0 t VIW SfoflfogtBtf PRINCETON, N. J. '*S. Division Section , t W5.a Shelf. Number. T /• . or Princess of Cannanore, where her palace forms a con- spicuous obj ect from the sea ; and she herself is regarded as a very great personage by the Mahometans of the Malabar Coast. Mahometanism, then, it would appear, made its chief conquests and obtained its strongest hold on the west coast, in the states of the Samuri and Colastri Rajahs ; and from what we know of the temper and habits of the people, when excited by mad fanatical zeal, even in a country where they form but a small minority, it is easy to understand how the native Christians — in times when they had no co-religionists from Europe, with armed frigates off the coast to look to for protection — would quietly migrate, as oppor- tunity offered, from regions where the fierce and bigoted followers of the Raise Prophet were numerous and influential. We have, 1 “ At one period the Mahometans created great commotions in Travaneore, and towards the end of the 17th century massacred the chief of Anjengo, and all the English gentlemen belonging to the settlement, when on a public visit to the Queen of Attinga. The sanguinary deed was committed near her palace ; some were even murdered in her presence, whom she in vain attempted to rescue from their fury, although at the time sovereign of the country .” — James Forbes’s Oriental Memoirs ■ vol I., p. 402. IN A DARK LAND. 59 happily, no reason to believe that they succeeded in perverting any body of natives who had made a profession of Christianity, whatever may have been their success among others. It is truly remarked by Elphinstone, with reference to Mahometanism, that it is difficult to form an opinion as to the period when the conversions of the Hindoos were chiefly accom- plished, or in what circumstances they were brought about. In Malabar, or Kerala — if we except Tippoo’s sanguinary invasion in last century — the people have never felt the terror of the Moslem sword, as wielded by a conquering host, with its forced conversion or death to idolators ; and hence in byegone days they never passed through the fiery trial, and its terrible temptation to apostasy. Taking all things into the account, Mahometan propagandism has not here been so great a success as some may suppose. And what applies to this part of India, it would seem, applies, in some sense, to the whole, for the writer above referred to observes again : — “ The whole of the Mahometans of India, at the present moment, do not exceed one-eighth of the population ; and after allowing for a long and continued immigration, and for the natural increase during eight centuries of a favoured class whose circumstances gave great facilities in rearing families, the number left for converts would not be very great. Even if the whole eighth part were con- verts, the proportion would be surprisingly small compared to other Mahometan countries.” Their successes in ancient times were chiefly in Northern India. Another learned writer observes : “The northern nations of India, although idolators (having scarce a religion, when compared to the multitude of superstitions and ceremonies which characterize the inhabitants of the southern countries), were easily induced to embrace Mahometanism, and are at this day the Affghans and Pitans, who figure so much in all the late revolutions of Delhi. Excepting these, few of the other Indians have been converted.” He further adds : “It has been observed that all the Mahometans established in India acquire, in the third generation, the indolence and pusil- lanimity of the original inhabitants ; and, at the same time, a cruelty of character to which the Indians are, at present, happily free.” 1 They have in more recent times been on the increase in Bengal. Dr. M. Mitchell, of the Eree Church Mission, Calcutta, states that religious fanaticism is increasing amongst them; and as they number no fewer than 20,000,000, or nearly a third of the popula- tion, this spread of fanaticism deserves the serious attention of Church and State. 1 Vide “ A Dissertation on Mahometan Establishments in Inclostan,” in “ The History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan." London 1780. Yol. I., pp. 21 & 29. GO LINGE1UNGS OF LIGHT CHAPTER V. KNAYE THOMA, OR THOMAS CANA, AND HIS TRADITIONAL DESCENDANTS. The traditions of the Christians of Malabar inform us that whilst the Perumal Princes were still ruling in Kerala, a certain wealthy merchant, called by them Knaye Thoma, came and settled on the coast, and showed himself a great benefactor to the native Christians. He is frequently described as an Armenian merchant ; but Raulini supposes this to have arisen from the early Portuguese writers mistaking Aramoeus, a Syrian, for Armenus. And in support of this we would simply add. that the supposed descendants of this man universally claim Syrian, and not Armenian descent, and look upon Syriac, and not Armenian, as the language of their forefathers. This Syrian merchant (as we shall call him) settled in the country, interested himself in his fellow religionists, and endea- voured to promote their welfare — obtaining for them special privileges, similar to those which the Viceroys of Malabar had granted to the Jews and Manicheans respectively. Tradition moreover tells us that he had two wives, one r esiding at Cranga- nore, and the other in the interior at Angamale, or in its neigh- bourhood. As polygamy was never allowed in the Christian church, we may charitably hope that he did not take a second wife until the first had been removed by death. His second wife is said to have been a Nair woman, whom he bought, and proselytized to the Christian faith. By each wife he had a numerous family, and from them many of the Syrian Christians claim to be descended. It is somewhat amusing to observe that the zealous Romanist writer Asseman contends that this Thomas could not have been a merchant, but a Nestorian Bishop, despatched to India about a.d. 800, by the Nestorian Patriarch Timotheus; but then, finding himself in a difficulty about the matter of the two wives, which he could not imagine even a Nestorian bishop to have, either together or successively, he treats it as an allegory, and concludes that the two wives signified the two churches over which he presided, at Cranganore and Angamale ; and that he was not the carnal, but spiritual progenitor of such as claim descent from him ! Malabar tradition further informs us that being a man of im- mense wealth when he died, his property was divided amongst his children ; those by his first wife receiving his northern estates, and those of the N air wife his property in the south ; and hence there IN A DARK LAND. 61 are two great divisions in the present day amongst the Syrian Christians, one being that of the Waddaken Baghars, or Northern- ers ; and the other, the Thekken Baghars, or Southerners. Though they profess to believe the same doctrines, to worship in the same forms, and to be under the rule of the same bishops, they are, to this day, perfectly distinct, and avoid all intermarriage with each other, as carefully as if they belonged to two separate Hindoo castes ! But it must not be supposed that all the Syrian Christians now living were descended from these two branches of the Syrian mer- chant’s family ; the probability is that the Southerners (who have ever been the most exclusive caste) are descended from the Nair wife ; whilst the Northerners, in a more liberal spirit, claiming brotherhood with their co-religionists, whose ancestors were settled in the country centuries before the coming of Knaye Thoma, have intermarried with them, and become inseparably connected and amalgamated. Hence, under the denomination of Northerners, in the present day, we see incorporated : — 1. The descendants of the children of Knaye Thoma by his first wife. 2. Those of other colonists and settlers from Persia and Syria, arriving at various periods before as well as after the era of Thomas, A. D. 800. 1 3. Those also of such as were Christianized inhabitants of Malabar before his arrival, and the offspring of more recent converts from heathenism. This will account for the Northerners being by far the more numerous party, having, if we reckon the Romo-Syrians, more than 200 churches, whilst the Southerners have not even a tenth of that number. The Southerners, though so exclusive in their ideas and habits, are somewhat looked down upon by their brethren, when the question of pedigree comes under discussion, being stigmatised as the offspring of a Hagar, whilst the Northerners claim to spring from the Sarah of the family. But, to console themselves for this, the Southerners pride themselves in being the real descendants of the great Knaye Thoma— in never having broken caste, and in retaining the blood of ancient nobility still pure in their veins. All this incites them to persist in their exclusiveness, and observe Hindoo customs — especially in connexion with marriage rites and ceremonies — unknown among the Northerners. They never will, if they can help it, allow of intermarriage with members of the latter section (as already stated), or receive proselytes or converts from the heathen into their community ; hence all converts are classed, to this day, among the Northerners. These circumstances 1 Mar Gabriel, in the account of the Syrian Church given to Visscher, says : — “ Several priests, students, and Christian women and children came hither from Bagdad, Nineveh, and Jerusalem, in company with the mer- chant Thomas ; and having made acquaintance with the 64 families (i.e., the Syrian Christians of Malabar), they became united, and lived in con- cord with one another.” 62 LINGERIN' CxS OF LIGHT ■will account for the Southerners being, in general, fairer in com- plexion, and more invariably Syrian in their features, since there is less intermixture of Indian blood. Caste feelings, in former times, ran so high among them that the Cattanars of one party were not even allowed to minister in the churches of the other ! The Jacobite Syrians have only six churches of the Southern party in communion with them, viz. : — One of the two Syrian churches at Cottayam, and the churches of Kallucherry , Rdnny, Neelumparur, Puruwum or Purom and Chembil. The Romo- Syrians possess ten of these churches, at the following places : — Udiamparur, Cadaturutta, Cottayam, Ellur, Chungum, Piinathara, Paingalum, Kaipully, Kumarakurn, and Welianada. Before touching upon the particular localities in which these people settled, it will be as well briefly to revert to the former political history of this part of South India. After the death of the last of the Perumal Princes, or Viceroys of Kerala, about A.D. 825, we observe their territory was broken up into numerous small principalities. Amongst the less powerful chieftains who succeeded, and occupied the extreme southern portion of the divided state, were the Rajahs of Tiruvancotta or Travancore, whose rule extended over a somewhat rocky and barren district which terminated at Tovala, on the eastern side of Cape Comorin. But in 1761 Vira Martanda, Rajah of Travancore, fired with ambition, and a passion for conquest, commenced an aggressive warfare against his neigh- bours to the north, which was continued by his immediate successor, Rama Wurmah, until all the smaller principalities were subdued between Cape Comorin and the Port of Cranganore, which then belonged to the still powerful Samorin, or one of his feudatories. The dominions and regal rights of the Maha Raj ah of Cochin were very seriously curtailed, and his princely dignity cast into the shade, by the rising majesty of these successful aggressors. Among the petty Princes then subdued were the Wadakencore and Thekkencore Rajahs, whose states joined each other, running inland eastward from the shores of the Backwater, till they reached the domains of the Punathara Rajah — a less-favoured, and some- what inaccessible territory lying along the foot of the Western Ghauts. The Wadakencore Rajahs were regarded, with the Rajahs of Porcada and two others, as the main pillars of the Cochin State ; and their subjugation by Travancore well nigh ruined the native sovereign of Cochin. It was under the Wadakencore and Thekkencore Princes that most of these Southerners chiefly settled, which leads one naturally to suppose that the estates granted hy Knaye Thoma to various members of his second family were in this particular region of Malabar, whilst those inherited by the children of the first family were to the north of Cochin, in the vicinity of Cranganore and Angamale, and hence probably the origin of the descriptive appellations of Northerners and Southerners. In a “ Brief History of the Syrians in Malabar, preserved among IN A DARK LAND. 63 themselves as their genuine history ’ n — to which we have occasion to refer from time to time — there is indeed another way of accounting for the origin of these distinctive names, which we think less likely to he correct ; but, as one of the native traditions, bearing on the subject, it is well to record it. We are told that those who last came from Syria and settled in Malabar were called Nazarites. In course of time the Nazarites who came from Jerusalem began to intermarry with the Christians of Malabar, according to their various stations in life. The most respectable had 400 houses on the north side of Cranganore, and the inferior had 72 on the south side of the village. These two castes are at present the Wadakanpaver and the Tekonpaver. The Northern party (are further said to) walk after the way of their father ; the Southern party after that of their mother. Then follows an account of some of the customs distinguishing the two classes, which, to our European ideas, may appear trivial and childish, for instance The Northerners stand when they are married, use the cross on this occasion, cover the head and face of the bride with a cloth, and when an infant receives its first food from the hands of the priest, it sits on its father's lap, &c. ; whereas the Southerners kneel in the marriage ceremony, use a chalavin (something like a cross, but not a cross), uncover the head and face of the bride ; and the infant, on receiving its first food, sits on the mother's lap. Then we are further told : — “ In this way were the rules of distinction settled by the Nazarites, the children of God who dwelt in the above village.” The Brief History containing these particulars professes to have been compiled in 1770. With the Northerners we have chiefly to do, since they are the far more numerous section, and more approachable than the others. The latter may have kept themselves more to themselves, by their exclusive habits ; but the former have truly inherited Joseph’s blessing so far as increase in numbers is concerned; and may be compared to “ a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall,” since they have extended their settlements in all directions, and now have numerous churches or chapels both amongst, and even far to the south of the original settlements of the Southerners. Du Perron has most happily preserved a list of the churches in the Diocese of Verapoli, dated 1758, and therefore before the great political changes caused by the Travancore conquests. In the Wadakencore State we find the following six churches mentioned: Ellur, Purom, Chembil, Kamapuram, Chungum, and Cadaturutta ; and in Thekkencore, two churches at Cottayam, the church of Kallucherry, Punathra, and Paingalum — five more. Of the other churches, some either have been erected since the list was made out, or were unintentially omitted; but of these Kaipully and Kumarakum are also in Thekkencore ; and the rest are not a 1 Vide Appendix D. 04 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT great distance off, if not within, the ancient boundaries of this State. Udiamparur must he mentioned by itself, since it has a very peculiar history. It lies 10 or 12 miles S.E. of Cochin, and hence far to the south of either Cranganore or Angamale, where the other descendants of Knaye Thoma are supposed to have settled. In Du Perron’s list it appears among the Syro-Roman churches, situated in the Cochin Rajah’s dominions. An intelligent Cattanar at Kallucherry — one of the churches of the Southerners— told the writer that according to their traditionary history their first settle- ment was at Cranganore, and their next at Udiamparur, then the Waliapully or great church at Cottayam was established. Kallu- cherry, he added, was an off-shoot from the Cottayam congrega- tion, and an off-shoot from Kallucherry had since been planted at Ranny — the extreme S.E. church of the Syrians. This implies a gradual migration southward and eastward, in which directions, with respect to Cranganore, we find all their churches — without one single exception — now located Udiamparur (as one might naturally suppose), after Cranganore, was a place of considerable importance, according to Syrian tradi- tion. Early Portuguese writers say that when the Syrians pre- sented the sceptre of their last Christian Rajah, called by them King Baliarte, and solicited the protection of the King of Portugal in 1502, they informed Yasco de Gama that haying died without issue, his estates had passed over to the “ infidel Kings of Diamper.” Much more has been made by European writers of this so-called King Baliarte than the history of the country would in any measure justify. The Syrian Christians of the present day seem to have no memorials of the existence of such a royal per- sonage among them ; and if any amongst them ever bore the dignity, or was addressed as Rajah, it must have been little more than an honorary title without independent rule. A family bearing the name of Waliyedattu, or as the Portuguese would call it Baliyedattu , once had the ascendancy amongst them, and it has been suggested that one of its members, acting as a sort of head man, may have been referred to. Paoli — after telling us that the Christians of Malabar withdrew from the territories of the Samorin and other northern princes on account of the increase of Mahometan influence, and settled in the territories subject to the Rajah of Cochin — adds: — “They chose from among their own number a King, who was called Beliarte, and who was obliged to engage that he would defend them from the Mahomedans as well as the Pagans. He resided at Udiamparur, a city belonging to the King of Cochin.” Some arrangement of this kind exists among the Nestorians of Persia in the present day. They are under the civil jurisdiction of a Koordish chieftain, but in addition thereto have heads of their own, “who hold under him (we are told by Mr. Badger 1 ) a dignity 1 The Nestorians and their Bituals, vol. I., p. 259. IN A DARK LAND. 65 nearly allied to that of the old lairds of the highlands of Scotland, or the Sheiks of the Bedooeen Arabs;” and what is singular enough these head men are called Meleks or Kings. The office is hereditary, and gives the incumbents certain rights over their respective villages. We have already alluded to the head man of the Manicheans, and intimated that the Christians had such a representative ; and so had the Jews, within comparatively recent times ; for when the Dutch took possession of Cochin in 1663, they met with the leading man amongst them named David Levi, who was honoured by the Bajah with the title of Moodeliar. He had an official staff given to him mounted with gold, having the motto of the Honourable East India Company of Holland engraven on it. Baliarte may have been honoured with the like rank, 1 and the red sceptre, with its silver bells, may have been a similar badge of office. He further, probably, held estates at Udiamparur under the Cochin Bajah, over which he exercised Zemindary rights, enjoyed by his family for some generations. This would further account for the estates lapsing to the “infidel King of Diamper,” for lack of heirs male ; for if they had been freehold property it is probable he would have left them to some of his Christian friends ; or, at least, to the church, and not to a heathen prince. That LTdiamparur was three centuries back a place of consider- able importance we may gather from the fact that Menezes selected it as the place for assembling his famous Council in 1599. It is situated just within the present limited territory of the Bajahs of Cochin, who regard it as the residence of the Queen mother, and the name of the place, though the Bajah may not be there, is still kept up in old court forms — letters royal being said to come from Udiamparur, just as our monarchs still speak of their palace at Westminster, or Court of St. James’s, in official documents. The last named is a singular circumstance, very suggestive, and corro- borative, as far as it goes, of native tradition ; for there is nothing in the aspect of the present poor decayed village at Udiamparur to lead one to suppose that it was ever, in any way, connected with royalty of any kind or degree. 