when we stand most in need of help supply us 2. In their Observations of their Sabbaths and other Festivals and Fasts Their Liturgy is in the Arabian Tongue not understood by many of the common People yet is repeated by the Moolaas or Priests and also by the common People The Mahometans also rehearse the names of God and Mahomet certain times upon beads as the papists do their prayers The devout Mahometans in a solemn manner assemble in their Mosquits or Churches where by their Moolaas or Priests upon Fridays which is their Sabbath some selected parts of the Alcoran are publickly read unto them which their Moolaas or Priests never touch without an Expression of much outward Reverence and then they deliver some precepts which they gather out of it And they never see their Alcoran and hear any part of it read without a great shew of Attention Affection and Reverence They keep a solemn Lent which they call Ramjam or Ramdam which begins the first New-Moon which happens in September and so continue it that whole Moon And during all that time those that are strict in their Religion forbear their Women and will not take either Meat or Drink any day during that time so long as the Sun is above the Horizon only after the Sun is set they eat at pleasure The last day of their Lent they Consecrate as a day of Mourning to the memory of their deceased Friends when I have observed saith the Author many of the meaner sort seem to make most bitter Lamentation besides what they do at their Friends decease when they howl and cry many whole days for their Friends departed and then at night they fire an innumerable company of Lamps and other Lights and when burnt out the Lent is ended and the people take their Food as before The day after the Ramjam or Lent is ended the most devout Mahometans in a solemn manner assemble at their Mosquits or Churches and hear some select parts of their Alcoran read unto them The Hindoes or Indians also being Heathens have little Churches called Pagods built round and standing under green Trees wherein are Images of monstrous Shapes but for what end the Author knows not He relates That both Men and Women before they go to their Devotions which is very frequently wash their Bodies which they think avails them much towards their cleansing from Sin and they ascribe a certain kind of Divinity to Rivers especially to the famous River Ganges whither they flock daily in Troops to wash themselves The day of rest or Sabbath which the Hindoes or Indians observe is Thursday as also many other Festivals or Times of publick Devotions they observe very Solemnly as also Pilgrimages And they never hear their Law or Precepts read to them by their Bramins or Priests without a shew of great Attention Reverence and Affection Their Bramins or Priests as the Author affirms have told him That they acknowledge one God whom they describe with a Thousand Eyes and a Thousand Hands and as many Feet as being all Eye to see all Feet to follow and all Hand to smite offenders thus they express his Power The consideration whereof makes them as the Author testifies very exact in their dealings with Men most carefully observing that Royal Law in doing to others but what they would be contented to suffer from them Now that Book of their Law which they call the Shester or the Book of their written Word hath been transcribed in all Ages ever since the first delivery of it not long after the Creation as they say by the Bramins out of which they deliver Precepts unto the people Both Men and Women before they go to their Devotions which are very frequent wash their Bodies as I related before led hereunto by a certain Precept as they say given them by their Lawgiver Breman which requires them daily to observe their times of Devotion expressed by their Washings and Worshippings and Prayer to God which must be all done say they with purity of Heart The Precepts delivered to them from him they call Breman are these First Thou shalt not kill any living Creature whatever it be having Life in the same for thou art a Creature and so is it thou art endued with Life and so is it thou shalt not therefore spill the Life of any of thy fellow Creatures that live Other Precepts they mention as delivered by their Lawgiver viz. 2. To observe times for Fasting and hours for Watching that they may be better fitted for their Devotions 3. directions about their Festivals wherein are required also To take their Food moderately not pampering their Bodies 4. And concerning Charity they are commanded to help the Poor as far as possibly they are able 5. Not to tell false Tales nor to utter any thing that is untrue 6 Not to Steal any thing from others be it never so little 7. Not to Defraud any by their Cunning in Bargains or Contracts 8. Not to Oppress any when they have Power to do it All which are observed by these Hindoes or Indians as the said Author affirms with much strictness several of them being very good Precepts having the impression of God upon them There are also another sort of Heathens among them called the Persees who have a Book of their Religion delivered by their Prophets in which as the Author was informed are these Precepts following I. To have Shame and Fear ever present with them which will restrain and keep them from committing many Evils II. When they undertake any thing seriously to consider