whole Christianity into that for some time none of them were found so hardy as to venture to go among them The news of this great and unexpected Heat as it did strangely afflict the Arch-Bishop who had set his Heart so much on the reducing of those Christians so it was the thing that made him resolve to go in Person to the Serra to try what his Presence and Authority would do Not only the Viceroy but the whole Clergy and Laity and particularly the whole Chapter of Goa together in a body did all they could as it is said to disswade him from so dangerous an enterprise but tho' he was deaf to all the Remonstrances of his Friends yet upon a War breaking out suddenly in the Year 1598. betwixt the Kings of Mangate and Paru in whose Territories most of these Christian Churches stand he thought fit to put off his Journey for that Year satisfying himself with writing a Letter to the Arch-Deacon to perswade him to reconcile himself and his Church to that of Rome and acquainting him with his Intentions to visit all the Churches in the Serra in Person so soon as the forementioned War was over which he believed would be very speedily The Arch-Deacon when he received this Letter dreading nothing so much as the Arch-Bishop's coming in Person among them declared that he had refused to Subscribe the forementioned Profession of Faith for no other reason but because he was Commanded to do it before the Rector of the Jesuites College of Vaipicotta with whom and his whole Order he pretended to be justly dissatisfied giving the Arch-Bishop to understand at the same time that if he would order any other Priest or Friar to take his Subscription that he was ready to make it But the Arch-Bishop looking upon this only as a Trick to throw an Odium upon the whole Order of Jesuites and that for no other reason but because they were the most industrious in the reduction of those Christians to the Roman Faith would not comply with the Arch-Deacon's Request in naming some body else to take his Subscription for which Conduct the Arch-Bishop was very much blamed most People and especially the other Orders of Friars murmuring against him as one grown so fond of the Jesuites as to lose the reduction of so many thousand Souls rather than displease the Jesuites But the Jesuites who sacrifice all Interests and Obligations to the Honour of their Order have requited the Arch-Bishop but very ill for this his great kindness for them in having reported this Affair so here in Europe as to rob him of that which he esteemed his chief Glory to wit the Reduction of this Church to the Roman Faith For in the History of the Jesuites in the Indies published by Pieire du Jarri a Jesuite and printed at Bourdeaux in the Year 1608. we have all that is said by the Portuguezes of Mar Abraham and his Arch-Deacon's great aversion to the Roman Church and particularly to the whole Order of Jesuites flatly contradicted for in that History we are told that Mar Abraham had such an extraordinary kindness for the Jesuites that for some time before his Death he put himself so entirely into their hands as to be governed by them in all things and that the Arch-Deacon George had such an high Opinion of their worth as to declare to all the World that without their aid and assistance he should not know after the Arch-Bishop's Death how to Govern the Diocess It is furthermore said that Mar Abraham when he was upon his Death-bed called the Rector of the College of Vaipicotta to him and having all his Clergy about him declared that he committed his Flock to the Bishop of Rome as the chief Pastor and Prelate of the whole Church and Commanded the Arch-Deacon and all his Priests to obey the Jesuites whom his Holiness had sent to cultivate that Vineyard in all things and to be sure to follow the Doctrines that they taught which were the whole truth and nothing but the truth after which Charge he is said furthermore to have beseeched and conjured the Rector by the love of Christ and the great friendship there had been always between them to take care of the Government of his Church after his Death and to have ordered an authentick instrument to be made of all this to remain as a Testimony of his last Will and of the Faith he died in The same History furthermore tells us That this Church was so far reconciled to the Pope in the Year 1596. that when the Jubile of Clement VIII was published among them by the Jesuites they gave his Holiness a thousand Blessings for it and took a singular pleasure in pronouncing his Name and that during the whole time of the Jubile they were at Church from Morning to Night without taking any refection and were so zealous to confess themselves to the Fathers that they waited in the Church till Midnight in great Crowds to do it Now according to this report of things the Arch-Bishop when he came into the Serra had little more to do than to open his Arms to embrace a People who being before hand prepared by the Jesuites were ready to throw themselves into them But to leave Romance and return to History having only observed by the way that it is visible from this gross misrepresentation of those Affairs how little regard is to be had to the Jesuites Reports of their Feats in the Indies since to support a Story purely invented for the Honour of their Order they do not boggle to pretend to have an authentick instrument of the truth of it and that drawn up by the Order of a dying Prelate But a thing happened at this time which tho' in it self not considerable did abundantly manifest how little disposed the Clergy of this Church was to submit to the Pope A Boy that went to School to the Jesuites at Vaipicotta having been taught by them to name the Pope in his Prayers before the Patriarch of Babylon being over-heard doing it in the Church by some of the Malabar Priests was after they had beat him severely turned out of the Church they spoke also to his Father to whip him out of praying for the Pope who they said was none of their Prelate nor had any thing to do with them The Arch-Bishop being informed thereof writ immediately to the Arch Deacon commanding him to make Examples of those impudent Hereticks for what they had said and done to the Boy which the Arch-Deacon was so far from doing that he Honoured them the more for it By the way the Jesuites teaching their Scholars to pray for the Patriarch of Babylon tho' after the Pope is one instance among others of their Conscience in those Parts being subservient to their Policy But the World continuing still to blame the Arch-Bishop for not putting the Affairs of the Serra into some other hands than those of the Jesuites against whose order that whole
together with clear Confirmations of the Truth of what we meet with in the Fourteenth and other Decrees of the Third Action of this Synod to wit That the Three great Doctrines of Popery the Pope's Supremacy Transubstantiation the Adoration of Images were never believed nor practised at any time in this ancient Apostolical Church but on the contrary were rejected and condemned by her and that in her Publick Offices So that upon what we learn from this Synod and History I think one may venture to say That before the time of the late Reformation there was no Church that we know of no not that of the Vaudois abating that one thing of her being infected with the Heresie of Nestorius of which too she is cleared by one of the Roman Communion that had so Few Errors in Doctrine as the Church of Malabar If the Synod I here publish should be well received as I have reason to hope it will by all Protestants and lovers of Truth upon the account of the clear Discoveries it makes of the forementioned Popish Errors having never been at any time the Doctrines of the Universal Church which we know is confidently affirmed and much boasted of and for further satisfaction in so important a Matter the above-named History should be desired I shall be ready to translate and publish it with all expedition alone and in the same Volume with this of the Synod together with the best Account I can procure of the Church of Malabar and the other Oriental Churches that were never within the Bounds of the Roman Empire for it is in those Churches that we are to expect to meet with the least of the Leaven of Popery As to the Synod to prevent all surmises of