2 How the town itself went to decay can be easily surmised from what Du Perron tells us, that when he visited the place in 1758 the troops of the Bajah of Travancore had been in those parts not long before, burning the houses of the unhappy natives. The neigh- bouring town of Kandanada had been burnt, but was then rebuilt, whilst Udiamparur still lay desolate, with little else standing save 1 That the wealthier Christians received such titles of dignity appears from Marignolli. He says — “ When I was at Columbum (Quilon) with those Christian chiefs, who are called Modilial, and are owners of the pepper, &c.” (a.d. 1347 ) 2 The Cochin Rajah has a modem country house at no great distance from the place. F 66 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT the walls of its churches. The population very generally left for the newly-built town — only half a mile distant — which soon became a great place for merchandise, especially for pepper and tobacco. When, however, our Missionaries began to visit the place some 50 years ago, they found Kandanada itself rapidly going to ruin, in consequence of these articles of commerce having been made Government monopolies ; but the houses built of stone, and certain other marked peculiarities, existed as vestiges of its former im- portance. When in its prosperity Kandanada became a favourite residence of some of the Syrian Metrans ; and this would, of course, further attract a Syrian population to the locality. Du Perron visited an Antiochian Metran residing there in 1758, named Mar Basilius, or as he calls him, Schokoreulla. Earlier still, in 1719, the native Metran, Mar Thomas V., corresponded with Professor Schaof, of Leyden, from Kandanada ; and when Dr. C. Buchanan paid his official visit to the Syrian Metran Dionysius in 1806, he was residing at the same place ; and in its church the tombs of Mar Basilius and Mar Thoma may still be seen. The old church at Udiamparur still stands. It has been, how- ever, in the hands of the Syro-Bomanists ever since Archbishop Menezes and his Jesuit assistants — as the Syrian History says— “ brought an axe to split the doors of the church” open, that he might hold his Council therein. In lonely solitude, as if lamenting its fate, the venerable pile appears in the midst of cocoa nut planta- tions ; scarcely a house is to be seen in the vicinity, save that of the Cattanar, adjoining the sacred edifice. If its stones and timbers could speak, surely the wrong and robbery of the Church of Kome and her priests would be their theme ? It was at Cadaturutta in Wadakencore, or the Pepper Kingdom, of the Portuguese, that Archbishop Menezes made his first decidedly successful impression on the native Christians, by gaining over to his interests, in the first place, two leading men, either by promises or bribes ; and secondly, by exhibiting the meretricious ceremonial of Kome. There were then two Syrian Churches at the place — one belonging to the Northerners, and the other to the Southerners ; but the former (being probably the larger and more influential commu- nity) received most of the prelate’s attention. On Palm Sunday high mass was performed in their church with great pomp, by the aid of a full choir imported from Cochin for the occasion. Though the Kanee (Queen) used her best endeavours to frighten him out of her territory, the haughty churchman plainly told her messengers that he should not leave until he had finished the work that had called him thither. On Easter Eve he held an Ordination ; and when the Jesuit Professor of the College at Chennum arrived, he complimented the Archbishop upon his incredible success, adding : — ‘ ‘ But a few months ago, on my wishing to perform mass in this church, the doors were shut against me, which I was obliged to force open by IN A DARK LAND. 67 the assistance of one of the Queen’s officers ; and when the host was elevated for the adoration of the people, they shut their eyes ; and on exhibiting an image of the Blessed Virgin they cried out, “ Away with that filthiness ! We are Christians, and therefore do not ivorship idols.” What a clear proof of the anti-Popish sentiments of the people of the place before Rome had deluded them ! Cadaturutta, however, appears to have stood firm to Rome from that time to the present. Both Southerners and Northerners are staunch Romanists, and none of the Jacobite Syrians are found in the place. One thing which contributed to this more than anything else was, that the Jesuits made it one of their great educational centres. They appear originally to have been attracted to the place by the fact that at Nagapara, in its immediate neigh- bourhood, Jacob — the Vicar General of a Syrian Metran detained in Europe by Romish intrigue — had his residence, 1 and would need watching and circumventing, according to the approved principles of the party. The seminary of priests which was established here was presided over by F. Roz, who became the first Jesuit Archbishop of Cranganore ; Francis Garcia, who attained to the same dg-nity, and also P. Samaria — all belonging to the Order of Jesuits. Paoli says that from this college came forth in 1610 an excellent Syro- Chaldaic Dictionary, the MS. of which, in folio, was still preserved in 1779 in the chest of Mani Mattu, Cattanar of the church of St. Thomas. In 1620 Donatus, a Dominican friar, erected a church or chapel at his own cost, which he dedicated to St. Dominic. Being well versed in Syro-Chaldaic, he taught the language in this church, and very many Syrian priests flocked to him for instruc- tion ; amongst whom he became so popular that, upon a vacancy occurring in the see of Cranganore, they wished him to be conse- crated Archbishop; “and probably (adds Paoli) through the subsequent election of Stephen de Britto a handle of schism was given them.” In Paoli’s list of Syro-Roman churches, the Church of St. Thomas is mentioned, together with one called St. Mary’s, and an Oratory of St. Dominic. From enquiries made in the neighbour- hood in 1863, it was ascertained by the writer that two churches and a chapel still existed ; and about 600 houses were said to be con- 1 Raulini styles Carturte — as the old writers called the place — “ one of the more celebrated cities of the Christians, under the rule of the Pepper Queen ; and from which the mountain Bishops of the Malabars received their title for some time.” Again he observes that when the Metropolitical See was removed from Mylapur to the mountains of Malabar in the period of the first persecution, it was established at Angamale and Carturte. He gives us no authority for his statement about a Metropolitical See at Mylapur; and without good support it is unworthy of credence. There is a Syrian tradition that they first settled at Cadaturutta after the destruction of Cranganore by some Mussulman outbreak — when this took place is not known. 68 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT nected with them. The church belonging to the Southerners went by the name of the Waliyapally, or Great Church — a designation commonly given to the older church (where there are two or more in the same place), without any reference to size — which leads to the supposition that the Southerners were the first comers into this particular neighbourhood, since their church (though they may be the less influential party) is regarded as the mother church of the town . 1 The church at Puruwum, or Purom, also in the “Pepper Kingdom,” belongs to the Southerners ; and is most pleasantly situated, occupying an elevated position on the banks of a river, which is the chief high way into the interior of this ancient prin- cipality. Rome also gained a footing here, and long and tenaciously did she hold it, even when most of the parishioners refused sub- mission to her yoke. When, however, the healthy influence of British rule began to be felt in Travancore, some of the Syrian Christians made a formal complaint to the Native Court that the Romanists retained forcible possession of certain churches against the wishes of the people. Upon this the British Resident, Colonel Munro, issued an order that the church at Purom, the Waliapally at Cottayam, and the church of Changanashery, should be given over to the Syrian party. Their friends, the Church Missionaries, assisted them as far as they could in this matter ; but at one of the churches — the last-named — a great crowd of Romo- Syrians assem- bled to prevent access to the church door. One of the Missionaries, however, cleverly threw a handful of chuckrams — the small silver coin of the country — among the people, and this had the effect of clearing a way to the main entrance, which a native blacksmith soon forced open, whereupon a Cattanar, entering the building, read an official document, declaring it henceforth to be used as formerly, for Syrian worship. The Changanashery people, how- ever, returned to Romanism after a while . 2 The church at Purom, dedicated to the Three Kings — a Romish appellation still retained — externally forms a pretty object as seen 1 There is a tradition that a wealthy Syrian having taken vengeance on a native Rajah, named Yeera Manikatachen, by cutting off his head, for his licentious attempts to destroy the honour and happiness of their house- holds, the whole community migrated to Mulanturutta, where they built a church, and remained until, in the lapse of time, this tragical event being forgotten, they were allowed to return to the home of their fathers. Before doing so they handed over the key of their new church to some Northern Syrians, taking with them simply all their church documents. 2 Changanashery has been off and on with Rome more than once. In 1704 the Vicar Apostolic sent P. Vincent to the churches of Changana- shery, Caflourcada, Porcada, and Alleppy, where he met with much opposition. The heretics, says Du Perron, opposed and tried to poison the Missionary. In 1758 the Syrian Metran often resided at Changanashery. In 1816, when the Church Missionaries came into the country, it was again in the hands of the Romanists, and they have it still. IN A DARK LAND. 69 across the river, crowning a rocky eminence, and embosomed in rich tropical verdure. In 1863 there were six Cattanars con- nected with it, and not quite 200 houses. When the Romanists vacated the place, nearly half a century ago, there being a division of property, they took with them only half their images. Those left behind being likely to prove a snare to the Syrians, were very wisely removed, under the sanction of their Metran. The late excellent senior Missionary has again and again nar- rated the story of their removal to the writer. These images had been made at Goa, were well executed, and of considerable value ; and therefore it went sorely against the grain with some of the people to part with them. Like Laban, when he lost his gods, they were for rallying their forces and going after the Mission boat in which they had been stowed ; but by an extra effort the boat- men escaped them, and conveyed them to Cottayam, where they were safely housed in a lumber room at the top of the old Syrian college. For years they rested there in peace, neglected and for- gotten, till some repairs of the structure brought them to light. The Missionary recommended their destruction, since they might lead to evil ; but the Metran then ruling, a man of vacillating character, was for compromise, and suggested that they should be sold to the Romanists ! This, of course, on principle, was decidedly objected to. At last the Metran and his staff were induced to visit them; it being thought that the sight of them might alter his opinion, and bring him to the right decision. The Missionary presently called for a chopper, and with the tacit, but very reluctant consent of the Metran, began to hew them in pieces — the younger students looking on with a kind of horror, as if they expected divine judgment to paralyse the arm of the unsparing iconoclast. Had it not been for the decided action taken by the truest friends of the Syrian Church, it is to be feared the people of Purom would, through their images, again have come under the power of Rome. This simple fact serves to show how thoroughly Romanised many of the image-hating Syrians were when our Mission was first established amongst them. "What the imagery of the church may have been, can be easily inferred from a very elaborate reredos still standing behind the chief altar, which is of wood, though two modern side altars are of stone. The lower part of the reredos is adorned with bold alto-relievo carving ; the upper has three principal compartments, representing the Birth of Christ, the Visit of the Magi, and the Presentation in the Temple. In 1863 they had been fresh painted — about four years previously — and therefore presented a bright and showy aspect, which contrasted strangely with the otherwise dirty and poverty-stricken look of the edifice. A heathen temple of considerable antiquity, called Cliairycum Umbalum, stands near the church, but on lower ground. A local tradition accounts for this as follows : — When the Christians and 70 LINGEEINGS OF LIGHT Heathen were contemplating building, each wauted the high site ; upon which a trial of the power of their sacred images was pro- posed, and accordingly one of the Yirgin, and another of some Hindoo swamy were thrown into the river ; the latter sank, the former swam, and had the priority of choice ! There is, however, this insuperable difficulty in the way — the Syrians abhorred images prior to the coming of the Romish Missionaries ; and therefore we can regard this story as nothing else than a legendary mode of accounting for the singular fact that, in an essentially heathen state, the Christian Church occupies a better position than the Hindoo Pagoda. May it not indicate that, old as the Pagoda is, the Christians built their place of worship before the heathen did theirs ? Chembil, another church of the Southerners, in the same princi- pality, lies near the mouth of the Purom river, where it joins the Backwater. Until within the last ten or twelve years, it was one of the very few remaining cases in which Syrians and Romo- Syrians used the same church. A strange story, and a stranger scene, came to the writer’s notice when he visited the place, in company with a native clergy- man, in 1863. The Chembil people had been erecting a substantial stone church, amply sufficient for the wants of a comparatively small community ; but the two parties had fallen out when the walls had reached their destined elevation, and all was ready for the permanent roof. The curse of Babel seems to have, in a certain sense, befallen them ; they could not be brought to understand one another, and so “ they left off to build.” But they must have some place for worship, and so each party erected for themselves temporary churches in the immediate vicinity — long and low thatched structures, without any pretence to ecclesiastical taste. A civil Romo-Syrian priest stated that the Bishop of VerajDoli advised his party against re-union ; which undoubtedly would be the best for the Syrians, as they were never likely to gain any good by a continued alliance of any kind with Rome. The unfinished church had already become picturesque from various tropical plants having selected their habitats either within or upon its walls. The roofless chancel, and its rich ornamentation of luxuriant ferns, of exquisite forms, would have excited the envy of some modern English church decorators ; for the stone cornices and every available ledge were thickly set with them ; and so were the altar steps beneath. Moreover, no human hand, or footstep of man or beast, seem ever to have marred their order or symmetry, by crushing or breaking a single frond. The native brother present regarded the place with special interest. Chembil was his father’s parish — the home of his ances- tors. As a little boy his Syrian sire had taken him from his resi- dence near Cottayam, and had there dedicated him to the service of the sanctuary ; probably hoping, that if spared, he would some day be one of the Cattanars attached to the old Church. But God, in IN A DARK LAND. 71 His good providence, had ordered it otherwise; and one could not help thinking how far more happily and usefully he was employed, as an ordained minister of our Reformed Church, in preaching an unadulterated gospel to his fellow countrymen, than he would have been in chanting Syriac masses, and praying for the souls of the departed. Cottayam, in the ancient principality of Thekkencore, has "evidently been, for many centuries, one of the strongholds of Syrianism. Here, as at Cadaturutta, both Northerners and Southerners reside, and the chief of the latter is also dignified with the title of Waliapally, or the Great Church, from its being the older foundation of the two. What Cadaturutta was to the Jesuits of old in these parts, that Cottayam is to the Church Missionary Society — their chief educational centre. The church of the Southerners at Cottayam stands on a rocky eminence near the river, and is approached by a flight of steps, at the top of which is a quaint, picturesque-looking gatehouse. Within the church is an altar-piece of some pretensions, divided into compartments by gilt pillars and cornices, enclosing oil painting representations of various facts in our Lord’s history. They are supposed to have been executed at Goa, and as mementos of Eoman rule are little cared for by the people. Some good speci- mens of wood carving also occur, indicating that much money had been expended in the original construction and ornamentation of the edifice. A Cattanar long connected with this church was a very shrewd, clever man, but addicted to biting sarcasm in word and deed. He wrote a tract against Romanism many years ago, but so did its contents exasperate the Eomanists, that it became almost perilous to circulate it. On another occasion he tied a Seapulary round a dog’s neck, and turned him loose in the bazaar ; where the Eoman- ists, seeing the beast, were horrified at what they deemed a profa- nation. Such weapons of warfare were carnal, and answered no good purpose. This priest, however, was so confident in his powers of argu- mentation, that having come across one of the Irish Society’s controversial handbills, offering £10,000 to any one who could show undoubted scriptural authority for the leading errors of the Church of Eome, he took up the gauntlet (on this occasion on the side of Popery) and wrote an answer in Malayalim ; had it trans- lated into English, and then sent it by post to Dublin, claiming the reward ! It need hardly be added that his flimsy sophistry did not carry much weight with our well-read and clear-headed Irish contro- versialists ; but the Syrian priest was somewhat chagrined by the result, and complained that his efforts were not duly appreciated. The son of this Cattanar, who is now a strong opponent of the Metropolitan, and carries on a correspondence with certain clergy- men of the Church of England, is the professed author of a little book called The Syrian Christians of Malabar, published in 72 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT England. He is supposed by the natives to be largely indebted to his father (now deceased) for the materials of which it is composed; and certainly some parts of the book painfully remind one of certain traits in the old priest’s character, who, from being a professed friend, turned to be an unsparing and bitter adversary of the Metropolitan. Some few miles to the south of Cotta yam a beautiful river forms the high way to a deeply-interesting succession of Syrian churches amongst whom Rome never exerted much successful influence ; biit there our own Missionaries have found their truest and firmest friends. Two of these, Ranny and Kallucherry, belong to the Southerners. Ranny is a kind of Ultima Thule with the Malabar Syrians, since they have no congregation beyond this to the east. Buchanan, who calls it Ranniel in his Christian Researches, spent a short time there, and gives a graphic account of his visit. To this day the old people talk about him, and had among them, till very recently, a book containing his autograph. A rock overhanging the river is still pointed out on which Boochan-padre-sahib (as they style him) stood entranced in contemplating the paradisaical scene spread out beneath his feet. The present church at Ranny was built about a hundred years ago, by three or four wealthy families. It is a neat, substantial structure, close to the river side, but to reach it you have to climb an abrupt rocky declivity, at the top of which is a quaint gate- house having a projecting upper floor, from whence you obtain a bird’s eye view of the stream beneath wending its way amid the richest groupings of tropical vegetation. In 1863 they had lately introduced stone altars ; but the ecclesiastics who had enjoined this departure from primitive usage, straining as it were at the gnat, had ordered some very inoffensive alto-relievo figures in plaster to be effaced from the walls. A small wooden shrine, which had contained an image of St. George, was now tenantless — the good sense of the common people had brought about the destruction of the image. The latin letters I.N.R.I., inscribed over some small crosses in the church, were mysteries even to the priest, who asked for an explanation. In connexion with this remote congregation there are, as before mentioned, three or four families belonging to the Manichean remnant. Through God’s blessing on the labours of the Church Missionary Society a good work is being carried on in this most remote congre- gation, through the medium of the junior Cattanars. One of these men was introduced to the writer on the occasion of his visit. The following extract from the report of a more recent visit, paid by the Rev. R. Maddox, in May, 1868, speaks of further progress : — “ One young man lately appointed to this church, is well dis- posed towards reform, and received us most heartily and kindly. “ Several persons came during the day to see me. We sat in the church porch, and at the Cattanar’s request preached, and sang IN A DARK LAND. 73 some lyrics. I spent the afternoon in the church room. When, you looked out of the window, you saw no foundation to the place at all, the room being built out on each side on stone pillars, which are not visible from above. The view from this place is grand indeed. “ In the evening we had prayers in the church room. There were several Cattanars present, and I asked one of them to conduct prayers. He read a chapter, and gave a splendid exposition ; and offered up a most earnest and suitable prayer. I never met with a Cattanar who could do so before. I have seldom heard such an exposition of scripture from any of our Mission Agents.” 