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INDIA AND INDIA MISSIONS:

INCLUDING

SKETCHES OF THE GIGANTIC SYSTEM

HINDUISM,

BOTH IN THEORY AND PRACTICE ;

ALSO,

NOTICES OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL AGENCIES EMPLOYED IN CONDUCTING THE PROCESS OF INDIAN EVANGELIZATION, &c. &c.

BY THE

/

REV. ALEXANDER DUFF, D.D.,

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MISSION, CALCUTTA.

SECOND EDITION.

EDINBURGH :

JOHN JOHNSTONE, HUNTER SQUARE,

SUCCESSOR TO WAUGH AND INNES ;

AVHITTAKER & CO., AND NISBET & CO., LONDON.

MDCCCXL.

Edinburgh : Printed by J. Johnstone, High Street.

- S'

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TO

THE REV. ALEXANDER BRUNTON, D.D., Convener,

THE REV. ROBERT GORDON, D.D., Secretary,

THE REV. THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D., & LL.D.,

THE REV. DAVID RITCHIE, D. D.,

THE REV. DAVID DICKSON, D. D.,

THE REV. WILLIAM MUIR, D. D.,

THE REV. JAMES GRANT,

THE REV. JOHN PAUL,

THE REV. JOHN HUNTER,

THE REV. JOHN BRUCE,

MEMBERS or THE COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS : UNDER WHOSE WISE, PATERNAL, AND PRAYERFUL COUNSELS, THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE OF THE CHURCH

WITH SUCH UNBROKEN HARMONY OF DESIGN, AND

SUCH MULTIPLIED TOKENS AND PLEDGES OF THE DIVINE APPROBATION,

AS A HUMBLE TRIBUTE OF GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND

HAS HITHERTO BEEN CONDUCTED

THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED.

BY

THE AUTHOR.

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PREFACE.

The appearance of the following volume in its present form demands a few preliminary observations.

During the last four years, whenever health permitted, the Author has been in the habit of addressing mixed audi- ences in England and Scotland, both from the pulpit and the platform, on the subject of Christian Missions. He has also largely enjoyed the inestimable privilege of advocating the same blessed cause before the Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland. Of the Addresses delivered on different occasions, some have already been published by special request, and widely cir- culated. Of the greater part, no written record ever exist- ed, beyond the reports of the public journals, and a few loose scattered headings or mtanda^ — intelligible to no one but the Author himself.

When, in May last, it was judged that, in the good Pro- vidence of God, the state of his health might reasonably be expected to admit of his once more braving the fervours of a tropical clime, it came to be a question how he could most profitably dispose of his time and strength during the inter- val of a few months which must elapse previous to his final departure ; whether, for exam.ple, he ought to resume his wonted vocation of addressing public meetings in different parts of the country ; or whether he ought to commit to writing, with the view of publication, the siibstance of what

VI

PREFACE.

he had so often endeavoured to enforce on the attention of his countrymen. The latter alternative was that which the friends of the missionary cause unanimously advised him to adopt : and when he states the simple fact that, with the exception of a few pages, he had, in the course of four months, not only to write out the entire volume, but at one and the same time submit to the drudgery' of carrying it through the press, — and that too, amid numberless distract- ing interruptions, — he trusts that its manifold imperfections will be treated with that indulgence which the circumstances of the case require at the hands of the candid reader. The circumstance, that the materials of which the volume is composed, formed originally the substance of oral addresses, will sufficiently account for the frequent transition from the didactic to the hortatory' style of composition.

The first chapter mainly consists of statements of historic fact, gleaned from Mill, Maurice, M‘Pherson, and other au- thorities. These statements, when introduced isolatedly — as hitherto they have usually been — into the body of length- ened narratives and elaborate dissertations, are apt to be passed over by the reader without attracting any special observation, or suggesting any special inference. But when separated from the mass of general history, and represented in one continuous form, they seem to open up the most in- teresting and important views of the connection between India and the Western World ; of the reciprocal influences which these in times past have exercised, and are still likely to exercise, on each others destiny ; and of the solemn obli- gations under which the British Churches are laid, to fall in with the palpable designs of Providence, in reference to the evangelization of India and the East.

The second chapter proposes to unfold the grand theory of Hinduism. In this department the Author has nothing new — nothing original — to add to the subject-matter. His sole

PREFACE.

vii

purpose has been to furnish a reply to the question so often put to him, What is Hinduism ? The existing materials for furnishing such a reply are more than abundant. Indeed, it is their very superabundance which constitutes the diffi- culty of generalizing and reducing them to a consecutive form, and within reasonable limits. They are to be found in works translated, in whole or in part, from the Sanskrit language ; such as the Institutes of Manu, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayan, &c. They are to be found in analysis, reviews, and dissertations scattered in profusion over the ponderous series of “ Asiatic Researches;” the transactions of various Asiatic Societies at home and abroad ; and the miscellaneous papers inserted in Asiatic Journals and Registers. They are to be found in separate treatises on the history and litera- ture, the philosophy and mythology, of the Hindus. Now, what seemed wanting was a brief connected summary of lead- ing principles ; — a summary which might open up to the inexperienced, or to such as have no time for ampler investigations, a brief but comprehensive glimpse of the stupendous system of Hinduism ; — a summary which might tend to show how the varied parts of so incongruous and multifarious a scheme are made to hang together ; — a sum- mary which might enable readers ever afterwards to refer the apparently unconnected and boundless variety of prac- tical details to their proper bearing and position in the great chart of theoretic Brahmanism. Such a summary the Author has endeavoured, however imperfectly, to supply. In pre- paring it, he has freely availed himself of the writings of Sir W. J ones, Wilkins, Colebrooke, Vans Kennedy, and others ; who have expatiated at large over the wide domains of Ori- entalism. At the same time, in his choice and rejection of materials — in his exposition of the views and opinions which may be said to constitute Brahmanical orthodoxy — he has been guided solely by his own vivid recollection of oral dis-

PREFACE.

viii

cussions and mutual interrogatories, carried on for several years, in his familiar and habitual intercourse with the sons of Brahma on the banks of the Granges. In fact, he had constantly before his mind’s eye the image of a learned Brahman of the orthodox school ; and his endeavour has been to present such a statement on every division and sub- division of the complex theme, as experience has taught him to believe would be rendered by a skilful advocate and expounder of the Bi'ahmanical creed, if required to act the part of Commentator and Interpreter. On this account, by seizing simply on those generic features which a sagacious Brahman would hold to be soundest and most genuine ; and by excluding all consideration of the endless variations, dis- cordances, and downright contradictions, w'hich abound in the sacred repositories of his falth,\the present summary may well be regarded as exhibiting the theory of Hinduism in its most favourable aspect/^ That theory, in its vastly complicated artificial form, is an heterogeneous compound, resulting from a strange combination of corruptions of pri- meval tradition and monstrous exaggerations of historic facts, conjectural physics and baseless metaphysics, philo- sophic speculations and dialectic subtilties, — the production of widely distant realms — the growth of successive ages ! How', or by what precise steps, all the parts of the im- mense system came to be what they now are, must ever remain an undeterminable problem. Still, the system itself bears internal evidence of the rise and progress of many of its parts ; and our knowledge of the authentic history of man’s primitive condition and subsequent fall, supplies a clew wherewith, inferentially and deductively, to track other parts in the windings of the labyrinth. Hence it was the Author’s original design to prefix an introductory chapter under the designation of “ The Natural History of Hinduism.” But as he advanced, he found the discussion

PREFACE.

IX

becoming involved in so intricate a maze, and threatening to expand into such unreasonable dimensions, that he was constrained wholly to abandon the design ; and to confine himself exclusively to an expository description of what Hin- dvAsm actually is, in its last and most elaborate form.

The third chapter is devoted to an account of some of the leading superstitions and idolatries of Eastern India. Here, too, the Author does not pretend to advance any thing novel. He is not aware of referring to any particulars, which, in some shape or other, have not been already adverted to by Buchanan, Heber, Peggs, Ward, and others, who have been eye-witnesses of the scenes they respectively describe. All that he has to state is, that having witnessed many of the same scenes as his predecessors, he has endeavoured, in his own way, to picture forth some of the more noticeable phe- nomena which offered themselves to his own ocular observa- tion. Having mentioned the name of Ward, the Author cannot but render his humble tribute of grateful acknow- ledgment to that great and good man, — as an observer and recorder of Hindu superstitions, manners, and customs. The more intimately he became acquainted with the state of things in Bengal, the more did he find reason to marvel at the exceeding variety, as well as minute accuracy of detail, which characterise the volumes of Ward.

In the fourth chapter, there is a consideration of the general agency to be employed in evangelizing India. In the views there unfolded, the Author is not conscious of pro- posing any thing new, or merely experimental. Quite the contrary. All he contends for is, that the lessons of past history and experience should be carefully treasured up, and brought to bear upon the modern evangelistic enterprise. He may be wrong in some of his opinions and conclusions ; but if he has erred, he has erred unwittingly, and will re- joice to have the truth pointed out to him. He may possibly

X

PREFACE.

have offended some of the more zealous and devoted friends of the missionary cause ; but if he has given unnecessary offence, he has done so unwittingly, and will, on being con- vinced of this mistake, rejoice to tender any acknowledg- ment which charity may prompt, or justice may demand. To avoid, as far as possible, even the very appearance of offending, the different questions have been discussed wholly apart from any specific reference to the proceedings of par- ticular individuals or particular societies. Conscious in his own mind of desiring nought but to discover the most effectual method of promoting God’s cause and glory in the world, he has striven to discuss principles and measures apart from personalities altogether. The question ought never to be. Whether, in proposing to alter or amend such a measure which may have been adopted by such an indi- vidual or such a society, we thereby intentionally or unin- tentionally appear to impeach the wisdom of the one or of the other? No ; the real question ought ever to be. Whether, in proposing any alteration or amendment of previously sanctioned measures, the great end which all have in com- mon— the diffusion of the blessed Gospel, and the salvation of lost souls, — can be more successfully promoted thereby ? If so, all who love the Lord J esus and the souls of men bet- ter than the gratification of their own natural desires, or the following out of their own individual views or self-originated schemes, must unitedly rejoice in any suggestion, proceeding from whatever quarter, which may hold out the prospect of greater efficiency and success in subverting Satan’s empire, — in hastening on the reign of grace now, and the kingdom of glory hereafter. Friendly remarks or corrections from the memb rs of any denomination of Christians, addressed directly to the Author, to the care of his Publishers, will be gratefully received and duly attended to.

In the fifth chapter, miscellaneous objections to the mis-

PREFACE.

XI

sionary enterprise are considered. Individuals in different classes of society may reckon this objection or the other now obsolete, because to their own minds such objections may not have occurred, or because such objections may not prevail in those circles in which they usually move. During several years past, it has been the Author’s lot to have come in contact with individuals of every .grade and profession in society, from the highest to the lowest. He therefore begs to assure the reader, that he has noticed no objection which he has not found influentially current among some one class or another. And as the work has been writ- ten for general perusal, he has deemed it his duty to meet and satisfy, as far as practicable, the peculiar demands of generic sections of the community. Those who still object to Indian Missions in particular, on mistaken grounds of State policy, he would refer to the learned, argumentative, and eloquent work of the Rev. W. M. Hetherington, on the “ Fulness of Time,” — in which, amongst other important matters, the proposition, that “ true religion is not only the source and measure of national prosperity, but the very end of national existence,” is established by a resistless train of historic fact and logical inference.

The sixth chapter can only be regarded as a fragment. The original intention of the Author was to enter at large into the history of the Church of Scotland’s Foreign Mis- sions from their rise to the present time. But the unex- pected length to which the preceding chapters extended, left him no other alternative than to limit himself to the briefest period which could furnish an intelligible conception of the principles, working, and design of these missions. On this account he has confined his brief notices exclusively to the station first selected — Calcutta ; and in the educational de- partment, to the operations of the first twelvemonth there ; — merely glancing at the present and anticipated results.

PREFACE.

xii

For a year and a-half the first Missionary had to stand alone. At the termination of that period he was joined by an able and respected colleague, — Rev. W. M‘Kay ; — who, entering on the discharge of his office with promptitude and power, has since almost fallen a martyr in the cause. May the Lord in mercy spare his invaluable life ; and restore him to his chosen field of usefulness in the missionary vineyard. The Rev. D. Ewart reached Calcutta towards the close of 1834; and has ever since been privileged to labour with unwearied zeal and untiring energy. The Rev. Messrs M‘Donald and Smith have subsequently gone forth in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of peace. Concerning Bombay, Puna, and Madras, where vigorous branches of the India Mission have within the last four years been estab- lished, the Author can scarcely regret that necessity has con- strained him to be silent. The facts within his possession could not have enabled him to do any thing like justice to the labours of all the talented and noble-minded Missionaries at these stations. Besides, though at each Presidency the general 'principles of the missionary system pursued be iden- tical, there must necessarily be variations arising from local peculiarities, which tend to modify these principles in their practical application. Of these variations it would be diffi- cult for any one else besides the living agent to furnish an adequate statement. Who but Mr Anderson could fully elucidate the occasions, caaises, and applicability of the energetic measures adopted by himself and his coadjutors at Madras ? Who but Dr Wilson could sufficiently unfold and vindicate the Herculean labours of himself and his colleagues at Bombay ? It is fondly hoped that the day is not far distant, when these honoured servants of the Lord will be empowered to supply a connected narrative of their intensely interesting proceedings at the sister Presidencies.

What would have formed a distinct chapter in the history

PREFACE.

xm

of the Calcutta Mission, is, for want of space, now thrown into an abridged form in the Appendix. The subject tends to present a large and influential portion of Hindu society in so novel an aspect, — tends also to present a sphere for the application of Missionary labour of so novel a character, — that the Author could not withhold the present fragment, however unworthv of the theme. Besides, it serves the purpose of proving, if any such proof were at all necessary, that, from the earliest period, the Christian education of the young, with a view to the noblest ulterior objects, formed practically, as well as theoretically, only a single department of the general scheme of missionary procedure. While the Missionaries of the Church of Scotland have been sent forth with a special commission to prosecute the only means within their reach, in the absence of miracles, towards rearing a su^perior rac^of natim. teachers and preachers of the ever- lasting Gospel ; they have been sent forth with an equally special commission to preach as they have opportunity, — to be instant in season and out of season, in communicating the blessed knowledge of salvation to all around them, of every class and of every grade, — and that, too, irrespectively of those conventional forms and modes of address, all those mechanical arrangements as to places of stated resort which, in a Christian land, ages have served to consecrate.

It was the Author’s intention to subjoin references to authorities at the foot of the different pages. This, how- ever, would have greatly increased the size of a volume already too large. Besides, the work having no pretensions whatever of a literary character, never was designed for the use of the learned at all ; but solely for the great mass of general readers, who are only very partially acquainted with the subjects treated of ; and who have neither inclination nor opportunity for consulting references, even if these were redundantly supplied. Moreover, many of the minor quota-

XIV

PREFACE.

tions are given wholly from memory ; and though the name of the authority might be mentioned, the page or section of the book very frequently could not be furnished.

It was also the Author’s intention to add a large Appen- dix of Notes — partly explanatory, and partly vindicatory. The bulk to which the volume has swoln, and this alone, has prevented the accomplishment of that part of the design. Without such Notes, he is conscious that many of his state- ments are peculiarly liable to misapprehension. To illustrate what is meant : — At the bottom of page 81, it is asserted, that “ nowhere can a single moral attribute, properly so called, be found ascribed to the one God — the Supreme Brahm of the Hindus.” In a note, the reason of the qualifi- cation expressed by the words in italics, would be illustrated — the precise nature of those generalized “ qualities” which Brahm is said to assume when he awakes from his slumber, would be defined. Again, in page 123, an account is given of the Hindu theory of the nature and origin of caste. In a note, the various modifications to which in practice that theory has been subjected, would be largely pointed out ; and thus might numberless doubts, difficulties, and misap- prehensions, be anticipated and obviated. In the unavoid- able absence of such notes, therefore, the Author must throw himself on the indulgence of the candid reader ; as in the text itself it would be plainly impossible to introduce all those minute details which might act as so many fences and safeguards of the meaning.

The train of remark in some of the following chapters having led the Author to refer almost exclusively to generic principles and modes of procedure in the history of modern missions ; and his own labours having been mainly conducted within a sphere which, in the meti’opolis of British India, had not previously been occupied — it did not fall in with the scope of his vei-y brief sketches to bestow a more specifi

PREFACE.

XV

notice on the operations of his brethren and coadjutors of other Christian denominations. Of the American mission in Ceylon, wliich possesses so many features in common with that of the Church of Scotland he, at the time to which his historic obsex’vations refer, knew nothing but the name. He cannot, however, refrain from once more doing what he has already repeatedly done in oral and written forms, — he ^cannot help giving expression to the delight which he has heretofore enjoyed, and the profit which he has hereto- fore reaped, in the society of his predecessors and con- temporaries in the missionary field. With the agents of all the great English societies it was his happy lot to asso- ciate on terms of the most familiar and endearing inter- course. To the Adams and Lacroixs of the Independents, the Eeichardts of the Church of England, the Yates and the Pearces of the junior Baptist mission, Calcutta, he has again and again been laid under the deepest obligation for their counsels and freely communicated experience. And what shall he say as to the senior fraternity at Serampore now no more? Often since his return to Britain has he been pained to hear these devoted men accused of worldly extravagance, oriental pomp, princely grandeur, and sundry other foibles, errors, and inconsistences ! Knowing, from ocular evidence, that these and such like charges were, to say the least, most grossly exaggerated, he has ever felt it a special privilege to have had it in his power to vindicate the name and memory of these venerated labourers. What — men who, for thirty or forty years, braved the noxious in- fluences of a tropical clime, — taught and preached the Gos- pel to thousands, and tens of thousands, — gave versions of the Bible in whole or in part, and more or less perfect, into the majority of the Indian dialects ! — men who, besides supporting their own family establishments, actually ex- pended, for the promotion of Christianity in India, from

XVI

PREFACE.

their own earnings, more than sixty tJiousand pounds ! — Talk of flaws and imperfections in the multitudinous sayings and doings of such men ! — would it not be miraculous if none such could be detected 1 Owing to man’s fallibility, errors in judgment may lead to the projection of inadequate mea- sures ; owing to man’s frailty, there may often be feebleness in the execution of good ones. But, in all Christendom, let any three men be pointed out, who have done more than Ward, Marshman, and Carey, to earn new trophies for the Redeemer in the hitherto unconquered realms of Paganism, — and then, but not till then, would the Author consent to remain silent when the first stone was thrown at the noble, the immortal triumvirate of Serampore !

In conclusion, the Author cannot but publicly return his unfeigned thanks to his kind and revered friend, the Rev. Dr Brunton, — under whose hospitable roof he has during the last four months found a congenial home, — and for all whose counsels and valuable suggestions, when the present Work was passing through the press, he has been laid under obligations which can never be adequately repaid.

Now, to Him, “ who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords ; who only hath im- mortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto ; whom no man hath seen, nor can see ; — to Him be honour and power everlasting. Amen.”

Bilstane, near Edinburgh,

25th October 1839.

* Should any profits arise from the sale of this Publication, they are to he devoted exclusively to purposes prornotive of the interests of the India Mission.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

INDIA — ITS PARAMOUNT INFLUENCE AND IMPORTANCE — A PRECIOUS FIELD FOR THE PROPAGATION OP THE GOSPEL — OUR RESPONSI- BILITIES.

Page.

The pammount influence of India on the Western Nations from the

earliest times, 25

Proofs and Illustrations — Arabia — Palmyra — Tyre — Alexandria — Bagdad — Ghizni, . . ....... 26

The Crusades open up Eastern Asia to Western Eui'ope, . . .30

The Rise of Venice and Genoa, 32

Attempts to discover a New Passage to India, 33

Vasco de Gama doubles the Cape, 34

Effect of this discovery — Lisbon— Amsterdam, . . . . .35

Splendid series of English voyages, with the view of reaching India, 35

The final supremacy of Britain, 39

Three distinct epochs of peculiar interest in behalf of India, — . 40

The era of romantic imaginative interest, . . . .40

The era of romantic literary interest, .... 47

The era of vivid religious interest, . . ... 49

Designs of Providence in subjecting India to Britain, ... 50

Glance at the remarkable series of events which have thrown all

India open as a field for Missionary enterprise, ... 50

Analogy between the condition of the Roman Empire at the com- mencement of the Christian era, and the present position of

India, 55

Argument and appeal founded on this, in behalf of the spread of the Gospel. ........... 58

A

xviii

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER II.

THE THEORY OF HIXDEISM ESSENTIALLY A STUPENDOUS SYSTEM OP

PANTHEISM ILLUSTRATIONS OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL MODES IN

WHICH THE THEORY IS EXEMPLIFIED IN PRACTICE.

Page.

The necessity of knowing the real condition of a people, in order to

the adoption of effectual measures for their amehoration, . 62

This illustrated in the case of India, ...... 63

Religion the master-principle in moulding the character, opinions,

and practices of the people, 64

Their religion contained in writings believed to be dirine, . . 68

These writings locked up in the Sanskrit language, . . . 70

Enurneratioir of them, . . . . . . . . .71

Attempt to unfold the orthodox theory of the Brahmanical faith, 73

Foundation of the system in the belief of one great universal Spirit, 74

Description of the nature and character of this Spirit, . . 75

Shown to be an infinite nothing, yet substantially all things, ' . . 76

Reflections on the fact that he is without any moral attributes, . 81

The manifestation of the universe, at a time when nought existed but

the Supreme Spirit, ........ 88

The whole is a pantheism, . 89

Four distinct views of tlris subject entertained in the orthodox schools, 91

Spiritual Pantheism, 91

Psycho-ideal Pantheism, ......... 93

Psycho-material Pantheism, . 99

Reflections on this confounding of the creature with the Creator, 106 Psycho-material-mythologic Pantheism, ...... 108

The geographical and astronomical construction of the universe,

educed from the substance of the Supreme Spirit, . . 110

The peopling of aU worlds with animated beings, . . . .119

The immense epochs of the duration of the universe, with its succes- sive destructions and renovations, . . . . . 125

Glance at the mode in which the grand theory of Hinduism is re- duced to practice, 144

Various exemplifications, 145

Transmigration of souls a vital and operative doctrine, . . 147

A gi’aduated scale of rewards and punishments, . . . .149

The wicked sent to one or other of innumerable hells, . . 149

They reappear on earth in mineral, vegetable, or brutal forms, 149

Obedience and acts of merit recompensed by admission into one or other of the heavens of the gods — The highest reward is absorp- tion or refusion into the Divine Essence, . . . 162

CONTENTS.

XIX

Page.

Statement of the boundless range of observances required by the

separate castes : — 156

The rites of the Brahmans, 157

The observances of the multitudes, . , . . 176

The austerities of the devotees, 188

V Summary of the preceding details of the grand theory of Hinduism, 203

!'A series of statements to show how the facts and doctrines of Chris- tianity beautifully contrast with those of Hinduism, . . 206

•Appeal to Christians 215

CHAPTER III.

PRACTICAL SKETCHES OF SOME OP THE LEADING SUPERSTITIONS AND IDOLATRIES OF EASTERN INDIA.

Page.

Classical enthusiasm of Sii’ W. Jones, when approaching the shores

of India, 220

Violent disturbance of such an emotion in the mind of a Christian, on the sudden appearance of one of the most celebrated idol

temples, 221

Juggernath, the horrors and extent of his worship, . . . 221

Sagor Island, and its hundreds of thousands of annual pilgrims, . 224 The zeal of the heathen contrasted with the indifference of professing

Christians, 226

Physical aspect of the banks of the Ganges compared with the moral

aspect of the natives, 228

Human bodies floating on the surface of the stream, . . . 230

Causes of so painful a spectacle, ....... 231

Murders and suicides in the name of humanity and reUgion, . 233

Contrast of the spirit of the Gospel, 239

The worshippers of Shiva, their clay symbols and morning orisons, 240 Besides the daily ceremonies, great annual festivals celebrated in

honour of the principal Divinities, 243

Two selected as examples, ........ 243

The Goddess Durga, her character and exploits, .... 243

Detailed account of her annual festival, with its multitude of tempor- ary images, ceremonies, free-will offerings, bloody sacrifices, and grotesque processions, ........ 244

An appeal to British merchants on the time and industry lost by these

festivals, . . 250

Liberality of heathens contrasted with the scanty contributions of

professing Christians, 254

Reflections on the final triumphs of the Gospel over the superstitions and idolatries of the Ganges, . . ... 264

XX

CONTENTS.

Page.

Tlie Goddess Kali, her sanguinary character and worship, . . 264

The Patroness of thieves and murderers, 266

The Charak Pujah, or swinging festival, 268

Various self-inflicted tortures described, ..... 269 Account of the great day of the festival, when multitudes resort to the celebrated temple of Kali-ghat, in the neighbourhood of

Calcutta, 274

Sketch of the appearance of the groups of devotees, of the temple

and monster-block of the idol, 275

Cniel practices of the worshippers, 279

Their frantic reveh-ies contrasted with the solemnities of a Christian

Sabbath in Great Britain, 280

CaU upon Christians to come forth to “ the help of the Lord against

the mighty.” 282

CHAPTER IV.

THE GOSPEL THE ONLY EFFECTUAL INSTRUMENT IN REGENERATING

INDIA GENERAL CONSIDERATION OF THE VARIOUS AGENCIES TO BE

EMPLOYED IN ITS PROPAGATION, AND OF SPECIAL OBJECTIONS.

Page.

Various expedients proposed for remedying the cnuIs under wliich

India has, for ages, groaned, — 284

The Scheme of Political Reform, 285

The Scheme of Economic Reform, ..... 286 The Scheme of Secular Education Reform, . . . 288

The Scheme of Tempoiizing Religious Reform, . . 294

All these nugatory, 295

The Gospel, the only effectual instrament of genuine Reformation, 296 Illustration of this, .......... 296

, The practical question proposed. How, or by what means, is the

Gospel to be most successfully propagated ? ... 305

Quotation from the Author of the Natm-al History of Enthusiasm, . 305 , The three generic measures, — 309

1. Christian Education of the Young.

2. Preaching to the Adults.

3. The Cii’culation of the Bible.

These not antagonists, but mutual friends and allies, . . . 309

^ In reference to Education, the practical question considered. Whether is it better at the outset, to pursue the direct method of attemptuig at once to impart a general elementary knowledge to the many, or the indirect method of attempting to reach the many through the in- strumentality of instri(ct«rf/eic ? ...... 314

CONTENTS.

XXI

Page.

In reference to Preaching, the great practical question considered,

Wlio ought to he the preachers ? ..... 328

General reasons adduced, to prove that they ought to be natives, 332

The inadequate supply of existing missionary stations, . . . 334

Prodigious disproportion between the number of labourers and the

extent of the field, ........ 335

Occasional itineracy a very inefiicient means of evangelization, . 337

Different causes of this pointed out, - . . . . . 338

\ Superiority of the localizing system, - 339

Other arguments, besides the numerical one, in favour of an extensive

native agency, ......... 343

The diminution of expense, ........ 350

The necessity of the mode of life being such as to bring a holy exam- ple fuUy to bear upon the people, ..... 350

The necessity of a familiar acquaintance with the tones and idiom of speech ; the manners, habits, and prevalent modes of thinking, 351 v.--Natives, the real reformers of their own country, .... 353

l__^i<rw qualified natives are to be raised, ..... 355

Objections to Educational Institutions in connection with the mission- ary enterpiise fully considered, — ...... 362

That missionaries are thereby converted into Professors

instead of Preachers, ...... 362

That the scheme is different from that which was blessed

with a Pentecostal effusion, ..... 367

That it is contrary to Apostolic example, .... 377

^_^^Tanslation and Circulation of the Bible, ..... 399

Question considered as to the amount of good to be expected from the written word in the absence of the living voice to dii’ect

attention towards it, 400

raise up a native agency ought to be not a secondary, but a primary object, in conducting the missionary enterprise, . 416

Happy day for India, when through the instrumentality of the edu- cational and other means employed, qualified natives shall be- come the Christian teachers, preachers, and translators to their

countrymen ! 422

Corroborations from the work of the Rev. Howard Malcolm, just

published. 423

CHAPTER V.

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE CONSIDERED.

Page.

The objection of the careless scoffer, who summarily denounces the

whole as novel and Ausionary, the growth of modei-n fanaticism, 429

XXll

CONTENTS.

Page.

The objection of the icorldly politician, who, with a special reference to India, dreads the propagation of Christianity as dangerous to the stability of the Anglo-Indian empire, .... 440

The objection of unreflecting economists, who allege that, as so many return with immense fortunes from India, we should restrict our pecuniary demands to the people of that wealthy region, . 457 The objections of the latitudinarian liberalist, — .... 460

That it is an insult to obtnide our religion on the upholders

of another faith, 461

That to teach our religion to their children is an invasion of

the natural rights of parents, 461

And that it is cruel to disturb the peace of families by at- tempts to secure their conversion, .... 464

The objection of the luxuriously wealthy, who evade every petition

by replying that they have little or nothing to spare, . . 467

The objection of the humble poor, who are fearful lest their mite

should be too insignificant to prove of any avail, . . 473

The objection of the speculative theorist, who waives all active sup- port on the ground of hj-pothetical reasonings and anticipations, 475 The objection of the merely nominal, or sincere but weak-minded Christian, that there is enough of heathenism at home, without troubling

ourselves with foreign lands, ...... 483

Concluding appeal, .......... 494

CHAPTER VI.

AN ACCOU.NT OF THE RISE AND EARLY PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH OF Scotland’s India mission.

Page.

The Church of Christ ceases to flourish when it ceases to be mission- ary, ........... 498

Towards the close of last century, the Protestant Churches began to

awaken from their long slumber, 499

The Church of Scotland, which for years had maintained the attitude of spectator, at length resolves, in 1824, in its national coi-porate capacity, to embark on a missionarj’ enterprise, . . . 500

Committee appointed by the General Assembly to conduct it, . 502

Rudimental conception of an education and preacliing mission to India as originally announced and approved of by the General Assembly, ... ....... 503

Dr Inglis the undisputed author of it, ..... 505

E^idence of this assertion, 506

Notices of preparatoiy measures during the years 1825, 6, 7, 8, . 509

In 1829 the first Missionary nominated . . . . . 513

CONTENTS.

xxiii

Page.

His disastrous voyage to India, and reception there, . , .516

Dr Bryce’s disinterested services, ...... 520

DifBculties in ascertaining the existing state of things, with a view to

missionary operation, .521

Reasons for preferring Calcutta to a rural station, . . . 525

The primary design to establish a central Institution for higher edu- cation, . . . 530

Reasons for abandoning this design at the outse,'. . . . 531

Resolutions to institute preparatory schools, ..... 532 Elementary schools in the Bengali or vernacular dialect totally in- efficient for the purposes of a higher Institution, . . 536

Choice to be made between Sanskrit and English as the medium of

superior instruction, . . . . . . . .541

English pronounced the grand instrument for conveying the entii’e range of European knowledge, — literary, scientific, and theolo- gical,— to the select few who, in various ways, are to influence

the minds of their countr3rmen, 542

Account of the opening of the first English mission-seminary at Cal- cutta, with a specific^ view to an enlarged European Education, . 549

Various incidents connected therewith, ..... 550

Introduction of the intellectual or mental developement system of

tuition, .......... 556

The Bible an essential part of the scheme of instruction, . . 558

Notices of the early impression produced by its perusal, . 564

Illustration of the effect of general knowledge in demolishing the

sacred authority of the Shastras, ..... 580

Various reflections arising out of this subject, .... 583

Vicissitudes of the first twelvemonth, ..... 698

First public examination of the Institution, 604

The happy effect of that examination on the European and native

community, ......... 608

Some of the present and anticipated results of the Educational part

of the system pointed out, ....... 609

Its general bearing on the evangelization of India, . . . 624

APPENDIX.

Brief sketch of the circumstances which led to the delivery of the/rst series of Lectures on the Evidences and Doctrines of Natural and Revealed Religion ever addressed to an Audience of edu- cated Hindus in Eastern India,— with notices of some of the results, as more especially manifested in the ultimate conversion of a few to the faith of Jesus. . 631

'V V

INDIA AND INDIA MISSIONS.

CHAPTER L

THE PARAMOUNT INFLUENCE WHICH INDIA HAS SUCCESSIVELY EX- ERTED ON THE PROSPERITY OF THE LEADING CITIES AND NATIONS

OP THE WEST THE REMARKABLE SERIES OF PROVIDENTIAL

EVENTS BY WHICH INDIA HAS BEEN OPENED UP AS THE LARGEST AND MOST PROMISING FIELD FOR CHRISTIAN MISSIONS NOW IN THE

AVORLD AND THE CONSEQUENT OBLIGATION THAT DEVOLVES ON

BRITISH CHRISTIANS IN PARTICULAR, TO AVAIL THEMSELVES OP THE PRECIOUS OPPORTUNITY FOR SPREADING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GOSPEL AMONG THE MILLIONS ‘OP FELLOW-SUB.IECTS IN THAT BENIGHTED LAND.

Announcement of the grand historic fact or law of the para- mount infuence of India on the Western Nations — Proofs and illustrations of this fact — The Peninsula of Arabia — Palmyra — Tyre — Alexandria — Bagdad — Ghizni — The Crusades open up Eastern Asia to Western Europe — Venice — Attempts to discover a new passage to India — Henry of Portugal — Columbus — Vasco de Gama doiibles the Cape — Effect of this discovery — Lisbon — Amsterdam — Splendid series of English voyages, with the view of reaching India — The final supremacy of Britain — Three distinct eras or epochs of peculiar interest in behalf of India — The era of romantic imaginative interest — The era of romantic literary inter- est— The era of vivid religious interest — Designs of Providence in subjecting India to Britain — Glance at the remarkable series of events which have thrown all India open as a field for Missionary enterprise — Analogy bettveen the condition of the Roman empire

B

2G

INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

at the commencement of the Christiaii era, and the present position of India — Argument and appeal founded on this, in behalf of the spread of the Gospel.

For the last three thousand years has India, unexhausted and inexhaustible, been pouring an uninterrupted stream of opulence upon the Western World.

During that long period, measuring half the duration of the globe, the intermediate points of communication between the East and the West have changed with the rise and fall of mighty cities and empires. Connected, however, with all such changes, there is one fact that stands out in singular prominence, challenging the attention of the patriot, the statesman, and the Christian philanthropist. It is a fact, too, so uniform and characteristic, that it may well be entitled to rank as an historic law. The fact is this : — ithat whatever city or nation has, in the lapse of past ages, held in its hands the keys of Indian commerce and Indian influence, that city or nation has, for the time being, stood forth in the van of the civilized world as the richest and most flourishing. Indeed, the temporary monopoly of Indian trade has rescued even petty states from obscurity ; and raised them to a height of greatness, and wealth, and power, vastly incommensurate with their natural resources. Some of the most famous cities of antiquity it may be said to have literally created. With the first possession of it, they suddenly sprang to their meridian of glory ; and with its departure, they as rapidly sunk into the dark night of oblivion.

The southern peninsula of Arabia, projecting, as it does, like an isthmus between the East and the West, seems, from the earliest times, to have enjoyed, on a great scale, the full benefit of Indian commerce. And is it not matter of historic record, that the most important advantages were thereby conferred on the inhabitants ? Did it not stimulate their industry at home, — multiplying the necessaries, en- hancing the comforts, and superadding the most coveted luxuries of life \ Engaging the services of art as the ally of

INFLUENCE OP INDIA.

27

nature, did it not lead to such improvements of an originally happy soil, as douhly to justify the poetic designation of “ Araby the blest ?” Did it not arouse the great mass of the people to correspondent activities abroad — earning for them a distinguished reputation for nautical enterprise, and enabling them to plant and maintain flourishing colonies on the most distant African shores ?

Or, casting our eyes northward, over the sandy skirts of ancient Syria, do we not find the barren waste doing homage to the prolific bounty of the East? Do we not find the mere transit depot of Indian produce suddenly rise into surpassing grandeur ? Indian commerce found Palmyra composed, as it were, of brick, — but left it more precious than marble. And, to this day, those ruins that fill the traveller with amazement, if animated and vocal, would cease not to proclaim, — Behold, these are but the time-worn fragments of that wealth and magnificence which dropped in the desert from the wings of Orient riches, on their passage to the West !

Or, if we look westward, along the shores of the Medi- terranean, do we not find the various tribes of Phenicia, though only the secondary conveyers of the merchandise of the East, thereby raised into temporary prosperity and renown ? And with the disappearance of that aggrandizing traffic, do we not find all their glory vanish like a dream ? What enabled Tyre, single-handed and unaided, to resist so successfully, and so long, the mightiest assaults of the Macedonian conqueror ? Chiefly the resources which it had accumulated from its monopoly of the Indian trade. This could not escape the eagle-eye of Alexander. Accord- ingly, on having achieved the conquest of Egypt, he at once resolved, through that country, to open a direct communi- cation with India, and replace Tyre by a nobler emporium for Eastern trade. Hence the origin and design of that celebrated ■ city, which still retains the name of its royal founder. And when the conqueror, in his swift career, reached the Indus with its tributaries, and had concluded, in those days of geographical ignorance, that these were none

28

INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

other than the feeding streams of the Nile, his biographer, Arrian, expressly assures us, that the vast fleet placed under the command of Nearchus, “ was equipped for the specific purpose of opening the direct intercourse between India and Alexandria.” So bent was the hero on this favourite project, and such importance did he attach to its success, that when, after weeks of intense anxiety, he was at length suddenly relieved from all fear as to the safety of his fleet, he burst into tears, and exclaimed, — “ By the Lybian Ammon and the Grecian Jove, I swear to thee, that I am made happier by this intelligence than in being conqueror of Asia; for I should have considered the loss of my fleet, and the failure of the enterprise it has undertaken, as almost outweighing, in my mind, all the glory I have acquired.” The execution of his magnificent design he lived not to witness. But under his immediate successors, Alexandria soon became the channel of communication be- tween Europe and Eastern Asia. And recent though it was, and but of yesterday, compared with the “ hundred-gated Thebes,” and other ancient cities, direct trade with India and the East speedily raised it into such pre-eminence, that it appeared to eclipse all else besides, even in a land so prodigal of architectural wonders. Yea, when it ceased to exercise sovereign power, and became politically dependent on all-conquering Rome, it still maintained its proud posi- tion as the commercial capital of the Empire ; while, in opulence, splendour, and population, it bade fair to rival, if not outrival, the Eternal City itself.

After the proud mistress of the world sunk into decrepi- tude and inanition, Arabia once more sprung up into more than its original greatness. Its tribes, headed by a warrior- prophet, and inflamed with fanatical fury, speedily overran many of the fairest provinces of Europe, Asia, and Africa, — gathering up the spoils and fragments of the shattered Empire of the Cesars, — planting the Mahammadan crescent in distant realms, which the Roman eagle never knew. With the extension of their conquests were re-developed those mercantile energies which distinguished their forefathers.

INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

29

On almost every shore, from the Straits of Gibraltar to the extremity of the ultra-Gangetic Peninsula, were strongholds established, as posts for military aggression, or depots for commercial enterprise.

The Moslem conquerors having usurped the dominion of the Eastern and Western seas, and for several centuries maintained an uncontrolled supremacy over them, the trade of India, in all its boundless variety, became exclusively theirs. Bagdad, their capital, started up at once, the Rome, and the Alexandria, and the Athens of the East. Resistless in arms, unrivalled in commerce, matchless in learning, it absorbed, while it flourished, all power, all wealth, all wisdom. And when its day began to decline, its commerce with India and the East fringed the lengthening shadows of evening with a halo of glory. That commerce had caused the sun of its prosperity to shine with sevenfold greater splendour ; and when it would have suddenly sunk in darkness, its setting was protracted into a long and glowing twilight. Year after year, did the balmy plains and aromatic groves and pearly shores of India pour in their redundant stores, to replenish the exhausted treasury of the Caliphate. Year after year did the Ganges, as it were, roll in another and another wave to retard the final drying up of the Euphrates.

When, at length, the Mahammadan Empire was broken up into divers independent principalities, Indian commerce, instead of flowing in one all-comprehending channel, came to be distributed among several lesser ones, — each deriving therefrom the most important advantages. The vigorous revival of the old branch of the trade by the Red Sea reno- vated the decaying city of Alexandria. The new branch, stretching along the gi’eat desert of Syria, restored to something like primitive grandeur some of its dilapidated cities. The northern branch, by the Caspian and Black Sea, enriched every country along the route, and added fresh lustre to the imperial city of Constantine.

Here we cannot but pause to notice in passing, that if the regular commerce of India proved so uniforndy advan- tageous to the nation that succeeded in engrossing it, the

30

INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

occasional plunder of that fertile region proved not less so to a succession of fierce and rapacious invaders. To single one instance out of many that crowd into India’s eventful history, let us fix our eyes on Ghizni, a city of Afghanistan. Situate on the crest of a bleak mountain range, the rigour of its climate, and the sterility of its soil, had passed into a proverb. About the end of the tenth century, it was still little more than “ an encampment of migratory shep- herds.” But Fame brought to Mahmoud, its ambitious chieftain, the most extravagant reports of the riches of India. In his fervent imagination it presented itself as a land glittering all over with gems and gold. In twelve successive expeditions he levelled its proudest cities, and plundered its most venerated shrines, — returning in tri- umph to his mountain fastness, laden with spoils — spoils of pillage and sacrilege — spoils, vast beyond all calculation — spoils, the accumulated treasures of ages ! What was the effect on Ghizni ? Its shepherd citizens instantly be- came nobles ; its leading warriors, princes. Its miserable hamlets were turned into palaces ; its humble oratories into stately temples ; — and towering above them all, in majesty and grandeur, the marble edifice, so richly bedecked with the jewels and gold of India, that throughout all the East it was long renowned as “ The Celestial Bride.” Altogether, though perched aloft amid almost perpetual frosts and bar- renness, the naked fastness of Ghizni soon outstripped in pomp and magnificence every other city of Asia. The spoils of India at once transported to it the arts and letters — the power and glory — of the Caliphate. The spoils of India converted it into the seat of the most brilliant court, and most powerful empire then in the world. It seemed like the ancient Canouge, and Matura, and Tanasser, and Samnat of the Indian heroic ages, blazing in concentrated beauty and splendour, amid the snows of the Indian Caucasus.

Hitherto the nations of Western Europe seem to have had no share in the direct management of Indian commerce ;

EFFECT OF THE CRUSADES.

31

and little or no participation in any of its fruits. Too rude to be sensible of the wants so heavily felt in a refined society, they were too ignorant to comprehend the advantages of an international exchange of the products of different climes.

From this torpor they were at length awakened by the trumpet peal of fanaticism. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the crusading armies, bent on the famous project of recovering the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the In- fidel hosts, scoured the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. These representatives of trans- Alpine barbarism were thus brought into immediate contact with the comparative civil- ization of the Saracenic empire. And while the balmy cli- mate of Asia mellowed their rough and hardy temperament, they insensibly acquired a taste for luxuries and enjoyments previously unknown. The jewels, the silks, and the spiceries of India and the East, soon became objects of the most intense attraction. Accordingly, when driven from their short-lived conquests, they returned in scattered and strag- gling bands, to their native land, they carried along with them their newly acquired tastes, as well as the means of partial gratification. The exhibition, on their return, of sundry articles of Indian and other Oriental produce, at once aroused the curiosity and inflamed the covetous desires of their fellow-countrymen at home. But, how could foreign commodities be obtained without having something equiva- lent to barter in exchange ? To create such an exchangeable equivalent, labour must be expended beyond what is required merely to secure the bare necessaries of life. To this addi- tional labour, the people of the West were now greatly stim- ulated. The growing ambition to possess some share of the envied riches and luxuries of the East, infused the spirit of improvement into the varied operations of agriculture and manufactures. And thus, to use the words of a modem historian, “ nations hitherto sunk in listless indolence, or only roused from it when hunger urged them to the chase, or their chiefs led them to the battle, acquired industry, the only efficient and legitimate source of all other acqui- sitions. and of national prosperity.”

32

RISE OF VENICE AND GENOA.

Singular subject for reflection ! That distant India, under the overruling providence of God, should thus have proved one of the most direct and leading instruments in commu- nicating the first decided impulse to modern civilization in Western Europe ! But stranger still ! — that distant India f should ever since have continued to prove one of the most potent causes in accelerating the march of Western civil- ization, till that civilization immensely outstripped its ' own ! — and thus helped in raising Europe to undisputed pre-eminence over all other quarters of the globe !

That this is no exaggeration, may be made to appear from the briefest summary of the progress of events.

The steady advancement of general society in the West, created an extending demand for the varied products of the East. But such increasing demand could no longer be sup- plied by the precarious importations of disabled warriors, or wandering pilgrims from the Holy Land. There must now be some regular European channel of communication with the East. And where could such channel, with a view to the best local and maritime advantages, be more appro- priately opened than in the central peninsula of Italy ?i 1 Hence the rise of Genoa, Venice, and other cities which! strove for the trident that might command an exclusive' monopoly of Eastern trade. At length Venice out-peered all her rivals. And was not the historic law, expressive of the aggrandizing influence of Indian commerce, true to itself? How was it that Venice, poor and mean, feeble and obscure, came to sit in state, “ Throned on her hundred isles, a ruler of the waters and their powers ? ” How came she, with her proud tiara of proud battlements, to have so many a subject land looking to her “ winged lion’s marble piles ? ” How came she to be robed in purple, and so luxu- riously magnificent, that of

“ Her feast

Monarchs partook, and deemed their dignity increased ? ”

It was, to draw still from the same poetic but unhappy genius, — it was, because the exhaustless East

“ Had pour’d into her lap all gems in sparkling showers.”

SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.

33

When the monopoly of Indian and other Eastern commerce had made Venice thus to start, as by the wand of enchant- ment, in beauty and brightness, from the bosom of the Ad- riatic,— challenging the admiration of Europe, — how could her unbounded prosperity fail to excite general envy too 2 Naturally and necessarily were other communities incited to sue for some share in her all-enriching trade. But how could this be secured 2 Hitherto, the great routes for the transference of Indian produce lay along the Eed Sea, the Euphrates, or the Caspian. The principal intermediate marts were Alexandria, St Jean de Acre, or Constantinople. Over these emporia V enice had acquired an almost unlimited! command. What, then, was to be done 2 Why, there seemed i no alternative but to attempt to establish some new line of^ communication with India. To compass this end, a hundred schemes were now propounded, entertained, and forsaken, in swift and bewildering succession. Traveller after traveller^ issued forth to reconnoitre and survey the avenues to the! Eastern World. And the marvellous reports carried back, 1 and circulated bv some of them on their return, tended still ‘ more to inflame the rage for discovery by sea and land.

This new spirit of discovery — affecting alike prince and peasant, merchant and mariner, — found, about the beginning of the fifteenth century, its most chivalrous head and cham- pion in Henry of Portugal. Deeply imbued with the char- acteristic zealotism of his age, and eminently distinguished for those attainments in general science which enabled him at once to project and superintend the most daring enter- prises, he summoned around him all the most skilful and adventurous spirits in Christendom. The grand object of his ambition was to find out some new passage to India, that might supersede all the old routes already preoccupied. To the prosecution of this object, he unweariedly devoted the labour of his life ; and on it prodigally lavished the re- sources of his kingdom. And though he lived not to witness its accomplishment, the valuable discoveries made by his com- manders along the coast of Africa encouraged his successors, to follow, with unabated ardour, in his romantic career.

34

VASCO DE GAMA’s DISCOVERY.

It was to the fartherance of the same design that the celebrated Columbus dedicated his life. The desire of dis- covering a new passage to India supplied the ruling motive : an implicit belief in a geographical error chalked out his course. By studying, as we are credibly informed, “ Aris- totle’s description of the world, and the tables of Ptolemy, who extends the eastern parts of the Continent of Asia so enormously as to bring it almost round to the western parts of Europe and Africa, he very properly concluded (supposing their descriptions to be correct, and they were then univer- sally received as such) that, instead of a long and tedious voyage round the extremity of Africa, a much shorter pas- sage to India might be made by sailing directly west from Europe.” In undoubting confidence as to the practicability of this scheme, he eventually did set sail to the West ; andj stumbled . unexpectedly on those islands, which he fondly) concluded to be the long wished-for land of promise ; and! which, from that erroneous Impression, were designated, and still bear the name of, “ West Indies.”

At length, the perseverance of the Portuguese monarchs overcame all difficulties. In I486, Diaz reached the most southei’n extremity of Africa, giving it the significant ap- pellation of “ The Cape of Storms ; ” — a name which his sovereign, overjoyed at the good hope which it held out of ultimate success, changed into the more auspicious one of “ The Cape of Good Hope.”

In 1498, Vasco De Gama doubled the Cape, and madei good his landing at Calicut, the principal city on the Malabar,! or western shore of the Indian Peninsula.

Next to the voyage which terminated in the discovery of the American Continent, — if second even to that in its influence over the destinies of man, — this was, beyond all debate, the most important one that had ever been accom- plished since the world began. Of its successful issue, it has, without the slightest exaggeration, been remarked, that it “ effected a complete revolution in the commerce and policy of all civilized nations.” The doom of Venice, and other flourishing cities, was at once sealed. The trade of

EFFECT OF GAMA S DISCOVERY.

35

India being now diverted into a new channel, all their power and glory evanished along with it ; and as these fell, the new monopolist cities and nations must rise.

Gama’s safe return to Lisbon was hailed as the harbinger of a new and glorious era. The city rung with transports of joy. The inhabitants, concluding that the rich commerce of India and the East was now secured to them, “ proposed nothing less than to become immediately^ they?rs# commercial and maritime power in the world'’' And to crown all with the inviolable sanction and ratification of heaven itself, a bull from “ God’s vicegerent,” conferred on the Portuguese monarch the proud title of “ Lord of the Navigation, Con- quests, and Trade of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India.”

