It has been observed that the religion of Thibet is the counterpart of the Roman Catholic, since the inhabitants of that country use holy water and a singing service; they also offer alms, prayers, and sacrifices for the dead. They have a vast number of convents filled with monks and friars, amounting to thirty thousand; who, besides the three vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity, make several others. They have their confessors, who are chosen by their superiors, and have licenses from their lamas, without which they cannot hear confessions or impose penances They make use of beads. They wear the mitre and cap like the bishops; and their dalai lama is nearly the same among them as the sovereign pontiff is among the Romanists.-Buck's Theol. Dict..

87. THE SYRIAN CHRISTIANS IN INDIA.

THE Syrian Christians inhabit the interior of Tra vancore and Malabar, in the south of India; and have been settled there from the early ages of Christianity. The first notices of this ancient people in recent times are to be found in the Portuguese histories.

When the Portuguese arrived, they were agreeably surprised to find upwards of a hundred Christian churches on the coast of Malabar. But when they became acquainted with the purity and simplicity of their worship they were offended. "These churches," said the Portuguese,"belong to the pope."-" Who is the pope?" said the natives; "we never heard of him." The European priests were yet more alarmed when they found that these Hindoo Christians maintained the order and discipline of a regular church under episcopal jurisdiction; and that, for thirteen hundred years past, they had enjoyed a succession of bishops appointed by the patriarch of Antioch.

When the power of the Portuguese became sufficient for their purpose, they invaded these tranquil churches, seized some of the clergy, and devoted them to the death of heretics. They seized the Syrian bishop, Mar

Joseph, and sent him prisoner to Lisbon, and then convened a synod at one of the Syrian churches called Diamper, near Cochin, at which the Romish archbishop, Menezes, presided. At this compulsory synod one hundred and fifty of the Syrian clergy appeared. They were accused of the following practices and opinions:-"That they had married wives; that they owned but two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's supper; that they neither invoked saints nor worshipped images, nor believed in purgatory; and that they had no other orders or names of dignity in the church than bishop, priest, and deacon." These tenets they were called on to abjure, or to suffer suspension from all church benefices. It was also decreed that all the Syrian books on ecclesiastical subjects that could be found should be burned; "in order," said the inquisitors, "that no pretended apostolical monuments may remain."

The churches on the sea-coast were thus compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of the pope; but they refused to pray in Latin, and insisted on retaining their own language and liturgy. This point they said they would not give up with their lives. The pope compromised with them; Menezes purged their liturgy of its errors; and they retain their Syriac language, and have a Syriac college unto this day.

Two centuries had elapsed without any particular information concerning the Syrian Christians in the interior of India, but in the year 1806, Dr. Buchanan, in his tour through Hindoostan, paid the Syriac Christians a visit, after having obtained the consent of the rajah of Travancore, in whose dominions they resided. The following is extracted from his Christian Researches in Asia:

"The first Syrian church which I saw was at Mavelycar; but the Syrians here are in the vicinity of the Romish Christians, and are not so simple in their manners as those nearer the mountains. They at first suspected that I belonged to that communion. Soon, however, the gloom and suspicion subsided, and one of their

number was deputed to accompany me to the churches in the interior.

The

"When we were approaching the church of Chinganoor, we met one of the cassanars, or Syrian clergy. He was dressed in a white loose vestment, with a cap of red silk hanging down behind. When we arrived at the village, I was received at the door of the church by three kasheeshas, that is, presbyters or priests, who were habited, in like manner, in white vestments. There were also present two shumshanas, or deacons. elder priest was a very intelligent man, of reverend appearance, having a long white beard, and of an affable and engaging deportment. In looking around the village, I perceived symptoms of poverty and political depression. In the churches and in the people there was an air of fallen greatness. I said to the senior priest, 'You appear to me like a people who have known better days. It is even so,' said he; we are in a degenerate state, compared with our forefathers. The learning of the Bible,' he added, is in a low state amongst us. Our copies are few in number, and that number is daily diminishing; and the writing out a whole copy of the sacred Scriptures is a great labour, where there is no profit and little piety. We have very few copies of the prophetical Scriptures in the church. Our church languishes for want of the Scriptures; but we generally expound them to the people in the Malayalim tongue, that being the vernacular language of the country.'