1 Kallucherry is about a day’s journey nearer the coast than Ranny, and therefore somewhat more in the world. An antique gatehouse (of which these Southerners seem very fond) standing on the river’s hank denotes the place. The church is about a furlong inland from this, and quite unseen. It is said to he about 300 years old, and is a long structure with very fully developed fan- shaped ornamentation in the upper part of the main front. The interior presented a mean appearance in 1863, its chief embellish- ment being a miserable daub on wood depicting the Virgin and Child, left by the Romanists, who only vacated the church forty years previous to this. About 200 houses were said to be connected with the church, but only a few of them were in the immediate neighbourhood. Itty Thomen, a former Cattanar of this Church, is worthy of honorable mention, as the confidential adviser and faithful friend of the Syrian Archdeacon Thomas in the last death struggle with the Portuguese. He was with the Archdeacon when he was besieged in Mulanturutta Church by the allied forces of Hindoos and Romanists in 1661 ; and was his companion in flight when he escaped from the hands of those who thirsted for his blood. He is said to have been a shrewd and able man, who boldly withstood the pretensions of Rome, and may have had much to do with the propagation of that anti-Roman sentiment for which the churches in this neighbourhood are marked. He assisted the Archdeacon in reorganizing his church, and wrote several books, amongst others the Life of St. Paul, in native verse. Tradition says he collected together a little library, which through some neglect was (as is not unfrequently the case in India) entirely destroyed by white ants. The Romanists are stated to have diligently sought his life, but he died peaceably in his own house, and was buried in Kallucherry Church. The Cattanar of Kallucherry, who related how his ancestors the Southerners gradually spread themselves southwards and eastwards from Cranganore through Udiamparur and other places till they reached Ranny, also observed that Neelumparur, Kumarakum near 1 From the Madras Christian Missionary Record, December, 1868, p. 338. 74 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT Cottayam, and Weliyanada were comparatively modern offshoots from the older churches in their vicinity, and that the last named had been built within the three preceeding years. When asked why the people at the old Syrian Church at Changanashery, one of the most important in that vicinity, (to which he had been alluding) had rejoined the Romish communion, he replied: — “ They had grown so familiar with the superstitious innovations of Rome as to have no sincere love for the customs of their forefathers ; and thus, notwithstanding the efforts made by the Church Missionary Society’s missionaries to arouse them to a better state of mind, being left to themselves, they returned back again into bondage.” Of the rest of the churches belonging to the Southerners, if we except perhaps Kaipully (a few miles north of Cottayam), they lie far in the interior, remote from the beaten tract of ordinary travel- lers, in one of the most essentially Syro-Romish districts of Travan- core — which stretches from Cottayam in a north-easterly direction towards the mountains, wherein two-thirds of the population are supposed to be Romo-Syrians. A little light it is hoped is now breaking in upon this region of gross darkness and superstition, as the Church missionaries and their assistants occasionally pass to and fro in the great and encouraging work of evangelisation carried on more especially among the Hill Arrians who inhabit the lower ranges and picturesque ravines of the Western Ghauts. Ellur is placed on Paoli’s map a little to the north of Parlai, which is on the banks of the Cottayam river. Of Ckungum we shall hear more when the tour of Archbishop Menezes in these parts comes under special consideration. Punathra, described by Paoli as *■ in the mountains,” Res in the hilly district about seven miles up the Cottayam river ; and Paingalaim is a small church dedicated to St. Cross two miles north of Parlai. Thus it would appear that they aH lie within a circumscribed space, and several of them are probably offshoots from the older and larger Thekken- baghar settlements of the neighbourhood. It is a singular fact that the powerful influence which Rome has so long exercised has been unable to do away with the caste feehng and distinctions between the Northerners and Southerners — ■ they prevail as much among Romo-Syrians as the Syrians. IN A DARK LAND. 75 CHAPTER VI. THE CHURCH OF MALABAR IN THE DARK AGES. We have no very direct means of ascertaining what the exact condition of the ancient Syrian Church of Malabar was during the period commonly called the Dark Ages. We meet with one or two bare fragments of history, very meagre in character and giving us very little light ; and here and there a traveller’s story of what he saw or heard about these Christians when he was wandering in the far east. It is not until the Portuguese appear upon the scene that materials become in any sense abundant ; and thus we shall be compelled largely to infer , from the written accounts of Romish ecclesiastics chiefly, what was then the probable condition of this interesting community. If our King Alfred’s messengers visited the shrine of St. Thomas in India it was probably only the colony of Christians at Malapur with whom they came in contact, and hence we have no traditions from them respecting the churches on the Malabar coast. But the Syrians themselves have preserved a fragment of history of the same century as that in which Alfred flourished. Their Brief History informs us — “In a.d. 825 a merchant named Sabareso and two Syrian bishops, Mar Chaboor and Mar Apprott, came to Malabar and dwelt at Quilon. At that time the Jews and Arabs in this country were at war. We and the Jews were allies. The Arabs commenced the war, destroyed a city, slew the two Rajahs Yilyanvattale, and burnt their bodies.” Quilon seems to have been the headquarters of this party from Syria, and Sabar Eso probably became to the Christians of Quilon much what Knaye Thoma was to those of Cranganore. The two bishops, called by European writers Mar Sabro and Mar Prodli, settled and laboured in the country, having obtained from the Hindoo Princes permission to build churches. They evidently made a deep impression on the people in the neighbourhood of Quilon, where they are said to have founded certain churches ; and their memory was preserved by many others being called after their names. When the Romish missionaries, seven centuries later, became aware of this fact, they were so shocked that Nestorian bishops should enjoy an honour due only to such individuals as had been canonized by the Pope, that tbe subject was brought before the Synod of Udiamparur, where it was formally decreed — “ Since they came from Babylon there is just cause to suspect that they might be heretics ; wherefore the Synod doth command that 76 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT all the churches which are dedicated to them he dedicated to All the Saints ; and the festivities used to be kept to their honour, and the Nerchas ( Love Feasts ) that used to be given upon their days shall be given on All Saints’ Day, being the first of November ; and for the future there be no more churches dedicated to them.” ( Act VIII. Decree 25 .) 1 They arrived in Malabar a few years after the founding of Quilon, about A. I). 825 — an era from which the Syrians in the south were formerly accustomed to date all their important docu- ments. It does not however follow that no place of the name of Quilon existed before the foundation alluded to — which after all may simply refer to the erection of fortifications, and its complete establishment as a privileged government seaport, having custom- house and store rooms for the reception of produce until purchased by merchants from foreign countries ; for, as we have already seen, the Syrian traditions speak of Quilon as one of the places where St. Thomas himself, in the first century, formed a Christian Church. The labours of these two Nestorian ecclesiastics were probably very local, and hence their memory would be chiefly preserved among the Syrian Christians of South Travancore ; in confirmation of which we are told that when Archbishop Menezes was at the Syrian town of Thevalacara, in the neighbourhood of Quilon, the people of the place showed him a transcript of the privileges granted to them on their arrival in the country, engraven on copper plates, in Malabar, Tamil, and other characters, which they carefully preserved amongst the most precious treasures of their ancient archives. 2 Upon the war between the Jews and the Arabs (Mahometans) referred to as happening about the same time, we can throw no further light. Such a thing was very likely to take place ; and equally likely is it that the Syrians and Jews should stand together in joint defence, and also aid the native Princes to quell any emeute of the fanatical and bloodthirsty Mahometan population in their dominions. Church historians in Europe have preserved one or two facts 1 The Syrians say that the old churches of Quilon, Kaiyenkullum and Udiamparur, were named after Mar Sabro and Mar Prodh. The old Syrian churches of Quilon have all been destroyed. Those at the other places were dedicated to S. S. Gervasius and Protasius, according to Paoli. 2 Mar Gabriel’s account given to Visscher runs thus : — “A separation took place among the Christians of Cranganore in the year of our Lord 823; and then Mar Saboor, Mar Botoe (Prodh) and Seboor Isso (Sabar Fso) came to Quilon as teachers. They went to visit the King Sjak Itawiosti with presents, and built churches and shops at Quilon. In these and similar ways the chief pastors came, teaching and instructing the people of Malabar.” — Visscher’ s Letters, p. 107. IN A DARK LAND. 77 which show that the Christians of Malabar still kept up communi- cations with the Nestorian Patriarchs of Babylon, who from time to time sent forth bishops and other ecclesiastics to superintend or teach various Christian communities not only in Malabar but also in the island of Socotara, and in a province in China called Masina. The Church of Malabar- — -unfortunately for itself some will think — has ever been in leading strings. She has never had accorded to her that complete organisation, and asserted for herself that full measure of independence and self government which were her just right. To preserve anything approaching to a regular succession of duly authorized bishops she has always had to be under obligations to foreigners, which has kept her weak and low, and sometimes left her without any one having the power to ordain ministers for a very considerable period. We fear it has been all along part of the policy of the Eastern Church dignitaries to keep her thus dependent, in order to add to their own wealth or main- tain their own dignity and influence. The Indian bishopric of Malankara has too often been used to augment the pecuniary resources of the Patriarchs, or to reward the services of some of their more immediate and always needy staff of church officials. And thus leaning on man rather than on God, in whom alone is “ righteousness and strength,” this Church has, to her sorrow, found man but a bruised reed ; and even within the last century her state of dependance on a foreign power- — we fear venal and corrupt — has been a constant source of internal discord, weakness and decay. We must not depend too much upon travellers’ stories, yet may oftentimes gather very interesting information from them, and even much valuable truth if we know how to separate facts from fictions. The earliest records of any intercourse between the agents of the Pope and the Syrian Christians are found in the narratives of the travels of Jordanus and Marignolli in the fourteenth century. They both visited Quilon (called by them Columbian ) and refer to their intercourse with the native Christians. Jordanus met with Nestorian Christians first of all at Tanna, near Bombay, but travelling further south he found them in large numbers. Jordanus was a Dominican Friar, and was connected with a mission of his Order in Persia. On January, 1324, he left Tabriz to go to China, visiting Tanna, Baroche and Quilon on his way thither. The information he brought home to Europe led Pope John XNII. to issue a Bull, the date of which corresponds with April 5, 1330, addressed to the Christians of Columbum. The Pope signifies to the head man of the Christians and to all who were under him that he had appointed Jordanus bishop of their city, commends him and his brother missionaries to their good will, and ends by inviting them to adjure their schism and enter the unity of the Catholic Church. This was evidently part of a plan to gain over the Nestorians of 78 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT the east to the Papacy. The centre of operations was Sultania, the seat of the Persian monarchy prior to its overthrow by Tamerlane. Here an Archbishop was appointed by the Pope having at least three bishops — namely, of Tabriz, Semiscat and Columbum — under him. Jordanus was to labour in the Indian branch of the Nestorian Church ; and he, together with the bishop of Semiscat, was deputed to convey the pallium to the archbishop. After having discharged his commission at Sultania he is supposed to have gone to his see in Malabar, but we hear no more of him. His previous visit of inquiry at Quilon is conjectured to have lasted only a year, from the following passages in his letters : — “ And of the conversion of those nations of India I say this : that if there were 200 or 300 good friars, who would faithfully and fervently preach the Catholic faith, there is not a year which would not see more than 10,000 persons converted to the Christian faith.” Again he observes : “For while I was among those Schismatics and unbelievers I believe that more than 10,000 or thereabouts were converted to our faith ; and because we being few in number could not occupy or even visit many parts of the land, many souls (woe is me !) have perished.” John de Marignolli, or John of Florence as he is sometimes called, a Minorite, was sent out to China on an embassy from the Pope. Having completed his task he commenced his return voyage by way of India Dec. 26, 1346 or 1347, probably the latter. He reached Columbum in Malabar during the following Easter week, and here he remained upwards of a year. A few extracts will best show what he saw, heard and did there. “We navigated the Indian sea until Palm Sunday, and then arrived at a very noble city of India called Columbum, where the whole world’s pepper is produced.” ‘ ‘ There is a Church of St. George there of the Latin communion at which I dwelt, and I adorned it with fine paintings and taught there the holy law. And after I had been there some time I went beyond the glory of Alexander the Great when he set up his column in India. For I erected a stone as my landmark and memorial in the comer of the world over against Paradise and anointed it with oil ! In sooth it was a marble pillar with a stone cross upon it, intended to last till the world’s end. And it had the Pope’s arms and my own engraved upon it, with inscriptions both in Indian and Latin characters. I consecrated and blessed it in the presence of an infinite multitude of people, and I was carried on the shoulders of the chiefs in a litter or palanquin like Solomon’s.” “ So after a year and four months I took leave of the brethren, and after accomplishing many glorious works I went to see the glorious queen of Saba. By her I was honorably treated, and after some harvest of souls — for there are a few Christians there — I pro- ceeded by sea to Seyllan ( Ceylon J a glorious mountain opposite to Paradise. And from Seyllan to Paradise, according to what the natives say, after the tradition of their fathers, is a distance of IN A DARK LAND. 79 fourteen Italian miles, so that ’tis said the sound of the waters falling from the fountains of Paradise is heard there.” The Church of the Latin communion mentioned by this writer is supposed to have been one founded by Jordanus. Marignolli, however, makes no mention of him, nor of any other Latin bishop, leading to the supposition that Jordanus’s scheme for the speedy conversion of the “Schismatics and unbelievers” had not been suc- cessful, and had most probably terminated with his own death or removal from the country. “ The glorious Queen of Saba ” was probably the native princess or Ranee who then ruled in those parts, for no mention is made of any sovereign of Quilon. Female rulers were not uncommon in Malabar. Archbishop Menezes, and most travellers since, have met with such, and recorded in some cases the particulars of visits paid to their courts. According to the taste and custom of the Hindoos a native potentate would not reside at a seaport like Quilon, where he would be frequently exposed to contact with Mlechas or unclean foreigners, but in the interior, if possible by the side of some river or sacred tank, here he could enjoy frequent ablutions and live an idle self-indulgent life. Nienhoff in 1662 paid a formal visit to such a female sovereign, whom he calls Queen of Quilon. She did not live at Quilon but at Calliere, probably Callida or Kallida, an old Syrian station. After delivering presents and laying down the money for pepper, Nienhoff was introduced to the Queen. She had a guard of 700 soldiers “ all clad after the Malabar fashion.” Her ears were very long, her ‘ ‘ neck and arms adorned with precious stones, gold rings and bracelets.” She was “of a majestic mien, being a princess who showed a great deal of good conduct in the management of her affairs.” At parting she took a golden bracelet from her arm and presented it, but being found too tight for Nienhoff she “ordered it to be fitted ” for him. Such a native princess as this, if not one of her immediate predecessors was Marignolli’ s “ glorious Queen of Saba.” 1 1 This mediasval monk’s Saba, the writer thinks, need not he sought for elsewhere than in South Travancore. The existence of a few Chris- tians, elephants, “ very lofty and almost inaccessible mountains,” temples having paintings on their walls, each and all of these particulars may apply to South Travancore. He describes her residence as on an island. If Kallida was the place he visited, it would probably appear so to him from the fact of his having to go thither in a boat across the broad lagoon of Quilon, studded with its numerous islets. Or he might have visited some Ranee of the Travancore royal house further south. Quitting Saba to return to Malabar, on his way towards Europe, he was driven towards Ceylon. Hence his Ceylon visit came immediately after his sojourn with the Queen ; and he appears to have been nowhere else between, for he says that at Columbum he had been poisoned; and this brought on dysentery, from which he suffered for eleven months. He was cured by a female physician of the Queen, who had all along treated him with 80 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT Aloysius Cadamustus, the Yenetian, who started from Europe on his eastern tour in 1493, tells us that he visited Calicut, which was inhabited by Indian Christians, and here he saw churches with bells. But when he further describes the town as a “ very great city, surpassing Lisbon in size,” those who know the general character of native towns on the western coast of India will receive such a statement with no slight degree of hesitation. He also states that the native Christians were without priests and religious services ; which may have arisen from the unwillingness of the Syrian Cattanars to supply such outlying stations ; a feeling since then manifested in their neglect of the extreme southern station at the ancient town of Travancore, and in some degree also of Quilon, though one of their most ancient settlements. The Moors brought large supplies of wheat for them in ships, he further says, and describes the process of bread making. * 1 They had, moreover, in their churches — which were built of stone and lime after the Moorish fashion — nothing save a certain vessel filled with water mixed with balsam. “ Every three years these people were baptised in a certain river which flowed by their city ” — which sounds like a traveller’s story, since nothing of the kind is known in the customs of the Syrian church at the present time. In conclusion he tells us : “ The Christians ride on elephants, believe Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, and never sinned ; that He was crucified by the Jews, died, and was buried at Jerusalem. They know, indeed, that the Pope lives at Rome, but have no other knowledge of the Holy Roman Church — are somewhat educated, and can write their own tongue.” When the Portuguese began to frequent the Malabar coast with their ships, the native Christians perceiving their superior civiliza- tion, power, and wealth, at length summoned up courage enough to introduce themselves formally to their notice. When Peter Cabral was staying at Cranganore in 1500, two of them (who were brothers) came to ask him to convey them to Europe, since they wanted to go and visit Jerusalem. Amongst other things they told the Portuguese that they used no images, but only the simple cross in their churches ; those in holy orders adopted the tonsure ; they marked kindess, and at parting gave him a golden girdle and 150 pieces of very delicate and costly stuff', probably country muslins. The girdle was subsequently stolen from him by the brigands of Ceylon. For these very interesting particulars of Jordanus and Marignolli the writer is indebted to The Wonders of the East, and Cathey and the way thither, two works edited by Colonel H. Yule for the Hakluyt Society. 