So long as Lisbon enjoyed the exclusive monopoly of In- dian commerce, she sat as queen among the cities of the nations. But her days of glory were numbered too. One century had scarcely run its course, when the emporium of Eastern trade was transferred from Lisbon to Amsterdam. Forthwith, the law of co-existent prosperity came into full operation. The former sank in proportion as the latter rose. When Portugal might almost be blotted out from the map of independent sovereignties, Holland was enabled to assume the rank of a first-rate power in the balance of Europe.

Meanwhile, that nation, which was destined one day to reap the largest harvest of fruit from India, and destined also, we trust, to confer the largest amount of benefit in return, was no unconcerned spectator. The spirit of industry and improvement, already partially awakened, received, from the long and peaceful reign of Elizabeth, an accelerative impetus^ which opened for itself outlets — from Spitzbergen to the Canary Isles, in the Old World — and from New- foundland to Brazil, in the New. In the case of a nation thus predisposed for maritime discovery and bold enter- prise, the early brilliant successes of the Portuguese were enough to set all into ferment and combustion, — inflaming at once the cupidity and the fancy of a mercantile and ima- ginative people. Over the trade of India, all history and

36

ENGLISH VOYAGES TO INDIA.

tradition had united in throwing the glare of a strange and undefined magnificence. And all, from the monarch on the throne down to the humblest citizen, were now suddenly seized with a new and unwonted ardour, — a restless, boundless, insatiable ambition to share in the gorgeous commerce of diamonds and pearls, embroideries and perfume.

But how could this be obtained ? From priority of dis- covery and settlement, the Portuguese claimed an exclusive right to the passage of the Cape ; and were determined, by an appeal to arms, to vindicate and enforce their pretended) claim. What then was to be done ! Proclaim war against! Portugal ! No. England was not then prepared to pro-1 voke and defy so formidable a foe. What then ? Abandon the pursuit of the golden prize ? No. The spirit that had been raised was not partial, local or isolated : it was not the moving pulse of an individual or of a company : it w'as not the animating breath of one particular rank or class. It pervaded all classes, all ranks, and all districts of the land. It had been so cherished and fed, that no obstruc- tions could arrest its flow, and no blighting disappoint- ments extinguish its vitality. Pent up for a season, it only gathered fresh materials for ignition and explosion. Im- patient of control, it at last broke forth. Is it asked, in what direction ? Let the narration of the wondrous series of voyages that figure so conspicuously in the annals of the six- teenth century, furnish the reply, — voyages, which all must have read with the thrilling interest of romance, — voyages, which added more to our knowledge of the surface of the globe, than all that have since been undertaken, — voyages, which threw fresh lustre round the name of Britain, and helped to train and discipline her sons for afterwards wield- ing the sceptre of the ocean ! For what w^as the leading and most prominent object of them all? Is it not memor- able ? Is it not worthy of everlasting remembrance, that they all had for their grand, and almost exclusive object, the discovery of some new passage to India ? — some new’ channel through which the stream of wealth from that never-failing

ENGLISH VOYAGES TO INDIA.

37

fountain, might, without let or hindrance from the Crown of Portugal, flow in direct upon the British Isles.

Why, in the time of Henry VIII. (1527), were two attempts made to double, by the north-west, the American continent ? It was to open up, if possible, a pathway of communication with India, that might be undisputed by the jealousy of the Portuguese, and wholly independent of their exclusive pretensions to the passage of the Cape. When these first attempts failed, what was it, in the reign of Ed- ward VI., that led an adventurous squadron along the coasts of Norway, and Russian Lapland, as far as the harbour of Archangel ? It was the anticipation of realizing, by the north-east, those dazzling prospects which the north-west had refused to yield, — it was the eager desire of reaching India ! Notwithstanding the calamitous issue of an expe- dition, in which almost all who had embarked perished miserably amid cold and famine, what led to renewed efforts in the same direction^ in the face of perils and of deaths ? It was the ardent hope of being able to effect a north-east passage to India ! And when the frozen barriers of the Northern seas could not be forced, what led to the bold pro- ject of preparing a highway of three or four thousand miles across Russia by the Caspian ? It was still the inextinguish- able ambition to grasp the riches of India !

The whole of these north-eastern schemes having failed, what turned the attention of private adventurers, and of Government itself, a second time, to the north-west ? What prompted Frobisher, Davis, Hudson, and other intrepid com- manders, to make those discoveries which have enstamped their names on all the creeks, and straits, and gulphs, and bays of Greenland and Labrador ? It was the unconquerable wish to effect a landing on the wealthy shores of India !

All these persevering efforts, so far as the main object was concerned, having been signally crowned with disaster and defeat, were the ardours of the national mind cooled, its energies crushed, its hopes annihilated ? No : the original taste and desire had grown into an insatiable craving — a universal passion — which nought but the actual possession

38

ENGLISH VOYAGES TO INDIA.

of the coveted prize could gratify or assuage. Baffled in all these enterprises, the longing of the national mind is still unquenched. Where can it find for itself another outlet ? Let the new and splendid series of voyages to the south- western hemisphere furnish the reply. Hemmed in by the impassable barrier of the Northern Ocean — scared away by the trackless deserts of Central Asia — debarred, by a threatened appeal to arms, from attempting a south-east passage by the Cape, — they next conceived the bold idea of endeavouring to compass the grand design by the south- west, around the extremity of the American continent. For, what mainly led to the celebrated voyages of Drake and Cavendish, who circumnavigated the globe, — discovering new regions, “ the stateliness and richness of which they feared to make report of, lest they should not be credited,” — and causing the whole kingdom, on their return, to ring with songs of applause ? It was to obtain for their country a share of that aggrandizing traffic with India and the East, the Portuguese monopoly of which so long continued to be the envy of all Europe.

Without pursuing the subject any farther, we may con- clude with some corroborative remarks by the historian of British India. “ The tide of maritime adventure,” says he, “ which these splendid voyages were so calculated to swell, flowed naturally towards India, by reason of its fancied opulence, and the prevailing passion for the commodities of the East. The impatience of our countrymen had already engaged them in a circuitous traffic with that part of the globe. They sailed to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, where they found cargoes of Indian goods conveyed over land ; and a mercantile company, denominated the Levant Company, was instituted, according to the policy of the age, to secure to the nation the advantages of so important a commerce.” Accidental causes, we are told, also “ contri- buted to enliven the admiration excited by the Indian trade.” Amongst these was the capture of some of the largest of the Portuguese merchant vessels, laden with “ spices, calicoes, silks, gold, pearls, porcelain, ebony,” fcc., — the value of which

INDIA SUBJECTED TO BRITAIN.

39

“ inflamed the imagination of the merchants, and stimulated the impatience of the English generally to be engaged in so opulent a commerce.”

While “ the general current of enterprise now ran so vehemently toward India,” and the English, for fear of the Portuguese, still “ fluctuated between desire and execution, the Dutch, in 1595, boldly sent out four ships to trade with - India, by the Cape of Good Hope. This exploit added fuel f at once to the jealousy and the ambition of the English.”

In 1599, accordingly, an association was formed — funds were subscribed to a considerable amount — the Queen was peti- tioned for a warrant to fit out three ships, and also for a royal charter of privileges. After some delay, towards the end of 1600, the first charter was obtained; and in May, the following year, the first fleet of the East India Company ' set sail for India, direct by the Cape of Good Hope. As the result of a series of vicissitudes unexampled in the history of the world, not only did the commerce but the territory of India fall into the hands of British merchants. And has not the historic law, by which prosperity has been ever found coincident with the exclusive possession of the resources of India, been eminently verified and realized in the case of Britain ? Oh that British rulers and British subjects felt the responsibility which the briefest retrospect of the past must attach to our uncontrolled supremacy over Indian territory and Indian commerce ! From a view of that grand historic law, which has hitherto proved uniform and universal in its operation for the last three thousand years, may we not, as patriots, well contemplate with solemni awe, the day that shall sever India from Britain, and trans-| fer the stewardship thereof into other hands ? For if, weighed in the balance on that day, we shall have been found wanting in our national management of so sublime a trust, what can we expect from the analogy of the past, but to see the sun of Britain set — to rise no more for ever ?

Thus, great and paramount has been the influence which

40

THREE ERAS.

India has successively exerted on the prosperity of different nations of the West; and proportionally great, sustained, and long continued, has been the mercenary interest excited in its behalf, on account of the prodigious worldly advan- tages which, for ages, have been reaped from it. But India has, at different times, awakened towards itself a peculiarly vivid interest, on grounds wholly, or in great part, uncon- nected with mercenary ends, — an interest varied and dis- tinguished in its character, according to the nature of the objects that called it forth.

In glancing over the past, we may thus mark three distinc- tive eras or epochs of peculiar interest in India. There is first what may be termed. The era of romantic Imaginative interest. Secondly, The era of I'omantic literary interest. Thirdly, The era of vivid religious interest. These have been successive ; and in the arrangements of an all-wise Providence, manifestly preparatory one for the other.

The era of romantic interest commenced long before the successful voyage of Vasco de Gama. The truth is, that it must be traced to the times of the Crusades ; and will be found, amid various ebbings and flowings, to extend itself through many centuries. The spirit of the Crusades had never died. Having been deprived of its primary object, it soon fabricated or formed to itself another ; and then mani- fested itself, as a new apparition, under the form and garb of the spirit of chivalry. Deprived a second time of its lead- ing object, by the breaking down of the system of feudalism, it might seem that the spirit of chivalry, which was essen- tially the spirit of the Crusades, must be extinguished. But it was not so. The spirit still fraught with vitality only lapsed into a state of dormancy. Its smouldering embers were ready to blaze forth the instant that new fuel was sup- plied by the presence of a proper object or exciting cause. That object at length presented itself. India, bursting upon the view in all its novelty and splendour, was enough to feed and fan into a flame the slumbering fires of a less romantic and sentimental age. To discover a new inlet to that fair- est of the regions of the East, became a raging passion

ROMANTIC IMAGINATIVE ERA.

41

with the leading nations of Europe. In this pursuit, the spirit of the Crusades — the spirit of chivalry — the spirit of romance — found a new and appropriate object. It then immediately reappeared, though now metamorphosed into the restless and daring spirit of foreign adventure and maritime discovery.

The Portuguese — saturated with the spirit of the' age, and inflamed with the swelling reports of tradition and of distant fame — sallied forth, prepared not for novelties merely : — they really expected, and were resolved to meet with wonders. And, in the absence of real wonders, such was the fervour of their enthusiasm, that it would have thrown the most brilliant colouring over the tamest scenes, — magnifying the most ordinary and commonplace into the marvellous, — converting every field into a garden of delights, every rock into a mountain of gold, and every valley into Jj Elysian bowers. What, then, must have been the effect on such ardent, chivalrous, and romantic spirits, when they found, or imagined they found, the ideal pictures actually eclipsed by the tangible and the visible ! — When, even on their glowing fancies, the reality burst in a blaze of unex- pected splendour ! Around them were strevm the most stupendous monuments of art — tombs and temples — palaces and towers — that seemed to bespeak an age when genii and demigods were denizens of earth, and compeers of mortal man. Before them, too, and on every side, nature flung forth her stores with a prolific bounty, utterly unknown in northern climes. To say that they were filled with amaze- ment and surprise, is to say little. The impression was altogether overpowering. From that time the very name of India became throughout Europe the symbol and represen- tative of all that is great, glorious, and magnificent, in the products of nature and of art, — unsealing to the romancer and the poet, a never-failing fount of imagery, which, blend- ing with the flowers of Parnassus and the gentle ripplings of Helicon, has been woven into the richest drapery of modern song.

Actuated by such feelings, and entranced by such pros-

42

PORTUOURSE CONQUESTS.

pects, need we wondex’ that the Court of Portugal and its emissaries in the East were at first heaidily disposed to treat even Indian commerce as comparatively of secondary mo- ment. In the acquisition and retention of that monopoly, on account of its manifold advantages, they indeed gloried. But it was not enough. In itself cold and dry, artificial and systematic, tame and prosaic, it could not satisfy the warm and generous, but bold and flighty spirits of a poetical age. For these, more appropriate objects must be found. Nor were such objects long wanting. Soon did the presiding genius of the heroes of the tournament, and the enchanted castle, and the holy sepulchre, break forth on the shores of India, in a passion for adventure, and conquest, and mili- tary glory. Burning with enthusiastic ardour, they rushed on from victory to victory. In feats of daring and prodi- gies of valour, they seemed resolved to outrival the knights eri’ant of bygone times. City after city, and kingdom after kingdom, lay prostrate at their feet. Princes were dethroned, and subjects raised to royal dominion, at their good pleasure. The pomp and pageantry of triumphs, like those of ancient Rome, were revived, — triumphs in which were strangely blended the ferocity and tenderness, the generosity and savage pride, that so peculiarly chai’acterised the age of chi- valry,— triumphs which gave rise to the splendid eulogium of their own historian : — “ The trophies of our victories are not bruised helmets and warlike engines hung on the trees of the mountains ; but cities, islands and kingdoms, first humbled under our feet, and then joyfully worshipping our government.”

The glow of romantic interest which the reports and earlier achievements of the Portuguese threw over India, was, if possible, heightened by the vivid representations of the first French and English adventurers. These, it is true, went forth, chiefly for the promotion of mercenary ends ; but not without being imbued with a portion of the excited spirit of the age. All previous accounts they were enabled to confirm ; and, in some cases, vastly to exceed. The brightest visions that ever floated befoi'e the fancy of poetic dreamers

THE GREAT MOGUL — HIS COURT.

43

in the West, seemed more than verified in the real magnifi- cence of the court of the Great Mogul — the most splendid by far that ever dazzled the eyes of man.

From a multitude of details, let us select a few, merely as specimens.

Here is the portraiture given by Sir T. Roe, the English ambassador, of the personal appearance of the emperor. He represents him, on his birth-day, as “ sitting cross- legged, on a little throne, all covered with diamonds, pearls, and rubies ; before him, a table of burnished gold, and on it about fifty pieces of gold plate, all set with jewels, some very large, and extremely rich ; his sword and buckler en- tirely covered with diamonds and rubies, and his belt of gold, suitably adorned ; his rich turban decorated with lofty heron’s feathers ; on one side, pendant, a ruby unset as big as a walnut ; on the other side, a diamond as large ; in the middle, an emerald, still larger, in the form of a heart ; his staff, wound about witl'- a chain of great pearls, rubies, and diamonds, drilled ; round his neck, a chain of three strings, of most excellent pearl, suspended ; his arms and wrists glittering with diamond bracelets ; and on each finger a ring of inestimable value.”

To this account of the personal ornaments of the sovereign, may well be subjoined Tavernier’s minute description of his imperial thrones. “ The Great Mogul,” says he, “ has seven thrones, some set all over with diamonds ; others with rubies, emeralds, and pearls. But the largest, or peacock throne, is set up in the hall of the first court of the palace. It is, in form, like one of our field beds, six feet long, and four broad. I counted about a hundred and eight pale rubies in callets about that throne, the least whereof weighed a hundred carats ; but there are some that weigh two hundred. Em- eralds I counted about a hundred and forty, that weighed, some threescore, some thirty, carats. The under part of the canopy is all embroidered with pearls and diamonds, with a fringe of pearls round about. Upon the top of the canopy, which is made like an arch, with four panes, stands a peacock, with his tall spread, consisting entirely of

44

THE GREAT MOGUL — HIS THRONE.

sapphires and other proper coloured stones ; the body is of beaten gold, enchased with several jewels ; and a great ruby adorns his breast, to which hangs a pearl that weighs fifty carats. On each side of the peacock stand two nose- gays as high as the bird, consisting of various sorts of flowers, all of beaten gold enamelled. When the king seats himself upon the throne, there is a transparent jewel, with a diamond appendant, of eighty or ninety carats weight, encompassed with rubies and emeralds, so hung that it is always in his eye. The twelve pillars also that uphold the canopy, are set with rows of fair pearls, round and of an excellent water, that weigh from six to ten carats a piece. At the distance of four feet upon each side of the throne, are placed umbrel- las, the handles of which are about eight feet high, covered with diamonds ; the umbrellas themselves being of crimson velvet, embroidered and fringed with pearl. This is thei famous throne which Timur began, and Shah Jehan finished ii and is really reported to have cost a hundred and sixtj* millions and five hundred thousand li%Tes of our money. Besides this stately and magnificent throne, there is another of an oval form, seven feet long, and five broad. The out- side of it shines all over with diamonds and pearls ; but there is no canopy over it. The five other thrones are erected in a magnificent hall, in a different court, entirely covered with diamonds, without any coloured stone.”

Here is a single throne, estimabd at a sum of money so large, that — if all the chapels, and churches, and cathedrals in Scotland were swallowed up by an earthquake — a mere fraction of its value, after being reduced to the lowest rea- sonable amount, would more than suffice to rebuild them all, and replenish them with all needful furniture ! Who, after this, can charge Milton’s language with hyperbole, when he so happily pourtrays “ the gorgeous East ” as having

Shower’d o’er her kings, barbaric pearl and gold ?

Bather, who will not be ready to admit that the hyper- bole of the great poet, however graphic, scarcely conveys an adequate picture of the reality, as minutely described in prose !

THE GREAT MOGUL — HIS MAGNIFICENCE.

45

Having seen the Mogul in his palace, let us catch a pass- ing glimpse of him in his outward movements. When he rode forth to take the field, it was amid a thousand ele- phants, not only richly caparisoned in gilded trappings, but having their heads splendidly adorned with precious jewels. When his encampment was spread over the plains, the royal tents, and those of the great omrahs, or nobles, assuming every conceivable form of elegance and beauty, shone re- splendent with the most varied and brilliant colours. “ It was,” says Sir T. Roe, “ one of the gi’eatest rarities and magnificences I ever beheld.” The whole appeared to resemble a vast city of surpassing beauty and splendour suddenly summoned into being by the spell of a magician ; and realizing the wonders of Aladdin’s lamp, and the other talismanic powers of the Arabian Nights.

Need we wonder that accounts like these, and others equally authentic and astonishing, were calculated to heigh- ten and perpetuate the romantic interest in India 1 Need we wonder that, at the same time, they tended to inflame the cupidity and avarice of the European world ? Need we wonder that the commercial and mercenary spirit began to develope itself with mightier and more wide-spread energy than ever ? Or need we wonder at the long protracted struggle that ensued, for ascendency in power, and monopoly in commerce, among the leading nations of the West ?

The history of this struggle is itself a species of romance. Who can peruse the exciting narrative of embassies, and stratagems, and sieges, and battles, which terminated in what has been justly styled the most extraordinary of all historical phenomena, — “ the subjection of the millions of India, and the expulsion of other Europeans from its shores, by a mere handful of British,” — without being filled with astonishment and surprise ? Of a series of events so vast and complicated, it is not possible to furnish even a sketch. But we may glance at the result. A region of Asia, equal in extent to the whole of Europe (exclusive of Russia), with a population of more than one hundred and thirty millions^ — all of them being “ aliens in blood, language, and religion ; ”

46

BRITISH SUPREMACY IN INDIA.

and many consisting of warlike tribes, so gallant and so brave, as to have again and again successfully repelled the combined hosts of the Moslem conquerors, with a heroism not unworthv of the best sons of Greece : — this vast region, with its myriads of inhabitants, situate, by the ordinary route, at a distance exceeding half the globe’s circumference, has, to its uttermost borders, been subjected to the uncon- trolled dominion of British sway ! And how many British- born subjects are dispersed over so immense a territory, — exercising government, — preserving peace, — administering justice, — and regulating the imdtiplied relationships, internal and external, of almost as many “ peoples, and nations, and languages'” as composed the Babylonian empire in the zenith of its glory ? Are there as many as may be congregated within a few square miles, in a single city, such as London ? No ; including all governors, and judges, and magistrates — all military officers and common soldiers — all merchants and other uncovenanted residents whatsoever — there are not, in all India, so wide in extent and so densely peopled, above forty thousand British ! — not as many British as there are inhabitants in any one of the third or fourth rate to\vms or counties of the United Kingdom ! — not as many British as there are inhabitants in the single tonm of Dundee, or the single county of Banff ! And yet so absolute and undisputed is the supremacy of the British sceptre — so regular and per- fect the organization of the British power, — that one Bri- tish-born subject, under the designation of Governor-Gene- ral— who may never have trodden on the Indian soil — may embark on board a vessel in the Thames, — traverse fifteen thousand miles of ocean, — land at the mouth of the Ganges, — proceed along that mighty stream as far as Dover is from Gibraltar, — perch himself on one of the peaks of the Hima- laya in Central Asia ; — and there, by a single word of his mouth, or a single stroke of his pen, as by the waving of the wand of an omnipotent enchanter, set all the teeming millions of India in motion ! Can the whole annals of time furnish any thing parallel to this? If not, ought we not at once to conclude that Divine Providence has had some

ROMANTIC LITERARY ERA.

47

grand design in view, which it becomes us humbly to scan, and devoutly to prosecute ?

It was not, as has been remarked, “ till the British power had been settled on a basis that promised to be lasting, that the original conception of that distant land, as an Eldorado, and a country of enchantment, was completely broken. The regular intercourse with Europe which then ensued, and the formal routine of a European government on the soil of India, seemed to break the spell for ever.”

But no sooner had the era of romantic imaginative inte- rest closed, than a new era — even that of romantic literary interest — began to dawn. More strictly, perhaps, it may be said, that a total change of circumstances led, not to an ex- tinguishment of the spirit of romance, but to a total change in the objects towards which it was dir«>cted. It would seem as if the spirit of the Crusades — the spirit of chivalry — the spirit of strange adventure — the spirit that incited to conquest and military glory — the spirit that regaled itself amid airy halls and golden palaces ; — it would seem as if the same romantic spirit had been transferred to the discovery of new worlds, and the conquest of new realms, and the excavation of new treasures from the unexplored mines of Oriental literature.

This new direction of the romantic interest, which Europe had so long felt in India, has been thus happily described by the North American Review : — “ When the British power was substantially established, there was a call for other ac- complishments than those of the factory and the counting- house. The creation of civil offices brought from England men of parts and education ; who, though far superior to the exploded errors, were full of curiosity and sanguine expecta- tion with regard to the antiquities of Hindustan, its lan- guage, history, and scientific culture. Sanskrit learning was a virgin mine ; and it would have been a prodigy, if those who first explored it had escaped intoxication from its vapours. The real magnificence of that venerable tongue.

48

PASSION FOR HINDU LITERATURE.

was enough to disturb the equilibrium of the judgment ; its obvious affinity with the Western languages seemed to enhance its value ; the thirst for strange acquirements, and the ardour of discovery, made wise men credulous ; Greek and Roman learning was disparaged in comparison with the lore of India. A taste was formed for the morantic beauties

C O

of Sanskrit archaeology. Cycles of hundreds of thousands of years, instead of exciting laughter, commanded admira- tion. The Mosaic chronolo^v looked verv small beside such colossal epochs. ^len began to imagine that a flood of light w'as to be shed upon the world from the marshes of Bengal. Their exaggerated statements were greedily seized upon by European infidels. What delusion began in India, impos- ture promoted in France; and, as the ‘ new philosophy’ was predominant in Europe, it was soon a law of fashion to believe that the world was a million years of age ; and the passion for Hindu history and science became an epidemic. The chronological Imposture soon met with its quietus ; but the literary phrenzy lived a little longer. The only correc- tive was increase of knowledge. Sir William Jones began his career in India with strong prepossessions in favour of Sanskrit learning ; but his previous acquirements were so various and extensive as to save him from infection. His own progress in Indian literature was wonderfully rapid ; and the Asiatic Society, of which he was the founder, brought the whole field, in a short time, under actual culti- vation. Before this process, the delusion could not stand. The religion of the Bralimans was divested of its finery, and exposed in filthy ugliness ; while Sanksrit literature took its proper place as the growth of an ignorant and imaginative age, with the usual faults and merits which accompany such a pedigree. Half a century ago, men were mad with the idea, that the Sanskrit reservoir was to water all the world, — sweeping away the Scriptures and the Church of Christ, — putting back the origin of time by millions of years, — and swallowing up the poetry and science of the We-st in its own stupendous vortex of sublimity and wisdom ! Where is this notion now ? Buried so deep, that few believe it could ever

ERA OF RELIGIOUS INTEREST.

49

have existed ! And thus has its final death-blow been given to the romance of Hindustan — and the illusory charm w’hich once invested it seems gone for ever.”

As far back as thirty years ago, the Edinburgh Review distinctly sounded the necessity for a retreat from the regions of Oriental literary romance. Half in jest, Ave pre- sume, and half in earnest, it thus announced its oracular deliverance : — “ Situated as things are, we really consider a judicious limitation of an impertinent inquisitiveness about Hindu antiquities and similar topics, extremely salutary and reasonable. For, to bring the matter at once to a practical issue, would an accurate translation of the Puranas in the least curb the ambition of Buonaparte ? What effect would the most profound commentary on the Veda have, in pro- curing for the nation a wise, a strong, and an energetic ministry ? Would the price of candles be sensibly reduced by the most luminous disquisition on the Hindu Triad ? If the French intercept our teas and muslins, and carry them into the Mauritius, will the ladies thank us for importing an old-fashioned assortment of antediluvian metaphysics ? ”

But, as the era of romantic literary interest began to wane, the era of vivid religious interest began to emerge in splendour from the shadowy twilight of a long protracted dawm. And was it not for the manifestation of this brighter era, and the realization of its promised blessings, that all else wdiich preceded it was overruled by Divine Providence as snbservient and preparatory ? Can it be that a power so tremendous, over an empire so vast, and a people so count- less, has been placed in the hands of a few Britons for no higher end than that of enabling them to gratify their am- bition, their avarice, their vain-glorious tastes, and lawless appetites ? No. Reason, philosophy, sound theism. Reve- lation,— all must unite in repelling the insinuation, as not less dishonourable than false. Whatever man may think. He who guides the course of providence, with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, has

50

DESIGNS OF PROVIDENCE.

respect to the everlasting covenant, — ^the mercies of which are sure, and the prinleges of which shall one day be ex- tended to all the kindreds of the nations. The march of His dispensations may appear slow, and their developement obscure, to a creature like man, whose term of being is so swiftly run out, and who* power of vision is so feeble and so faint ; — nevertheless there is a progress that is stedfast, a developement that is clearly defined ; — and there shall be a glorious consummation. The decree hath gone forth — and who can stay its execution ? — that India shall be the Lord’s, — that Asia shall be the Lord’s ; — yea, that all the king- doms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of His Chidst !

And can it be, that Britain, the most central kingdom of the habitable world — inasmuch as, of all existing capitals, its metropolis is that which would form the centre of the largest hemisphere tenanted by man, — Britain, the most higlily favoured with the light and life of Revelation, — Bri- tain, the most signally privileged with the ability, and the will, and the varied facilities for dispensing blessings among the nations : — can it be without a reference to the grand designs of Providence and of grace that Britain, so circum- stanced and endowed, has, in a way so unparalleled, been led to assume the sovereignty of India ? — India, that occu- pies the same commanding position in relation to the densely peopled regions of southern and eastern Asia i at Palestine does to the Old World ; and Britain, to both Old and New i — India, which — itself containing a fifth of the world’s inhab- itants— when once thrown open, may thus become a door of access to tico-fifths more ? — India, which, when once lighted up by the lamp of salvation, may become a spiritual Pharos, to illumine more than half the population of the globe ? No : it cannot be.

Mark the singular concatenation of events. The trea- sures of India, by awakening the cupidity, had, for ages, summoned forth the energies of successive nations of the West. As the emporium of commerce was gradually trans- ferred to countries more remote, the difficulties of direct

DESIRE OF SENDING THE GOSPEL TO THE EAST.

51

communication, — from the trackless deserts and unknown oceans that intervened, — became increasingly multiplied. Then it was that the tide of enthusiasm, which had so long found its proper outlet in crusades and chivalry, was turned into the- channels of maritime discovery with a special view to India. Hence the extraordinary series of voyages which terminated in doubling the Cape. Once landed on the longed- for shores, the Europeans soon perceived that, in order to secure uninterruptedly the advantage of Indian commerce, they must become masters of the Indian soil. Hence the unprecedented series of conquests which terminated in the unrivalled supremacy of the British. Possessed of the Indian territory, the British soon found that, in order to retain it, they must conciliate the natives by a due attention to their customs, manners, and laws. Hence the remark- able series of investigations which terminated in unlocking the mysteries of Sanskrit lore.

All things being now ready, there began to spring up in the bosom of the British churches a wide and simultaneous sense of the solemn responsibility under wh'ohthey had been laid by the events of Providence, to avail themselves of so favourable an opening for the diffusion of the Gospel through- out the Eastern World. Men qualified to undertake the high commission, must be sent across the ocean ; — and have not the toils, and perils, and successes of Vasco De Gama, and other navigators, opened up a safe and easy passage ? That their labours might pervade the country, and strike a deep and permanent root into the soil, they must be deliv- ered from the caprices of savage tyranny and the ebullitions of heathen rage ; — and have not our Olives and our Welling- tons wrested the rod of power from every wilful despot ; and our Hastings and Wellesleys thro mi the broad shield of British justice and British protection alike over all? In order that they might the more effectually adapt their com- munications to the peculiarities of the people, they must become acquainted with the learned language of the country, and through it with the real and original sources of all pre- vailing opinions and observances, sacred and civil ; — and have

52

INDIFFERENCE ON THE PART OF MANY.

not our J oneses, and our Colebrookes unfolded the whole, to prove subservient to the cause of the Christian philanthro- pist ? In this way, have not our navigators^ our warriors, our statesmen, and our literati, been unconsciously employed, under an overruling Providence, as so many pioneers to pre- pare the way for our Swartzes, our Buchanans, our Martyns, and our Careys ?

Nor is this conclusion in the least degree affected by the consideration, that the sacred cause of Gospel propagation was directly opposed by so many of those who indirectly la- boured most to insure its ultimate triumph. The indifference or opposition of individuals or governments, as well as their immediate aid, God has often made instrumental to the ad- vancement of His purposes. How often is it adduced as a pow'erful argument in defence of Christianity, that it was not espoused, but resisted to the uttermost, by the Jews as a nation ? And why ? Because, if it had been so espoused, it might be reckoned a fabrication of State policy. The same remark applies in its fullest force to India. Had our merchant princes, or literary savans, or those armed with political and martial pow'er, been seized with a proselyting zeal, — and had thousands, outwardly at least, been brought to confess the name of Jesus, — then, not only might their motives have been thrown open to suspicion, — but to the influence of wealth, and learning, and power would all the credit and glory be ascribed ; — man alone would be exalted, and the great God concealed from our view. But when the work has been left to humble missionaries of the Cross, who are destitute of wealth, and unarmed with power, and who habitually subordinate human learning to the “ wisdom of God — yea, when the men of wealth, and learning, and power have been arrayed in fierce and threatening attitude against them, — then, in the acknowledged weakness of the instrument, is there a mighty demonstration that success must be the result of a higher agency, — even that of the Almighty Spirit of all grace, whose alone is the excellency of the wisdom and the pow'er.

Let the men of wealth, of learning, and of power, there-

man’s opposition overruled by god.

53

fore, pursue their own specific ends, — their own darling projects. Let them despise or neglect the only means of effectually ameliorating the millions of India. Let them continue to plead “ the testimony of ancient history, the climate, the usages, the tastes, the religious and political institutions of the Eastern people,” — in order to shelter themselves from the plea of indifference and neglect, on the score that improvement is impracticable. Let them muster, in formidable array, the strong hosts of caste and prejudice, so stoutly opposed to innovation, and so “ resolute to maintain what, from age to age, the people have been accustomed to venerate.” Let them not cease to reiterate the conclusion of the celebrated author of the Spirit of Laws, that “ India has always been, and India always will be, what it now is,” — in order to paralyze every attempt to ameliorate its condition ; and let them stigmatize those who labour in its behalf as entertaining extravagant ideas, and sanguine theories, and idle imaginations. Let them brand the effort to change “'the character and habits of the people, and new-model the whole mishapen structure of society” as chimerical, — on the old principle, that “ because an elephant is an elephant, and a Hindu a Hindu, we ought to leave them both on the plains of Hindustan, where we found them. Let them do all this, and much more. Their indifference and opposition will only render the final tri- umphs of Christianity over the idols of heathenism more signally the work of God. For, “the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be brought low ; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” Whatever the views and the conduct of the men of this world may be, we must never forget that, as Christians, the Divine injunction laid upon us is, do good to all men as we have opportunity ! Here, opportunity is made the measure of our expected toell-doing. And when or where has an oppor- tunity of doing good to man, in the highest and noblest sense of that expression, ever been presented to any Chris- tian people, similar to that which British Christians now enjoy, in reference to the millions of India ? The facilities

51-

INDIA AN IMPORTANT FIELD OF MISSIONS.

now afforded in that distant land for the propagation of Gospel truth on a scale so broad and extensive, have seldom been equalled, never surpassed, in any of the realms of Gentilism. It is this circumstance which, above all others, ought to determine the sphere, and regulate the amount of more immediate duty. Look to other heathen nations. Ex- cept China, there is none that I'emotely approximates to India, either in extent of territory or in denseness of popu- lation. But if China exceed India in both, may it not be thought that it demands the fint place in the calculations of the missionary enterprise ? Here, however, other elements must be taken into our reckoning. Mere magnitude, either as to territory or population, is not enough towards the formation of a sound decision. Facility of access and liberty of operation must be held among the conclusive and deter- mining elements in solving the problem of duty. Now, it must be confessed that, notwithstanding certain favourable appearances and over-sanguine expectations, China seems, up to the present time, in regard to direct missionary opera- tions, nearly as much shut against us, if encompassed with an unscalable wall of brass. The same may be said of Madagascar and other portions of the earth. It is our duty to watch and pray that all impediments may every where be speedily removed, — for these heathen lands, as much as any other, are included in the inheritance of the Son. But how different at this moment is the condition of India ! There, we are met by no thundering edicts of a Celestial Emperor to scare us away from its shores, — no exterminating decrees of a capricious Madagascar savage to expel us from a territory already partially possessed. Every harbour along its extended coasts is thrown open for our reception ; — every province, every city, and every village to its utmost boundaries, prepared to tolerate, if not to welcome, our Gospel ministrations. Over the whole of that region of moral darkness, stable and uncontrollable power presides ; — and that is the power of a Christian ^monarchy. There, Christian governors legislate ; Christian judges and magis- trates decree justice ; and Christian captains, wielding the

DUTY OP BRITISH CHRISTIANS.

sword of power, guarantee security of person and of pro- perty. All, all conspire to open up a free and unfettered course to the herald of the Cross ; and serve to throw over

him a broad and invulnerable segis. How are we to inter-

° . V .

pret the final came of such a state of things I Surely, if ever Jehovah spoke by infallible signs through the leadings of His providence, it is here that He has uttered His voice — and the announcement of the oracle seems to be : — “ Be- hold, without any forethought, cost or trouble, on your part — behold, the key of Asia is placed in your hands. A door, great and effectual, hath been opened there for you : — enter ye in, and take possession of the land. If India has been allowed to continue for ages the theatre of one of Satan’s mightiest triumphs, it is only that, in these latter days, it maj^ become the theatre of one of his most disastrous defeats. If, in the pride of sinful independence, India has long re- fused to yield allegiance to Him who, on Zion’s holy hill, has been anointed King and Governor of the nations, it is only that — when made captive and willing in the day of His power and merciful visitation — she may enrich and adorn, with more than the spoils of orient magnificence, the tri- umphal car of the conquering Immanuel.”

In order still farther to exhibit and enforce the duty of the British churches towards India, let us endeavour to illustrate, by analogy, the striking peculiarity of its present position, from its parallelism with the most remarkable epoch in ancient history.

What was the history of the world between the flood and the coming of Christ ? Was it not a history of the up-set- ting and down-putting of kingdoms ; — until, at length, a power arose, great, and mighty, and terrible, and exceeding strong, which ground into atoms the kingdoms of tiie earth ? After ages of conquest and of bloody strife, the Koman emperor was enabled to proclaim universal peace ; and in token thereof shut the temple of Janus, — the open gates of which so long bespoke to the eyes of every Eoman citizen

56

EPITOME OF PAST HISTORY OF INDIA.

that war had not ceased to convulse the nations ! “ Then,”

say our biblical critics and ecclesiastical historians, — “ then was the fulness of time ; — and then did the hosts of heaven, commissioned on the joyous errand, announce the advent of the incarnate Deity.” What, in like manner, we would ask, has been the history of India for the last three thousand years ? What but a history of the up-setting and down- putting of kingdoms ? At one time, divided into a thousand petty States, scowling defiance at each other : here, the parricide, basely usurping the father’s throne ; and there, the fratricide, wresting the lawful crown from his brothers. At another time, split up and parcelled into groups of con- federacies,— cemented by the bond of indomitable hate, — and leaving the retaliation of fell revenge as a legacy to their children’s children. After ages had rolled their course — in the tenth century of the Christian era — our eyes are turned away from the interior to the far distant north. There, the horizon is seen thickening with lurid clouds, that roll their dense masses along the troubled atmosphere. Suddenly the tempest bursts ; and one barbarian conqueror issues forth after another. At length, the greatest and the might- iest of them all, — from the hyperborean regions of Tartary, from the gorges of the Indian Caucasus, — descends upon the plains of poor unhappy India, — proclaiming himself the scourge of God, and the terror of men. His path is like the red lightning’s course. And speedily he blasts the flower of India’s chivalry ; and smites into the dust her lordly confederacies. Her villages, and cities, and temples, and palaces, lie smoking in their ruins. Through fields of carnage, and rivers of blood, he hastens to grasp the sceptre of a universal but transient dominion. All India is made profusely to bleed ; and, ere her old wounds are healed, all India is made to bleed afresh. In swift and destructive succession new imperial dynasties spring up out of the blood and ashes of the old.

Such is the melancholy epitome of India’s tragic history for nearly three thousand years. Oh ! how different the scene now ! About two hundred years ago, a band of needy

STRIKING ANALOGY.

57

adventurers issue forth from this our native land, — from this, one of the remotest islets of the ocean ; — and they^sit down in peaceful settlements on India’s fertile shores. By a strange and mysterious dispensation of Providence, these merchant-subjects were destined to become sovereign princes. In opposition to their own expressed wishes — in di- rect contravention of the imperative mandates of the British Parliament — district was added to district, and province to province, and kingdom to kingdom, till at length all India lay prostrate at the feet of Britain. During the twelve years preceding that which has last terminated, for the first time in the course of thirty centuries, universal peace did reign in India ; and if there were a thousand temples of Janus there, the thousand temples might then be shut. Who now can resist the inference which analogy supplies ? Were the Roman legions commissioned by an overruling Providence to break down the barriers to intercommunion between the states, and nations, and kingdoms of antiquity, to prepare the way for the ambassadors of the Cross to announce the advent of the Prince of Peace ? And have not the British legions been commissioned in our day, by the same over- ruling Providence, to break down the barriers to intercom- munion between the tribes, and states, and principalities of Hindustan ? Have they not levelled mountains and filled up valleys, — to prepare a highway for the heralds of salvation, who proclaim the message that ought ever to fall upon the sinner’s ear more enchanting far than the ^softest, sweetest strains of earthly melody ? Ought we then to have shut our eyes, and to have steeled our hearts against an opportunity so favourable for extending the boundaries of the Redeemer’s kingdom ! If we did, what ought we to have anticipated as the necessary consequence ? What, but the usual retribu- tion,— even the removal of the trust that had been neglected or abused ? And did it not seem, about a twelvemonth ago, as if the Divine patience had been exhausted, and the knell of British connection with India had been rung out ? While all were shouting their peans of triumph about the omnipo- tence of British sway, and the passing of legislative enact-

.58

ARGUMENT FOR MISSIONS.

ments that were to consolidate and perpetuate our empire ; — lo, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the tidings reached us from afar, that, within, a mine of discontent was ready to explode in universal rebellion ; and that, without, enemies on every side were marshalling their forces, to seize upon the spoil ! Every one looked pale. For no one knew whether the next intelligence might not be, that the proud fabric of British power had suddenly dissolved, — like the apparently massive walls and turreted battlements of the clouds before the blast of the north wind. But of late, the prospect has once more brightened. When the decree was about to go forth, “ Cut down this unprofitable connection between Britain and the millions of India, — why does it con- tinue to blight and wither the best interests of that mighty people ? ” — it would seem as if the Angel of the Covenant had interposed, saying, “ Spare, oh spare, a little longer ; and see whether this hitherto profitless connection be not yet improved for the grand end for which it was instituted and designed, — even the establishment of that kingdom of righteousness that shall never be moved.”

And now that the period of stewardship has, to all ap- pearance, been prolonged, shall we, by again wrapping up the talent of the national guardianship of that distant realm in a napkin, once more provoke the Almighty, in his displea- sure, to deprive us altogether of the trust ? Now is the set time for diffusing the light of the Gospel through the length and breadth of India. Say not that we have not the means. The wealthy have the means in abundance, and to spare, — if they had only the large Christian heart to communicate. The poorest have something ; even the widow has her mite, and if she have not, she has her closet ; — and thence, in communion with all the saints on earth, may thousands of prayers be made to ascend into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth, more grateful and more acceptable far than the incense of a thousand sacrifices offered upon a thousand hills. Shall we then refuse to redeem the time — refuse to employ the means, now placed so abundantly within our reach, of extending the renovating principles of the Cross among the millions of our fellow-subjects in idolatrous India ? — India,

ARGUMENT FOR MISSIONS, 59

which is linked to so many of ns by being the temporary home or the perpetual grave of beloved friends ! — India, which is linked to all of us nationally, by being the brightest diamond in the British crown ! Oh ! if we neglect such a golden opportunity of advancing the cause of the Divine Redeemer, how shall we be able to stand before the bar of heaven, and plead guiltless of the blood of the perishing millions that now lie conquered, prostrate, weeping at our feet ? Surely, methinks, this awful responsibility ought to paralyse into weakness many of the best-laid projects of life, and crush many of its busiest occupations beneath the Aveight of an oppressive burden. Methinks it ought to introduce the pall and the shroud into the gayest of our noisy revel- ries ; and, like the handwriting on the wall of the palace of Babylon, suddenly freeze the flowing current of our festive excitements. Methinks it should follow us as an ever-pre- sent tormentor into the solitary chamber ; and render rest- less and feverish the repose of night ; and haunt its fleeting visions with images of terror more alarming than the fabled ghosts of the murdered ! Oh ! if it do not, rest assured it is not for want of a cause more than adequate.

But why should we appeal to duty and responsibility alone? why not to the exquisite enjoyment experienced by those who know and value the privilege of being fellow- workers with the Great God Himself, in advancing that cause for which the world was originally created, and for the de- velopement of which the world is still preserved in being ? We appeal to all present who have basked in the sunshine of the Redeemer’s love, whether the enjoyment felt in pro- moting the great cause for which He died in agonies on the cross, that He might see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, be not ineffable ? Oh ! it is an enjoyment which those who have once tasted it would not exchange for all the treasures of the Indian mines, — for all the laurels of civic success, — for all the glittering splendour of coronets. It is a joy rich as heaven — pure as the Godhead — lasting as eternity !

In the midst of troublous times, when the shaking of the nations, and the heaving of the earthquake that may ere

60

ARGUMENT FOR MISSIONS.

long rend asunder the mightiest empires, have commenced, what stay, what refuge, what hiding-place can be found like the faith and hope which are the stronghold of the righteous ? They whose faith has been firmly planted on the rock of Jehovah’s promises, can look across the surges of the tem- pestuous ocean to the bright regions that lie beyond. Yea, should still greater dangers rise, and greater terrors frown, and days of greater darkness fall upon them ; oh, is there not enough to cheer and exhilarate their spirits in the believing contemplation of the latter-day glory ? Think of the earth, as it now is, rent with woe and burdened with a curse : think of the same earth, in the radiance of prophetic vision, converted into gladsome bowers — the abodes of peace and righteousness. View the empire of Satan, at present fast •bound by the iron chains of malignant demons that feed and riot on the groans and perdition of immortal spirits. Behold, from the same dark empire — in the realization of prophetic imagerj- — the new-clad m}Tiads rise, chaunting the chorus of a renovated creation — the jubilee of a once- groaning but now emancipated universe. Over the slaughter of undaunted heroes, and the smoking ruins of some citadel that long held out as the last asylum of a coimtrj-’s inde- pendence, poets have sung of freedom’s shriek. Over the fall and ruin of immortal spirits, and a world dismantled by the fall, we might covet the tongue of an angel to tell of creation’s shriek. But surely with an ecstasy of fervour might we long for the voice of an archangel to celebrate creation’s shout of joy over a world of sinners — saved — re- stored, through grace, to light and liberty. Oh that the blessed era were greatly hastened ! Oh that the vision of that mitred minstrel, who erewhile sung so sweetly of “ Greenland’s icy mountains, and India’s coral strand,” were speedily realized ! — that glorious vision, wherein, rapt into future times, he beheld the stream of Gospel blessings rise, and gush, and roll onwards, till it embraced every land and circled every shore ; — aye, till, “ like a sea of glory, it spread from pole to pole.” Even so. Lord Jesus, come quickly ; even so. Amen.

CHAPTER II.

THE GRAND THEORY OF HINDUISM, WHICH IS ESSENTIALLY A STUPEN- DOUS SYSTEM OP PANTHEISM WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF SOME OF

THE PRINCIPAL MODES IN WHICH THE THEORY IS EXEMPLIFIED

IN PRACTICE.

The necessity of knowing the real condition of a people^ in order to the adoption of effectual measures for their amelioration

— This illustrated in the case of India — Religion the master-prin- ciple in moulding the character, opinions, and practices of the people — Their religion contained in writings believed to he divine

— These writings locked up in the Sanksrit language — Enumera- tion of thentr— Attempt to unfold the orthodox theory of the Brah- manical faith — Foundation of the system in the belief of one great universal Spirit — Description of the nature and character of this Spirit — Shown to be an infinite nothing, yet substantially all things — Reflections on the fact that he is without any moral attributes — The manifestation of the universe, at a time vjhen nought existed but the supreme Spirit — Four distinct views of this subject enter- tained in the orthodox schools — All of them Pantheistic — Spirit- ual Pantheism — Psycho-ideal Pantheism — Psycho-material Pan- theism— Psycho-material-mythologic Pantheism — The geographi- cal and astronomical construction of the universe, deduced from the substance of the supreme Spirit — The peopling of all worlds with animated beings — The immense epochs of the duration of the universe, with its successive destructions and renovations — Glance at the mode in which the grand theory of Hinduism is re- duced to practice — Various exemplifications — A graduated scale of rewards and punishments — Transmigration of souls a vital and operative doctrine — The wicked sent to one or other of innumerable hells — They reappear on earth in mineral, vegetable, or brutal forms — Obedience and acts of merit recompensed by admission into-

62

KNOWLEDGE OF INDIA NECESSARY.

one or other of the heavens oj the gods — The highest reward is, absorption or refusion into the Divine Essence — A series of state- ments to show how the facts and doctrines of Christianity beau- 't fully contrast with those of Hinduism — Appeal to Christians.

It is related of the once petty Mogul chieftain, Sultan Baber, that, when fired with ambition, or, as the Maham- madan historian gravely assures us, “ led by inspiration ” to attempt the conquest of Hindustan, — he first resolved to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the condition of its inhabitants — their numbers, their national character and spirit, their government and laws, their territorial and other resources, their means of resistance and defence. The more effectually to serve this end, he actually assumed the guise of a religious mendicant ; and under the shelter of a char- acter so sacred, he traversed, without detection or suspicion, the plains, and cities, and strongholds of Northern India, — surveying all with the eye of military genius, — already plan- ning pitched battles and sieges, — and treasuring up the in- formation elicited by the ten thousand varied inquiries which the sagacity and foresight of the future General could devise. What was the result ? With the light of facts so numer- ous, minute, and accurate, his measures of aggression w'ere contrived and adapted with such skill and precision to the end in view, that the outcast exile from the confines of the Tartarian desert, speedily became the sovereign Conqueror seated on the throne of Delhi, — the founder of a d}masty, which, in the pomp and parade of royal magnificence, greatly outrivalled that of the Nebuchadnezzars of Babylon, the Caliphs of Bagdad, and the Caesars of Imperial Rome !

Have we no lesson to learn from an example such as this ? or must we allow the children of this world to monopolise for ever the proud distinction of being “ wiser in their gene- ration than the children of light ? ” If true to our profes- sion, are we not soldiers in the service of a great King I Are we not commanded to go forth on a war of conquest among all nations ? True, our warfare is spiritual ; our weapons are spii’itual ; the issues of our conquest must be

KNOWLEDGE OF INDIA NECESSARY.

63

spiritual ; and we have the promise of Almighty grace to sustain us in the conflict ; — but have we, on this account, nothing in common with the warriors of this world ? Have we noiJiing to do with the exercise of reason and judgment, discretion and forethought, in propounding inquiries, elicit- ing information, combining the varied items of intelligence, adjusting plans, watching times, and seasons, and opportu- nities for action, — and, as the general result of such exer- cises, applying the most suitable means for the accomplish- ment of specific ends ? Nothing to do ! — we have every thing to do with it. Reason and judgment, discretion and forethought, so employed, are the very instruments which Jehovah has been pleased to select ; and which, when selec- ted and sanctified. He has graciously promised to render efficacious for the execution of His plans of redeeming love. Hence it is that, if it be at once our duty and our privilege to determine on the spiritual invasion, and ulti- mate possession, of such a country as India, — there is the same demand for the exercise of all our powers, intellectual and moral, in surveying — though from different points of view, and for the realization of very different objects — the actual condition of the people, through every variety of rela- tionship ; — the very same demand and necessity as existed in order to insure the triumph of that daring enterprise, which transferred to the fugitive Tartar the crown and sceptre of the Indian Monarchy.