whether it be Good or Bad Commanded or Forbidden them III. To keep their Eyes and Hearts from Coveting any thing that is anothers and their Hands from hurting any one IV. To have a care always to speak the Truth V. To be known only in their own Businesses and not to inquire into and to busie themselves in other Mens Matters VI. Not to Entertain or Believe any other Law besides what they have delivered to them by their Prophets Their Priests they call Daroos or Harboods above which they have a Chief or High-Priest they call the Dostoor who not often appears openly but when he does he meets with much Reverence and Respect given unto him by the Common People and so do their other Church-men which are his Inferiors unto all which they allow free maintenance for their more comfortable Subsistence and those Church-men by their Law are commanded to dwell near and to abide much in their Egares or temples to give advice unto any that shall repair unto them They observe divers Feasts and immediately after each of them a Fast follows 3. In their Zeal in their Religion and not induring that Religion should be Contemned and Neglected As they cannot bear that any one should affront or contemn their Religion both the Mahometans and the Hindoes or Indians So there is not any one among the Mahometans which at any time mentions the Name of our
me And very many times afterward when I appeared before him he still would shew tokens of Civility and Respect to me And I never went abroad among the People but those that met me upon this account that I was a Padre for so they called me a Father or Minister they would manifest by their Behaviour much Respect to me There was also as I have heard a Jesuit of very much Fame and Renown called Jeronimo Xaveria who was sent for by Achabar Sha the late King's Father 1595 to argue before him the Doctrine of Christianity there being always present during the disputation a Moolaas or Mahometan Priest and a Third Person who followed only the Light of Nature and these Two were to object what they could against the Reasoning of Xaveria The said Jesuit Xaveriá in the Mogol's own Language which was a great advantage to him began first to speak of the Creation and then of the Fall of Man in which saith the Author the Mahometans agree with us Then he laid down divers Grounds to bottom his Reasonings on viz. That Man was made by his Creation a most Excellent Creature endured with the Light of Reason which no other sublunary Creature besides himself had That Man thus endued must have some Rule or Law to walk by which he could not prescribe unto himself and therefore it must be given him from above That this Law was first given unto man from God and afterwards confirmed by Prophets sent into the World in divers Ages from God That this Law thus delivered must needs be one Law in all things agreeing in it self but so did not the Law of Mahomet That this thus delivered was most conformable to right Reason But so was not the Law of Mahomet That man fallen from God by sin was not able to recover himself from that Fall and therefore it was necessary that there should be One more than a man to do it for him and that One could not be Mahomet That this One was Christ God as well as Man God to satisfie the Mahometans themselves confessing that Christ was the Breath of God and Man to suffer death as he did That Christ the Son of God coming into the World about that great work of satisfying God's Anger against man for sin it was necessary that he should live a poor and laborious life here on Earth at which the Mahometans much stumble and not a Life that was full of Pomp and Pleasure and Delicacy That the Gospel of Christ and other holy Books of Scripture which the Christians retain and walk by contain nothing in them that is corrupt and depraved but there is very much to be found in their Alcoran which is so That the great Worth and Worthiness shining in the Person of Christ was by far more ex ellent than any thing observable in Mahomet for they themselves confess that Christ lived without Sin when Mahomet himself acknowledgeth that he had been a filthy Person That the feigned and foolish and ridiculous Miracles which they say were done by Mahomet were nothing compar'd to the Miracles done by Christ who as the Mahometans confess did greater Miracles than ever was done before or since him That there was a great deal of difference in the manner of promulgating the Gospel of Christ unto the World and the introducing the Laws of Mahomet That Christ hath purchased Heaven for all that believe in him and that Hell is prepared for all others that do not rely on him and on him alone for Salvation There were many other particulars besides these all which the King heard patiently at several times And after he had heard him One Year and half he sent him back to Goa honourably with some good Gifts telling him he would call for him again when he had a convenient time which Time or Season neither of them both ever found afterwards These Discourses with many more were given me saith the Author in Latin by Francisco Corsi a Jesuit resident at the Mogol's Court Who was a Florentine aged about Fifty Years who if he were what he seemed to be was a Man of a severe Life yet of a fair and affable disposition When he came to be first acquainted with my Lord the Embassador he told him that