1 “ They make their bread with leaven, have no ovens, but bake it in the ashes, as we sometimes do cakes, and they do this daily.” The notice of the use of wbeaten bread is of some importance — rice being the chief article of consumption among the Hindoos. The Christian population required it for use in the Lord’s Supper, and this may have had some- thing to do with the constant supply being kept up. IN A DARK LAND. 81 baptised infants forty days after their birth ; considered themselves ceremonially unclean for eight days after the death of a friend ; had many fasts ; possessed many copies of the Saored Scriptures and Commentaries on them, from which their priests taught the people. They had been settled at Cranganore for a long period, where there were also Jews, Arabs, Egyptians, and other foreign settlers ; their occupation, as a people, was traffic ; and for this they paid custom dues to the Rajah of Cranganore. Cabral took these two Indian Christians with him to Europe. The elder, named Matthias, died at Lisbon ; whilst the younger, Joseph, visited Rome, and after that Venice ; where the information obtained by conversation with him was incorporated in a smaU volume, entitled The Travels of Joseph the Indian, and duly pub- lished to the world. From the pages of this little book we may glean further particu- lars about the Church of Malabar, but either Joseph himself wished his church to appear as much like that of Rome as he could, to please his new friends, or the compiler of the narrative has done so for him, in order that additional testimony might be given in sup- port of Rome’s innovations. Hence we have good reason to doubt some few of the statements made (as we shall see), though in the main they are probably trustworthy. Joseph stated that his people had churches much like those in Europe, surmounted with crosses ; but as they had no bells — which does not at all agree with what the Venetian traveUer, already quoted, tells us of the churches at Calicut — they called the people to worship in the Greek manner — probably by striking a board. Inside their churches (he said) there were no images, hut simply the symbol of the cross ; they had priests, deacons, and sub- deacons ; the priests did not wear the tonsm'e as the Romanists did, but shaved the whole of the upper part of the head ; infants were not baptised till the fortieth day after their birth, unless they were in danger of death ; they sprinkled themselves with holy water upon entering their churches ; in the celebration of the Eucharist they consecrated unleavened bread, and where no wine could be obtained, after soaking raisins in water, they pressed out the juice and used it as a substitute ; the people received the Lord’s Supper three times a year ; they knew nothing of extreme unction, but buried their dead with religious rites, on which occasions large numbers of people assembled, and ate together in company for the space of eight days, terminating their feast with solemn prayers ; they made wills, but when any person died intestate his nearest relative became his heir ; widows were usually sent home to their father’s house, taking back their original dowry, with the under- standing that they were not to marry during the first year of their widowhood. On the subject of Festivals and Fasts, Joseph informed his friends that they observed Lent and Advent as fasts ; kept the great Church Feasts observed in Western Christendom ; and (in G 82 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT addition to those retained by the Reformed Church of England) also feasts in honour of the Nativity and Assumption of the Virgin ; especially observed the octave of Easter, in remembrance of St. Thomas putting his hand in the side of our Lord ; and the 1st of July, when the memory of this same Apostle was venerated by the Christians and Heathens of the country. Their priests, he further stated, led very chaste lives ; but if any were discovered to be guilty of incontinency he was at once pro- hibited from celebrating mass ; divorces were very rare among them; and the marriage tie kept inviolate till cut asunder by death; they divided the year into twelve months, and had the intercalary day; but the days they divided into sixty hours, which, in the day time, they discerned by looking at the sun, and at night by observing the stars. When at Rome Joseph was presented to Alexander VT., who questioned him as to the authority by which the Nestorian Patri- arch governed the churches of the East. Joseph seems to have been quite a match for the Pope ; and by the theory to which he then gave utterance, cleverly met a difficulty, and pacified his inquisitor. “Originally,” he said, “the Apostle Peter presided over the church at Antioch ; but when the church at Rome suffered from the atrocious schism caused by Simon Magus, St. Peter was called to Rome to confound Simon, and succour the distressed Christians. However, before leaving Antioch, he appointed a Vicar to act for him, whose successor the present Patriarch is ; and hence he calls himself the Catholic, and executes the office of Peter over the Eastern parts of the world. He is appointed by twelve Cardinals, who reside in Armenia ; and who declare that they act by the authority of the Roman Pontiff! ” Joseph is moreover made to state that they had the Sacraments of Penance and Confession just as the Romish Church ; which cannot have been the case, for the Jesuit Missionaries, a century later, encountered the greatest difficulty in introducing them. Also, that they had “ monasteries where black monks lived most continently, and, in addition, very many holy nuns ” — sanctimoniales quamplures. The Syrians of Malabar seem, indeed, to have had some few monasteries for men, when under the Nestorian Patri- arch ; for Paoli tells us they had formerly a monastery at Coro- longada, inhabited by Nestorians from Persia and Chaldea, who were the spiritual guides of the Christians of St. Thomas. There were monasteries also of the like kind at Eddapally, Angamale, and at Mylapur ( St. Thomas's Mount J, on the coast of Coromandel; but they all fell into decline after the Portuguese had established themselves on the coast of Malabar ; which leads one to suppose that conventualism was never popular among the native Christians, and that these so-called monks resembled rather the canons regular of the West, or, perhaps, Monastic Mission priests. It is very much to be doubted whether anything answering to what we understand by nunneries ever existed amongst them. IN A DARK LAND. 83 Individual females may have made vows, and lived in a state of seclusion ; but communities of women, living under rule, would not commend themselves at all to the modern Syrian ideas of pro- priety. Mr. Badger tells us that in Persia ‘ ‘ there are no such establishments as nunneries among the Nestorians; those styled nuns take indeed the vow of celibacy, hut remain in their own homes, and are expected, until loosed from their vow, to employ themselves in works of Christian benevolence, for the good of others, in the same way as the Sisters of Charity in France, or the Sisters of Mercy in England.” It is singularly coincident, that though in former times the Nestorians of Persia possessed many convents, in the present day, Mr. Badger says, they too have none ; as if the system had not answered. But these convents differed very widely from those of the Church of Rome. ‘ ‘ Such of the laity as well as the clergy, who desired to live a stricter and more devotional life than they deemed possible whilst engaged in the ordinary pursuits of the world, took upon them certain vows, of which celibacy formed a part. These generally dwelt in a church or convent (called Deira), at some dis- tance from the towns and villages, and whilst the lay brethren devoted themselves to agricultural and other useful pursuits, the clergy amongst them (who were always subject to the bishop in whose diocese they resided) employed themselves in literary labours, in transcribing hooks, in the education of youth, and in ministering to the wants of such as applied to them for temporal or spiritual relief.” “It is not uncommon” (we are further informed) “to meet with a church, at a short distance from a town or village, and called Deira, where a single priest, who has taken the vow of celibacy, resides, and acts in the capacity of rector or curate to the adjoining parish.” But then “ the celibate professed by the Nes- toiian clergy and laity is binding no longer than it is found to conduce to godliness, and on showing just cause the bishop is em- powered to release them from their vow, and to permit them to marry, with this simple restriction, that their marriage shall be celebrated privately, as being the most proper under the circum- stances ,” 1 Joseph’s statements that “ learning very much thrived amongst them,” and that they had “many holy doctors who most judi- ciously explained the Old and New Testament,” may at first appear like an exaggeration, and be hard of belief to those who know how very scarce good books were amongst them before the establishment of our Church Missions in Travancore. But we must not form our conclusions too hastily, for we know that the Romish Missionaries found a great many works, by various authors, when they first went amongst them , 2 which they busied themselves 1 The Nestorians and their Rituals, vol. ii., p. 178. 2 In 1545 Mar Abraham, Nestorian Bishop, came to Cochin. “He 84 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT in collecting ; and, after their Synodical condemnation at Udiam- parur, gaye them without distinction to the flames. During the Dark Ages of Europe there was, perhaps, far more life and light, intellectual and spiritual, among the Nestorians of the East than amongst the ecclesiastics of the West ; for Rome was repressing free- dom of thought, and reducing all she could to her iron rule ; whilst they were copying out the sacred books of Scripture, or writing expo- sitions of Christian doctrine, and sending their Missionaries into the remotest parts of Asia to tell of Christ and His salvation. When the emissaries of Rome attempted the reduction of the Nestorians in Chaldea, they found very large coUections of books, on a great variety of useful subjects besides divinity; but after they gained a footing amongst them, every possible artifice was used to destroy tbeir hooks. “ It is a common tradition among the people of the town” (says Mr. Badger) “that the extensive library of Mosul, consisting of many thousand volumes, was, at the instigation of the Latin monks, carried in baskets to the Tigris by the new prose- lytes, and by them thrown into that river.” The superior moral tone which prevailed amongst the native Christians of Malabar, together with their freedom from many of those gross corruptions in doctrine and practice, which were now prevailing in the Western Church, leads one to infer that they had something better amongst them than dead forms, and a lifeless creed which did not touch the heart. The old monasteries — with the Missionary clergy, living indeed a single life, but free from any vow of perpetual celibacy, employing their time in the education of youtb, transcribing religious books, and acting as the spiritual guides of the Christians of St. Thomas — doubtless played a very important and beneficial part in the ancient church arrangements of Malabar, and preserved a better tone among the people tban that which was prevalent when English Christians first began to seek their good. Mar Gabriel, the last Nestorian bishop, confirms all this in what he says of the Mission of Mar Saboor and Mar Prodh to Quilon ; and, referring to stiR more remote times, he teUs us : — “ In this period, by order of the Catholic Patriarch of the East, many great teachers arrived in Malabar, from Bagdad, Nineveh, Jerusalem, and several other places, who assumed authority over the Christians of the country.” In Asseman’s Bibliotheca Orientalis the state of this church is described in a letter written by four Nestorian ecclesiastics in 1504 to their Patriarch Elias, in the foRowing words : — “ There are here nearly 30,000 families of Christians of the same faith as ourselves, and they pray to the Lord that He may preserve you in safety. But now they have begun to erect other churches. They live in the midst of plenty, and are gentle and peaceable in their disposi- tions. Blessed be God !” They speak of the churches of St. Thomas brought a great quantity of books with him. — (Vide Brief History of the Syrians," Appendix D). IN A DARK LAND. 85 at Mylapur, at a distance of 25 days’ journey, which are described as situated by the sea side, in the province of Silan f Ceylon ) — which shows that their knowledge of Indian geography was not, at this time at least, very exact ; and further state that in Malabar there are about twenty cities, of which the strongest and most celebrated were Carangol ( Cranganore ), Palor ( Palur ), and Colon ( Quilon ) — the others were in their vicinity, but all had churches built, and Christians dwelling in them. Mar Gabriel thus speaks of the same Missionaries: — “ In the year 1500, when the Portuguese first appeared in Malabar, where they afterwards obtained a footing, there came, by order of the Catholic Patriarch, four teachers, by name Mar Mardina, Mar Jacob, Mar Thoma, and Jene Allay, 1 who governed the Christians, and built many churches.” Prom hence we learn that it was customary among the Nestorians, as among the Jacobites in later times, not to send a single bishop or missionary to the country, but an organised party, who were bound to act together under a com- mon head, and support and encourage one another in the enterprise assigned to them. We next turn to the testimony of the Romanist writer Osorius, and see what he says of the St. Thomas Christians in his history of the reign of Emmanuel, King of Portugal. He tells us the Cran- ganore Christians have churches, but they are deficient in beauty, on account of their slender means. On Sundays they assemble to join in the services, and hear sermons. The Eucharist is offered to all in both kinds, without discrimination. They have the Holy Bible in Syriac, and venerate it ; and there are public places where the interpreters of Scripture display their s kill before attentive hearers. 2 The priests marry ; yet the first wife being dead they cannot marry again. The marriage bond of others is only loosened by the death of one of the parties. Osorius does not say that they have the sacrament of Penance or Confession ; yet he uses language which seems to intimate some- thing of the kind, when he states, that “no one comes forward to receive the Eucharist unless by previous confession he has washed away the soul’s defilements.” He may, however, be merely describing a custom still prevalent amongst them of making a con- fession of a general character in the presence of the priest — very unlike the forced auricular confession of modern Romanism — -before partaking of the Lord’s Supper. He also more than reiterates what Joseph is made to say about conventual life: — “ There are among them fraternities of monks and associations of holy virgins ; 1 The names given in Asseman, are Denha, Jacob, Thomas, and Jaballaha. 2 His words are — “ Loca etiam sunt publica, in quibus Interpretes Scripturce, ipsorum intelligentiam, diligenter audientibus expediunt.” Could these public places be the Nestorian monasteries of which so little is now known ? 86 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT yet they are cloistered in separate buildings, and chastity is main- tained with the greatest care.” Gouvea, an Austin Friar, and Reader of Divinity at Goa, has handed down to us a full account of the visitation of Archbishop Menezes in 1599. He composed his narrative at the command of the Principal of his Order in Portugal ; and although he evidently writes with a mind strongly prejudiced against the Syrians— as when he says they retain scarcely anything of Christian save the name — which his own testimony abundantly contradicts — yet, his numerous statements throw considerable light upon their condition and opinions, after the Portuguese Romanists had had a century’s intercourse with them. He condemns their adherence to Nesto- rianism, and their refusal to call Mary the Mother of God. He tells us they did not allow image worship ; and only acknowledged three sacraments, Baptism, the Eucharist, and Holy Orders ; that they knew nothing of confirmation and extreme unction, and detested the sacrament of Penance. They all received the Eucharist on the Thursday in Holy Week, and on other solemn days in the year ; but with no other preparation than ordinary fasting. At mass they used cakes compounded with salt and oil, which were made and baked for the occasion, by deacons or other persons, in a gallery or room above the altar, just before consecration, and then let down through an aperture by a string in a little basket made of palm leaves ; whilst the wine for this sacrament was made from raisins or dates. He who assisted the priest at the mass, although a layman, wore a stole, in the manner of deacons, over his ordinary clothes ; made a very free use of incense, and sang many portions of the service alternately with the priest. Gouvea tells us there was great eagerness among them for Holy Orders, so that there was scarcely a family which had not a clergy- man in it. Such persons did not, however, altogether give up the habits of laics. They dressed in white tunics reaching to the ankles, with a white or black pallium, and wore ample tonsures as large as the Romish Monastic Orders. They received ordination to the office of presbyter as early as 17 or 20 years of age. All of them married, and most of them after taking orders — they married even widows, and more than once. Their wives had an honorable title f Catanarce ) given to them; 1 had precedence in rank among other women, and were distinguished by the ornament of a cross of 1 In the present day, though living in a country were woman’s rights are still little thought of, the wives of Cattanars have marked respect shown to them, and are individually spoken of, honorifically, as “ the Vascama.” This word is a corruption (a Syrian friend says) of Buski- amma, and is a compound of two Syriac words, Bus, daughter, and kiamma, covenant. The clergy usually marry after their ordination as deacons, and their position is then thought to correspond with that of the Levites, who served before the ark of the covenant. They are henceforth regarded as sons of the covenant, and their wives, as daughters of the covenant. IN A DARK LAND. 87 gold, or of some other metal, suspended from the neck. Other ordained persons were called Chamazes', from their first tonsure till they became priests. As to their social habits generally, we are told that daughters did not inherit the property of their parents ; men were accustomed to be the heirs, although they stood in no closer relation than that of adoption. At marriages a tenth part of the bride’s dowry was given to the church ; but they were not accustomed to pay tithe of anything else. Although they had fallen into the habit of wearing their hair long as other Nairs ( sic J , yet many of them tied it up on the top of their head, and adorned it with a gold or silver cross ; but old people, widowers, and those who had renounced wedlock, or who had undertaken the pilgrimage to St. Thomas’s Mount, shaved their hair as the Religious Orders do in Europe. The Christian women were virtuous, and conducted themselves most becomingly, wearing long veils (generally blue in colour) reach- ing to the ankles. How many soever there were in a church when the bishop came, approaching him, one by one, they knelt to kiss his hand ; and then prostrating themselves on the ground they received his blessing. On stated occasions the people met in the church porch, and had a feast in common, which was either paid for out of the fabric- money of the church, or by some rich man among themselves. The rich and poor ate together, and the feast was called a Nercha, in doing which they kept up the primitive custom of the Church. They held similar feasts at the funerals of their relatives, which were designated Chatam. In many of the particulars above stated it will be seen that, notwithstanding their many and serious disadvantages, this isolated remnant of an ancient Christian community had retained something more of Christianity than the name — Gouvea himself being the witness. The little light they had did something for them, enabling them to attain to and preserve a high standard of morals, though surrounded by all the abominations of the most corrupting heathenism ; and this evidently made a favourable impression on their Hindoo rulers, who could not but see in them quiet and peaceable subjects ; and accordingly honoured and trusted them, as we shall see from what Gouvea says about their civil status. He informs us that these Christians were subject to heathen sovereigns in all temporal matters ; yet by most ancient compact 1 “ Chammaz aut Chammas (observes Raulini) est vox Syriaca, etsonat Ministrum sacrum, seu Biaconum , ex Syriaco enim Sciamesc, fit Seiam- mascin vel Sciammas Diaconus.” Cattanar (or Cassanar, as some few writers have spelt the word) is undoubtedly a corruption of the Syriac Cahana or Kahana, a priest. Raulini gives a singular derivation from Cassa, presbyter, and Nar, or Nair, a noble ; calling it a Syro-Malabaric word, signifying “ honestus vir quasi Nobilis Presbyter." 