The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 16

These young plants, whom Xavier employed on such occasions, were in perpetual disputations with the Gentiles, and broke in pieces as many idols as they could get into their power; and sometimes burnt them, throwing their ashes into the air. When they discovered any bearing the name of Christianity, and yet keeping a pagod in reserve to adore in secret, they reproved them boldly; and when those rebukes were of no effect, they advertised the holy man, to the end, he might apply some stronger remedy. Xavier went often in their company, to make a search in those suspected houses; and if he discovered any idols, they were immediately destroyed.

Being informed, that one who was lately baptized, committed idolatry sometimes in private, and that the admonitions which he had received were useless, he bethought himself to frighten him; and in his presence commanded the children to set fire to his house, that thereby he might be given to understand, how the worshippers of devils deserved eternal burning like the devils. They ran immediately to their task, taking the command in a literal sense, which was not Xavier's intention. But the effect of it was, that the infidel, detesting and renouncing his idolatry, gave up his pagods to be consumed by fire, which was all the design of the holy man.

Another infidel was more unhappy; he was one of the first rank in Manapar; a man naturally violent and brutal. Xavier one day going to visit him, desired him, in courteous words, that he would listen to what he had to say to him concerning his eternal welfare. The barbarian vouchsafed not so much as to give him the hearing, but rudely thrust him out of his house, saying, "That if ever he went to the Christians' church, he was content they should shut him out." Few days after, he was assaulted by a troop of armed men, who designed to kill him: all he could do was to disengage himself from them, and fly away. Seeing at a distance a church open, he made to it as fast as he could run, with his enemies at his heels pursuing him. The Christians, who were assembled for their exercises of devotion, alarmed at the loud cries they heard, and fearing the idolaters were coming to plunder the church, immediately shut their doors, insomuch that he, who hoped for safety in a holy place, fell into the hands of murderers, and was assassinated by them, without question by a decree of the divine justice, which revenged the saint, and suffered the wretch to be struck with that imprecation which he had wished upon himself.

These miracles, which Xavier wrought by the means of children, raised an admiration of him, both amongst Christians and idolaters; but so exemplary a punishment caused him to be respected by all the world: and even amongst the Brachmans there was not one who did not honour him. As it will fall in our way to make frequent mention of those idol-priests, it will not be from our purpose to give the reader a description of them.

The Brachmans are very considerable amongst the Indians, both for their birth and their employment. According to the ancient fables of the Indies, their original is from heaven. And it is the common opinion, that the blood of the gods is running in their veins. But to understand how they were born, and from what god descended, it is necessary to know the history of the gods of that country, which in short is this:

The first, and lord of all the others, is Parabrama; that is to say, a most perfect substance, who has his being from himself, and who gives being to the rest. This god being a spirit free from matter, and desirous to appear once under a sensible figure, became man; by the only desire which he had to shew himself, he conceived a son, who came out at his mouth, and was called Maiso. He had two others after him, one of them whose name was Visnu, was born out of his breast, the other called Brama, out of his belly. Before he returned to his invisibility, he assigned habitations and employments to his three children. He placed the eldest in the first heaven, and gave him an absolute command over the elements and mixed bodies. He lodged Visnu beneath his elder brother, and established him the judge of men, the father of the poor, and the protector of the unfortunate. Brama had for his inheritance the third heaven, with the superintendance of sacrifices, and other ceremonies of religion. These are the three deities which the Indians represent by one idol, with three heads growing out of one body, with this mysterious signification, that they all proceed from the same principle. By which it may be inferred, that in former times they have heard of Christianity; and that their religion is an imperfect imitation, or rather a corruption of ours.

They say that Visnu has descended a thousand times on earth, and every time has changed his shape; sometimes appearing in the figure of a beast, sometimes of a man, which is the original of their pagods, of whom they relate so many fables.

