was supported by all the power and influence of the Portuguese, and the other contained the greater part of the Syrian Christians. In the progress and continuance of this schism, one Syrian bishop was seized and sent to Portugal and thence to Rome. This bishop appears to have been a man of weak character, if not of corrupt principles, and he is accused of having been sometimes guilty of much duplicity and hypocrisy. Another bishop was carried to Lisbon, and there died in prison. His only crime appears to have been a determination not to acknowledge the Pope's supremacy, nor to change the creed of his church to make it agree with the church of Rome. And for the same reasons another bishop was carried a prisoner to Goa and perished in the Inquisition. These aggressive measures were continued on the part of the Portuguese, and at a Provincial Council held in Goa in 1585, which the Syrians were summoned to attend, several decrees were passed concerning the state and doctrines of their church.

In 1599, Archbishop Menezes, having been for some time making previous arrangements among the Romanists and the Syrians, convoked the great synod of Diamper. At this synod the Archbishop presided, and among the decrees one was that "all the Syrian books on ecclesiastical subjects, that could be found, should be burned." This decree was immediately carried into effect, and even to this day "the Syrians say that while the books were burning, the Archbishop went round the church in procession chanting a song of triumph." Concerning the council at Diamper and other means used to bring these churches into subjection to the Pope, Mosheim in his history of the 16th century, says, "The Christians of St. Thomas who inhabited the coasts of India, suffered much from the methods employed by the Portuguese to engage them to embrace the doctrine and discipline of the Church of Rome, and to abandon the religion of their ancestors, which was much more simple and infinitely less absurd. The finishing stroke was put to the violence and brutality of these attempts by Don Alexis de Menezes, Archbishop of Goa, who about the conclusion of this century, calling the Jesuits to his assistance, obliged this unhappy and reluctant people to embrace the religion of Rome and to acknowledge the Pope's supreme jurisdiction, against both of which acts they

had always expressed the utmost abhorrence. These violent councils and arrogant proceedings of Menezes and his associates were condemned by such of the Roman Catholics as were most remarkable for their equity and wisdom.” *

The Syrian Christians appeared for a while to be astonished and bewildered by the violence of these proceedings, and the power apparently arrayed against them and liable to fall upon them, if they should incur its further displeasure. Some of the priests and churches continued in connection with Rome, using their liturgy in the Syrian language but altered and expurgated by Menezes. These have been called "the Syrio-Roman Christians," and are chiefly near the sea-coast. But many of the priests and churches refused to conform to this new order of doctrine and discipline, and have retained their ancient liturgy, rites, and ministry. These are called by their former name, "the Syrian Christians of Malabar."

For a long time little was known concerning these Christians in Europe or in America, and many yet living can remember the feelings of deep interest which were excited by Buchanan's account of them in 1807. The Church Missionary Society subsequently commenced a mission among them in the hope of effecting a reformation of doctrine and discipline. These efforts, however, have not produced the good results which were expected, these churches still retaining their long cherished forms, doctrines, rites, etc. Gibbon, near the close of the last century estimated the whole population of the Syrian Christians at 200,000. The Abbe Dubois was of the opinion they did not exceed 100,000 of whom two thirds were Romish Syrians. The Annals of the Propagation Society in a late No. say, that the Romish SyrioChristians amount to nearly 100,000. The number of the original churches is about 50,000.

The liturgies of the Syrian Christians and their formularies of worship, and of their rites and ordinances, are in the ancient Syriac language, which very few among them understand, and it is not strange that early travellers among them should be mistaken in some matters, and so publish accounts of their doc

* A particular account of these violent measures of Menezes is given by La Croze in his Histoire du Christianisme aux Indes. Also by Hough in his History of Christianity in India, who has given the Decrees of the Council of Diamper.

trines, etc., which further inquiry and research have shown to be in some respects incorrect. Their liturgies, formularies, etc., have been carefully examined and translated into English, by Dr. Mill, of Bishops College, and by Rev. J. Peet, who for many years lived among them. The following is given as a summary of the errors they contain.

"The principal errors of the Syrian Church may be enumerated under the following heads:

1. Transubstantiation.

2. The sacrifice of the Mass, in which it is said that the priest offers Christ for the quick and the dead to give remission of pain and guilt.

