the Church Built on Peter and the Church Built by Christ. II
If the church built on Peter is not the only true church, then where do you find it for hundreds of years?
God has had His own hidden ones preserved in Christ Jesus. We propose to give as brief an account as we can of one company of Christians deeply interesting in itself. A fuller account will be found in Dr. Buchanan's Christian Researches in Asia. He tells us what he found of " the Syrian Christians who inhabit the interior of Travancore and Malabar, in the south of India, and have been settled there from the early ages of Christianity."
They were first noticed in recent times in the Portuguese histories. When Vasco de Gama arrived at Cochin, on the coast of Malabar, they were a nation to themselves, and had a king. " When the Portuguese arrived, they were agreeably surprised to find upwards of a hundred christian churches on the coast of Malabar. But when they became acquainted with the purity and simplicity of their worship, they were offended. ' These churches,' said the Portuguese, ‘belong to the pope.'
Ø ' Who is the pope?' said the natives, ‘we never heard of him.’ 'We,’ said they, 'are of the true faith, whatever you from the west may be; for we come from the place where the followers of Christ were first called Christians.' " (That is Antioch.)
And now as soon as the Portuguese had power, days and years of sorrow fell upon these followers of Christ. For the first time they heard there was such a thing as the Inquisition. Fires were lighted at Go A. These unoffending Christians were committed to its dungeons, its tortures, and its fires.
" They were accused of following practices and opinions. They had married wives; they owned but two sacraments—baptism and the Lord's supper; that they neither invoked saints, nor worshipped images, nor believed in purgatory; and that they had no other orders or names of dignity in the church than bishop, priest, and deacon. These tenets they were called on to abjure.
" It was also declared that all Syrian books on ecclesiastical subjects that could be found should be burned, in order, said the Inquisitors, that no pretended apostolic monuments may be formed. The churches on the seacoast were thus compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of the pope.
" The churches in the interior would not yield to Rome. After a show of submission for a little while they proclaimed eternal war against the Inquisition; they hid their books, fled to the mountains, and sought the protection of the native princes."
And how long had these Christians been there when the Portuguese found them? " For 1,300 years past, they had enjoyed a succession of bishops appointed by the patriarch of Antioch. For two centuries nothing had been heard of these Syrian Christians, and it was doubted by many whether they existed at all."
In 1805 every facility was afforded by the Marquis of Wellesley for Dr. Buchanan to visit the interior. The Rajah of Travancore gave permission for him to pass into the country. From the palace of Travancore he proceeded to Mavely-car, and thence to the hills at the bottom of the high Ghauts which divide the Carnatic from the Malay-a-la. Deeply interesting are the letters he wrote relating his interviews with these intelligent Christians. They had heard of the English, but strangely supposed they belonged to the church of the pope. And at first, from sad experience, they were afraid Dr. Buchanan was an enemy in disguise. From all their intercourse with Rome and its Inquisitors, when had they seen a friend?
In some points Dr. Buchanan scarcely understood the remains of primitive Christianity amongst them. When he reached the church at Chinganoor, he was received at the door by three presbyters. There were also two deacons, and there was an elder, an older presbyter. They were aware that they were in " a degenerate state compared with our forefathers." And there were two special causes of their degeneracy. They said, " About 300 years ago, an enemy came from the west, bearing the name of Christ, but armed with the Inquisition, and compelled us to seek the protection of the native princes. And the native princes kept us in a state of depression ever since.... We have preserved the Bible. The Hindu princes never touched our liberty of conscience."
What a testimony is this! The church of Rome a greater enemy by far to Christianity than the heathen princes! Yet who can deny this? They had never seen a printed copy of the New Testament, and indeed but few written ones. The enemy of Christianity had destroyed all their Syrian books. How they languished for the word of God. How great was their joy at the prospect of having printed copies of the scriptures in Syriac and Malayalim.
As a whole, it might be said they had become formal and dead. Where has this not been the case? But there were individuals alive to righteousness, distinguished from the rest by their purity of life, and were sometimes censured for too rigid a piety. " The following are the chief: doctrines of this ancient church:
" 1. They hold the doctrine of the vicarious atonement for the sins of men, by the blood and merits of Christ, and of the justification of the soul before God, by faith alone, in the atonement.