its being a Piece either forged by some Protestant or of no Authority in the Church of Rome tho' set forth by a Member of her Communion I have together with the whole Title Page which tells where when and by whom it was printed translated and published all the Licences that it came out with And if any should suspect the Translation if they please they may satisfie themselves of its Fidelity by having recourse to the Original in the Bodleian Library at Oxford to which as the safest as well as noblest Repository of Books in the World I design to give it I have here and there added some short Remarks upon some Passages which will not I hope be unacceptable to the Reader The DOCTRINES wherein the Church of Malabar agrees with the Church of England and differs from that of Rome 1. SHe condemns the Pope's Supremacy 2. She affirms that the Church of Rome is fallen from the true Faith 3. She denies Transubstantiation or that Christ's Body and Blood are really and substantially in the Eucharist 4. She condemns Images and the Adoration of them as Idolatrous 5. She makes no use of Oils in the Administration of Baptism 6. She allows of no Spiritual Affinity 7. She denies Purgatory 8. She denies the necessity of Auricular Confession 9. She knows nothing of Extream Vnction 10. She allows her Priests to Marry as often as they have a mind and Ordains such as have been married three or four times and to Widows without any scruple 11. She denies Matrimony to be a Sacrament 12. She holds but two Orders Priesthood and Diaconate 13. She Celebrates in Leavened Bread 14. She Consecrates with Prayer 15. She denies Confirmation to be a Sacrament In the Account that is given of the Doctrines of the Church of Malabar in the Eighteenth Chapter of the First Book of the Visitation SHe is said 1. Not to adore Images 2. To hold but Three Sacraments Baptism the Eucharist and Order 3. To make no use of Oils 4. To have had no Knowledge of Confirmation or Extream Unction 5. To abhor Auricular Confession 6. To hold many enormous Errors about the Eucharist insomuch that the Author of the History saith he is inclined to believe that the Hereticks of our Times meaning Protestants the revivers of all forgotten Errors and Ignorances might have had their Doctrine about the Eucharist from them 7. To Ordain such as have been married several times and to Widows and to approve of her Priests marrying as often as they have a mind 8. That she abhors the Pope and the Church of Rome as Anti-Christian in pretending to a Superiority and Jurisdiction over all other Churches A Diocesan SYNOD Of the Church and Bishoprick of ANGAMALE Belonging to the Ancient Christians of St. Thomas in the Serra or Mountains of MALABAR Celebrated by the most Reverend Lord Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes Archbishop Metropolitan of Goa Primate of the Indies and the See being vacant of the above-named Bishoprick by virtue of two Briefs of the most Holy Father Pope Clement 8th on the third Sunday after Pentecost being the 20th day of July in the Year of our Lord 1599. in the Church of All-Saints in the Town and Kingdom of Diamper Subject to the King of Cothin an Infidel in which the said Bishoprick with all the Christians thereunto belonging submitted it self to the Pope and the Holy Roman Church Printed at Conimbra in the Shop of Diogo Gomez Laureyro Printer to the University in the Year of our Lord 1606. THE Father of the Society of Jesus intrusted with the revising of Books in Conimbra having perused the Synod mentioned in the following Petition and the Inquisition of the said City having upon his Approbation given Licence to Print the same we do Order That after it is Printed it be together with the Book Intituled The Journey of the Serra or Mountains transmitted to this Council that it may be compared with the Original and Licensed without which it shall not be made publick Marcos Teixira Ruy Piz de veiga I Have perused this Synod and to me it appears to be a Work that deserves to be Printed for besides the sound Doctrine contained therein it will be of great Use and Consolation to all and very necessary to the extirpating of the Errors Schism and Heresies sown by Hereticks and particularly the Nestorians in the ancient Christianity planted in the Indies by the Apostle St. Thomas Octob. 23d 1605. Joan Pinto BY virtue of a particular Commission to us granted in this behalf by the Council of the General Inquisition of these Kingdoms having seen the Information of Father Joan Pinto Revisor of this City we give Licence for the Printing of the Book Intituled The Synod and the Journey of the Serra provided that after it is Printed it be sent to the said Council to be compared with the Original and to have leave to be made publick Jan. 11. 1606. Joan Alvarez Brandon It may be Printed Conimbra 25th of Feb. 1606. The Bishop Conde THE PUBLICATION and CALLING OF THE SYNOD DOM Frey Aleixo de Menezes by the mercy of God and the Holy Roman See Archbishop Metropolitan of Goa Primate of the Indies and the Oriental Parts c. To the
thee Peter that the †Faith Here the Bishop makes very bold with the Scripture again in quoting the Faith of thy Church as St. Luke's words Faith of thy Church may never fail The Faith of other particular Churches as we have seen may fail but the Faith of the Roman Church has never failed nor never will Wherefore Brethren fasten your selves close to this firm Pillar of the Roman Church against which according to our Saviour's promises the Gates of Hell shall never prevail which Gates are the Heresies that are and have been in the World You ought therefore to render many thanks to God for his having relieved you at this time by sending you the Lord Arch-Bishop for a Spiritual Pastor and Master who having left his Dwelling and quiet is at all this Trouble only for the sake of your Salvation and to rescue you from the errors you have hitherto lived in For I know and am certain that he is one of those Pastors which God spoke of by Jeremiah And I will give you Pastors according to my heart and they shall feed you with Knowledge and Doctrine Hitherto you have been fed with Errors and Ignorances and your Pastors have sought gain and not the Salvation of your Souls This Pastor as you see does not come to take any of your Goods from you but to spend his own for your profit and to put you in the right way to Heaven and Salvation From ‖ Whence I do not believe that the Arch-Bishops of Malabar made half so much of their Bishoprick as Bishop Andre did of his of Cochim or as Father Rez the Jesuit made of Malabar after he was preferr'd to it by the Pope whence you may clearly perceive the great difference there is betwixt him and those other Pastors or to speak more properly those Wolves which you have had hitherto among you as our Lord saith in Sheeps cloathing Hitherto your Errors have had some excuse because you could know no more but what your Masters taught you whereas from henceforward you shall have no manner of excuse neither before God nor Man if you do not become such as all that love you desire you to be The Faith and Doctrine that has been preached to you by the Arch-Bishop is the Faith of all the Christians in the Indies and of all Clerks and Religious in these Parts and which all Portugal Spain and in a word all * Christendom The Reformed the Greek the Muscovite the Georgian the Armenian the Antiochian Alexandrian and Abyssin Church are it seems no part of Christendom with this Declamer Christendom holds This is the Faith that was taught by the Son of God the Faith that St. Thomas preached and was preached also by St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles and if any shall teach the contrary let him be as St. Paul saith Anathema and Excommunicated and expelled the Society of the Faithful as he is from Christ his Faith and Grace The Lord give you a perfect knowledge of himself as it is desired by your Brother in the Lord. Writ at Cochim the 28th of June 1599. Your Brother in the Lord Bishop FREY ANDRE The SYNOD'S Answer The Lord Assist Us. To the most Illustrious and Reverend Lord Dom Andre the most worthy Bishop of Cochim The Diocesan Synod of the Christians of St. Thomas of the Bishoprick of the Serra assembled in the Town of Diamper wisheth eternal Health and Prosperity in our