They add, that Brama, having likewise a desire of children, made himself visible, and begot the Brachmans, whose race has infinitely multiplied. The people believe them demi-gods, as poor and miserable as they are. They likewise imagine them to be saints, because they lead a hard and solitary life; having very often no other lodging than the hollow of a tree, or a cave, and sometimes living exposed to the air on a bare mountain, or in a wilderness, suffering all the hardships of the weather, keeping a profound silence, fasting a whole year together, and making profession of eating nothing which has had life in it.

But after all, there was not perhaps a more wicked nation under the canopy of heaven. The fruit of those austerities which they practice in the desart, is to abandon themselves in public to the most brutal pleasures of the flesh, without either shame or remorse of conscience. For they certainly believe, that all things, how abominable soever, are lawful to be done, provided they are suggested to them by the light which is within them. And the people are so infatuated with them, that they believe they shall become holy by partaking in their crimes, or by suffering any outrage from them.

On the other side, they are the greatest impostors in the world; their talent consists in inventing new fables every day, and making them pass amongst the vulgar for wonderful mysteries. One of their cheats is to persuade the simple, that the pagods eat like men; and to the end they may be presented with good cheer, they make their gods of a gigantic figure, and are sure to endow them with a prodigious paunch. If those offerings with which they maintain their families come to fail, they denounce to the people, that the offended pagods threaten the country with some dreadful judgment, or that their gods, in displeasure, will forsake them, because they are suffered to die of hunger.

The doctrine of these Brachmans is nothing better than their life. One of their grossest errors is to believe that kine have in them somewhat of sacred and divine; that happy is the man who can be sprinkled over with the ashes of a cow, burnt by the hand of a Brachman; but thrice happy be, who, in dying, lays hold of a cow's tail, and expires with it betwixt his hands; for, thus assisted, the soul departs out of the body purified, and sometimes returns into the body of a cow. That such a favour, notwithstanding, is not conferred but on heroic souls, who contemn life, and die generously, either by casting themselves headlong from a precipice, or leaping into a kindled pile, or throwing themselves under the holy chariot wheels, to be crushed to death by the pagods, while they are carried in triumph about the town.

We are not to wonder, after this, that the Brachmans cannot endure the Christian law; and that they make use of all their credit and their cunning to destroy it in the Indies. Being favoured by princes, infinite in number, and strongly united amongst themselves, they succeed in all they undertake; and as being great zealots for their ancient superstitions, and most obstinate in their opinions, it is not easy to convert them.

Father Xavier, who saw how large a progress the gospel had made amongst the people, and that if there were no Brachmans in the Indies, there would consequently be no idolaters in all those vast provinces of Asia, spared no labour to reduce that perverse generation to the true knowledge of Almighty God. He conversed often with those of that religion, and one day found a favourable occasion of treating with them: Passing by a monastery, where above two hundred Brachmans lived together, he was visited by some of the chiefest, who had the curiosity to see a man whose reputation was so universal. He received them with a pleasing countenance, according to his custom; and having engaged them by little and little, in a discourse concerning the eternal happiness of the soul, he desired them to satisfy him what their gods commanded them to do, in order to it after death. They looked a while on one another without answering. At length a Brachman, who seemed to be fourscore years of age, took the business upon himself, and said in a grave tone, that two things brought a soul to glory, and made him a companion to the gods; the one was to abstain from the murder of a cow, the other to give alms to the Brachmans. All of them confirmed the old man's answer by their approbation and applause, as if it had been an oracle given from the mouths of their gods themselves.

Father Xavier took compassion on this their miserable blindness, and the tears came into his eyes. He rose on the sudden, (for they had been all sitting,) and distinctly repeated, in an audible tone, the apostles' creed, and the ten commandments, making a pause at the end of every article, and briefly expounding it, in their own language; after which he declared to them what were heaven and hell, and by what actions the one and other were deserved.