6

"The doctrines of the Syrian Christians are few in number, but pure, and agree in essential points with those of the church of England; so that although the body of the church appears to be ignorant, and formal, and dead, there are individuals who are alive to righteousness, and who are distinguished from the rest by their purity of life, and are sometimes censured for too rigid a piety. In every church, and in many of their houses, there are manuscripts in the Syriac language; and I have been successful in procuring some old and valuable copies of the Scriptures and other books, written in different ages and in different characters.

"The first view of the Christian churches in the sequestered region of Hindoostan, connected with the idea of their tranquil duration for so many ages, cannot fail to excite pleasing emotions in the mind of the beholder. The form of the oldest buildings is not unlike that of some of the old parish churches in England; the style of building in both being of Saracenic origin. They have sloping roofs, pointed arch windows, and buttresses supporting the walls. The beams of the roof, being exposed to view, are ornamented; and the ceiling of the choir and altar is circular and fretted. In the cathedral churches, the shrines of the deceased bishops are placed on each side of the altar. Most of the churches are built of a reddish stone, squared and polished at the quarry, and are of durable construction, the front wall of the largest edifices being six feet thick. The bells of the churches are cast in the foundries of the country; some of them are of large dimensions, and have inscriptions in Syriac and Malayalim. In approaching a town in the evening, I once heard the sound of the bells among the hills; a circumstance which made me forget for a moment that I was in Hindoostan, and reminded me of another country."

88. ABDALLAH, the Arabian Martyr.

ABDALLAH and Sabat were intimate friends, and being young men of family, in Arabia, they agreed to travel together, and to visit foreign countries. They were both zealous Mahometans; Sabat was the son of Ibraham Sabat, a noble family of the line of Beni Sabat, who trace their pedigree to Mahomet. The two friends left Arabia, after paying their adorations at the tomb of their prophet at Mecca, and travelled through Persia, and thence to Cabul. Abdallah was appointed to an office of state, under Zemaun Shah, king of Cabul; and Sabat left him there, and proceeded through Tartary.

While Abdallah remained at Cabul he was converted to the Christian faith by the perusal of a Bible (as is

supposed) belonging to a Christian from Armenia, then residing at Cabul. In the Mahometan states it is death for a man of rank to become a Christian. Abdallak endeavoured for a time to conceal his conversion; but finding it no longer possible, he determined to flee to some of the Christian churches near the Caspian sea. He accordingly left Cabul in disguise, and had gained the great city of Bochara, in Tartary, when he was met in the streets of that city by his friend Sabat, who immediately recognised him. Sabat had heard of his conversion and flight, and was filled with indignation at his conduct. Abdallah knew his danger, and threw himself at the feet of Sabat. He confessed that he was a Christian, and implored him, by the sacred tie of their former friendship, to let him escape with his life. "But, sir," said Sabat, when relating the story himself, "I had no pity; I caused my servants to seize him, and I delivered him up to Morad Shah, king of Bochara.

"He was sentenced to die, and a herald went through the city of Bochara, announcing the time of his execution. An immense multitude attended, and the chief men of the city. I also went and stood near Abdallah. He was offered his life if he would abjure Christ, the executioner standing by him with his sword in his hand. 'No,' said he, as if the proposition were impossible to be complied with, I cannot abjure Christ.' Then one of his hands was cut off at the wrist. He stood firm, his arm hanging by his side with but little motion.

"A physician, by desire of the king, offered to heal the wound if he would recant. He made no answer, but looked up steadfastly towards heaven, like Stephen, the first martyr, his eyes streaming with tears. He did not look with anger towards me. He looked at me, but it was benignly, and with the countenance of forgiveness. His other hand was then cut off. But, sir,' said Sabat, in his imperfect English," he never changed, he never changed. And when he bowed his head tc receive the blow of death, all Bochara seemed to say 'What new thing is this?"—Dr. Buchanan.