Lord. OVr most Reverend Metropolitan ordered your most Illustrious Lordship's Letter to this Synod to be read in a full Assembly of the Priests and People and having heard and understood it we rejoiced exceedingly in the Lord to perceive that the Holy Doctrine taught us by your Lordship is the same with that our Metropolitan has preached in all our Churches and has declared in this Synod as also the same that is preached by the Fathers all over this Diocess by which means we are the more confirmed in the Catholick Faith and the Obedience we owe to the Holy Roman Church our true Mother and to our Lord the Pope the Successor of St. Peter and Christ's Vicar upon Earth as is manifest from the Acts of the said Synod Signed by Vs as your Lordship may see and if we have hitherto been wanting to our Duty in these Matters it did not proceed from any Obstinacy of Mind or from any Inclination we had to be Hereticks or Schismaticks but purely for want of the Light of true Doctrine and healthful and Catholick Food which was not given us by our Prelates but who did instead thereof poyson us with the false Doctrines of Nestorius and several other Errors from which we are now by the Divine Mercy rescued and by the goodness of God and the Ministry of our Metropolitan enlightened from whence also rose the Rebellion which was made by us when the Truth began to be first preached to us as also all the Troubles and Vexations that we gave to our Metropolitan and the manifest Dangers we exposed him to for all which we are now heartily sorry and do dayly more and more lament it But whereas God has been pleased to enlighten us with his Doctrine the Metropolitan being discouraged by none of those things to go on preaching in our Churches the light of the Truth coming to us by that means we have cordially embraced and have with an unanimous consent and great alacrity made profession thereof in this Synod having also put the Affairs of our Church in the best Order we were able and submitting our selves to the Judgment of our Metropolitan Mar Aleixo who as our Master has instructed us in all things But whereas his Lordship after his Visitation of this Diocess is over is to go to reside in his * Own Diocess The Arch-Bishop cured them of these fears for some time at least at the end of his Visitation when he made a solemn renunciation of the Arch-Bishoprick of God and as solemn an acceptation of that of the Serra and that judicially and in Form desiring the Christians of St. Thomas to whom he delivered both those Instruments to sollicite the Pope and King of Spain to give way to the Translation and promising withal to employ all his own interest in both to perswade them to it but it seems all would not do for the next News we hear of him is That instead of being gratified with the Arch-Bishoprick of the Serra he was condemned to be Governour-General of the Indies for three Years and after that translated to the Primacy of Portugal own Diocess which we take notice of to our great Sorrow by which means we shall want a Special Protection we do therefore beg that until such time as God shall be pleased to send the Pastor among us which we expect from the Holy Apostolical See your Lordship as being the Prelate that lives nearest to us and from whom and your Predecessors this Church has received so many
de personas religiosas particulares el commun y direction de la corona attendio a depredar Reynos y Cidades alli avia mas dilatados conversiones a donde avia mas que hartar la codicia y alla eran hombres obstinados donde no avia que robar concluding y cessa Religion quando no se sique la codicia y que no entran en el cielo todos los que dizen senor abrid nos It is a vain conceit if it please your Majesty speaking to Philip IV. that the World has entertain'd of the Zeal of the Portuguezes upon accoun◠of the Conversions that have been made by them in the Indies for it was Covetousness and not Zeal tha◠engaged them to make al those Conquests The Conversions that have been made there were performed by the Divine Power and the Charity of a few particular Friars the Government and Crown having no other aim therein but the robbing of Kingdoms and Cities and there were still the greatest Conversions where there was most to gratify their Covetousness But where there was nothing to be had there the People were Obdurate and not to be wrought upon And so we see their Zeal expired quickly in all places where it was not animated by Covetousness and how they who had nothing else to say but Lord open unto us were not thought sit to enter into Heaven Manuel de Faria also in the Third Tome of his Asia Portuguesa after having reckoned up the Errors as he calls them of the Christians of St. Thomas makes the following Reflection upon his Countrymen's having been so long in reducing them to the Roman Church Gran lastima es oir que uviesse esto in frente de los Portugueses en la India a los cien annos de su assistancia en ella y lo que es mas a los mesmos oios de prelados en Goa La verdad es que destos eran los Mercadores que Christo hallo en el Templo y echo del açote It is a shameful thing saith he that this Church should continue an Hundred Years in the Neighbourhood of the Portuguezes without being reduced to the Roman Faith and which makes it still the worse under the Eye of the Bishops of Goa but the truth is those Merchants whom Christ whipp'd out of the Temple were such as these Tho' after all the Portuguezes Negligence in this matter was nothing so scandalous as the Violences they afterwards made use of in the reducing of them In the Year 1544. the Cross and other Reliques of St. Thomas which have since made such a Noise in the World were found at Meliapor the Legend whereof in short is That the Portuguezes as they were pulling down an old Chappel in order to rebuild it met with a vast Stone some Foot under-ground which having lifted up with great ease they found all the Earth under it stain'd deep with Blood that appear'd very fresh and thereon a Cross excellently well cut after the fashion of that of the Military Order of Aviz in Portugal and over it a Dove or Peacock for the learned are not agreed which 't was and above that a bloody Dagger There was also an Inscription on the Stone but in Letters that no Body knew what to make of There was a Cross of the same Saint and found much after the same manner by the Portuguezes in Meliapor in the Year 1522. with this Inscription At the time when Thomas founded this Temple the King of Meliapor made him a Grant of the Customs of all the Merchandizes that were brought into that Port which Duty was the Tenth part of the Goods With this Cross were also found the Bones of St. Thomas which were reckoned by all the World before to have been lodged at Edessa There was also found an ancient Record of St. Thomas 's having converted the King of Meliapor who it's like was the Prince that gave him the forementioned Grant by drawing a great piece of Timber ashore which the King and St. Thomas both pretended a right to after all the King's Elephants and all the Wit of Man were not able so much as to wag it A Prophecy of St. Thomas was also found in the same Treasure declaring that whenever the Sea shou'd come up to Meliapor which was then Twelve Leagues from it a Nation shou'd come from the West which shou'd preach the very same Faith that he had preached And to put all this Indian Treasure together for it is pity any of it should be lost the Bones of the Three Kings were found in the same Grave with those of the Apostle which were known to be theirs by an ancient MS. which gave the following account of them The King of Nubia and Arabia was Melchior Baltasar was King of Goli and Saba Gaspar was King of Tursi Insula and Grisola or Malabar where the Body of St. Thomas lieth by whom they were all three consecrated Bishops and were afterwards martyr'd with him I leave the Examination of the truth of this MS. to the City of Cologne whose concern it is Among other things there was a Copper plate found with the following Donation engraved upon it This is the Testimony of Alms by which Paradise is acquired and which all the following Kings who shall distribute the said Alms shall certainly obtain Whereas they that shall refuse to give them shall be Six Thousand Years with Worms in Hell