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present so little of a Christian character, they are scarcely entitled to be recorded in a History of Christianity in India. Of this, however, the reader will be able to judge, from the account now to be given of their most promising mission : for since their proceedings were every where uniform, this specimen will enable him to understand the character of the whole.

A. D.

1606.

2. The Bengal missions they themselves ac- Failure of the Bengal knowledge to have proved a total failure; and Mission." it were for the honour of the Jesuits and the Church of Rome to consign them to oblivion. They assert, that the prejudices to be met in all parts of the country, among the Hindoos, have at every period proved an insurmountable obstacle to the introduction of the Christian religion in India; but, as they pretend, these prejudices were still more deeply rooted in the provinces bordering upon the Ganges than any where else. Numerous attempts made, successively by missionaries of various orders, to diffuse over that country at least some gleams of evangelical light, could make no impression upon the pagan inhabitants: and inhabitants and "at last, all their endeavours proving abortive, and being baffled in all their attempts, the undertaking was laid aside." M. Cerri states, indeed, that in the vast country watered by the Ganges there were at one time twenty-two thousand Christians, divided into eleven parishes, each of which had a curate and vicar; but he confesses, that they were in great disorder, not only with reference to the laity, who plunged into all manner of vice, but even among the curates themselves, who lived a very dissolute life, kept a great many servants, 1 The Abbé J. A. Dubois, Jesuit Missionary for thirty years in Mysore. Letters on the State of Christianity in India, pp. 61, 62.

СНАР.

III.

Commence

ment of the Madura Mission.

were generally very ignorant of the languages
and sciences, and extremely greedy of gain.2
All this will sufficiently account for the want
of success in the Bengal missions, without
attributing it to any unusual strength in the...
native prejudices in those parts. The Divine
Author of our holy religion could not be ex-
pected to prosper the efforts of such men to
propagate even its semblance upon earth; for
that would have been to sanction the immora-
lities of the agents, and to bring dishonour upon
His own Name. True religion is an exotic in
our world, and cannot thrive but under the
pure and genial influences of Him who planted
it. Assuming that it had been fairly introduced
into Bengal by means of the first missionaries,
it could not live long in an atmosphere impreg-
nated with such a moral pestilence. It will
not be thought, after this, that we deal unfairly
by the Roman Church in bestowing only these
passing remarks upon their Bengal missions.
The monks, and especially the Jesuits, who
were the chief agents in those infamous trans-
actions, have cause rather to be glad that no
further exposure is made here of conduct which
their own party describe in such appalling
terms. The more they are investigated, the
deeper the disgrace that will attach to all con-
cerned in them.

3. For similar reasons we should be inclined
to take little notice of the Madura mission, but
for the exultation with which Jesuit mission-
aries have repeatedly referred to it as their
noblest triumph over the paganism of India.3

2 D. Urbano Cerri. Account of the Roman Catholic Religion through the world, p. 104, et seq. Millar's History of Christianity, vol. ii. ch. 8.

3 Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, écrites des Missions étran

To omit it, therefore, would seem to be disingenuous whereas, to describe it as a specimen of their missions in the East, is to give the Jesuits all the advantage they would, of course, desire, or could fairly claim.

Madura is the capital of a province of the same name in the southern Carnatic. The Jesuit mission there was founded by Robert de Nobili, who was a near relation of Pope Marcellus II., and the nephew of Cardinal Bellarmine. He commenced his labours in the year 1606, about the time of Archbishop Menezes' departure from India. Not that he was the first missionary at that station, the Franciscans having established a mission there some years before; and they are said to have carried on their work with some success, until the arrival of the Jesuits. The missionaries of this order understood so much better the art of accommodating themselves to the manners and taste of the Indians, that the Franciscans, who were more simple in their habits, and more conscientious in their proceedings, soon felt themselves in danger of being superseded by their skilful and indefatigable competitors.*