At present, however, we have neither time nor space for an enlarged, comprehensive, and yet minutely accurate survey of the existing condition of the millions of India ; — viewed geographically, in relation to the multifarious influences of soil and climate on their physical and mental constitution, habits, and pursuits — or civilly and politically, in relation to the multiplied details of social and domestic economy- — as well as the complicated operations of varying systems of government, revenue, and police. Nor is such a survey necessary for our immediate design. The people of India

64

CAUSES OF DEGRADATION.

are allowed, on all hands, to be sunk into the depths of a demoralization which has become endemic and universal, — manifested in aggravated forms, and perpetuated from age to age, as if engraven with a pen of iron upon their charac- ter. To account for such an unhappy condition, speculators on the subject have resorted, some to one theory', and some to another. W orks have been written, to prove that it has arisen solely from misgovernmeat — from the grinding tyranny of a despotism so intense and unmitigated, that, compared with it, “ the autocracy of the Peters and Pauls of Russia may be called liberty and license.” Volumes have been published, to demonstrate that the revenue and financial system of India, and that alone, is at “ the bottom of the whole evil,” — alone has generated the present state of “ moral degradation.” To one who really knows India, this must sound very much like the paradoxical theory of the Naturalist, who would contend that icebergs are generated without frost, and that tropical vegetation shoots up in wildest luxuriance without heat. Misgovernment, in its various departments, has had its owm share in imprinting hideous scars on the mind and heart of the people of India ; — but it is only one of many causes — and that by no means the most influential. In many respects it is itself only the natural effect of a more potent antecedent cause ; — and that, beyond aU debate, is false religion. As the instru- mental cause in originating and perpetuating the past and present extraordinary' condition of the people of India, their scheme of religious faith and polity is almost the all in all.

But how are we to ascertain what the religious faith of the people of India is in its theory and practical tendency 2 Let this question be answered by another. Suppose a native of India were to visit Europe, how could he assure himself as to the nature and character of the religious faith of its inhabitants? He would soon discover that, with certain exceptions, one faith, or at least a faith imder one generic denomination, prevailed over all its kingdoms and provinces. Is this, he might ask, a mere traditionary' creed, founded on no better authority than the senseless fetish of the Moor, or

RELIGION OF INDIA,

65

the witching spells of the KafPer ? No : right or wrong, the great mass of the people would be found appealing to a com- mon written standard, — an authoritative record, believed by them to contain a divine revelation. The stranger wishes to know what the system is. How is he to proceed ? There are two ways, either of which he may choose. He may con- sult with professors of the faith, and endeavour, from oral communication^ to deduce his conclusions ; or, he may at once refer to the original written standard itself. Which of these modes is likely to furnish the speediest and most satisfactory result ? Surely the latter. In the former case, he soon finds not only endless variety, but such interminable contrariety, that he is utterly puzzled and bewildered, — a hundred schools of theology ; a thousand sects ; ten thousand varying opi- nions ; and the standard itself treated with difference or indifference through all gradations, between the extremes of absolute reverence or of absolute abhorrence. What, then, is he to do I What can he do, but resolve to apply to the standard and judge for himself? As an impartial investi- gator he may soon perceive which class of Christians hold most nearly by its plain and obvious announcements, — which practically conceal these under a load of redundan- cies,— and which virtually annihilate them by countless omissions. With his acquired knowledge of the contents of the common standard, he may then look abroad ; and, em- ploying such knowledge as a clew to unravel the labyrinth, he may be able to trace his way along its most intricate windings. Or, to change the figure, there is, after all, as he cannot fail to observe, a central stream of orthodoxy, — though, as it rolls along over many soils, in widely distant realms, it ever and anon receives some new and peculiar tinge in the passage. And if there are numberless rills drawn off from the main current, he can now mark the points of divergence ; and can trace many of the interposing obstacles that force them to pursue devious courses. Whether he believe in it or not, he now sees what Christianity really is ; and he understands how it operates in stamping its impress on the mind and manners of Christendom.

66

INNUMERABLE SECTS.

Precisely similar is the case with India. There, unlike most other heathen nations, the people at once appeal for the root and origin of their faith and practice, to certain books w'hich they hold to be divine ; — they appeal to them as authoritative standards, exactly in the same way as Chris* tians are wont to appeal to the Bible. There, too, the same causes have produced the same practical results. In the course of time the sacred books have been variously inter- preted. Hence the rise of innumerable schools of theology, — with shades of difference more or less distinctly marked, between the extremes of orthodoxy and heterodoxy. Hence the growth of countless systems, or what, in European phrase, might be termed “ Bodies of Divinity.” Hence the accumulation of a multitude of commentaries on the original standards, — and as many comments on the commentaries, — and as many more on these again, — till the number has swoln and risen almost into the region of the incredible. Still, in I the midst of all, there is a main current of faith ; whence may be seen spreading out branches, and sub-branches, into all the boundless vagaries of sect, schism, and heresy. Our great object, then, must be to make a direct appeal to the original standards, and therein obtain, if possible, a glimpse of the main stream of Hinduism. With the advan- tage of such a glimpse, we may, if we will, be enabled to trace the most minute and subordinate ramifications, — wdiether spreading out into the smooth champaign of the sound, or into the rugged domain of the heretical. Without it, we may launch forth our bark of inquiry, but we shall soon find ourselves drifting on a wide sea, without sun, moon, or stars ; without chart, rudder, or compass. A knowledge of what is generally held to be the most sound and catholic system is indispensable to our understanding the varying shades of opinion within the pale of orthodoxy ; it is indispensable to a proper comprehension of the divergencies of heresy ; it is indispensable to a full elucidation of the daring schemes of open and avowed unbelief > it is absolutely indispensable to a satisfactory examination of the anomalous hereditary condition of the people.

INFLUENCE OF BRAHMANISM.

67

We now speak exclusively of the Erahiiianical system of superstition ; because it comprehends, in the number of its votaries, the vast majority of the people of Hindustan. It must not, however, be forgotten, that there is a very large Mahammadan population, of many millions, interspersed throughout all the provinces. The proportion of Hindus and Mahammadans varies exceedingly in different districts, — the latter being in some places in the ratio of a tenth, or a twentieth, or even less ; and in others, greatly preponder- ant over the former. Besides both these classes, there are numerous aboriginal tribes thinly scattered over the almost impenetrable forests of the interior, and the almost inacces- sible mountain ranges on the frontiers, that have never acknowledged the supremacy of Brahma, or bowed beneath the sword of the false prophet. Numerically, however, these tribes constitute no more than an atom of the dense mass of the population of Hindustan.

Speaking, therefore, in a generic sense, the Brahmanicai faith is the national faith of India, in the same way as Chris- tianity is the national faith of Europe. What influence Christianity has nobly exerted in Europe, in the way of impregnating its general mind ; moulding its governments ; regulating its jurisprudence ; originating its institutions, social, civil, and sacred ; communicating vitality and direc- tion to much of its literature and science ; — Brahmanism has mischievously exerted in India — only to a vastly larger extent, and in a vastly intenser degree. It is this considera- tion which invests the subject with a practical importance that is utterly overwhelming. If — like the faith of ancient Egypt in the divinity of crocodiles and onions ; or that of Chaldea, in magic and enchantments ; or that of Greece and Borne, in mythological heroes, — if, like any or all of these, the religion of Brahma were now swept away as by a whirl- wind from heaven, or shut up with its own deserted emblems, to hold befitting companionship with asps and snakes in the caverns of Elephanta and Ellora ; — or if, like the barren speculations of Grecian and German philosophy, — the ideal- isms of Plato, and the transcendentalisms of Fichte, — the

68

THE SANSKRIT LANGUAGE.

Pantheistic reveries of Vyasa, and the scholastic subtilties of Sankara Acharya, had been confined to the groves of the Ascetic or the schools of the Sophist ; — then, indeed, would we not trespass on the time, or distract the attention of a Christian community, either by our expositions or our ex- posures. But it is because the Brahmanical system has, for three thousand years, exerted an omnipotency of malig- nant energy over the intellect and morals of the millions of India ; — it is because it still flourishes as a living, operative, tremendous reality, — shaping the opinions, moulding the character, controlling the actions, and fixing the eternal des- tinies of all these unhappy millions ; — it is on this account, that pity and compassion, policy and duty, reason and reve- lation,— all combine in demanding from British Christians a thorough examination of the system, that they may be enabled the better to adapt their measures for its final extirpation and overthrow.

The system, in its varied departments of religion, science, and literature, is developed in writings that are held to be sacred. The grand repository of all these writings is the Sanskrit language.

In times of remote antiquity this language, in its primi- tive and least artificial form, must have been spoken through- out those Gangetic provinces that encircle what the religi- ous associations of the sons of Brahma would hallow as their Jerusalem and Holy Land ; or what the glowing classical recollections of the West would delight in sumaming the Troy, and the Athens, and the 01}Tnpus of India. It no longer, however, flourishes as a living vehicle of thought. Still, it is not wholly dead. As the fruitful parent of a numerous progeny, it has transfused a portion of its life and substance and form into almost all the vernacular dialects now in use, from the Indus to the Irrawady — from the spicy groves of Ceylon, to the Tempe vale of Cashmere.

To the veneration wheremth the natives of India, from time immemorial, have regarded this language and its

THE SANSKRIT LANGUAGE.

69

alphabet, there are scarcely any reasonable bounds. Its very name implies 'perfection. Not figuratively, but soberly and seriously is it at all times spoken of by learned and unlearned, as the very “ language of the celestials.” To its alphabetic character, also, they attribute a divine origin ; and hence its ordinary, and indeed, only designation, — the deva nagari., or “ the writings of the gods.” “ They are believed,” says Sir W. Jones, “ to have been taught by the Divinity himself, who prescribed the artificial order of them in a voice from heaven.”

Nor is such praise altogether the hyperbolical effusion of superstitious reverence. European scholars seem to have vied with each other in giving adequate expression to their admiration of the Sanskrit. “ As a language,” says Halhed, “ it is very copious and nervous ; and far exceeds the Greek and Arabic in the regularity of its etymology.” In a similar strain. Sir W. Jones still more emphatically remarks, “ It is a language of wonderful structure ; more perfect than the Greek ; more'copious than the Latin ; and more exquisitely refined than either.” The voice which thus issued from the oracles, on the banks of the Ganges, has been re-echoed from the academic bowers of England. The praise, observes Tal- boys, which Gibbon bestowed on the Greek, seems fully as applicable to the Sanskrit, — “ It is a musical and prolific language, that gives a soul to the objects of sense, and a body to the abstractions of philosophy.” “ The music of Sanskrit composition,” adds Dr Wilson of Oxford, “ must ever be inadequately represented by any other tongue.” And lest the field of eulogy should be monopolised by Bri- tish literati., whether in India or in England, the theme has been rapturously responded to by the savans of Germany and France. “ The Sanskrit,” says Adelung, as a written language, “ has been raised to the highest pinnacle of per- fection.” More than this, adds M. Ohezy, it is, by way of eminence, “ the celebrated dialect, perhaps spoken by the gods of Homer ; and if not, worthy to be so.”

Do such eulogiums still appear too extravagant to quad- rate with simple truth ? Let us then turn to the calm and

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sober estimate, gathered from the researelies of Professor Heeren. It would indeed he difficult, remarks the vener- able Professor, to instance another lanomacre exhibiting so just a proportion between the vowels and the consonants, in which it is not even exceeded by the Spanish. It admits the employment of rhyme, >\ithout, however, being fettered by its restrictions ; and possesses a poetic prose, richlv embel- lished. It has, moreover, reached a high degree of scientific cultivation; and presents us with abundance of technical terms to express the most abstract ideas. Altogether, even admitting that its claims upon our admiration have some- times been enthusiastically overrated, yet it is hardly pos- sible to avoid considering it as one of the richest, most harmonious, and refined languages in the world.

The original writings generally deemed sacred and canon- ical that are wrapped up in this venerable tongue, are pro- digiously voluminous. They are ordinarily reduced into /ovr classes, which are subdivided into eighteen heads.

The Jirst and highest class consists of the four Ved^s. These are not only the most ancient, but the most sacred compositions in the Sanskrit. They are almost universally regarded as at once the fountains of aU true religion ; and the primeval sources of everj’ other species of useful know- ledge. They are believed by the great mass of the people of India tqtbe old as eternity — not revealed through the instrumentality of any’ human being, however exalted ; but proceeding direct and entire out of the mouth of the Creator himself. On this account it is that they are enshrined in such unapproachable sacredness, and challenge a reverence far more profound than is conceded to any other of the inspired nTitings.

The second class consists of the four Upa-Vedas or Sub- Scriptures. These were deduced immediately and severally from the four original V edas ; and were delivered to man- kind by Brahma, and other deities, and inspired sages. They treat of the theory and practice of medicine, — of music in

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its most extended signification, — of archery, architecture, and sixty-four mechanical arts.

The third class consists of the six Ved-angas, or bodies of learning^ — derived from the same primordial source, — and revealed by divine persons, or written by inspired saints. They treat of the principles and facts of astronomy, — of grammar and prosody, — of pronunciation, and the signifi- cation of difficult words and phrases in the Vedas, — of reli- gious rites and ceremonies, — of charms and incantations.

The fourth class consists of the four Up-angas, or appended bodies of learning^ — so named, from their being always placed last in the enumeration of the sacred writings. This is by far the most copious division. The first embraces the eighteen Puranas or sacred poems, believed to have been written by the divine sage — Vyasa. These treat of cosmogony and chronology, — of geography and astronomy, — of the genealo- gies and exploits of gods, demigods, and heroes, — of virtue and good works, — of the nature of the soul, and the means of final emancipation. Besides the Puranas, the first Up- anga comprises the Raynayan and Mahabharat, — written, the former by Valmiki, the latter by Vyasa, — designated by Europeans the great classical epics of India, — the Iliad and Odyssey of Sanskrit poetry, — and believed by the Hindus themselves to be of divine origin. In the introduction of the Ramayan, its surpassing excellency is thus expressed : — “ He who sings and hears this poem continually, has attain- ed to the highest state of enjoymenh and will finally be equal to the gods.” The great objibt of those giant epics is to rehearse the achievements of Vishnu, the second person of the Hindu Triad, who is represented in the Ramayan as incarnate in the person of Rama ; and in the Mahabharat, as incarnate in the person of Krishna. Both, however, abound with digressions, or interlocutory conversations put into the mouths of gods, sages, and heroes. Of these, the most celebrated is the Bhagavad Gita, — an episode of the Mahabharat, in the form of a dialogue between the god Krishna and his favourite pupil, the hero Arjun, on sub- jects of abtruse theology. It has been pronounced the most

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SACRED WRITINGS.

“ curious exposition of the half-mythological, half-philosophi- cal pantheism of the Brahmans” which has yet been brought to light. The second and third Up-angas consists of the four principal works on Logic or Dialectics ; and Metaphysics or Disquisitions on the essence and modifications of spirit. The fourth and last Up-anga consists of the Body of Law, called Smriti, or what is to be remembered ; in eighteen books ; compiled by Manu, the son of Brahma, and other sacred personages, — detailing all manner of duties connect- ed with the worship of God, and all the possible relations that can subsist between man and man.

The writings now enumerated are usually styled The Great Shastras, or looks of sacred ordinance, — “ sacred ordinance delivered by inspiration,” — to contradistinguish them from a countless host of other works, original and deriva- tive, whose authority, though often highly reverenced, may not be acknowledged as absolutely divine.

What an aggregate do the sacred writings of the Hindus form ! Along with their number, only consider their bulk. Of this, from the circumstance of their being composed in a species of blank verse, or measured prose, some concep- tion may be conveyed to the general reader. The .^Eneid of Virgil extend to about twelve thousand lines ; the Biad of Homer to double that number ; — but the Ramayan of Val- mikl rolls on to about a hundred thousand ; while the Ma- habharat of Vyasa quadruples even that sum ! Many of the othfer sacred works exhibit a voluminousness quite as amaz- ing. The four V ed^, xthen collected, form eleven huge folio volumes. The Puranas, which constitute but part of the first of the Up-angas, extend to about two millions of lines ! In one of these it is gravely asserted, on divine authority, that, originally, the whole series of Puranas alone consisted of “ one hundred Kolis, or a thousand millmis of stanzas ; but as four hundred thousand of these were considered suf- ficient for the Instruction of man, the rest were reserved by the gods !” Well might Sir W. Jones exclaim, that “ where- , ever we direct our attention to Hindu literature, the notion of infinity presents itself,” — and sure enough the longest life

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would not suffice for a single perusal of works that rise and swell protuberant like Himalayas, above the bulkiest com- positions of every land beyond the confines of India ! To the system of Hinduism, as unfolded and developed in these ponderous masses, may not unaptly be applied the graphic language of our great Epic poet in reference to another theme. In strict and sober literality may we characterise it as —

An unfatliomable ocean, without hounds,

Without dimensions, where length, breadth, and height.

And time, and space are lost )

How, then, can we pretend or presume, within so narrow a compass as ours, to convey any thing like an adequate conception of a system so stupendous ? Doubtless, to enter into details, would be an utterly impracticable attempt. But is this necessary ? We think not. When a traveller enters an unknoMTi territory, anxious to carry away with him a vivid impression of some magnificent landscape, there are two ways in which he may proceed to realize his design. He may, first of all, set out with an examination of the dif- ferent objects in detail, that bestud the diversified sui'face. He may skirt the lake, penetrate the forest, and emerge into the open field. He may trace the meandering of each sparkling rill, as it winds its way back into some Alpine glade. He may pursue the course of the mighty stream, now flowing on in unmurmuring ;^ea^efulness, and anon bursting headlong in the foam and thunder of a cataract. He may, in retracing his steps, cross the verdant mead, and soliloquize in the sequestered grotto. He may then enter the umbrageous avenue and confront the baronial castle, whose battlements seem to vie, in massive grandeur, with the “ munitions of rocks ” that guard, from age to age, the bounding horizon. And last of all, he may ascend some neighbouring eminence, and fix his admiring gaze on all the varied objects, harmoniously combined in one bright and glorious assemblage. Oi’, reversing the order of this pro-

E

HINDUISM.

7-t

codure, our traveller may, first of all, mount the most commanding elevation ; and having caught, at a glance, a panoi’amic view of the wide-spread scene, he may then pro- ceed to a minute and piece-meal inspection of its almost endlessly varied objects.

W e need not stop here to canvass the respective advan- tages and disadvantages of these plans. Either may issue in the same result, as regards the ultimate impression and lasting recollections of the spectator. But, during the in- termediate stages of the closer and narrower survey, the degrees of satisfaction in his mind may be vastly different. In following the former of the two plans, the relative bear- ings and mutual dependencies of the multitudinous objects — viewed as parts of one great whole — not being discerned, the traveller finds himself isolated at every turn, as if lost amid the intricacies of a labyrinth. If he have pursued the latter of the two plans, he can enter on the examination of particular objects, with the full advantage of a previously acquired mental perception of their reciprocal bearings and connections, as component parts of a harmonious whole. The latter plan, accordingly, is that which most travellers, having the liberty of choice, would be disposed to follow. Let us profit by their example. Without attempting to enter into a minute description of the various component parts of Hinduism viewed separately and in detail, let us at once ascend the mount of intellectual vision, and endeavour to present a coup-d-ceil of the stupendous system. And should the Inquirer ^arPy away with him a general impression of the relative bearings and relations of the more prominent objects, he will be the better enabled to fill up the outline from the subsequent investigations of a minuter survey.

Strange as it may sound in the ears of those who may never have heard of the Hindus but as a nation of poly- theists and idolaters, it is, nevertheless, true, that the very foundation of their system is laid in the belief and assertion of the existence of one great universal self-existing Spirit^ —

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the fount and origin of all other beings, animate or inani- mate, material or immaterial. The incommunicable appel- lation of this supreme and eternal Spirit, viewed in its own abstract impersonal essence, is Brahm ; — a noun in the neuter gender, never to be confounded with Brahna, a noun masculine^ — the distinguishing title of the first person of the Hindu Triad.

A distinct understanding of the real nature and character of this Supreme God of India, — in itself indispensable to- wards an adequate comprehension of the system of Hindu- ism,— is highly important on other and independent grounds. Again and again have missionaries of every name expa- tiated on the degrading and abominable practices of Indian idolatiy. For this, how often have the enamoured votaries of Oriental literature branded them as ignorant, or rated them as fools \ ‘ What ! ’ say they, ‘ abuse and insult whole

millions of people, as if they were nothing but vile idolaters ! You credulously trust to modern apocryphal writings, and to corruptions of ancient truth. Go to their original stand- ards, and thence learn that their creed is based on a belief in the unity of God ; of whom, as he is devoid of corporeal organs, and, consequently, beyond the apprehension of sense, no image has ever been framed by the artifice of man.’ ‘ W ell,’ the missionaries may reply, ‘ you appeal to the ori- ginal standards, as if you monopolized all the learning, and we all the ignorance. To the original standards let us go. With these spread out before us as well as before you, we at once allow that a certain description of unity is predica- ted of the Supreme Spirit ; and that of it no image has ever yet been fashioned. But, with this admission, we do chal- lenge you and the whole world of Orientalists to prove, that idolatry is not, at the same time, systematically taught, and its observances pei’emptorily enjoined. The proof, however, may be spared ; since, in futility, it could scarcely be equalled by the attempt to show that the Novum Organon of Bacon contains no notice of the inductive method of philosophy ; nor the Princij)ia of Newton any glimpse of the principles of gravitation. Besides, seeing that practically the great

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NATURAL ATTRIBUTES OF BRAHM.

mass of the people are idolaters, we may be well excused for dwelling chiefly on that theme. Since it can be no insult to describe a people exactly as they are, and no abuse to designate things by their proper names ; and, since this is all that we have done, or ever will do, — to charge us with insulting and abusing millions of our fellow-creatures, is only to indulge in “ railing accusation,” which it would ill become us to retaliate.’

Compelled to acknowledge that idolatry is not merely tolerated, but largely inculcated in the original standards of Hinduism, Orientalists still cling, with almost parental fondness, to the assertion of one Supreme God, as a sufii- cient counterpoise to all polytheism. What eulogies have they not pronounced on the sublimity and grandeur where- with his attributes have been pourtrayed ! How many, in consequence, have been led into the profoundest admiration of Hindu theism ! But lest any one should be carried away by an impression which may rest on nothing bettcy than the princijile of the adage, that “ whatever is unknown is held as magnificent,” it is proper briefly to approach, and narrowly to scan the subject.

It is freely and fully conceded that to BraJim, “ the Uni- versal Lord,” all natural divine attributes are constantly ascribed in detail. He is represented as without beginning or end, eternal ; that which is and must remain, unchangeable; without dimensions, infinite ; without parts, immaterial, invi- sible ; omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent ; enjoying inefikble felicity. After listening to such a description, do you begin to think that you have been introduced into the society of beings, who, speaking with no mortal voice, have given utterance to the language of a sublime theism ? Or, has experience taught you to pause ere you allow that the mere ascription of epithets, however expressive of grandeur and excellence, necessarily constitutes an infallible evidence of the existence of corresponding conceptions ? Or, supposing the conceptions to have once existed, have you learnt from the history of the past, that language, more stable than fleeting thought, has often outlived primitive ideas ; and that, like

ALTERNATELY WITHOUT ATTRIBUTES.

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an antique casket of rare workmanship, which may have been the receptacle of precious jewels now no more, a lan- guage may continue to retain the loftiest terms which can now only be viewed as venerable relics of what was once the vehicle of conceptions correspondent in sublimity ? Or, does memory recall from the classic pages of Greece and Rome, many a passage illumined with the brightest portraiture of divinity, — but illumined only to contrast the more strongly with the gloom of others which embody conceptions the most derogatory to the divine character and perfections ? And are you thus prepared to anticipate a like interblending of colours in the portrait of the Indian Brahm ? It is well that you should ; for, on farther inquiry, you soon find that there are no epithets more frequently applied to the Supreme Brahm, than such as signify that he is loithout qimlitles or attrihutes. Are you startled at the apparent contradiction ? The Hindu replies, that contradiction there is none. If, indeed, the Supreme were represented as “ invested with qualities and attributes,” and “ devoid of these ” at one and the same instant of time, such representation would be self-contradictory. But these different, or rather opposite and mutually destructive states, or modifications of being, are not cotemporaneous, but successive ; each of them being assumed alternately after immense intervals of time.

The primary and proper state of Brahm’s being, is that in which he exists wholly without qualities or attributes. When he thus exists, there is no visible external universe. He is then denoted emphatically the one — without a second. Not merely one, generically, as being truly possessed of a divine nature ; — not merely one, liypostatically, as being simple, uncompounded, and, therefore, without parts ; — not merely one, numerically^ as being, in point of fact, the only actually existing deity. No. He is simply, absolutely, and by necessity of nature, one ; — and not only so, but he is one in the sense of excluding the very possibility of the existence of any other god. Thus far a Christian might accord in the definition of the divine unity. It is, in words, the very defi- nition which the Bible gives of the unity of the “ only living

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INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

and true God.” But the Hindu advances a step farther. He conceives, that when Brahm exists in his proper and charac- teristic state, he is one ; not merely in the sense of excluding other gods, but in the sense of excluding the possibility of the existence of any other being whatever. He is thus not merely one, but the one, — the single and sole entity in the universe, — yea more, the only possible entity, whether created or uncreated. His oneness is so absolute, that it not only excludes the possibility of any other god, co-ordinate, or subordinate, — but excludes the possibility of the existence of any other being, human or angelic, material or immaterial.

The Hindu theologist does not stop even here. His Brahm, as already stated, exists “ without qualities or attri- butes.” What ! — literally and absolutely without qualities or attributes ? Yes, literally and absolutely so. The pos- session of qualities or attributes implies multiplicity and diversity of some kind. But Brahm’s unity is so perfectly pure, so essentially simple, that it must exclude multiplicity or ‘diversity of any kind. Consequently, he is represented as existing without intellect, without intelligence, without even the consciousness of his owm existence ! Surely this is the very transcendentalism of unity.

No wonder though the Hindu often exclaims that his Supreme Brahm is “ nothing.” In any sense, within the reach of human understanding, he is “ nothing.” For the mind of man can form no notion of matter or spirit apart from its properties or attributes. Let Brahm, therefore, be repre- sented as utterly devoid of attributes, and, to human appre- hension, he must be actually as nothing, — a mere abstract negation more absolute than darkness, of which it has been remarked, that it. is endowed with the property of at any time admitting light ; or than silence, which has the quality of admitting sound ; or than space, which has the capacity of admitting extension. No wonder though the Hindu con- fess, with a peculiar emphasis of meaning, that his Supreme Brahm is “ incomprehensible.” There is a sense in which we, too, apply this term to the true God — Jehovah. But with us it simply imports that we can have no perfect.

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complete^ or adequate notion of His nature and attributes. Though the Gireat Jehovah be, in this qualified sense, in- comprehensible by finite intelligences. He is not, on that account, utterly unintelligihle. We may know Him in part ; that is, so far as He has been pleased to reveal Himself in His works and Word. And such knowledge, graciously suited to our limited faculties, so far as it goes, is at once correct and true, though not by any means full, complete, or adequate to the transcendent Majesty of heaven.

But the Brahm of Hindu theology is not incomprehensible merely ; he is utterly unintelligible. As represented in his proper and characteristic state, he is in reality neither more nor less than an infinite negation^ — an infinite nothing. Yet he is described as positively existing, and that, too, in the enjoyment of ineffable bliss. This bliss or felicity is not, cannot be, of a positive, but of a negative character — not active, but passive. Stripped of all attributes, he can- not exercise any ; consequently, he is wholly inoperative. Unincumbered by the cares of empire, or the functions of a superintending providence, he effectuates no good, inflicts no evil, suffers no pain, experiences no emotion. He exists in a state of unbroken quiescence, — tranquil unruffled sere- nity,— undisturbed repose. In a word, his beatitude is represented as consisting in a languid, monotonous, and uninterrupted sleep — a sleep so very deep as never to be disturbed by the visitation of a dream. Such a state of unvaried, unimpassioned blessedness, must ever remain really unimagined, as it is in itself unimaginable. To us it can seem little better than the bliss of a motionless rock in the dark caverns of earth, or a decayed trunk in the forest, or an insensate pebble on the sea-shore. Unlike the Supreme Divinity of Epicurus, — who, though idle and unfettered by the agencies of government, enjoyed, at least, a conscious and comprehensible bliss, occupying, as he did, some bright and balmy region where the cloudless ether ever smiled in calm effulgence, — the Indian Brahm is represented as dwell- ing mysteriously throughout the boundless solitudes of space — immersed in an abyss of darkness — and steeped in the

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felicities of a slumber so profound, as to bo not only without a dream, but without any consciousness of his own existence !

Yet this simple, unextended, indivisible — this formless, motionless, qualityless being does not always continue to exist amid the rayless°gloom, in a state of dreamless imper- turbable repose. No: After the lapse of unnumbered ages, he somehow or other suddenly awakes. Becoming for a moment apprehensive or conscious of his own existence, he breaks the death-like universal silence, by uttering the words, “ Brahm is,” or, “ I am.” No longer quiescent — motion being now excited in him — he assumes and exhibits active qualities and attributes. “ Dissatisfied,” says the sacred oracle, “ with his own solitariness, a wish or desire for dua- lity arises in his mind. In a moment, though himself devoid of form, he in sport imagines a form.” It is the universal form ; or the ideal form, model, or exemplar of the subse- quently manifested universe. “ The question,” as an emi- nent Orientalist has remarked, “ the question, how does desire or volition arise in this simple being ? — forms the subject of many disputes ; but I believe that even' the sub- tilty of Hindu metaphysics has not yet furnished a satis- factory reply.”

Be this as it may, the desire, when the destined period arrives, does arise. In obedience to it, the ideal form or image of the universe presents itself to the di\dne conception. For a moment it exists merely as an unmanifested image, with- out any correspondent reality. Speedily, however, the de- sire which originated the image or ideal form, is succeeded by an act of volition — willing the ideal form to be realized in actual visible manifestation. To the process of production we shall immediately refer. For the present, we must caU upon you specially to renxark, that when the universe has once been manifested, the Supreme Brahm instantly relin- quishes his assumed condition of wakefulness and activity — instantly renounces all his assumed qualities and attri- butes, or rather unitizes them into the simplicity of his own proper abstract essence — once more “ changing,” agreeably to the words of the divine Manu, “ changing the time of

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energy for the time of repose.” How far such changes in the state of his being — how far such alternate assumption and abandonment of active qualities and attributes can co- here with the alleged immutability of his nature, it is not for us to show. The Hindu theologists reckon it a complete vindication of his unchangeableness to say, “ that though the manifestation of this universe continues after it has been willed into existence by the Supreme Being ; yet, as in him the volition immediately ceases, and he immediately returns to his original and proper state, he may, notwithstanding a change so very brief in its duration, be still represented as unchangeable — quiescent, without form, without quality, without attribute, or affection of any kind.”

Such is Brahm, the Supreme God of India. And as deists and infidels of every grade, have so often boastfully refer- red to the sublimity of Hindu theism, it is well to pause a moment and consider the character and attributes of the Supreme Brahm.

Can it fail to have struck all of you that, with one or two exceptions, all the attributes ascribed to him might, with almost equal propriety, be predicated of infinite space or of infinite time ? Can it fail to have struck all of you that, in the whole enumeration, there is not the remotest allusion to a single moral attribute ? Now, what must any one who is not wholly bereft of his proper humanity, think of a god without moral attributes — consequently a god who is not a moral being at aU ? Yet, strange and incredible as it may appear, such is the character of the Supreme God of more than a hundred millions of people ! Let the sacred Vedas be searched — let the Upanishads, the purest and most didactic portions of the Vedas, be investigated — let the Vedanta, the extracted essence of the Vedas, be examined — let all the standards of the higher schools of Indian Phi- losophy and Theology be scrutinized — and nowhere can a single moral attribute, 'pro]^erly so called, be found ascribed to the one god — the Supreme Brahm of the Hindus.

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NO MOTIVES TO WORSHIP.

In the Indian Scriptures a counterpart may be found, in words^ to the ever memorable declaration, “ Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” But in the enumeration of the perfections of the Supreme, nothing will be found in all the sacred writings in the least degree corresponding to the bright roll of moral attributes unfolded in the single pro- clamation of the God of Israel, — “ The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and in truth ; ” — ^nothing bearing the most distant resem- blance to the glorious all-comprehending summary of moral excellence, “ God is love,” — love, the efflux and undivided radiance of all moral perfection.

But if no moral attributes can be predicated of the Divine Being, how can men, constituted as they are, regard him with moral sentiment ? If there be no moral ingredient in his essence ; no moral loveliness in his revealed character ; no moral excellence in any of his manifested acts ; — how can he be admired, or reverenced, or loved ? His omnipo- tence may astonish ; his eternity and other inconununicable attributes may strike with wonder and amazement. But how can the declaration, that he is self-existent, eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, unchangeable — birthless, formless, breathless, mindless, colourless — or the assertion or denial of any other natural or physical property whatsoever, — awaken any moral susceptibility in the soul of man ? How can the contemplation of a being like this ever excite one moral emotion of admiration, gratitude, or love ? Now, if this be impossible, where is the constraining motive to wor- ship such a being, — and what kind of worship could be ren- dered to him ? He might, may some one with a cold heart and withered affections reply, he might perhaps be intellec- tually adored, as the infinite — the gi’eatest of beings. Yes, adored he might be, simply as the infinite, by essences of pure intellectualism, if any such there are ; much in the same way as any other grand metaph}"sical abstraction might be adored. But such adoration, compared with what we under- stand as included in worship, must be the shadow of a dream. Even this dreamy shadow of abstract homage, how

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are men in general to be able or willing to render ! No : we may lay it down as indisputable, that a god without moral attributes must be to man in^ his present state the same as no god at all. Practically the delineation of such a god could only be equivalent to the promulgation of a system of atheism.

Lest this might appear to any one an uncertain inference, there is another feature in the character of the Supreme Brahm, which at once forbids the possibility of rendering to him any real homage or worship. He is represented as assuming certain attributes for the purpose of manifesting the universe. But his assumption of these is only for a moment. Instantly he relapses into a state of unthinking, unconscious repose. Now, how can such a God be an object of worship ? Even if all moral as well as natural attributes had been assumed at the time of creation, of what avail were it, seeing that they are so speedily reabsorbed into his mysterious essence ? If in reference to this world his attri- butes be not only circumscribed, but really annihilated, are not men landed in practical atheism 2 What challenges man’s veneration more than an unlimited power to expand itself in acts of goodness ? What challenges his love more than an unrestrained willingness to exercise that power? What challenges his gratitude more than the knowledge that it has been already manifested, times and ways with- out number? What challenges his trust and confidence more than the assurance that it ever will be exhibited in every time of need ? What challenges devout admiration more than the view of that superintending providence which can at once extend to countless worlds that roll through the firmament, and to the minutest atoms that crumble beneath our feet ? What challenges solemn awe and fearfulness of sin, filial regard and active obedience, more than the con- templation of an Almighty Being, who is holy in all His ways, and righteous in all His works, — determined to exe- cute vengeance on the wicked, and to load the good with the amplest recompenses of reward ? What challenges the unceasing expression of reverence and adoration, prayer and

Si

NO TEMPLES TO BRAHM.

praise, confession and humble acknowledgment, more than the certain belief that a just and beneficent God is every where present, and ever nigh, — ever cognizant of the most secret thoughts, and ever attentive to the suppliant’s voice ?

But if the Supreme God has wholly withch’awn himself from the conservation of the world : if, through the non- existence of moral attributes, and the absorption or annihi- lation of the rest, he has neither the power nor the will to do good or evil — to reward the righteous, or punish the wicked : if, bent only on the uninterrupted enjoyment of his owm beatitude, he neither sees, nor hears, nor knows, nor cares about any of his creatures : — how is it possible to render to him any act of homage^ or devotion, or worship whatsoever? To dream of any positive act of adoration and praise to such a being, would be more absurd than the service of the grossest idolater. For the latter, however deluded and irrational, does believe, that the block he wor- ships is either a divinity, or the peculiar habitation of a divinity who sees and hears — a divinity who is able to avenge and mighty to succour. But to attempt to worship Brahm, at the very moment that he is declared to be im- mersed in a slumber so deep, that it is without dreams — a stupor so profound, that it resembles the sleep of death — were a pre-eminence of phrenzy to which insanity alone could aspire.

Hence arises the solution of a difficulty with which many have been perplexed. Knowing that the Hindus in general verbally profess their belief in the unity of God, — one Brahm without a second being the expression by which the Supreme Deity is ordinarily distinguished, — a pious author has re- marked, “ It is a painful reflection, that not a single temple, dedicated to the One God, is to be found in all Hindustan ; nor is any act of worship, in any form, addressed by the people to Him.” The reply given by the admirers of Hin- duism is, that the “ representing the Supreme Being by images, or the honouring him by the institution of sacred rites and the erection of temples, must be perfectly incom- patible with every conceivable notion of an all-pervading.

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immaterial, incorporeal spirit.” It is very true, that the attempt 'to represent the supreme incorporeal Spirit by a visible image would be absurd. So would the attempt to represent the angelic, or the human incorporeal spirit. The intellect of a Newton is amply shadowed forth in his great work, the Principia ; but who, without folly, could say that the very intellect itself could be adequately delineated on the canvass of the painter, in the statue of the sculptor, or in the block of the image-maker ? It is, however, passing strange to insinuate, that the supreme incorporeal Spirit cannot be honoured by the erection of temples, or the per- formance of sacred rites in the celebration of his worship. There is no incompatibility here. The followers of Christ, though specially exhorted to worship God who is a Spirit in spirit and in truth, have their temples and their sacred ordinances. So might the Hindus, if nothing interposed unless the circumstance that Brahm was an incorporeal spirit. The real cause, after all, why there are neither tem- ples, nor sacred rites, nor acts of worship in honour of Brahm is, that he is so profoundly asleep, that he neither knows nor cares more about mortals than the dust which they trample beneath their feet. To worship him, there- fore, is impossible.

Still it may be thought, that he may be the object oi pro- found meditation. Undoubtedly he may ; but much in the same way as infinite space or infinite time may become the dry and frigid, though intense subject of meditation to cer- tain metaphysical minds. Such objects of meditation, how- ever, are wholly beyond the range of the vast multitude of mankind. So that, for ail except one in a hundred or a thousand, a being like Brahm is as idle, and useless, and inefficacious, as if non-existent.

Once more, it may be said, though there can be neither worship nor meditation of such an abstract being as Brahm on the part of the mass of mankind, might they not, at least, cherish a grateful remembrance of him as the original source of all ? Doubtless there might be some remembrance of him cherished. But this consideration is far too feeble and

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remote to exert any salutary influence on the unthinking mass. We might, with far better prospect of success, try to excite active motions of reverence and gratitude in the hearts of the millions of Europe towards Japhet our great progenitor. It is the dread of his avenging power, or the flaming sword of his justice, that drives multitudes to fear a Superior Power. It is the belief and felt experience of a benign and generous propension to crown with loving-kind- ness and tender mercies, that impels multitudes more to admire, venerate, and love. A constant and present bene- factor, however humble his rank, must be regarded with far livelier emotions of esteem and grateful remembrance, than the monarch at a distance who rules over us — preserving the peace of the realm — enforcing obedience to the laws — and maintaining, unimpaired, our civil and religious immunities. An active, living monarch, who enshrines himself in every heart as the father of his people, will call forth far more sensible manifestations of reverence and esteem, than all the Arthurs and Alfreds of a distant age united; — and one British Alfred will kindle emotions of enthusiastic regard, which cannot be excited by the entire roll of Roman emper- ors, who, in swaying the sceptre of a conquered world, may have conferred the greatest benefits on om* own remote ances- try. He who is bom and brought up in a den of the earth, Mill value his tiny lamp far beyond the sun, whose direct rays he never saw, and whose direct benefits he never experienced, — even though we should describe the luminary of day in the most brilliant colours, and endeavour to assure him, tliat the light of his o^m lamp has been perpetuated for ages from a flame originally derived from the sun. So it would be found with mankind in general in reference to the Creator. If no feature in his character could be distinctly realized beyond an act of production in the depths of past time, grati- tude to the most ordinary earthly benefactor would speedily overshadow, or wholly extinguish, all remembrance of a mere Creatoi', — a Creator, who had no moral attributes that could render him a moi-al governor, and the object of moral senti- ment,— a Creator, whose natural attributes were speedily

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withdrawn from the control and superintendence of the universe !

To present a people with such a being as their supreme object of worship, were tantamount to robbing them of a god altogether. But the notices of some superior and invisible power are so universal and instinctive, as to prove that they have a firm root and foundation in our common nature. There must, then, be a god, whether true or false, for the outletting of tendencies which are inseparable from human- ity. The profession of belief in a god, merely to escape from the imputation of atheism, cannot long be the profes- sion of a whole people. And since it is impossible that a frigid passionless abstraction like Brahm can ever be the god of the populace, who need wonder that gods should be demanded by the cravings of their spiritual nature, endowed at least with moral attributes, however perverted in their exercise ?

In the delineation of Brahm, what a conception is pre - sented to us of the nature, attributes, and felicity of the Supreme Being ! Yet it is the highest that has been at- tained by reason in the East, when unfavoured by the light of revelation ; — the reason not of one man, but of thousands ; — thousands, not of ignorant savages, but of proud philoso- phers, many of whom have been endowed with intellects as subtile and acute as any ever bestowed upon the children of men ; — intellects not confined to one unhappy age of peculiar mental inertness, but whetted and uninterruptedly exercised through successive ages during the long period of three thousand years ! What an emphatic comment on the declaration of the apostle, — that “ the world by wisdom knew not God ; ” but, “ professing themselves to be wise, they became fools ? ” In the bloody and brutal rites of the popular idolatry, there may be something more calculated to harrow the feelings and summon forth the active sympa- thies in behalf of its deluded votaries. But to calm contem- plative spirits, what spectacle can appear more affecting than that of thousands systematically engaged, age after age, in stultifying superior intellects, which, if properly cultivated

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and directed, might render them discoverers in art and science, — the benefactors of the human race, and their guides to immortality ? What more affecting than to behold thou- sands intensely occupied in the investigation of the noblest of truths, and only accumulating heaps of the vilest error ! — strenuously attempting to soar to the heights of true wis- dom, and only plunging the deeper into the abyss of mon- strous folly ! — laboriously exercising the acutest reason, only to demonstrate how perversely unreasonable man may be- come, when wholly left to his own unaided efforts ! Verily, man, in the pride of his heart, may strive to be wise with- out God ; and in the confidence of his owm wisdom he may aim at building for himself an habitation on high among the clefts of a tow'ering fancy ; — saying, who shall bring me down to the ground ? “ Though thou exalt thyself as the

eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.”

But, to return to our mgre immediate theme, the ques- tion now recurs, how came the universe, — this universe of visible external forms and invisible cognitive existences, — which at first existed as an ideal form or image in the divine mind : — how came it to b*e called forth into actual mani- festation ? This is a result which, in words, is constantly ascribed to the Divine volition,— to the forth-putting of omnipotent energy. Wherein, then, does this manifestation of the universe really consist I Is it a creation of material substance out of nothing ? Or, is it an organization of pre- existent matter into every variety of visible form ? It is neither the one nor the other. The description already given of Brahm, which is that of the sound interpreters of the Vedas, precludes the possibility of the latter supposition. The former has never found a place in any exposition of the system of Hinduism.

It has been remarked by Coleridge, that extremes appear to generate each other ; but that, if we look steadily, there will most often be found some common error that produces

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both, as its positive and negative poles. The difficulties attending a system of pure materialism, or that which would deduce all phenomena, intellectual and moral, as well as physical, from rude unformed matter alone, might be said to drive men to the opposite extreme of spiritualism. The difficulty of reconciling with the dictates of reason the notion of the origin of material substance from a source purely spir- itual might, in turn, be said to drive men into the opposite extreme of materialism. In the case of the Hindus, the common en’or, which in the orthodox and heterodox schools has produced both of these extremes, as its positive and negative poles, has been the constant and universal belief in the maxim, “ ex nihilo nihil — of nothing^ nothing comes.

Of all maxims, this seems the only one that has ever passed unchallenged and unchallengeable in every school of Indian theology, — sound or heretical, orthodox or unorthodox, — as if it were, of all truisms, the most undisputed and indisput- able. The testimony of the senses, the testimony of consci- ousness has been assailed, — but never the validity of this maxim.

The mean between total materialism and total spiritual- ism has been the maintenance of two primary, absolute, infi- nite, independent, eternal principles, — one active, the other passive, — spirit and matter, — essentially different in essence, and irreconcilably opposed to each other. This has been designated the dualistic system, to distinguish it from the adualistic, or that which pronounces the all (to vav) to be the one (to sv) sole existing essence, — either all spirit., or aU matter ; — and from that intermediate theory which regards matter and spirit as mysteriously comprehended in one great universal whole., — either intermingled in an undistinguishable mass, whence, by the energy of the inhering, active, spiritual principle, matter gradually rises into form and beauty, — or simply united, though intimately, inseparably and eternally, in the form of an animated being, —

“ Whose body nature is, and God the soul.”

Now the dualistic system, as well as the intermediate

F

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theory, the orthodox Hindus uniformly reject. They equally repudiate every scheme of pure materialism ; while they scout the notion of a creation out of nothing. All this they profess to do, not so much on principles of human rea- soning, as on the authority of revelation. What, then, it may be asked, is, in their Hew, the revealed scheme of the origin and manifestation of the universe ? After the state- ments now made, what can it be supposed to be, unless an adualistic scheme, founded on a basis purely spiritual ? — a scheme which acknowledges spirit as the one sole existing essence ? Such, in point of fact, is declared to be the scheme propounded in the Vedas and other sacred %vriting8. But these writings have been variously interpreted ; hence the origin of diverse systems. Of these, it will suit our limited design to glance at the four leading ones, which are essentially marked and distinct, and which constitute so many trunks whence shoot out numberless subordinate branches, varying in minute details, and in the specific ap- plication of general principles. There is. First, what maybe termed spiritual pantheism, properly so called. — Secondly, a combination of spiritualism and idealism, which from want of a better term, we may designate the psycho-ideal system. — Thirdly, a combination of spiritualism with a peculiar modification of spirit, which modification, for the sake of dis- tinction, may, however improperly, be denominated, material, — this we may characterise as the psycho-material system. — Fourthly, a combination of the latter with the popular mythology. Of these systems, the two former altogether deny, while the two latter admit, in a certain qualified sense, the real existence of an external material universe.

According to the two former, all seemingly external things are merely illusory appearances. Such denegation of the existence of sensible objects is not new' in the annals of philosophy. In the classic ages of Greece and Rome, Par- menides was accused of “ having taken aw'ay fire and water, the precipice and the city, — that is, of having reduced all things in nature to the delirious and spectral phantasms of the sick.” In modern times, Berkeley laboured to expose

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the fallacy of “ the opinion strangely prevailing among men, that houses, mountains, rivers, &c., in a Avord, all sensible objects, have an existence natural or real, distinct from their being perceived by the understanding ! ” These, hoAvever, were only the whimsies and the reveries of fallible men. It remained for the sages of Hindustan to announce to us, on the authority of a divine revelation, that all outward objective causes or antecedents of sensation and perception — the sym- phonies of sound, and the fragrancy of sweet odour, hill and dale, lake and river, waving forest and flowery mead, — that all, all are seeming and unreal, as the phantasmagoria of the wildest dream 1

When all things have been thus pronounced unsubstantial and illusive, it might, as has been remarked, seem futile, if not grossly irrational, to pretend to institute inquiries into their causes and origin, — the causes and origin of what is believed to ha\'e no actual existence ! To this, however, it has been replied, that having “ once admitted that all Avhich lies within the circuit of our experience is mere appearance, it then is both natural to, and compatible with, reason, to search after the ground and principles of this appearance ; in order to know why this appearance displays itself to us at all times in such orderly succession, according to such laws and with such properties.” Hence if, on the supposi- tion that all appearances are illusory, it be no proof of in- sanity to inquire into the cause of such illusion ; it has been contended that there is nothing incongruous on the part of the Hindu theologian, when he professes to announce to us Avhat the cause>eally is, — ^and that, too, on divine authority 1

What, then, is the divinely revealed cause of the manifes- tation of this illusive universe ?

According to the first system, or that of purely spiritual Pantheism, A\hen Brahm, the sole existing essence or spirit, awoke, and the ideal form of the universe AA^as conceived in his mind, and the Abolition for its manifestation w'as put forth in these Avords, “ Let me become many,” — then it Avas that

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THE UNIVERSE A MANIFESTATION OF BRAHM.

his energy was exerted in causing himself to assume the apparent reality of all those multitudinous existences and forms which constitute at once the souls of men, and the objects of materialism. All these seemingly separate entities are thus so many manifestations of the divine essence itself, — so many illusive forms assumed in consequence of a pecu- liar illusory exertion of the divine energy. The soul of man, the subject of illusive sensations and perceptions, is thus not a part of the Supreme Spirit ; but a positive manifesta- tion of the Supreme Spirit itself — though, when manifested as a human soul, it is under the influence of illusion, and conceives itself to be really distinct from God. Every out- ward object is, in like manner, only a different manifestation of the Divine essence. The multiplicity of subjective entities and objective forms militates not against the truth of reve- lation. What are called finite beings can only be present in one place, and assume but one character, at one and the same moment of time ; still, even they could appear succes- sively, under a prodigious variety of disguises. It is the prerogative of the infinite Brahm to assume at once and simultaneously a boundless variety of disguises, — at one and the same moment of time, to manifest himself under a countless diversity of seeming, but unreal existences, — active and passive, sensitive and insensate, percipient and perceived.