88 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT and custom, although, they were scattered about in different princi- palities, it came to be universally regarded that, as in spiritual so in temporal matters, they were ruled by their bishop alone ; who, with his assistants, settled all their disputes, hearing most patiently contending parties, and allowing them to speak as much as they liked ; so much so that it is recorded how a certain woman, on one occasion, spoke morning and evening for the space of three whole days in support of her cause ! Their privileges were most reli- giously regarded by the native Rajahs ; and if they were trampled on at any time, they were not appeased before that either the person who had insulted them, or the Rajah himself, presented the model of a silver arm, or some other valuable gift to their church, by way of satisfaction for the admitted offence. In one particular they followed the custom of the rest of the Malabars — if they touched any low-caste person they immediately bathed themselves — -not that they thought (as the heathen do) that they were polluted by such contact, but because the Nairs (who are forbidden by the Brahmins to touch the lower castes, or even those whom they touch) would not have any communication with them except they purified themselves. Whence it was that these miserable outcastes were in danger of their lives if they touched a Nair. They avoided them with the greatest care ; and the Nairs, when they saw low- caste people in the distance, would lustily cry out ‘ ‘ Po !' ’ which signifies “ get out of the way ! ” But whilst Gouvea bears unwilling testimony in favour of these Eastern Christians, whom, in his zeal for Rome, he would fain unchristianise, he further illustrates the truth of St. Paul’s Greek adage, “Evil communications corrupt good manners,” by showing us how intercourse with Romanists soon led to an imitation of some of their evil practices. We have been again and again told of their freedom from everything resembling the image or picture-worship of Romanism ; but Gouvea — writing after they had been in com- munication with his co-religionists for about a century— tells us that though they did not approve of image worship, yet, in certain of the churches which were nearest to the Portuguese factories, by copying their example, they had then introduced pictures of the saints over their altars. And again he states that when they made processions all the clergy carried the crucifix in one hand, which they offered to be adored and kissed by others — a custom undoubt- edly learned from Romish teachers. E urthermore, the symbol of the cross, which was only found inside or surmounting the old Syrian churches, was now not confined to the sacred edifice, but erected on the public roadside, both within and without towns ; and burning tapers or lamps were placed before the cross after the Romish manner. A new feast day had also been added to their calendar, in commemoration of the lying wonder, said to have taken place at Mylapur in 1557 — the 18th of December being observed in honour of the perspiring cross at St. Thomas’s Mount. When Gouvea speaks of such things as these he doubtless regards them IN A DARK LAND. 89 as indications of improvement — steps in the right direction — hut all who have a godly jealousy, for the simplicity of the truth as it is in Jesus, will judge of them far otherwise. We have now seen what the Syrian Church of Malabar was, even according to the statements of those who regarded her with anything hut friendly feelings ; and can only wonder that at the close of the Dark Ayes, when the northern and western nations of Europe were only j ust beginning to awake from the deep sleej) and idle dreams of Medisevalism, this Church, cut off as she was from the rest of Christendom, retained so much of the Christianity of earlier and purer ages. Asleep she truly was, but she was not so completely “bound hand and foot with grave clothes,” or so oppressed with the incubus of gross superstition as some other western churches we could mention. And if we turn to the East we find her superior in many respects to such churches as that of Abyssinia, with her professedly Christian emperors and chieftains. In northern Africa, with the exception of Egypt, Christianity had become quite extinct ; and if we turn to Asia, in northern India, in the island of Socotara, and the province of China, called by old travellers Masina, the like has since taken place, though for ages under the jurisdiction of the Nestorian Patriarch : but the candle- stick has never been removed from Malabar. Now all this, amidst the grievous deficiency of church records, leads one to hope that there must have been at times some life and some light amongst these Christians of St. Thomas ; occasional revivings after coldness and declensions, as in other churches of Christ ; and the silent and unseen operations of the Spirit of God in leading the sinner to the Saviour, and thus gathering in a peojile to the praise of His great name from the shores of southern India, though the memorials thereof have perished for ever ! It has been observed by Gibbon, the historian, that ‘ ‘ their separation from the western world had left them in ignorance of the improvements or corruptions of a thousand years ; and their conformity to the faith and practice of the fifth century would equally disappoint the prejudices of a Papist or a Protestant.” We are willing to accept this statement of their case, saving that our prejudices as Protestants need not be disappointed, since (as he observes) it is a representation of fifth century Christianity and not that of apostolic times which we see depicted. Their testimony against Papal innovations, and in favour of the steps taken by our best Protestant Reformers to return to apostolic usage, is most decisive. The Romish theologians who first came in close contact with them felt this, and thus their rejection of Transubstantiation and other anti-Papal sentiments respecting the Lord’s Supper led Gouvea to remark that he was inclined to believe that the heretics of his time (meaning the Protestant Reformers) “the revivers of all forgotten errors and ignorances, might have obtained their doctrine about the Eucharist from them.” The restoration of the cup to the laity was not obtained in Europe without a hard struggle ; 90 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT it had never been refused them in Malabar. They knew nothing of the Seven Sacraments of Borne — receiving as Sacraments what we do ; but also calling- Ordination by the same name, as a rite “ ordained by Christ Himself.” They denied the fond invention of Purgatory, knew nothing of extreme unction, detested auricular confession, and condemned image worship as idolatrous; whilst their priests were allowed to marry, and no prohibition was put upon the reading, exposition and preaching of the pure Word of God to the common people.- Hence we maintain that even the so called prejudices of Protestants need not he offended by the testi- mony so clearly borne by this venerable eastern community of Christians. It must further be remembered that as in Europe, so in Asia, “the Word of God was precious in those days.” No admirable societies had then been formed to translate and multiply copies and then sell them at a mere nominal price so that every one might have it in his power to read or hear the messages of the Lord of Hosts in his own mother tongue ; and hence neither laity nor clergy could have been so familiar with divine truth as Protestant Chris- tians amongst us now are. We have, however, every reason to believe that these Oriental Christians were faithful keepers of the Sacred Oracles, and the Church to which they belong — to her honour be it recorded — has never prohibited the common people from free access thereto. The Synod of Hdiamparur tried to raise an evil report against the Syrian Church of Malabar as a mutilator and falsifier of Holy Writ, but with no sufficient grounds to support the very serious charge, as we shall see. Complaints were made that certain texts had been intentionally corrupted by Nestorian copyists, giving as examples Luke vi. 34, Acts xx. 28, Heb. ii. 9, and two texts in the first epistle of St. John ; but these after all may have been merely variations in reading, with which all students of the original are familiar ; or incorrect transcriptions ; if there had been any mali- cious intent to corrupt the Word of God a few isolated texts like these would not have been chosen, but the evil would have been more general throughout their copies. If the Jesuit defamers had then had it in their power to support their accusation with clearer proofs of guilt they would have done so. 1 1 The charges are as follows : “ Where our Lord Christ saith, Lend , hoping for nothing again ; to favour and justify their usury they have made it, Lend, and from thence hope for something” (Luke vi. 34). “ Where the Apostle saith, We have seen Jesus for the passion of His death crowned with glory and honour, that He by the grace of God should taste death for all men ; the Syrian, the better to make a difference of persons in Christ, has impiously added, that the grace of God might taste death for all ” (Heb. ii. 9). In Acts xx. 28 the name of Christ occurs where we read God. In 1 John iv. 3, Qui solvit Jesum, non est ex Leo is left out; whilst in chap. iii. 16 of the same epistle “the word God is maliciously left and that of Christ put in its stead.” — (Act. III. Dec. 2.) IN A DARK LAND. 91 In the copies of the Syriac Old Testament Scriptures then com- monly in use, the Book of Esther was said to be wanting, and also the Apocryphal Books of Xobit and Wisdom ; whilst in the New Testament the 2nd Epistle of St. Peter, the 2nd and 3rd of St. John, Jude and Revelation were not found. They were thus imperfect and incomplete so far as the Canonical Books omitted are concerned. A few verses were also said to be wanting in the eighth chapter of St. John, and so was the disputed text about the three witnesses in 1 John v. 7 ; whilst the Aoxology was added to the Lord’s Prayer in the sixth of St. Matthew. Such was the sum total of the charges brought before the Synod of 1599, by the learned Jesuit Missionaries. The remedy proposed for the deficiencies of the Syriac Version, if we leave the restoration of the absent Canonical Books out of the question, was more than doubtful, viz., that the passages that were wanting “to be restored to their purity according to the Chaldee copies that are emended, and the Vulgate Latin Edition made use of by Holy Mother Church,” which the Council of Trent had pro- nounced authentic for western Christendom. The state of the Latin Vulgate may be judged of by the following historical facts stated in Rome and the Council. ‘ ‘ As there was no authentic edition. Pope Sixtus V. undertook to provide one, which in due time appeared, garnished with the stereotyped forms of anathema and penal enact- ments. His Bull declared that this edition, corrected by his own hand, must he received and used by everybody as the only true and genuine one, under pain of excommunication, every change, even of a single word being forbidden under anathema. But it soon appeared that it was full of blunders, some 2,000 of them introduced by the Pope himself. '.” If the Syriac version was to be corrected by an emended edition of an ancient Latin translation it was not likely to he improved. Most happily for the cause of truth, and as if to clear the Syrian Church of so grave a charge, when Dr. C. Buchanan was searching for ancient MSS. in Travaneore he came upon some most ancient and valuable copies of the Inspired Scriptures. “ Though written (he tells us) on a strong thick paper, like that of some MSS. in the British Museum, commonly called eastern paper, the ink has, in several places eaten through the material in the exact form of the letter. In other copies, where the ink had less of a corroding quality, it has fallen off, and left a dark vestige of the letter, faint indeed, but not in general illegible.” “ In one cf the remote churches near the mountains,” believed to he one of the three churches at Angamale, he discovered a complete copy which is particularly described by him and deserves special attention. “ It contains the Old and New Testaments engrossed on strong vellum in large folio, having three columns in a page, and is written with beautiful accuracy. The character is Estrangelo Syriac, and the words of every book are numbered. But the volume has suffered injury from time or neglect. In certain places the ink 92 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT has been totally obliterated from the page, and left the parchment in its state of natural whiteness ; but the letters can in general be distinctly traced from the impress of the pen or from the partial corrosion of the ink.” Dr. Buchanan was allowed, to his great surprise, to bring this literary treasure away with him to Europe. ‘ ‘ I scarcely expected (he adds) that the Syrian Church would have parted with this manuscript. But the Bishop was pleased to present it to me, say- ing, ‘ It will be safer in your hands than in our own ; alluding to the revolutions of Hindostan. ‘ And yet,’ said he, ‘ we have kept it, as some think, for near a thousand years.' ‘ I wish,’ said I, ‘ that England may be able to keep it a thousand years.’ ” Mar Dionysius, the Metropolitan, being a native of Malabar and not a foreign prelate from Antioch, could more correctly speak of what his fathers had done and of their cherished traditions ; and the old man, now in his seventy-eighth year, showed his good sense and full confidence in his English visitor in so readily entrusting him with this most precious relic of antiquity. This ancient copy was brought to Cambridge, where it is still to he seen in the University Library, and Mr. Tates, the Hebraist, who collated this MSS., supposed it to have been written about the seventh century. ‘ ‘ In looking over it (Buchanan further remarks) I find the very first proposed emendation of the Hebrew text by Dr. Kennicott (Gen. iv. 8) in this manuscript, and no doubt it is the right reading. The disputed passage (1 John v. 7) is not to be found in it, nor is this verse to be found in any copy of the Syrian Scriptures which I have yet seen.” Erom this last observation it may be inferred that even in Malabar there were copies which never fell into the hands of the Jesuit Fathers to receive their emendations, according to the decrees of the Synod; and this further shows that some of the Syrians nobly declined sur- rendering their books to be thus dealt with, at the bidding of a foreign prelate ; and Buchanan may well express his wonder and admiration that during the Dark Ages of Europe, whilst ignorance and superstition in a manner denied the Scrip- tures to the rest of the world, the Bible should have found an asylum in the mountains of Malayala, where it was freely used in its churches. If, in God’s providence, some enlightened adherents of the Keformed Eaith, instead of Bomish ecclesiastics, had been the first to establish an intimacy with this ancient Christian community, when it emerged from the obscurity in which it had been buried, how different would have been the results ! In a certain sense they had kept Christ’s word and had not denied His name, even though dwelling where Satan seemed to hold undisputed sway ; “ a little strength ” too was left, and they were freer from the corrup- tions of the Dark Ages than the great churches of Europe which had been under the Papacy. It being so with them, simple gospel IN A DARK LAND. 93 teaching, a reformed liturgy in the vernacular, and a general circulation of the Scriptures in their mother tongue humanly speaking would have led to such a revival of living Christianity that modern missions to South India would have been rendered unnecessary ! CHAPTER VII. ROME’S EAHLIER EFFORTS TO SUBJUGATE THE SYRIAN CHURCH. The first half century’s intercourse between the Portuguese and the Church of Malabar was characterized more or less by a spirit of friendliness. The native Christians were serviceable to the Portu- guese as allies, and they needed the support of the Portuguese. The Syrian bishops too, coming as they did from Mesopotamia, must have known something of the power and grandeur of old Papal Rome and of the superior civilisation and prowess of the European nations : and hence probably considered it greatly to their interest to keep on good terms with these foreign settlers. f In 1544 the Syrian Metropolitan Joseph ended his days in the Franciscan convent at Cochin ; doubtless, in his hours of feebleness and decay, indebted to the kind offices of the brotherhood. His successor, Mar Jacob, acted under the auspices of the same com- munity, who were evidently quietly leavening the Indian Church with papal error in doctrine and practice. Francis Xavier met with this man at Cochin, and was so prepossessed in his favour as to write to the King of Portugal to secure for him a higher salary than his friends the Franciscans were able to obtain from the local government. Xavier describes him as laborious in the discharge of his episcopal functions, but as receiving only “ such wages as saints generally receive from men of this world.” In another letter to the King, dated January 26th, 1549, Xavier again speaks of this prelate, requesting the King to write to the Governor of Cochin on his behalf, and even to Mar Jacob himself. This letter supplies further particulars, which serve to throw light upon the relations then subsisting between the head of the Syrian Church and the Romish missionaries. He observes: “For forty- 94 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT five years, 1 a certain Armenian bishop, Jacob Abuna by name, has served God and your majesty. He is a man equally dear to God on account of his virtue and his sanctity, yet despised and neglected by your majesty, and by all who have any power in India. . . . The Fathers of the Order of St. Francis alone take care of him, and surround him with benevolent attentions which leave nothing wanting. Without such care the good old man would have been o vhelmed by his misfortunes and have lost his life .s man is most worthy of the character I give him because he pares no labour in ministering to the Christians of St. Thomas, and now in his decrepid age he most obediently accommodates himself to all the rites and customs of the Holy Mother Church of Rome. I know that your Majesty is in the habit of writing to the Franciscan fathers. The letter (which he wished the king to write to Mar Jacob) to the Armenian bishop can he enclosed in their packet. Such a letter I entreat you to send, full of all expressions of favour, I respect, and affection.” 2 From hence it appears that the plot to reduce the Syrian Church into obedience to Borne was already secretly in operation though under the guise of friendship ; and doubtless Xavier thought that by helping it on he was doing God service. That the Franciscans were specially used in this matter at first appears from another source. In 1545 Don Joan d’ Albuquerque, the second bishop of Goa, directed one of this fraternity, Friar Vincent by name, to labour among the Syrians at Cranganore and in its neighbourhood. Dr. Geddes quaintly says, that his labours “ are so strangely magnified by the Portuguezes that it looks as if it were done on purpose to excuse their not employing of more hands in a work which, here in Europe, they pretended was their chief business in the Indies. For he is said not only to have preached daily in their churches, which were built after the fashion of Pagod f idol J Temples, but also to have built several churches among them after the Latin way.” Friar Vincent, with the assistance of the Viceroy and Bishop of Goa, at length founded a college at Cranganore, where Syrian youths were educated in the doctrine and ritual of Rome. Xavier wrote home to his royal patron urging him to endow this college, intimating that it would be the means of greatly increasing the number of adherents to his church. The Cranganore College was, however, by no means a success ; for the Syrians looked with suspicion even upon their own children who had been educated there, and refused to recognise the Romish orders they had received, — regarding their latinized habits and 1 From this it would appear that Mar J acob was the prelate of that name who came to Malabar in 1500, or according to the letter preserved by Asseman about 1504. 