3. Prayers for the dead.

4. Purgatory, or the possibility of transition from an unpardoned to a pardoned state between the period of death and judgment.

5. Worshipping the virgin Mary, supplicating her intercession, and observing a fast in her honor.

6. Worship of saints.

7. Prayers in an unknown tongue.

8. Extreme unction.

9. Attributing to the clergy the power to curse and destroy men's bodies and souls.

10. The having pictures in their churches representing God the Father.

11. Prayers to the altar and to the chancel.

Connected with these are the elevation of the host, the burning of incense and ringing of bells at the time of elevation, the priest receiving the host alone, etc."

These are certainly all very grave, and some of them fundamental errors, and they have formed a part of their doctrines, and been incorporated in their rules and worship of their church for some centuries, probably from their first settlement in India. Great changes are required to reform such errors, and to restore such a church to the purity and simplicity of the Gospel.

CHAPTER II.

ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS AND CHURCHI IN INDIA.

To spread a knowledge of the Romish faith, was one of the avowed objects of the Portuguese in prosecuting their voyages of discovery, and making their conquests in heathen countries. For this purpose missionaries of different orders, as Jesuits, Dominicans, etc., went out in their ships to remain in the countries discovered, and to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. Many people also of different trades and professions went out in these ships, and became permanent residents in the places of which the Portuguese took possession. Thus numerous colonies were formed. "Immediately on their taking possession of Goa, a church was dedicated to St. Catharine, who was solemnly chosen to be the patroness of the city, and the protectress of the Portuguese in India." Marriages between the Portuguese and the native inhabitants were encouraged by the Portuguese authorities, and they became frequent. It is said by one of the Portuguese historians in praise of Albuquerque, the greatest of all their viceroys in India, that he did much to promote intermarriages between his countrymen and the inhabitants of the country, and, as in all such cases the native party was always required to profess the Romish faith, the nominally Christian population in the Portuguese settlements was by these means greatly increased.

In 1542, the celebrated Francis Xavier reached Goa. He had acquired a high reputation for piety in Europe, and had long felt a strong desire to preach the Gospel in heathen countries. His conduct, on reaching the long-desired field of his future labor, was in accordance with his profession and character. He passed the first night alone in one of the churches that he might have all the time for undisturbed meditation and prayer. There were many priests and monks then in Goa, and all were under the superintendence of a bishop, but the state of religion was

very low. Xavier's zeal and labors soon excited attention, and he had the satisfaction of seeing some reformation of manners, and better attendance upon the sacraments. Having spent a few months in Goa, he proceeded into the districts near Cape Comorin. The people here were pariars and fishermen. Some of them had been baptized by missionaries who had previously been among them, but the greater part were still heathen in profession, and all were much alike in practice. In a letter to some of his friends he wrote: "You may judge what manner of life I lead here by what I relate to you. I am wholly ignorant of the language of the people, and they know as little of mine, and I have no interpreter. All I can perform is to baptize the children and serve the sick, an employment easily understood without the help of an interpreter, by only minding what they want." It appears from a further account, that he afterwards got the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and some passages of Scripture translated into the language of the people, and these lessons he committed to memory. He says, "I went about with my bell in my hand and gathered all I met, both men and children, and instructed them in Christian doctrine as well as I could." His zeal and earnest affection towards them, so unlike any thing they had ever before seen, excited their attention and sympathy, and according to his views of conversion, his labors were accompanied with great success. In his account of his labors, he says that "in one month he baptized with his own hand 10,000 idolaters, and that not unfrequently in one day he baptized a well-peopled village." Having pursued his labors for some months in these districts, he returned to Goa, and wrote several very earnest letters to Europe, entreating that more missionaries might be sent to India. He preached in several places in the southern parts of the peninsula, when some events occurred which he thought were intimations from God that it was his duty to visit some countries further east. So he proceeded to Malacca, Amboyna, Ternate, and Japan, everywhere exhibiting his accustomed zeal. He continued his missionary labors in different places till his death in 1552, nearly 10 years from his arrival in India. He died in the island of Sancian, near the coast of China, but his body