Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 5.9
Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable) 5.9
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- English
5.9.1
You need not quit Paris, however, to contemplate the finest, the most magnificent view in the world; for assuredly it may be found on the Pont-neuf. Place yourself on that bridge during the day, and what can be conceived more extraordinary than the throngs of people and carriages, the strange bustle, the various objects by which you are surrounded. Visit the same spot at night, and what, I fearlessly ask, can impress the mind like the scene you will witness? The innumerable windows of the lofty houses seen from the bridge exhibit their chastened and subdued lights, while the activity and bustle, observable in the day seem to suffer no diminution until midnight. There honest citizens and — what never happens in Asia — their handsome wives and daughters perambulate the streets, without apprehension of quagmires or of thieves; and to complete the picture, you see, in every direction, long lines of brilliant lamps, burning with equal constancy in foul and fair weather. Yes, my friend, when you are on the Pont-neuf at Paris, you may boldly aver, on my authority, that your eyes behold the grandest of all the artificial scenes in the world, excepting possibly some parts of China and Japan, which I have not visited. What will this view be, what will be its beauty, when the Louvre is completed! when the Louvre, which it was thought would never be seen but as a mere design and on paper, shall have actual existence in fact!
5.9.2
I have purposely introduced the word 'artificial'; because in speaking of fine prospects, according to the common acceptation of the term, we must always except that view of Constantinople, as viewed from the middle of the great strait opposite Seraglio Point. Never shall I forget the overpowering delight I experienced when first I beheld that vast, and, as it seemed to me, enchanted amphitheatre. The view of Constantinople, however, derives its chief beauty from nature; whereas in Paris everything, or nearly so, is artificial; which, to my mind, gives more interest to the view of the latter; because the work of man so displayed indicates the capital of a great empire, the seat of a mighty monarch. I may indeed say, without partiality, and after making every allowance for the beauty of Dehli, Agra, and Constantinople, that Paris is the finest, the richest, and altogether the first city in the world.
5.9.3
The Jesuits have a church in Agra, and a building which they call a college, where they privately instruct in the doctrines of our religion the children of five-and-twenty or thirty Christian families, collected, I know not how, in Agra, and induced to settle there by the kind and charitable aid which they receive from the Jesuits. This religious order was invited hither by Ekbar at the period when the power of the Portuguese in the Indies was at the highest; and that Prince not only gave them an annual income for their maintenance, but permitted them to build churches in the capital cities of Agra and Lahor. The Jesuits found a still warmer patron in Jehan-Guyre, the son and successor of Ekbar; but they were sorely oppressed by Chah-Jehan the son of Jehan-Guyre, and father of the present King Aureng-Zebe. That Monarch deprived them of their pension, and destroyed the church at Lahor and the greater part of that of Agra, totally demolishing the steeple, which contained a clock heard in every part of the city.
5.9.4
The good Fathers during the reign of Jehan-Guyre were sanguine in their expectation of the progress of Christianity in Hindoustan. It is certain that this Prince evinced the utmost contempt for the laws of the Koran, and expressed his admiration of the doctrines of our creed. He permitted two of his nephews to embrace the Christian faith, and extended the same indulgence to Mirza-Zulkarmin, who had undergone the rite of circumcision and been brought up in the Seraglio. The pretext was that Mirza was born of Christian parents, his mother having been wife of a rich Armenian, and having been brought to the Seraglio by Jehan-Guyre's desire. The Jesuits say that this King was so determined to countenance the Christian religion that he formed the bold project of clothing the whole court in European costume. The dresses were all prepared, when the King, having privately arrayed himself in his new attire, sent for one of his principal Omrahs whose opinion he required concerning the meditated change. The answer, however, was so appalling that Jehan-Guyre abandoned his design and affected to pass the whole affair as a joke.
5.9.5
They also maintain that when on his death-bed he expressed a wish to die a Christian, and sent for those holy men, but that the message was never delivered. Many, however, deny this to have been the case, and affirm that Jehan-Guyre died, as he had lived, destitute of all religion, and that he nourished to the last a scheme which he had formed, after the example of his father Ekbar, of declaring himself a prophet, and the founder of a new religion. I am informed by a Mahometan, whose father belonged to Jehan-Guyre's household, that in one of that King's drunken frolics he sent for some of the most learned Mullahs, and for a Florentine priest, whom he named Father Atech, in allusion to his fiery temper; and that the latter having, by his command, delivered an harangue in which he exposed the falsehoods of the Mahometan imposture, and defended the truths of his own persuasion, Jehan-Guyre said that it was high time something should be done to decide the controversy between the Jesuits and Mullahs. 'Let a pit be dug,' he added, 'and a fire kindled. Father Atech, with the Gospel under his arm, and a Mullah, with the Koran, shall throw themselves into it, and I will embrace the religion of him whom the flames shall not consume.' Father Atech declared his willingness to undergo the ordeal, but the Mullahs manifested the utmost dread, and the King felt too much compassion both for the one and the other to persevere in the experiment.
