They were no sooner arrived there, than the possessed person fell into an extraordinary fury, with, wonderful contortions of his limbs, and hideous yellings. The little children, far from being terrified, as usually children are, made a ring about him, singing the prayers of the church. After which they compelled him to kiss the cross; and at the same moment, the devil departed out of him. Many pagans there present, visibly perceiving the virtue of the cross, were converted on the instant, and became afterwards devout Christians.
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