the other creatures have no wants transcending the bounds of their nature. Man is full of desires and wants that reach to infinity, and can never be satisfied. His nature is a lie, uniting the greatest poverty with the greatest pride. Among these so great evils, the best thing God has bestowed on man is the power to take his own life. "

With what force of language-with what overpowering sadness-have the difficulties been expressed by John Foster:

"The whole hemisphere of contemplation," says he, "appears inexpressibly strange and mysterious. It is cloud pursuing cloud, forest after forest, and Alps upon Alps."

The sum of the difficulty may now be expressed in a few words:

(a) If it might be supposed for a moment that we had been consulted as to the kind of a world which a Being of infinite power and perfect benevolence would make, we should have said, without hesitation, that he would not make such a world as this is.*

(b) If a satisfactory explanation could be furnished of the fact that sin and misery have been suffered to come into the universe at all, and to exist for six thousand years, and if it could be shown how this is to be reconciled with the power, the justice, and the benevolence of God, it might be possible to advance with the same mode of reasoning and of explanation, and to show on the same principle that it would not be inconsistent with the power, the justice, and the benevolence of God that they should be permitted to exist at any future period in the history of the universe: that is, forever. If they may be overuled at any one time so as best to promote the great ends of creating the universe at all, and the honor

*I am happy in this to sustain myself by so high an authority as that of Rev. Dr. McCosh, now President of Princeton College.-He says:

“This world is not in the state in which the intelligent and benevolent mind would have expected it to be a priori. Let the problem be: given a God of infinite power and wisdom, to determine the character of the world which he would fashion-and man's solution would present a very different world from the actual one. True, the problem is confessedly of too high an order for human intellect to solve it correctly; but every approximation which he makes, only impresses him the more with wonder, awe and fear, when he compares the results at which he arrives with the actual results-as we must believe them of heavenly intelligence and love, in the existing world in which he is placed." The Method of the Divine Government, Physical and Moral. By JAMES MCCOSH, D. D. LL. D., p. 27.

of the Creator, this may be done at any other time on the same principle. At any rate, it remains to be proved that any objection which might be urged in regard to the existence of sin and suffering at any future period, would not lie against their existence at all, and would not demonstrate with equal force that they could not, under any circumstances, have been allowed to come into the system :—that is, would be a demonstration against an actual-an undisputed fact; against what has actually existed for six thousand years, and against what has been incorporated into the very history of the world. Such an argument, it is plain, could have no force.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

ART. III.—THE JESUIT BRAHMINS OF MADURA.*

By REV. C. F. Muzzy, Norwich, Conn.

THAT the Romish phase of Christianity was introduced into the maritime regions of India, especially where the Portuguese held dominion, at a very early period, is a fact well established in church history.

The persecutions and acts of fraud and violence resorted to by Romanists for the conversion of the Syrian Christians, and heathen tribes, have excited the sympathy and called forth the indignation of true Christians for the last three hundred years. As early as 1545 the missionary Xavier landed at Cape Comorin; and so vigorous and successful were his labors there, and on the Pearl-Fishery Coast, that, as Pencastle informs us, "the converts on that Coast alone, amounted, in nine years, to upwards of 500,000—all fervent, earnest Christians, desiring nothing more than martyrdom for their religion." This, however, must evidently be taken with considerable allowance. Many may have come to the

*The authorities for the information contained in this article will be found in the Calcutta Review, Vol. II, No. 3, and from personal observation during a residence of 20 years in the scene of these labors.

missionaries for purposes of worldly gain, and left them again as those purposes were realized or disappointed. That this was so in the case here specified, the present experience of the missionaries, as well as other facts, abundantly testify. The Abbe Dubois says that Xavier's letters to his friend Ignatius de Loyola, show that, notwithstanding all his reputed success, he actually left India in disgust, entirely disheartened at the apparent impossibility of making real

converts.

In this field we find the Capuchins, Jesuits, and other Romanist missionaries, laboring together, each according to the rules of his own order, and under his own chief, but all striving together to extend the influence of the Pope, and advance the interests of the Papal religion. But the converts were nearly all from the lowest castes of the people; and,. though greatly degraded, were, as historians assure us, very numerous. "The glory of the Jesuits was their missionary spirit, and the glory of their missions was that of South India or Madura."

This flourishing mission was originally confined within the triangular peninsular of Hindostan, having Cape Comorin for its vertex, the Calroon River for its base, the Gulf of Manar and Paulk's Straits, and the western gants, separating it from Malabar, for its sides.. This country was known in the 17th Century, partly as the kingdom of Madura, and partly as the kingdom of Tanjore, which lay in its northeast corner. The shores of the gulf of Manar, stretching from Cape Comorin to Adam's Bridge, were called the Pearl-Fishery Coast, and were the scene of the labors of St. Xavier.†

Within this favored spot, if we may believe contemporary historians, there might have been witnessed, about 200 years since, a bright phase, of millennial happiness. Miracles, we

+ Letters on the State of Christianity in India, p. 3. London, 1828.