Manifesting himself in so many shapes, the Supreme Brahm apparently assumes form ; though he is absolutely amor- phous,— as sunshine or moonlight, blazing on a clear surface, may appear straight, crooked, or round, according to the object reflected. Presenting himself under so many modifi- cations of being, he becomes apparently endued with quality, though absolutely without any, — as the clear crystal, seem- ingly coloured by the red blossom of a hibiscus, is not the less really pellucid. Multiplying himself so endlessly, he is apparently manifold ; though wholly without any multipli- city,— as the sun or any other luminary may, by reflection from a thousand mirrors, be seemingly multiplied into a thousand suns or luminaries, though all the while single. Assuming so many disguises, his nature might appear to

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change, though in itself unchangeable, — as the same liquid may, without mutation of essence, exist as colourless water, or white froth, or sparkling bubbles, or invisible vapour, or variegated clouds, or stony hail, or fleecy snow, or pearly hoar frost.

In this way, the infinitely varied and multiform universe is nothing more than an infinitely varied, though illusory, manifestation of the essence of the Supreme Brahm. — It is Brahm, — illusively assuming the disguise of all finite exist- ences, and appearing to the human soul — which is itself but one of the peculiar manifestations of his own essence — diver- sified into a countless variety of fallacious individualities — spread out boundlessly through the immeasurable fields of space — and rolling on endlessly through the interminable mutations of time.

According to the second or psycho-ideal system, — when Brahm awoke, and willed the manifestation of the universe, it did not instantly appear, as when Jehovah said, “ Let there be light, and there was light.” No ; his own active volition, exerted wiU, or omnipotent energy (Shakti) first of all became separated from his essence. When thus, in some ineffable manner, disjoined, it is conceived to be invested with a species of personality, and endowed with the capa- bility of exerting an independent agency. But how to describe a personified energy, existing and acting altogether apart from that essence whose energy it is, seems to have exhausted the Ingenuity of Hindu metaphysicians. It is, say they, neither true nor false ; neither real nor unreal. It is not true or real ; because it has no separate essence of its own, — for there exists no essence dependent or indepen- dent except that of Brahm. It is not false or unreal ; be- cause it does exist and operate independently, as the power or energy of Brahm. Hence the remark of Sir G. Haughton, that it cannot be said “ to be any thing essential, but it is something actual ; “ a something, certainly, “ that never before entered the head of any other than a Hindu philo-

.0+

DIVINE ENERGY IN ACTION.

sophcr ; and which, for want of a better term, we must call an actuality ; that is, something possessing 'potentiality, but destitute of essentialityT

Tlie moment its energy is thus separated from the divine essence, it begins to act. Its first action is e.xerted in some mysterious and indescribable manner on undivided portions of the essence of Brahm. Eiach of these portions is sub- jected to such ignorance of its real nature, as to originate in it the conception and belief of its separate and distinct individuality. It would seem as if, from Brahm, — viewed as the universal spirit awakened into a consciousness of his own existence, — his newly acquired consciousness had been transferred and concentrated on apparently isolated, yet really undivided, parts of liis own essence. Each of these apparently isolated yet undivided parts, on which such ignorance has been superinduced that it ceases to recognise itself as any longer identical with the Supreme Brahm, and is actually brought to believe in its own separate personahty, is none other than some human or other soul. Now, this peculiar operation of the divine energy is often styled “Avidya,” ignorance, or rather the source or producent of ignorance. In this \dew of the subject, the soul is not a mani- festation of the universal spirit, regarded as an undivided whole, but an undivided part of it ; that is, a part not cut off, (»• discerpted from the divine substance. The part may be diffused or extended ; still it is a diffusion or extension of the divine essence, without any separation or division. The second grand operation of the divine energy is, to excite in the human soul, now immersed in ignorance of its real nature and origin, all those instincts and motions which might be conceived to exist without a specific reference to aught external as their exciting cause ; as well as to exhibit all the endless \Tiriety of phenomena connected with sensa- tion or perception ; — all the phenomena that are usually supposed to be extrinsic to the soul itself ; — all the pheno- mena that constitute what has been termed the material, as contradistinguished from the spiritual universe.

These phenomena, however, are not real, but illusive.

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They are like apparitions, that is, appearances, and merely appearances. Hence the divine power which has been separated from Brahm, and which, after he has lapsed into slumber, is continually employed in raising, exhibiting, and varying these appearances, — in all their composition and divisions, — their changes and successions, — their relations and dependences ; — this divine power so employed, is em- phatically styled MAYA, that is, illusion ; or rather the actuating principle or efficient cause of illusion ; — the illu- sory energy. In this respect, it has been remarked to bear some resemblance to the nowmenon, that is, the cause of the phenomena, in the philosophy of Kant.

‘ Look,’ may the expounders of Hindu theology say, ‘ look at the glittering stream : what do you behold therein ? ’ I behold, you reply, the sun pouring his rays of effulgent glory on a gladdened world. ‘ Turn your eyes to that desert of sand : what do you discern ? ’ A shining expanse of living water. ‘ When shut up in a dark cave which admits light only through one narrow cleft or crevice : what do you wit- ness on the opposite wall ^ ’ Shapes and forms of various creatures animate and inanimate. ‘ But is it really a lumi- nary of material fire that you behold in the stream ; or a reservoir of the aqueous element in the desert ; or solid sub- stantial figures in the cave 1 ’ No ; they are all of them illusive appearances. They are all, and all alike, mere itnages or sliadoios I ‘ Well then,’ say the Hindus, ‘ such and none other are all the phenomena of the supposed external uni- verse. They are all illusive appearances — all unsubstantial images or shadows. To suppose them to be realities is the grossest possible mistake.’

Ay, you reply, but the image in the stream, the mirage in the desert, the symmetrical figure in the cave, though unreal themselves, do irresistibly suggest the existence of counterpart realities. They demand and claim the exist- ence somewhere of material substances for their antitypes. Nay, responds the Hindu, what you call the corresponding reality or antitype, is itself a mere image, a shadow, an unsubstantial visionary form. If you will have it, that an

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acknowledged resemblance or likeness is the image, or shadow,, or reflection of something else, — seeing that that something else is itself an illusive appearance, — it must be the image of an image, the shadow of a shade, the reflection of a reflection. For, know tliat it is Maya that delusively exhibits all the diversified appearances which compose what is ordinarily called the visible external universe. These have no exterior material basis or substantive form, neither have they any interior spiritual basis or substratum, either in the Universal Soul, or in the human soul before which they are displayed. In both these respects, they differ essentially from the subtile types or models of all things which' Plate supposed to exist in the divine mind from all eternity, — and to which he gave the name of “ ideas, or intelligible forms,” because apprehended solely by the intellect. These Platonic ideas are not mere conceptions. They are real immutable beings, subsisting in the divine mind as their proper seat. They are undbangeable patterns or exemplars, which, by the power of God, issue forth from the foimtain of his own essence, — and, becoming united with matter pre^nously with- out any form, they impress their own form upon it, and so render visible and perceptible the whole range of individual sensible objects presented to us in the external imiverse. These forms, thus impressed on contingent matter, are exact copies of those that are invariable. But sensible things are perpetually changing. Their forms, consequently, cannot be the proper objects of contemplation and science to the enlightened and purified intellect. Hence, says Plato, they are the ideas, or intelligible forms, eternally and immutably subsisting in jthe divine mind, which alone can be the real objects contemplated by the expanded reason of man.

Unlike, too, the “ ideas” of Malabranche; w'hich, though contained only in the one great Omnipresent Mind, and per- ceived by other spirits therein, had yet corresponding exter- nal objects ; — unlike the “ sensible species,” or phantasms, or shadowy films of Aristotle, which, though transformed by the active and passive intellect into intelligible species fit to be the objects of the understanding, were yet only

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resemblances or pictures of outward substances ; — unlike the “ideas” of Berkeley, which, though representing no mate- rial fox’ms, were not mere states of the individual mind, but separate spiritual entities, wholly independent of it, and imperishable, — capable of existing in finite minds, but re- posing chiefly on the bosom of the infinite ; — unlike any, or all of these, the “ ideas'” or images of the Hindu theology float in utter vacancy, — challenging no separate or indepen- dent existence. They are mere illusive appearances pre- sented by Maya, — having no “ species'” in the human intel- lect ; no “ substantial exemplars” in an external world ; no “ intelligible forms” in the divine mind for their antitypes. Neither do they depend, in any degree, for their origin on any power or faculty of the soul itself. They spring from no interior act of the soul — no more than the shadow in water is produced by an active power resident in the water. If you could suppose the water percipient, it would perceive the shadow in its own bosom, though wholly passive in the manifestation thereof ; so, of the percipient soul. It does not originate any of the illusive appearances that flit before it. It is only the passive recipient as well as percipient of them. In your ignorance, you conclude that an image or shadow necessarily presupposes some countei’part substantial form. But know that it is the prerogative of Maya, the divine energy, to produce images and shadows without any corresponding reality, — to produce and exhibit, for example, the image of a sun, or the shadow of a tree, in the bosom of a limpid stream, though there be no luminary in the firma- ment, no tree on the verdant bank. And thus it is that Maya does produce images and forms, and exhibits them to the soul as before a mirror, though there be no counter- part realities. It is from the habit generated by ignorance that you talk of sensations and perceptions in the soul, as if these necessarily implied the existence of external objects as their exciting causes.

It is true, say the Hindu theologians, that so long as the power of Maya is exerted, the soul is deceived into the belief of its own distinct individuality, as well as of the real

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existence of material phenomena. In other words, the soul — in consequence of the twofold operation of Maya, first, in subjecting it to ignorance of its real nature and origin, and secondly, in exposing it to illusive sensations and percep- tions— cannot help being impressed with a conviction of its own separate identity, and the independent existence of external forms. And so long as this double belief, the compound result of ignorance and delusion, continues, — so long must the soul act, “ not according to its essential proper nature, but according to the unavoidable influences of the ignorance and illusive appearances to which it hath been exposed,” — or, in the words of the Shastra, “ so long must it be liable to virtue and vice, to anger and hate, and other passions and sensations, — to birth and death, and all the varied changes and miseries of this mortal state.”

The preceding views are stoutly upheld by numbers, as being plainly inculcated in numerous passages of the Vedas and other sacred writings. They are supported by the racking, bending, spiritualizing, and allegorizing of many passages more. And even when the text may seem in no degree to admit of such interpretation, there is no such emphatic precision in the meaning and application of words as to throw an insuperable bar in the way of inventive in- genuity. Of these views, isolated fragments descend and permeate the mass of society. But, as a whole, they are, and must ever be, limited to those classes who can afford to give full license to the mystical contemplative spirit which is more affected by “ the imagery which is floating before its fancy, than by the objects which surround it, — which mis- takes its own dreams for realities, and realities for dreams.” Even the great majority of the learned in the orthodox schools require a system more level to ordinary comjn’ehen- sion, and offering less violence to the evidence of sense and consciousness. Hence the admission, that the existence of matter is not an illusion like the imagery of a fitful dream, but a sober reality. Still, however, maintaining that there

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is but one real and independent essence in the universe, which is Brahm, — they insist that what is usually called matter, can have no distinct, separate, or independent essence, — that it is only a peculiar transformation, expansion, or modification of spirit.

This third view, which we have designated psycho-material, has been spread out into a regular system. It has precisely the same substratum as the views already noticed. They all diverge from a common centre. That common centre is Brahm. His proper modality, or mode of being, is his abstract state denominated nirgun, that is, without qualities. Though this bo a state of being utterly inconceivable, and to our apprehension, nothing; it is not absolute nothing- ness. For, when he awakes, he proves himself to be poten- tially all things. He then passes from the abstract state of nirgun into the concrete state of sagun, that is, endowed with qualities. All those active and intelligent powers which were united and absorbed, or annihilated in the one simple absolute unity — Brahm, — now spring forth into being when he exchanges his proper eternal state of rest for his transitory state of action. Now his perfection consists in absolute quiescence, as well as an absolute relinquishment of all qualities and attributes. TV^hen, therefore, Brahm awakes and becomes conscious of his omti existence, and is invested with qualities and attributes, a decided change has of neces- sity momentarily taken place in his essence. But a decided change from a state of absolute perfection cannot be for the better ; it must be for the worse. Hence, must this tem- porary self-induced hypostasis, or condition of being, be regarded as possessing imperfection of some kind, — while it cannot fail to communicate more or less of its superinduced properties to all that may proceed from it.

When existing in this temporary, imperfect state of sagun, Brahm wills to manifest the universe. For this pur- pose he puts forth his omnipotent energy, which is variously styled in the different systems now under review. He puts forth his energy, for what ? For the effecting of a creation out of nothing ? No : says one of the Shastras, but to “ pro-

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duce, from Im oion divine substance^ a multiform universe !” By the spontaneous exertion of this energy, ho sends forth from his own divine substance, a countless host of essences — like innumerable sparks issuing from the blazing fire, or myriads of rays from the resplendent sun. These detached portions of Brahm, these separated divine essences, soon become individuated spirits ; destined in time to occupy dif- ferent forms prepared for their reception, — whether these be fixed or moveable, animate or inanimate, — forms of gods or of men, — forms of animal, vegetable, or mineral existences.

Having been separated from Brahm in his imperfect state of sagun, they carry along with them a share of those prin- ciples, qualities, and attributes that characterise that state ; though predominating in very different degrees and propor- tions, either according to their respective capacities, or the retributive awards of an eternal ordination. Amongst others it is specially noted that, as Brahm at that time had awakened into a consciousness of his own existence, there does inhere in each separated soul a notion or conviction of its own distinct independent individual existence. Labour- ing under this delusive notion or conviction, the soul has lost the knowledge of its owm proper nature, its divine origin and ultimate destiny. It ignorantly regards itself as an inferior entity, instead of knowing itself to be what it truly is, a consubstantial, though it may be, an infinitesimally minute portion of one great whole, or universal spirit.

Each individual soul being thus a portion of Brahm, even as a spark is of fire, it is again and again declared that the relation between them is not that of “ master and servant, ruler and ruled ; but that of whole and part.” The soul is pronounced to be eternal a parte ante : — in itself, it has had no beginning, no birth ; though its separate individuality originated in time. It is eternal a parte post : — it will have no end, no death ; though its separate individuality will terminate in time. Its manifestation in time is not a crea- tion ; it is an effluence from the eternal fount of spirit. Its disappearance from the stage of time is not an extinction of essence, a reduction to nonentity ; it is only a refluence

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into its original source. As an emanation from the supreme eternal spirit, it is from everlasting to everlasting. Neither can it he said to be of finite dimensions : on the contrary, says the sacred oracle, “ being identified with the Supreme Brahm, it participates in his infinity.”

However revolting, or worse than revolting, this descrip- tion of the severing of the substance of Deity, it still involves the production of spirit from spirit. But how, from a Being so purely spiritual and uncompounded, could material sub- stances, capable of composition, division, and dissolution ori- ginate? From a spiritual essence, gross matter could not, it is conceded, directly and immediately proceed. What could not, however, arise directly and immediately^ might, it is sup- posed, mediately and idtimately emerge, through a process of successive evolution and expansion ; — portions of one or more of the momentarily assumed qualities of Brahm, variously combined and modified, being imparted to all that emanates, mediately or immediately, from his substance. The series of successive unfoldings or evolutions is as follows : —

By the energy of Brahm, there proceeds or emanes from his essence, t/te intellectual principle, or entire mass of intel- lect ; — the seat of intelligence, thought, reason, reflection, and all similar functions ; the most subtile of all existences next to that of pure spirit ; the source of all future indi- vidual intellects ; the fount and origin of the emanation immediately succeeding.

From the intellectual principle there is evolved or devel- oped the conscioihs principle, or entire mass of consciousness ; — the seat of “ selfish conviction, or the belief that, in per- ception or meditation, ‘ I’ am concerned ; that the objects of sense concern me ; in short, that ‘ I am’ or exist ; ” the source of all future individual consciousnesses; the fount and origin of subsequent emanation.

From the conscious principle, there issue forth two dis- tinct classes of being.

The first class consists of the five suhtile particles, rudi- ments, or atoms, denominated tanmatra ; the invisible archi- types of the visible elements ; evolved successively, one from

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the other, in the inverse order of their density. “ The mi- nute spring from the gross, and from the gross the grosser — the etherial atom direct from the principle of conscious- ness ; the aerial from the etherial ; the igneous from the aerial ; the aqueous from the igneous ; and, last of all, the terrene from the aqueous. These atoms may be perceived by superior or disembodied spirits, but cannot be appre- hended by the grosser senses of mankind.

In passing, it may be noted that the existence of an ethe- rial element has been alternately asserted and denied in the schools of Western philosophy. Since the origin of expe- rimental and inductive science, it has been banished, from want of evidence as to its reality of being. Of late, how- ever, observations on the motions of a celebrated comet, and deductions therefrom, have revived the doctrine of a fifth or etherial element beyond our atmosphere, filling up the void of space. The Hindus have invariably asserted its existence ; — and in all their systems it has ever occupied a prominent position !

Direct from the conscious principle, though second to the elementary atoms in the order of developement, proceed the eleven organs of sense and action ; and according to some, the jive vital breaths. The eleven organs are : — the five instru- ments of sensation, the eye, the ear, &c., — the five instru- ments of action, the hands, the feet, &c., — and the internal organ or mind, which serve “ both for sense and action, being an organ by affinity,” — a sort of demi-corporeal organ, which, receiving the images of external things through the senses, separates, subtilizes, and polishes these, rendering them transparent and fit to be presented for the contem- plation of intellect. The vital breaths are : — respiration, inspiration, pulsation, expiration, deglutition. By the ten external organs of sense and action are not meant the visible corporeal organs ; for these are framed out of gross matter, which as yet exists not. No ! they are rather subtile essences, powers, or faculties, whose seat is in the corporeal organs. They are finite and very minute, — not, however, so minute as the elementary atoms, since they are second-

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arily or posteriorly to these atoms ' evolved ; nor yet so gross as the coarser elements, since these have not yet been compounded.

These eleven organs, with the two antecedent principles of intellect and consciousness, when harmoniously disposed, constitute to the soul thirteen instruments of knowledge, — “ three internal, and ten external, likened to three warders and ten gates.” An external sense perceives, the internal one examines ; consciousness makes the selfish application ; intellect judges and resolves ; an external organ executes.” That there are myriads of senses before there is a sentient nature ! — myriads of organs before there is one organic form ! — myriads of vital breaths before there is one animated being in existence ! — all this is nothing in the imagination of a Hindu ! These are waiting in readiness for future appropriation.

Last of all, from the five immensely attenuated particles or atoms that emaned from consciousness, arisp by com- position the five gross visible elements which compose the material universe, and are to man the objects of sensation and perception. These are successively formed in the same order of developement as the invisible rudimental particles which are their architypes. For example, from a combina- tion of one-half of the etherial atom, and an eighth part of each of the other atoms, — ^viz., the aerial, igneous, aqueous, and terrene, — first arises the etherial element. From a combination of one-half of the aerial atom, and an eighth part of each of the rest, is formed the circumambient air or atmosphere. From combinations of a similar kind, spring the remaining three elements of fire, water, and earth. These elements are endowed with various properties. Ether has “ the property of audibleness ; being the vehicle of sound.” Air is “ endued with the properties of audible- ness and tangibility ; being sensible to hearing and touch,” Fire is “ invested with the properties of audibleness, tangi- bility, and colour; being sensible to hearing, touch, and sight,” Water “ possesses the properties of audibleness, tangibility, colour, and savour ; being sensible to hearing,

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touch, sight, and taste.” Earth “ unites the properties of audibleness, tangibility, colour, savour, and odour; being sensible to hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell.”

Thus originate, by successive evolution, all the principles and elements which compose the moral and material uni- verse. Brahm, the eternal fountain of all existence, by his o\Mi energy, separates from his own substance a countless number of spirits, or souls, destined in time to occupy forms terrestrial, celestial, and infernal. By the same energy he next sends forth an infinitely subtile emanation ; or rather extends a portion of his substance into a new form of being, — a peculiar species of expansion or diffiasion. This again contains the germ of a new emanation or expansion ; — and this of another still. That which is prior in the succession, is not merely the antecedent, but the immediate generating source of the next lower down in the descending scale. Each succeeding evolution or expansion in the onward series loses another and another portion of the transparent purity, which characterises the original divine essence. The more distant from the fountain, the dimmer and denser, or less subtile or less perfect each emanation becomes. That which recedes farthest, is the terrene element. Its line of trans- mission along the evolving series being the longest, it has lost most of the essential and transcendent properties of pure spirit. Consequently, it is the darkest and grossest, — the most languid and sluggish of all emanations. Still, though dark, and gross, and sluggish, it has no separate, no independent essence of its own. It is the most remote emanation, or rather eduction from spirit. It is the last developement and modification of the substance of Bi’ahm. All things thus evolved are conceived by many to be still mysteriously united to their original source, — as the radii of a circle to its centre ; — to be still mysteriously dependent upon it for continued existence, through every variety of form and change, — as the rays of light upon the sun.

But can it really be, that gross matter is held to be an

BRAHM THE EFFICIENT AND THE MATERIAL CAUSE. 105

educt from spirit ; and of the very essence and substance of God ? Is there no mistake arising from the figures and meta- phors of oriental fancy ? None whatever. In every variety and mode of speech is it asserted, that Brahm is at once the efficient and the material cause — that he is the being by whose efficient energy all things are evolved ; and that it is from his own spiritual substance they are evolved ; — that “ the nature of cause and effect is the same ” — that as a “ piece of cloth does not essentially differ from the yarn of which it is made,” so the visible universe does not differ in essence from Brahm, whence it emanated. The Shastras assure us, that “ effect exists antecedently to the operation of cause,” — that what “ exists not, can by no operation of a cause be brought into existence;” — and hence, that, as “ rice is in the husk before it is peeled ; ” as “ milk is in the udder before it is drawn ; ” as “ oil is in sesamum be- fore it is pressed ; ” so all qualities and principles remain hidden and undisclosed in Brahm, till, by his own sponta- neous energy, they are educed. Again, they tell us, that as “ the lotus expands itself from pond to pond ; ” as “ plants spring from the earth ; ” as “ hair of the head grows from the body, so does the universe come from the unalterable.” Once more, say they, look at the spider and his web. Of what does the latter consist ? Is it not an expanded por- tion of the very substance of the spider’s own body % And is it not by an exertion of the little insect’s energy that it has been drawn or spun out ? So is the universe drawn, or spun out, or expanded, by the energy of Brahm, from his own substance.

These gross analogies, it cannot be doubted, — though adduced in the sacred writings, merely as apt illustrations fitted to convey to the human mind some conception of di- vinely revealed facts, — were the real causes which suggested the revealed facts themselves ; and, along with other analo- gies equally gross, were the real sources whence originated many of the leading parts of the theory of Hinduism. It must, however, be remembered, that in the present instance, they are not designed to identify the sources whence all

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106 ALL THINGS ARE GOD, AND GOD IS ALL.

these effects, already described, have sprung. It is not meant that — ^because the spider, the earth, the body, whence certain products arise, are solid elementary matter, — there- fore, Brahm, whence the universe proceeds, is material too. No : the likeness is in the evolving process, not in the sources of evolution ; for the one source is spiritual, and the other material. The analogy is not between the nature of the antecedents, but between the modes in which the conse- quents arise. It is a parallelism or correspondence, not between things but sequences. It is a similarity or resem- blance, not of substance or of qualities, but simply of rela- tion or succession. It is the imperfection of language, which leads to the calling Brahm the material cause of the universe — as if he were composed of gross matter. AU that is meant is, that as, for example, the web really and truly issues from, and is an expanded portion of, the spider’s body, — so, really and truly does the universe, through a series of successive emanations, proceed from, and is an expanded portion of, the substance or essence of Brahm. Still, that essence or substance is essentially spiritual, not material.

In fine, what the Jewish Cabbalists afiirmed of their En- soph or Supreme Deity, seems to convey the very sentiments of a learned student of the Hindu Vedas, relative to Brahm, —namely, “ that he contains all things within himself ; and that there is always the same quantity of existence whether the universe be in a created or uncreated” (rather manifested or unmanifested) “ state. When it is in the latter, God is all ; when in the former, the Deity is just partially unfolded or evolved by various degrees of emanation, which constitute the several forms and orders of manifested nature.” Still, all things are God. And when the energy of emanation ceases to operate, all orders of being return and are reunited to the fountain whence they sprung. — Then God alone is all again.

Here we cannot help pausing to notice how thoroughly, in every scheme of Hinduism, the creature is confounded with

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the Creator. The distinction between these is not merely lost : — it is utterly annihilated. Either “ all ” is Creator, or “ all” is creature. Eather, “ all” is an eternal something, which is neither Creator nor creature. How strikingly is the saying verified, that on this and every other fundamental point, the faith of the devout Christian conceives more justly, and comprehends more clearly, than all the fancy and all the reason of the most renowned philosopher ! Yes, the poorest and most illiterate peasant in the humblest hut of a Chris- tian land, may learn more of true and sublime theology from the first verse of the Book of Genesis, than has ever been elaborated by all the intellects of all the wise men of all ages. “ In the beeinnino: God created the heavens and the earth.” There is no ambiguity, no confusion here. All the pretences and cavillings, all the subtilties, repugnances, and vaunted demonstrations of proud but false philosophy, are swept away. Without preface, without comment, without qualification, without reserve ; — yea, without so much as an apparent consciousness of the very possibility of a doubt, — is the transcendent truth abruptly and summarily announced in simple majesty of speech, “ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Created ! Summoned out of nothing into being ! He spake, and it was done. He com- manded, and all things stood fast. That which the wise men of this w’orld imagined they had proved to be the impossi- bility of impossibilities, is instantaneously achieved. The creative fiat of Omnipotence crossed at once the impassable gulf, — bridged in a moment the measureless chasm between the region of entity and nonentity, — between the empty illimitable void, and a glorious universe replenished with myriads of worlds, and myriads of myriads of bright inha- bitants !

In this brief but sublime representation, the creature is not only distinguished from the Creator, but between them is a distance wide as infinitude. And throughout the Bible the distinction is emphatically maintained. The God of the Bible is indeed omnipresent — fully, completely, undividedly, every where present — present alike in the inmost recesses

108 THE PSYCHO-MATERIAL-MYTHOLOGIC SYSTEM.

of the heart, and in the deepest caverns of earth — present alike in the sunbeam, and in the darkening shade — present alike in the peopled heavens, and in the abysses of empty space. Buf, though present — essentially, though myste- riously present — through the boundless extent of His vast dominions. He is never, never confounded with aught that exists. All things do live, and move, and have their being in Him. By his omnipotence. He created all ; by His om- niscience, He guides all ; — yet is He essentially distinct from all, and independent of all. The Brahm of Hinduism is in all things, and is the things themselves. The Jehovah of the Bible is in all things, but is not the things themselves. The Brahm of Hinduism is every where, and is every thing. The Jehovah of the Bible is every where, but is not every thing. The Brahm of Hinduism is with all things, because all are only so many manifestations of his own substance. The Jehovah of the Bible is with all things, but wholly un- mixed, uncompounded, unidentified with any. Jehovah alone can be called absolutely independent, absolutely om- nipotent, absolutely supreme. By a word. He created the universe out of nothing ; by a word. He can reduce it to nothing again.

All the constituents of every form of being having, by successive emanation or developement, been produced, — the more learned usually satisfy themselves with declaring that the whole was subsequently arranged by the immediate power of Brahm, into different worlds, visible and invisible ; and into various orders of being, animate and inanimate, organized and unorganized. But this view is far too simple for the mass. And here it is that the fourth or popular system presents itself — or that which engrafts Mythology on Psycho-materialism — constituting what we have termed the Psycho-material-mythologic system.

The mythologic system is not one that exists independ- ently of all the rest. It presupposes one or other of them, as the alone substratum on which it could rest. It admits

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of being engrafted on any one of them. It is, therefore, not a system to be substituted in their place — it is rather a superaddition. It is altogether a grosser scheme, suited to a ruder and grosser state of mind. Though based on one or other of the rest, the mass of the people are chiefly occupied with the mythologic superstructure, without much regard for the foundation. As the psycho-material system of pantheism is the one generally adopted in the orthodox schools, it is enough for our present purpose to show how the mythologic scheme unites itself with it, not merely in the way of juxtaposition, but of intimate incorporation or interpenetration.

The mythologic scheme, equally with the rest, supposes the existence of the one only great, incomprehensible, and eternal spirit, — the sole existent, abstract, and impersonal essence — Brahm. Brahm, as in the other systems, is sup- posed to will the manifestation of the universe. But here, in the popular or mythologic creed, starts into view a pecu- liarity that characterises all its departments, and furnishes the only principle of harmony to a vast variety of otherwise hopelessly discordant materials — the only solution of jarring phenomena. The mind of man has, in all ages and climes, felt the difficulty of conceiving how spirit can exert energy at all ; and, more particularly, how it can directly operate upon matter. This difficulty was at the bottom of most of the theories of the Grecian philosophers, respecting sensible species^ and other intermediate processes and phantasms ; and had its full share in leading to the adoption of the theory of the eternity of matter. In the mythologic system, it is evidently assumed throughout, that spirit as such, unembo- died spirit, cannot put forth energy; cannot manifest power; cannot exert itself towards the production of matter ; or directly operate upon matter when produced. Even the Supreme Brahm himself could not, by his mere volition, effect the manifestation of the visible universe ; or, if he could, such operation were wholly incompatible with the imperturb- able tranquillity of his nature. Seeing, then, that corporeal form is essential to the exertion of energy, in order that he

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may put forth his omnipotence, Brahm must assume a form, or the semblance of a form. Under this assumed personal form, he drew forth, in some ineffable manner, from his own impersonal essence, three distinct beings, or hj^postases, which speedily became invested with corporeal forms. This is the celebrated Hindu Triad— Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva — respecting whom, one of the sacred books declares, “ that they were originally united in one essence, and from one essence were derived ; ” and another, “ that the great one became distinctly known as three gods, being one person and three gods'’’

These are the Jirst created beings, as well as the highest, noblest, and most powerful. For what purpose were they created, or rather drawn forth from the essence of the Supreme Spirit ? For the purpose of manifesting the energy of the Supreme in reference to the creation (rather eduction and organization), preservation, and destruction of the uni- verse. It is the function of Brahma, the expander, to exert his productive and formative agency on something pre-exist- ent, spiritual, or material. It is the office of Vishnu, the pervader, to pervade the universe, after it has been mani- fested, for the purpose of superintendence and preservation. It is the duty of Shiva, the destroyer, to exercise his destruc- tive power in executing vengeance, and disorganizing the forms of animated being. Since, however, destruction may only imply mutation of foi’m, not annihilation of substance, and is usually succeeded by a reproduction in some other form, Shiva is often represented as the god of renovation. Divine males having thus been brought upon the stage of action, another distinctive principle that pervades the whole of Hindu mythology comes into view. Judging from the gross analogy of sense, the authors of the system could not conceive how even divine males could exist without helps meet being provided for them. Accordingly, the energy of Brsihm is personified under a female form, and then multi- plied into three distinct forms, with three distinct names. Under these three distinct forms and names, she becomes the consort of each of the members of the triad. As Saraswati,

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she is the spouse of Brahma, — the protectress of arts and science, of learning and eloquence. As Lakshmi, she is the favourite wife of Vishnu, — the goddess of fertility and plenty. As Parvati, she is the constant companion of Shiva ; and, like her lord, is armed^with destructive energies.

Since these were the only beings drawn forth directly by the Supreme Spirit himself, from his own essence, under an assumed corporeal form, they became the superior gods of mythology ; to whom were intrusted the future arrangement and government of the universe, after Brahm sunk into his proper state of slumber.

Though the three inferior gods, with their consorts, were coeval in their origin, it is clear from the nature of the case, that the work of production being antecedent to that of preservation or destruction, the peculiar functions of Brahma must be called into requisition before the exercise of the functions of any of the rest.

First of all, how were the constituent elements of the universe produced? According to Manu, it was Brahma, the creator, that drew forth from Brahm, the Supreme Spirit, intellect, consciousness, and all the other succes- sively evolved principles. But whatever the agency may have been, whether Brahm’s simple energy, or his energy personified, or his energy in the form of Brahma, it is agreed that, from the substance of Brahm, all these principles were really educed. Here it is, then, that mythology thoroughly engrafts itself on the psycho-material system.

After having enumerated all the elementary principles, atoms, and qualities, successively evolved from Brahm, one of the sacred writings states that, “ though each of these had distinct powers, yet they existed separate and dis- united, without order or harmonious adaptation of parts ; — that until they were duly combined together, it was im- possible to produce this universe, or animated beings ; — and that, therefore, it was requisite to adopt other means than fortuitous chance for giving them appropriate com- bination and symmetrical arrangement.”

How, then, were these primordial elements to be combined

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and symmetrically arranged ? — By the simple volition of the Omnipotent ? No ; So sublime an act is alien to the faith, if not beyond the conception, of the authors of Hindu Mythology. They seem haunted at every step with the impossibility of conceiving how spirit could act directly on matter ; and what they found it impossible to conceive, they were disposed to reject as incredible. Hence was their imagination ever tasked in devising intermediate agencies, — intermediate processes. Here were the germinant seeds or principles of all future being ; — how were they to be com- bined and perfected in growth, beauty, and harmonious dis- position of parts ? The Supreme Being, replies the Hindu Mythologist, produced a seed or egg, in which the elemen- tary principles might be deposited, and gradually nurtured into maturity.

Are you startled at the strange conception? Look around you, may the Hindu say, and tell me if almost all organized being is not produced from seed? You have only to seize on this fact, and transfer the process by analogy to the formation of this great universe. Look, for example, to the seed of the wide-spreading banyan. You may know from experience, that, however wonderful and unaccountable, it is not the less true, that the particles of this small seed do contain the embryo of the most magnificent of trees. Ex- amine these particles which compose the seed. They are without apparent form or distinction of colour — without any distinguishable variety in texture or composition — and yet from them is destined to arise a stately trunk, with branches, and foliage, and blossoms, and fruit. Look, again, at that gorgeous creature, the peacock. It, too, has sprung from a seed or egg. Watch the growth of the egg. You may first observe it in the egg-organ, “ under the form of a small yellow globe or sphere, frequently smaller than mustard seed ; ” — then, in the egg tube, becoming enveloped with successive layers of a glutinous and calcareous sub- stance, furnished by appropriate secreting vessels ; — and last of all, deposited in the nest, where, from this inert mass, operated on by the vivifying warmth of the mother, springs

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forth a living creature — the most magnificent of birds. Who that had never read, seen, or heard of such a thing, could have conjectured the possibility of such a metamor- phosis ? In gazing at the first egg ever presented to an observer, may the Hindu continue to ask, with a celebrated naturalist, “ could imagination itself ever conjure up, even in the brightest moments of inspired genius, the idea of a peacock springing out of the shell ? Look at a single feather ; consider that its shining metallic barbs, its superlatively beautiful eye, and all the wonders it exhibits of irridiscent, rich, and changeable hues, according to the angle in which it lies to the light ; that its form, its solidity, its flexibility, its strength, its lightness, and all its wonders, had their origin in a little mucilage ! But if a single feather be so wonder- ful a production, what are we to think of the entire bird ? And yet, the entire bird, in all its glory of dazzling colours, is the product of a little glairy colourless fluid contained in a capsule of chalk ! ”

Experience having thus exhibited to the Hindu observer realities more wonderful than imagination could have con- ceived, it required no great stretch of ingenuity on his part to transfer, by analogy, a process so fraught with wonders from the field of observation and experience, in order to account for the rise, progress, and perfecting of another formation beyond the field of observation and experience. But whatever may have originally suggested the singular idea, — or whether it may not have arisen from some con- fused corrupt tradition of the fact that, in the beginning, the Spirit of God brooded over the waters, — it is announced, as the Hindu verily heheves on the authority of revelation, that Brahm resolved to produce a huge seed or egg.

The producing of such an egg implies a new exercise of divine power. But even divine power, according to the mythologist, cannot be immediately exercised — directly mani- fested— by pure immaterial spirit. For action, corporeal form is absolutely indispensable. Hence it is that, for the production of the intended egg, Brahm is represented as having assumed a new and peculiar form ; and, in that

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form, is usually named Purush, or the pritneval male. His divine energy, already separated from his essence, is also supposed to be personified under a female form, Prakriti or Nature. On Purush and Prakriti was devolved the task of giving existence to the celebrated Mundane egg. Having once finished their task, these peculiar and specific manifes- tations of Brahm and his energj’ seem to have evanished from the stage of action, to give way afterwards to other distinct manifestations for the accomplishment of purposes alike specific.

All the primary atoms, qualities, and principles — the seeds of future worlds — that had been evolved from the substance of Brahm, were now collected together, and deposited in the newly produced egg. And into it, along with them, entered the self-existent himself, under the assumed form of Brahma; and there sat, vivifying, expanding, and combining the elements, a whole year of the creation^a thousand yugs — or four thousand three hundred millions of solar years ! During this amazing period, the wondrous egg floated “ like a bubble on an abyss ” of primeval waters — rather, perhaps, chaos of the grosser elements, in a state of fusion and commixtion, — increasing in size, and blazing refulgent as a thousand suns. At length, the Supreme, who dwelt therein, burst the shell of the stupendous egg, and issued forth under a new form, with a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand arms !

Along with him there sprang forth another form, huge and measureless ! What could that be ? All the elemen- tary principles having now been matured, and disposed into an endless variety of orderly collocations, and combined into one harmonious whole, they darted into visible mani- festation, under the form of the present glorious universe ; — a universe now finished and ready made, with its entire apparatus of earth, sun, moon, and stars ! What, then, is this multiform universe? It is but an hannoniously arranged expansion of primordial principles and qualities. And whence are these ? — Educed or evolved from the divine substance of Brahm. Hence it is, that the universe is so

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constantly spoken of, even by tlie mythologists, as a mani- fested form of Brahm himself, the supreme invisible spirit. Hence, too, under the notion that it is the manifestation of a being who may assume every variety of corporeal form, is the universe often personified ; or described as if its differ- ent parts were only the different members of a person of prodigious magnitude, in human form. In reference to this more than gigantic being, viewed as a personification of the universe, it is declared that the hairs of his body are the plants and trees of the forest ; of his head, the clouds ; of his beard, the lightning ; — that his breath is the circling atmosphere ; his voice, the thunder ; his eyes, the sun and moon ; his veins, the rivers ; his nails, the rocks ; his bones, the lofty mountains !

What, may it now be asked, is the divinely revealed account of the constitution of the physical universe, as it sprung in perfected form from the Mundane egg ?

It is often said to exist of three worlds — heaven above, earth below, and the interambient ether. In a minuter division, it is usually partitioned into fourteen worlds ; seven inferior, or below the world which we inhabit ; and seven superior, consisting — with the exception of our own, which is the first — of immense tracts of space, bestudded with glorious luminaries and habitations of the gods, — rising not unlike the rings of Saturn, one above the other, as so many concentric zones or belts of almost measureless extent.

Of the seven inferior worlds which dip beneath our earth in a regularly descending series, it is needless to say more than that they are destined to be the abodes of all manner of wicked and loathsome creatures.

Our own earth, the first of the ascending series of worlds, is declared to be “ circular or flat, like the flower of the water-lily, in w’hich the petals project beyond each other.” Its habitable portion consists of seven circular islands or continents, each surrounded by a different ocean. The cen- tral or metropolitan island, destined to be the abode of man.

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is named Jamba Dwip, around which rolls the sea of salt water ; next follows the second circular island, and around it the sea of sugar-cane juice ; then the third, and around it the sea of spirituous liquors ; then the fourth, and around it the sea of clarified butter ; then the fifth, and around it the sea of sour curds ; then the sixth, and around it the sea of milk ; then the seventh and last, and around it the sea of sweet water. Beyond this last ocean is an uninhabited country of pure gold, so prodigious in extent that it equals all the islands with their accompanying oceans in magnitude. It is begirt with a bounding wall of stupendous mountains, which enclose, within their bosom, realms of everlasting darkness.

The central island, the destined habitation of the human race, is several hundred thousand miles in diameter; and the sea that surrounds it is of the same breadth. The second island is double the diameter of the first, and so is the sea that surrounds it. And each of the remaining islands and seas in succession, is double the breadth of its immediate predecessor. So that the diameter of the whole earth amounts to several hundred thousand millions of miles — occupying a portion of space of manifold larger dimensions than that which actually intervenes between the earth and the sun ! Yea, if our imagination could take the wings of the morning and dilate itself into a capacity for grasping what approximates the infinite ; and if it could enable us to form the conception of a circular mass of solid matter, whose diameter exceeded that of the orbit of Herschell, the most distant planet in our solar system, such a mass would not equal in magnitude the earth of the Hindu Mythologists !

In the midst of this almost immeasurable plain, from the very centre of Jamba Dwip, shoots up the highest of moun- tains, Su-Meru, to the height of several hundred thousand miles, — in the form of an inverted pyramid, — having its summit, which is two hundred times broader than the base, surmounted by three swelling cones, — the highest of these cones transpiercing upper vacancy with three golden peaks, on which are situate the favourite residences of the sacred

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Triad. At its base, like so many giant centinels, stand four lofty hills, on each of which grows a mango tree several thousand miles in height, — bearing fruit delicious as nectar, and of the enormous size of many hundred cubits. From these mangoes, as they fall, flows a mighty river of perfumed juice ; so communicative of its sweetness, that those who partake of it, exhale the odour from their persons all around to the distance of many leagues. There also grow rose apple trees, whose fruit is “ large as elephants,” and whose juice is so plentiful, as to form another mighty river, that converts the earth, over which it passes, into purest gold !

Such is a brief notice of the geographical outline furnished by the sacred writings of the world on which we dwell. In turning to the other superior worlds, we obtain a glimpse of some of the revelations of Hindu astronomy.

The second world in the ascending series, or that which immediately over-vaults the earth, is the region of space between us and the sun ; which is declared, on divine autho- rity, to be distant only a few hundred thousand miles. The third in the upward ascent, is the region of space interme- diate between the sun and the pole star. Within this region are all the planetary and stellar mansions. The distances of the principal heavenly luminaries are given with the utmost precision. The moon is placed beyond the sun as far as the sun is from the earth ! Next succeed at equal distances from each other, and in the following order :^the Stars, Mercury, (beyond the stars !) Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Ursa Major, and the Pole Star. The four remaining worlds (beyond the Pole Star) continue to rise, one above the other, at immense and increasing intervals. The entire circum- ference of the celestial space is then given with the utmost exactitude of numbers.

In all of these superior worlds are framed heavenly man- sions, differing in glory, — destined to form the habitation of various orders of celestial spirits. In the seventh., or highest, is the chief residence of Brahma, — said by one of the divine

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sages to be so glorious, that he could not describe it in tvea hundred years ; as it contains, in a superior degree, every thing which is precious, or beautiful, or magnificent in all the other heavens. What, then, must it be, when we consider the surpassing grandeur of some of these ? Glance, for example, at the heaven which is prepared in the third world, and in- tended for Indra, — head and king of the different ranks and degrees of subordinate deities. Its palaces are all of purest gold, — so replenished with vessels of diamond, and columns and ornaments of jasper, and sapphire, and emerald, and all manner of precious stones, that it shines with a splendour exceeding the brightness of twelve thousand suns. Its streets are of the clearest crystal, fringed with fine gold. It is surrounded with forests abounding with all kinds of trees and flowering shrubs, whose sweet odours are diffused all around for hundreds of miles. It is bestudded with gardens and pools of water, — warm in winter, and cool in summer, — richly stored with fish, waterfowl, and lilies blue, red, and white, spreading out a hundred or a thousand petals. Winds there are, but they are ever refreshing ; — storms and tempests and sultry heats being unknown. Clouds there are, but they are light and fleecy, and fantastic canopies of glory. Thrones there are, which blaze like the corruscations of lightning, enough to dazzle any mortal vision. And warblings there are, of sweetest melody, — with all the inspiring harmonies of music and of song, among bowers that are ever fragrant and ever green.

Such descriptions, however, are not like those of the Bible, chiefly figurative and emblematic ; designed faintly to repre- sent the glories of an abode which “ eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive.” No : they are all to be understood in strictest literality. In the heaven of Indra there are no objects of contemplation except those of external sense, — no gratifica- tions beyond those of carnal tastes and desires, appetites and passions. It is at best but a sort of terrestrial paradise, such as the heart of man may well conceive, — a paradise without aught of paradisaical innocence or purity. There,

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holiness, and communion with God, and love the bond of perfectness, all of which unite in constituting the ineffable bliss of the heaven of the Bible, are utterly unknown.

The substantial fabrics of all worlds having now been framed and fitted up as the destined abodes of different orders of being, celestial, terrestrial, and infernal, the ques- tion next arises. How or by whom were produced the varied organized forms which these orders of being were designed to animate ? Though hosts of subtle essences, or spirits, or souls, flowed forth from Brahm, all of these remain inactive till united to some form of materialism. From this necessity the gods themselves are not excepted. While the souls of men, and other Inferior spirits, must be enclosed in taber- nacles fashioned out of the grosser elements ; the souls of the gods, and all other superior spirits, must be made to inhabit material forms, composed of one or other of the infinitely attenuated and invisible rudimental atoms that spring direct from the principle of consciousness.

Who, then, is the maker of these endlessly varied forms ? To Brahma, the first person of the triad, was the office almost exclusively assigned. Hence is he styled the Creator. But creator he is not in the only proper and genuine sense of that term. In that lo^^v sense, even the Supreme Brahm is not a creator. Brahi - and Brahma are both alike only producers or educers, or, at the best, mere fabricators of pre-existent materials. Brahma, then, is in no sense Creator, though, in a strictly literal sense, he may, like Grecian Jove, be truly designated “ the father of gods and men.”

Interminable as are the incoherencies, inconsistencies, and extravagancies of the Hindu sacred writings, on no subject, perhaps, is the multiplicity of varying accounts and dis- crepancies more astounding than on the present. Volumes would not suffice to retail them all. Brahma’s first attempts at the production of the forms of animated being were as eminently unsuccessful as they were various. At one time, he is said to have performed a long and severe course of

120 ALL ANIMATED BEINGS SPRUNG FROM BRAHMA.

ascetic devotions to enable him to accomplish his wish, but in vain ; at another, inflamed with anger and passion at his repeated failures, he sat down and wept, — and from the streaming tear-drops sprang into being, as his first-born, a progeny of ghosts and goblins of an aspect so loathsome and dreadful, that he was ready to faint away. At one time, after profound meditation, different beings spring forth, one from his thumb, a second from his breath, a third from his ear, a fourth from his side, and others from different mem- bers of his body ; at another, he assumes sundry strange qualities to effectuate his purpose, or he multiplies himself into the forms of different creatures, rational and irrational. But enough of such monstrous legends — legends which may well serve as a dark back-ground to exhibit and enhance the contrast presented by the Mosaic record of the creation. For what contrast or contrariety can possibly be greater than that which obtains between the painful, experimental, and often abortive, attempts of Brahma to produce the forms of animated being, and the simple but sublime declaration of J ehovah ? — “ Let us make man in our image,” — viewed in conjunction w'ith the words immediately added by the in- spired historian, “ So God created man in his omti image ; in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them.” — Or, again, with the equally irresistible command, “ Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth, in the open firmament of heaven : Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, after his kind ; ” — “ and it was so."

As the result of all his toilsome labours and experiments, there did proceed from Brahma, directly or indirectly, a countless progeny of animated beings that people the four- teen worlds which constitute the universe.

The seven inferior worlds are plentifully stored with fierce giants, and savage hydras, and huge serpents, “ pourtrayed in every monstrous figure which imagination can suggest,” — with the dire and tremendous Sheshanaga for their king.

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whose thousand heads are encompassed each with a crown of starry gems ; while his eyes gleam like blazing torches, and his garments are skirted with yellow flames ; and he bears aloft in his arms the holy shell, the radiated weapon, the mace of war, "and the divine and immortal lotus.”

The worlds above this earth are peopled with gods and goddesses, demigods and genii, — the sons and grandsons, daughters and grand-daughters, of Brahma and other supe- rior deities. All the superior gods have separate heavens for themselves. The inferior deities dwell chiefly in the heaven of Indra, the god of the firmament. There they congregate to the number of three hundred and thirty mil- lions ? The gods are divided and subdivided into classes or hierarchies which vary through every conceivable gradation of rank and power. They are of all colours, — some black, some white, some red, some blue, and so through all the blending shades of the rainbow. They exhibit all sorts of shape, size, and figure, — in forms wholly human or half human, — wholly brutal or variously compounded, like many- headed and many-bodied centaurs, — with four, or ten, or a hundred, or a thousand eyes, heads, and arms. They ride tlirough the regions of space on all sorts of etherealized animals, — elephants, buffaloes, lions, deer, sheep, goats, peacocks, vidtures, geese, serpents, and rats ! They hold forth in their multitudinous arms all manner of offensive and defensive weapons, — thunderbolts, scimitars, javelins, spears, clubs, bows, arrows, shields, flags, and shells ! They discharge all possible functions. There are gods of the heavens above, and of the earth below, and of the region under the earth— gods of wisdom and of folly — gods of war and of peace — gods of good and of evil — gods of pleasure, who delight to shed around their votaries the fragrance of harmony and of joy — gods of cruelty and wrath, whose thirst must be satiated with torrents of blood, and whose ears must be regaled with the shrieks and agonies of expir- ing victims. All the virtues and the vices of man ; all the allotments of life, — beauty, jollity, and sport ; the hopes and fears of youth, the felicities and infelicities of manhood, the

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joys and sorrows of old age, — all, all are placed under the presiding influence of superior powers. Every scene, every element, and almost every object in nature, — the bud that bursts forth in spring, the blossom of summer, and the fruits of autumn, — meadow and grove, fountain and stream, hill and valley ; — all have their guardian genii, whose freaks and revelries greatly outstrip, in number and variety, the “ fairy gambols and goblin feats recognised by the credulity of northern superstition.”