2 Vide Life of F. Xavier, by Rev. H. Venn, p. 152, whence this extract has been borrowed. IN A DARK LAND. 95 customs as so many marks of apostasy from the faith, of their fore- fathers. Vincent haying intimated his intention of handing over the institution to the Jesuits, in the event of his own decease, Xavier wrote farther respecting it to the head of his own Order, Ignatius Loyala, and to his friend Simon Roderick, requesting them to procure indulgences from the Pope for the Syrian Church ; and also to send out an active Jesuit missionary to itinerate in the sixty villages of the Syrian Christians. In this way under the immediate auspices of the pious and amiable F. Xavier, the Jesuits were introduced into Malabar to work their evil work amongst these ancient Christian congregations ! The keen sighted Jesuits thought the cause of Vincent’s failure was to be found in the neglect of the study of the Syriac language, always regarded as most sacred by these people ; being (as they maintained) the language spoken by their Apostle St. Thomas ; and, further still, by our Lord J esus Christ Himself when on earth. They resolved therefore to try an entirely new plan, believing in the end it would prove far more efficacious. The town of Cranga- nore with all its attractions, — its busy marts and perpetual contact with the world beyond the seas, — its crowds of foreigners of divers races, tongues and creeds, — was forsaken, and a quiet spot selected in the immediate vicinity of Chennum on the sacred isle of Malankara, some three or four miles in the interior, on the banks of a broad river fringed with the richest tropical vegetation. Here they erected the famous college of Vaipicotta, in which special attention was to be given to the study of the Syriac language and literature. The place was well chosen, since in addition to its having been on the island where according to tradition St. Thomas first landed, it was on one of the great water ways leading directly to several of the churches of the interior, and not many miles from Angamale, one of the most highly venerated strongholds of the native Christians. But the Jesuits were at first not much more successful than Friar Vincent ; for although their pupils were well grounded in the Romish faith and carefully instructed in Syriac, so strong was the antipathy of the mass of the people to Romanism that not one of them dare utter a word against the ancient dogmas and customs of the church of their fathers, or offer an apology for those of Rome, or alter anything in their church offices, even to the extent of omitting to pray for the Patriarch of Babylon, whom their new teachers taught them to regard as an arch-heretic. The Jesuits thus foiled, according to their wonted habit, where circumstances permitted, called to their aid the strong arm of civil power, and began to use physical force where argument could not prevail. Their motto in dealing with the Syrian Church of Mala- bar after this, seems to have been — ■“ If you will not bend you shall break.” A long conflict with the Syrian Metrans followed, in which the most odious and tyrannical measures were adopted ; till at last, after almost 50 years war, availing themselves of the oppor- tunity offered by the death of Mar Abraham at Angamale in 1597, 96 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT the Jesuit faction gladly -welcomed and heartily seconded all the plans of Don Alexins Menezes, Archbishop of Goa, who had been commissioned by the Pope to completely subjugate the Church of Malabar to the Papal rule. The whole plan of the campaign had been arranged upon the appointment of Menezes, when Clement VIII. issued a Brief, bearing date January 27th, 1595, directing the new Archbishop “ to make inquisition into the crimes and errors of Mar Abraham ; and in case he found him guilty of such things as he had been accused of, to have him apprehended and secured in Goa ; as also to appoint a Governor, or Vicar Apostolic of the Roman Communion over his bishopric ; and upon Mar Abraham’s death to take care that no bishop coming from Babylon should be suffered to enter the Serra 1 to succeed.” These directions were placed in the hands of Menezes before he left Europe for India ; and Mar Abraham’s death alone prevented his deportation to the Inquisition of Goa, where his last resting-place would have been instead of in the church he had built at Angamale, and dedicated to the Nestorian Abbot Hormisdas. On his arrival in India Menezes wrote to Mar Abraham, and also to Jacob, the Vicar-General of a rival Syrian Metran (then detained in Europe). Abraham resided (as already stated) among the Northern Syrians at Angamale, and Jacob among those of the South at Nagapara near Cadaturutta, in the Wadakencore state. But he did not succeed in winning over either of these ecclesiastics to his side ; for Mar Abraham died in 1597, rejecting the proffered offices of the Jesuit fathers who came to visit him from Vaipicotta, “contemning the sacrament of penance,” and committing the care of the Church of Malabar to his Archdeacon George. The Vicar- General, Jacob, soon followed him to the grave, also unreconciled to Rome. Every effort was next made to induce George, the Syrian Arch- deacon, to submit to Rome by subscribing to its creed, but without success ; since, after much correspondence on this and kindred subjects, he plainly told the emissaries of Rome that he never would do it, for he considered the Church of Rome had no more to do with the Christians of St. Thomas than he had to do with the Church of Rome. He next called a Synod of the clergy and most influential laity to meet him at Angamale, where all present swore to stand beside the Archdeacon, in defence of their ancient faith, and ecclesiastical liberties ; declaring themselves bound to submit to no bishop except one sent to them by the Patriarch of Babylon. These decisions of the Synod were forthwith published throughout all their churches. So thoroughly was the community roused, and so strong was the feeling excited by this movement of the Archdeacon, that the 1 Malankara meaning the hilly or mountainous country , the Romish writers designated the diocese by the simple Portuguese translation of Serra. I IN A DARK LAND. 97 Syrians would no longer permit any Latin priests to officiate in their churches. One of the J esuit fathers, who went to Angamale to preach, is said to have had a narrow escape of his life, and so had another priest of the same Order at Mulanturutta ; whilst an attempt is asserted to have been made upon the lives of two other priests at Cadaturutta, by the introduction of two cobras into the chamber where they were sleeping. But when the bold Archbishop heard of all these proceedings, he only regarded them as so many reasons why he should proceed in person southwards, to reduce these refractory Christians, bjr the strong arm of power, to the See of Borne. The Viceroy of Goa, the Chapter of his Cathedral, the Bishop of Cochin, and the clergy and laity in general, tided their utmost to dissuade him from an undertaking so fraught with danger and difficulties. It was urged that the Syrians were an obstinate set of men, full of hatred to the Portuguese ; their churches difficult of access, being situated for the most part far in the interior ; and the localities occupied by their towns and villages were all under the jurisdiction of heathen princes. A further fact brought to his notice, that just then the Bajahs of the two states, to which Anga- male, Parur, with other Syrian towns belonged, were at war with one another, led him to defer his visit for a season, but not to abandon it as impracticable. At length Menezes arrived at Cochin, January 26th, 1599, where he was received with great pomp. A flight of steps was specially constructed to facilitate his landing ; the Governor of the city, Don Antonio de Noronha, the Bishop, and the whole of the inhabitants assembled to receive and to do honour to the great man, who, like most other prelates of the age, was fond of display, and had decidedly military tastes, being equally skilled in directing “the cannons of Portugal and the bulls of Borne.” He lost no time in informing his new acquaintances that the chief object of his visit was the reduction of the Syrian Church to the Boman faith ; requesting, at the same time, their hearty assistance in the con- fessedly difficult undertaking. Even the Hindoo Bajah of Cochin, on the occasion of a visit of ceremony, was informed that his co- operation in the work — so far as the churches in his territory were concerned — was expected ; which could not have been very pleasant to this native prince, since the Syrian Christians had proved them- selves a loyal and powerful section of his subjects. What the Syrian Archdeacon had so much dreaded had now happened — the great Archbishop of Goa had arrived in the very heart of this ancient diocese, now destitute of a bishop, armed with power from the Pope, and supported by the vast wealth and influ- ence of Portugal ! What was to be done ? After holding consul- tation with the leading members of his own communion, it was agreed that the Archdeacon should at once seek an interview with Menezes, since he had it in his power, if any slight were put upon him, materially to injure their temporal interests, especially in the H 98 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT matter of the pepper trade. They hoped also, that in two or three months’ time, when the monsoon ( rainy season J would be coming on, he would return to Goa, and leave them once more to them- selves. They further agreed to allow him to say Mass and preach in their churches, as a matter of common civility ; but to prevent him (as far as possible) from exercising any episcopal functions, trusting that a bishop of their own party would ere long arrive from their Patriarch. The interview between the Archdeacon and Menezes, which took place at Cochin, with its attendant circumstances of a highly sensa- tional character, is fully described by Gouvea and others ; and so are the particulars of the Archbishop’s tours of visitation, and need not here be repeated at any length. The Syrians, however, were quite under a mistake in supposing that the monsoon’s approach would frighten him back again to Goa. He arrived in the month of January, and did not re-embark for Goa till the 16th of Novem- ber following ; and during this interval of time, so effectually did the plans he pursued cow the native Christians, that he flattered himself, ere he left, that he had completed the work of subju- gation. The old writers who have handed down particulars have played such strange freaks with the names of places, that it has been no small labour to identify some of them. Portuguese, Dutch, French, Italian, and English, have each in succession adopted their own peculiar modes of spelling, and it is often difficult to recognise an old friend in his new dress. But with the help of the map accom- panying these chapters on Syrian Church History — in which most of the old Christian towns and milages are placed in their proper positions, and called by the names they still bear — some idea may be formed of the systematic order of Menezes’ visitation ; though in the end he did not do all that he purposed. The Portuguese prelate began his tour the day after his state interview with the Syrian Church representatives. He and his suite left Cochin in ten large country boats, called by the old Euro- pean writers tones, by the natives dhonies, a species of vessel suited to shallow water, being propelled by two long poles when the wind does not allow of the sail being used. The miniature fleet proceeded northwards through the beautiful Backwater as far as Chennum, where the Jesuit’s College of Vaipi- cotta was situated. From thence the Archbishop went to Parur, about two miles distant by land ; and to Allungada, also in the same neighboui-hood. He now took to his boats and penetrated further into the interior, visiting Chewurrah, just above Alwaye, the favourite watering place of the Dutch ; and Kanliura, on the northern bank of the same river, only some few miles further up the stream. At that time there were, most probably, no other Syrian churches near the river side in this direction ; and so thus terminated his first northern tour, during which he passed through some lovely scenery ; and — if he had any eye for the beauties of IN A DARK LAND. 99 nature — must have seen much to afford him quiet pleasure, sup- posing it possible that the nefarious character of his enterprise could admit of such refreshment to the mind. All these five Syrian churches first visited were eventually reduced, and Eome retains her hold of them to the present day ; and there are no churches, chapels, or congregations independent of Eome in any of these parishes except Parur. Chennum, or Clienotta, is remarkable as being one of the old Jewish settlements in the vicinity of Cranganore. Close to the venerable Syrian church there are houses inhabited by Jews, but the Vaipicotta College has wholly disappeared ; and so have all the Jesuit fathers who once ruled therein. Dr. C. Buchanan was much struck with the commingling of the old races and creeds in this retired part of India when he visited it in 1807. “I was sur- prised,” he says, “to meet with Jews and Christians in the same street. The Jews led me first to their synagogue, and allowed me to take away some MSS. for money. The Syrian Christians then conducted me to their ancient church. I afterwards sat down on an eminence above the town to contemplate this interesting spec- tacle; a Jewish synagogue and a Christian church standing over against each other ; exhibiting, as it were, during many revolving ages, the Law and the Gospel to the view of the heathen people.’’ In the church, which stands close to the hank of the river, and is dedicated to St. Cross, there are a few old inscriptions. Allungada is more frequently called Mangate by old Portuguese writers, since it is situated in the territory of the Mangada Eajah; and was then probably the most important town therein frequented by these foreigners. The Archbishop found the Christians at this place in deep distress ; the church — which was fortified by being encompassed with a strong wall — full of women and children, in consequence of the feud still existing between the Mangada Eajah and the Chieftain who owns Parur. The sympathy he expressed for them in their forlorn condition, seems for a time to have won their hearts, and rendered them more willing to listen to his words than their friends had been either at Chennum or Parur. The Syrian church of Allungada is now in the hands of the Eomanists ; but its historicalhssociations manifest that it has been at times a strong centre of Syrian influence since the days of Menezes. Here, on the 22nd of May, 1653, the Syrians, driven to desperation — by the Portuguese intercepting their communications with the Nestorian Patriarch, and especially by the forced imprison- ment in the Inquisition at Goa of a bishop named Theodore, whom they had long been expecting — assembled in this church under the leadership of Itti Thoma, and consecrated a certain priest named Parumbil Thoma, of Corolongada, to be their Metran by the impo- sition of hands, and the episcopal mitre ; and under this man they commenced the work of emancipation from the tyranny of Eome. On the 20th February, 1700, this same church witnessed another consecration, which excited a great deal of ill-feeling amongst the 100 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT Romish party. D. Angelus Eranciscus, a barefooted Carmelite, was then consecrated Bishop of Methelopolis by Mar Simon, a Syro-Catholic Bishop, but neither the Archbishop of Goa, nor the Bishop of Cochin would take any part in the solemnity, on account of the jealousy that existed between the Crown of Portugal and the Pope on the subject of Church patronage in the East. This consecration of one of the Carmelite Missionaries by the hands of an Oriental Bishop probably pacified the minds of some of the Syrians in their neighbourhood, and served to reconcile them more to Pome ; though others would much have preferred retain- ing Mar Simon himself, since the Syrians assert that Mar Simon himself was expected by them to hold this office, and that the Car- melites having forced him to consecrate one of their number, ' immediately after sent him off to Pondicherry, where he died miserably in prison. Yerapoly, in the immediate neighbourhood of Allungada, was at this time the head-quarters of the Carmelites; and as a seminary for priests had existed there ever since 1673, ■ one cannot wonder that ultimately Allungada was secured by the Romish party. Bishop Angelus, who was consecrated under such painful circumstances, died at Verapoli October 17th, 1712, and was buried in the church of St. Joseph — ■'■'■in rnuro ad latus evangelii.” Du Perron tells us that the Carmelites established a Hospice at Allungada, and mentions a priest named Renee who had been very successful in reducing the people, and had established among them a procession made on the evening of every Friday in Lent at eight p.m., when they carried about “ the image of the crucified Jesus.” The brethren of the Scapular were also established there ; and Paoli tells us that previous to his time the Jesuits had a convent and seminary in the place ; all which shows how completely the Romish party had occupied the ground ; and one is not at all sur- prised that all freedom of thought or action has long since been entirely suppressed in this old Syrian parish. Paofi speaks of Allungada possessing ‘ ‘ the largest church belonging to the Christians of St. Thomas on the coast and Du Perron calls it “ one of the most beautiful and ornamental churches of Malabar.” It was, however, burnt by Tippoo’s troopers in 1790, and has not since been completely restored, though only three or four miles from Verapoli, the residence of the Vicars Apostolic. In 1856, though the massive waRs of this church were still standing entire, the chancel only was covered with a roof. There were then only 120 families connected with the church, and but few houses in its immediate vicinity; though some of these were built of stone, and appeared to have seen better days. The architecture of the church is, in some particulars, unlike most other Syrian churches, especially asit regards the regular linesof well-developedwindows, which must have supplied an amount of light and air far greater than the native Christians were accustomed to in other places ; leading one to sup- pose they are of European design. They have been since repeated IN A DARK LAND. 101 elsewhere — the churches at Kothamungalum haying the same shaped windows. Ghewurrah and Kanliura, being also within an easy distance of Yaipi cotta, Chennum and Yerapoli have been similarly kept in bondage, and all aspirations after religious liberty have long since been silenced. Archdeacon George, who was Menezes’ great opponent, had his favourite residence at .Ghewurrah, on account of the fertility of the soil, and the grateful shade of the thick groves 1 which overshadowed the banks of the Periar, one of the most pictu- resque rivers in this highly-favoured region of South India. The circumstance of Chewurrah being also within a few miles of Angamale, where the last Syrian Metran, Mar Abraham, lived and died, probably had something to do with the selection of this locality. When Archbishop Menezes was in this neighbourhood the Archdeacon preferred him hospitality, but the Portuguese pre- late declined it resolutely. Opposite the village of Chewurrah the Periar is a very wide stream, and, except in the rainy season, too shallow to allow of large boats being moored so close to the banks as to be protected by the shade of the trees. When the sun arose, Menezes, suffering from its intense heat, wished to go ashore and spend the most sultry hours of the day under the shelter of the massive walls and lofty roof of the Syrian church, which stands at the top of the steep village street, embosomed in trees ; but intelligence was soon brought to him that the sacred edifice was locked up, and the village deserted of its inhabitants. The next morning, however, the Archdeacon visited Menezes, at his earnest request, in his boat, taking with him some of the more learned Cattanars, and a body of armed retainers. At this interview the Archdeacon pretested that it would be a base act on his part to desert the Patriarch, who had been for so many centuries the ecclesiastical head of their body ; he agreed, however, to the calling of a Synod, but urged that Menezes in his tour through the country as a foreign prelate, should abstain from all essentially episcopal acts, confining his ministrations to preaching and blessing the people. Kanliura, some four miles further up the river, was next visited by Menezes ; and the Archdeacon, having taken a shorter road by land, met him there. According to the terms previously agreed upon, the Archbishop delivered a sermon to the people ; but so far was he from being of St. Paul’s mind, when he determined “ to know nothing else save Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” that his sermon was a long tirade against Nestorius, and the claims of the Patriarch of Babylon ; which gave great offence to the hearers, and caused the Syrian Archdeacon sorely to lament that he had ever conceded to him even so much as the liberty to preach to his people. 1 “ Ibi (lomicilium fixerat ; illectus soli ubertate, gratisque nemorum umbris.” {Maul ini, p. 25.) 