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even at a period so remote from the present, their reli- gion exhibited proofs 'of long establishment. Their division into separate tribes or castes, by which a community in religious worship, as- well as in. social intercourse, was restrifted, 'together with the peculiar imniunities arrogated by the sacerdotal order, are described vvith a clearness and precision, which it! might be thought impos- sible - for ignorance to misapprehend, or for ingenuity to pervert. ' But in the representations which are given of the simplicity of their worship, and particularly of • their total abhorrence from idolatry, there is not less, reasoii to conclude, that their faitlv has suffered some remarkable deviations from its original purity, f!' ■ >;■ From the tfme when the successors of Alex- ander ceased to maintain an immediate commu- nication with India, a wide chasm occurs in it^ history. 13 It tv'as during tins interval however, vthat a wonderful change was-efFefted in the opinions of mankind by the introduction of a religion, of which, if the purity of its do£trines attested by incontrovertible miracles prove the divine origin, its propagation by means so utterly inadequate, and to human reason conteraptible, no less de- monstrates the intervention of divine agency. The command which its divine author gave to his disciples : " Go ye into all the world and preaclj " the GoSpel to every creature^" was so punc- tually fulfilled, if not in the letter, yet as to the" spirit and design^ .that in comparison with the triumphs, obtained by a few artless and illiterate men, not only without the assistance of all human power, but 'in direft opposition to it, the con- quests of the Macedonian hero, either in magni- tude_ or difiiculty, ■ shrink into insignificance. Within the short period of fifty years from the death, of Christ, the sound of his Gospel haid, almost literally, " gone forth into all lands-, and " its words unto, the ends of the world." It had been heard -in the porticos 'of Athens, and in the pagodas of India. It had been enabled by its native strength to -subdue the fierce andrinhospi- £) • table Parthian, and combat the \yit and 'eloquence qf the Roman court. Itvwas equally successful, whether opposed to the metaphysical subtlelies u of the philosopher, or to the grosser and more palpable absurdities of vulgar superstition. In that division of the distant portions of thfc habitable world, which was made by the Apostles at their separation,; the immense provinces of the greater' Asia extending eastward from the Euphrates to the Indus, were assigned to the ministry of Saint Thomas. The tradition which selates, th'at his pious labors were extended be- yond this boundary, and which is confirmed by the testimony of the best ecclesiastical historians, tliough rejedled by some-modern writers, has been placed by subsequent research still farther beyond the reach of contradifilion or rational doubt.'. From recent information however, supported by the concurrent voice of past ages, we are warranted in drawing the conclusion, that the Gospel was preached in India, during the first and purest ages of the Church. For the follow- ing fa£ts we have undeniable evidence ; that, in the middle of the fourth century, Frumenlius was appointed by Athanasius Bishop of India, where he found the doftrines of the Christian faith understood, and praftised by a great number y and these are fepresentedi, in thp fifth century, to ^ St on this wbjetA, Care Ssc. 3, in Manewi 2; 15 , have considerably increasied in wealth and im- portance.' But the primitive purity of the Christian relfgiohwas soon afterwards corrupted, by the introduftion of the Nestorian hsresy from Persia, and iin the course of a few ages, the principles of that sefit became almost universally prevalent. To what extent the pure tenets of the Dhfislian •faith ihcji^ht have been professed in Hindoostan, or wha't latent iefFefts its corruptions, and the introduftion of the various apocryphal Gospels, .which, found their way into the east, might bave pi*oduced on the religion of theiiihabitants, it >would be inconsistent with the brevity of this historical sketch to discuss. We are now reluct- antly conipelled to turn our eyes to a different pifilure. We are now called on to mark the progress of a religion, not, like the former, pur- suirtg acdu^e sileftl and tranquil, observable only by the blessings which it dispenses ; but, like a torrent, over'whfelm'iiig every obstacle that op- posed its fury. The useful labors of the Christian- saint, scarcely find a place in history, and they are chiefly recalled to our recolleftion, ' by the strains of a Poet equally conspicuous for piety of sentimdnt alffd sublimity of 'diflion.