Though each divinity has its own distinctive and peculiar form, all may assume, at pleasure, any other variety that may suit the accomplishment of their designs. Such forms are not always temporary — not laid aside on the consum- mation of the object for which they may have been adopted. Once assumed, they may become permanent forms of a par- ticular deity ; — each form possessing its own distinct person- ality ; exercising independent power ; discharging separate functions as much as if it were altogether another divine being. Under any one or all of these forms, the deity may be worshipped with distinctive formulas, and appropriate rites and ceremonies. Still, amid forms, and names, and powers, and functions so various and extensive, there may not be many gods, but one god ; not many unconnected independent divine personages, but many personified forms of one individual deity. The characters that flit across the stage may seem numberless ; still, it may not be a succes- sion of really separate personalities ; but rather a singularly rapid transition of one into many. Not unlike the trans- mutations of ventriloquism, or the fabled metamorphoses of poetry ; all may be only so many varieties of one original divinity. Besides the privilege of assuming any variety of ethereal forms, a divinity may manifest himself, and become incarnate in material corporeal forms, whether human or brutal. This is not supposed to imply any degradation of the deity, since he is believed to pass through the assumed forms, “ like the subtile air, without defiling his pure and immutable nature.”

The heavens above, and the worlds below, having now

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been peopled with their respective inhabitants, the earth was next stored with the whole “ assembly of stationary and moveable bodies,” destined to be occupied by terrestrial spirits. Among these bodies the Divine Legislator specially enumerates “ birds of mighty wing, horse-faced sylvans, apes, fish, tame cattle, moths, fleas, and common flies, with every biting gnat ! ” By a species of emanation or succes- sive eduction from the substance of his own body, Brahma gave origin to the human race, consisting originally of four distinct genera, classes, or castes. From his month, first of all, proceeded the Brahman caste ; — so designated after the name of the great progenitor, as being the highest and noblest in the scale of earthly existence, — the nearest in kindred and in likeness to Brahma himself, — his visible representatives in human form. At the same time, there flowed from his mouth, in finished and substantial form, the four Vedas, for the instruction of mankind in all need- ful knowledge. Of these the Brahmans were constituted the sole depositaries, the sole interpreters, the sole teachers. To all the rest of their fellow-creatures they were to give out such portions and fragments, and in such manner and mode, as they might deem most expedient. Hence their emanation from the mouth of Brahma became an emblem of their future characteristic function or office, as the sole divinely appointed preceptors of the human race. From Brahma’s arm, the protecting member of the body, next emaned the Kshattrya, or military caste ; — the source of emanation being emblematic of their future office ; which is, to wield martial weapons for the defence of the rest of their fellows from internal violence, and external aggres- sion. From Brahma’s hreast, the seat of life, originated the Vaishya, or caste of productive capitalists, whether pasto- ral, agricultural, or mercantile ; — the source of their origi- nation being emblematic of their future function, which is, to raise or provide for themselves and the rest, all the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries which serve to support or exhilarate human life. F rom Brahma’s foot, the member of inferiority and degradation, sprung the Shudra, or servile

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caste, placed on the base of society ; — the source of their production being emblematic of their future calling ; which is, to perform for the other castes, all manner of menial duties, either as serfs or manual cultivators of the soil, domestic attendants, artizans, and handicraftsmen of every respectable description.

According to this rigid and unmodified account of the origin of man, it must at once appear that caste is not a civil but a sacred institution, — not an ordinance of human but of divine appointment. The distinction which it establishes between one family or tribe of man and another, is not of accident, but of essence,— wo\j of arbitrary human will, but of eternal decree and necessity of nature. The difference which the various sources of derivation tend to originate and per- petuate, is not specific, but generic. It is a difference of hind as complete as if the races had sprung from absolutely different primeval stocks. Hence, according to the strict spirit of the system, a man of one genus or caste, can no more be transformed into the member of another genus or caste, — whether from a higher to a lower, or from a lower to a higher ; — no more than a lion can be changed into a mole, or a mole into a lion ; a whale into a flying fish, or a flying fish into a whale ; a banyan tree into a thorn, or a thorn into a banyan tree ; a rose into a thistle, or a thistle into a rose. Each caste has, by divine ordination, its own pecu- liar laws and institutions, its own duties and professions, its own rites and customs, its own liberties and immunities. The violation of any fundamental principle, such as the eating of some strictly prohibited article of food, entails a forfeiture of caste, with all its rights and prerogatives. This implies something more than mere degradation from a higher to a lower order within the pale of caste. Should a Brahman, for instance, violate the rules of his caste, he has it not in his power to enfranchise" himself in the special privileges of any of the three lower. No : he sinks beneath the platform of caste altogether, — he becomes an absolute outcast. His own genus is completely changed ; and he cannot be transformed into any other existing genus. He

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must henceforward form a new genus of his own. J ust as if we depi’ived the lion of his shaggy mane and brawny paws, and changed his carnivorous into a graminivorous propen- sity,— he would at once become an outcast from the pre- sent leonine genus, and incapable of being admitted into the genus of tigers, or bears, or any other ; — and if the mutilated transformed creature should perpetuate its kind, there would arise an entirely new genus of animals. Hence it follows, that beneath the fourth or lowest caste, there may be a class of beings belonging to no caste ; as if realiz- ing the words of the poet, “ beneath the lowest depth, a lower still — a class composed of outcasts from the four privileged orders, — the residuum of the refuse and offscour- ings of all the rest, — held in the utmost detestation and abhorrence, — compelled to resort to the least reputable, and often to the most loathsome occupation, for subsistence, — doomed to be subjected to all the pains and penalties and indignities of excommunication and outlawry in this life, — and to irreparable disadvantages as regards all preparation for the life to come.

Such is the spirit of the original theory of caste, as unfolded and taught by divine authority.

The universe having now been manifested and replenished throughout, with its furniture of animate and inanimate forms, how long is it destined to last ? What is the mea- sure of its duration ? According to the supposed revelation of the Hindu Scriptures, the continued manifestation of the universe is co-extensive with the life of Brahma. The uni- verse is his cotemporary throughout ; — beginning and end- ing with him. Time was when neither Brahma nor the universe existed. When Brahm awoke, from his essence was separated the former as well as the rudimental atoms of the latter. But Brahma is not to live for ever. No. The days and years of his life are numbered ; and the days and years of his life regulate the successive ages, and fix the limits of the existence, of the universe. What, then, are

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the cycles of time which constitute the revolving periods of Brahma’s being ! Let us endeavour to rise, step by step, through the amazing series.

In reckoning the span of human existence, our lowest unit is a second of time. The primary unit in estimating the span of Brahma’s existence is an ordinary year of mortals, or a solar year, which is declared to be equivalent to “ a day and night of the gods.” Three hundred and sixty such days and nights, or three hundred and sixty solar years, constitute “ a year of the gods.” Twelve thousand such years of the gods form “ an age of the gods,” — “ a divine age,” — more commonly designated a maha-yug or “ great age — in other words, a maha-yug, or “ great age of the gods,” is equal to four millions three hundred and twenty thousand years of mortals. Thus maha-yug is always sub- divided into four lesser yugs, or ages, in the relative and diminishing proportion of four, three, two, and one ; — so that the first and largest embraces a period of nearly two millions of years, and the fourth and last, a period of nearly half a million. The four, named the Satya, Treta, Dwapar, and Kali Y ugs, somewhat correspond in number, succession, and character, to the golden, silver, brazen, and iron ages of the Greek and Roman mythologists. Seventy-one maha-yugs, or divine ages, compose a grand period, named a manwan- tara, or cycle of time, during which one Manu (or ^lenu), with his posterity of sons and grandsons, is supposed to be invested with the sovereignty of the earth. Of these Manus there are fourteen, who reign in succession ; consequently, there are fourteen successive periods or manwantaras of equal length with that now desci’ibed. These fourteen manwantaras, with certain residuarj" additions of time, equal in all to a thousand maha-jTigs, give us the grand period denominated a kalpa. Now, this kalpa, consisting of four thousand three hundred and twenty millions of solar years, “ must be considered,” says the divine lawgiver, “ as a day of Brahma ; and his night has also the same duration." Three hundred and sixty of these enormous days and nights compose a year of Brahma, — a period which exceeds in length

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three billions of the years of mortals. A hundred such years constitute the duration of Brahma's life ; — in other words, the life of Brahma, which is the same in length as the dura- tion of the universe^ extends to upwards of three hundred billions of common years ! Has any one the curiosity to inquire what point in this stupendous cycle of ages do we at present occupy ? Be it known then, that above a half of the life of Brahma has already expired. Or, if definite in- formation be more satisfactory, be it known, that in this year of the Christian era (1839), we ax’e in the four thou- sand nine hundred and forty-fourth year of the kali-yug, of the twenty-eighth maha-yug, of the seventh manwantara, of the first kalpa or day of the fifty-first year of Brahma’s age ; — in other words, we are now considerably beyond the hun- dred and fifty billionth year of the creation !

After such a statement, we need not wonder at Mr Hal- hed’s exclamation, — “ Computation is lost, and conjecture overwhelmed, in the attempt to adjust such astonishing spaces of time to our own confined notions of the world’s epoch. To such antiquity the Mosaic creation is but as yes- terday ; and to such ages the life of Methuselah is no more than a span ! ” But we may well be permitted to wonder at the credulity of that scepticism which led poor Halhed to distrust the sober and indisputably authenticated an- nouncements of the Hebrew lawgiver, while it greedily devoured the monstrous extravagances of the fabling Hindu chronologists !

Having thus ascertained the age, and estimated the dura- tion, of the universe, we may be asked. Whether it is sup- posed to advance in its stately march along the roll of ages, unaltered, unmodified, undisturbed ? The reply is in the negative. In its progress it is subjected to great periodic mutations. At the commencement of each great cycle of time, such as the maha-yug, mankind is declared to be, on the whole, or comparatively, virtuous and happy ; though carrying ir them latent predispositions to evil. These pre-

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THE HIN'DE DOCTRINE OF THE DELUGE.

dispositions gradually break forth into open manifestation - Human depravity, becoming worse and worse, at length issues in the reign of almost universal degeneracy. Accor- dingly, at the termination of each of the four lesser yugs or ages, — of every maha-j-ug, or great age, — of every man- wantara, or appointed space of the reign of each of the fom’teen Manus — there are great changes, ushered in by floods and storms, designed for the punishment and destruc- tion of the wicked. These catastrophes affect only the Mundane fabric, which is again renewed and re-peopled by the righteous, whose lives have been preserved by a miracu- lous interposition of Deity. But there are other changes recurring at wider intervals, of a far more momentous character. At the close of each kalpa, or day of Brahma, commences his night. The great Father, wearied with the labours and fatigues of government, during his long day of more than four thousand millions of years, then retires to sleep. AVhen about to enter on his night of repose — a night of equal length with his day — he surrounds himself with darkness. Sun, moon, and stars become shrouded in the gloom. Clouds from above pour down torrents of rain ; and the waves of the ocean, agitated by mighty tempests, rise to a prodigious Ijeight. The seven lower worlds are at once submerged; as well as the earth which we inhabit. Yea more ; the waters cease not to rise till they overwhelm, not the loftiest mountains merely, but the two worlds next in the order of ascent above the earth ! In the midst of this tremendous abyss, Brahma, in his assumed form of Narayana, reclines on the serpent, Ananta, or Eternity, with closed eyes, and reposes in mysterious slumber. ^Vhat a deluge have we here ! — a deluge which, by covering the seven inferior, and the first three of the superior worlds, must reach upwards to the Pole Star ! This may well be scouted as one of the most monstrous extravagances that ever germinated from the ravings of a crazj’ fanaticism. And so, in point of fact, it must be. But in point of prin- ciple, the principle, namely, of i\\e abstract possibility of such an event, who dare gainsay it ? Let the philosophers of this

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world despise, if they will, the authenticity of the Mosaic account of the deluge. Let our own rationalizing divines help to feed the lamp of a philosophy “ falsely so called,” by pretending to fetch new light from the ignis fatuus of German Neologianism to illumine one of the brightest pages of Heaven’s own Revelation. Let both the philosopher and the divine co-operate in their unhallowed task, on the express ground that they, forsooth, know not, and cannot understand whence the waters could issue that would “ cover all the high hills that were under the whole heaven.” What ! — Is it not enough to know and understand that the Lord God is Omnipotent ? Know they better whence the solid fabric of the globe itself could proceed ? If not, are they prepared to resort to Pantheism, and like our Indian Brah- mans, assert that it emaned from the substance of Deity ? Have they yet to learn that the truest and most heroic phi- losopher is he who is ever ready to admit any well-attested fact ; — while in regard to every question concerning its ori- gin or mode of being, he may only be able bravely to reply, “ I cannot tell.” Ye disciples of a proud philosophy and a proud theology, have ye yet to learn that this is no irrational reply ? Have ye yet to learn that it is and must be the terminating goal of the knowledge of all finite being, — the impassable limit of all the inquiries which created intelli- gence can institute ? Take what steps you may ; resort to what expedients you please ; propose what topics your in- genuity can suggest ; enter what field of investigation you choose connected with earth or heaven, matter or spirit ; trace causes and effects, and properties and sequences to an extent proportionate to that pursued by the highest arch- angel basking in the sunshine of Jehovah’s presence ; — and what have you gained as to compassing the domains of omniscience ? — What have you gained as to reaching some point where a question may not be put to which the only answer that can be returned is not the grand and ultimate one, — “ I cannot tell ? ” What have you gained in respect of attainments in knowledge, of which the very highest will not be to understand how profoundly ignorant you still are I

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THE NIGHT OF BRAHMA.

— What have you gained in ascending along the scale of infinity, by a course ever progressive, to render it even pro- bable that nought will remain to call forth the humbling answer, — “ I cannot tell ? ” Unless the power were imparted of performing all things possible, and the faculty communi- cated of comprehending all things intelligible ; unless vour powers and faculties should thus increase and swell in dimensions beyond all bounds ; — unless, in a word, you could supersede the being and perfections of the Great God, by investing yourselves with infinite attributes, it is not con- ceivable that there will not remain some subjects, the nature of which you cannot fully know ; and in regard to the sources, causes, and reasons of which, you will not have to return the distinguishing reply of all finitude of wisdom, “ I cannot tell ! ” Rather, therefore, than rack and torture the liter- ality of the Mosaic account of the deluge, — an account so marvellously authenticated by cumulative evidence collateral and direct, — rather than doubt or dispute the universal prevalence of the waters, on the sole ground that we know not whence they could come ; — rather than this, infinitely rather would we believe with the Hindu, not that the “ flood actu- ally reached the Pole Star, — for of that we have no eHdence, — but that it could he made to reach so far, ay, and as far beyond, as the Pole Star is from the earth ! ” And in so believing, might we not demonstrate that we were more truly the disciples of a sound philosophy and an enlightened reason, than those who make the proudest pretensions to both? For sure w’e are, that He, by whose omnipotent creative fiat the substance of all worlds was summoned out of nothing, and all the hosts of heaven marshalled in their blazing courses, could, if He had so willed, have as easily converted the boundless void of space into a boundless abyss of waters !

During the long night of Brahma, the wicked inhabitants of all worlds utterly perish. But those who have escaped the general apostasy on earth ; the immortals that gladden by their presence the summits of Su-Meru ; the half-deified progenitors of mankind in the world above the earth ; Indra, with the divine sages, and all other orders of celestial beings

PARTIAL DESTRUCTIONS, &C., OF THE UNIVERSE. 131

that fill with streaming radiance the region of the starry firmament ; — aU rush, in consternation and terror, into the fourth of the superior worlds, or that which rises immedi- ately beyond the Pole Star. Those amongst them that are most distinguished for meritorious virtue, may ascend still farther into one or other of the three highest heavens. In these abodes of blessedness, which remain wholly unaffected by the deluge, the happy strangers, rescued from impending ruin, safely reside till the termination of Bralnna’s night. When he awakes, the heavenly luminaries shine forth ; the gloom is dispelled ; the waters are assuaged ; the earth reap- pears ; every disorganized form of animate and inanimate being is renewed, — by a process which, in many respects, is only a repetition of that pursued at the primary manifesta- tion of the universe.

A partial destruction of the same kind, or a disorganiza- tion of the ten lower worlds, recurs at the close of every kalpa or day of Brahma ; and a similar renovation at the termina- tion of ever)' succeeding night. And as there are thiHy-six thousand days, and as many nights in his life, there must be thirty-six thousand partial destructions or disorganizations of the larger moiety of the imiverse, and as many reconstruc- tions of it, during the period of its duration.

How sad to think that the age of allegorizing has passed away ; or that the science of geology had not been as old as the Vedas ! Else, what a splendid theme for the aUegorists would the present subject furnish? It has been said that “ infinity of time gives to the discoveries of the geologist, the sublimity which is conferred by the infinity of space on those of the astronomer r Again and again have we been given to imderstand that we are now living amid the wrecks of older worlds, — that, by chemical decomposition or mechanical Holence, the former continents were gradually destroyed, and their materials transported by flood and whirlw'ind into the depths of ocean, — that these materials, first loosely deposited in regular strata, were subsequently consolidated by volcanic heat, — and that, when at length sufiieient sub- stance had accumulated for the formation of new continents.

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the whole was upheaved, fractured, and contorted by cata- clasms or paroxysmal convulsions, and strewn in every direc- tion as the hills and valleys of a new world. “ In short,” adds Mr Lyell, with emphasis, in his remarks on Hutton’s Theory of the Earth, “ in short, he required alternate periods of disturhance and repose, and such, he believed, had been, and icould for ever be, the course of natureT And what, might our allegorists continue, what can the alternate wakefulness and slumber of Brahma, accompanied with destructions and renovations of the universe through the oscillating cycles of ages be, but a sublime representation of the grand geologi- cal discovery of the alternate dissolution and reorganization of the crust of our own planet, through boundless periods of past and future time ?

But, letting this pass, — we proceed to remark that Hin- duism distinctly recognises a never-ending series of still mightier changes. During the days and nights of Brahma, when he is alternately awake and asleep, the universe expe- riences an alternate partial renovation and destruction. There was a time, however, when neither Brahma nor the universe existed ; and the time must come when both shall cease to be. When Bi’ahm awakes, there is no universe at all. Consequently, it is not a renovation of an old universe that takes place, but the production and manifestation of an entirely new one. The universe, once manifested, is des- tined to undergo successive dissolutions and revivals through- out the hundred years of Brahma’s life. But when that life comes to a close, there is no longer a partial destruction, but an utter annihilation. Then takes place a Malta Pra- laya or great destruction of the entire universe, with all its furniture and inhabitants; — for then are all things reduced to absolute nonentity.

The authors of Hinduism seem to labour under an oppres- sive burden when attempting to pourtray this great and final catastrophe. They tell us, that for a hundred years rain shall pour down upon the earth ; and, for want of food, famished men and animals shall devour each other, and all animated beings miserably perish. They tell us, that for a

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hundred years more, storms and hurricanes fiercely drifting the lurid vapours will involve the atmosphere in smoky darkness. They tell us, that the sun, with terrific beams, will drink up the sea and the rivers of water. They tell us that circling masses of flame, tossed by the winds in fiery eddies, will envelope the world in a universal conflagration. Then will commence the grand process of the dissolution of all things, or their resolution into those seminal principles whence they sprung. All visible corporeal forms, throughout all worlds, will be reduced to those grosser elements of which they are composed. The grosser elements themselves will be decomposed into the five rudimental particles. These again will merge one into the other, in the reverse order of that in which they were evolved, — that is, the terrene atom into the igneous atom ; the igneous into the aqueous ; the aqueous into the aerial ; the aerial into the etherial. The etherial atom will then melt away into the principle of con- sciousness. Into the same principle of consciousness will be resolved the eleven organs and instruments of sense and action. Consciousness will be devoured by intellect. Intel- lect will be re-fused into the essence of the Supreme Brahm. At one and the same time, all souls, whether good or bad, righteous or wicked, worthy of reward or deserving of punish- ment,— all spirits, whether occupying forms celestial, terres- trial or infernal, — all souls or spirits that emanated directly and w’ithout any intermediate process of successive evolution, find a still speedier and simpler resolution into the essence of the imperishable. And thus all things, corporeal and incor- poreal— animate and inanimate — gods, and men, and devils — animals, vegetables, and minerals — earth, sea, and sky — fire and ether — sun, moon, and stars ; — all, all, whether ma- terial or immaterial, visible or invisible, will shrink away into more and more general forms of being, till they are wholly reabsorbed into the impersonal essence of the Supreme Spirit. Time itself will cease, and universal darkness reign. Nothing, nothing will exist throughout the boundless depths of space, but he who is without beginning and without end, the sole existent, incomprehensible Brahm !

I.*j4 COMMENCEMENT OF HINDU SACRED HISTORY'.

Is the present, then, the only universe that has ever been, or that ever will be ? No. The present is only a link in the chain, one end of which is lost in the depths of past time ; and the other will be, in the depths of the future. After the utter destruction of a universe by reabsorption into the essence of Brahm, when myriads of ages — compared with which the life of Brahma is but as a grain of sand to the solar system — have passed away, Brahm always awakes again. No sooner does he awake, than he always desires to mani- fest the universe : then all things are reproduced in the same way, and after the same order that has been already described. Every successive universe is but a repetition of that which preceded it. During the existence of each, it is subjected to the same periodic series of disorganizations at the close of every day of Brahma ; and to a corresponding series of renovations at the close of every one of his nights. And always when Brahma’s life expires, the universe is again and again completly absorbed or annihilated.

Thus, there has been, according to the Hindu Shastras, an alternating succession of manifestations and annihilations of the universe, at intervals of inconceivable length, throughout the measureless ages of a past eternity ; — and there will be the same alternate never-ending succession of manifestations and annihilations throughout the boundless ages of the eter- nity that is to come !

Before entering on the practical bearings of the system, it were well briefly to answer a question which is often put, namely, Whether the Hindu Shastras, having fixed the position which we occupy in the current cycle of time, really profess to recount the history of past ages ? Profess ! They not only profess, but actually undertake, to narrate events which are alleged to have happened millions of years ago, with far greater minuteness than those of yesterday !

It is at the beginning of the present kalpa, when, after his long night of slumber, Brahma awoke, and the lower worlds emei’ged from the waters of the great deluge, that

JAMBA DWIP.

135

the sacred history of the Hindus commences. In the same way as at the dawn of preceding kalpas, Brahma’s first work was to renew the different races of animated beings which had perished in the deluge. Practice does not seem to have improved his productive skill ; for at the last reno- vation his difficulties were as great, and his experiments as numerous as ever. After arranging the divisions of time — days, months, years, and yugs, he at length succeeds in pro- ducing, First, trees, climbing plants, fruits, roots, and all manner of herbs. Secondly, birds, cattle, and creeping things. Thirdly, many sons, who become the heads of classes of superior beings — gods and demigods — good and bad. Lastly, the human race. The production of all these orders of being was carried on in one of the higher heavens that had remained unaffected by the deluge ; and after the water subsided, they were let down to take possession of earth and other lower worlds. Along with them descended the first of the Manus, Swayambhuva, with his spouse Sha- tarupa, to exercise dominion over the earth. To them many sons were born, some of whom embraced a religious life ; and seven were appointed viceroys over the seven great continents. Some of these, again, had seven sons, among whom the continents were equally subdivided, and separated by seven chains of mountains and seven rivers. One of these chains was four hundred thousand miles high, — reaching only to the moon !

Of these monarchs, who lived about two thousand mil- lions of years ago, various minute particulars are recorded. Some reigned hundreds of thousands of years ago. Some voluntarily abdicated their thrones, renounced the world, embraced an ascetic life, retired into forests, and became entitled to celestial happiness. Some taught their sub- jects the use of agriculture, manufactures, and various arts. Some became universal conquerors, and raised their country to the highest pitch of prosperty and renown.

Of Jamba Dwip, the central island or continent, the minutest accounts are furnished, — with the names of its provinces, districts, and cities, — of its rivers and moun-

136

GENERAL DELUGE.

tains. So that one might suppose he was perusing the geography of some kingdom in modern Europe after it had been trigonometrically surveyed, rather than the geographi- cal outlines of a country as it existed hundreds of millions of years ago ! This country, Jamba, evidently means only Hindustan ; though the modern interpreters of the Shastras consider that it includes the four quarters of the world as at present known to Europeans. This is manifestly an accom- modation, or bending of their books to meet the results of modern discovery. When pressed as to the existence and situation of the other six islands or continents, they reply that all communication between them and our own ceased from times of remote antiquity ; — that the circumnavigation of the world from east to west, and the traversing of the salt sea in every direction, without falling in with them, is no proof of their non-existence, but only proof that the ships have not penetrated far enough towards either pole to come in contact with them !

The accounts of the first manwantara having been brought to a close, we are next furnished, in succession, with various particulars respecting the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, — at the commencement of each of which a different Manu began to reign, and transmitted his empire to sons and grandsons onwards to its close. The present or seventh manwantara was introduced, as usual, by one of the inferior deluges, that is, a general deluge confined to this earth. Of this deluge different accounts are given in the sacred witings, in many respects irreconcilably discordant, but agreeing in most of the leading particulars, which strongly resemble the principal features in the Mosaic description of the flood. Of two of these an admirable analysis is furnished in a beautiful article on Sanskrit poetry in the Quarterly Review, of which we shall freely avail ourselves.

Immediately before the deluge, towards the end of the kali-yug of the last maha-yug of the preceding manwantara, the holy Manu, Satya\Tata, like Noah, stood almost alone in the midst of universal depravity. By the margin of a sacred stream he was accosted by a fish, in which, v\dthout

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his knowledge, Brahma (in one of the Shastras), Vishnu (in another) had become incarnate. The fish appealed to the humanity of Manu to save it, being of very small size, from the more powerful and rapacious monsters of the deep. The kind-hearted Manu at once complied, and cast it into a crystal vessel. As time rolled on, the fish, waxing too large to find room for moving in the vessel, begged to be removed to another place. It was then home to a spacious lake, but soon grew too large for the lake to contain its bulk. At its request, it was next carried to the Granges ; but it so increased in size that that mighty stream became too narrow for it. Lastly, from the G-anges it was conveyed to the ocean ; and there expanded to the distance of a mil- lion leagues, blazing like a thousand suns. The fish then addressed Manu, promising to be his guardian and protector; foretold the approaching deluge, by which the world and all things therein would be submerged ; commanded him to build a ship, and to go on board with the seven sages, — bearing with him, according to one account, the seminal principles of all existing things ; and agreeably to another, the birds and beasts after their kinds. As the time appointed drew nigh, Manu, with his companions, embarked. The wondrous fish appeared “ in his form foreshown, the horned, like a mountain huge and high.” Lashed to the prominent horn of the fish, Manu’s new-built vessel commenced its perilous voyage : —

“ Dancing with the tumbling billows, dashing through the roaring spray ; Tossed about by winds tumultuous, in the vast and heaving sea,

Like a trembling drunken woman, reeled that barque — oh, king of men ! Earth was seen no more ; no region, nor the intermediate space, —

All aroimd a waste of water ; water all, and air, and sky.

In the whole world of creation, princely son of Bharata !

None were seen but those seven sages, Manu only, and the fish.

Years on years, and still unwearied, drew that fish the barque along,

TUI, at length, it came, where reared Himavan its loftiest peak ;

There, at length, they came ; and smiling, thus the fish addressed the sage : .

‘ Bind thou now thy stately vessel to the peak of Himavan.’

At the fish’s mandate quickly to the peak of Himavan

Bound the sage his barque ; and ever to this day that loftiest peak

Bears the name of Naubandhana, from the binding of the ship.”

I

138

SOLAR AND LUNAR RACES.

The deity who had so long inhabited the fish now fully revealed himself. Mann became the parent of the new-born human race. And the earth, delivered from the waters of the deluge, was once more stocked with the various tribes of animated being.

The present manwantara having been thus introduced, we may pass over the twenty-seven maha-yugs that have inter- vened since its commencement ; and come at once to the twenty-eighth, in which our own lot is cast. This maha- yug, like all the rest, consists of the four lesser yugs, — the Satya, Treta, Dwapar, and Kali. Of these, the first three have expired. And, as we are this year (1839) in the 4944th of the kali-yug, very nearly four millions of the pre- sent maha-yug have passed away. According to the scheme of Hinduism, each Manu does not reign in person through- out the whole of the seventy-one maha-yugs of his manwan- tara. No. He reigns only in every first age., or satya-yug, and then disappears during the remaining three that follow it ; — “ continuing,” as Sir W. Jones has so facetiously ex- pressed it, “to dive and emerge like a water fowl, till the close of his manwantara.” So, then, during the whole of the last satya-yug, nearly two millions of years, the Manu Satyavrata reigned. He left nine sons, among whom he divided the earth, partitioning to each his separate king- dom. The eldest of these, and a grandson by his daughter, Ila, speedily rose to distinguished pre-eminence above their brethren. The former had his seat of empire at Ayodhya, or Owde ; the latter at Pratishthana, or Vitora. They be- came, severally, the founders of two great families, famed in Indian annals under the denomination of “ the race of the sun ” and “ the race of the moon.” These royal families, or solar and lunar dynasties, subsisted in an unbroken line of succession throughout the whole of the second and third ages — the treta and dwapar-yugs ; — and only became ex- tinct in the thousandth year of the present kali-yug ; that is, about two thousand years before Christ.

Of the successive princes of these solar and lunar races, who lived and reigned cotemporaneously for upwards of two

SOLAR AND LUNAR RACES.

139

millions of years, we have not merely chronological lists of names ; but whole volumes filled with accounts of their feuds and quarrels, their battles and conquests, — with notices of every description of incidents, proceedings and details. Of one we are told that he had a hundred sons ; of another, that he had ten thousand. One is a mighty conqueror that overcomes the whole earth ; another be- comes a celebrated anchorite. One is deposed for partaking of the victim offered in sacrifice, before it was presented to the gods at the celebration of the funeral obsequies of his father ; another, after the toils of a war in which he ren- dered essential service to the gods themselves, accepts of the blessing of a long sleep for more than a million of years. One offends the Brahmans, and has his kingdom cursed by them, so as to be wholly without rain for twelve years ; another succeeds in obtaining the blessing of his spiritual guide, who transfers to him his own merits, and directs him to ascend to heaven, but the gods demur to his admission, and hurl him headlong to the earth. One laboured to pur- chase the favour of the gods, by heaping upon them a thou- sand flatteries ; another, for his contempt of them, was fixed in the air with his head downwards. One had a son who swallowed the Ganges ; another attempted to offer serpents in sacrifice, but failed through the intervention of a Brahman, who “ interceded in behalf of the serpents his uncles,” — and when he next engaged in offering a horse, the king of the gods “ entering the horse’s head after it was cut off, caused it to dance, and thus excited much laughter among the assembled spectators.” One was very learned in various sciences, and published works on civil and reli- gious polity ; another, for his ignorance and his crimes, was transformed into an ass, but eventually permitted to assume the human form every night. One raised an army of ten thousand millions of soldiers ; another, by one of his wives, had sixty thousand sons, who were born in a pumpkin, nourished in pans of milk, reduced to ashes by the curse of a sage, and, lastly, resuscitated by the vivifying efficacy of the waters of the Ganges. Here we must pause. These are

uo

VARIOUS REGAL DYNASTIES.

but specimens of' the interminable puerilities and extrava- gances with which the annals of m}Tiads of ages are densely crowded, and which are constantly rehearsed and intensely admired by the millions of India ! Oh ! what a contrast to the brief but comprehensive, the plain but sober and majes- tic statements in the Antediluvian and Patriarchal histories recorded in the Bible !

During the next fifteen hundred years which immediately followed the epoch of the extinction of the Solar and Lunar races, ample accounts are given of various regal djTiasties that rose and fell in rapid succession. About the middle of the fifth century before Christ (452, B. C.), with the death of a great prince, named Chandrabija, terminates what Sir W. Jones pronounces the “ most authentic system of Hindu chronology'” which he had been able to procure. “ Should any farther information be attainable,"” adds he, “ we shall perhaps, in due time, attain it either from books or inscrip- tions in the Sanskrit language."’"’ Hitherto, however, little additional has been attained of any real material value, — nothing that tends to throw more light on the earlier ages of Indian history. Subsequent to the fifth century, B.C., several isolated names do appear in wTitings of compara- tively modem date ; and amongst them the name of Vikra- maditya, who reigned at Megadha shortly before the Chris- tian era. But since the year of our] Lord 1053, Indian history and chronology have sunk wholly into the grave ; — the Brahmans alleging as the reason, that about that time, the sacred territory of Hindustan fell into the hands of Mlech"’has or unclean infidels ; — and that, in consequence, its annals were no longer worth preserHng ! Thus, unlike most other histories which are usually full, minute, and cir- cumstantial, in proportion as they approach the more modern days of general illumination, but gradually become more obscure and mufiled in clouds, as they ascend upwards into the dark recesses of the past, — the history' of India is most copious and overflowing with details the higher it mounts into the regions of an unmeasurable antiquity; gradually becomes dimmer, and finally disappears as it descends into

HINDU EXAGGERATION.

141

the era of light and knowledge ; — like a river which, after fertilizing the valleys of many a lofty mountain-range, loses itself among the white sands of the desert in its passage to the open sea. Or, like those aerial spectral essences, which are said to be congealed into visible forms by the cold of night, but become rarified and disappear before the warmth of sunshine, — the ideal fabrications of Hinduism, which were consolidated into portentous figures in the cold dark night of ignorance, seem to be attenuated, and to evanish before the rising of the sun of knowledge.

In the whole of the preceding statements, if there be one characteristic more marked than another, it is the perpetual tendency to run out into the vast, the huge, the extravagant. Nothing seems worthy of being stated unless it has incre- dible magnitude to recommend it. The more any thing transcends the bounds of nature and of truth, the greater is the gravity with which it is asserted, and the more unques- tioning the credulity with which it is received. When time is calculated, nought will suffice but millions and hundred of millions of years. When earth is measured, we must have millions and hundreds of millions of miles. When armies and battles are described, there must be introduced on the field of action, millions and hundreds of millions of soldiers and elephants. Whence the cause of a taste and a propensity which may truly be represented as national ? That the wildest and the most incoherent fictions should be dreamed by a solitary ascetic “ in the highest state of abstraction from all objects of sense, in the deep silence of a sultry noon ; when of the whole man nothing is awake but the phantasy, and only the language of earth, in which his images are embodied, is remembered, with none of the thoughts or sympathies of human nature,” seems nothing strange. But how comes a whole nation, all awake and alive to the tame and commonplace realities of every-day life, to listen to every recital of the prodigious, with such delighted and believing wonder ? It may be that a religious

142

HINDU EXAGGERATION ACCOUNTED FOR.

faith which, from the earliest infancy, demands the uncondi- tional surrender of reason, and can brook no mental state, save that of unthinking acquiescence ; — it may be that the almost universal prevalence of such a faith has tended to generate and perpetuate nationally an intellectual imbecility and childhood w'hich can only be regaled by the marvellous and monstrous. It may be that other extrinsic causes co- operate in producing the same result. Is it not a matter of common observation that climate and natural scenery do exert a peculiar influence on the mental as w’ell as physical constitution of man ! Who could reasonably expect a high poetic genius to be nursed and reared in a region of flats and fens, of swamps and marshes ? If the great, the vast, the sublime in the objects of the external world, tend to excite and prominently to develope the conceptive and ima- ginative faculties in the soul, let us endeavour to realize the state of things in India. Think of those ocean-streams that roll fertility along their banks for thousands of miles, and on whose bosoms might be wafted the nanes of a globe. Think of those immensely extended plains, bestrewn with such gigantic products of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, that, in their presence, the stranger instinctively stands still in dumb amazement. Think of those mountain-barriers in the north, emphatically styled by Bishop Heber the loftiest eminences beneath the moon. Think of those cataracts from the clouds, that pour down as if they threatened to renew' the general deluge. Think of those mighty thunder- ings that sound as if they could rend creation asunder. Think of those lightning blazes that seem to shroud the concave of heaven as in a universal conflagration. — Think of these and all the other grand phenomena of nature w'hich are constantly presented to the eye and ear of the natives of India ; — and say if they do not tend to expand the ima- gination beyond due limits ; and cause it to soar into the regions of the vast, the supra- mundane, and the preter- human ? Farther still, when we are apt to wonder why so many millions of human beings delight so exclusively in representations not only of what is rare and extraordinary.

HINDU EXAGGERATION ACCOUNTED FOR.

143

but of what glaringly exceeds all the bounds of truth and reason ; — may not another solution offer itself to our consi- deration ? May not this craving after, and delight in, the vast and the marvellous be, in fact, nothing else than the outgoing of an original principle in the human soul, — a prin- ciple which, like every other, naturally moves forth towards its appropriate objects ; and in the possession of these, seeks the only means of gratification ? Man has affections ; — and do not these pant after new pleasures ? He has desires ; — and do not these long for new possessions ? He has an understanding and must it not have new objects of con- templation ? He has a fancy ; — and does it not frame unto itself new images that own no earthly pattern for their pro- totype ? Man was made for immortality ; — and is it not this alone, as natural theologists delight to assure us, that accounts for the vehemency, the impetuous propension, the sighing of spirit after the mysterious and never-ending future? Was not the soul of man also made and destined to repose on the infinite ? — and hence the feeling or emotion of wonder and admiration, — an emotion which the rudest savage experiences equally with the philosopher and the saint, — an emotion whose proper object is the great, the extraordinary, the infinite ! And if the real object, — the true infinite, — be lost sight of, will not the soul strive to shape unto itself mimic ^ representations — forms — idols of the infinite ? In pursuit of such an object, do we not actu- ally find it blending its being with the ages of a past eter- nity; and amplifying itself so as to embrace the eternal ages that are to come ? Do we not find it diffusing and spreading itself over boundless heights and depths and breadths of space ? It soars aloft ; it dives beneath ; it wings its flight into immensity ; — and will not, cannot rest, till it finds its centre, — its couch of repose, — on the bosom of the Infinite ! And do not such unconfined, such ceaseless and ever-active motions of the soul towards the great — the infinite — assert and vindicate the nobility of its lineage, — the more than nobility of its destiny? Worthless, there- fore, and worse than worthless as the extravagances of Hin-

144

HINDUISM REDUCED TO PRACTICE.

duism are when viewed as the pretended substitutes for true history, or true science, or true peligion ; — may they not possess some value, however small, when viewed as monu- ments of the soul’s original capacity and powers ? In them we are carried up to the verge of the general deluge ; in them we mingle with the wrecks of primordial tradition — the scattered remnants of antediluvian thought ; in them we associate and blend with the ideas and imaginings of the human mind thousands of years ago. And in the vastness of the erratic fancies ; in the stupendous pilings of the mar- vellous which we encounter at every turn ; — may we not at least be made to see and feel, and acknowledge that nought but infinity can satisfy and replenish the soul of man ? If the objects sought after have exceeded all finite bounds, though false and unnatural to a prodigy, — let us not con- demn the propensity, but endeavour to substitute the proper object, — the true Infinite, — in Christianity ; — and that is, the triune Jehovah, who is emphatically “ the infinite ocean of truth and goodness.” And after ages of ages have rolled their course, wiU the wonder and admiration of the adoring soul be increasingly enhanced, to find that this ocean is still without a bottom and without a shore !

We now come very briefly to show how the theory of Hin- duism is reduced to practice. If, as already in substance remarked, the theory of Hinduism were a mere theory ; if it were a mere series of barren speculations or inoperative dogmas ; if it were confined to the musings of an eremitical phrenzy, or the revellings of a roving fancy ; if it were wholly of an esoteric character, shaping the secret opinions of the learned, or prompting their idle and airy abstractions ; — if the Indian Meru, like the Grecian Oljinpus, were divested of aU effulgence, save that of its everlasting snows ; if the Hindu Benares, like the Athenian Acropolis or Boman Capitol, were emptied of the whole dynasty of immortals ; — then would we not waste precious time in expatiating on such profitless themes. But it is because the transcendental

HINDUISM REDUCED TO PRACTICE.

14.5

doctrines of the Vedas never were like those of the Grecian schools, wholly of an esoteric character — confined to a few — and absolutely uninfluential even in their conduct ; — it is because for thousands of years they have been reduced to practice — moulding the feelings, thoughts, sentiments, affections, and faith of countless millions ; — it is because at the present moment they operate as living, all-prevailing principles in the hearts and understandings of so many myriads of fellow-men and fellow-subjects ; — it is because of all this that they must be fraught with such awful signi- ficance— such thrilling interest — such incalculable impor- tance in the estimation of all who have the sympathies of men, and the faith of Christians.

It is not necessary to particularise separately the peculiar modifications in practice to which the strictly spiritual and psycho-ideal systems give rise. The technical terms expres- sive of these are in constant use. They even spread far beyond the sphere of positive belief ; they mingle and inter- blend in strange heterogeneousness with the terms expres- sive of the psycho-material system ; — giving to the whole in the eye of a novice, an air of hopeless inextricable confu- sion. Besides, as the adherents of the two former systems do allow that, owing to the illusive influence of the divine energy, we cannot help believing, though falsely, in the sepa- rate independent existence of material forms, they are found in practice to unite and amalgamate in great measure with the adherents of the more generally received systems.

At the time of the last manifestation or reproduction of the universe, how were all beings formed ? — V ery perfect ? very good ? — No. The best of them were not absolutely perfect — absolutely good. Immediately on being emitted from the divine essence, they were, according to one of the Shastras, at once endowed by “ the Supreme Lord ” with the seeds of all manner of qualities, “ noxious and Innocent, harsh and mild, just and unjust, false and true,” — but in degrees and modes infinitely diversified. Does not this in- vestiture of souls with evil qualities in embryo as well as good, make the Supreme Lord at once, doctrinally and sys-

146 THE SUPREME LORD NOT THE AUTHOR OF EVIL.

tematically, the author of evil ? And seeing that in conse- quence of this ordination, some, such as the superior gods, are happy, — others, such as beasts and inferior beings, are miserable, — and others again, such as men, partake of hap- piness and unhappiness, must not unfairness and incompas- sionateness be imputed to him ? No, — replies Vyasa, the inspired author of the Vedant, and compiler of the Vedas, — not at all. How, then, is the Supreme Lord to be vindi- cated from the charge ? — By a practical application of the doctrine of the eternity and transmigration of souls — as well as the eternal succession of destructions and reproductions of the universe.

The individual soul, it is at once conceded, is not now endowed with free will. It is declared to be governed ab- solutely by the Supreme Lord. It is not only guided, but unalterably determined by him in aU its actions, good or bad — whether leading to misery or to woe. How, then, can he be exempted from the charge of being the immediate author of evil and unhappiness \ Because, says V yasa, he only causes the soul to do good or ill now, according to its predisposition for good or evil, for enjoined or forbidden deeds, contracted in a former state of being. Its present good works, therefore, are the result and reward of former merit ; its present evil deeds the result and retribution of former demerit. Since it is made to act entirely in confor- mity with its previous results ; — “ now, according to its former purposes, as then, consonantly to its yet earlier pre- dispositions, accruing from preceding forms or states of being, with no retrospective limit,” — for the universe, in its manifested or unmanifested form, is sempiternal.

Thus the Supreme Lord makes the indiHdual soul act “ relatively to its virtuous or vicious propensities, as the same fertilising rain-cloud causes various seeds to sprout multifariously, producing diversity of plants according to their kind.” These virtuous and vicious propensities were acquired in a previous state of being ; and these acquired in a former state ; and these again in an earlier still ; — and so backwards in endless retrogression.

TRANSMIGRATIONS OP SOULS.

147

In other words, the series of anterior forms of being, and of dispositions acquired in them, has been infinite. And thus it is believed that, notwithstanding the absence of free- will on the part of individual souls, the immediate author- ship of moral evil, and consequent misery, is shifted from the supreme actuating Spirit, by assuming “ the past eter- nity of the universe, and the infinite renewals of worlds into which every individual being has brought the predisposi- tions contracted by him in earlier states, and so retrospec- tively without beginning or limit.” It is surely needless to remark that this is mere evasion — most unsatisfactory — and no answer at all. It is only wrapping up the subject in clouds — and plunging it into the abysses of eternity, so that it cannot be seen.

At the last reproduction of the universe, all souls are launched forth — imbued with qualities contracted during a previous manifestation of it — after an interval of countless myriads of ages. They are launched forth, ready to occupy the infinite variety of forms, celestial and terrestrial, pre- pared for them — forms divine and human — animal and vege- table— moveable and immoveable. As the assuming of a corporeal form is not the commencement of the soul’s exist- ence, so neither is the dissolution of the corporeal form the termination of its existence. It is from everlasting to ever- lasting. But as bodily forms, the temporary abodes of souls, undergo a constant succession of mutation, the proper destiny of every soul is to transmigrate^ with a vieio to expiate its guilt and wipe away its stains by means of pains and suf- ferings, through millions and millions more of these forms, throughout the stupendous cycle which constitutes the life of Brahma, or the duration of the present universe. The superior gods, be it remembered, are not subject to trans- migration ; — hence their superiority, and hence are they called immortal — as they enjoy the highest happiness attain- able, apart from absorption, through the whole of Brahma’s life.

Though this be the proper destiny of the vast majoidty of souls, it is nevertheless declared — however it may appear

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wholly inconsistent with other parts of the system, — that there are divinely prescribed means, by which that destiny can be modified, arrested, or wholly changed. A very suc- cinct statement of certain grand fundamental principles will soon render the subject intelligible.

The principle, tenet, or doctrine is, that there are dif- ferent kinds of future bliss. Of these there are three which may be termed generic — differing in Mnd as well as in degree.

The lowest kind is not so much positive as relative bliss. It consists in the pleasure of an experienced progress to- wards what is real and positive. It consists in the pleasure that accrues to a soul when it finds that it has risen a grade higher in the next birth, in consequence of some merit earned in the preceding. Having advanced one step in the ladder up the steep and arduous and long ascent towards perfection, the soul is exhilarated by the prospect of ulti- mate deliverance. But this relative felicity may be short- lived ; because some act of omission or commission in the higher state that has been reached, may sink the soul lower down in the next transmigration.

The next and higher kind of future bliss is. of a positive character. Still, it is, in its nature, sensuous, and in its duration more or less limited. It consists in the enjoyment of carnal delights in the heaven of one or other of the superior gods. But such enjoyment is only temporary. For after the stock of merits which led to the heavenly elevation has been fairly exhausted by the fruition of that measure of felicity to which its possessor became entitled, the soul must again descend to this lower world to transmigrate through another new series of terrestrial forms.

^ The last and highest kind of future bliss is styled, by way of pre-eminence, “ The supreme good ” — “ final and eternal beatitude.” It is, however, a very peculiar kind of bliss ; if bliss it can be called in our sense of that term. It is deemed real, — it can hardly be called actual. It is super- sensuous, — it can hardly be called spiritual. Its essential element is not that of activity, but quiescence. It consists not in the exercise, but rather oblivion, of all the faculties.

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It is not a keen relish and enjoyment of the great, the beautiful, the sublime, but rather a freedom from actual pain and suffering. If such a state be one of happiness, it is surely a state not of positive but of absolutely negative happiness. In what, then, does it consist ? — In the absorp- tion of the soul into the essence of Brahm, the Supreme Spirit — a literal absorption, which terminates in the total extinction of individual existence. The soul thus once absorbed, is not liable to reappear on earth, — is not subject to any farther migration. This felicity, therefore, is held to be eternal — eternal, relatively^ not absolutely — inasmuch as the soul is liberated from the vicissitudes of mortal life in any of its forms, during the present existence of the uni- verse, and throughout the myriads of ages in which Brahm enjoys his dreamless repose.

A second fundamental principle is, that as there is a gra- duated scale of rewards, so there is a graduated scale of future punishments ; the less wicked being sunk into a lower position in the next birth, — the more wicked being sent down to one or other of innumerable hells, to reappear, however, on earth, in mineral, animal, and vegetable forms, before they rise to the human, — the most wicked of all being doomed to experience the misery and woe of perdition till the time of the dissolution of all things.

A third grand fundamental tenet or doctrine is, that not only are there three distinct kinds of future bliss, — not only is the pursuit of one or all of these perfectly consistent with the venerated standards of the Hindu faith, but that there are three equally distinct paths specially marked out and prescribed in these sacred standards for the attainment of them all. What are these \ In order to secure the lowest, or a higher step in the next birth, there must be a careful performance of all the necessary duties peculiar to caste, and of many of the ordinary practices and ceremonies which constitute the popular system of idolatry and superstition. In order to secure the next, or a temporary abode in some one of the celestial paradises, there must be the performance of extra services to the gods, or of acts of extraordinary

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merit, — acts which are specifically described and recom- mended in writings held to be inspired. In order to secure the highest, or absorption, there must be the perfect aban- donment of works of merit altogether, whether ordinary or extraordinary. Recourse must be had to austerities — to divine knowledge — to pure and intense meditation on the Eternal Spirit ; which leads to perfect abstraction from all that is material, and ultimate absorption into the object of devout adoration.

A fourth fundamental tenet or doctrine is, that, as the three different kinds of future bliss are alike legitimate and alike attainable through the vigorous pursuit of the differ- ent means specifically appropriated for the attainment of each, so it is practically in the power of believers to aim at any one of the different kinds of future bliss which they may decidedly prefer ; and to pursue, accordingly, the specific path for its attainment. In this way every man may have his liking ! To the three higher castes all the kinds of bliss are open. To the fourth class, either of the inferior kinds of bliss is open. And when, from extra merit, he rises to any of the higher classes in a future birth, he may then aspire to the acquisition of the highest, or final beatitude. All the kinds of bliss, and the respective means leading to them, are equally sanctioned, — the preference, of course, being given to the highest. It is constantly extolled as the noblest and the best. Those who pursue it as their para- mount object are distinguished as outshining their fellows with a peerless lustre. Still, the rest are not only sanctioned but recommended, though their excellencies are of an inferior grade.