102 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT Though the Archbishop had purposed to complete the visitation of the Northern churches in this tour, he was so little satisfied with the results after visiting these five churches, that he deemed it advisable to proceed southward at once, where the people would be less under the influence of the Archdeacon, trusting he would there meet with better success. He accordingly left Kanhura on the 1st of March, and repaired to the Portuguese fort two leagues from Cochin ( Custella ? J, where he met the Governor and Bishop of that city, and communicated to them his future plans of operation. In his first tour of visitation southward he visited Porcada, on the sea coast, a few miles below Alleppy, and thence went to Quilon — the most southern station visited by him. Here, however, alarming intelligence of certain disasters which had befallen the Portuguese troops at the siege of Cunahle, reached him, and he hastened back to hold a consultation with the Captain General of the Forces at Cochin, where political matters detained him for several days. In his next journey Menezes visited Mulunturutta, where he confirmed and exercised other episcopal acts, in defiance of the expressed wish of the Syrian Christians made through their Arch- deacon ; but in the midst of his labours he was again recalled by political business to Vaipen, near Cochin, to act in concert with the Governor and Bishop of Cochin in drawing up a treaty of peace with the Samorin. When these affairs of State were concluded he recommenced his visitation southwards, stopping first at Udiamparur, one of the very ancient Syrian settlements which had been the residence of several of their bishops in former times. Here he further bid defi- ance to the authorities of the Syrian Church, by giving notice of an Ordination which he purposed holding on the Saturday before , the fifth Sunday in Lent ; to which service he invited the Arch- deacon by letter, and when the latter replied that such a proceeding would be contrary to their late agreement at Ohewurrah, he in no wise changed his project, alleging that he was acting in accordance with the Pope’s directions, to whom cdl churches were subject. He, however, met with some resistance at Udiamparur itself ; for, upon the mind, of the Archdeacon being known, the oldest Cattanar of the church came forward requiring Menezes to leave the place and never to set his foot again therein. Notwithstanding all this he persisted in preaching in the neighbourhood; and when the appointed day came he ordained thirty-seven ca ndida tes who had been prepared by the Jesuit MissiSnhjlesTTiaving first obliged them to subscribe to the creed of Pius IV., and to swear obedience to the Pope. After this he visited several churches 1 in that part of Travan- 1 One of these, called by Asseman Mangalam, was most probably the place now called Kothamungnlnm, which is of easy access from Udiamparur, cither by land or (in the monsoon) by water. IN A DARK LAND. 103 core, and then journeyed some miles south-east to Cadaturutta, where he spent the season of Easter; thence visiting Nagpili ( Noga/para ), half a league distant, where the Vicar-General of one of the old Syrian Metrans formerly resided, and had died within the last year or two. He returned northwards, by way of Mulunturutta and Udiamparur to a place called by Gouvea Narame, also under the Cochin Rajah. This last-named place is identical with the Nharamel of Paoli, and the modern Nadamel — the name by which the Syrian suburb of Trepuntara is still known among the native Christians. Here he met with stern resistance, which must have been anything but satisfactory to a man of his dignity and temperament. The people of the place had bound themselves by an oath that they would never forsake their religion and their Archdeacon, but defend them with the last drop of their blood. The church was securely locked, and such of the people as had not hid themselves would have no communication with him, declining even to sell him fresh provisions for money, thereby compelling him and his suite to satiate their hunger with the rice and biscuits they had brought with them. And though Menezes sent for the Hindoo magistrate of the district and demanded his assistance, all was unavailing ; so that he had to leave the place in chagrin, and to return to the fort of Cochin, about two hours’ distance ; and thus ended the somewhat circumscribed visitation held by him prior to the Synod of Udiamparur. With regard to the places just mentioned, Porcada and Cada- turutta are altogether Romish ; the J esuits early formed establish- ments there, and completely annihilated every anti- Papal element; and they did much the same at Quilon, where however some few Syrians now reside, and have recently built themselves a small church. The church of Udiamparur is still in the hands of the Romanists, though there is a strong Syrian colony within a mile of the old church at Kandanada ; whilst at Mulunturutta and Nada- mel or Trepuntara there are, as in many other places, Syrian and Romo-Syrian churches within a short distance of each other. Mulunturutta is now an unimportant place ; but when our Church Missionaries first went there some traces of its former importance were still left. 1 Its church, situated on an elevation which com- 1 The Syrians have a tradition that the first church at this place was built by the Thekkenbaghar Syrians from Cadaturutta, who fled thither to escape the vengeance of the family of a native Rajah whom they had killed in defending the honour of their families. A piece of land was granted them for erecting houses ; the boundaries of which were marked by two crosses, one of which still stands, and is called W ettikkel Kurisha — the cross at the cuttings or boundary lines. The massacre of the Rajah was forgotten in course of time ; until one day a descendant of this man, pass- ing through the street, overheard a Syrian hoy swear by Veera Manikat- achen — the Rajah who had been their enemy — in an altercation with his playfellows at football. The prince was led to enquire into the past history of this people ; and finding that they had formerly resided in his 104 FINGERINGS OF LIGHT mauds a pleasing prospect to the oast, was then considered one of the cleanest and best-constructed of the Syrian churches in the neighbourhood. It contained the tombs of two bishops — Mar Evanius, or Yohanes (John), who came from Antioch in 1(184, and Mar Gregory, a native of Aleppo, who arrived in Malabar in 1751, and died at Mulunturutta about 1772. Here also a Maphrian, who came from Antioch last century, is said to be interred, whose shrine used to be partially covered with silver. East of the church, about 500 or 600 yards off, stood a large stone cross, to which there was a fine broad walk ; and on each side of this were the houses which formed the bazaar, whilst the ruins of other houses and the decay- ing walls of enclosures were memorials of a much larger population than the 500 souls who, scattered in various parts of the parish, are still connected with the church. The Church Missionary Society used to have schools here at one time — let us hope they will again, some day. Trepuntara is now the favourite residence of the Rajahs of Cochin. It possesses a very ancient Hindoo temple, regarded by the Brahmins as having been consecrated in remote mythical antiquity, before the death of Krishna ; and in connexion with it, there are wondrous tales of gods and demi-gods. In 1 820, when the Rev. B. Bailey first visited this place, the same church was used by Syrians and Romo-Syrians ; there were then about seventy Syrian families, and the same number of Romo-Syrians, who were regarded as the wealthier of the two parties. These poor Syrians, hoyever, bought out the Romanizers after this ; and, as the people told the writer, the Romish party took away their images, but left their pictures for the instruction of the Syrians. In 1853 there were about 100 Syrian families ; so they had been increasing. When the Rev. S. Ridsdale was in charge of Cochin, the Church- Missionary Society had a flourishing school at this place of 72 boys, amongst whom were two sons of the Rajah’s brother, who was heir apparent. At one time there was a great stir amongst the Romo- Syrians, when 40 families put themselves under the English Mis- sionary, for whom they claimed the right of using the church they had built. In January', 1835, Mr. Ridsdale preached in this church to about 250 people — the Dewan having decided that both Pro- testants and Romanists might use it ; but the former, for the sake of peace, soon withdrew, and erected a good-sized building to serve the double purpose of church and school. After a time ill-health compelled Mr. Ridsdale to return to Europe ; and almost all this work came to nought, saving that one of the youths connected with the Rajah’s family becoming a sincere convert to Christianity, was baptized by r Mr. Ridsdale in Cochin Church, by the name of domain, promised to receive them back, and to help them in every way in his power. The church (as before stated) was handed over to some Northern Syrians, whose descendants now possess it. — For more about CaJaturutta vide < 'hap. Y. IN A DARK LAND. 105 Constantine. After a life of usefulness this good inan died, deeply- regretted, at Canuanore, where he had been labouring in connexion with the German Missionaries. It is to be hoped that evangelistic work will some day he recommenced, in right earnest, at this increasingly important place, and the lost ground be recovered. But to return to our Archbishop. Arrived at Cochin, he engaged the Portuguese Governor to unite with him in putting pressure upon the Hindoo Bajah; and an opportunity of doing so I soon occurred, upon this prince paying a visit of ceremony to the prelate, at which the Bajah was induced to renew a promise of commanding all his Christian subjects to obey the Archbishop in all things ! Highly gratified with this promise, and relying upon this “ arm of flesh,” he proceeded northwards to Cranganore — where he would he in the vicinity of the J esuit College at Chennum — to make arrangements necessary for the proposed Synod. Cranganore now became for six or seven weeks the head- quarters of the Archbishop. Whilst here he had a somewhat stormy interview with the Cochin Bajah, whom he deigned to meet at the landing place at the Castle, and to conduct to a hermitage in the vicinity where they could hold a strictly private conference. The Archbishop charged the Bajah with not affording him the protection and assistance which he expected ; and stated that he should inform the King of Portugal of the omission. This led to an angry discussion, in which the Hindoo Prince seems to have preserved his temper far better than the haughty prelate. The visit, however, led to the Bajah being terrified into writing to the \ Syrian Archdeacon to come and submit to the Archbishop ; and I also to the Mangada Bajah — in whose territory the Archdeacon then resided — to compel him to comply, in the event of his mani- festing any unwillingness. Thus were these heathen potentates forcibly enlisted in the dire warfare against the religious liberty of the Syrians. The civil arm at length effected what all the terrors of Papal anathema had failed to accomplish. The Archdeacon was forced into a feigned submission, which took place, by appointment, within the walls of the Jesuits’ College at Chennum — the place best suited for such an act. Thus was one of Borne’s dubious triumphs at length brought about. Before leaving Chennum, the time and place for the Synod was determined. Angamale, which had of late been the metropolis of the Diocese, appeared to be at first sight, the most fitting place ; but Menezes set it aside, because the Christians of that part were most strongly attached to their old customs — this town was not in the territory of the Cochin Bajah, the Prince most under obligation to the Crown of Portugal — and, lastly, it was too far removed from the garrison of Cochin, whose services he might possibly need, at least to overawe any refractory Syrians who might show some inclination to think and act for themselves. It was therefore determined to hold the Synod at Udiamparur, within an 106 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT ■easy distance of Cochin ; the 20th of June, the third Sunday after Whitsuntide, being the day fixed for its opening. To carry out this purpose, citations were issued in the name'of Menezes and of the Archdeacon, dated May the 11th, commanding all priests, and four procurators of the people from each Syrian church, to assemble at the time appointed. Menezes then returned to Cranganore to prepare the decrees for the Synod, “ which were all writ,” says Geddes, “with his own hand, word for word, as they are published ; as soon as he had finished them he had them translated out of Portuguese into Malavar (Malay alim). He like- wise consecrated there a stone altar for every church in the Serra, which was “ what they all wanted ” — nothing but wooden altars or tables being known in Malabar till Romanists or Romanizers introduced stone. In many churches they are still made of wood ; the Romanists using small stone slabs or portable altars for the Mass, such probably as Menezes now consecrated. It must have taken a considerable portion of the six weeks intervening between the issue of the citations and the assembling of the Synod, to compose and translate these numerous and elabo- rate decrees. The intimate acquaintance they manifest with the ancient customs of the Syrians, and with their ecclesiastical, civil, and social condition at that time, indicates the presence and the hand of others far better acquainted with them than Menezes could have become by the personal intercourse of three or four months. Doubtless Francis Roz, and his brother Jesuits at Yaipicotta College, had far more to do with the compilation than the great church dignitary, under whose hand and seal they came forth to the world. But it follows, further, that if they were passed at Udiamparur, exactly as written out, “ word for word,” by the prelate at Cranganore, there can have been no deliberation, and no intention to allow of any. The Synod itself was therefore little better than an ecclesiastical conspiracy, got up to enforce and carry out the pre-conceived and pre-determined ideas and plans of Menezes and his Jesuit allies ; to which these poor Syrian Chris- tians of Malabar were compelled to affirm, with their lips at least, a very reluctant assent. In order to make sure of a decided maj ority of the Synod, when Trinity Sunday arrived Menezes held another ordination, at which he laid hands on no fewer than fifty Cattanars, in the Syrian church at Parur, near Yaipicotta College. These fifty, being added to the thirty- eight ordained by him at Udiamparur, and others ordained at Cadaturutta, are supposed to have made up two-thirds of the native ecclesiastics at the Synod, who, in aR, were one hundred and fifty-three. 1 Nor was he less active and subtle in his endeavours to secure 1 “ It was thus,” says Gouvea, alluding to the first ordination, “ that Menezes began to secure in this country a number of persons who remained faithful to him, and never abandoned his interests.” IN A DARK LAND. 107 the votes of the leading men among the lay representatives ; to one he gave a valuable cross set with diamonds, and the like gift he bestowed upon an aged Cattanar who had been the intimate friend of the last Syrian Metran, Mar Abraham. Others were won over by similar marks of his favour, or being dazzled by the pomp and display he exhibited during his progress through the land were brought to regard him with a kind of servile admiration, and feared to cross the purposes of so great a personage. ■ Such tactics as those exhibited by Archbishop Menezes have met with condemnation from the thoughtful and reflective among even Roman Catholic writers. Father Simon, in his Critical History of the Old Testament (quoted by Geddes), commenting thereon, remarks : — “ All that these methods have hitherto produced, serves only to let the world see by what means the Roman Religion has been established in the East, which he that knows will not wonder that all the re-unions which have been made with those people that we call Schismaticks in those parts, have been so short-lived.” Though the professed union of the whole Syrian Church effected by Menezes may be classed among the short-lived re-unions spoken of by Father Simon, the Roman Missionaries have so far succeeded in Malabar, that to this day a very considerable proportion of this ancient community is still sirbject to Rome ; and thus, so far as they are concerned, the more than questionable means used have proved triumphant. The ground won will doubtless be strenuously maintained, until He put forth His arm before whom every Dagon invented by man’s corrupt imagination mirst fall, and be shattered to atoms. CHAPTER VIII. THE SYNOD OF UDIAMPARUR, AND THE VISITATION OE THE CHURCHES WHICH FOLLOWED. On Sunday, the 20th of June, being the third Sunday after Whitsuntide, the Synod was to meet at Udiamparur. About ten days previous to this the Archbishop proceeded thither, accompanied by his confessor, F. Braz de Santa Maria (an Augustin friar), six Jesuit Missionaries, and several Cattanars who were under their influence. The copy of the Decrees which had been drawn up was 108 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT then laid before a Junto of eight of the most popular Cattanars ; and when they came to such as laymen might be considered compe- tent to express an opinion upon, four of the grayest lay representa- tives were called in for consultation. After some deliberation the Decrees were all agreed to by this Junto, and were eventually laid before the Synod as the expression of their sentiments. The great day of assembly at length arrived. How the people reached Udiamparur in the depth of the Malabar monsoon, when, to use the scripture metaphor, “the windows of heaven” seem at times to be opened ; and how they were housed when there, it does not appear ; either Udiamparur must then have been a consider- able native town, or there must have been buildings specially erected for the occasion, otherwise so large a gathering could not have taken place at such a season ; for between eight and nine hundred assembled, 153 of whom were Ecclesiastics, 660 Lay Pro- curators, and the rest Portuguese officials and other visitors from Cochin. The old church where the Synod was held is still standing, and, since it is not one of the largest dimensions, it must have been well filled from end to end when the whole number of delegates were assembled, with the Dean and Chapter of Cochin and their Choir, the Governor, the Commissioners of the Treasury, the Town Councillors, and other leading men among the Portuguese. The first session began with a solemn mass for the removal of schism, and a sermon by the Archbishop on the same subject ; after which, robed in full pontificals, and seated in his chair, he addressed the Synod on the business matters which required their attention, desiring that some faithful man, well versed in ecclesi- astical affairs, should be chosen as interpreter; whereupon Jacob, Cattanar of Pallurte, near Cochin, was selected by common consent, and took an oath that he would discharge his responsible duties with all fidelity ; and lest he should at any time fail (either inten- tionally or unintentionally) to give the correct interpretation, two Jesuits, Erancisco Boz and Antonio Toscano, were appointed his assistants, to observe what he said, and to correct him when faulty. Thus every means seem to have been taken in order that the whole assembly should fully comprehend the wording of the Decrees. Sad to say, the next step was to compel all the clerical members of the Synod to take a solemn oath, in which they were made to profess their faith, not merely in the Nicene Creed, but in all those Pomish additions which are contained in the Creed of Pope Pius IY. ; and to swear to God that they would never receive into their church “any Bishop, Archbishop, Prelate, Pastor, or Governor,” unless expressly appointed by the Bishop of Borne. Jacob Cattanar read the profession in Malayalim ; and the clergy, having repeated it after him on their knees, were then individually questioned by the prelate as to their firm belief in the statements made, and directed to ‘ ‘ swear and protest to God, by the Holy Gospel, and the Cross of Christ,” in proof thereof. The simple IN A DARK LAND. 109 lay delegates were then made to do the same, ‘ ‘ in their own name, and in the name of the people of the bishoptric ; ” and thus, according to the idea of Menezes and his Jesuit assessors, the whole Church (clergy and laity) were, at a stroke, converted to ortho- doxy, and made believers in the whole range of Tridentine dogma ! The Decrees relating to Faith 1 were the first that were passed ; here we would remark that instead of doing anything effectively towards bringing the Syrian Church back to the simplicity of the truth as originally taught by our Lord and His Apostles, these European priests led the people further astray, introducing the worst corruptions of Romanism, teaching these simple Orientals that henceforth they were to adore the Cross with the worship of Latvia — due only to God ; and in like manner to adore the images of our Lord Jesus Chrst, because they represent Him. They fur- ther inculcated their “fond inventions” respecting the Virgin, affirming that it was “ pious to believe that Mary was conceived without original sin;” that she should be styled the Mother of God ; and that when she departed this life she was immediately carried up into heaven, both in body and soul, without waiting for the general resurrection. They had been taught to think very differently on such points as these by the Nestorian writers whose books they possessed ; and therefore every one was commanded, on pain of excommunication, to deliver up all their Syriac books within two months to the tender mercies of the Jesuits at Vaipicotta College, to be “perused ; and then corrected or destroyed,” as should be thought most con- venient. In order to keep them more steadfast in the faith of Rome, none of the Cattanars were henceforth to preach without license from the bishop) in writing ; a catechism in the Malayalim language was to be prepared, under the immediate direction of the Archbishop; and the whole diocese made “to submit itself to the Holy, Upright, Just and Necessary Court of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, in these parts established.” The next subject which came under consideration was the Sacra- ment of Baptism. These poor people were now taught that its admin- istration was so absolutely essential, that in case of necessity “a lay man or woman, nay an Infidel, a Mahometan, or Jew,” might 1 With regard to the Nicene Creed as used in the Syrian Church, the Synod admitted that it contained “ all the principal mysteries and articles of our Faith.” But in order to bring it into exact conformity to the version used in the Church of Rome, the following words were to be inserted : — “ God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God." The expression Consubstantial to the Father was to he substituted for the Syrian rendering — “Son of the Essence of the Father."