CHAP. II. Failure of his India. more grievous yoke than they or their fathers had ever borne. Not to mention the suspicious deaths that were attributed to his miraculous power; it is sufficient to notice the violence and falsehood to which he resorted in order to enforce obedience to his mandates. These are most abhorrent from the feelings of every honourable mind and the Christian, who desires, above all things, the religious freedom and the everlasting happiness of his fellow creatures, must review his course with the most painful emotions. Who can allow the mere circumstance of the energy that he put forth in such a career, to draw a veil over the abominations of his creed and conduct? It is not surprising that those should eulogize his zeal who think that there is no salvation out of the Church of Rome, and that to bring mankind within her pale, is an end that sanctifies any and every means. But surely none who believe liberty of conscience to be the birthright of every human being; none who are assured that salvation is free for all who put their trust in Christ alone, to whatever peculiar community they may belong; can regard his proceedings without, to use the mildest term, unmingled sorrow! 9. The example of Menezes should be rechemes in garded as a beacon to warn future Christian missionaries from the rock on which he foundered. Without faith and godliness, nothing can insure a Church's prosperity. Failing in these, the prelate's designs, magnificent as they were deemed, soon came to nothing: and it deserves special remark, as an instructive interposition of Divine Providence, that the decline of the Portuguese interest in India commenced at the very period when he flattered himself that he had laid the foundation of its perma nency. This is not the assertion of an adversary; it is the lamentation of the sufferers. From the year 1599 the Portuguese historians begin to reckon the decay of their prosperity in the East, giving the following account of the three eras of their Indian government. From their first discovery of India to the year 1561, they call its infancy. From that time to the year 1600, they regard as the period of its manhood, or full vigour. At the last date they reckon its old age to have commenced; and it has since become so decrepit as to be only the shadow of a great name.1 10. Few Christians will refuse to concur in the reflection that has been made upon this rapid decline of that nation's interest from the particular period to which it is here referred. "Neither is this to be wondered at, considering how common a thing it is for God to blast the most promising securities that have been obtained by such violent and unlawful methods."2 They depended upon human power and skill; and, therefore, did their very foundations contain the elements of the fabric's dissolution. It is only by the Almighty's protection that nations can stand secure; and only by His grace and truth, that any Church can flourish. Let future missionaries of the Gospel to heathen lands, while using with all diligence the means at their command, put their sole reliance on the power of God, and their labour cannot fail. They may not see all the result they desire, yet will it surely end in complete success; for the promise of Jehovah is immutable. the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth "As A. D. 1605. A warning missionaries to future to trust only in God. CHAP. II. A. D. 1615. A. D. 1617. Death of the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." 3 To endeavour to anticipate the Almighty's time for this consummation, by using any means to bring it to pass which the Bible does not sanction, can be expected to end only in confusion to the cause so maintained, and in disgrace to its agents. We read of a false Christ that appeared in India in the year 1615,4 who is said to have been followed by the Portuguese Jews, but to what extent is unknown. So little is recorded of this impostor, that it is probable that he was soon removed and his cause suppressed. 11. About the year 1617 died Francisco Roz, Archbishop of Cranganore. Very little is known. F. Roz-re of his proceedings since his elevation to the character. prelacy. He has already been described as an view of his accomplished Syriac scholar, and an important auxiliary to Menezes in the reduction of the Syrians. He is represented, by Romanists,5 as having governed the Malabar Christians in a manner very much to their advantage, notwithstanding the interruption that he met with from, what they call, the persecutions of the Archdeacon. From this incidental remark we may infer, that the Christians were already beginning to feel uneasy under the Papal dominion. The time of his death is not precisely stated, but it is concluded to have happened in the 3 Isaiah lv. 10, 11. 4 Jortin's Remarks, vol. iii. p. 338. 5 Alegambe, Francisco Barreto, and others. p. 332. App. pp. 35—37. La Croze, year 1617, "when," says the Jesuit Barreto, "this virtuous prelate went to enjoy the felicity of the saints which was due to him for his merits." Of his virtues, this writer gives us no opportunity to judge: but of his merits before God, even a child rightly instructed in the New Testament, is competent to speak. For it is written, "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast."6 Let us hope that F. Roz rested his expectations of pardon and eternal life on a firmer foundation than this panegyrist attributes to him. For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Building on this rock, we shall not be moved, though the flood may rise, and the stream beat upon us. 8 But every other ground of hope will prove a foundation of sand at the last trial, which is to prove all men; and those who shall then be found resting on anything but Jesu's merits, will be swept away with the besom of His wrath." A. D. 1617. CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF THE MADURA MISSION. A. D. 1606. Missionaries from Goa dis persed over India. 1. ABOUT the commencement of the seventeenth century the Jesuit missionaries were actively engaged in many directions. The College of St. Paul at Goa had trained numerous converts for the work, and sent them forth to every part of India where they could gain access. Monks also arrived in great numbers from Europe, who were indefatigable every where, and, with the help of the native priesthood educated at Goa, they succeeded in establishing missions from Bengal to the southern extremity of the Peninsula. Had their proceedings been sufficiently consistent with Christian truth for their successes to be regarded as triumphs of the Gospel, it would have been interesting to describe their missions in detail; for no events connected with the incipient endeavours to propagate Christianity in a heathen land, can be deemed too unimportant for the page of history. It will be seen, however, that the measures of these Jesuits to propagate their dogmas and extend their authority, bore as little relation to the doctrines and labours of the Apostles, and other faithful teachers of the Gospel, as those of Menezes in Malabar. Consequently, since they |