they were both by Profession Christians though there was a vast difference betwixt them in their professing it And as he should not go about to reconcile the Embassador to them so he told him it would be Labour in vain if he should attempt to reconcile him to us only he desired that there might be a fair Correspondency betwixt them but no disputes And further his desire was that those wide differences betwixt the Church of Rome and us might not be made there to appear That Christ might not seem by these differences to be divided amongst men professing Christianity which might be a main Obstacle and Hindrance unto the great Design and Endeavour for which he was sent thither to convert people unto Christianity there and that he should be ready to do for my Lord all good Offices of Love and Service and so he was saith the Author The Precepts of Mahomet owned in the Mogol's Country are saith the Author these that follow 1. That God is a great God and the only God and Mahomet the Prophet of God 2. That Children must obey their Parents and do nothing to displease them either in Word or Deed. 3. That every one must do to another that and only that which he would have another do to him 4. That every man five times every day must repair to the Mosquit or Church to pray there or wheresoever he is he must pray every day so often if not in the Church then elsewhere 5. That during one whole Moon or Month in every Year every man come to Years of Discretion must spend the whole day betwixt the rising and setting of the Sun in fasting 6. That every one out of his Store must give unto the poor freely and voluntarily 7. That every one except the Votaries which renounce Marriage must marry to increase and multiply the Sect and Religion of Mahomet 8. That no man must kill or shed Blood The said Francisco Corsi had not only free access unto the King but also Encouragement and Help by gifts he bestowed upon him Here the Jesuits have a Liberty to convert any they can work upon and the Mogol declared Such should not lose his Favour by turning Christians And the Author saith It was told him for a certain truth That a Gentleman of Quality and a Servant to the Mogol would needs be Baptiz'd and become a Christian Whereupon the King sent for him and both by promises and by threats strongly attempted to turn him again to Mahometanism for a tryal it seems of his constancy but he replied to the Mogol That he was most willing to suffer any thing in that Cause that the King could inflict and as for the Rewards profer'd him he
them that if they be assaulted at any time they will rather die in the defence of their Trust than forsake it and those that intrust them in time of their need And if they be intrusted with the Carriage or Security of any Riches and they know of the Riches you carry they would be so far from injuring or wronging you of the least Penny of it that whosoever should attempt the Robbing or Spoiling of you they must make a way through their Blood before they could be able to effect it 9. In their exact Justice and Honesty in their way of trade in Buying and Selling. As by the Laws or Customs currant among them in India they imprison for debt and hang fetters on them so many times they will sell their persons who are the debtors and their Wives and Children into bondage when they cannot satisfie their debts The Hindoes or Indians are so very just in their dealings that if a man will put it to their consciences to sell the Commodity as low as they can afford it they will deal honestly and squarely with him but if a man offer them much less than their price they will presently say What dost thou think me a Christian that would go about to deceive thee surely as the Author speaks for moral honesty it is most true that these Heathens do marvellously exceed us Christians for many of these Indians poor souls walk according to that light of nature they have and are unreproveable in these respects and doubtless if they knew more and better would do better in other things 10. In their sobriety as to their Apparel As they are civil and courteous in their Speeches and Behaviour as was mentioned before so are both the Mahometans and the ancient natives the Hindoes modest and civil in their habits being much alike herein They are all very civilly clad they never pride it in any new fashions The habits of all from the highest to the lowest are all made of the same fashion which they never alter or change pure white and fine Callicoe Lawn is for the most part the highest of all their Bravery which usually they wash every day the Women go habited somewhat like the Men those of them of greatest quality are adorned with many Rich Jewels 11. In their Charity They have no Inns for Travellers and therefore in great Towns especially Rich men out of Charity build large Sarraas or Houses for lodging where any Travellers may find house-room and use it without any recompence Other Rich men make publick Wells and Tanks or Fountains for publick use and benefit Others maintain Servants who continually attend upon Road-ways that are much travelled and there offer unto Passengers water for themselves and their Beasts which must be freely taken as it is freely given The Mogol doth continually relieve many poor people Also to conclude this Section I shall relate a generous and noble piece of Charity and Mercy in