This Imprecation is literally used by the ancient Kings of Spain in most of their charitable Donations but whether the Spanish Kings had it from the Indian or the Indian from the Spaniard is not certainly known In the Year 1645. Dom Joan Dalbuquerque the first Arch-Bishop of Goa being ashamed it 's like of their talking so much in Europe and doing so little in India in the matters of Religion sends one Vincent a Franciscan Friar of which Order the Arch-Bishop himself was to Cranganor to try what he could do towards the reducing of those Christians to the obedience of the Roman Church The Labours of this single Friar are so strangely magnified by the Portuguezes that it looks as if it were done on purpose to excuse their not employing of more Hands in a Work which here in Europe they pretended was their chief Business in the Indies For he is said not only to have preached daily in their Churches which were built after the fashion of the Pagod Temples but also to have built several Churches among them after the Latin way and at last by the order of the Vice-Roy and Archbishop upon his having inform'd them of the small success that his preaching had had among them to have erected a College at Cranganor in the Year 1546. in order to the instructing of their Sons in the Learning and Usages of the Latin Church By the way It is somewhat strange how Friar Vincent who is not said to have had the gift of Tongues no more than the Jesuite Xavier
indispensable obligation to submit themselves to the Pope After he had done his Sermon which lasted an hour and an half and explained to them the Doctrine of the Sacrament of Confirmation and then called upon them to come to it the Congregation tho' they had heard him till then very quietly began to cry out with great fury That they would never be Confirmed by him that being a thing that none of their Prelates had ever used and that it was no Sacrament of Christ's Institution but an Invention of the Portuguezes to make them their Slaves by setting a Mark on their Foreheads and giving them a Box on the Ear which is what all the Roman Bishops do in Confirmation and tho' the Dastards in Vaipicotta had been so tame as to suffer themselves to be buffeted and enslaved by him they would never endure it nor suffer him to touch their Beards or their Wives Faces that he might go home in a good hour to his Portuguezes and let them alone with their Religion and if he did continue to disturb them thus it should cost him dear The Arch-Bishop heard all this with great patience and sitting down endeavoured to convince them of the Truth of the Sacrament of Confirmation but when he perceived that they were the worse rather than the better for what he said to them having mustered all his Courage together he rose up and having advanced two steps with his Crosier in his hand he told them with great heat That the Faith he Preached to them was the Faith of Christ and St. Thomas and was believed by all Christians and that he was ready to die to confirm the truth of it but they being as ready to die for their Religion as he was or pretended to be for his that Argument had no effect at all upon them He furthermore challenged all those that Talked against the Roman Faith by Night in Corners to come forth if they durst to dispute with him publickly which the Arch-Deacon who the Night before had assembled most of the considerable Christians of Paru together and had made them promise never to throw off the Patriarch of Babylon taking to himself he rose up in a passion and having asked aloud who they were that taught Heresies in the dark and that Preached no where but in Corners flung out of the Church and going into the Town picked up eight or ten Boys whom he presented to the Arch-Bishop to be confirmed by him pretending that with all that he was able to do he could perswade no more to come The Arch-Bishop having confirmed these Boys returned to his Gallies very angry and finding there was nothing more to be done at Paru he determined to Sail next Morning to Mangate to see how those Christians stood affected When he came to the Church of Mangate a Town chiefly inhabited by Christians he found the Church filled with Houshold Goods and Women by reason of the War that was then on foot between the Kings of Mangate and Paru After having comforted the Christians for the Losses they had sustained and given them his Blessing he began to Preach against the Errors they had been Educated in But having advice that there were some Amouços coming after him from Paru he went straightways aboard his Gallies and rowing away before Night he arrived next Morning at Cheguree a place belonging to his Friend the King of Cochim where having sent ashore an Order to the Caçanares and Christians to meet him at the Church he had word sent him that the Church doors were all shut and there was neither Man Woman nor Child to be seen in the whole Village he was informed at Night that the Arch-Deacon was in the Town but that he had shut himself up in a House and was resolved never to see his Lordship again The Portuguezes that were in his Train as well Ecclesiasticks as Seculars were at him perpetually to give over this enterprise and not to expose his Person and Dignity as he did to no purpose but instead of returning any answer to their Importunities he retired all alone to his Cabin where he wrote a long Letter to the Arch-Deacon in which he swore that he remembred nothing that was past and that he had no design of doing him any harm and if he would but do him the favour to come and speak with him once more he did not doubt but that he should be able to convince him of his Errors promising with all to do great things for him if he would but entirely submit himself to the Roman Church This Letter was delivered the same Night to the Arch-Deacon who having read it called the Caçanares together and told them that it being a scandalous thing in them to decline treating with the Arch-Bishop above board about the Affairs of Religion he was for their going to wait upon him to hear what he could say but with such a Guard that it should not be in his Power to make them Prisoners Having all agreed to this Proposition they sent to the Arch Bishop to let him know That if he would be pleaseâ— to come ashoar they would wait upon him The Arch-Bishop sent them back word That thâ— Sun was too hot to stand in and desired theâ— therefore to come aboard his Galley which laâ— with her Stern on ground The Arch-Deacoâ— and Caçanares seeing the Galley quite surroundeâ— by their People ventured to go aboard wheâ— being come they were conducted to the Arcâ—â—Bishop's Cabin where they found him with aâ— his Priests Jesuites and several Gentlemen eâ—pecting them After some discourse the Arcâ—â—Deacoâ— told the Arch-Bishop That it was true they had not received his Grace so courteously as might have been expected nor indeed as they intended to have done had he not fallen so foul upon their Patriarch whom tho' he had been pleased to call an Excommunicate Heretick they knew to be both a Catholick and a most holy Man and endeavoured to introduce several Novelties into the Serra which they and their Forefathers had never so much as heard of before To all which the Arch-Bishop answered That he was sure they were not ignorant of the Patriarch of Babylon 's being a Professed Nestorian and not to trouble them with any Arguments to prove that all Nestorians must be Hereticks he would only ask them one single Question which was Whether they believed the Gospel of St. John They told him they did and would die rather than deny any thing that was revealed in it Well then said the Arch-Bishop pray tell me how you can reconcile what St. John saith The word was made Flesh and dwelt among us with what your Patriarchs and Bishops have taught you to wit that the Word did not make it self Flesh and that Christ was not God and that God did not make himself Man for do you not sing in your Churches upon the Feast of the Nativity that the Word did not make it self Flesh as the unbelieving Romans teach but did