" 2. They maintain the regeneration, or new birth of the soul to righteousness, by the influence of the Spirit of God, which change is called in their books, from the Greek, Meta-Νοια, or change of mind.
" 3. In regard to the Trinity, the creed of the Syrian Christians accords with that of Athanasius, but without the damnatory clauses."
Thus God preserved these ancient Christians. And if Rome were to take possession of India, scriptural Christianity must be destroyed: for this purpose the Inquisition was established at God. How often have its dungeons, of ten feet square, immured these true members of the body of Christ! What shrieks of agony under cruel torture! How many have walked barefoot to the fire to be burnt to death, as heretics, because they loved and believed the word of God.
Is it not wonderful that during the dark ages of Europe, when the so-called church was sunk in superstition, the scriptures were preserved, read, and enjoyed, in these Indian mountains? They had fled from Antioch, in the early persecutions, in or soon after the apostolic age.
Numbers of manuscripts proved by the characters in which they were written, deeds of Indian princes engraved on metal plates in ancient characters also, bore witness to the antiquity of these Christians. And if there was anything in apostolic ordination, there had been an unbroken succession from the day they came from Antioch, of elders, though this had degenerated into officialism, especially since Rome came so near them.
Mark, they were not an offshoot from Rome. They derived nothing from Rome. They existed as a church before there was a church at Rome. And they had found Rome more opposed to Christianity than the heathens amongst whom they lived. They had never heard of the pope until the Portuguese arrived on their shores. " And I saw a woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." (Rev. 17:66And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. (Revelation 17:6).)
To such as are acquainted with the scriptural order of office and ministry, it would be easy to see how much of that order remained amongst these Syrian Christians. Dr. Buchanan says, " When we arrived, I was received at the door by three kasheeshas, that is presbyters, or priests (called in scripture elders), who were habited in like manner in white vestments. Their names were Jesu, Zacharias, and Urias......There were also present two shumshanas, or deacons.
The elder priest was a very intelligent man, &c The three principal Christians, or lay elders, belonging to the church, were named Abraham, Thoma, and Alexandros." Thus there were the elders and deacons of the Acts, with a sort of president elder, a man of age and experience. As to ordination, they did not seem to think much of what is called apostolic ordination; though probably none on earth had so great a claim to it. They said, " That if there was such a thing in the world as ordination by the laying on of hands, in succession from the apostles, it was probable that they possessed it."
It must not, however, be supposed that all the Roman Catholics in India approved of the Inquisition. Bishop Raymondo, the apostolic vicar at Verapoli, spoke of it with just indignation, and called it " a horrid tribunal." This man desired that the Romanists might have the scriptures in the Malabar language. He said, “But believe me, the Inquisition will endeavor to counteract your purposes by every means in their power." Very few of the natives had ever heard of them, and scarce a man was to be found that had seen a copy of the word of God.
The Syrian church had highly valued the word of God during those dark ages, when in Europe the so-called church had sunk in ignorance, and its priesthood made the reading of the scriptures a capital offense. Yes, during all those centuries God had preserved great numbers of Christians, loving His word, and walking in love according to its holy precepts, in the mountains, and on the coast of Malabar. The doctrines and scriptural discipline were preserved in remarkable purity.
And what did the church, said to be built on St. Peter, give in place of that Christianity it sought with all its power to destroy? What did it give in place of those priceless manuscripts it burnt at Udiamper, when " Archbishop Menezes from God, convened the synod of the Syrian clergy, in 1599, when he burned the Syriac and Chaldaic books"? Let us look at what Rome gave in place of what it destroyed, (To be continued.)
Luke 23:5656And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. (Luke 23:56). "They returned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the sabbath day, according to the commandment.' The quietness of those who waited and watched is contrasted with those who crucified Him. They could not rest, though it was the sabbath. " Now the next day that followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate.... command that the sepulcher be made sure." But these women rested according to the commandment.