5.9.6
Whatever credit this story may deserve, it is indisputable that the Jesuits during the whole of Jehan-Guyre's reign were honoured and respected at this court, and that they entertained what appeared a well-grounded hope of the progress of the Gospel in Hindoustan. Everything, however, which has occurred since the death of that Monarch, excepting perhaps the close intimacy between Dara and Father Buzee, forbids us to indulge in any such expectation. But having entered insensibly upon the subject of missions, you will perhaps allow me to make a few observations, introductory to the long letter which I intend to write concerning that important topic. The design, indeed, meets with my entire approbation; nor ought we to withhold the meed of praise from those excellent missionaries in this part of the world, especially the Capuchins and Jesuits, who meekly impart religious instruction to all descriptions of men, without any mixture of indiscreet and bigoted zeal. To Christians of every denomination, whether Catholics, Greeks, Armenians, Nestorians, Jacobins, or others, the demeanour of these good pastors is affectionate and charitable. They are the refuge and consolation of distressed strangers and travellers, and by their great learning and exemplary lives expose to shame the ignorance and licentious habits of infidels.
5.9.7
Some unhappily there are who disgrace the Christian profession by notoriously profligate conduct, and who ought, therefore, to be immured in their convents instead of being invested with the sacred character of missionaries. Their religion is a mere mummery, and so far from aiding the cause of Christianity, they become stumbling-blocks in the way of those whom they were sent to enlighten and reclaim ; but these are merely the exceptions to a general rule which affect not the main argument. I am decidedly favourable to this establishment of missions, and the sending forth of learned and pious missionaries. They are absolutely necessary ; and it is the honour as well as the peculiar prerogative of Christians to supply every part of the world with men bearing the same character and following the same benign object as did the Apostles. You are not, however, to conclude that I am so deluded by my love of missions as to expect the same mighty effects to be produced by the exertions of modern missionaries as attended the preaching of a single sermon in the days of the Apostles. I have had too much intercourse with infidels, and am become too well acquainted with the blindness of the human heart to believe we shall hear of the conversion, in one day, of two or three thousand men. I despair especially of much success among Mahometan Kings or Mahometan subjects.
5.9.8
Having visited nearly all the missionary stations in the East, I speak the language of experience when I say, that whatever progress may be made among Gentiles by the instruction and alms of the missionaries, you will be disappointed if you suppose that in ten years one Mahometan will be converted to Christianity. True it is that Mahometans respect the religion of the New Testament : they never speak of Jesus Christ but with great veneration, or pronounce the word Aysa, which means Jesus, without adding Azeret, or majesty. They even believe with us that he was miraculously begotten and born of a virgin mother, and that he is the Kelum-Allah, and the Rouh-Allah, the Word of God and the Spirit of God. It is in vain to hope, however, that they will renounce the religion wherein they were born, or be persuaded that Mahomet was a false prophet. The Christians of Europe ought nevertheless to assist the missionaries by every possible means : their prayers, power and wealth, ought to be employed in promoting the glory of their Redeemer ; but the expense of the missions should be borne by Europeans, for it would be impolitic to lay burthens on the people abroad ; and much care should be had that want may not drive any missionary to acts of meanness.
5.9.9
Missions ought not only to be liberally provided, but should be composed of persons of sufficient integrity, energy, and intelligence always to bear testimony to the truth, to seek with eagerness opportunities of doing good, — in a word, to labour with unwearied activity and unabated zeal in their Lord's vineyard whenever and wherever He may be pleased to give them an opening. But although it be the duty of every Christian State to act in this manner, yet there ought to be no delusion ; credence ought not to be given to every idle tale, and the work of conversion, which in fact is full of difficulty, should not be represented as a matter of easy accomplishment. We do not adequately estimate the strong hold which the Mahometan superstition has over the minds of its votaries, to whom it permits the unrestrained indulgence of passions which the religion we require them to substitute in its stead declares must be subdued or regulated. Mahometanism is a pernicious code, established by force of arms, and still imposed upon mankind by the same brutal violence. To counteract its baneful progress, Christians must display the zeal, and use the means I have suggested, however clear it may be that this abominable imposture can be effectually destroyed only by the special and merciful interposition of Divine Providence. We may derive encouragement from the promising appearances lately witnessed in China, in Japan, and in the case of Jehan-Guyre.
5.9.10
Missionaries have to contend, however, with another sad impediment—the irreverent behaviour of Christians in their churches, so dissonant from their belief of the peculiar presence of God upon their altars, and so different from the conduct of Mahometans, who never venture when engaged in the service of their mosques even to turn the head, much less to utter a monosyllable one to the other, but seem to have the mind impressed with profound and awful veneration.