Behold, then, the triumph of Hinduism ! Behold Satan’s master-piece of ingenuity for the entanglement of souls — for the thraldom of the universal mind in India. Here, by a device the most subtile, the transcendental Pantheist, who dwells in solitary mental abstraction, is made to extend the right hand of fellowship to the crouching slave whose life is spent in the unceasing round of an idolatrous and super- stitious ritual. Yea more, — the transcendentalist may ally

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himself with the vilest of the brutal tribes, and with the foi-ms of grossest materialism. They only occupy different departments of one great all-comprehending system ; — a system, according to which monotheism and polytheism are made to embrace each other ; — a system, according to which the stoutest advocate for the unity of God may become the intrepid and consistent defender and worshipper of whole legions of deities of every rank and grade ; — a system, ac- cording to which the hosts of heaven — sun, moon, and stars'; the great elements — ether, air, fire, water, and earth, as well as the minutest individual particles of these, — the ani- mating principles of every species of organized being, — herbs of the field and trees of the forest, fish of the sea and fowl of the air, cattle and every creeping thing, — all may be addressed as parts of the universal and sole-existing Brahm, and worshiped with an homage, the same in kind, and differ- ing only in degree, according as the respective objects may be the depositories of portions of the divine essence, lai.ger or smaller in quantity, grosser or more subtile in quality, from their relative position in the emanative series ; — a sys- tem, finally, according to which every individual may, in the selection of the object of worship, suit his o^m taste and inclination ; and, under the patronage and protection of his favourite deity, may give the fullest scope, the most unbounded license, to every desire and propensity of his corrupt nature !

In order to secure the lowest species of reward in a future state of being, — that is, a higher step, or an improved con- dition in the next birth, — there must be a careful perfor- mance of all the necessary duties peculiar to caste, and of many of the ordinary practices and ceremonies which con- stitute the popular system of idolatry. This is the rew’ard after which multitudes of the people are satisfied to aspire. Consequently, all the days of their life are devoted to the performance of the duties prescribed.

But who can describe the number and variety of these

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duties ? — Haughton’s edition of the Institutes of Manu, the divine legislator of the Hindus, is a goodly quarto of four hundred pages, comprising the general system of duties, reli- gious and civil. Yet it can scarcely be said to exhibit a tithe of the summation of divinely prescribed duties that might be compiled out of the list of the sacred Shastras ? It is no figure of speech to say, that these duties are num- berless as the stars of heaven, — countless as the sand on the sea-shore for multitude. Indeed, the inquirer who strives to thread his way through a system so infinitely varied and complicated, is sure at almost every stage of his progress, to find himself in the condition of the benighted traveller amid the interminable forest and tangled underwood of a pathless, trackless, Indian jungle. It is, therefore, utterly impossible in this place to rehearse even a fractional part of the amazing aggregate. Or, if it were not, still the reading of such details would prove as dull, dry, tedious, wearisome, and monotonous, as a journey across the Sunderbunds of Lower Bengal. All that can be done is, to point out some of the sources of the number and complexity ; — and in one or other of the departments, to furnish some details as specimens.

If, indeed, a man were privileged to live through all the stages of existence ordinarily allotted to man, — and if, through all of these he were enabled, without intermission and without omission^ to discharge all the duties peculiar to his class, he might, if of the lowest caste, aspire to a place in one of the mansions of the gods ; — if of a higher caste, he might ascend to “ the most exalted of regions, and no more spring to birth in this lower world — and if of the highest of all, might attain absorption in the divine essence. But few can expect to live to the utmost limit of human life, — and no one dare venture to aim at and claim a perfect performance of all duties ? A very large proportion, even of the decent and respectable, must remain satisfied if they attain to that minimum performance which is enough to prevent their sinking lower in the next birth. Others, who wish for progress, labour to realize so much above the mini-

HINDUISM A SYSTEM OP POSITIVE ORDINANCES. 153

mum as may give them a step in advance in the next birth. And between the minimum performance, — or that which is indispensable to prevent a man from sinking, — and the maxi- mum performance, which would raise a man to the highest reward attainable by his class, — the gradations are almost infinite. So that there is a boundless latitude for choice.

Now, as each caste has its own distinct privileges and immunities in life, — so has each its own separate, specific, and peculiar duties of every description. Hence, one ol the principal sources of multiplicity and complexity in the Indian code of divinely revealed laws.

Again, in setting forth the duties of each class, the Indian code does not, like the Christian, seize on great, fundamen- tal, comprehensive principles, — and illustrating these with the clearness of heaven’s light, and enforcing them with the sanction of heaven’s Majesty, leave the practical application of them, through the varying changes of time and place, to the soul that is illumined with such divine knowledge. No. Unlike Christianity, which is all spirit and life^ Hinduism is all letter and death. The Indian codes of divine law deal comparatively little in general principles ; — they at once extend to all the accessories and circumstantials of conduct, with a tenfold greater minuteness than Jihdaism ever knew — descend into the most insignificant “trivials andquadrivials” of life, — anticipate every varying event and circumstance, — and prescribe, wdth rigid precision, the correspondent vary- ing form of ritual duty, whether personal or domestic, social or economical. Hence, another grand source of multiplicity and complexity. This feature, indeed, constitutes a striking peculiarity in the system of Hinduism. It not only incul- cates religious doctrines and rites, as well as moral precepts and observances, properly so called ; — it descends into every conceivable position or relation in which a human being can by any possibility be situated, — and prescribes beforehand what he is to do, and how he is to do it. It circumscribes every event, every circumstance, every incident, in the life of man within the sphere of positive religious ordinance f ov rather ceremonial law.

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154 REVELATION THE SOURCE OF SCIENCE AND ART.

In India, man is thus swathed and bandaged like an infant. There, like a child utterly incapable of acting or thinking for itself, does man continue to be treated all his days ; — being made to sleep or awake, to move or rest, to speak or be silent, to smile or look sad, to do or be done by, according to the will, reason, or caprice of an ignorant despotic legislator, believed to be divine. There, he is not a delegated repre- sentative of heaven’s Lord, endowed with certain powers, intellectual and moral, by the due exercise and application of which he may advance in knowledge or excel in art, and attain to the true dignity of his nature. No. He is a mere automaton, as directly impelled or restained in every movement of soul and body, as a piece of organized but inert materialism by the hand that framed it. All the cus- toms, manners, habits, and acts, however varied or minute, frivolous or ridiculous, loathsome or vile, which can by any contingency constitute, or characterize, or accompany the isolated doings of an individual, — or the modes of inter- course, public or private, between man and man, — all are believed to be solemnly ordained of God. Every imaginable transaction of life, whether important or unimportant ; yea, every function of animal nature, is enstamped by the pre- scription of religious observances. From the hour of birth to the moment of dissolution, man is not a divinely guided spirit, but a divinely regulated machine, — a machine, too, in perpetual motion.

All imaginable duties, connected with all possible rela- tions, circumstances, and professions in life being this di- vinely ordained, to prevent mistake or misconception on the part of the votary, who is striving to advance his position in the series of transmigrations, — it is clear that all the knowledge essential to the full discharge of all these duties, must be authoritatively revealed too. Hence, one of the main grounds for the necessity of revelation being the source of all science and art in India. If the application of general principles to particular cases in practice were in any circum- stances left to ignorant man, he might err in his application of them ; and thus transgress against the standard of an immutable rectitude. To prevent the possibility of such

REVELATION THE SOURCE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 155

error, Brahma, the creator, infallibly revealed all the modes of practically applying science and art, down to details of infinitesimal minuteness. Again, if frail man might err in the practical application of distinctly revealed principles — it is clear he might err still more in his attempt to discover first principles, and in his efforts to elaborate these into sys- tems of science or art. Hence, out of kindness to man, the Divine Being made known also all the science and all the art, which are essential to enable him to occupy all the lawful professions in life, and to discharge aright all the multiplied duties belonging to each ; so that, by such fulfilment of duty, he might earn to himself a more elevated rank in the next stage of transmigration. Is a form of government necessary for the welfare of society ? The most perfect form has been established by God. Is a code of civil and criminal juris- prudence indispensable ? A code has been divinely revealed, the most extensive in its application, the most complicated in its ramifications, the most minute in its decisions on all possible topics — that it ever entered the imagination of man to conceive. Is numeration, as the science of figure and number, requisite for commercial and other transactions? It was made known by God. Is geography useful ? Astro- nomy ? Chronology ? Medical science ? Metaphysics ? Mechanical Arts ? The fine arts ? — All, all that is really good and valuable, sound and orthodox on these and all other subjects, has been revealed immediately by Brahma himself ; or mediately through saints, or sages, or incarna- tions of one or other of the gods. Is language necessary for human intercourse ? It was dictated by God. Is writing beneficial? It was taught by God. Grammar? It was revealed by inspiration of God.

In this way, man is made as dependent on heaven for his science and arts, his government and laws, the modes and mcm- ners of private and social being, as he is for the dogmas of his religious faith, and the complicated ritual of religious practice. His mind is allowed to be exercised, and his powers variously applied ; but all the objects for exercise, and all the modes of application are divinely predetermined. There is no room left for the free, and unfettered, and ori-

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ginal forth-putting of his mental powers on any subjects connected either with heaven above or earth beneath — on any subjects affecting his own immediate interests, indindual or social, temporal or eternal. In all things he must be a humble learner — a careful copyist. In nothing is man left to be a discoverer^ an inventor. On all possible subjects he is forestalled by heaven itself. And will man dare to add to or abstract from, alter or amend, aught that heaven has been pleased to reveal ? He cannot, without incurring the charge of irreverence, impiety. It would be an impeach- ment of the omniscience, high treason against the sovereignty and other perfections of heaven’s Lord. To discover aught that is unknown in science, to invent aught that might be more useful in art, to deHse aught for the better regulation of personal, domestic, or political economy ; — all this is as much beyond the province of a rigidly orthodox Hindu, as the attempt to scale the empjTean heavens in his own unaided strength, and disclose to mortal gaze the most secret designs and counsels of the eternal, incomprehensible Spirit.

Does the Hindu ever feel this to be a state of degradation — of bondage and vassalage ? Quite the contrary. With him it is a source of unbounded gratulation. All being cast in the divine mould, — all must be perfection itself. It is, in his estimation, the glorious, the distinguishing prerogative of his nation to be possessed of the earliest, the most exten- sively minute, as well as the most perfect revelation of the dinne mind. As to the redundancy of specific rules, and forms and ceremonies connected with the discharge of every function of rational and animal nature, — the irksomeness in the ever revolving round at once evanishes before the jubilant expectation of a proportionate reward. If he could perform all, he would be perfect ; and would attain to eter- nal beatitude. If he perform aught beyond what is barely necessary to prevent infraction of any of the essential requi- sites of caste, he gains something when he reappears in another form on the stage of time.

From these generalities, it is time to descend to more

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particular statements respecting the boundless range of observances that devolve on the separate castes — the perfor- mance of which, according to their amount, and consequent position in the graduated scale of excellence, insures a cor- respondent advance to the performer in his next birth. It is not indeed possible, without transcribing the whole of the Institutes of Manu, or Halhed’s code of Grentoo law, or Cole- brooke’s essays on the ceremonies of the Hindus, and other similar works, to obtain an adequate comprehension of the subject ? Still, though a perfect comprehension be unattain- able, it may be practicable to convey some conception of their general character, from a specific observation of one or two of the leading sub-divisions. For this purpose, we may restrict ourselves to one of the castes, — the highest or Brahmanical, — and supply a few specimens of its peculiar ritual duties.

Contemplating, first, those rites that may strictly and pro- perly be denominated religious, let us glance at some of the ordinary daily religious practices prescribed to a Brahman, as detailed by Oolebrooke in the Asiatic Researches.

When a Brahman rises from sleep in the morning, his first religious duty is to clean his teeth. This is a duty so sacred, that the omission of it would incur the penalty of losing the benefit of all other rites performed by him. It consists in rubbing his teeth with a proper withe or twig of the racemiferous fig-tree, pronouncing to himself this prayer, — “ Attend, Lord of the forest ; Soma, king of herbs and plants, has approached thee : mayest thou and he cleanse my mouth with glory and good auspices, that I may eat abundant food. Lord of the forest ! — grant me life, strength, glory, splendour, offspring, cattle, abundant Avealth, virtue, knoAvledge, and intelligence.” On certain days, when the use of the withe is forbidden, — that is, on the day of the conjunction, and on the first, sixth, and ninth daj's of each lunar fortnight, he must, as a substitute, rinse his mouth twelve times with water.

His second duty is carefully to throw away the twig which has been used. It must, on no account, be deposited in any

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place tainted w-ith any of those multiplied impurities or reli- gious stains enumerated in the sacred writings.

His third duty is religious ablution. This is a duty, the strict observance of which is fraught with efficacy in remov- ing not only corporeal but spiritual defilements. He may bathe with water dravsTi from a well, from a fountain, or from the basin of a cataract ; but he should prefer water which lies above ground. — choosing a stream rather than stagnant water ; a river in preference to a small brook ; a holy stream before a vulgar river ; and, above all, the water of the Granges. And, if the Granges be beyond his reach, he should invoke that holy river, sapng, — “ 0 Ganga, hear my prayers ; for my sake be included in this small quantity of water, with the other sacred streams.” Then, standing in the river, or in other water, he must hallow his intended performance by the inaudible recitation *of certain sacred texts. Next, sipping water, which is a grand preparatorj- to any act of religion, and sprinkling some before him, the worshipper throws water eight times on the croMTi of his head, on the earth, towards the sky ; again towards the sky, on the earth, on the crown of his head ; once more on the earth, on the crown of his head ; and, lastly, on the ground, to destroy the demons who wage war with the gods. Dur- ing the performance of this sacred act of ablution, he must be reciting these prayers : “ O waters ! since ye afford

delight, grant us present happiness, and the rapturous sight of the Supreme Being. Like tender mothers, make us here partakers of your most auspicious essence. We become contented with your essence, with which ye satisfy the uni- verse. Waters ! grant it to us.” Immediately after this first ablution, he should sip water without swallowing it, silently praying in these words, — “ Lord of sacrifice ! thy heart is in the midst of the waters of the ocean. May salu- tary herbs and waters pervade thee. With sacrificial h\’mns and humble salutation we invite thy presence. May this ablution be efficacious.” These ceremonies and prayers being concluded, he plunges thrice into the water, each time repeating the prescribed expiatory texts. Last of all, he, in

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due form, washes his mantle ; and, rising out of the waters, thus terminates his morning ablution.

Besides the prayers and texts from the Vedas and other sacred books, specifically intended for the different parts of all religious observances, there are certain recitations of peculiar efficacy which are constantly to be rehearsed throughout all the parts of all observances. Amongst those of most frequent occurrence, may be noticed the utter- ance of the names of the seven superior worlds ; the triliteral monosyllable AUM, contracted OM, the symbol of the Triad ; and the Gayatri, or holiest text of the V edas, which, in one of its forms, has been thus translated, — “ We meditate on the adorable light of the resplendent Generator, which governs our intellects.”

The fourth morning duty in immediate succession, in which the Brahman is called on to engage, is the important one of worshipping the rising sun. For discharging this duty aright, he must prepare himself by due ceremony and prayer. He begins by tying the lock of hair on the crown of his head, holding much ciisa grass in his left, and three blades of the same grass in his right hand ; or wearing a ring of grass on the third finger of the same hand. During this ceremony he must recite the Gayatri. The sipping of water next occupies his attention ; as this is a requisite introduction of all rites, since without it all acts of religion are pronounced to be vain. Accordingly, he sips water three times, — each time repeating the mysterious names of the seven worlds and the Gayatri, — each time, also, rubbing his hands as if washing them ; and, finally, touching with his wet hand his feet, head, breast, eyes, ears, nose, and shoulders. After this, he must again sip water thrice, pro- nouncing to himself the prescribed expiatory texts. If, how- ever, he happen to sneeze or spit, he must not immediately sip water, but first touch his right ear, in compliance with the maxim — “ after sneezing, spitting, blowing his nose, sleeping, putting on apparel, or dropping tears, a man should not immediately sip water, but first touch his right ear.” The business of sipping being finished, he next passes

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his hand, filled with water, briskly round his neck, reciting this prayer, — “ May the w-aters preserve me.” He then meditates with intense thought, and in the deepest silence. Meditates on what? — on something peculiarly sacred and sublime, and correspondent with the awful solemnity of the occasion ? Let the hearers judge when they learn, that dur- ing this moment of intense devotion, he is striving to realize the fond imagination, that “ Brahma, with four faces, and a red complexion, resides in his bosom; Vishnu, with four arms, and a black complexion, in his heart ; and Shiva, with five faces, and a white complexion, in his forehead ! ” To this sub- lime meditation succeeds a suppression of the breath, which is thus performed : Closing the left nostril with the tw o longest fingers of his right hand, he draws his breath through the right nostril ; and then closing that nostril likew ise with his thumb, he holds his breath, while he internally repeats to him- self the Gayatri, the mysterious names of the three worlds, the triliteral monosyllable, and the sacred text of Brahma ; last of all, he raises both fingers off the left nostril, and emits the breath he had suppressed through the right. This process being repeated three several times, he must next make three ablutions, with the following prayer : — “ As the tired man leaves drops of sweat at the foot of a tree ; as he who bathes is cleansed from all foulness ; as an oblation is sanctified by holy grass, — so may this w'ater purify me from sin.” To this succeed other ablutions, with various expiatory texts. He must next fill the palm of his hand with w’ater, and presenting it to his nose, inhale the fluid by one nostril, and, retaining it for a while, exhale it through the other, and throw away the water to the north-east quarter. This is considered as an internal ablution which washes aw'ay sin. He then concludes by sipping w'ater with the following prayer; — “Water! thou dost penetrate all beings; thou dost reach the deep recesses of the mountains ; thou art the mouth of the universe ; thou art sacrifice ; thou art the mystic word vasha ; thou art light, taste, and the immortal fluid.” All the preparatory acts being thus concluded, he is now- qualified to engage in the direct worship of the rising sun.

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To this most sacred and solemn duty he thus proceeds : Standing on one foot, and resting the other on his ankle or heel ; looking towards the east, and holding his hands open before him in a hollow form, he pronounces to himself the following prayers : — “ The rays of light announce the splen- did fiery sun, beautifully rising to illumine the univei’se. He rises, wonderful, the eye of the sun, of water, and of fire, collective power of gods. He fills heaven, earth, and sky, with his luminous net ; he is the soul of all which is fixed or locomotive. That eye, supremely beneficial, rises purely from the east ; may we see him a hundred years ; may we live a hundred years ; may we hear a hundred years. May we, preserved by the divine power, contemplating heaven above the region of darkness, approach the deity, most splendid of luminaries. Thou are self-existent ; thou art the most excellent ray ; thou givest effulgence ; grant it unto me.” These prayers being ended, the oblation or offering is next presented. It consists of tila^ flowers, barley, water, and red sandal wood, in a clean copper vessel, made in the shape of a boat. This the worshipper places on his head, present- ing it with the following holy texts ; — “ He who travels the appointed path (viz. the sun), is present in that pure orb of fire, and in the etherial region. He is the sacrificer at religious rites ; and he sits in the sacred close, never remain- ing a single day in the same spot, yet present in every house, in the heart of every human being, in the most holy man- sion, in subtile ether produced in water, in earth, in the abode of truth, and in the stony mountains ; he is that which is both minute and vast.” The oblation is then con- cluded by worshipping the sun with the subjoined text : — “ His rays, the efficient causes of knowledge, irradiating worlds, appear like sacrificial fires.” After the oblation follows the invocation of the Gayatri, in these words : — “ Thou art light ; thou art seed ; thou art immortal life ; thou art effulgent ; beloved by the gods, defamed by none ; thou art the holiest sacrifice.” It is afterwards recited measure by measure ; then the two first measures as one hemistich, and the third measure as the other ; and lastly.

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THE FIVE GREAT SACRAMENTS.

the three measures without interruption. The same text is then invoked in these words : — “ Divine text, who dost grant our best wishes, whose name is trisyllable, whose import is the power of the supreme being ; come thou mother of the Vedas, who didst spring from Brahma, be constant here.” After this address, the Gayatri itself is pronounced inau- dibly, along with the triliteral monosyllable, and the names of the three lower worlds, a hundred or a thousand times ; or as often as may be practicable, — counting the repetitions on a rosary of gems set in gold, or of wild grains. To these repetitions are subjoined the following prayers to the sun : “ Salutation to the sun : to that luminary, O Brahma, who is the light of the pervader, the true generator of the universe, the cause of efficacious rites. I bow to the great cause of day, the mighty luminary, the foe of darkness, the destroyer of every sin.” Last of all, the worshipper walks tow^ards the south, rehearsing a short text : “ I follow the course of the sun.” “ As the sun in its course moves through the world by the way of the south, so do I, following that lumi- nary, obtain the benefit arising from a journey round the earth, by the way of the south.”

With the rehearsal of this text, terminates the daily morning ablution and worship of the sun.

One might suppose that such ablutions and ceremonial observances were enough for one day. But no. By one order of Brahmans, similar ablutions and w’orship of the sun must be renewed at noon ; and by a higher order, both at noon and in the evening. In these cases the accompanying ceremonies are the same in spirit and substance as those already detailed, — differing only somewhat in the words and forms, — every day in the year.

Nor is this all. With very few exceptions, indeed, a Brahman, who is an householder, must daily perform those religious duties which are denominated “ the five great sacraments.” These are the following : — Teaching and study- ing the scripture is the sacrament of the Vedas, or rather of the divine sages who are honoured by studying the Vedas, Vedangas or sacred poems, and other branches of sound

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literature. Offering cakes and water, is the sacrament of the Manes, or departed ancestors, progenitors of mankind generally. An oblation to fire, with prayers addressed to the celestial pantheon, is the sacrament of the Deities. Offering rice and other food to all animated creatures, is the sacra- ment of Spirits. Eeceiving any of the higher castes with hospitable rites, is the sacrament of Men. Shall we attempt to describe these at length? We doubt not, from the spe- cimen already furnished, that such an attempt would be regarded as of all tasks the most ungrateful. Here then we must pause. It were as endless as it is needless to pursue the subject of daily religious rites and forms into farther details.

It were needless^ because our present design is not to exhaust any department, but simply to adduce so much in the way of detail as may suggest a tolerable conception of the general character of a subject. Besides, of aU the distinct sets of religious ceremonies, it may truly be affirmed, that they bear a strong mutual generic resemblance. There must indeed enter into all the separate services, some pecu- liar forms, and rites, and texts, and prayers, to characterize and distinguish them from the rest. Still there is enough common to all, to constitute a general similarity of aspect.

They mutually differ in contexture and appearance much in the same way that one tangled forest may be said to differ from another. In the latter case, each may have its own distinct peculiarity of local site — low or elevated, rough or smooth, flat or undulating, level or steep, plain or moun- tainous. Each may embrace within its domain one or more distinct species of trees and shrubs, weeds and flowers. Of the progeny of each belonging to the same species, there may be no end to variety in growth, and size, and compa- rative luxuriance — ^no end to variety as to number, relative position, and fantastic grouping. And yet, with all this, there is so much of actual sameness in the species that are alike ; and so much of apparent sameness, as to trunks and bark, branches 'and leaves, stems and blossoms, in those that differ, — that the two, in their aggregate aspect, may be said to exhibit a general resemblance.

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SIMILARITY OF RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES.

So it is with different sets of religious ceremonies in India. Each may be characterised by its peculiar outward rites and mechanical movements, and sacrificial ablutions, and texts, and invocations, and prayers, — and all of these in such form as may be adapted to the specific objects intended. Of the parts in each that may be substantially alike, there may be no end to variety as to order, and sequence, and modifica- tion, and combination, and transposition of parts. And yet, with all this, there is so much of actual sameness in some portions ; and so much of apparent sameness in the spirit and substance of those that are dissimilar, that, in their aggregate aspect, they may be said to exhibit a strik- ing general resemblance.

There is, in almost all of them, an eternal ringing of changes on certain motions, utterances, and substances. There are sippings, and washings, and bathings, and sprink- lings ; standings and sittings, walkings and turnings in every conceivable position and direction ; touchings and smellings of various auspicious things ; rubbings of the teeth, and rinsings of the mouth ; changings of apparel, and anointings of the head with fragi’ant oil ; deckings with strung and unstrung blossoms, and wreaths and garlands of flowers ; perfumings with sandal wood, saffron and aloe w’ood ; gather- ings of dust, and scatterings of leaves ; drawings of lines on the ground, and smearings with clay, barley, meal, and cow- dung ; kindlings of fires and suspendings of lamps to repel evil spirits ; shiftings of threads, and hallowed ladles, and other sacrificial implements ; coverings and uncoverings of earthen, brazen, and copper vessels ; spreadings and bund- lings of cwsa grass in every imaginable form ; compoundings of balls or cakes of rice, with fruits, honey, sugar, roots, and {)ot-herbs ; offerings of rice dressed and unboiled, condi- ments, water, milk, curds, and clarified butter ; namings of the three worlds and of the seven worlds ; repeatings of the mysterious triliteral monosyllable Aum ; recitings of the holiest of texts — the Gayatri ; mystic suppressions of the breath with the thumb and forefingers, and intense inward meditations ; adorations the most multiform of elements.

VARIETY OF RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES.

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planets, and constellations ; invocations, numerous almost beyond reckoning, of the sacred Triad, and assembled gods, and divine sages, progenitors ; and, in fine, all animated beings in the heavens, on the earth, and in the realms below. These are the leading component parts or constituent ele- ments of the great sacraments, and other stated religious observances ; — but varied or modified, expanded, curtailed, divided, multiplied, combined or transposed, in forms so multitudinous as almost to border on infinity. It is as if the whole of these primary elements were tossed into a huge kaleidoscope, and kept ever revolving ; — at every revolution, reproducing the same substantial elements, but under new aspects as to arrangement, and grouping, and configuration ; — and so onwards through every additional gyration, with- out limit and without end.

That this is no exaggerated statement may farther appear, when we state that the rites and ceremonies attendant on the major fart of the five great daily sacraments^ are vastly more minute, intricate, and numerous, than those that ac- company the morning ablution and worship of the sun, already briefly described ! J udge, then, of what the aggre- gate must be ! Hence the reason of the remark, that it were endless to attempt to rehearse all these details. Nor is this all. It is not even a moiety of the great whole. To these daily religious duties, must be added a multitude of other rites and ceremonies which must be performed monthly^ on certain canonical days, regulated by the age of the moon. To these, again, must be appended numerous rites and cere- monies which must be performed annually^ on certain solemn days that depend on the position and progress of the sun through the signs of the Zodiac.

Even here the subject is not exhausted. What will he thought when, to the preceding mass of ordinary duties, there must he subjoined anothei' series of religious obser- vances of indispensable obligation — observances which must be duly celebrated at certain marked periods or epochs along the different stages of human life ; more particularly on the occasion of births, marriages, and funerals. Still more.

166

THE BRAHMAN A STUDENT.

what will be thought, when it is affirmed that some of these, such as the ceremonies prescribed for marriage, are vastly more minute, tiresome, multifarious than all the daily cere- monies put together ? Farther yet, what will be thought when it is declared that others, such as those allotted to funerals, are, in point of variety and number, more exorbi- tant and oppressive than any hitherto named ? Above all, what will be thought when it is added that these latter, in forms more or less abridged, must be repeated, as formal commemorative obsequies, on the day of new moon, on the dates of the fourteen manwantaras, and of the four yugadyas ; that is, on the anniversaries of the accession of the fourteen Manus, and of the commencement of the four ages, and on other specified occasions, — amoimting alto- gether to no less than ninety-six times in every year ! And to crown the whole, what will be thought, when it is added that all this vast and interminable mass of ordinary reli- gious duty is entirely exclusive of the huge and complicated ceremonial system of rites, and offerings, and adorations before imaores and idols ; so constantlv celebrated in honour of one or other of the principal gods, by their respective votaries ! — Surely the religious records of all the people of all countries, and of all ages, cannot furnish a parallel to this !

Prodigious as is the ordinarv' round of daily, monthly, and yearly duties of an exclusively religious character, the cata- logue is not half exhausted. The domain of religious pre- scription becomes indefinitely enlarged from the di^dnely revealed forms, injunctions, and restrictions which are inse- parably associated with eveiy- conceivable event and incident of life.

Look, for example, at the young Brahman as a child. MTaen he is first made to partake of nourishment after birth ; when, on some fortunate day of the moon, at a lucky hour, and under the influence of a star with good qualities, a compound name is given to him — the first part of which must he indicative of holiness and the second of prosperity ; when he is first carried out with due formality to see the

THE BRAHMAN A HOUSEHOLDER.

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sun ; when he is first made to partake of rice ; when he is first invested with the sacred or triple thread which consti- tutes him one of the tioice-horn or perfect Brahmans ; — on these and many other similar occasions, sacred texts must be pronounced, and various religious ceremonies performed.

Again, look at the young Brahman, when growing in years he commences the reading of the sacred books, or becomes what Manu designates a “ student of theology.” The first business of the student is to provide himself with a mantle, girdle, staff, and other personal apparatus, — the materials of which these are made, and their respective shapes and forms, being all minutely and rigidly prescribed by sacred ordinance. Thus, the legal staff, “ made of the canonical wood, must be of such a length as to reach the • student’s hair ; straight ; without fracture ; of a handsome appeai’ance ; not likely to terrify men ; with its bark perfect and unhurt by fire.” When any or all of these personal accoutrements become worn or broken, in casting them away, care must be taken that they be thrown into water, — and others immediately received, after being hallowed with mystical texts. Then follow directions the most minute, as to the time, mode, and manner of conducting his studies, — when, where, and how he is to sleep, to sit, to stand, to walk abroad, — with numberless other circumstances.

When the discipline of a Brahman, in his first order ^ which is that of a student^ has duly terminated, he may next enter upon his second order., which is that of a married man or householder. Then he is strictly enjoined to espouse, as his first wife, an individual of the same class with himself, and endued with the marks of excellence. Farther, after detail- ing the families whom he must studiously avoid ; even within his own class, he is next told the precise description of persons with whom he is to connect himself, — and this both in the positive and negative forms. He is enjoined to espouse for his wife, “ a girl, whose form has no defects ; who has an agreeable name ; who walks gracefully like a phenicopterous ; or like a young elephant ; whose hair and teeth are moderate, respectively in quantity and in size.”

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RESTRICTIONS IN STUDYING THE VEDAS.

He is strictly prohibited to marry “ a girl with reddish hair, or with any deformed limb ; or one troubled with habitual sickness ; or one, either with no hair, or with too much ; or one immoderately talkative ; or one with inflamed eyes ; or one with the name of a constellation, or of a river, of a barbarous nation, or of a mountain, of a winged creatime, of a snake, or a slave ; or with any name raising an image of terror.”

These injunctions and restrictions being duly attended to, and the nuptial ceremonies duly celebrated, the Brahman is now installed into the second order of his class, or that of a householder. This new status in society involves a new system of religious duties and other observance, attended by authoritative injunctions aud inhibitions. It is now that the morning ablutions, accompanied with prayers and acts of devotion, and the morning worship of the sun, and the five great sacraments, must be daily performed ; and all the other stated rites and commemorative obsequies must be periodically celebrated.

As to other matters connected with the ordinary routine of life, — copious as are the directions divinely revealed for the regulation of the habits and manners of the Brahman when a student of theology, — those addressed to him in his new capacity as a householder, are multiplied manifold. Though he has ceased to be a student by profession, he must not relinquish the stated perusal of the Vedas and other books, — preceded and followed by religious forms divinely prescribed. Only the perusal is now guarded by numberless fresh restrictions. It must not take place in a pasture for kine, near a cemetery, in water, in a boat, on horseback, on a tree, or where an offensive smell prevails, — in a carriage, nor any impui’e place, or in a to«Ti beset by robbers, — with many more ; — nor in certain postures and states of the body, such as lolling on a couch, or with the feet raised on a bench, or with the limbs crossed, or having lately swallowed meat, nor with indigestion, nor after vomiting, nor with sour eructations, and many more ; — nor in certain days and hours, such as the dark twilights.

PERSOXAL CEREMONIES.

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the conjunction or dark lunar day, the opposition or bright lunar day, nor on the 8th or 14th day of the moon ; by night when the wind meets the ear, by day when the dust is collected, with many more ; — nor during the occurrence of certain natural phenomena, such as thunder, lightning, in rain, on the occasion of any preternatural sound from the sky, of an earthquake ; or when the dragon’s head causes an eclipse, or any other obscuration of the heavenly bodies, with many more ; — nor after certain incidents, such as the yelling of jackals, the barking or yelping of dogs, the braying of asses or camels, the chattering of a company of men, &c., &c. If he be a preceptor, and if in the course of a lecture, any beast used in agriculture, a frog, a cat, a dog, a snake, an ichneumen, or a rat, pass between himself and his pupils, it is enjoined that the lecture be intermitted for a day and a night, &c.

As to acts of which his own person is the object, many are wholly forbidden. He must not strike his own arm ; nor gnash his teeth ; nor make a braying noise, though agitated by passion. He must never cut his own hair or nails, nor tear his own nails with his teeth, nor stroke his own head with both hands, nor even touch it while food remains in his mouth. — As to domestic actions, many are forbidden. He must not eat with his own wife ; nor look at her eating, or sneezing, or yawning, or sitting carelessly at her ease, or setting off her eyes with black powder, or scenting herself with essences. He must not blow the fire with his mouth, nor throw any thing foul into it, nor warm his feet in it, nor stride over it, nor place it in a chafing dish under his bed. He must not sleep with his feet wet, nor sleep alone in an empty house, nor wake a sleeping man superior to himself, nor Avash his feet in a pan of mixed yellow metal, nor put on flippers or any thing else before used by another. — Is he abroad ?— and does he for an in- stant stand still ? He must avoid standing upon hair, or ashes, or bones, or potsherds, or seeds of cotton, or husks of grain. Or does he rest any where ? He must not remain even under the shade of a tree with outcasts, or idiots, or

170

DIET OF BRAHMAN'S.

washermen, or other vile persons. Or does he propose to tarry from home for a longer space of time ! He must not inhabit a town in which civil and religious duties are ne- glected ; nor, for a length of time, one in which diseases are frequent ; nor one governed by a Shudra king ; nor one surrounded with men unobservant of their duties ; nor one abounding with professed heretics ; nor one swarming with low-born outcasts ; nor must he reside long on a mountain, — When abroad, does it happen to rain ? He must not run. Does he see in the sky a rainbow ? He must not show it to any one. Does he behold a cow drinking ? He must not interrupt her ? Does he enter a pasture of kine ? He must hold out his right arm uncovered. In his perambulations, does he approach running or standing water ? He must not cast into it any saliva, or cloth, or any other thing soiled with impurity or blood, or any kind of poison. Is his image reflected in it ? He must not gaze at it. Is there in his path a string to which a calf is tied ? He must not step over it ; nor must he voluntarily pass over the shadow of sacred images, or of a Brahman, or of a red haired man. Does he come to a mound of earth, a cow, an idol, a pot of clarified butter or of honey, a place where two ways meet, or large trees well known in the district ? He must care- fully pass by, with his right hand toward them. Does he travel otherwise than on foot ? He must not do so with untrained beasts of burden ; nor with such as are oppressed with hunger or disease ; nor with such as have imperfect horns, eyes, or hoofs ; nor with such as have ragged tails ; nor must he ride on the back of a bull or cow ; nor must he pass a river swimming with his arms.

But the most inexhaustible themes by far are those of •purification and diet. On these, therefore, it is not possible to enter. As to diet., the injunctions are so numerous and so varied, that they constitute a code which might pass for a complete work on domestic cookery. The peculiarity, however, which distinguishes the Hindu system from any of our modern approved volumes on the subject, is, that where- as the latter embody only the results of human experience.

DIET OF BRAHMAMS.

, m

and are obtruded on public favour by the weight of human recommendation ; the former professes to embody the know- ledge and will of the Creator, and is therefore enforced by divine authority.

The lawful hours for the daily meals, the places where food must not be eaten, the persons with whom the repast may be, and those with whom it may not be shared, are all specified in detail. Directions no less particular are given respecting the mode in which the Brahman is to partake of his daily meals. After washing his hands and feet, and sip- ping water without swallowing it, he sits down on a stool or cushion, but not on a couch nor on a bed, before his plate, which must be placed on a clean spot of ground, that has been wiped and smoothed in a quadrangular form. When the food is first brought in he is required to bow to it, raising both hands in the form of humble salutation to his forehead ; and he should add, “ May this be always ours that is, may food never be deficient. When he has sitten down, he should lift the plate with his left hand, and bless the food, saying, “ Thou art invigorating.*’ He sets it down, naming the three worlds ; or, if the food be handed to him, he says, “ May heaven give thee and then accepts it with these words, “ The earth accepts thee.” Before he begins eating, he must move his hand round the plate, to insulate it ; he must also, with his hand, trace a line all around, and ■consecrate the circle by appropriate texts ; — for wdiat pur- pose ? — to insulate his person during the meal, lest it should be contaminated by the touch of some undetected sinner who may be present, or who might intrude ! He next con- summates the consecration of the food, by making five obla- tions out of it to Brahma and other gods — dropping each oblation on fire, or on water, or on the ground, with the nsual addition, “ May this oblation be efficacious.” He sips and swallows water ; he makes five oblations to breath by its five distinct names ; — and lastly, he wets both eyes. These important and indispensable preliminariesbeing ended, he may now proceed to partake of his repast ; but he must proceed in solemn silence, lifting the food with the fingers

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GRADUATED SCALE OF REWARDS.

of his right hand. After the eating is finished, he again sips water ; and concludes the whole by saying, “ Ambrosial fluid, thou art the couch of Vishnu, and of food.”

After such a statement of details — details referring only to one of the castes — and the statement might be extended indefinitely — who is not ready to admit the significance of the assertion, that in India all the conceivable acts, incidents, and events in life, are cast in a religious mould — by being inseparably associated with divinely promulgated rites and ceremonies — as well as ordinances directive, prescriptive, restrictive, or prohibitory ?

But it will be said that such universality of observance and obedience is, in the nature of things, impossible ; and that the code which comprehends and enjoins it, from being in so many of its parts impracticable, must become obsolete, — its commands nugatory ; — that its directions must drop into desuetude. By no means. There is ample provision in the code itself to guard against such a consummation. And the nature of this provision tends only to illustrate and confirm what has been represented as the spirit and genius of Hinduism.

It does not seem to have entered into the mind of Manu himself that any one man, far less any large class of men, could ever exhibit a life oi perfect obedience. But that mat- ters not. Unlike the rigour of a righteous and inflexible law, which says, “ He who offends in one point, is guilty of all,” — the spirit of Hinduism is, “ He who offends in one point, loses only the special benefit accruing from obedience in that particular, and suffers only the penalty incurred by disobedience in that one particular.” For such failure affects not at all the merit of obedience in other points.

There is a graduated scale of rewards reaching through a countless series of future births on earth, up through the regions of nether space, and beyond these into the highest heavens. Every man may select his own — and labour to attain it. And as the gradations are infinite — the variety of share is infinite too. If a man should aim at the highest, and discharge all the performances necessary to obtain it,

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he will be sure to become its happy possessor. But, if he come short of his aim, his labour will not be thrown away ; he will obtain whatever is due to his real merit, though it may be far below what he aspired to. Hence the marvellous versatility of the system. It has self-adjusting powers which adapt it to all varieties of taste and character. A maximum performance will reach the highest point, — a minimum per- formance will prevent at least degradation either in the present or in the next birth. Between these extremes, the gradations of excess above the minimum^ entitling to a cor- responding advancement in the next birth, are beyond the reach of number or of name.

Let us illustrate this by a few examples. Look at the morning ablution. To omit it altogether, except from una- voidable causes, such as stress of weather, or bodily infir- mities, might lead to various forfeitures in this life, and would inevitably incur degradation in the next. At the same time, full license is allowed to any man to curtail the service at his own pleasure. If, for instance, urgent business should require his early attendance, he may abridge the ceremonies, according to his own will, and use fewer prayers. The greatest possible abridgement consistent with its being practised at all, is what we have termed a mini- mum performance ; and would, as far as this religious duty is concerned, save the performer from future degradation. A larger performance would entitle to a step in advance ; and the fullest performance to the highest reward.

Look, again, at the five great sacraments. To entitle to the highest reward, all of these ought to be performed daily in their fullest detail. And those who do so, or aim at so doing, are said to keep the five fires constantly blazing, or maintain a perpetual fire. But from the multitude of the ceremonies it must be clear, that to perform them all, and that, too, erery day., would engross the larger proportion of any man’s time. How, then, are the general functions of society to be discharged ? Here is the expedient. Those who are engaged in the different pursuits and affairs of life, and even those who follow exclusively the regular sacerdotal

174

LAX PERFORMANCE OF RELIGIOUS DUTIES.

profession, may, if they so please, greatly abbreviate these daily religious duties. To expedite the matter, and pro- vide against sinful omission, there is an abbreviated form actually provided by the condescending kindness of the di- vinity. In this form all the daily sacraments are compressed into one ceremony (called Vaiswadeva), of not greater length than the average of any one of them when performed in detail. And to accommodate to the utmost those who wish to remain satisfied with the minimum performance, even this comprehensive but compendious ceremony may be sub- jected to farther abridgement ; and that again to farther curtailment still of some of the less essential parts. It must, however, be borne in mind, that every such abridge- ment, be it larger or smaller, is not to be regarded as “ the alleviation of a bui-then.” but as the restriction of a pri- vilege." Exactlv as in the case of the “ morning ablution," a minimum performance will save from future degradation,, so far as this rite is concerned ; — while every additional pcrfoiTuance necessarily involves an accession of merit, which will not fail of its corresponding meed in the ascending scale of reward.

The same principle of latitude, license, and choice, is more err less applicable to all religious duties. They all admit of being variously abbreviated, without, in consequence, incur- ring the penalty of positive degradation either in this world or the nest. In other words, there may be numberless omissio7is as to minor parts, such as forms, offerings, prayers, and ceremonies, which entail no forfeiture beyond the non- obtainment of the promised reward. But this principle does not bear upon exclusively religious duties alone. It is a principle of universal application. Look, for example, to the enormous catalogue of injunctious and restrictions aj>- pended to every ordinary action, event, and incident of human life. Many of these must be attended to under the severest penalties. Others may be disregarded without posi- tive loss, or without a diminution of reward accruing from other services. Some discountenanced acts may be com- mitted ; some recommended acts mav be omitted. — with

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what result ? The non-commission of the former, and the non-omission of the latter, would entitle to correspondent rew'ard, — varying in excellence and degree, according to the nature of the acts. In either case, the non-commission or the non-omission is simply attended with the loss of the rew’ards severally affixed. Should any man make up his mind to relinquish the reward, he may do so, if he pleases, wdth perfect impunity in other respects. Accordingly, with large classes of men, many of the more minute injunctions and prohibitions, or those relating to minor acts and occur- rences, have become practically obsolete, — while scarcely any one can be said to aim at the perfect observance of them all. Still, this does not, by one iota, impair the divinely obligatory nature of the system as a whole. It still remains the perfect standard of obedience. All ai’e recommended to aim at reaching it, for the sake of the reward. They w'ho aspire to any reward, must labour to earn it by the necessary performance. But if they seek not, or care not about the highest meed ; if they make up their minds to forego it, they may aim at an Inferior recompense, and labour accordingly. If they choose to relinquish even the inferior rew^ard, they may still farther abridge the minor duties, withont incurring positive guilt, or entailing degra- dation in the next birth.

,, Hence arises one cause of the apparent discrepancies, di- versities, and contrarieties, in the actual religious observances of millions who, with unw^avering stedfastness, profess to adhere to the same standards of faith and practice. Were a stranger suddenly introduced among the people, he is ever apt to feel lost and bewildered amid the inconceivable mul- tiplicity and variety of religious observances practised before his eyes. How, then, must his perplexity increase till it sink into despair, w'hen to endless variety he finds superadded an apparently endless diversity ! After having attained, as he thinks, the comprehension of some ordinance, as seen daily celebrated by one wdth whose countenance he has become familiar, he turns to another. He is again staggered, — from the inversion of some parts, the omission, addition, or varia-

176

WORSHIP OF PARTICUI-AR DIVINITIES.

tion of others, it seems to present the aspect of a ditferent ordinance altogether ; — and so, with a third, and a fourth — onwards almost without end. He is now apt to give up the task as hopeless. The whole presents the appearance of an inextricable maze, — an all-encompassing labyrinth without a clew. And yet, were he just to take into his hands any one of the established standards of Hindu faith, and to carrv- along with him the latitudinarian principle now described’, — apportioning suitable rewards to performances of every degree, along a scale of almost infinite dimensions, — he would find the maze traversed from end to end, by a straight and broad highway which invited the most bewildered passenger, — he would find the labyrinth provided with a clew to guide him at every one of its innumerable turnings.

V

So much for ordinary obsersances, the constant perfor- mance of a certain amount of which is indispensable to guard against loss of caste in this life, and degradation in the next birth ; and the constant performance of a larger amount of which may insure distinction now, and exaltation hereafter. But multitudes aim at something higher. They aspire to be promoted to some region or heaven of bliss beyond this world of endless transmigration. The realiza- tion of this object of loftier ambition, is placed entirely within their reach. Towards its attainment there are tvco distinct ways pointed out by divine authority, either or both of w’hich may be pursued. These are, first, a peculiar devotedness to the service and worship of one or other of the principal deities, — each of whom has a separate heaven for himself, into which lie may admit his faithful votaries ; and, secondly, the performance of works of extraordinary merit, which are delineated at great length in the sacred Shastras.

In the general ritual there are formulas for worshipping particular divinities separately and individually, — others conjointly in groups and classes variously combined, — or all the millions of them collectively in one huge assemblage.

GODS THE PATRONS OF VICES.

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As every department of nature, and every function of life, has its guardian deity, such deity may be addressed by any one, at any time, or on any occasion, for the accomplishment of specific ends. Thus, the god of riches may be petitioned for wealth, the goddess of fertility for abundant herbage, — and so, in like manner, other deities for beauty, strength, skill, recovery from sickness, long life, a well-stored house, a plentiful table, and every other conceivable variety of temporal blessings. Tliere are deities, however, who are not absolutely confined to any single province or depart- ment in the great system of the universe. Some have a narrower and some a wider range and latitude of superin- tendence and dominion. Hence originates the endless diversity as to the degree of reverence in which they are held, as well as to the frequency and fuln^ of the forms and modes of their worship. Some have temples exclusively dedicated to themselves, with images, sacrifices bloody and unbloody, buimt and drink-offerings, daily worship, and annual festivals. Others, without being honoured with temples, have images and daily worship and annual festivals. Some, without public temples or annual festivals, have images and daily worship. Others, without temples, annual festivals, or images, are yet daily worshipped. And some, whose images are not fashioned, are yet regularly worshipped through the medium of appropriate symbols.

As the gods exhibit every variety of character, there is, as might be anticipated, a correspondent variety in the rites and ceremonies which constitute their vA'orship. Their his- tory, alas ! is often a mere tissue of vice and villany. They quarrel and fight among themselves, kicking and beating one another, — at one time knocking out a tooth or an eye, and then cutting off a head, or an arm, or some other mem- ber of the body. Some of them are found pouring out im- precations and curses when thwarted in their mischievous plans and plots. Others are greatly addicted to theft, and murder, and licentiousness, — and, after having violated every commandment in the second table of the Decalogue, they are next found engaged in inventing all manner of lying

178

IMMENSE VARIETY OF SECTS.

tales to screen their own roguish tricks and abominable transgressions. Never did a people more thoroughly suc- ceed in feigning and fabricating gods “ altogether like unto themselves — and being once feigned and fabricated, these same gods become, in turn, the patrons of evil in everj' form in which it can possibly manifest itself in hearts that “ are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Are there deities who patronize vice of the grossest description ? They must have their own peculiar emblems and rites. Hence it is that their votaries do religiously indulge in secret orgies and abominations, which, in a Christian land, would make many a hackneyed profligate to shudder. — Hence, too, the annual dedication, at the Indian temples, of thousands and tens of thousands of unhappy beings, who, under the desi|piation of “ the wives of the god,” are taught both by parents and priests to regard themselves as his special favourites ; — being privileged, by means of their arts and blandishments, to increase the number of his votaries, and thus to engage and perpetuate his favour and protec- tion ; — so that wantonness is diffused under the warrant of divine authority ; licentiousness is legitimated as religious worship ; and the oblations of moral pollution actually con- secrated as acts of devotional homage. Are there deities who delight in cruelty and blood ? They, too, must have their peculiar emblems and rites. Hence it is that, in honour of them, and in order to purchase their favour, such num- bers of deluded votaries are constantly found engaged in practices the most cruel and sanguinary. Hence the name- less variety of self-inflicted tortures which annually disgrace the festival of the goddess Kali. Hence the crushing of miserable victims beneath the wdieels of the car of the idol Juggemath. The same remark applies to a catalogue of other deities too extensive and loathsome to be enumerated.

As might be expected, those independent deities who are believed to possess and exercise the greatest power over the affairs of this lower world, — particularly those who have their own separate celestial abodes, and who are enabled to hold out the prospect of a heavenly inheritance as the recom-

IMMENSE VARIETY OF SECTS.