only dwell in Christ as in a Temple The Arch-Deacon returned no answer to this but passing to another point said to the Arch-Bishop Your Grace would fain perswade us likewise that none can be saved out of the Obedience of the Roman Church which is what St. John no where saith that ever I could see besides we have in our Archives a Letter of St. Caius Bishop of Rome wherein he confesseth that he had nothing to do with the Church of Babylon no more than the Church of Babylon had to do with his Church We have also another Letter which is called in our Books the Letter of the Lord's-day because it is said upon that day to have fallen down from Heaven wherein the same Truth is affirmed Here the Arch-Bishop run into a long discourse of the Primacy of St. Peter and of the Pope's being his Successor and Christ's Vicar upon Earth after which they came at last to this Agreement That as to matters of Faith a Synod should be called to determine them and that in the mean while the Arch-Bishop might if he pleased give the Blessing and Preach in any of their Churches but should not be received in them as their Prelate but as a Bishop that was a Stranger neither should he pretend to Confirm or do any other Episcopal Act within that Diocess This Agreement was Signed by the Arch-Bishop and the Arch-Deacon and all the Caçanares who were present with a Declaration that the Synod should be Celebrated before Whitsuntide and that the Arch-Deacon should no longer stir up the People against him nor go attended with such Troops of Armed Men as he had done formerly This Agreement being Signed the Arch-Bishop set Sail for Canhur whither the Arch-Deacon went by Land not daring to trust himself by Water where he would have been in the Power of the Portuguezes At Canhur he was received very friendly by the Christians who had been told by the Arch-Deacon that he did not pretend to come among them as their Prelate but only as a Stranger but tho' he kept to his Agreement so far as not to offer to do any thing but give the Blessing and Preach yet in his Sermon which was a very long one he talked so much of the Roman Church and its Supremacy and of the obligation all Churches were under to submit to it that the whole Congregation were much offended with him the Arch-Deacon was likewise discontented with it and being Sick or at least pretending he was returned to Cheguree to be cured and the Arch-Bishop having other work on his hands was willing enough to dismiss him who in pursuance of the Instruction he brought with him from Goa was obliged to hasten to Coulaon a Fortress belonging to the Portuguezes to see in what condition it was and to take some course to have the Fort the King of Travancor was building in its Neighbourhood and would much incommode it demolished On the first of March he set Sail for a Castle that is within two Leagues of Cochim where the Governour and Bishop of the City met him to whom having communicated his Designs he Sailed directly for Porcoa where the King of the Country had been some days expecting him he went to a Church that was there in the Evening where he was kindly received by the Christians the King who professed a great Friendship for the Portuguezes having Commanded them upon pain of his displeasure to comply with the Arch-Bishop in all things After having Preached he went to Lodge at the House of the Caçanar whither the King came at Night to visit him the Arch-Bishop entertained him very friendly and thanked him for the kindness he had shewed to the Christians of St. Thomas and their Churches and for having cleared his Coast of Pyrates the King after some Complements desired to be admitted to the Honour of being a Brother in Arms to the King of Portugal as the King of Cochim had been The Arch-Bishop told him that was an Honour the King of Portugal never did to any King before he had merited it by some signal Service however he promised to do all that lay in his Power to help him to it Next Morning the Arch-Bishap went to Church where he said Mass and afterwards confirmed the whole Congregation notwithstanding his late solemn Promise to the contrary as indeed none but Fools will ever expect that Papists will observe any such Promises longer than the first opportunity they have to break them From Porcoa he sailed directly to Coulaon where under pretence of visiting a Church that stood near the Fort the King of Travancor was building he took a view of the Fort and finding it was near finished and would in a few days have a Garrison put in it he immediately dispatched away a Messenger to the Captain General of the Fleet and Troops that were before Cunahle to come forthwith with his whole Armada to demolish the said Fort which if he came quickly he might do with great ease for that he would find none in it but Workmen Now you must know that the Arch-Bishop when he was last at the Bar of Cunahle notwithstanding that the King of Travancor and the Portuguezes were at that time in Peace had left a private Order with the General that so soon as he was Master of Cunahle he should set Sail immediately with the whole Armada and demolish this Fort which by reason of Cunahle's not being yet taken had not been executed But while the Arch-Bishop was expecting the Captain-General he received the bad news of a great slaughter of Portuguezes in an Attack they had made upon Cunahle and that the Captain-General was retired to Cochim to have his wounded Men cured from whence he intended to come and wait upon him for further Orders The Arch-Bishop was extreamly troubled at this News as well upon the account of the great numbers of Persons of Quality that had been killed in the Action as because he feared it would very much hearten the Kings of Malabar who had till then still looked upon the Portuguezes as Invincible Wherefore to prevent the ill effects that the true News of this Defeat might have upon the Minds of the Princes of Malabar he dispatched Letters immediately to all of them to acquaint them with the great Victory the Portuguezes had obtained before Cunahle and tho' he acknowledged that it was purchased with the Blood of several brave Men among whom were some of his own Kindred who were very dear to him yet he did not doubt but that they would infallibly carry the Place at the next Attack they made These tricks of the Arch-Bishop coming so thick one upon the neck of another for here we have no fewer than three of them in less than a Fortnight puts me in mind of what Manuel de Faria saith of him in the 3d. Tome of his Asia Portuguesa which I shall give the Reader in his own words Este illustre Prelado estuviera yo por
latae sententiae to receive any Orders from him with which he sent another Instrument commanding all Priests and Christian People not to suffer him to come into any of their Churches as also not to be present at any of his Masses or Sermons The Arch-Bishop had Preached two days following and had confirmed a great many before these Instruments had reached Diamper but after they came once to be published they put a full stop to what went on so currently before The oldest Caçanar of the Church requiring the Arch-Bishop upon the receipt of them to leave the place and not to offer to set his Foot in their Church any more nor to Confirm any Body which among them who anointed Children on the Head when they were Baptized was an unnecessary Ceremony Notwithstanding this the Arch-Bishop continued still a Preaching and when the day appointed for the Ordination was come Ordained 37 on it having first obliged them to subscribe the Faith of Pius IV. and to swear obedience to the Pope After this Solemnity was over the Arch-Bishop determined to pass the Holy Week and Easter at Carturte a considerable Town of Christians in the Dominions of the Queen of Pimenta He took several Churches in his way thither at some of which he met with a kind Reception at others the Christians would not so much as see him Being arrived at Carturte after a dangerous Voyage on the Friday before Palm-Sunday he went to Church betimes next Morning where having said Mass and Preached he Commanded the Congregation not to fail to be at Church next day for that he had something of Importance to communicate to them and having the same Night invited several of the most considerable Christians of the place aboard his Galley by some means or other for you must understand he was not sparing of his Money in this occasion no more than he was of his Promises he gained two of the most substantial among them intirely to his Party who