a great man in pardoning a most high affront and abuse offered him by one of our Nation an English-man The business was thus At Surat the Embassador's Servant his Cook being one day drunk and staggering homeward in his way met the Governor of Surat's Brother as he was riding to his House the Cook made a stand staying himself upon his Sword and Scabbard and cried out to the Governor's Brother Now thou Heathen Dog He not understanding his foul Language replied civilly in his own Ca-ca-ta which signifies What saist thou The Cook answered him with his Sword and Scabbard with which he struck at him but was immediately seized on by his followers and by them disarmed and carried to Prison The Embassador had present Intelligence of this abuse by his drunken Servant and immediately sent word unto the Governor's Brother that he was-not come thither to countenance any disorderly Person and therefore desired him to do with him what he pleased upon which he presently sent him home not doing him the least hurt But as the Author well observes who was the Heathen Dog at this time whether the debauch'd drunken Cook who called himself a Christian or that Sober and Temperate Mahometan who was thus affronted 12. In their speedy Justice in their Courts or Judicatures and their quick Executions of Malefactors Although saith the Author I could never learn any Laws they had yet they always pretend to proceed in their Tryals in their Courts secundum allegata probata according to proof of Matter of Fact Murder and Theft they punish with Death and with what kind of Death the Judge pleaseth to appoint Some are Hang'd some Beheaded some Empailed and put upon Stakes some torn in pieces by wild Beasts some stung to death with Snakes and others kill'd by Elephants The great Mogol will himself sit as Judge in any matters of Consequence that happen near him There are no Malefactors that lie more than one night in Prison and many times not at all being speedily upon his or their offence brought to their Tryal and from their Sentence to their Execution And this round Dealing and quick Justice and Execution as the Author thinks keep the People in such awe as that there are not many Malefactors Now may I add also here as not impertinent a remarkable Relation of the Author of the death of a great Mahometan Atheist and Contemner of God There was saith he a very Eminent Man a great Souldier and in high Favour with the Mogol but was noted above others of the Nation to be a great Contemner and neglecter of God who on a certain time sitting in daliance with one of his Women she pluckt an hair from his Breast which grew about his Nipple in Wantonness without the least thought of doing him hurt But that little wound presently began to fester and became afterward incurable When he saw he must die he uttered these words Who would not have thought but that I who have been so long bred a Souldier should have died in the Face of my Enemy either by a Sword or a Launce or an Arrow or Bullet or by some such Instrument of Death But now though too late I am forced to confess That there is a great God above whose Majest I have ever despised that needs no bigger Lance than an hair to kill an Atheist a despiser of his Majesty And so desiring that these his last words might be told unto the King his Master he died Some further remarkable Passages omitted in the former Impression The Mahometans begin their Year the tenth of March but the Hindoes or Indians the first of March and their Year is divided into thirteen Months or Moons dividing the Day into four parts and so also the Nights which they subdivide into eight parts measured according to the Ancient Custom by Water dropping out of one Vessel into another by which there stands a man to turn that Vessel up again and then strikes with a hammer upon a concave piece of metal to
give notice of it They having no other Clocks or Sun-dials saith the Author The Hindoes or Indians saith the Author believe there are Devils but that they are so fettered that they cannot hurt them The Women are habited saith the Author somewhat like the Men they have their Ears bored in several places for little Pendants and the lower part of their left Nostrils where they wear a ring with little Pearls hanging at it when they please As to the great Mogol's Leskar or Camp-Royal saith the Author it consists of a vast number of Tents all of them white but only the Mogol's which is red and far higher than the rest This said Camp is at least five miles from side to side of the same The Mogol having one hundred thousand Souldiers waiting always upon him besides the Grandees near him carry their Wives and Families along with them which makes up an exceeding great number of Attendants upon him When the Camp removes the Mogol gives notice by drums beating about mid-night There was two Comets or blazing-Stars saith the Author appeared while I lived at the Mogol's Court the one Northward like a long blazing Torch or Lance fired at the end The other Southward was round like a boiling pot boiling out fire And although the Astrologers told the Mogol that he needed not fear for they concerned not him nor his but other places But not long after these blazing-Stars appeared their usual Season of Rain which was never known to fail them till then failed them and this caused such a Famine and Mortality in the South