this gospel, since it is "the oldest and most reliable
of the evangelists." The trinity, resurrections, and atonement
are omitted, and those miracles which are not omitted are
given a naturalistic interpretation. The divine incarnation,
however, is stressed, as may be seen from the following
excerpt:
"The Eternal, by virtue of his limitless omnipotence, was
incarnated in the bosom of the Blessed Virgin Mary, without
intervention of man, with a special nature, sinless and divine.
Although He had the appearance of a man He did not cease
"Quoted in Willis: "Our Philippine Problem."