did him afterwards very great Service Their Names were Itimato Mapula and Itimane Mapula The Arch-Bishop not knowing but that the Portuguezes Musick might charm the common People and reconcile them to the Latin Service to which they seemed to have a great aversion sent for a full Quire from Cochim and on Palm-Sunday had high Mass performed with the same Ceremony and Majesty that he could have had it done at Goa but the Caçanares and People were so far from being satisfied with the Musick and pompous Ceremony of that Service that if they liked it ill before they liked it a great deal worse after that as in truth none but they that place all Religion in external Performances can do otherwise there being no Passion which that Service will not excite in its Spectators which is all the People are sooner than Devotion The Queen of Pimenta being importun'd to it by several Christians and her own Jealousies sent an Order to the Arch-Bishop to leave her Kingdom in three days upon pain of Death and not to trouble her Subjects with his Novelties under which she had reason to apprehend some ill design against her State was couched But the Arch-Bishop knew his own strength too well to be frighted away with Paper Threats and so sent the Queen back word positively that he would not stir out of her Territories before he had finished the work that had brought him thither telling her withal That he was serving her rather than otherwise in what he was doing and that her Ancestors had granted Privileges to the Arch-Bishop of the Serra but being Infidels had never offered to concern themselves in the matters of their Religion That if she should Murther him she must know that she Muthered the second Man in the Indies and that his would be the dearest Blood that ever she spilt in her Life since the Portuguezes the Greatness of whose Power she and her Kingdom could not be but sensible of having so often felt it would infallibly Revenge his Death to the utmost What made the Arch-Bishop the stouter in this occasion was his knowing that he had secured most of her Regedores namely him of Carturte and the Country about it to his Party whom he had engaged by very rich Presents to favour and protect him in the execution of his designs The Arch-Bishop having thus intimidated the Queen and bribed her Officers began to make bolder steps than he had offered to make before and so seeing a Caçanar at Church one day whom he had excommunicated but a little before for having presumed to excommunicate him he sent to him to get him out of the Church which was no place for an excommunicate Rebel as he was The Caçanar laughed at the Order and told him very briskly That he would not go out of the Church for that he was none of his Prelate neither did he value Roman Excommunications no more than he did the dirt under his feet the Roman Church having nothing to do with the Church of the Serra the Arch-Bishop not being able to bear such a publick Affront and knowing his Party in the Church to be the stronger commanded the Service and Musick to cease and turning towards the place where the Caçanar stood commanded him to come up to him which the Caçanar refusing to do with great scorn he was dragg'd up to him by some Caçanares and others that he had gained to his Party and being kept down upon his Knees before him was commanded to beg his Lordship's Pardon he told them resolutely H◠would die before he would do it or any thing whereby he should acknowledge him his Prelate Th◠Arch-Bishop perceiving that he was not to be terrified into a compliance ordered him to b◠turned out of the Church the Caçanar to◠him He would not be turned out of a Church where he had more to do than he had upon this the whole Church was all in an uproar some striving to keep him in the Church and others to thrust him out but the Arch-Bishop's Party being the stronger after a great disturbance turned out he was The Night following several Caçanares and others abjured the Patriarch of Babylon and were reconciled to the Church of Rome at the Arch-Bishop's Lodgings which were over the Church After which the Arch-Bishop was resolved either to make the Arch-Deacon bend or to break with him totally and so having all his Converts together without whose advise he told them he would never do any thing he declared to them that he could no longer bear with the Arch-Deacon's Rebellion and was therefore determined to depose him and put another in his place naming one Thomas Curia a near Kinsman of the Arch-Deacon's to be his Successor They all owned that His Grace had great reason to be angry with the Arch-Deacon but yet seeing he was but a young Man and had had the ill luck to be in the hands of bad Counsellors they intreated His Grace before he declared his place void to allow
St. Mark St. Luke and St. John the Acts of the Apostles writ by St. Luke the fourteen Epistles of St. Paul viz. One to the Romans two to the Corinthians one to the Galatians one to the Ephesians one to the Philippians one to the Colossians two to the Thessalonians two to Timothy one to Titus one to Philemon and to the Hebrews two of the Apostle St. Peter three of the Apostle St. John one of the Apostle St. James one of the Apostle St. Jude and the Revelation of the Apostle St. John all which Books with all their parts are Canonical and contain in them nothing but what is infallibly true Decree II. THe Synod declareth that in the Books of the New Testament used in this Church and writ in the Syrian or Syriack Tongue there is wanting in the Gospel of St. John the beginning of the 8th Chapter the History of the Adulteress that was carried before our Lord Christ as also in the 10th of St. Luke where it is said that Christ sent seventy two Disciples it is said he sent seventy Disciples and in the 6th of St. Matthew the words For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever is added to the end of the Lord's Prayer there is also wanting in the said Books the second Epistle of St. Peter the second and third Epistles of St. John and that of Jude and the Revelation of St. John and in the 4th Chapter of the first Epistle of St. John this Verse is wanting having been impiously left out Qui solvit Jesum non est ex Deo and in the 5th Chapter of the same Epistle these words are wanting There are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are One and in the Old Testament there are wanting the Books of Esther Tobit and Wisdom all which the Synod commandeth to be translated and the passages that are wanting to be restored to their Purity according to the Chaldee Copies which are emended and the Vulgar Latin Edition made use of by holy Mother Church that so this Church may have the Holy Scriptures entire and may use it with all its parts as it was written and as it is to be used in the Universal Church to which end the Synod desireth the Reverend Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus and Professor of the Syrian Tongue in the College of Vaipicotta in this Bishoprick that he would be pleased to take the trouble thereof upon him for which he is so well qualified by reason of his great skill both in the Syrian Language and the Scripture Decree III. WHereas the Holy Scriptures are the Pillars that support our Holy Faith and as it were the Foundations whereon it stands and wherein the Truth and Purity thereof is to be met with which has made all Hereticks in their endeavours to destroy the said Faith constantly and industriously to corrupt the Text of the Divine Scriptures partly by taking away such passages as did manifestly contradict their Errors and by perverting other places so as to make them * Seem to favour them It is hard to give any other reason than this why the Church of Rome tho' since the time of the Council of Trent she has corrected some hundreds of Errors in the Vulgar Latin did not think fit to correct that in the 3d. of Genesis which they apply to the Virgin Mary nor that in the 11th of Isaiah which they make use of to promote Pilgrimages to Jerusalem nor that in the 11th to the Hebrews which seems to make for the Adoration of Images nor that in the first Chapter of the 2d Epist of St. Peter which seems to give some countenance to the Invocation of Saints seem to favour them which hath also happened in this Bishoprick through its having been