The Brachmans, who had never heard any thing of Christianity before, and had been listening to the father with great admiration, rose up, as soon as he had done speaking, and ran to embrace him, acknowledging, that the God of the Christians was the true God, since his law was so conformable to the principles of our inward light. Every one of them proposed divers questions to him; if the soul were immortal, or that it perished with the body, and in case that the soul died not, at what part of the body it went out; if in our sleep we dreamed we were in a far country, or conversed with an absent person, whether the soul went not out of the body for that time; of what colour God was, whether black or white; their doctors being divided on that point, the white men maintaining he was of their colour, the black of theirs: the greatest part of the pagods for that reason being black.

The father answered all their questions in a manner so suitable to their gross understanding, which was ignorant alike of things divine and natural, that they were highly satisfied with him. Seeing them instructed and disposed in this sort, he exhorted them to embrace the faith of Jesus Christ, and gave them to understand, that the truth being made known to them, ignorance could no longer secure them from eternal punishment.

But what victory can truth obtain over souls which find their interest in following error, and who make profession of deceiving the common people? "They answered," said the saint in one of his letters, "that which many Christians answer at this day, what will the world say of us if they see us change? And after that, what will become of our families, whose only subsistence is from the offerings which are made to the pagods? Thus, human interest, and worldly considerations, made the knowledge of the truth serve only to their greater condemnation."

Not long afterwards, Xavier had another conference with a Brachman, who lived in the nature of an hermit. He passed for the oracle of the country, and had been instructed in his youth at one of the most famous academies of the East. He was one of those who was knowing in their most hidden mysteries, which are never intrusted by the Brachmans, but to a certain select number of their wise men. Xavier, who had heard speak of him, was desirous to see him; and he, on his side, was as desirous to see Xavier. The intention of the saint was to try, in bringing over this Brachman, if he could gain the rest, who were proud of being his disciples.

After the first civilities which commonly pass betwixt two men, who mutually covet an acquaintance, and know each other by reputation, the discourse fell upon religion; and the Brachman found in himself, at the very first, so great an inclination for Xavier, that he could not conceal from him those secrets which a religious oath had bound him never to disclose to any. He confest plainly to him, that the idols were devils, and that there was only one God, creator of the world, and that this God alone deserved the adoration of men: that those who held the rank of wisdom amongst the Brachmans, solemnized the Sunday in his honour as a holiday; and that day they only said this prayer, "O God, I adore thee at this present, and for ever: " that they pronounced those words softly, for fear of being overheard, and to preserve the oath which they had made, to keep them secret. "In fine," said he, "it is to be read in our ancient writings, that all the false religions should one day cease, and the whole world should observe one only law."

The Brachman having disclosed these mysteries to Father Xavier, desired him, in his turn, to reveal to him what was most mysterious in the Christian law; and to engage him to deal the more freely with him, and without the least disguise, swore, that he would inviolably, and for ever, keep the secret. "I am so far," said the father, "from obliging you to silence, that I will inform you of nothing you desire to know, but on condition that you shall publish in all places what I tell you." The Brachman having given him his word, he began to instruct him by these words of Jesus Christ; "He who will believe, and be baptized, shall be saved." This he expounded to him at large; at the same time, declaring to him how baptism was necessary to salvation: and passing from one article of faith to another, he placed the truth of the gospel in so advantageous a light before him, that the Brachman declared upon the place he would become a Christian, provided he might be so in secret; and that he might have a dispensation from some certain duties of Christianity.

This so wicked a disposition made him unworthy of the grace of baptism; he remained unconverted. Notwithstanding which, he desired to have in writing the apostles' creed, together with our Saviour's words, which had been expounded to him.

He saw Father Xavier a second time, and told him he had dreamed he was baptized, and that afterwards he became his companion, and that they travelled together preaching the gospel in far countries; but this dream had no effect, and the Brachman would never promise to teach the people, that there was one only God, creator of the world, "or fear," says he, "that if he broke that oath which obliged him to secrecy, the devil should punish him with death."

