6S8 Abbe Dubois' Slate of 



all entertained of the Cliiistian ^eli^;ion 

 being a low or pariah religidn. They 

 advised me, in liie mean time, if in fu- 

 fiire I <;ave an explanation of tlic tame 

 parable, to snhstitute a ianih instead of 

 the failed caff. 



NESTORIAVS. 



As I am speaking of the Christians 

 living; in Travanrore, this will he the 

 Jilace to give yon sueh information as I 

 possess, npon the till rtT.w supposed 

 J\estoria}i congregatiovs settled in that 

 country, who boast themselves to he the 

 offspring of the converts made there by 

 the Apostle St. Thomas. 



Several, and in many respects contra- 

 dictory accounts of this sect have of 

 late been published, some writers sup- 

 posing llum Nestorians, and others as- 

 serting them to be Entychiaut. 



However, there is little room to doubt, 

 tbat. when they were first visited by the 

 jesnit missionaries about two centuries 

 ago, they all were foimd obstinately to 

 adhere to the tenets professed by Nesto- 

 rius, whose errors, condemned at first 

 in the general council of Ephesus, and 

 afterwards in that of Chalcedon, when 

 renewed by Diosconts, where the sub- 

 ject of so many controversies in the 

 church, from the sixth to the end of the 

 eighth centuries. 



Tiicir chief error relates to the mys- 

 tery of incarnation. They reject the 

 authority of the first four general coun- 

 cils, which are the first council of Nice, 

 the first of Constantinople, tliitt of Ephe- 

 sns, and that of Chalcedon, in which 

 councils, the Christian faith about the 

 incarnation was clearly defined and vin- 

 dicated against the new-fangled doc- 

 trines of Arius, Nestorins, Eutychus, and 

 other sectaries ; and their leading error 

 was, to admit with Nestorins, a single 

 nature and two distinct persons in Christ; 

 while the Eutychians acknowledge two 

 natures and two persons. 



They above all deny tiie Blessed 

 Virgin the title ofT/ieo-tocus. or Mother 

 of God, asserting that the Sou of God 

 did not assume a soul and a body in 

 her womb. 



This sect has preserved the eccle- 

 siastical hierarchy, consisting among 

 them of a patriarch, bishops, and an 

 inferior clergy. The Nestoriaiis own 

 obedience in religious matters to the 

 ]);>triarch of Babylon, and the Euty- 

 chians are said to acknowledge the 

 authority of the patriaieh of Antioch. 

 Their bishops derive their authority 

 from either, and they ord tin the inferior 

 clergy by the iniposilioii o! hands. 



Christianity in India. 



They admit seven sacraments, in 

 common with the catholio church. 

 They have the mass, and admit the 

 real presence of Christ in the eueharist. 

 They have not the auricular confession, 

 but they admit purgatory, prayers for 

 the dead, and invocation of saints. 



'J'hey have numberless fasts during 

 the course of the year ; they use candles, 

 tapers, incense, and have many more 

 external ceremonies than the catholics 

 in the exercise of their religious func- 

 tions; but they altogether reject the 

 worshij) of images, except the bare 

 cross, which is set up in all tlieir 

 churches, and to which they pay wor- 

 ship. Their waste of frankincense is 

 very considerable, as they perform no 

 religious ceremonies in their churches 

 and at home, without being surrounded 

 by clouds of smoke of incense. 



Their clergy lived till lately in celi- 

 bacy ; but I have heard that some pro- 

 Icstant missionaries had recently pre- 

 vailed upon many of them to marry, 

 and that it was the only success they 

 had to boast of. 



run: HrNDoos. 



The Hinduos are a people so pecu- 

 liarly circumstanced, that I consider it 

 next to impossil)ility to make among 

 them ri-al and sincere Christians. The 

 force of prejudice is known to all; and 

 every one knows, also, that no people 

 in the earth were ever such slaves to 

 education and customs as they are. It 

 is well known, also, that the intro- 

 duction of any new usages and re- 

 gulations, either religious or civil, 

 among them, has at all times baffled 

 the utmost endeavours of all their fierce 

 conquerors, their attachment to their 

 own institutions has always been invin- 

 cible, and their horror of every novelty 

 insurmountable. 



The Hindoos are a people entirely 

 different from all others. You may, 

 if you choose, exercise over them the 

 most despotic sway ; yon may oppress 

 them by every kind of tyranny ; you may 

 overload them with taxes, and rob them 

 of their property ; you may carry away 

 their wives and children, load them 

 with chains and send them into exile : — 

 to all such excesses they will perhaps 

 submit; but, if you speak of changing 

 any of their principal institutions, either 

 religious or civil, you will find a quite 

 ungovernable people, never to be over- 

 come on this point ; and it is my decided 

 opinion, that the day when government 

 shall presume ta interfere in such matter, 

 will be the lastof tts political exi.stenr;. 

 1 Tli« 