governed by Bishops who were Nestorian Hereticks and that used the same practices upon the Holy Scriptures that were in their hands in favour of their Heresies as in the 20th of the Acts of the Apostles where St. Paul saith Take heed to your selves and the whole Church over which the Holy Spirit hath made you Bishops to rule the Church of God which he purchased with his Blood the word God is impiously changed for that of Christ and it is said that Christ hath made them to govern his Church which he purchased with his own Blood because the Nestorians being instigated by the Devil will not acknowledge according to the Catholick Truth that God suffered and shed his Blood for us and in the fourth Chapter of the first Epistle of St. John this Verse is left out Qui solvit Jesum non est ex Deo because it contradicts the Nestorians who do impiously divide Christ by making him to have two Persons and in the 3d. Chap. of the same Epistle where it is said In this we know the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us the word God is maliciously left out and that of Christ put in its stead saying That in this we know the Love of Christ c. and so it favours the Nestorian Heresie which denies God to have dyed for us and in the 2d Chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrews where the Apostle saith We have seen Jesus for the Passion of his Death crowned with glory and honour that he by the Grace of God should taste death foâ— all men the Surian the better to make a difference of Persons in Christ which was what Nestorius taught has impiously added VVe have seen Jesus for the passion of his death crowned with honour and glory that the Grace of God praeter Deum or besides God might taste death for all and in the 6th of St. Luke where our Lord Christ saith Lend hoping for nothing again to favour and justifie their Usury they have made it Lend and from thence hope for something All which places being depraved and corrupted by Hereticks the Synod commandeth to be corrected in all their Books and to be restored according to the Purity and Truth of the Vulgar Edition used by Holy Mother Church entreating the most Illustrious Metropolitan forthwith to visit the Churches of this Diocess either in Person or by some well skilled in the Syrian Tongue whom he shall be pleased to depute Decree IV. THe Synod being informed that the Christians of this Diocess by reason of the Communication they have with Infidels and by living among them have imbibed several of their Errors and Ignorances namely three that are the common Errors of all the Infidels of these parts the first is That there is a * Transmigration This was not the Doctrine of this Church as appears plainly from what is said in twenty places of this Synod of her believing that the Souls of the Just departed this Life were in a Terrestrial Paradise where they were to remain till the day of Judgment Transmigration of Souls which after Death go either into the Bodies
nor no need of any created assistance to help her to bring forth or afterwards there being nothing in her but what was pure the Eternal Word made Flesh springing out of her Womb the Claustrum of her pure Virginity being shut when the time determined in the Consistory of the Holy Trinity was come to the great Spiritual Joy and satisfaction of the said Blessed Virgin for which reason she ought truly to be stiled the Mother of God and not only the Mother of Christ and that when she departed this Life she was immediately carried up into Heaven where by a particular privilege due to her Merits she enjoys God both in Body and Soul without waiting for the general Resurrection there being no reason why that Body out of which there was most Holy Flesh formed for the Son of God made Man should as other Bodies be dissolved into Dust and Ashes but that it should be immediately exalted and glorified and placed high above all the Quires of Angels as Holy Mother Church sings and confesseth concerning the whole of which matter the Impious Nestorian Hereticks have spoke and writ even in the Breviaries used in this Bishoprick a great many Blasphemies and Heresies Decree VII THe Synod is with great sorrow sensible of that Heresy and perverse Error sown by the Schismaticks in this Diocess to the great prejudice of Souls which is That there was one Law of St. Thomas and another of St. Peter which made * Two different By all this which the Synod calls Two Laws the Christians of St. Thomas meant only That the Churches planted by the Apostles in divers Regions had nothing of Superiority or Jurisdiction over one another which is a most certain and ancient truth two different and distinct Churches and both immediately from Christ and that the one had nothing to do with the other neither did the Prelate of the one owe any obedience to the Prelate of the other and that they who had followed the Law of St. Peter had endeavoured to destroy the Law of St. Thomas for which they had been punished by him all which is a manifest Error Schism and Heresy there being but one Law to all Christians which is that which was given and declared by Jesus Christ the Son of God and preached by the Holy Apostles all over the World as one Faith one Baptism there being but one Lord of all and one Catholick and Apostolick Church of which our Lord Christ God and Man who Founded it is the only Spouse and one only Universal Pastor to whom all other Prelates owe obedience the Pope and Bishop of Rome Successor in the Chair of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles to whom our Lord Jesus Christ bequeathed that Supream Authority and by him to his Successors which Catholick Doctrine is necessary to Eternal Life Wherefore the Synod doth command all Parish Priests and Preachers to Treat often of this matter by reason of the great need there is of having this Bishoprick well instructed therein Decree VIII FOr that till the very time of the most Illustrious Metropolitan entring into this Diocess there was a certain Heresy twice repeated in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and twice more in the Divine Office in calling the Patriarch of Babylon the Universal Pastor and Head of the Catholick Church in all places and as often as they happen to name him a Title that is due only to the most Holy Father the Bishop of Rome Successor of the Prince of the Apostles St. Peter and Vicar of Christ on Earth the Synod doth therefore command in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred that no Person of this Bishoprick Secular or Ecclesiastical shall from henceforward presume by Word or Writing either in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or in the Divine Office or in any other occasion to bestow that Title on the said Patriarch of Babylon or on any other Prelate besides our Lord the Bishop of Rome and whosoever shall dare to contravene this Order shall be declared Excommunicate and held for a Schismatick and Heretick and shall be punished as such according to the Holy Canons And whereas the Patriarchs of Babylon to whom this Church was subject are Nestorians the Heads of that cursed Sect and Schismaticks out of the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and Aliens from our Holy Catholick Faith and are for that reason Excommunicate and accursed and it not being lawful to joyn with such in the Church in publick as stand Excommunicate Wherefore this Bishoprick upon its having now yielded a perfect Obedience to the most Holy Father the Pope Christ's Vicar upon Earth to which it was obliged by Divine Authority and upon pain of Damnation shall not from henceforward have any manner of dependance upon the said Patriarch of Babylon and the present Synod does under the said precept of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred prohibit all Priests and Curates from henceforward to name the said Patriarch of Babylon in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or in any other Divine Office in the Prayers of the Church even without the false Title of Universal Pastor but instead thereof shall name our Lord the Pope who is our true Pastor as also of the whole Church and after him the Lord Bishop of the Diocess for the time being and whosoever shall maliciously and knowingly act the contrary shall be declared Excommunicate and