*' Biif -the * Busebxl. 3. c. 1. Sozomen. ll S. c. 24. Socrat. 1. 1. c. S9. ' See the jLutMd of Camoens, B. 10. Id " Star, of Islamism" is too banefiilly portentous t6 be forgotten. The triumphs of the Arabian impos- tor are indelibly written in ch^rafters of blood. r In the seventh century, his followers first attempted to plant the Mohammeckn faith, in the country of Hindoostan ; in the south, under the mask of friendship; in the north^ by the iierror of the sword. : Through the whole course of their conquests, whether conduced' by the insatiable avarice of Mammood, or by the fero- cious coutage of Timur, we behold the same wan- ton insult, and licentious barbarity, i Religion, was the pretext, and plunder the . dbjeft, by which they were impelled, and both co-operated in the work of destruftion. What could not tempt the rapacity of the one, was sacrificed to the zeal of the other. While the possessions of the unoffending inhabitants were ravaged, and their persons, I violated by- brutal lusj, their tem- "ples were polluted, and ; their altars overthrown, by the relentless hand of blind fanaticism. To the rsign of .the, illustrious Acber, which forms the only truly brilliant • epoch in the Mus-^ sulman empire of India, we must ilook for a different sjtsterti of policy, adopted both from expediency and inclination. By him i^ was first 17 discovered, that the security of his governmieiit, and the happiness of his subjefts, could never be promoted, but on the basis of universal tolera- tion : and thus, while his desire of knowledgCj incited him to examine, and to compare the different forms of religion, which had been estab- lished iif his extensive dominions, his nioderation taught him equally to protefii: the ex^cise of all. But the period had now arrived, when, the Mohammedan power, which, during the space of more than eight centuries, had exerted the most despotic tyranny over the Eas,t, and had become formidable to the whole world, was to receive a check, by the discovery of the maritime passage to India; a discovery, which not only opened a new direfilion to Asiatic Gommerce, but, which as has been remarked, with a warmth of expression not exceeding the soberness of truth, preserved the liberties of mankind.* In reviewing the history of those important events, which have decided the fate of empires, jind of those Splendid achievements which have ultimately contributed to general happiness .and prosperity, we have often reason to lament, that they have been' effe£ted by means at which c 18 humanity revolts. We mysl be compelled to acknowledge, that the soil in which " the vine and the fig tree" have afterwards flourished in the greatest luxuriancy, has been fertilized by blood. But the voyage of Gama is one of those occur- ' rences, on which the mind dwells with more unmingled pleasure. When the kingdom of Portugal first establish- ed its settlements in the East under his direftion, its conquests were marked by none of those enormities, which have so often disgraced those nations, who from motives of avarice or ambition have planted distant colonies. The earliest mis- sionaries also, who laboured to convert the natives of India, were a£luated by the purest intentions, and prosecuted them by the most laudable means.'. It was not till about fifty years afterwards, when the Jesuits undertook the task, that a dif- ferent method was pursued. The lust of secular power was the motive which influenced all their attempts ; and to this, the precepts of their religion were made to yield. While they compelled the Christians whom they found established in the southern parts of Malabar to abjure the tenets of their ancient creed, and to acknowledge the ' rarticularly Cubilonez tbe confetior of Guni. 19 authority, of the Papal see ; they; sought to acqxiire an ascendancy over the followers of Paganism, by a ready compliance with their faVQUrite prejudi- ces. Whithiersoever ; they came, their principa,! care was, to discover the popular objefts of fear and adoration ; and thus by contradifting none of these, they insured a temporary success. If the sun were iesteeroieji, the fountjain of , life, and the source rfirdni which all human blessings were derived; they represented Jesus Christ, as de- scended from thqit luminary, and: themselves as his younger brethren, sent to give light tq thf ignorant. If their idol^trffus hearers were 151 dread .of exorcism, ^d o-fthe machinations pf evil spirits y thjeyideclared rthat th^ sole objeft of the mission of Christ, was to destroy demoniacal agency J that jhe had subdued its influence in Europe, andi th^t they were sent by him into the East, to complete his benevolent design. Thus by a literal application of that favourite maxirn pf their political fouiid^er, distorted frpptijt^e meaning of St.