179

pense of zealous and devoted services ; — these are the deities who necessarily di’aw forth the largest share of adoration and homage ; and who divide among themselves, as worshippers, the larger moiety of the millions of India. Hence the origin of that immense variety of sects which abound in India ; — sects whose numbers vary from thousands to millions ; — sects whose denomination is derived from the name of their favourite divinity ; — sects who — in devoting themselves more peculiarly to the worship of one tutelary god, and in con- tending, it may be, for his superiority, if not supremacy, over the rest — yet acknowledge the gods of all other sectaries as worthy of adoration and homage. The members of the Hindu Triad being allowed by common consent to be pre-em- inent in power and glory, they naturally, with their consorts, attract the greatest numbers of votaries, and the largest amount of reverence. Though Brahma be still considered as the head of the Triad, — his special functions being re- garded as confined chiefly to the original production of all organized and animated beings, — and as now kept in reserve for the formation and peopling of future worlds, — the active worship of him has very much fallen into practical desuetude. The conservative, destructive, and reproductive powers of Vishnu and Shiva, on the other hand, continue to be per- manently exercised throughout the whole course and pro- gress of mutation, onwards to the final destruction of the visible universe. These divinities, accordingly, with their consorts, secure at all times the greatest amount of practi- cal homage ; and their sects abound more in number than any other of the sects of India. Into the detail of the countless rites, ceremonies, and offerings which constitute their worship, we cannot enter ; — the more especially, as in a following chapter ample specimens will be furnished from ocular observation. The main point on which, at present, we wish to fasten attention is, that these superior gods are intensely adored and honoured with multiplied forms of worship, not from any generous emotions of gratitude and love. No : all forms of prayer and praise, — all sacrifices and offerings, — all rites and observances whatsoever, — all

180

ACTS OF EXTRAORDINARY MERIT.

are reiterated, times and ways without number, merely as the adulations of flattery to please, gratify, and humour the divinities ; — or, as gifts and presents, to allure and bribe them into compliance with the petitioner’s requests or, lastly, and chiefly, as acts of acknowledged merit, which lay them under positive obligation to admit the votary to a partici- pation of the sensuous enjoyments which characterise their respective heavens !

Besides those forms of homage and rites of worship which bind the gods to admit their faithful votaries to a partici- pation of their own celestial bliss, there are other acts, which, though isolated and often wholly unconnected with the general scheme of devotion, are yet declared to possess such extraordinary merit, as to entitle the performer to an entrance into one or other of the heavens of the gods. Among the meritorious acts of this description which continue to the present time to be practised by millions of the deluded people of India, may be specified the following : — Fastings, frequent, long-continued, and accompanied by various medi- tative exercises : — the presenting of gifts to the Brahmans, such as a valuable piece of land, cows, horses, or elephants, large sums of silver or of gold, houses well stored with food, clothes, and utensils : — the honouring of Brahmans with feasts, which are replenished with all manner of rare deli- cacies and expensive luxuries : — readings and recitations of portions of the Mahabharat and other Shastras, on auspi- cious days ; and rehearsals for weeks or months together of those legends which embody the histories of their gods, accompanied with dancings and wavings of brushes, and the jinglings of rings, and the noises of instrumental music : — the digging of public wells, or tanks, or pools of water “ to quench the thirst of mankind the building of public ghauts or flights of steps along the banks of rivers, to assist the faithful in their ablutions ; the planting and consecrating of trees to afford a shade, and of groves to furnish refresh- ment, to holy pilgrims ; the repairing of old temples, or the erecting of new, in honour of the gods : — long and arduous pilgrimages to the confluence of sacred streams,— to spots

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that have been immortalized by the exploits of gods or the penances of holy sages, — or to shrines where the presence of some divinity may be more than ordinarily realized, and his favours and blessings with more than wonted affluence bestowed. Besides these, and others too tedious to be recounted, must be specially noted the manifold practices of self-murder. Certain modes of voluntary religious suicide some of the Shastras distinctly recommend, annexing there- to promises of a heavenly recompense. To the modes thus divinely appointed the fervent but blind and perverse zeal of deluded votaries has not been slow in adding many more to testify the intensity of their devotion. Hence it is that numbers annually throw themselves over precipices and are dashed to pieces, — or cast themselves into sacred rivers and are drowned, — or bury themselves alive in graves which may have been dug by their nearest kindred. All these, and other modes of self-murder, are practised with the distinct expectation of earning an entrance into heaven. But the most celebrated of them all is the rite of Sati (Suttee). Witness that funeral pile on which are stretched the putrid corpse of the father, and the living body of the mother. Blessed be God ! throughout the British terri- tories such cruel piles are extinguished. But the system which prescribed them is not yet destroyed ; and the spirit which enkindled them has not yet been extinguished. Were the strong arm of British power withdrawn to-day, to-morrow would a thousand piles be blazing on the plains of Hindustan. And in the nominally independent states, the horrid rite is as prevalent as ever. To it, therefore, we are still entitled to refer, for a palpable illustration of the prac- tical worMng of the system of Hinduism. Behold, then, that funeral pile, on which are stretched the putrid corpse of the father, and the living body of the mother. Around it behold standing the poor hapless children. Standing for what ? To excite the yearning of a mother’s compassion by their sobs and wallings? No. To quench the devouring flames with their tears ? No. But in the name of their gods to apply the torch which, in a moment, is to leave

182

TRANSMIGRATION.

them fatherless, motherless, orphans, in a friendless world ! Can the policy of hell prevail farther than this J Why is it, that in circumstances so powerfully calculated to summon forth all the tenderness and sympathy of a mother’s heart ; Avhy is it that, seemingly bereft of sensibility, as well as reason, we behold the unhappy creature pillowed on putres- cence and ashes, curtained with blazing flames, and o’erca- nopied with volumes of smoke ? It is because she intensely believes that she is to be instantly recei^^ed into the heaven of Indra. It is because some of those books, which she has been taught to regard as divine, assure her that such and so great is the merit of this particular act of self-immolation, that it even extends beyond herself ; — that, if her husband bad been the vilest of the vile, and banished for his mis- deeds into one of the lowest hells, this heroic act of self- sacrifice on the part of his widow would rescue him from torment, raise him up beyond the natural course of trans- migration, and transport him too to the heaven of Indra ; — where husband and wife are destined to enjoy celestial bliss for a period of years equal to the number of hairs in their united heads, — a number which is estimated at thirty- five millions ! After such a statement, however monstrous and preposterous in our estimation, who need wonder, — supposing it to be devoutly believed by the blinded child of superstition, — who need wonder that, from among the mil- lions of India, there should have been thousands annually devoted as willing victims to the flames of the funeral pile ?

In one or other of the ways now pointed out, are thou- sands of thousands of our fellow-subjects in the East, daily and hourly toiling, and labouring, and suffering, in order to purchase to themselves a right to enter one or other of the heavens of the gods. Supposing, however, that they should fail in gaining admission into the lowest heaven of positive enjoyment, which is that of Indra, their merit may be such as to entitle them to exemption for a season from the pains and sorrows of transmigration. In this case they are con- veyed to the second heaven, which is in “ the sky,” or region immediately above the earth, and is called the “ world of

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ve-existence,” — because there the partially elevated spirits “ exist without sensation, again to become sensible” when the appointed time arrives at which they must revisit the earth in human form. It is the characteristic of the sys- tem, that all who, in consequence of their own acts of merit, are privileged to ascend into any of the heavens, — save the highest and most difficult of attainment, which is the hea- ven of Brahma, — must again descend to earth to reanimate new forms of being. The duration of their bliss may be longer or shorter, according to the degree of that merit whose fruition they are entitled to enjoy. It may be one year or ten, or a hundred, or a thousand, or a million, or tens of millions ; — but at longest, it can never extend to a day of Brahma’s life. Down, therefore, must the human inhabitants of every heaven save one, proceed again to earth. Having come from above, they will be born in human form ; of a good family ; and in circumstances peculiarly advanta- geous for the performance of works of merit that shall secure them a more perfect recompense at the next termi- nation of their earthly career. Should the performance of such works, as well as of others, be neglected, instead of mounting to heaven at death, they may be doomed to trans- migrate in lower forms of being. If, however, such woi’ks be duly performed, their reward will be admission into a higher heaven, or a longer residence in the same heaven as before. And thus may they be journeying backwards and forwards between heaven and earth, — and sojourning alternately in the one and in the other, — till the close of Brahma’s life, — when they and all things which exist shall be reabsorbed into the essence of the Supreme Brahm.

To purchase exemption from degradation in the next birth, millions in India are indefatigable in the performance of rites, ceremonies, and duties, essential to the maintenance of caste ; — to insure a reappearance in some higher form of animated being, millions more add largely to the number and variety of ceremonial acts ; — to earn the recompense of

184

FINAL BEaTITL'DE.

promotion for a limited number of years in one or other of the heavens of the gods, millions more engage incessantly in the discharge of isolated works of extraordinary merit, or in the celebration of those multiplied observances, — from the most sanguinary to the most impure, — which constitute the degrading services and worship of the popular idolatry. But that which almost all the millions of India are taught to regard as the highest reward, is a complete liberation of the soul from all material forms — a perfect deliverance from all future migrations — an absolute identification with, or reab- sorption into, the essence of the Supreme ! This is empha- tically designated final beatitude !

The practical question, — a question the agitation of which, even in our day, gives employment to the understanding and the hearts of m}Tiads in India, — now’ recurs, How, or in w’hat way, is this final beatitude to be secured ? All concur in replying that it is to be obtained by true or divine knoic- ledge. Is it next asked. Wherein does this true or divine knowledge consist ? It consists in a discriminating acquaint- ance with the real nature of Brahm, the Supreme Spirit. Such knowledge is designated the most exalted of all sciences, and the most efficacious w ay of securing eternal felicity. But what, it may next be asked, is implied in a true knowledge of Brahm ? It is to perceive the Supreme Spirit equally present in all beings, and all beings in the Supreme Spirit. More strictly, it is to know and realize Brahm as the sole-existing and eternal essence, — to know and realize Brahm not merely as pervading all things, but as actually constituting all things ; — as constituting, by direct emanation from himself, the whole assemblage of souls or spirits which animate all orders of bein/jr, organized or unorganized, celestial, terrestrial, or infernal ; — as consti- tuting, by successive evolution from, and diversified modifi- cations of, his own divine substance, all the subtile principles and grosser elements which compose the boundless varieties of corporeal form, visible and invisible : — above all, it is clearly to understand and intensely to realize the fact, that there is no such thing as soul or spirit apart from Brahm, —

MEANS OP ATTAINING DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.

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one’s own soul being only a portion, divisible or indivisible, of the Supreme Spirit, and entitled, when illuminated, to say, I am Para Brahm, “ I myself am the great Brahm.” — This, this is declared to be that only true and divine know- ledge which can never fail to issue in the soul’s reunion with the divine essence !

To acquire, however, such transcendent knowledge, and more especially, to realize it practically with fixed, constant, unwavering mind, is allowed to be a prodigiously difficult attainment. Still, the acquisition of it is not absolutely impossible. It may be reached in the present birth ; if not in the present, it may in the next ; and if not in the next, it may in some subsequent migration ; the aspiring soul being always privileged to start in each new state from the very point of advantage which it had reached in the preced- ing. The question now arises. Where is this wonder-work- ing knowledge to be sought for ? The reply is, only in the sacred Vedas, or in those systems of theology which have been immediately deduced therefrom. This, it will be seen at once, must cut off at least three-fourths of the population from the privilege of aspiring to final beatitude in the present birth. None but the twice-born, or members of the higher castes ; and practically, none but the Brahmans are entitled to penise those works which contain the knojvledge indis- pensable for final beatitude. The entire caste of Shudras and all inferior tribes are incompetent for those “ theologi- cal studies and theognostic attainments” which constitute “ divine knowledge.” The highest reward to which, at pre- sent, they are permitted to aspire, is admission into one or other of the celestial abodes. Should their merits, however, entitle them in some future birth to appear on earth as mem- bers of the Brahmanical order, they may, if they choose, enter on a career wliich shall terminate in absorption.

Since, then, divine knowledge, as now defined, is essential to final liberation ; and since it is acknowledged to be so difficult of acquisition, it is a question of absorbing interest in the schools of Indian theology. What are the best means of attaining to this supreme knowledge 1 To enter into all the

M

186

MEANS OF ATTAINING DIVINE KNOWLEDGE.

minute distinctions and specific differences which the answer to this question has tended to create and multiply, were far beyond our limits. A few general statements must suffice. On one point all seem to be agreed. It is this, — that those who begin to aspire after final beatitude, must relinquish all hope or prospect of reaping any of those rewards which are to be enjoyed as the fruition of works of merit, either in a higher birth in this w’orld, or in any of the heavens of the gods. As the prospect of such inferior rewards must be relin- quished, all rites, ceremonies, and works of every description, which naturally lead to their attainment, must be relinquished too ; — or, if any of these w'orks continue to be performed, it must not be from a hope of inferior reward. Any such motive \vould tarnish the performance, and so far nullify or retard the preparation for final identification with Brahm. Another point on which all are agreed is this, — that as the obstructions and obstacles in the way of attaining divine knowdedge are immense, both in number and in magnitude, auxiliary means for their removal must be resorted to. — Hence the origin of all manner of prescriptions for the ultimate attainment of the coveted knowdedge. To three great or generically distinct classes of means we may briefly refer.

rSome of the Orthodox schools insist, more largely than others, on certain devotional exercises^ as preparatory means. — Hence those long-continued recitations of portions of the Vedas in particular sitting or standing postures; — on the banks of rivers, or in sacred spots, or in private houses devoid of animals and men ; w ith the eyes half closed and fixed on the tip of the nose. — Hence those strange suppres- sions of the breath, in ways and modes endlessly diversified ; and those internal utterances or repeated mutterings of the peculiar name of God, and the triliteral monosyllable Aum, and other mystical names and texts which constitute effica- cious devotion. — Hence those attempts at fixing the mind on the lotus of the heart, the pineal gland, or some other Internal object ; to habituate it to the concentration of its thoughts, without the intervention of any objects sensible or

SELF-INFLICTED PENANCES.

187

intellectual, on that inconceivable, imperceptible, happy, placid being, which is without beginning, middle, or end ; — and thus gradually prepare the soul for that absorbed con- templation through which it may obtain final deliverance.

Some of the schools, after the example of the sacred stan- dards, insist more largely on the practice of austerities a preparatory means. The desires and affections, the passions and appetites, are allowed to be grand counteractives in the way of attaining to perfect knowledge. It is not easy for the soul to keep these under control. It is not easy to per- suade itself that their appropriate objects have no reality, — or at least none apart from the Supreme Spirit. It is not easy to conv^ce and satisfy itself that fruits and viands, odours and perfumes, and all the varied objects of sense, — that friends and foes, parents and brothers, sisters and wives and children ; — that all are unreal, and illusory, or at best, only portions of the Supreme Spirit differently modified and combined ! What then must be done ? What can be done, except to attempt to extirpate the instincts, to quench the sensibilities, to extinguish the affections, to blunt in the cor- poreal organs all susceptibility of external impression, — and thus virtually reduce the heart to a petrifaction, the mind to a state of idiocy, and the body to that of an immoveable sta- tue ? Hence those amazing self-inflicted severities of which all have heard — severities, practised more or less by thou- sands and tens of thousands for ages before the Christian era, and down to the present time. — Hence the exhortations of the Divine Legislator to such of the higher castes as have performed all religious duties, — read the Vedas in the form prescribed, — offered sacrifices to the best of their power, — paid all their debts of service to the sages, the manes, and the gods. — They are enjoined to abandon all food eaten in towns — to take up the consecrated fire and sacrificial imple- ments— and to repair to the lonely forest. There they are to live at first on pure food, such as green herbs, flowers, roots, fruit, and oils found in fruits. They are to vvear a black ante- lope’s hide, or a vesture of bark — to bathe evening and morn- ing— to suffer the hairs of the head, the beard, and the nails to

188

AUSTERITIES OF THE DEVOTEFil.

grow continually. They are to slide backwards and forwards on the ground — or to stand a whole day on tiptoe — or to continue in motion rising and sitting alternately. In the hot season, they are to sit exposed to five fires, — four blazing around, with the sun above ; in the rains, to stand uncovered without even a mantle, when the clouds pour the heaviest showers ; and in the cold season to wear humid vesture. They are by degrees to increase the austerity of devotion ; — so that, by enduring harsher and harsher mortification, they may eventually dry up the bodily frame ; and thus restrain all the bodily organs, and root out those passions and appetites by which these are naturally hurried away into the commission of divers injurious acts. When thus multiplying self-inflicted penances, they are to reflect on the transmigrations of men caused by their sinful deeds ; on their separation from those whom they love, or their union with those whom they hate ; on their agonizing departure from this corporeal frame ; on their formation again in the womb, and the gliding of the vital spirit through ten thousand millions of new births. Above all, they are, with firm faith and complete power over the organs of sense and action, and an exclusive application of mind, to reflect on the subtile essence of the Supreme Spirit, and its complete existence in all beings “ whether extremely high, or extremely low.” With minds thus intensely fixed, — heeding nought that is earthly, without one feeling or desire, with no companion but the soul, — they are to feed on nought but water and air, till the mortal frame totally decay. Hav- ing at length “ shuffled off” the material vehicle, they may rise to exaltation in the divine essence. The Brahman who practises these austerities, is called a Sanyasi, or one who “ forsakes all actions that are desirable.” But thousands and tens of thousands who are not Brahmans, by exceeding, if possible, the latter in the infliction and endurance of aggra- vated sufferings, strive to aspire to a share of the honours of the Sanyasi. These are called Yogis, from Yog, or devotion. These are the real gymnosophists, or naked philosophers of the ancients, who often practise their unexampled severities in the solitudes of the forest. They include many of those

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called by the moderns fakirs, who delight to carry on their lacerating operations in the presence of multitudes. Their avowed object, like that of the Sanyasis, is to root out every human feeling and passion ; to detach the senses from all the means of gratification ; to deaden them to every external in- fluence— whether the burning heats, or the chilling colds — the luxurious banquet, or strains of melody — the idol of ambition, or the treasures of avarice— the entreaties of tender affection, or the clamours of cruel reproach. The self-inflicted tortures of this class are endless. Some keep the palms of their hands clenched till the nails have pierced into the flesh ; others hold one or both arms upright, till the fluids cease to circulate, and they become shrivelled into stumps. Some walk or creep along, on their hands and knees, till they are twisted and unnatu- rally deformed ; others hang over a slow fire. Some stretch themselves upon beds of iron spikes ; others stand upright till their limbs are greatly swoln and ulcerated. Some carry iron collars around the neck, and fetters on the limbs ; others bind themselves with ropes or chains to trees, till they expire. Some inhume themselves in the ground, leav- ing only a small hole through which to breathe ; others keep gazing so stedfastly and so long at the heavens, that the muscles of the neck become contracted, and no aliment but liquid can pass through. The number of those who practise the most aggravated of these severities is greatly diminished. But the multitudes who assume the name, and profess to practise them in a greater or less degree, are still prodigious. Hence the swarms of religious mendicants that infest the country, — some almost naked, to indicate that they have subdued their passions ; others wearing tigers’ skins, to point out that they reside chiefly in the forests. Numbers smear their bodies with the ashes of cow-dung, wear long hair clotted with filth, fasten artificial snakes round their fore- heads, put strings of human bones around their necks, carry human skulls filled with ordure, — with a hundred other tokens and emblems of pretended self-denial.

There are other schools which maintain that, without the devotional exercises of practical religion, and without re-

190

PROFOl'ND MEDITATION.

(sorting to self-inflicted tortures, it is possible, by means of profound meditation, and a discriminating acquaintance with true principles of things, to attain to divine knowledge. Hence, in order to aid the soul in analyzing and banishing those false impressions which arise from the instinctive monitions of consciousness, and the natural inferences of the reflective intellect under the influence of ignorance and illu- sion,— hence the immense piles of logical and dialectic sub- tilties. — Hence those endless discussions as to the difierent kinds and degrees of evidence by which demonstration may be arrived at, and certainly obtained ; — such as perception, inference, affirmation ; and, included in, or resulting from these, comparison or analogy, tradition, capacity, aspect, and privation of four sorts — antecedent, reciprocal, absolute, and total. — Hence those varying enmnerations of the con- stituent principles of which this universe is composed ; the mode and order of their derivation from the essence of Brahm ; their divisions, combinations, and mutual relations. — Hence those interminable debates as to “ predicaments” or objects of proof ; and the number of distinct “ categories” to which all things perceptible and imperceptible, sensitive and cognitive, material and immaterial, ought to be reduced, — preparatory to a more general resolution of the whole into the sole-existing category, which is Brahm. — Hence those acute disquisitions on the incumbrances which hinder the progress of the soul in the contemplation of what is immu- table.— Hence those endless divisions and subdivisions of “ the affections of intellect, its sentiments or faculties, whether obstructing, disabling, contenting, or perfecting the understanding;” — the obstructing class, according to one of the principal schools, being divided into five sorts, viz. — obscurity, illusion, extreme illusion, gloom, and utter dark- ness, which are again subdivided into sixty-two species ; — the disabling class, comprising twenty-eight species, and so of the rest ; — each species being defined, discussed, admit- % ted, or denied, according to the doctrines of the varying

schools. — Hence the never-ending controversies respecting the number of qualities which may be predicated of soul.

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PERFECT ABSTRACTION ATTAINABLE.

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such as number, quantity, severalty, conjunction, disjunc- tion, &c. ; and of the constituent parts of matter, such as individuality, priority, posteriority, velocity and elasticity ; antecedent, emergent, and absolute negation, mutual priva- tion, &c., &c. — Hence those forms and examples of syllogism, with classifications of the diverse varieties of fallacy, or semblance of reason ; of the different sorts of fraud, or per- version and misconstruction ; of the twenty-four kinds of futile answer, or self-confuting reply ; of the twenty-two distinctions of failure in argument, &c., &c. ; — all of which united might well be allowed to rival some of the more strik- ing parts of the wondrous fabric of Aristotelian subtilty.

By one or other of the varied means now pointed out, the disciple may at length acquire a discriminating knowledge of the real nature of things, apart from the influence of illusion, — may attain the “ glorious prerogative of seeing all things in God, and discriminating the divine unity which comprehends all things,” — and may thus reach that state of perfect abstraction^ or absorbed contemplation^ which insures immediate liberation, or identification with the Supreme Spirit.

The number of those who, in our day, actually attain to this exalted state, is confessed to be very small. Still, the belief that it may be reached is universal. From year to year, and in one district or another, some individual is sure to be discovered who is devoutly regarded as having pos- sessed himself of the sublime attainment. And numbers there are who profess to be labouring after the enviable possession. Their encouragement is, that, though in this birth they may fail, their labour will not be in vain. Their approximation to the perfect state may be such as to entitle them at death to an entrance to the highest heaven, or that of Brahma ; where they remain exempt from future trans- migration. Or, if born again in time, they will reappear with the accession of the entire stock of merit acquired in the previous bii’th ; and, consequently, endowed wdth the augmented capability of successfully achieving their great end. If, from some weakness, or omission, or other untoward circumstance, they still come short of immediate liberation,

192

UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE ATTAINABLE.

they are cheered by the full assurance, that in this life the stream of thought may be made to flow on, so exclusive of all worldly tendencies, towards the Divine Spirit, that the soul may become, in some measure, a conscious possessor of almost infinite attributes.

By certain long-continued bodily and mental exercises, consisting of “ intensely profound meditation on special topics, accompanied by suppression of breath and restraint of the senses, while steadily maintaining prescribed postures,” it is religiously believed that the adept may acquire “ uni- versal knowledge” — knowledge of the “events of preceding and future transmigrations” — knowledge, generally, of “ every thing past and future, remote and hidden ;” — that he may “ divine the thoughts of others, gain the strength of an elephant, the courage of a lion, and the swiftness of the wind, — that he may fly in the air, float in the water, dive into the earth, and contemplate all worlds at a glance ;” — that he may “ see and converse with the deified persons who range through the a.; rial regions; hear celestial sounds, and be regaled with celestial fragrance ; listen to the songs and conversation of the celestial choirs, and have the per- ception of their touch in their passage through the air ;” — that he may become “ rarified, and, transforming himself into the subtilest of the elements, render his body invisible and invulnerable ; or, forsaking it altogether for a season, may enter into any other body whatsoever, all the senses accompanying him as the swarms of bees follow the queen- bee, and in this new body, act as though it were his own ;” — that he may, as elsewhere and otherwise expressed, “ac- quire eightfold power, consisting of the faculty of shrinking into a minute form to which every thing is pervious ; or enlarging to a gigantic body ; or assuming levity, as rising along a sunbeam to the solar orb ; or possessing unlimited reach of organs, as touching the moon with the tip of a finger ; or irresistible will, for instance, sinking into the earth as easily as into water ; dominion over all beings, animate and inanimate ; faculty of changing the course of nature ; ability to accomplish every thing desired ;” — in a

TRANSCENDENT POWER ATTAINABLE.

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word, that he may be enabled to realize in himself most of the powers of a real living divinity.

“ The notion,” adds Oolebrooke, “ that such transcendent power is attainable by man in this life, is not peculiar to any one sect. It is generally prevalent among the Hindus, and amounts to a belief in magic. A A^OGI, imagined to have acquired such faculties, is, to vulgar apprehension, a sorcerer ; and is so represented in many a drama and popular tale. But neither power, however transcendent, — nor dis- passion, or a spiritual impulse — the conviction that nature is a dream — nor virtue, however meritorious, suffices for the attainment of final beatitude. It serves but to prepare the soul for that absorbed contemplation, by which the great purpose of deliverance is to be accomplished.”

When, at length, by the persevering use of one or other of the preparatory means already enumerated, the soul has succeeded in discovering the true nature of the present sys- tem of things, as to its origin, duration, and termination ; — when it has found that, in reference to the visible universe, it is, itself, simply “ a witness, bystander, spectator, solitary and passive ;” — that “ all which passes in consciousness, in intellect, is reflected by the soul as an image which sullies not the crystal, and appertains not to it ;” — that Nature, or the manifested universe, is “ like to a female dancer, ex- hibiting herself to soul, as to an audience, and is reproached with shamelessness for repeatedly exposing herself to the rude gaze of the spectator, — that she desists, however, when she has sufficiently shown herself, — that she does so, because she has been seen, and the spectator desists, too, because he has seen her ;” — when all this perfect knowledge and perfect discrimination have been acquired, then it is that the soul has reached the divine state of absorbed contemplation in which the “ conclusive, incontrovertible, single truth is intensely and exclusively realized, that neither I AM, as an individual soul, nor is aught mine, nor I exist.” In other words, when the soul, by the untiring employment of the appointed means, has been made vividly and truly to discern that the Supreme Spirit is Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva — that it is the sun.

194

ABSORPTION INTO THE DIVINE ESSENCE.

moon, and stars — that it is earth, water, fire, air, and ether — that it is all which is, was, or will be to all eternity — that all that exists is spirit, and nothing but spirit, assuming some illusive form, or manifested under some emanative modification — that the human meditative, contemplative soul is itself that spirit — is itself God — being either a ma- nifestation or a portion, divided or undivided, of the Su- preme Brahm : — AVhen this grand truth is vividly, intensely, unwaveringly realized, then is the soul said to have reached a state of perfect abstraction ; — a state wherein it remains utterly unsusceptible of sensation, whether taste or smell, sound or colour, heat or cold, pleasure or pain, though encompassed with the most stirring objects of sense — utterly unsusceptible of emotion, whether joy or grief, love or hate, fear or anger, though still tabernacled in the midst of a thousand exciting causes ; — a state of calm, unbroken, pas- sionless tranquillity, in which, undisturbed alike by the allure- ments of sense and the tumults of emotion, it

“ Floats like the lotus on the lake, unmoved, unruffled by the tide.”

Then is it released from the bonds of Maya, or the illusory energy ; — then does the belief in the separate existence, either of the soul or of an eternal world, evanish ; — then does the very consciousness of personal identity cease ; — and then, exempt from liability to future birth, does it “ obtain unification” with the essence of the Supreme Spirit !

But can it really be, are some ever ready to ask, that multitudes believe in the literal reabsorption of the soul into the very essence of the Supreme Spirit ? Believe ! The great majority of the millions of India have for ages intensely so believed ;”and not* only so, but have acted, and to this day continue to act, on the belief. Though the greater part be doomed in the present birth to aspire after an inferior re- compense, all are taught to look forward to absorption into the divine essence as the ultimate reward — as final beatitude. The soul is firmly and almost universally regarded an ema- nation from divinity ; but being more or less tainted by passion and by crime, it must be purified by trial and by

ABSORPTION INTO THE DIVINE ESSENCE.

195

suffering. For this purpose, it must pass in a circle of mi- grations, from one form of being to another ; till, purged of sinful stains, it is prepared to be finally reabsorbed into the divine essence. Of the nature of this process, various illus- trations are supplied by almost all classes of the community. One of the commonest is the following : — Look, say they, at the ocean. ‘ Can you separate a particle, or many particles of the fluid from the main body?’ — Undoubtedly, you reply. ‘ May you not then enclose the detached portion in a vessel ? — ‘ May you not shut up and seal the vessel, and cast it afloat upon the bosom of the great waters ?’ — Most assuredly we may. ‘ Is not the water in the vessel the very same in kind as that by which it is surrounded V — Yes it is. ‘ But is the water imihin in immediate contact with the water without ? ’ — No. ‘ Why not V — because they are at present dissevered by means of the casement of the vessel. ‘ How then could you reunite them?’ — By breaking the vessel and dashing it to shivers. ‘ That being done, what becomes of the enclosed water?’ — It is instantly reabsorbed, swallowed up, and lost in the waters of the ocean. Precisely similar, they tell us, is the origin, present condition, and future des- tiny of every soul. It is a portion separated from the great ocea,n of spirit. Though shut up and imprisoned for a season in material forms, whether human or brutal, it is still the same in essence as its primal source. And when the cycle of its purgations has been terminated, and the last material casement or tabernacle which it is doomed to occupy has been famished into the weakness of dissolution, and finally shivered into atoms and nothingness by the stroke of death, — then does the incarcerated spirit merge into the great ocean of spirit, is reabsorbed into it, swallowed up, and lost in the homogeneous undistinguishable mass.

While the millions of India have for ages been thus stim- ulated to conform to a boundless code of rites, ceremonies, and works of merit, by a graduated scale of future rewards, in number, extent, and variety, almost infinite ; they have.

196 GRADUATED SCALE OF FUTURE PUNISHMENTS.

on the other hand, been solemnly warned against short- comings in the performance of necessary duties, or duties indispensable towai’ds the preservation of caste, by a gra- duated scale of future punishments, — in number, extent, and variety, almost infinite too.

There are, of course, hundreds and thousands of laws and ordinances, the violation of any of which must be visited with penal consequences in this life ; whether at the hands of relations, or the guardians of caste, or the community at large, or the civil magistrate. In these cases, there is also an entailment of certain residuary retributions in the life to come. There are also hundreds and thousands of laws and ordinances, the infringement or neglect of which is to be followed by judicial visitations only in the next life. But the point of doctrinal importance is this, — that, except in the case of certain deadly sins, all omissions of duty or actual transgressions of 'prescriptive laic^ so far as these incur the in- fliction of pains and penalties in the next life, may he atoned for in the present. Hence that amazingly minute and volu- minous code of atonements and expiations which forms so characteristic and integral a part of the great scheme of Hinduism. Thousands of offences, great and small, are enumerated, many of which could never be reckoned really criminal on any soil except that of India ; — and the expia- tions for each, which shall have the effect of completely exhausting the entailed future punishments, are specifically detailed. To one or two only can we refer, merely as ex- amples. If any tw ice-born man has intentionally drunk one drop of inebriating liquor, he may atone for his offence, by “ severely burning his body, or drinking pure water, or milk, or clarified butter boiling hot or, if he tasted it unknow- ingly, he may expiate the sin, “ by eating only some broken rice, or grains of tila from wdiich oil has been extracted once every night for a whole year ; wTapped in a coarse vesture of hair from a cow’s tail ; or sitting unclothed in the house, wearing his locks and beard uncut.” If he has killed a cow without malice, he must for some months be restricted to certain unpleasant meats and drinks. “ Covered

PRACTICAL RESULT OF A SYSTEM OF EXPIATION. 197

with the hide of the slain cow, he must all day attend on the herd to which she belonged, quaffing the dust raised by their hoofs, stroking and saluting them, — standing while they stand, — following when they move together, — lying down while they lie down, in heat, in rain, or in cold, or while the blast furiously rages ; — not seeking his own dielter, without first sheltering the cows to the utmost of his power.” But it is needless to pursue the catalogue of expiable crimes, amongst which we find such as the following : — killing by design a rat, a frog, a lizard, an owl, a crow, a snake, a goose, &c., &c. ; insects, and other boneless animals ; — touching any prohibited articles, or treading on unpurified spots, — and a thousand other open and secret offences, often frivolous, often ridiculous, and often nameless ; — for each and all of which, severally and collectively, atonements are prescribed, of a character as various as the crimes commit- ted,— such as, offering gifts to the Brahmans, fastings, re- peatings of holy texts, suppressions of the breath in water, burnings of different members of the body, swallowings of disagreeable liquids, bathings in constrained positions, touchings of sacred animals, alms-giving, oblations to fire, sittings and standings in humiliating attitudes, &c., &c. For any of the foul acts in the immense catalogue — whether secret or open, committed ignorantly or knowingly — the appointed expiation will amply atone. It completely de- stroys the sin, just “ as fire consumes in an instant, with his bright flame, the w'ood.” From the guilt of the offence, the sinner is liberated, “like a snake disengaged from his slough.” What is the practical result of this institution? It is, that tens of thousands of the people of India are, to the pre- sent time, constantly engaged in the voluntary accomplish- ment of those atonements, and in the voluntary infliction of those expiatory tortures, by which the retributive awards attached to the commission of thousands of actual trans- gressions, real or imaginary, may be exhausted in the pre- sent life. Should the atonements and expiations divinely ordained not be executed by the transgressor, what follows ? It is, that in the next birth he must endure the inevitable

198 PRACTICAL RESULT OF A SYSTEM OF EXPIATION.

penalty. Here opens up to us another view of the practical working of the system. To certain actions committed in a preceding state — for which the proper expiation has not been performed — the penalty attached consists of morbid changes in the body which must be inhabited in the next birth. Hence, says Manu, “ a stealer of gold from a Brahman is doomed to have whitlows on his nails ; a drinker of spirits, black teeth ; a false detractor, fetid breath ; a stealer of grain, the defect of some limb ; a stealer of dressed grain, dyspepsia ; an unauthorized reader of the Scriptures, dumbness ; a stealer of clothes, leprosy; a horse- stealer, lameness ; the stealer of a lamp, total blindness ; the mischievous extinguisher of it, blindness in one eye — and so of numberless other offences. Thus, “ according: to the diversity of actions are men bom despised by the good, — stupid, dumb, blind, deaf, and deformed. Penance, there- fore, must invariably be performed for the sake of expiation, since they who have not expiated their sins, will again spring to birth with disgraceful marks.” Hence it is, that in India, under the reign of Hinduism, there can be no asylums for the deaf, or dumb, or blind, — ^no hospitals, no infirmaries for the sickly, the diseased, and the maimed, or any that are suddenly overtaken with corporeal calamities. All of these are by common consent despised, vilified, ne- glected, abandoned. They are systematically, and on reli- gious principle, doomed to a sort of outlaMTy. Their various bodily ailments and complaints being almost universally re- garded as the righteous punishment of unexpiated vices and follies in a preceding state, the unhappy victims are destined to be treated as criminals, who are only undergoing the punishment due to their sins. They are practically regarded much in the same way as we would contemplate the inmates of a jail, or a bridewell, or a penitentiar}-. Hence has arisen much, very much, of the national apathy^ callous indif- ference, and hard-hearted unconcern of the millions of India, towards the sorrows, the woes, the miseries, and the suffer- ings of their fellows !

Those whose original sin, or omissions of duty, or unex-

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199

piated actual transgressions, are such as to sink them be- neath the condition of humanity, must enter various brutal and other forms. If, says Mann, a man steal grain in the husk, he shall be born a rat ; if yellow mixed metal, a gan- der ; if water, a diver ; if money, a great stinging gnat ; if flesh meat, a vulture ; if oil, an oil-drinking beetle ; if a deer, a wolf ; if roots or fruit, an ape ; if the property of a priest, a crocodile or other mischievous blood-sucking crea- ture ; if gems, or certain grains, he must migrate a hundred or a thousand times in the form of grasses, or shn'bs, or creeping and twining plants, or other terrene substa/^tces ; — and so of numberless other offences and corresponding retributive allotments. The general principle on which the future awards are regulated is, that “ similar to the pas- sions to which they devoted themselves in this probationary scene, will be the animal, or mineral, or vegetable into which, in a future birth, the migrating souls will descend. The form of the furious lion and tiger will receive the soul in whiqh anger and revenge predominate. Unclean and ravenous birds are the allotted mansion of souls polluted with lust and blinded by ambition. Noxious and loathsome reptiles are the abodes of those debased by grovelling and sordid passions. To some, vegetable and animal substances are the prisons assigned. Of others, sharks and a variety of aquatic monsters, are the destined repository. The pro- foundest caverns of the ocean, and the bowels of the highest mountains, swarm with transmigrating existences.”

Our present purpose not being to expose, but simply to exhibit the system of Hinduism, it has all along been taken for granted, that in the eye of the intelligent Christian, its best confutation must be the extravagance and absurdity of its tenets. What, for instance, can be more absurd than the principle, “ that the crimes and propensities which the soul had perpetrated or pampered in one body, are to determine its succeeding migration to another ?” To punish, as has been remarked of the corresponding Pythagorean doctrine, to punish and correct the evil propensities of the past, “ the soul is dismissed to the very form in which those propensi-

200 FUTURE PUNISHMENTS PROPORTIONED TO CRIMES.

ties are again to be exercised and indulged. From acting the glutton among men, it is to be sent to grovel and wallow in the swine, and so act the glutton among brutes. The dominant and peccant appetite, instead of being purified by the change, is to be fomented by the continued gratification of its vilest tendencies ; and that which was designed to defecate the stream, and to purify it for a reunion with its original and perfect fount, is to render it, as it flows in the channel of migration, only more turbid and more impure.” Besides, if the doctrine of transmigration, generally, has called’^forth the most urgent precepts to show tenderness to all sentient beings, however humble or even loathsome ; and if it has led to corresponding practices, so that many can- not walk without sweeping the path before them, lest they heedlessly tread on imprisoned spirits, — the present prin- ciple of allotment has tended more than any other to gene- rate, extend, and perpetuate a systematic cruelty towards certain animals, and to sanction and vindicate occasional cruelty towards even the most sacred. The inflicter of the injury has only to discover that the poor creature exhibits some mark or trace of being the material vehicle of a crimi- nal who had not expiated his sins in a former birth, trium- phantly to justify the most unmerited severities!

Once more, if the original depravity or the actual trans- gression be such, that migrations through any kind or num- ber of terrestrial forms be not adequate punishment, the wicked must be banished from earth altogether, and sent down to the inferior worlds, — there to endure torments in one or other of the hells provided for great transgressors. Weeping, wailing, shrieking, they are dragged to the palace of Yama, the king of these doleful regions. On arriving there, they behold him “ clothed with terror, two hundred and forty miles in height ; his eyes distended like a lake of water ; his voice loud as the thunders at the dissolution of the universe ; the hairs of his body as long as palm trees ; a flame of fire proceeding from his mouth ; the noise of his breath like the roaring of a tempest ; and in his right hand a terrific iron club.” Sentence is pronounced ; and the

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wretched beings are doomed to undergo different punish- ments according to the nature of their unexpiated crimes. Some are made to tread on burning sands or sharp-edged stones ; others are exposed to showers of blazing embers or scalding water. Some are rolled among thorns, and. bones, and spikes, and putrefying flesh ; others are dragged along the roughest places, by leathern cords passing through the tenderest members of the body. Some are assailed by tigers, rhinoceroses, jackals and elephants ; others by ter- rible giants, spectres, and hobgoblins. Some are exposed to flaming lights and scorching heats ; others to midnight darkness and pinching cold. Some are pierced with arrows, beaten ivith clubs, pricked with needles, seared with hot irons, tormented by flies and wasps ; others are made to feed on carrion, and putrid blood, saliva and ordure, and all manner of impure substances. Some are plunged into pans of liquid fire, or boiling oil, or filthy mire ; others are dashed from lofty trees, or precipices many hundred miles high. Some have their limbs pinched and bruised by rack- ing instruments ; others have their eyes and entrails torn out by vultures and similar ravenous birds. In fine, accord- ing to one of the Puranas, “ there are a Imndred ihoi^sand hells., in which different kinds of torments are inflicted on criminals, according to the directions of the Shastras, and the nature of their guilt.”

The torments of these hells, like the joys of the Hindu heavens, are not eternal. From the apprehended possibility of its OATO eternal fate, no guilty soul can brook the notion of everlasting torment. Hence, no doubt, the origin of a purgatory, — whether announced by the heathen Shastras of the Hindu, or the equally heathenish traditions of an apos- tate Komish Church. In the former case, it is asserted that the torments of an individual soul may be prolonged from a few years to millions. Still they will have an end. What then becomes of the soul that has at length expiated its guilt ? It ascends to earth, there to migrate anew through hundreds, or thousands, or millions of mineral, vegetable, and animal forms ; till it reappear in the garb of

N

202

DESCRIPTION OF THE SOUL BY KRISHNA.

humanity. Having once more assumed the human form, it may commit acts of merit which will raise it to one of the heavens of the gods ; or acts of demerit which shall cause it to be remanded to the abodes of woe. And thus, unless final deliverance or absorption has been secured, may everj' soul be alternately enjoying the sensual bliss of paradise, or undergoing the excruciating tortures of hell, — alternately elevated among princes and sages, or grovelling among monsters and reptiles, throughout the millions of millions of years which constitute the duration of the universe. When the great day of doom arrives, all souls, whether in heaven, on earth, or in hell, with their ethereal or material vehicles, and the substantial fabrics of worlds which they occupy throughout the boundless void of space, — all, all, will be reabsorbed into the essence of the supreme sole-existing spirit. Even then the soul obtains not eternal rest. No : — Absorbed in the divine essence, it exists in a state of un- consciousness ; rather it is reduced to a state of absolute nonentity for myriads of ages, till Brahm reawakens and wills anew to manifest the universe. Then are the same souls launched forth again, enstamped with a character allied to the predispositions contracted in their former state, and destined to pass through the same endless round of changes, migrations, and births. Thus it has been with souls from all eternity, and thus will it ever be. For the best and holiest of souls, there can be no everlasting sabbatism. Hence much of the force and meaning of the description of the soul given by Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, in his address to the hero Arjuna in the midst of battle, in an episode of the Mahabharat, translated into prose by Wilkins, and into our “ eight line measure without rhyme (which, in the number of its syllables, and as nearly as pos- sible in its cadence, answers to the Sanskrit original),” by a brilliant writer in the Quarterly Review : —

Thou mourn’st for those thou should’st not mourn, albeit thy words are like the wise,

For those that live or those that die, may never mourn the truly wise. Ne’er was the time when I was not, nor those, nor yonder king^ of earth ;

DESCRIPTION OF THE SOUL BY KRISHNA.

203

Hereafter, ne’er shall be the time, when one of us shall cease to be.

The soul, within its mortal frame, glides on through childhood, youth, and age ;

Then in another form renewed, renews its stated course again.

All indestructible is he that spread the living universe,

And who is he that shall destroy the work of the indestructible ? Corruptible these bodies are that warp the everlasting soul —

The eternal, unimaginable soul. Thence on to battle, Bharata !

For he that thinks to slay the soul, or he that thinks the soul is slain,

Are fondly both alike deceived ; it is not slain — it slayeth not ;

It is not born — it doth not die ; past, present, future, knows it not ; Ancient, eternal, and unchanged, it dies not with the dying frame.

Who knows it incorruptible, and everlasting, and unborn,

Wliat heeds he whether he may slay, or fall himself in battle slain ?

As their old garments men cast off, anon new raiment to assume.

So casts the soul its worn-out frame, and takes at once another form.

The weapon cannot pierce it through, nor wastes it the consuming fire ; The' liquid waters melt it not, nor dries it up the parching wind ; Impenetrable and unburned ; impermeable and undried ;

Perpetual, ever wandering, firm, indissoluble, permanent.

Invisible, unspeakable. Thus deeming, wherefore mourn for it ?

Here we must pause. Not with greater delight can the toiling swain welcome the approach of eventide, with its refreshing repast and grateful repose ; not with greater ecstasy of joy can the panting traveller in the desert hail the appearance of some lovely spot of verdure, with its limpid fountain, and cool embowei’ing shades, — than we are now ready to embrace the first form of sober truth, which may present itself to the weary mental eye, after roaming so long over the trackless wastes and dreary wildernesses of Hindu- ism. Again and again, both in story and in song, has India been celebrated as the fairest of all lands — a, land, so gor- geously clad, that it has been emphatically styled “ the clime of the sun.” And truly it is so. For there he reigns as king. There, from his meridian throne, he pours down the full tide of effulgent glory, causing all nature to luxuriate in her rich magnificence. There, the glowing imagery of the prophet seems almost literally to be realized. The trees of the forest seem to clap their hands, and the little hills and the valleys seem to rejoice on every side. All bespeak the

204 HINDUISM A COUNTERFEIT OF CHRISTIANITY.

glories of a presiding deity, and recall to remembrance the bowers of Paradise. But, oh ! in that highly-favoured land, we are ever made to feel, that in proportion to the exuber- ance of Jehovah’s bounties, in very proportion is the vile- ness and ingratitude of man !

Of all the systems of false religion ever fabricated by the perverse ingenuity of fallen man, Hinduism is surely the most stupendous — whether we consider the boundless extent of its range, or the boundless multiplicity of its component parts. Of all systems of false religion it is that which seems to embody the largest amount and variety of sem- blances and counterfeits of divinely revealed facts and doc- trines. In this respect, it appears to hold the same relation to the primitive patriarchal faith, that Roman Catholicism does to the primitive apostolic faith. It is, in fact, the Po- pery of primitive patriarchal Christianity. All the terms and names expressive of the sublimest truths, originally revealed from heaven, it still retains ; and under these it contrives to inculcate diametrically opposite and contradictory errors. Its account of the creation and destruction of the universe, — of the floods and conflagrations to which it is alternately sub- jected,— of the divine origin, present sinfulness, and final destiny of the sold, — together with many cognate and subsi- diary statements, must be regarded as embodying, under the corruptions of tradition and the exaggerations of fancy, some of the grandest truths ever communicated by the Almighty to man, whether before or after the fall. Its nomenclature on the subject of the unity and spirituality of the one great, supreme, self-existent Lord, is most copious ; but, when analyzed, it presents us with nothing better than an infinite negation. Its vocabulary, descriptive of the natural attri- butes of the Great Spirit, superabounds to overflowing ; but it evacuates every one of them of absolute perfection. There is unchangeableness ; though constantly subject at the con- fluence of certain cycles of time, not merely to alteration of plans and purposes, but to change of essence. There is omnipotence ; but, bereft of creative energy, it is limited to the power of eduction and fabrication. There is omniscience ;

HINDUISM A COUNTERFEIT OF CHRISTIANITY.

205

but it is restricted to the brief period of wakefulness, at the time of manifesting the universe. And so of other natural attributes. Instead of possessing moral attributes^ the Su- preme Spirit is represented as assuming, when he awakes, certain generalized active qualities^ which admit of being pre- dicated of Jire^ or ait\ or water, or any other material sub- stance, as well as s;pirit ! What a contrast to all this do the statements of the Bible exhibit ! Here we find the supreme, eternal self-existent Spirit — Jehovah — distinguished by all the marks and characteristics of inherent independent personality ; and arrayed in all the glory and grandeur of attributes infinitely perfect. His unchangeableness is abso- lute ; being that of unalterable rectitude of will, — immutable purity and excellence of nature and essence. His omnipo- tence is absolute ; being the power which baffles all finite conception, — the power of summoning every thing into being out of nothing. His omniscience is absolute, — extending not merely to the actual knowledge of all things that now are, or shall be, but to a perfect knowledge of all the countless possibilities of things ; and that, too, throughout every mo- ment of a never-ending eternity. And if the notices of Jehovah’s natural attributes roll along the sacred pages with a sublimity of conception, a majesty of expression, a variety of beauteous illustration, — all their own, — what shall we say of the Bible portraiture of His moral attributes ? Transcendently glorious though the former be, they seem almost eclipsed by reason of the glory of that which excelleth. They are the latter, which, in the Bible, may be said to occupy the foreground. His goodness, ever delighting to com- municate wdthout being exhausted ; His mercy, or disposition to forgive, unallied with weakness ; His pity and compassion and loving-kindness, unsullied by any tincture of frailty, — all are set forth and illustrated in terms of inimitable tender- ness. His awful holiness, or consuming hatred of all sin, and burning love of all rectitude ; His inflexible justice, and unspotted righteousness ; His unerring truth, and unchang- ing faithfulness ; — all are pourtrayed with a vigour, variety, and sublimity of language, that absorb, ravish, and over-

206 CONTRAST BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND HINDUISM.

power the faculties. And when the moral are viewed in their inseparable association with the natural attributes, the whole constitutes an absolute unbounded plenitude of perfection, in the eternal possession of which, Jehovah shines forth under an aspect of ineffable glory, majesty, and love- liness,— unapproached and unapproachable by the most seraphic spirit in his highest flight of meditative and ador- ing wonder.

