CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN INDIA. 6Q 



settled. In her character of a virtuous and faithful 

 wife, she ordered that the husband should live ; and 

 Gun'avati, the thief's wife, ordered the sun to rise. 

 Still it was necessary to satisfy the holy Mand'a- 

 VYAH, Avhose words could not be done away. They 

 agreed, that in future all married women, when it is 

 dark, or night, should remain as in a state of widow- 

 hood, taking off their nuptial dress and ornaments. 

 The benevolent Manp'avyah was easily pacified, 

 the sun rose as usual, darkness was dispelled; the 

 holy man, who had remained all the while absorbed 

 in contemplation, with his arms upUfted, descended 

 from the cross ; the leper, at the foot of it, was 

 cured of his disease, lived to a good old age, and 

 obtained eternal bliss ; and the two virtuous and 

 faithful wives were crowned with honor and glory. 

 The air was filled with numberless choirs of celestial 

 minstrels, singing heavenly strains, and the whole 

 concluded with a shower of flowers from on high. 

 In the mean time, the animated beings had all pe- 

 rished; and Brahma' was directed to proceed imme- 

 diately to a ,new creation, and a general renovation 

 of the world took place. 



II. Christianity certainly had made a great pro- 

 gress in the Peninsula, even at a very early period. 

 The venerable Pant^enus o^ Ale.randria visited hidia, 

 about the year 1 89, and there found Christians, who 

 had a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew in He- 

 brezv, which he carried to Alexandria, where it existed 

 in the time of Jerome. Frumentius, the Apostle 

 of Abyssinia, who had resided a long time in India, 

 and spoke the language remarkably well, preached 

 the Gospel in the southern parts, where he had great 

 influence, and was highly respected, having been 

 for many vears prime minister, and reg;eTS*' of one 



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