geres, par quelques Missionaires de la Compagnie de Jesus.
This collection was published by M. Charles le Gobien about
the beginning of the eighteenth century, and dedicated to the
Jesuits of France. A considerable selection from the corres-
pondence was translated into English and published in 1743,
by Mr. Lockman. A Capuchin Missionary assures us, that
these letters are unworthy of credit, especially those of
Bouchet, Martin and Tachard; that they have imposed on the
public credulity, and are to be received with great caution.
Memoirs du P. Norbert, vol. i. p. 74; vol. ii. pp. 61-96.
4 Ibid, Tom. i. pp. 14-17.
For a more detailed
account of this mission the reader is referred to the Lettres
Edifiantes; also to the work of Hyacinthe de Magistris,
recording the transactions of the Jesuits in Madura and
Tanjore. The first fifteen chapters relate to the former

A. D. 1606.

CHAP.

III.

The Jesuit missionary to whose testimony we have already appealed, seems to have thought the undertaking of R. de Nobili and his brethren not only unnecessary, but even presumptuous for he declares, that "The disappointment and want of success of Xavier ought to have been sufficient to damp the most fervent zeal of the persons disposed to enter the same career. When a man of his temper, talents, and virtues, had been baffled in all his endeavours to introduce Christianity into India, his successors could scarcely flatter themselves with the hope of being more fortunate. However, this was not the case. His jesuit brethren in Europe were not to be deterred by difficulties or contradictions in an undertaking, where the cause of religion was at stake. In consequence, jesuits were sent from every catholic country to India, to forward the interests of the gospel.

5 יי

mission, the last sixteen, to the latter. The author was himself a Jesuit missionary in those parts: his original work was composed in Italian, of which there is a French translation, published in Paris, 1663, and entitled-Relation de ce qui s'est passé dans les Royaumes de Maduré, &c. The other principal authority here referred to is, Paulinus's India Orientalis Christiana, 4, Ro. 1794. This author was a Carmelite missionary in South India towards the close of the 18th century. As he writes very much from hearsay, and seems to have been extremely credulous, the Jesuits naturally dispute his authority in matters bearing hard upon the reputation of their missions. For this reason, I have drawn up this account of their Madura mission chiefly from their own sources. ought, however, to be understood, on the other hand, that the Carmelites give as little credit to these authorities of the Jesuits, as to their Lettres Edifiantes. But we have little concern with the disputes between the rival orders of that apostate Church, our business being to cull the leading historic facts, as far as practicable, from their conflicting statements. The works just mentioned, which are very scarce, may be seen in the library of the British Museum.

5 Abbe Dubois's Letters, pp. 4, 5.

It

4. R. de Nobili was one of the foremost of this number. Indeed, he was looked upon by the Jesuits as the chief apostle of the Indians after Francis Xavier. Instead of being discouraged by Xavier's failure, he attributed it to his mistaken policy, in attending to Hindoos of the lowest rank, rather than specially to those of the highest. Though he preached at a time. when the Portuguese were at the height of their prosperity in India, and was supported by their influence and power; yet his actual, not his numerical success, is owned by several Jesuits to have been very partial, in consequence of his chief attention being given to persons of inferior caste. Robert de Nobili determined, therefore, to take the opposite extreme of society. Seeing the superiority which the brahmins assumed, and that it was universally conceded to them by the other pagans; and observing the thorough contempt with which they looked down upon all beneath them; this Jesuit resolved to imitate them; and, for this purpose, he introduced himself among them as a western brahmin of a higher order than any in the East. But to carry on this deception was no easy task, as he had to acquire a knowledge of their sacred language, the Sanscrit; and of their Shasters and Vedas, their prejudices and customs, which they have always been most reluctant to communicate to strangers. A brief explanation of these circumstances will enable us to estimate the undertaking of this missionary and his colleagues.

5. The first cause of the brahmins' influence over the people's minds is their supposed origin. They claim descent from the god Brahma, the

6 Travel of the Jesuits. Father P. Martin to Father Le Gobien. June, 1700. Lockman, vol. i. pp. 357, &c.

A. D. 1606.

Robert de Jesuit mis

Nobili, the

sionary

there.

The brahSumed origin, their

mins as

knowledge and austerities.

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