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IV.

They forcibly deprive the Capuchins of

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have induced the governor to persevere. Why yield to the seditious?" they exclaimed.Ought we not to fall upon this rabble, and burn them alive in their pagoda? Upon this the opposite party, consisting chiefly of Capuchins, demanded-"Is it thus, then, that they are accustomed to act with apostolic zeal? Could any one be so infatuated as to believe that the three hundred men who garrisoned the place, the whole of whom were not French, together with about five hundred Malabar Christians, were able to oppose thirty thousand heathen?" Such an attempt would, there can be little doubt, have ended in the ruin of the Roman Church and the French interests in the neighbourhood. Besides, the English, their vigilant and powerful rivals at Madras, are reported to have offered refuge to the brahmins, and to have promised them better treatment and greater advantages under their government but we do not learn whether, or to what extent, their proposals were accepted.

The heathen might well exult in their success. They now carried their idols about with more than usual demonstrations of joy, and openly declared, that they would no longer have any respect for a religion that sanctioned such a breach of faith, the violation of treaties so often made, and the disregard of privileges granted to the natives of the colony. Such was the effect of this treatment upon the natives generally, that many who before were inclined to embrace Christianity, now changed their minds, and became more confirmed than ever in idolatry.

4. It has very justly excited astonishment, that missionaries so intelligent, in many resome land. spects, as the Jesuits usually were, should per

sist in demanding the destruction of this pagoda, when they saw what was likely to ensue; but their motive soon became apparent. All their clamour had just about as much relation to the honour of Jesus Christ, as that of Demetrius had to the greatness of Diana of the Ephesians.5 In fact, they desired above all things to acquire a reputation at Rome that might counteract the statements made there to their prejudice; and this they hoped to obtain by the destruction of an idolatrous temple: for how, they might then argue, could they be suspected of a predilection for superstitions against which they showed so much zeal? They had an eye also to the land belonging to the pagoda, of which they intended, when the building was removed, to take possession, as well as of an excellent garden, the property of the Capuchins, that was contiguous to it. These two enclosures they meant to join together, and appropriate to their own use. The Capuchins proved less able to resist their unjust designs than the heathen; for they were robbed of their garden, while the brahmins kept their pagoda and land. This caused it to be facetiously remarked to the French, That the Devil knew how to preserve his temple from the Jesuits' hands; while they had richly indemnified themselves for their defeat by taking forcible possession of the Capuchins' garden. The Capuchins, however, bore this violence very patiently, saying, That they would willingly have relinquished their property, without carrying their complaints to the holy see, if they could have seen the rites of the Roman Church as duly performed there as when the ground was in their own possession. Had this

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A. D. 1701.

CHAP.
IV.

They cause a violent persecution, and the ruin of the

Tanjore.

forbearance been shown for the sake of the unadulterated Gospel, we should have hailed it as a ray of light beaming from heaven to illumine this dark page of history: but, we must confess, we cannot sympathize with these missionaries in their lamentations over the ceremonies of Rome.

5. The Jesuits are the last to learn wisdom from experience. Soon after the events just related, their infatuation ruined, for a time, the missions in interests of Rome in the kingdom of Tanjore. Accustomed annually to perform a tragedy before the door of their church at Pondicherry, this year they acted the martyrdom of St. George. The disastrous termination of this piece of folly was enough, says our author, to draw tears of blood from all eyes. The legend of this pretended martyr is this. As he was being led in triumph to the heathen temple, when he approached the image of Apollo, he is said to have stretched out his hand, and made a sign of the cross, saying, "Do you wish me to offer you sacrifices which are due only to the true God?" To which it is pretended that the idol replied, "I am not a God. There is no other God than He whom thou dost preach." At that instant sounds the most alarming are said to have risen in the temple. All the idols present crumbled into powder, and the attendants stood still, filled with astonishment, and transfixed with terror."

6 This marvellous account is given in the Roman Martyrology as historic fact: but it has long been questioned whether such a person as St. George the Martyr, or George of Cappadocia, ever existed. Some writers have supposed that the representation of St. George and the Dragon is a mere symbol of victory. There can be little doubt, however, that this George was an Arian Bishop of Alexandria, in the reigns of Constantius and Julian, and that he was an infamous character,

Such was the subject of the Jesuits' tragedy this year. They made a native Christian perform the part of St. George, and substituted Brahma, Vishnoo, and other Hindoo idols, for the gods of pagan Rome. When the moment arrived for overturning these images, the man who personated the martyr made the sign of a cross; but seeing that it produced no effect upon the heathen gods, he and the rest of the actors threw themselves upon them, broke them to pieces and trampled them under foot. The brahmins and other heathen present at the exhibition, were seized with horror and rage at this public insult offered to their deities, and immediately took measures for revenge. They wrote to the brahmins of Tanjore, a kingdom not many miles south-west of Pondicherry, relating what had happened; and the news did not fail to excite public indignation, and to increase the enmity already felt in the kingdom of Tanjore against the Christian religion.

A brahmin at court, who had charge of the education of the Rajah's son, thought of avenging this wanton insult at once with the blood of the perpetrators of the deed: but on further deliberation, he resolved to begin with exciting the

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and put to death in the latter reign by the violence of the populace, whom his avarice and insolence had irritated to the highest degree. Socrates, Scholast. Ecc. Hist. b. iii. cc. ii. and iii. Gibbon's Roman Empire, ch. xxiii. George was not canonized till about a century after his decease and some suppose that he is the person "whom monkish ignorance hath exalted into St. George, the champion of England, against all the rules of history, geography, and common sense." -Milner's Ch. Hist. cent. 4, ch. ix. The author was once surprised to see an image of St. George and the Dragon in a Syrian Church in the interior of Malabar. No doubt it had been placed there by the Romish missionaries, as the Syrians knew nothing of the legend.

A. D.

1701.

IV.

CHAP. Rajah's anger against them, and for this purpose he had the Jesuits' tragedy repeated in his presence. The Rajah, amazed to see the brahmins, the defenders of their gods, commit such an outrage upon them, demanded the reason. They instantly vociferated,-" It is thus, great King, that the Christians, to whom you have "hitherto afforded protection in your dominions, "have insulted and profaned your gods.

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If

your majesty do not take vengeance upon them, we shall draw down on our heads un"numbered calamities." At this the Rajah was filled with wrath, and replied too much in accordance with the brahmins' desire. He immediately ordered a particular account to be taken of all the Christians in his kingdom, and issued a command, that those who would not renounce "this insolent religion," should be treated with the greatest rigour. Every where they were severely beaten with rods, thrown into prison, and there left to perish with hunger -so extreme were the miseries which the Jesuits had thus brought upon the best of their disciples! But multitudes chose to renounce their faith rather than suffer for it. The severe decree was scarcely published before it caused a general apostasy, especially among the new converts. A few sought refuge among the christians on the coast: and of those who remained, a very small number were found of sufficient constancy publicly to confess the name of Jesus, and to cement with their blood the foundations of the mission in that kingdom. Indeed, what faith and perseverance could be expected in those who had been taught so little of the principles of religion, and been permitted to blend idolatry with Christianity? Instead of imitating the first christians, who ran to

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