* Xavier, though a Jesuit, does not seem to be connected with those who labored in Madura at all; they speak disrespectfully of him, and disparagingly of his labors; but he seems to have been a good man and successful missionary. And while their name and labors are scarcely known to the present generation, those of Xavier are known and highly estimated by all the Catholic population. They sing his praise and call their children by his name, and some almost worship him.

are assured, were numerous, and rivalry and strife unknown. Hundreds of thousands were added to the church, and the converts lived and died in all the fervor of their first love, and with the purity of the angels in heaven. Never was Christian church so blessed and successful, for the primitive Christians and apostles of Christ were far inferior in selfdenial, heavenly-mindedness, and in the successful propagation of the Gospel, to the apostles and neophites of Madura. It must, however, be borne in mind that we are indebted for this information to the missionaries themselves. From Madura, missionary operations were extended to Mysore Gingi, Coimbetoor, and other places, with the same unparalleled

success.

In order fully to understand this language, and rightly appreciate the measures adopted to bring about so extraordinary a state of things, it will be necessary to examine some- · what at length the state and circumstances of the country and people at the time these events took place.

At the commencement of the 17th century the kingdom of Madura appears to have been composed of the provinces of Tinnevalley, Ramnad, Sevagunga, and Marivas or Poothacootta, bordering upon the Gulf of Manar and Paulk's Channel, and the ancient states of Madura and Dindigul, lying farther inland. Into the two latter of these no European was permitted even to enter, much less to reside there. This appeared a sad restraint to the missionaries on the coast, and their zeal was ever on the alert to surmount those barriers and carry the gospel to the celebrated Brahmins, or Brakmans, as ancient authors called them-renowned priests or wise men of Madura. So strong did this desire at length become, among the Jesuits, that they resolved to risk every thing and make the attempt. This service devolved upon Robert De Nobilibus, the nephew of Cardinal Belarmine, and grand-nephew of Pope Marcellus the Second.

This remarkable man commenced his renowned labors as a Madura Brahmin about the year 1606; these were carried on by himself and his successors with extraordinary energy and perseverance for more than 150 years.

Respecting the foundation of the Madura Mission, the Jesuit Jouvamy, in his history of the Order, gives us the following particulars :

"Father Robert de Nobilibus, perceiving the strong prejudice of the natives against Europeans, and believing it to be invincible, determined to conceal his real origin, and enter among them as one of themselves. For this purpose he applied himself dilligently to the study of the native language, manners and customs; and having gained over a Brahmin to assist him, he made himself master of the usages and customs of that sect, even to the most minute details. Thus prepared for his undertaking, and fortified besides with a written document, probably forged by himself or his companions, he entered Madura, not as a Christian missionary, but as a Brahmin of a superior order, who had come among them to restore the most ancient form of their own religion.

His success was not, however, at first complete. The chief of the Brahmins, in a large assembly, convened for the purpose, accused him publicly as an imposter who sought to deceive the people with his lies in order to introduce a new religion into the country; upon which de Nobilibus produced his written scroll purporting to come from the great Sanhedrim of their caste; and, in the presence of all, most solemnly protested and took a very sacred oath that he had sprung from the god Brahma. At this juncture, three Brahmins, overpowered by such strong evidence and arguments, arose and persuaded their brethren not to persecute a man who called himself a Brahmin, and had proved that he was such by solemn oaths and written testimony, as well as by conformity to their manners, customs, conduct and dress. This seems to have silenced opposition for the time. Having passed through this ordeal so triumphantly, he next gave himself out as a Suniassi, the most sacred of all their devotees, and for the remainder of his life he successfully kept up the cheat. His example was followed by all his successors in the mission, and the discovery of the falsehood, or the knowledge that they were Europeans, is represented by themselves as synonymous with utter ruin. Thus was laid the foundation and chief corner stone of the far-famed 'Madura Mission.""

For a description of these Suniassi we refer to the "Systemą Brahminicum" of Fra. Paolin Bartolomeo, as quoted in the Calcutta Review:

"The Suniassi is the fourth and most perfect institute of the Brahmins. He lays aside the poita, or sacrificial cord, composed of 108 threads, in honor of the 108 faces of the god Brahma; but continues the daily ablutions in honor of the lingam, with the appointed prayers and ceremonies. The Suniassi must also wear an orange-colored cloth, about two yards in length by one and a quarter wide, as his chief articles of dress. This being sacred is washed by no hands but his own. He carries about with him a copper vessel with a little water in it for certain appointed ablutions, and for purifying every thing offered to him in charity, upon which alone he subsists. In his right hand he