parts of his Empire that it did very much unpeople it And in the Northern parts of his Dominions the Mogol's son Sultan Caroon raised a Rebellion against his Father who was overthrown and taken Prisoner and kept in Confinement by his Father The Conclusion NOW O Christians consider seriously all these things faithfully related by the Reverend and Worthy Author First Shall Mahometans not mention the name of our Saviour at any time but with high reverence and respect and shall we Christians not learn good manners towards our Blessed Lord and Master but daily express our contempt of him by our Blasphemies Oaths and Curses Shall the poor Heathens believe that God hath a thousand Eyes and a thousand Hands and yet we Christians live so as if we did not believe he had one Eye to see or one Hand to revenge the Violation of his Laws Shall Mahometans whatever Diversions or Impediments they meet with be Five times a day after great preparations with very great Reverence and humble Adoration even with their Faces to the ground at their Devotions in their Mosquits or Churches if they conveniently can come at them however else where And shall we Christians make no conscience of our being twice a day after due preparation at our Devotions at our Churches if it may be with lowly Reverence and humble Adoration upon our Knees But however if that cannot be at least in our own Habitations Shall both Mahometans and Heathens be strict observers of their Sabbaths and other Festivals and times of publick Devotions and their times of Lent of Mortification and Fasting and that with great Affection Reverence and Adoration And shall we Christians be indifferent and careless and remiss in the Religious Observation of our Sabbaths or Lord's days and other Fasts and Festivals of the Christian Church and of our Lent and times of Mortification and come short of them in our Affections Reverence and Devotion at those holy Assemblies Shall the Mahometans and Heathens be zealous and in good earnest in their Religion for the promoting the same yea have many strict Votaries therein that impose upon themselves great Self denials very sharp and strict Pennances And shall we Christians be careless and indifferent in our Christian and Holy Religion and not matter what becomes of it even betraying the cause of Christianity while we faintly maintain it And they certainly would hardly die for Christ who dare not speak for his honour as one hath well observed And shall we scoff at all Christian Self-denials and Mortifications and deny our selves in none of our sensual carnal Pleasures and Vanities but think to swim with ease to Heaven through a Deluge and Sea of Sensuality and worldly Delights Shall both Mahometans and Heathens have their Priests in very great Esteem and Veneration never at any time meeting them in the Street or any other place but testifying the same by lowly reverencing them and also allowing them comfortable maintenance And shall we Christians slight neglect and despise our Priests and Ministers our Spiritual Fathers yea testifie the same to their Faces when we meet them by our rude and irreverent Behaviour towards them And grudge and repine at their competent and comely maintenance which not our selves but the Laws of our pious Ancestors have bestowed and setled upon them And this notwithstanding our blessed Lord and Master hath plainly told us That he that despiseth you meaning his Apostles and Ministers dispiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Shall both Mahometans and Heathens be at a great deal of pains and cost to erect neat and splendid Mosquits and Tempies for the Worship of God and of their Idols not suffering them to be polluted and prophaned in any kind not so much as suffering their dead to be buried therein And shall they have in great esteem those who are zealous in their Religion build also stately Monuments for the honour and to preserve the memories of their deceased Saints and Devotes of their Religion And shall we Christians be negligent in Repairing and Beautifying our Churches built ready to our Hands Shall our Christian Temples lie neglected yea many of them Ruinous very many if not most of them in the Country like places rather for the entertainment of Beasts than for Men and Women to worship God in And thus lying despised neglected prophaned Are they not more also Polluted and Unhallowed many times by our assembling there by means of our sordid Irreverence by our slight careless slovingly inanimate serving of the living God in them And shall we Christians scorn contemn and deride the Devotes in that Religion which we profess to own as ours And shall we slight and neglect those days and times appointed to commemorate our Saints and Servants of God famous in their Generations for their Sanctity Labours and Sufferings Shall Mahometans and Heathens be exemplary in their dutifulness to their Parents especially the poor Heathens not suffering at any time their Parents to be in want but parting with half of that little they have for their support and subsistence And shall there be such horrid complaints among us Christians of the undutifulness if not Barbarity of Children to their Parents in our days that it would make a man's ears to tingle and heart to ake to hear all that may be said in this Respect Shall both Mahometans and Heathens have very great