- — Act. V. Dec. 11.) They did not find the Atlianasian Creed in use. The Synod directed it to he translated into the Syriac, and to he put into all the Breviaries and Books of Prayer, and “ to be read every Sunday in the church immediately after morning service.” Francis Roz was requested to translate it — (Act VII. Decree 6.) 110 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT baptise. The use of consecrated oil in baptism had been apparently unknown among the Nestorians of Malabar; they were now en- joined, and taught how to apply it. The Romish doctrine of Spiritual Affinity was introduced, whereby it was held to be unlawful lor godfathers and godmothers, and their godchildren, and the parents of the children to intermarry with one another, without a special dispensation from the Pope. As Old Testament names prevailed very much amongst all classes in this church, the Synod further commanded the priests to do all they could to have New Testament names given in baptism, as more comformable to “ the Law of Grace !” In the Decrees respecting the Lord's Supper, which immediately followed, we observe further corruptions of Christian doctrine. The Syrian Church of Malabar certainly did not hold the dogma of Transubstantiation, nor anything like it, at that time, since, in the Synodical expose of heretical writers, a Book of Homilies is con- demned, because therein it is stated — That the Holy Eucharist is only the image of Christ, and is distinguished from Him, as an image is from a true man ; and that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ is not there, nor nowhere else but in heaven.” Two other volumes, one entitled An Exposition of the Gospels, and the other The Treasury of Prayers, are also condemned, for having similar statements in their pages. In the celebration of the Eucharist there were many other customs and practices which shocked the Jesuits. The native Christians had not stone, but wooden altars or tables in their churches ; the vessels used, through the poverty of the people, were oftentimes of wood, or pottery ; the bread, moreover, was some- times made of rice , 1 for lack of wheat; and the wine of raisins or dates, for lack of grapes ; many poor parishes had no vest- ments for the Cattanars ; and where they had, the assistant deacon was simply distinguished by a stole worn over his ordinary clothes; and, in the adminstration, the laity received in both kinds, the bread being dipped into the cup of wine, and then placed in the mouth of the communicant. To remedy these things after the Romish fashion, the doctrine of Transubstantiation and all its attendant departures from the the simplicity of apostolic times were introduced. Every church was henceforth to be supplied with stone altars, and consecrated vestments ; the cup was to be taken entirely from the laity ; and all vessels that were not of gold, silver, copper, or tin were to be broken ; and none other than metal cups were to be used. One enactment, however, was of a truly kind, and helpful character : — 1 Wheat had to be imported from foreign countries. Churches in the remote interior, when their stock was exhausted, or supplies ran short at the ports, not improbably used rice bread as a substitute. — Vide extract from Cadamustus, chap, vi., p. 80, about the importation of wheat to Calicut by Mahometan traders. IN A DARK LAND. Ill His Majesty the King of Portugal, “ out of his great piety, and as the protector of the Indian Christians,” was to be entreated to send annually, as an alms, a pipe and a half or two pipes of muscatel wine of Portugal, to be distributed among the churches of the bishopric of Angamale, and of the whole Indies ; and until such time as an answer could be returned to this petition, Menezes promised to give the required quantity . 1 In order to give support to the dogma of Tran substantiation, the Romish feast of Corpus Christi, in honour of the most holy sacrament — till then unknown in the Syrian Church — was com- manded to be celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday ; then a procession was to be made, ‘ ‘ through the town, or in some convenient place, with all possible solemnity.” The celebration of masses for the dead — that fruitful source of gain to the Romish priesthood — was also introduced. The Malabar Christians were then unacquainted with these masses, and also with the delusions of Purgatorial fires from which they spring, by the confession of their Papal adversaries, as appears from the following : — ‘ ‘ Whereas there is nothing that is so great a help to the souls of the faithful that are in the fire of Purgatory as the holy sacrifice of the mass, of which there is no memory remaining in this diocese; that holy sacrifice having been instituted for the health and remedy of the living and the dead; wherefore the Synod doth exhort all the faithful of this bishopric to accustom themselves to procure masses to be said for the souls of their deceased friends, and to leave some- thing by will that they may have masses said for their own souls.” 1 For the due preservation of the wine — a difficult matter in such a climate as that of Malabar — it was ordered : — “ That in every church there shall be, in the Vicar’s keeping, a sweet pipe, or small runlet of wood, or a frask, in which the wine for the Masses shall be kept ; and that the Vicars be extremely careful that the wine do not decay, or turn, to vinegar.”. — (Act V. Decree 8.) Wine had long been a difficulty with these Christians in Malabar. Marignolli, who was in South India in 1347, says he did not see grapes there, “ except at the fine Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, where ho was bishop,” meaning Mailapur. “ They have there (he continues) a. little vinery, which I saw, and which supplies a small quantity of wine.” He was further told at Mailapur that when St. Thomas first went thither he used to carry about with him a little wine ; when this was finished he was guided by an angel to Paradise (supposed to he in Ceylon), carried thence some grapes, and from the stones of these grapes the vinery at Mailapur had sprung! The old traveller had seen vines elsewhere in. South India, hut no grapes. The writer can affirm the same of modern. Travancore — vines are occasionally to be found there, he never saw them hearing fruit, though they do at Palamcottah, and other places on the East coast. The old Syrian College at Cottayam, where the Metrans often reside, used to have a large vine trained on a trellis in the middle of its quadrangle. The writer regarded it with no small interest, in such a position. — (Vide Cathay and the way thither, vol. ii. p. 363.) 112 LTNGERINGS OF LIGHT Thus did the Jesuits do their utmost to corrupt the faith and practice of these Indian Christians in matters relating to the Supper of the Lord ! The next subjects brought under consideration were the Romish doctrines concerning Penance and Extreme Unction; both which were unknown to the Malabar Church. Compulsory Auricular Confession was altogether unknown, it would appear, from the following declaration : — “In this bishopric no Christian has ever confessed upon obligation, and a great many not at all.” Similarly we are informed that “ there has not been hitherto any use of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, in which, for want of Catholic instruction, there has been no knowledge of the institution, effects, or efficacy thereof.” Both these Roman innovations, upon the customs of the Church of God in its purest ages, were now forcibly enjoined, “ upon pain of mortal sin.” "When the subject of Ordination was introduced, the seven Orders of the Papacy were enjoined to supersede the simple arrangements of the Syrians ; and after having decreed that the Lord’s Supper was a sacrifice offered for the living and the dead, it followed, as a necessary consequence, that the Cattanars were henceforth to be regarded as consecrating priests, “for the sacrifice and priesthood are so joined that the one cannot be without the other.” One of the most difficult subjects which the Jesuits had to deal with was that of Matrimony, inasmuch as almost all the Cattanars were married men. It is somewhat curious to observe how this is deplored : — “ Whereas in this diocese (which the Synod hath taken notice of with great sorrow) through their vile ignorance of the law, and the abounding iniquity of the times, and their having been governed by schismatical prelates, priests have married after they were in Orders, nay, have taken Orders on purpose that they might marry the better, and have frequently married widows, and some have married three or four times, &c.” But this Christian liberty was now to be restrained by Antichristian legislation. Rome was to manifest to this ancient branch of the Church another mark of her apostasy, by “ forbidding to marry.” The legislation on this subject was most execrable in its spirit, as will be seen from the following extract : — “ Henceforth no clerk in Holy Orders shall presume to marry, nor shall any Oattanar marry any such, nor shall any presume to be present at any such marriage, nor give counsel, favour, or assistance there- unto. And whoever shall offend in any of these particulars, must know that they are excommunicate and cursed, and are to be declared as such by the Church; and as to those who are already married, the Synod suspends them all, whether married once or oftener, from the ministry of their orders, and all sacerdotal acts, until such time as they have put away their wives effectually.” Where such harsh measures as these were carried out it can hardly be conceived what disorder, confusion, and misery must IN A DARK LAND. 113 have ensued among a people who had always been taught to believe, according to the Apostolic statement, that “marriage is honorable in all.” The wives of the Cattanars were even desig- nated, as already stated, by a title of respect, and the best places in the church were assigned to them ; and further, in the event of the husband dying, the widow was considered to have a life interest in the income of the church in which he had ministered, as real as that of the surviving priests ; which truly wise and benevolent arrangement seemed to savour of those early times when widows were not “neglected in the daily ministrations.” Many of the Cattanars’ wives, moreover, had large families, and sons already in Holy Orders ; but henceforth these virtuous women were to be ruthlessly put away, as if they had occupied an unlawful position ; and they and their children were to have a brand of infamy stamped upon their names. Menezes and his advisers herein doubtless overstepped their mark ; and such a Decree as the one under con- sideration must have sorely embittered the minds of both clergy and laity — more so, probably, than anything else — against Papal intolerance, inasmuch as it affected the honour and social interests of almost every family that had any claim to a respectable position in society. The eighth Action of the Synod related to the Reformation of Church Affairs, which afforded Menezes an excellent opportunity of setting “ in order things that were wanting and, to do him every possible justice, some of his injunctions were of a salutary character. The parochial system did not then exist in Malabar ; its introduction was decreed. Certain Cattanars appear to have had two or three churches ; and some churches too many Cattanars, whilst others had none at all ; these questions were judiciously dealt with. The ruined church in the town of Travancore was ordered to be rebuilt and properly served ; whilst the families of Christian descent supposed to be scattered in the mountain valleys of the Todamala f Nilyiri Hills J, were to be sought out. The darkness and dirt, complained of in many churches, were to be at once remedied ; and they were to be furnished with pulpits, alms boxes, and bells to call the people to worship, though until they could procure the latter license was given to make use of boards, as they had heretofore done in many villages ; and their places of worship were not to be used for secular purposes, but to be held in great reverence by them. The observance even of the Lord’s day was not forgotten. Certain Christians, dwelling in “ the heaths,” or wilder parts of the country, were complained of as being “guilty of working and merchandizing on Sundays and ITolydays, especially in the evening ; and accordingly the Vicars were commanded “ to be very vigilant in this matter, and to admonish and reprehend ” all that they should find so doing. Some judicious and kindly directions were given about the interment of such as died of that much-dreaded and con- tagious malady, small pox. It was also enjoined that means should X 114 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT be employed to evangelise the heathen slaves and lull races, “ that so the meaner sort of people may not have the gate of Christianity and salvation shut against them, as it has been hitherto in this Church.” But whilst there are some things to commend, there are many others to deprecate as tending to gross superstition, in these so- called reformatory decrees. The 18th day of October was ordered to he kept as a Church Festival “whereon the Holy Cross of the Apostle St. Thomas did sweat.” The priests were instructed how to make and consecrate ashes for Ash Wednesday ; how to bless and use wax candles on Candlemas day, and holy water at all times ; and how , to teach and command all children and other people “to cross and bless themselves from the left to the right, according to the Latin custom,” and not from right to left. But, worse than all, the hitherto simple churches of this ancient com- munity were to be transformed into what many must have regarded as idolatrous shrines, as may be seen from the following extract : — “Whereas almost all the churches of this diocese are without pictures, which was the effect of their being governed by Nestorian heretics, who do not allow the healthful use of pictures ; there- fore the Synod doth command, that in all churches that be finished . . . shall be set up some images, according to the direction of the prelate, who shall always be consulted about every picture ; and after that of the high altar is once set up, if the church has any side altars, they shall also have images set up in them.” (Act. VIII., Decree 29.) The concluding class of Decrees relate to the Reformation of Manners; and reformation was doubtless much needed, for — as may naturally be expected — “ mingled ” as these native Christians were “amongst the heathen,” they had, in certain particulars, “learned their works.” Some of the caste distinctions they had adopted were condemned ; and especially the idea that low-caste heathen, by touch- ing the cisterns and wells used by Christians, polluted them, and ren- dered the ceremony of purification necessary before they could again safely use the water. They were wisely forbidden to join their heathen neighbours in the sham fights which took place in the month of August, during the Hindoo feast of Onam ; or to resort to witches and fortunetellers to consult them about such things as lucky and unlucky days; 1 or to submit, at the command of their heathen 1 Amongst other books condemned were those known as The Book of Lots and The Ring of Solomon. The first named was a small manual, consulted by the Syrians of former days, before they entered on any im- portant undertaking. Its Malayalim name was Wapusthakum. It was opened at random ; and, by the favourable or unfavourable character of the first passage that met the eye, future action was determined. It had certain superstitious figures drawn in it. The Ring of Solomon was a spurious and pretentious work called Aseksa do Sol mon. It contained certain sententious sayings, some of which were of questionable morality ; but had Solomon’s name appended to give them currency. IN A DARK LAND. 115 rulers, to such ordeals as handling bars of hot iron, thrusting the hand into boiling oil, or swimming across a river infested with crocodiles. They were further forbidden to observe another class of ceremonies of evidently Jewish origin, as the separation of a mother for forty days after the birth of a hoy, and for eighty days after that of a girl. But some of the ceremonies, solemnly forbidden as heathenish vanities, were probably as harmless in their character as the English custom of throwing an old shoe after a bride. One practice con- demned was “ the making of circles with rice, into which they put the parties that are to be married, after having distributed rice among the children ; another the taking out of a thread supersti- tiously when they cut a web of cloth ; and another the returning to their baskets two grains of Nele ( rice in the hunk ) after they had measured and sold any quantity to a customer. Men among the native Christians were forbidden to wear earrings, that they might he more easily distinguished from the heathen Nairs. It approaches the ludicrous to see priests who, in the way of superstition, swallowed camels themselves, straining at such gnats in solemn conclave. But more wisdom was seen in the enactment of a Decree by which these Christians were prohibited from dealing in arrack — the spirituous liquor of the country; and another by which the rights of females in the matter of inheritance were enunciated and enforced. It was a step in the right direction, too, which recom- mended that Christians living in wild parts of the country should “ do all they are able, either to come and live in some village, or to build new villages with churches, that so they may live more civilly, and be separated from the communication of infidels.” In conclusion it was oi’dered that the Original Copy of the Decrees of the Synod, Mgned by the Archbishoj) and all the other members, should be deposited at the Jesuits’ College at Vaipicotta ; and that a similarly authorised copy should he deposited ‘ ‘ in the archives of the churches of Angamale, called the Archbishop’s see and that all copies should he corrected according to these two authenticated documents. It was further arranged that the diocese should henceforth he divided into seventy-five parishes. Vicars were forthwith nomi- nated to each parish, and then brought in, one by one, to kiss the Metropolitan’s hand, and receive their collation to the benefice from him. After the Decrees had all passed the Synod, Menezes delivered his final Charge to the assembly. A procession was then made round the church, during which the Te Deum was sung by choir and people ; and this ended, the Archbishop pronounced his bene- diction, to which the Archdeacon responded aloud, “ Let us depart in peace,” and the whole Synod broke up. Thus terminated the notorious Synod of Udiampanir, after a session of six days, on the 2 6th of June, 1599, 116 LINGERINGS OF LIGHT From the written testimony of those who are most hostile to the ancient Church of Malabar, as we see in such documents as the Decrees of this Synod, it is plainly apparent that, with all its failing's, it approached in matters of doctrine and discipline far closer to the purity and simplicity of the Primitive Church than did the Church of E-ome who undertook her so-called reformation. Whatever may have been her low condition as to vital godliness, there is reason to believe that she was then far purer than the Mother Church now is, under the Nestorian Patriarch who resides in Persia. Romish Missionaries have been busily occupied for centuries in endeavouring to bring the whole body of these Oriental Christians into obedience to the Papacy ; and where they have not succeeded in effecting a permanent alliance, they have left behind them the Romish leaven of false doctrine, which has been silently doing its work among an ignorant and oppressed community, strangely isolated from the rest of Christendom. How busy Rome has been, both among the Nestorians and Jacobites, may be gathered from the testimony of the Rev. Gr. P. Badger, in his work on The Nestorians and their Rituals. Rome has stealthily infused her dogmas and practices even where her supremacy is still stoutly denied ; and there has ensued a corres- ponding departure from the faith and customs of their forefathers. Thus while their “Rituals,” according to Mr. Badger, “do not determine the number of the Church Sacraments, several of their best authors reckon them as seven.” Oil is now used by them in baptism, which was not the custom in Malabar ;* the Cross is often referred to in such an exaggerated style as to savour of idolatrous reverence, though it is sometimes difficult to understand whether the doctrine of the Atonement, or the material Cross, or its sym- bols, are in the writer’s mind ; the fable of the Assumption, and other foolish legends about the Virgin Mary, are widely taught and believed among them ; and whilst both the bread and wine are still administered to the laity, some among them, especially females, after partaking of the former will go away, and the more ignorant and Romanized of the clergy allow this, ‘ ‘ under the plea that Christ is wholly imparted, through the element of the bread, which error they have doubtless learned from the Romish Missionaries.” By such sapping and mining processes Rome is still attempting the overthrow of these ancient but ill-instructed Churches of the Bast ; and it is undoubtedly the duty of those Churches of Western Christendom, which hold “the faith once delivered to the saints” in its purity, to use their best endeavours to aid them in rejDelling effectually these stealthy advances of our common enemy ; and to strengthen among them any good “ things which remain,” but “ are ready to die.” But to return to the energetic Archbishop, and his unwearied 1 “ The holy oils having hitherto not been used in this bishopric in any of the sacraments,