Thus the master, though convinced, yet not submitting, the scholars all stood out; and in the sequel, of so great a multitude of idol-priests, not one embraced the Christian doctrine from the heart. Nevertheless, Xavier, in their presence, wrought many miracles which were capable of converting them. Having casually met a poor creature all naked, and full of ulcers from head to foot, he washed him with his hands, drank part of the water wherewith he had washed him, and prayed by him with wonderful fervency; when he had ended his prayer, the flesh of the diseased person was immediately healed, and appeared as clean as that of an infant.

The process of the saint's canonization makes mention of four dead persons, to whom God restored their life, at this time, by the ministry of his servant. The first was a catechist, called Antonio Miranda, who had been stung in the night by one of those venomous serpents of the Indies, whose stings are always mortal. The second was a child, who fell into a pit, and was drowned. The two others were a young man and a maid, whom a pestilential fever had carried off after a short sickness.

But these miracles, which gave to the father the name of saint among the Christians, and caused him to be called the God of Nature amongst the Gentiles, had no other effect upon the Brachmans than to harden their hearts, and blind their understandings. Xavier, despairing of their conversion, thought himself bound to publish all their wicked actions, and bring them into disrepute. And he performed it so successfully, that those men, who were had in veneration by the people, came to be despised by all the world; insomuch, that even the children laughed at them, and publicly upbraided them with their cheats. They began at first to threaten the people, according to their custom, with the anger of their pagods; but seeing their menaces turned to scorn, they made use of another artifice, to regain their credit.

What malice soever they harboured in their hearts against Father Xavier, they managed it so well, that, to see their conduct, they might have been taken for his friends. They made him visits; desired him to have some kindness for them; they gave him many commendations; they presented him sometimes with pearls and money. But the father was inexorable; and for their presents, he returned them without so much as looking on them.

The decrying of those idol-priests contributed not a little to the destruction of idolatry through all that coast. The life which Xavier led, contributed full as much. His food was the same with that of the poorest people, rice and water. His sleep was but three hours at the most, and that in a fisher's cabin on the ground: for he had soon made away with the mattress and coverlet, which the viceroy had sent him from Goa. The remainder of the night he passed with God, or with his neighbour.

He owns himself, that his labours were without intermission; and that he had sunk under so great hardships, if God had not supported him. For, to say nothing of the ministry of preaching, and those other evangelical functions, which employed him day and night, no quarrel was stirring, no difference on foot, of which he was not chosen umpire. And because those barbarians, naturally choleric, were frequently at odds, he appointed certain hours, for clearing up their misunderstandings, and making reconciliations. There was not any man fell sick, who sent not for him; and as there were always many, and for the most part distant from each other, in the scattering villages, his greatest sorrow was, that he could not be present with them all. In the midst of all this hurry, he enjoyed those spiritual refreshments and sweets of heaven, which God only bestows on souls, who regard nothing but the cross; and the excess of those delights was such, that he was often forced to desire the Divine Goodness to moderate them; according to what himself testifies in a letter to his father Ignatius, though written in general terms, and in the third person.

Having related what he had performed in the coast of the Fishery, "I have no more to add," says he, "concerning this country, but only that they who come hither to labour in the salvation of idolaters, receive so much consolation from above, that if there be a perfect joy on earth, it is that they feel." He goes on, "I have sometimes heard a man saying thus to God, O my Lord, give me not so much comfort in this life; or if, by an excess of mercy, thou wilt heap it on me, take me to thyself, and make me partaker of thy glory, for it is too great a punishment to live without the sight of thee."

A year and more was already past since Xavier had laboured in the conversion of the Paravas; and in all this time, his two companions, Paul de Camerine, and Francis Mansilla, were not come to his assistance, though they had been arrived at Goa some months since. The number of Christians daily multiplying to a prodigy, and one only priest not being sufficient to cultivate so many new converts in the faith, or advance them in Christian piety, the saint thought it his duty to look out for succour. And besides, having selected some young men, well-natured, and of a good understanding, qualified for the studies of divinity, and human sciences, who being themselves well modelled, might return with him to instruct their countrymen; he was of opinion, that he ought to conduct them himself, without deferring his voyage any longer.