otherwise punish'd at the pleasure of his Prelate according to his contumacy Decree IX WHereas all the Breviaries used in this Church are Nestorian and by the commands of Prelates of the same Sect on a certain day the impious and false Heretick Nestorius is Commemorated in this Bishoprick and a Day is kept to his Honour and at other times Theodorus Diodorus Abbaratho Abraham Narsai Barchauma Johanan Hormisda and Michael who are also Nestorian Hereticks were likewise Commemorated Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus being commemorated on the Friday after the Nativity and on the seventh Friday after that Abraham and Narsai and all the above-named and all of them on every Thursday in the Year in the said Nestorian Office and every day in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office and notwithstanding in some places they have not of late named Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus but do still continue to name Abraham Narsai Abba Barchauma Johanan Hormisda and Michael in the Blessing that the Priest gives to the People at the end of the Mass wherein they desire Hormisda to deliver them from evil being his Disciples as also on all Fridays in the Year they commemorate as Saints the said Hormisda Joseph Michael Johanan Barchauma Barianda Rabba Hedsa Machai Hixoiau Caurixo Avahixo Lixo Xaulixo Barmun Lixo Metidor Cohada Israel Ezekiah Lixo David Lixo Barai Israel Julianus Haudixo c. who were all Nestorian Hereticks and as is evident from the said Masses and from their Lives Commemorations
Priests and faithful People of this Diocess doth embrace all the Holy General Councils received by Holy Mother Church believing and confessing all that was determined in them anathematizing rejecting and condemning all that they have rejected and condemned but especially it doth with great Veneration receive and embrace the first Holy Council of Ephesus consisting of 200 Fathers firmly believing all that was therein determined and rejecting and condemning whatsoever it condemned but above all the Diabolical Heresy of the Nestorians which has been for many Years preached and believed in this Diocess which together with its Author Nestorius and all his Followers the said Council did reject and anathematize who being taught by the Devil held that there were Two Persons in our Lord Christ affirming also that the Divine Word did not take Flesh into the Unity of its Person but only for an Habitation or Holy Dwelling as a Temple and that it ought not to be said that God was Incarnate or that he Died nor that our Lady the Glorious Virgin was the Mother of God but only the Mother of Christ with other Diabolical Heresies all which this Synod does condemn reject and anathematize embracing the Holy Catholick Faith in that purity and integrity that it is believed and professed in by the Holy Mother Roman Church the Mistress of all Churches to which in all things it submits it self according to the profession it has made Furthermore this Synod does acknowledge the Glorious Cyril Archbishop and Patriarch of Alexandria who by Order of the Bishop of Rome †Presided St. Cyril presided in the Ephesan Council in his own right being the only Patriarch that was present at it presided in the Holy Ephesan Council to be a Blessed Saint at this time enjoying God in Heaven and that his Doctrine in the said Council against the Nestorians is Holy and universally received in the Catholick Church professing all that reject it to be Excommunicated Hereticks Decree XXI FUrthermore This present Synod with all the Priests and faithful People of this Diocess doth embrace the last * Holy Council of Trent Justinianus a Noble Venetian in the 15th Book of his History of Venice gives the following account of the Holiness of the Trent Council Religionis causa in Tridentino Concilio parum prosperos successus habebat ob dissentientes animos coecamque Praelatorum ambitionem Solus autem Cardinalis Lothoringius Vir pietatis Studio dicendi arte clarus que ad Dei honorem veram Ecclesiae reformationem essent fuadebat cui plerique ex Concilii Patribus humanarum potius rerum quà m divinarum curam habentes refragabantur variisque opinionibus Sanctâ Synodâ— dissidente nil quod rectum sanctum piúmque foret decerni potuit omniaque confusione coecitate plena erant tantaque Praelatos ambitio coeperat ut nulla apud eos fidei Religionisque pro verâ Ecclesiae reformatione ratio haberetur Holy and Sacred Council of Trent and does not only believe and confess all that was determined and approved of therein and reject and anathematize all that that Council rejected and condemned but doth moreover receive and embrace the said Council as to all matters therein determined relating to the reformation of the Church and all Christian People promising and swearing to Govern it self according to the Rules thereof and to observe the same Forms that are observed in the Catholick Church and as are observed in this Province of the Indies and in all the other Provinces and Suffragans to the Metropolis of Goa in order to the removing of all Abuses and Customs that are contrary to the Decrees of the said Council of Trent by which only it is resolved to Govern it self as to all matters relating to the Government of the Church and the Reformation of the Manners of this faithful and Catholick People any Customs tho' immemorial in this Bishoprick to the contrary notwithstanding Decree XXII THis present Synod together with all the Priests and faithful People of this Diocess doth with great submission and reverence submit it self to the Holy Upright Just and Necessary Court of the Holy Office of the †Inquisition This agrees with what Paul the IIId said of â—he Inquisition upon his Death-â—ed that it was the Pillar of the Church of Rome if he had been in his Chair he could not have delivered a greater truth A Heathen Roman Synod would never have been guilty of calling that an Upright and Just Court which neither suffers its Prisoners to know the particular Crime whereof they are accused nor the Persons that accuse them nor the Witnesses that depose against them Acts 25. ver 16. I referr those that have a mind to be satisfied of the Justice of this Court to the History of the Inquisition of Goa which was the Inquisition this Synod put the Church of Malabar under published by a French Papist who was himself a Prisoner in it tho' I must tell them that as bad as his Treatment was therein that it was but Play to what it would have been had he profess'd himself a Protestant or not to have been of the Roman Communion tho' he had once been of it Bulenger tho' otherwise a fierce Papist gives this following account of this Holy Office Inter haec actum à Pontifice cum Hâ—spaniae Rege ut Inquisitio Hispanica Mediolanum inserretur quod tam acerbè tulêre Insubres ut defectionis consilia inierint Ea quaestio in Hispaniâ Mauris deprehendendis instituta est per cujâ—â— causam nomen crebrò innocentes ac sceleris integri custodiae mancipaâ—tur opibus evertuntur vitâ dignitate falsis criminibus circumventi spoliantur Si vocula fortè à Delatoribus excepta est Majestatis illicò postulantur in ultimae sortâ—â— hominibus crimina praetentata mâ—â— in Viros Principes districta sunt Jacent plerumque tres annos in fitâ— paedore carceris priusquam libeâ—â—â— aut noto crimine arcessantur alâ—â— nullius criminis comperti judicio affliguntur quidam in squalore carcerâ— ignorati contabescunt Auricularii frumentarii quadruplatores subdâ—â—â— grassantur qui rei faciendae Stâ—dâ—â— in Divitum capità involant 〈◊〉 tam crimina judicio qùam objectâ— menta jurgio prolata quaerunt Sermones inter familiares habitos in reâ— non modo seriam sed capitalem ducuâ— And Mazeray a Papist too 〈◊〉 the Life of Henry II. calls the Inquisition a Dreadful Monster Inquisition in these Parts Established and being sensible how much the Integrity of the Faith depends upon that Tribunal it does promise and swear to be obedient to all its Commands in all things thereunto pertaining being after the Example of all other Bishopricks in this Province willing that all matters of Faith should be judged of by the same Court or by such Persons as it shall depute And notwithstanding the said Holy Office has not hitherto by reason of this Church's having been separated and had little or no