On these considerations he put to sea, on his return, about the conclusion of the year 1543; and having got to Cochin by mid-January, he arrived at Goa not long after. For the better understanding of what relates to the education of those young Indians, whom Xavier brought, it will be necessary to trace that matter from its original.

Before the coming of Father Francis to the Indies, Christianity had made but little progress in those countries; and of an infinite number of Pagans, inhabiting the isle of Goa, and the parts adjoining, scarce any man thought of forsaking his idolatry. In the year 1541, James de Borba, a Portuguese preacher and divine, whom king John III. had sent to India, searching out the cause of so great a misfortune, found, that it was not only because the Europeans could not easily learn the Indian tongue, but also, because if an Indian happened to be converted, they exercised no charity towards him; and that the children of the faithful, who died poor, were destitute of succour in their wants.

He gave notice of this to the grand vicar, Michael Vaz, to the auditor general, Pedro Fernandez, to the deputy-governor, Rodriguez de Castel Blanco, and to the secretary of state, Cosmo Annez, who were all of them his particular friends, and virtuous men. These being in the government, considered of the means to remedy the growing evil, the foundation of which had been discovered to them by Borba; and he himself excited the people to be instrumental in so good a work. For, one day preaching, he passionately bemoaned the damnation of so many Indians, and charged it on the conscience of his auditory, that the salvation of that idolatrous people depended, in some sort, on them. "I pretend not," said he, "that you should go yourselves to the conquest of souls, nor learn barbarous languages on purpose, to labour in the conversion of Gentiles. What I beg of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, is, that each of you would contribute something towards the maintenance of the new Christians. You will perform by that, what it is not in your power to do by the preaching of the gospel; and gain, by your temporal goods, those immortal souls, for which the Saviour of the world has shed his blood."

The Holy Spirit, who had inspired his tongue, gave efficacy to his words, by touching the hearts of those who heard them. Many of them being joined together, it was resolved to form a company, which should provide for the subsistence of those young Indians newly converted; and that society at first was called, the Brotherhood of St Mary of the Light, (or Illumination,) from the name of that church where the fraternity assembled, to regulate that new establishment.

It is true, that, as great works are not accomplished all at once, in the beginning of this, there was only founded a small seminary, for the children of Goa, and those of the neighbourhood; but the revenues were increased so much afterwards by the liberality of Don Estevan de Gama, governor of the Indies, and by the bounty of John III., king of Portugal, that all the idolatrous children, who turned Christians, of what country soever, were received into it.

There was also a fund sufficient for the building a fair house and a magnificent church in a larger plot: and the seminary, over which Borba presided, was then called, the Seminary of Holy Faith.

Matters being thus disposed, above threescore children, of divers kingdoms, and nine or ten different languages, were assembled, to be educated in piety and learning. But it was soon perceived, that these children wanted masters, capable of instructing and forming them, according to the intention of the institute. God Almighty had pre-ordained the seminary of holy faith, for the Society of Jesus; and it was by a particular disposition of the Divine Providence, that the same year, wherein the seminary was established, brought over the sons of Ignatius to the Indies.

Accordingly, when Xavier first arrived at Goa, Borba offered him the conduct of this new establishment, and used his best endeavours to engage him in it. Xavier, who found an inward call to something more important, and who already was conceiving in his mind the conversion of a heathen world, would not coop himself up within a town, but in his secret intentions, designed one of his companions for that employment, which was presented to himself. In the meantime, Borba wrote into Portugal, to Simon Rodriguez, and earnestly desired from him some fathers of the new society, "for whom" he said, "the Almighty had prepared a house in the new world, before their coming."