To this combined portraiture of the natural and moral at- tributes of Jehovah, nothing similar, nothing second, nothing approaching by any assignable measure either in kind or degree, can be collected from all the writings of all the wise men of all countries and of all ages. Whence, we may be permitted to ask in passing, whence could prophets and apostles have derived such lofty conceptions of the true God ? — conceptions which never entered the minds of the greatest philosophers of the east or of the west ; but which, when distinctly announced, at once commend themselves as by the instinctive force of self-evident truth, to the largest and most enlightened reason? Will it be alleged, that these sprung from their own cogitations ; their researches into antiquity ; their investigations into the constitution of the mental, moral, and physical universe ? If so, how came they to succeed so perfectly, where all others had so perfectly failed ? How came it that that God, after whom all others sought so gropingly in the dark, is at once manifested in the pages of a few Jewish wTiters, with a fulness and clearness of light, which flashes conviction on every' reflective soul ? Were the wise men of Greece and Rome, — not to talk of the metaphysical Brahmans of India, — were Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Cicero and Seneca, more limited in their natural endowments and ratiocinative powers, than the writers of the Bible ? Was the field of tradition, the region of mind, the world of matter, less open to their prying scrutiny ? No such thing. In all these respects, the natural advan- tages demonstratively preponderated on their side. How, then, are we to account for the phenomenon, that their speculations on the subject of God and his attributes, are

TRANSCENDENT SUPERIORITY OP CHRISTIANITY. 207

like the prattlings of children compared with the grave and majestic utterances of the J ewish authors ? What reasonable account can imagination itself supply, except that which is invariably furnished by themselves, namely, that they wrote “ as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2” The more we know of the efforts of unassisted reason in exploring the domain of theologic science, the more must^:^e enshrined in our profoundest regards. The more extended our acquaintance with the most masterly products of human intellect, the deeper must be our reverence for that Word, which bears on its brow what must stamp it as the progeny of the infinite mind. And thus, too, will it appear, how in- creasing knowledge in this, as in all other departments, may be made to minister incense on the altars of piety.

Hinduism describes, in glowing terms, the ineffable felicity of its supreme god ; and holds out to its votaries the pros- pect of participation therein as final beatitude. Wherein the felicity consists, may be to us incomprehensible ; but that is not the question. To us it may appear nothing better than the blessedness of a decayed vegetable, or of a motionless clod. Still, it is the highest in their estimation ; and in order to enjoy it, their supreme god must wholly withdraw himself from the administration of the universe, Rnd sink into unconscious slumber, — as if the cares of government, or the active communication of the means of enjoyment to his creatures must be interruptive of his calm, unruffled, solitary bliss ! This surely looks like infinite sel- fishness. Does man stand in need of a divine pattern to sti- mulate this predominant propensity in his corrupt nature 2 Whether so or not, he is invited and encouraged to aspire to a share of the felicity of the Supreme Spirit. In order to succeed in this end, he must extirpate the disposition to share his own happiness with others ; he must resolve to enjoy all his pleasures by himself ; he must disregard the welfare of friends and of general society ; he must withhold all sympathy from the afflicted ; he must refuse to succour the miserable, relieve the oppressed, lend assistance to the poor and the needy ; he must take no notice of what is

208 TRANSCENDENT SUPERIORITY OF CHRISTIANITY.

good, and connive at what is evil ; — in a word, he must withdraw himself from the world altogether, isolate himself from the commonwealth of mankind, empty himself of all concern for any other being, and finally annihilate every trace of self-consciousness ; and all this, on the plea of imi- tating the Supreme in the only imitable feature which his character presents, — all this, on the plea of earning for him- self a share in the uninterrupted beatitude of the infinite Brahm. The Bible has taught us to think and believe, that the more we resembled our Gfod, the less selfish we should become, and the more profitable to our fellow-creatures. But the more nearly a Hindu approximates in resemblance to his supreme god, the more selfish he must become, and the less profitable to all around him. In other words, the more he is like his god, the more unamiable, odious, and detestable, — the more useless and worthless must be his character ; — the more unlike he is to his god, the more must he advance in the knowledge and practice of all that is “ honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report.” Who, that has a spark of reason, or common virtue, or natural sensi- bility remaining, will not pronounce such a representation of the Supreme God not less infamous than false, — not less derogatory to his honour, than utterly incompatible with man’s best interests in time and eternity I What a glorious contrast does the Bible present of the felicity and benevo- lence of Jehovah? — His perfect felicity, instead of consist- ing in idle Indolent slumbers, arises from the ever-active contemplation of His own glorious excellencies and all-wise designs, — as well as from the perpetual manifestation of these to myriads of intelligent creatures whom, in the ex- ercise of His sovereign goodness. He hath formed capable to the full extent of their capacity, of shaidng in His eternal beatitude without any diminution of His own. Instead of exhibiting, like the Supreme Brahm of Hinduism, an infini- tude of selfishness, calculated to stimulate some of the worst propensities in man, the example of Jehovah embodies an infinitude of disinterested benevolence, fitted and designed to summon forth all that is noble in human or angelic na-

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tures. In .the history of the divine government, there is revealed to us one fact, above and beyond all other facts, — a strange and peculiar fact, that stands isolated in solitary grandeur amid the depths of an unfathomable eternity, — a grand and mysterious fact that has been, is now, and ever will be, the theme of wonder and admiration to the hosts of holy intelligences which swell the triumphs of the divine goodness, — the unparalleled fact— that He who created all things, and without whom was not any thing made that was made, — that He who “planted heaven’s bright arch, and bade the planets roll,” should condescend to assume the form of one of the feeblest, and certainly one of the most unworthy of the creatures he had made, — and this too, that he might bleed and die on Calvary’s cross, in order to rescue a ship- wrecked world from the fiery surges of divine wrath, and lead its ransomed occupants to the peaceful haven far re- moved from the windy storm and tempest ! Oh, in the view of a fact so marvellous, exhibiting love so unspeakable, are w'e not challenged to crush every uprising of ignoble emo- tion ? Are we not challenged, by the constraining influence of a motive which ought to prove resistless because it is divine, to impale our wretched selfishness, and nail it to the accursed tree ?

Besides recognising the existence of one Great Spirit, Hinduism does homage to the grandest and most peculiar of divinely revealed facts, by distinctly acknowledging the existence of a sacred triad or trinity^ as well as the incarna- tion of deity ^ to accomplish certain deliverances for mankind. True it is that while the distinctive names are retained, the facts themselves, like all others, are strangely metamorphosed into the grossest errors. The Trinity of Hinduism is a per- fect contrast to the Trinity of Christianity, in its divine con- stitution ; as well as in the character, offices, and functions of its sacred persons. The incarnations of Hinduism are the most extravagant caricatures of the truth. Many incarna- tions of the gods are described at length ; but those of Vishnu, the second person of the triad, are the most cele- brated. Of these, too, there are ten which have risen to pre-

210

THE IN'CARXATIONS OF HINDUISM.

eminence above the rest. They were designed to accomplish some good in rescuing the fabric of the world from the water of a deluge ; or the Vedas from terrific monsters ; or the earth from giants and wicked men. They are also des- tined to realize not a little evil ; and to exhibit a great deal of what was worse than ridiculous. In all these respects they can never be named, except as contrasting with the incarna- tion of our Immanuel. Apart from the design and the ob- jects to be accomplished, let us glance for a moment at the character of the persons incarnate. Take hy far the happiest, fairest, and most perfect of them ; namely, Vishnu, in the form of Krishna. In this form he was cradled and educated among shepherds. In his earlier days he was occupied in tending herds and flocks. His youthful associates were the herd boys and milkmaids. When yet an infant he began to manifest his divinity, by the performance of wonderful feats, — assuming new and strange forms, — uplifting a huge mountain, which he held “ over the heads of the villagers and their cattle during a storm,” — destroying a multitude of serpents, monsters, giants, and tyrants. The fancy of the poet has done its ut- most to pourtray the outward beauty, and to embellish the person, of the favourite Krishna. He is represented as “ per- fect in loveliness ; the bloom of eternal youth rests on his countenance ; his eyes beam with immortal radiance ; the fragrancy of celestial flowers breathes eternally around him; and he is distinguished by a garland of roses, of jessamine, and of myrtle, which encircles the divine symmetry of his waist, and gracefully descends in blooming and odoriferous wreaths to his feet.” And yet, with all his external beauty, enhanced as it was by the decorations of art, what was the character of the incarnate divinity ? In his youth, he selected sixteen thousand shepherdesses, with whom he “ sported away his hours in the gay revelries of dance and song,” as well as in all the wantonnesses and levities of unhallowed pleasure. In a quarrel with a certain monarch respecting some point of precedency, he became so enraged that he cut olf the head of his rival. He was in the habit of practising all manner of roguish and deceitful tricks.

OUR REDEEMER AND KRISHNA CONTRASTED.

211

With the most deliberate acts of falsehood and of theft he was more than once chargeable. And at his door must be laid the guilt of many abominations over which Christian purity must for ever draw the veil. What a contrast to all this is the character of our incarnate Redeemer ! In his case alone do we meet with one isolated instance of a per- fect original in human form. Of all the infinite variety of objects that has ever come within the sphere of observation, the character of Jesus of Nazareth stands singular and unrivalled — the only solitary example within the whole range of reported phenomena, of absolute perfection, of unspotted excellence. This solitary specimen of inimitable perfection may be contemplated as a beautiful whole, in the combined assemblage of excellencies which constitute that one trans- parent undivided character which was “ without sin.” Or, its component parts may be examined in detail, in those multiplied exhibitions of it in the sacred pages, which, to our narrow view, may appear as the manifestations of so many separate and independent principles. For, as in the natural world, the light of the sun, when reflected from the distant mountain, is blue — when reflected from the evening horizon, it is red — when reflected from many a fleecy cloud, it is yellow, — and so of the rest ; — each colour is perfect in itself ; and all combined form a perfect whole, — and this perfect whole is a pure unsullied whiteness : — So, in the moral world, that holiness which characterised our Redeemer, the great Sun of Righteousness, when connected with benefits, is grati- tude— when connected with injuries, it is forgiveness — when connected with distress, it is compassion, — and so of the rest. — -Each exhibition is perfect in itself ; and all combined make a perfect whole, — and that perfect whole is a pure and spotless holiness, — even that holiness which is perfect con- formity to the will of Grod, and the common bond which unites; and harmonizes the whole spiritual universe, — that holiness which, attracting to itself all that is beauteous, and estimable, and of good report, forms the very concentration of all con- ceivable moral excellence ; and which*, therefore, necessarily rendered its divine possessor “ the fairest of the sons of

212 CHRISTIAN AND HINDU AVORSHIP CONTRASTED.

men,” — “ the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.”

The true God is to]^be devoutly worshipped and adored, not merely in solitary seclusion, or in the privacy of the domestic circle, but in the public sanctuary amid the assem- blies of the people. On this important theme how precious, how consistent, ^how sublime 'the representations of the Bible ! Hinduism still retains all the loftiest terms expres- sive of adoration and loorship, prayer and praise ; but under these what vain, and foolish, and wicked conceptions does it convey? AVhat horrid and monstrous practices does it inculcate? Hinduism has its public temples too. But what are they ? Black, and sullen, and stupendous piles reared in the fabled recesses of a past eternity, and covering the whole land with their deadly shade. Who are worship- ped therein ? Not, as may readily be supposed, not the high and the holy One that inhabiteth eternity, but three hundred and thirty millions of deities instead ; — thus realiz- ing one of Satan’s mightiest triumphs, when, as if in cruel derision of heaven’s economy, with its one Lord of uncon- trolled dominion, and mvTiads of mj-riads of adoring wor- shippers, he has succeeded in implanting the vile delusion that the number of the worshipped may be treble that of the worshippers ! Who and whence are these ? Practically we are still directed to the clay, and the wood, and the stone ; and are told that the infatuated people ransack heaven above, and earth below, and the waters under the earth, for vital forms after which to shape and fashion their lifeless divinities. And, when all vital forms have been exhausted, they next task their ingenuity and rack their imagination in combining these into an endless variety of unnatural com- pounds, to which may emphatically be applied the language of the Christian poet, —

“ All monstrous, all prodigious things ;

Abominable, unutterable, and worse

Than fables yet have feigned, or fear conceived, —

Gorgons, and hj'dras, and chimeras dire.”

And oh, M'hat an appalling spectacle, every where to wit-

CHRISTIAN AND HINDU DOCTRINES CONTRASTED. 213

ness multitudes endowed with reasonable souls and immor- tal spirits, rending the air with the deafening shout, — “ Behold, these be thy gods, 0 Hindustan ! ”

Knowing how often and in what aggravated forms man hath violated the divine law, in thought, word, and deed, — how utterly incapable he is, in his fallen, sinful estate, of complying with its unmitigated demands, — and how impos- sible it is, without an absolute fulfilment of its minutest requisitions, to inherit eternal life, — we are driven in despair to look around us for some finished substitutionary obedience. But instead of seeking refuge in the all-perfect everlasting righteousness wrought out by the Divine Redeemer, — robed in which we may challenge the law of vengeance itself to become the law of recompense, — Hinduism, while it unquali- fiedly acknowledges the necessity of a perfect righteousness, boldly assumes the possibility of man’s working out, by deeds of merit, a righteousness of his own, which must confer a right and title to claim a share of the felicities of heaven, or the ineffable beatitude of the Eternal Spirit. Its principal end and design, like that of all pagan and infidel philosophy, is to cherish in the corrupt heart of lapsed man, the seed and rudiment of the covenant of works, — to promote to the utmost, the spirit of that proud self-dependence ; the spirit of that heaven-defying self-righteousness which has been emphatically styled the heresy of old nature, — to prove, how, without the infusion of divine grace or any obligation at all to the divine mercy, man may raise himself to a state of integrity and perfection, by the sheer force of his own inhe- rent powers, and the vigorous application of his own self- cultivated faculties — yea, madly to attempt to demonstrate how vain, weak, and sinful man may, by his own unaided efforts, become possessed on earth of something like plenary omnipotence, — may, without any interposition on the part of God, scale the empyrean heavens — and, overleaping the gulph between the finite and the infinite, may finally incor- porate himself with the very essence of the Supreme Spirit !

Knowing man’s guilt, as a violator of the divine law, and his consequent desert of eternal punishment, — how the per-

21 4 CHRISTIAN AND HINDU DOCTRINES CONTRASTED.

sonal endurance of the threatened penalties would consign him to irremediable perdition, — and how the heavens and the earth shall pass away, sooner than one jot or tittle of these penalties shall be abated, — we naturally inquire after some all-mfficient atomment for transgression. But instead of pointing to the one-atoning sacrifice of infinite value, — the mysterious all-prevailing sacrifice of the incarnate Deity, — Hinduism, while it distinctly inculcates the necessity of expiation and atonement, still directs to the blood of bulls and of goats, and a thousand varied tortures which shock and harrow the feelings of humanity ; — and it tells its de- luded votaries that these be the propitiations for sin, which satisfy the divine law, and mollify and appease its own sanguinary divinities.

Knowing man’s vileness and pollution, we earnestly seek for some fountain that can cleanse from sin and all its stains. But instead of guiding to that which was unsealed by the death of the blessed Immanuel, Hinduism, while it strongly maintains that purification is indispensable, impels its my- riads of myriads of blinded followers to betake themselves to the troubled waters of some turbid earthly stream ; and declares, that these be the waters which purify the soul and prepare it for the joys of immortality.

Knowing how religion is designed to exalt the soul from earth to heaven, we look for its hallowed influences on the mind. But instead of insuring the expansion of the mental powers, and the elevation of the affections to those objects of transcendent purity which are unseen and eternal, Hin- duism,— while it clearly recognises the utter unsatisfactori- ness of. all temporal objects, — as if borne down under a conviction of the utter depravity of man’s moral nature, and its omi hopele'ss inability to provide an adequate remedy, either enjoins its unhappy victims at once to strive and ex- tirpate the moral powers and sensibilities altogether ; or labours to reduce them under an all-absorbing system of religious mechanism, which soon entwines itself around every faculty, checks every noble aspiring, cramps every energy, impedes every genial current of thought and feeling, till the

CHRISTIAN AND HLNDU DOCTRINES CONTRASTED. 215

whole soul becomes sluggish, frozen, and cheerless, like the ice-chained hills and waters of an arctic winter.

Knowing the visions of unmingled future bliss which cheer the faithful in their pilgrimage through the wilderness of life, — how they exult in the assured hope of being conducted to the very fountainhead of divine pleasures, a single draught of which might eternally satisfy, and yet every moment is filled with new delights, new ravishments, — how the fountain itself shall overflow into rivers, whose tides of love and joy swell higher and higher, so that every succeeding measure of time must superabound more than that which preceded it, — and how, after myriads of ages, countless as the atoms which constitute the material universe, shall have rolled away, there will still remain immeasurable heights, unfathomable depths, and incomprehensible lengths and breadths of divine ineffable bliss to be enjoyed as the gladsome heritage of the righteous : — Knowing all this, we earnestly inquire what prospects Hinduism holds out to its hosts of willing wor- shippers ? But instead of leading them to contemplate the joys and pleasures which are at God’s right hand, for ever- more, as their enduring portion, it destines one to migrate through millions of painful future births, — another, to aim at a temporary abode in a region of unbounded sensual indulgencies, — and a third, the most perfect of all, to aspire after a literal absorption in the Deity, which amounts to a loss of individuality or personal identity, that is, in very truth, to a total extinction of self-consciousness ; — and thus, the very highest reward which that gloomy system offers to its degraded votaries, is neither more nor less than the last expedient of the sceptic and the scoffer, the horrid annihila- tion of the Atheist !

But enough : — when in this manner we take the complete ^ round of Hinduism, and survey it in all its parts and in every form, and still find that it every where spreads out before us, like a dark and boundless universe, —

“ Where all life dies, and death lives,” —

Oh, should we not be ready to exclaim : — Better far escape from the darkness and the gloom which the great enemy of

210*

APPEAL TO CHRISTIANS.

God and man hath” strewn over the broad and shining at- mosphere of truth in the benighted realm of India, and follow at once the Greek and Roman poets in their gorgeous fictions, and dwell with them in imagination amid the bowers of the Fortunate Islands, and luxuriate amid the loveliness of the gardens of the Hesperides ! — Better far live and feast on the acknowledged musings of fancy, and sink into the grave amid the dreams of poetry, than pretend to live and feast, like these poor idolaters, on corruptions of divine truth, and mock representations of the designs of heaven, and then sink into the grave, deluded, unhappy, and forlorn ! And ought not all who have, in spirit and in truth, named the name of Jesus, and thereby drunk out of the fount itself of heavenly bliss, to be more than ever prepared to return a quick and sympathetic response to our petition, when, in order to demolish so gigantic a fabric of idolatry and super- stition, we now call upon them to consecrate their prayers, their substance, and their lives, to the promotion of the great work of redeeming love among all the kindreds of the nations ?

We cannot, however, conclude without observing, that in every nominally Christian community, there are two distinct classes on whose minds all statements like the preceding produce very different, and even opposite effects. In regard to the one class, the bare mention of the fact that such multitudes are perishing so miserably for lack of knowledge, will operate with irresistible potency, awaken the liveliest sympathy, and arouse to the most vigorous endeavours to relieve the spiritually destitute. And why ? Because their own souls have been previously made alive to the infinite evil and danger of sin, the glories of redemption, and the realities of eternity. On the other class the same statement of facts will produce no such effects. And why ? Because their own souls have not yet been awakened, not yet re- newed, not yet sanctified, and, consequently, not yet sus- ceptible of spiritual impression. Now, if the souls of men be unawakened from the lethargy of nature ; destitute of a proper, healthy, renovated tone ; devoid of moral and spiri-

APPEAL TO CHRISTIANS.

217

tual susceptibility, — no expression of spiritual wants and maladies can affect them ; no spiritual miseries, however dreadful ; no spiritual dangers, however appalling ; no spiri- tual cries for help, however piercing, can produce a vital sympathy — a deep and enduring impression — a keen and heart-stirring concern for the spiritually wretched. To the people who are thus devoid of spiritual susceptibility, or, in other words, unregenemte^ — and these, alas, compose the fearful majority of every community, — we might present pictures of spiritual woe, and images of spiritual horror, and yet utterly fail in awakening that deep-toned sensibility which would rush forth resistlessly, like the electric fluid, to its proper object. Indeed, to address such persons at all on such subjects as the present, seems like beating the air to elicit light, or striking the flinty rock to cause the waters to gush out ; — or, if one becomes impassioned with his theme, he can only, in their eye, exhibit a spectacle similar to that of the man who, in the heat of enthusiasm, the fer- vour of passion, or the madness of despair, would turn round and call upon the glittering stream, and the shady grove, and the ragged rock, to listen to his plaint, to sympathize with him in his sorrow, to rejoice with him in his joy.

In the case, then, of such persons as those now described, what is the true way of securing the necessary attention to the wants and imploring cries of the heathen ? The only true, the only infallible way must be, first to excite a spiri- tual susceptibility in their oion minds, — to awaken in tlmn- selves a lively personal concern for the salvation of their own souls. This grand end being once accomplished, the most barren statement of spiritual destitution will suffice. This left undone, all facts and arguments will prove of little or no avail. If facts, and arguments, and vivid representations were visible, tangible, measureable quantities, we might raise them, pile above pile, till in bulk the aggregate equalled the lofty mountains — possessed of force more than sufficient to crush into atoms all dwarfish objections, and so over- whelm the soul, — but not sufficient to melt it into the ten- derness of spiritual sympathy, or subdue it into the calm

o

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APPEAL TO CHRISTIANS.

resoluteness of spiritual conviction. To effect this end, the soul must be brought into contact with another substance, even the imperishable Word of God. To this union of the soul and word must be applied the baptism of fire — the arousing life-giving energy of the Spirit of God. Then, in- deed, would darkness be suddenly exchanged for light, and coldness for warmth, and deadness for vitahty, and impene- trable hardness for the quick and ready susceptibility of every moral and spiritual impression ; — and then would the bare statement about dead and dying men — miserable men daily sinking into the abyss of an unprovided eternity — cause those awakened susceptible spirits to rush forth in- stantaneously to the relief of the perishing — ay, though the price of the effort were death !

Oh, then, that the Lord would rend His heavens, and come dowm as in the days of old, and pour out the plentiful effusion of His Holy Spirit, without whose almighty energy no soul “ dead in trespasses and sins ” can ever be quickened or savingly impressed ! Oh, that thousands and tens of thousands in every city and district of this professed Chris- tian land, were stirred up to cry out. What must we do to be saved ? For then, — but not till then, — would all our entreaties and all our appeals in behalf of the perishing heathen be cheerfully and universally responded to ; — then, would contributions be spontaneously poured in rich profusion into the Christian treasury ; — then, would thousands and tens of thousands of prayers be daily ascending into the ears of Jehovah, Lord of hosts; — then, would the arm of Omni- potence be moved by a power which Omnipotence alone can bestow ; — then, would the streams of grace descend like rain upon the mo^m grass, or showers that water the spring ; — then, might the earth be made to yield her richest increase, and the whole earth be filled with the glory of the great J ehovah ; — and then might all kindreds, and tribes, and nations, be ready to combine in one song — one universal shout of hallelujah unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. — Amen.

CHAPTER III.

PRACTICAL SKETCHES OP SOME OF THE LEADING SUPERSTITIONS AND IDOLATRIES OP EASTERN INDIA.

Classical Enthusiasm of Sir W. Jones, when approaching the shores of India — Violent disturbance of such an emotion in the mind of a Christian, on the sudden appearance of one of the most celebrated idol temples — Juggernath, the horrors and extent of his worship — Sagor Island, and its hundreds of thousands of annual pilgrims — The zeal of the heathen contrasted with the indifference of nrofessing Christians — Physical aspect of the banks of the Go ages compared with the moral aspect of the natives — Human bodies foating on the surface of the stream — Causes of so painful a spectacle — Various exemplifications — Murders in the name of humanity and religion — Contrast of the spirit of the Gospel — The worshippers of Shiva, their clay symbols and morning orisons — Besides the daily ceremonies, great annual festivals celebrated in honour of the principal Divinities — Two selected as examples — The Goddess Durga, her character and exploits — Detailed account of her annual festival, with its multitude of temporary images, ceremonies, free-will offerings, bloody sacrifices, and grotesque pro- cessions— Liberality of heathens contrasted with the scanty contri- butions of professing Christians — Reflections on the final triumphs of the Gospel over the superstitions and idolatries of the Ganges — The Goddess Kali, her sanguinary character and worship — ■ The Patroness of thieves and murderers — The Charak Pujah, or swinging festival — Various self-inflicted tortures described— Account of the great day of the festival, when multitudes resort to the celebrated temple of Kali-ghat, in the neighbourhood of Cal- cutta— Sketch of the appearance of the grouqis of devotees, of the temple and monster-block of the idol — Cruel practices of the wor- shippers— Their frantic revelries contrasted with the solemnities

'2'20 FEELINGS OF A CHRISTIAN ON APPROACHING INblA.

of a Christian Sabbath in Great Britain — Call upon Christians to come forth to “ the help of the Lord against the mighty.”

When Sir Williaia Jones, on his voyage to Bengal, found one evening, on inspecting the obsen ations of the day, that India lay before him, and Persia on the left, whilst a breeze from Arabia blew nearly on the stem, his mind caught fire at the enchanting novelty of his siti ^.tion. “ It gave me,” says he, “ inexpressible pleasure to find myself in the midst of so noble an amphitheatre, almost encircled by the vast regions of Asia, which has ever been esteemed the nurse of sciences, the inventress of delightful and useful arts, the scene of glorious actions, — fertile in the productions of human genius, abounding in natural wonders, and infinitely diversi- fied in the forms of religion and government, in the laws, manners, customs, and languages, as well as in the features and complexions of men.”

Now, suppose any one of those whom we now address, — fraught with the love of God and of souls, and bent on an embassy of mercy, — were on a voyage to India, and the place of your destination the same as that of the great orientalist : — suppose, too, that your mind, like his, were amply stored with the richest treasures of classic lore : — suppose, farther still, that you were actually approaching that portion of the “ noble amphitheatre” which the Great Mogul, in his imperial decrees, constantly designated “ the paradise of nations,” and that your proximity to the wondrous scene had enkindled your soul into unwonted ardour, and had caused the brightest visions of “ story and of song,” to start into seeming realities before the entranced imagination : — what would you expect first to behold ? — Nought, it may be, resembling what one of the earlier Mahammadan historians gravely asserts he found, namely, “ trees of enormous size, growing out of the earth, like other trees, the substance of which consisted of the pur- est gold,” — thus furnishing the antitype of the otherwise bold imagery of our great Epic Poet, when he wTites of “ ambro- sial fruits and vegetable gold."" Nought so marvellous as this, may you really anticipate ; and yet, your expectations, raised

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221

to the highest pitch, may throw you into a fever of anxiety for the first glimpse of the long wished for land of promise.

Suddenly the master of the vessel may be heard joyously to exclaim, “ Ah, there it is — there it is at last.” “ What is — what is ?” — may you impatiently demand — while, with thrilling eagerness, you turn your eyes towards the shore. But nothing may you at first be able to detect. The reason soon becomes obvious. That part of the coast is low and flat, consisting of a broad sandy beach, thinly skirted with tufts of the cocoa, and other species of palm-tree. It con- tains but one conspicuous object, — the summit of which the experienced eye of the commander had caught in the dim and distant horizon, long before the mainland appeared. And what is this ? It is the loftiest object with which that region is adorned or desecrated, — an object, the name of which the labours of the Christian philanthropist have ren- dered as familiar as any household sound, — an object which our hardy mariners have turned to far better account than the native proprietors ; since, from its towering promi- nence, it is used by them as their principal sea mark in guiding them to the mouth of the Ganges : — it is none other than the celebrated pagoda or temple of Juggernath in Orissa.

The temple of Juggernath, or rather Jagat-nath, “ the lord of the world ! ” — A glorious title impiously attributed to the senseless object which bears it, as if in daring insult to the Majesty of heaven, — yet well befitting, as expressive of that despotic “ lordship” which has, from generation to gene- ration, been exercised over the myriads of “ a world lying in wickedness,” who have fallen victims to its destructive sway. Ah ! if you possess the spirit of Christian zeal and love, how must your classic musings be cruelly broken in upon and dis- persed at the utterance of that tragic name ! x\nd, when at length your own eyes are fastened on the huge red granite pile, how must the gay visions of fancy evanish before the rush of other recollections, and widely differing associations I While actually gazing at it, can you help recalling to remem- brance all that you had ever read or heard of the scene

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TEMPLE OF JUGGERNATH.

before you ? Impossible. All must come crowding into the mental perspective with a peculiar vividness never felt before. And when you think of the monster-block of the idol, with its frightfully grim and distorted visage, so justly styled the “ Moloch of the East ; ” sitting enthroned amid thou- sands of massive sculptures, the representative emblems of that cruelty and vice which constitute the very essence of his worship : — when you think of the countless multitudes that annually congregate there from all parts of India, many of them measuring the whole distance of their weary pilgrimage with their own bodies : — when you think of the merit-earning austerities constantly practised by crowds of devotees and religious mendicants, around the precincts of the “ holy city,” — some remaining all day “ with their head on the ground and their feet in the air ; others \vith their bodies entirely covered with earth, — some cramming their eyes with mud and their mouths with straw ; while others lie extended in a puddle of water, — here, one man lying with his foot tied to his neck, or with a pot of fire on his breast ; and there, a third, enveloped in a net-work of ropes — when, besides these self-inflicted torments, you think of the frightful amount of involuntary suffering and wTetchedness, arising from the exhaustion of toilsome pilgrimages, the cravings of famine, and the scourgings of pestilence : — when you think of the day of high festival, — how the “ horrid king” is dragged forth from his temple, and mounted on his lofty car in the presence of hundreds of thousands that cause the very earth to shake with shouts of “ Victory to Juggernath our lord!” — how' the officiating high-priest, stationed in front of the elevated idol, commences the public service by a loathsome pantomimic exhibition, accompanied with the utterance of filthy blasphemous songs, to which the vast multitude at intervals respond, not in strains of tuneful melody, but in loud “ yells of approbation united with a kind of hissing applause:” — when you think of the carnage that ensues in the name of sacred offering, — how, as the ponderous machine rolls on, “ grating harsh thunder,” one and another of the more enthusiastic votaries throw themselves beneath the

IMAGES AND CARS OF JUGGERNATH.

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wheels, and are instantly crushed to pieces, the infatuated victims of hellish superstition : — when you think of the numerous Golgothas that bestud the neighbouring plain, where “ the dogs, jackals, and \mltures seem to live on human prey ; and of those bleak and barren sands that are for- ever whitened with the skulls and bones of deluded pilgrims which lie bleaching in the sun ; — when you think of all this, and much more, w'hich Buchanan and others have committed to immortal record, and have the whole pictured to the mind’s eye more vividly than it had ever been, in consequence of the immediate presence of the temple itself as an object to the eye of sense, — oh, in the midst of such heart-rending scenes, how must your glowing classical reveries appear as incongruous as would the songs of boisterous merriment amid requiems for the dead !

Still, you may have no adequate conception of the extent of Juggernath’s dominion. You had heard before of the celebrated temple in Orissa, at which you are now supposed to be gazing. And, perhaps, your only consolation may be founded on the belief, that, in beholding it, you have not only seen the worst, but have seen all. What, then, must be your feelings when assured of the contrary ? As there are numbers of sacred rivers in India, — but the Ganges, from being the most sacred, has acquired a monopoly of fame, — so there are many shrines of Juggernath in India, though the one at Puri, from being the largest and most venerated, has, in like manner, acquired exclusive celebrity. In hun- dreds, or rather thousands of places, where there are no temples, properly so called, there are still images and cars of Juggernath, — fashioned after the model of the great proto- types at Orissa. There is scarcely a large village in all Ben- gal without its car of Juggernath. In Calcutta and its neigh- bourhood there are scores of them — varying in size from a few feet up to thirty or forty in height. What a view must open up to you of the fearful extent and magnitude of this destruc- tive superstition, when you try to realize the fact^ that, on the anniversary occasion of the car-festival, all the millions of Bengal are in motion ; — that, when the great car at Puri

224

GANGA SAGOR.

is dragged forth amid the shouts and acclamations of hun- dreds of thousands assembled from all parts of India, on the very same day, and at the very same hour, there are hun- dreds of cars rolled along throughout the widely scattered districts and cities and villages of the land : — so that there are not merely hundreds of thousands, but literally millions, simultaneously engaged in the celebration of orgies, so stained with licentiousness and blood, that, in the compari- son, we might almost pronounce the Bacchanalia of Greece and Rome innocent and pure !

Leaving the temple of Juggernath, you direct your course eastward to the estuary of the Ganges, — glad to escape from the contemplation of an object which has so fatally eclipsed your bright visions of India. But you soon find that, bad as Juggernath may be, his temple is only the beginning of horrors. Worthy sentinel it verily is, to be stationed at the portals of so benighted a land ! But it is no more than the sentinel. The next part of the coast which you reach is the Island of Ganga Sagor, — -where the great western or holiest branch of the Ganges unites its waters with those of the Indian Ocean, — so called from the Sanskrit appella- tion, sagor, or sea, and ganga, or river ; which latter term is now appropriated and emphatically applied to denote the Ganges, the chief of rivers ; on the same principle that bible, or book, is made to distinguish the Word of God as the chief of books. Looking at the island, you see nothing peculiarly attractive about it. On the contrary, it is a flat, swampy, and cheerless shore, bordered with tall forest trees and thick underwood, and rank putrid vegetation, — consti- tuting an apparently interminable jungle, which one might easily imagine, as Bishop Heber truly remarks, to be “ the habitation of every thing monstrous, disgusting, and danger- ous, from the tiger and cobra de capello down to the scor- pion and musquito, — from the thunder-stoiin to the fever.” And yet this dreary island is the scene of one of the most celebrated places of pilgrimage in India. Its peculiar sane-

TEMPLE OP KAPILA.

225

tity arises from its situation at the junction or point of con- fluence of the Ganges and the ocean, — where the purifying virtue of the waters is believed to be mightily increased. Here there is a ruinous temple, erected in honour of the great sage Kapila, — the founder of one of the chief schools of Indian philosophy, — who is here reverenced as a god. It is usually occupied by a few disciples of the sage, of the class of ascetics who always keep an arm raised above their heads ; — some of whom are every year carried off to fur- nish a repast to some of their voracious neighbours of the jungle. Twice in the year, at the full moon in November and January, vast crowds of Hindus resort to this temple and neighbourhood, to perform obsequies for the good of their deceased ancestors, and to practise various ablutions in waters of such purifying efficacy.

But it is the scale of magnitude on which, as in the case of Juggernath and other holy places, the pilgrimage is con- ducted that utterly overpowers the very imagination. The situation being insular, the pilgrims must provide themselves with boats of all sorts and sizes, according to their respec- tive wealth and rank. The numbers fluctuate exceedingly, though at all times very great. This fluctuation ought to lead to the greatest caution in drawing general conclusions as to the increase or decrease of superstition. A few years ago, the number was remarked to be unprecedentedly diminished. Some zealous friends of India, forgetful of the real cause, — namely, the previous visitation of a tremendous hurricane and deluge, which swept away tens of thousands of the wretched inhabitants, and left the rest to pine under the pressure of famine and pestilence, — were eager to infer that the diminu- tion must, in part at least, be attributed to the effect of the public preaching and animated appeals annually addressed to the assembled multitudes by a few faithful and devoted servants of the Most High. It was concluded, that the bands of superstition must be greatly loosed, and its fetters broken, — and that the whole fabric must be tottering to the dust. Many not less zealous, but more schooled and soberized by sad experience, pronounced the glowing infer-

226

THE ZEAL OF THE HINDUS.

ence to be premature. And this eventually proved to be the case. At the January festival of 1837, it would seem that the number of pilgrims greatly exceeded any thing remem- bered by the present generation. It was formally announced in one of the public journals of Calcutta, that, on that occa- sion, upwards of sixty thousand boats of every description were actually counted; abreast of the most sacred landing- place on the island, — and that, striking an average from the numbers ascertained to be on board different kinds^pf boats, there could not be assembled fewer than three hundred thousand pilgrims, many of them from the most remote parts of India ; — a number exceeding the entire population of Grlasgow, the second most populous city in the British islands ; — a number exceeding the population of Perthshire, the largest and most populous county in Scotland !

People in this country are ever apt to begrudge the time which they are called to expend in devotional exercises. The very Sabbath is felt to be a burden, because it is an inteiTup- tion to their money-making and pleasure-seeking pursuits. And as for sermons or religious meetings on other days, they are in general noted as nuisances. Business, business, — pro- fession, profession, — are God-silencing words. If there be any affair connected with this world, — business, labour — all can be readily laid aside. If an agitator, or a demagogue, visit one of our cities, the poorest artizan can resolve on hav- ing a holiday. If there be any rareeshow, — if there be an exhibition of wild beasts, — if some poor jaded irrationals be goaded on a race course, — if some mercenary speculator pro- pose to soar into the clouds for the amusement of his fellows, thousands and tens of thousands of rich and poor can cut short all their engagements, and abandon all their labours. But announce a day for solemn fasting and prayer, or an- nounce any religious solemnity whatsoever, — and up start hundreds of mock-patriots to declaim about robbing the poor of their time, and interfering with the business, the pleasures, and enjoyments of the rich and powerful. Ah, how different the conduct of the poor devotees of a fatal superstition in India ! They, at least, arc sincere. And in proof of their

PILGRIMAGES TO GANGA SAGOR.

227

sincerity, they submit to sacrifices of time, and comfort, and wealth. Because they believe that some inexplicable holy influence will be communicated by a visit to the dark, dis- mal, and deadly island of Ganga Sagor, hundreds of thou- sands will annually abandon their families and their homes ; they will travel for months exposed to manifold discomforts and dangers, — penury and famine and pestilence often star- ing them in the face ; they will persevere, though numbers of their companions fall by the way, an unresisting prey to birds of the air and beasts of the field ; they will perse- vere, though they themselves be sinking under accumulated sufferings, — though death hover over them witli menacing- visage, and they have the certain prospect of leaving their carcasses strewn in a far distant land, unnoticed and un- pitied, unburied and unknown. Would that the misguided zeal of myriads of deluded pilgrims in the East might put to shame the criminal worldliness and indifference of nominal professors in this highly favoured land !

After reaching the scene of pilgrimage, how many of both sexes, — particularly the aged, — present themselves as a free- will offering to the insatiable guardian deities of the conse- crated spot ! How many have been involuntarily sacri- ficed ! The Prophet asks, “ Can a woman forget her suck- ing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb V Superstition at once responds, “ She may forget.” — And if the watery shrine at Ganga Sagor were animated and vocal, it could with direful emphasis re-echo the response, “ She has ten thousand times forgotten.” For there is the unhallowed spot, and the January festival the solemn occasion on which hundreds of mothers were wont, in fulfilment of solemn vows, to throw their unconscious smiling infants into the turbid waters ! — And, oh ! horrid to relate ! — They bewailed the sacrifice as lost, and the gods unpropitiated, if these commissioned not the shark and other monsters of the deep to crush and devour their hapless offspring before their own eyes ! Blessed be God, the open and public sacrifice of children on occasion of the great festival, is now prohibited by the British Government,

228

THE GANGES.

But, while the sentiments of the people remain unchanged, no enactment of Government can wholl}' suppress the cruel rite. i It may be alleged that these ’particular sacrifices are no where recommended in the Hindu Shastras ; — and that it may thence be inferred that they must be as contrary to Hinduism as they are revolting to humanity. But such an allegation, even if well founded, would by no means legitima- tize the inference. There are fundamental principles in Hin\ duism, whence the propriety and religious meritoriousness ofsuclu sacrifices must follow as a natural and necessary consequence} A solemn vow to the gods, made in peculiar circumstances, has all the force of a religious ordinance, and its fulfilment is held equally obligatory as any divinely revealed pre- cept. Hence, it matters little that public sacrifices of help- less children are prohibited at Sagor. As long as Hindu- ism reigns dominant, mothers will still make vows, and devote their ofiPspring to the gods, — and hundreds of chil- dren will annually perish by the unnatural hands of those who gave them birth. By the prohibition of infanticide at Sagor, one of the outlets of the great stream of superstition may be forcibly obstructed ; but the stream itself is not thereby drained oflP, neither is its Holence in aught dimi- nished. It is only made to change one of its channels. And so long as the foimtainhead overflows in copiousness, feeding the mighty current as it rolls along, one outlet may be shut up after another ; but no sooner is the opposing embank- ment completed, than the stream opens up to itself an adequate outlet elsewhere.

On leaving the Island of Sagor, you enter the broad stream of the Ganges. It displays a very deep and dark yellow tint. And no wonder. For it has been calculated, that were two thousand East Indiamen, each laden with fifteen hundred tons, to sail dov^-n every day in the twelvemonth, they would not transport as much solid matter to the ocean as is daily conveyed by the current of the mighty stream itself. In your progress upwards, you must first encounter the dismal

THE BANKS OF THE GANGES.

229

mud banks, and dingy forests, and impenetrable thickets of the lower Sunderbunds, — that marvdlous labyrinth of wood and water, formed by the crossing and recrossing of innu- merable creeks and channels, — the receptacle for ages of all manner of destructive creatures, and still more destructive exhalations which load the atmosphere with pestilence and death. For, spots there are amid the recesses of these gloomy solitudes, so bravely bent on outrivalling the fabled Styx and Lethe and Acheron of the ancients, as to refuse existence even to savage or reptile life ; — solitudes where, save when the tempest rages, silence reigns deep, awful, and unbroken as that of the sepulchre.

As you emerge from these dreary regions, the jungle gra- dually recedes from the shore. The banks become enlivened by the presence of man. Bambu cottages are seen every where to abound, mantled with creeping plants which intertwine their tendrils and their leaves ; and scattered villages embo- somed in plantations of guavas, and mangoes, and tamarinds. And fields there are of fresh and vivid green, every where interspersed with groves of towering cocoa-palms, which gracefully wave their feathery plumes in the breeze, — and plantains, and palmiras, and banyans of rich variegated foli- age, and plants, and flowering shrubs of every hue and colour. All bespeak the exuberant bounties of a gracious God. — While the stirring novelty of the whole scene ; the unimagin- able luxuriance of the herbage; the singular exotic appearance of all around ; “ the green-house-like feel, and temperature of the atmosphere and the fresh flush of vegetable frag- rance wafted from the shore ; — all, all are calculated to re- gale the senses, exhilarate the spirits, and diffuse through the whole soul a strange delirium of buoyant hope and joy.

Such pleasurable sensations, however, are doomed to be transient and short-lived. You have escaped from the region of jungle and of pestilence. But you have not escaped, — you cannot escape, from the emblems and memorials of a loathsome superstition. These seem ever present, and every where present. It is truly a land of bright and glorious sunshine ; yet a land of moral darkness that may be felt.

230

DEAD BODIES FLOATING ALONG THE GANGERS.

At every step you are irresistibly reminded of the exceeding truthfulness of the poet’s contrast and lamentation : —

VMiat though the spicy breezes Blow soft o’er Ceylon’s isle,

And every prospect pleases.

And man alone is vile, —

What though with la%Tsh kindness The gifts of God are strewn.

The heathen in his blindness

Bows down to wood and stone !

One of the first things which may violently arrest the flow of your enjoyment, may be the disgusting spectacle of one or more human bodies slowly floating past the vessel, — some white as snow, others black and blue in different stages of decay, — all of them uncovered ; and upon them perched ravenous \niltures, or carrion crows, tearing and devouring the mangled remnants of miserable humanity. With your British feelings all alive, and not yet blunted hy familiarity with such exhibitions, you are aroused. You cannot but remember how, at home, were a single dead body disco- vered in a stream, it would create a sensation through the whole neighbourhood ; furnish for days a fertile topic for conjecture and remark ; and call forth the investigation of the judges of the land. Impelled by your own sense of civilized, not to talk of Christian decency, you loudly voci- ferate in the ears of the native boatmen, ^\dio ply their craft all aroimd, to rescue the body from such shameless exposure. You are only laughed to scorn for your pains. On ply the natives merrily chaunting their boat song of “ AUah, Allah,” — and even if their oars impinge on the ffoating carcass, they seem to care no more than they would for the contact of a log of wood.

Surprised and horrified, you inquire into the cause of such shocking unconcern. The cause is not single ; it is manifold.

First of all, with one or two unimportant exceptions, such as that of the weaver caste, whose dead are buried — and the women of which enjoy the unenviable privilege of burying,

THROWING THE DEAD INTO THE GANGES.

231

instead of burning themselves, with the bodies of their de- ceased husbands, — it is not the custom in that country to honour the departed with the rites of sepulture. In the sacred books it is required that the body be burnt to ashes on the funeral pile — the process being accompanied by various re- ligious ceremonies. The consecrated places for burning the dead are usually at the ghats, or flights of steps at the landing places on the margin of a river. These ghats at all times present spectacles the most disgusting to every feeling mind. The enclosed space may not admit of more than half a dozen being consumed at one time, — while a score or two may be in readiness to undergo the fiery rite ; — some dead, some groaning in their last agonies, and some putrefying. Hence the noxious effluvia which infect the atmosphere. The fuel is often brought, and piled up before the eyes of the dying man ; who is thus treated, as Mr Ward has justly observed, somewhat “like an English criminal, when his coffin is carried with him to the place of execution.” When once he is laid on the pile, should nature suddenly rally, and the supposed dead man attempt to rise, the body is believed to be possessed by an evil spirit, and is instantly beat down with a hatchet or bambu. Who need wonder that such practices should tend to extinguish the kindlier feelings in the breast of a Hindu I If the poverty of the relations should prevent their fur- nishing the expenses of concremation, the alternative is left them, after applying fire to the face, to east the dead into some sacred stream. Hence, one of the most fertile causes of converting the Ganges into a liquid cemetery. In times of epidemic visitation, the numbers thrown into its waters are prodigious. Some years ago, when cholera raged with awful violence in Calcutta, it was estimated that about four hundred bodies, for the most part carried along the streets, almost in a state of nudity, slung upon bambus, were cast into the river from the town daily, for several weeks. In such cases, the spectacle every where presented is as revolt- ing as it must be brutalizing. Among the ships and boats at anchor, bodies are constantly floating. They are often instantly thrown ashore ; and then are apt to become a

232

THROWING THE DEAD INTO THE GANGES.

prey to pariah clogs and jackals. At the principal angles of the river, however, men are stationed, with long poles, to push them again into the stream ; and as the tide rushes strongly in, they are rolled hack. Thus are they driven backwards and forwards by the eddying waters, until they dissolve into putrefaction by the rapid action of the ele- ments, or are devoured by the birds of prey or the monsters of the deep. To this degrading spectacle, as well as public nuisance, the attention of Government has been again and again directed. And lately, the expedient has been adopted of maintaining several boats, with a complement of police, for the express purpose of sinking all bodies that might be found afloat in the stream. In the single month of July last year it was officially reported, that abreast of Calcutta alone, upwards of a thousand human bodies were seized and sunk !

But there are other sources of supply. Profoundly as the Ganges is reverenced by the living, it is not less so in the prospect of death. The sacred writings are prodigal of imagery in extolling its pi'aises. In one of them, the sacred stream is thus addressed : — “ 0 goddess, the owl that lodges in the hollow of a tree on thy banks, is exalted beyond measure ; while the emperor, whose palace is far from thee, though he may possess a million of stately elephants, and may have the wives of millions of conquered enemies, is nothing.” The distant sight of it is declared to be attended with present benefit : the application of a few drops of its water may remove much pollution : daily bathing in it is followed with inestimable advantages, both in this life, and in that which is to come : immersion in it on certain auspi- cious days of the moon and certain conjunctions of the planets, may wipe away the sins of ten births, or even of a thousand : ablution, accompanied with the prescribed prayers, on particular days of high festival, may entitle to a residence in one of the heavens of the gods, and insure an amount of blessings which no imagination can conceive.

In the prospect of dissolution, its waters are fraught with • peculiar efficacy in obliterating the stains of transgression. To think intensely on the Ganges at the hour of death, should

THROWING THE DEAD INTO THE GANGES.

233

the patient be far distant, will not fail of a due reward ; to die in the full view of it, is pronounced most holy : to die on the margin, in its immediate presence, still holier ; but to die partly immersed in the stream, besmeared with its sacred mud, and imbibing its purifying waters, holiest of all. Yea, such is its transforming efficacy, that if one perish in it by accident, or in a state of unconsciousness, he will be happy. And what is more wonderful still, it is affirmed that “ if a worm, or an insect, or a grasshopper, or any tree growing by its side die in it, it will attain the highest felicity in a future state.” On the other hand, to die in the house, when within one’s power to be conveyed to the river’s side, is held the greatest misfortune. But if distance or any sudden contingency interpose a barrier, the preservation of a single bone, for the purpose of committing it at some future time to the Ganges, is believed to contribute essen- tially to the salvation of the deceased. Hence the origin of many of those heart-rending scenes that are constantly exhibited along the banks of the Ganges, — scenes, from the contemplation of which, nature recoils, — scenes, at the recital of which, humanity shudders.

When sickness is thought to be unto death, the patient, willing or unwilling, is hux’ried to the banks of the river. At some ghats there are open porches where the wealthy may find refuge ; or they may seek for partial shelter under a temporary canopy. But for the great mass of the people there is no resource. They die, stretched on the muddy bank ; often without a mat beneath them ; exposed to the piercing rays of the sun by day, and to the chilling damps and dews of night. Such exposure were enough speedily to reduce the healthiest, and paralyse the most robust. How then must it aggravate the last pangs of nature in a frame exhausted by age or disease ? How must it accelerate the hour of dissolution ?

Here, you see a wretched creature writhing in agony, and no means whatever employed for his recovery or relief. Y ou propose to supply some remedy. Your offer is scornfully rejected. “ He was brought here to die,” say those around

p

234

THE ABANDONMENT OF THE DYING.

him, “ and live he cannot now.” There, you see some young men roughly carrying a sickly female to the river. You ask, What is to be done with her? The reply may be — “ We are going to give her up to Ganga to purify her soul, that she may go to heaven ; for she is our mother.” Here, you behold a man and woman sitting by the stream, busily engaged in besprinkling a beloved child with the muddy water, endea- vouring to soothe his dying agonies with the monotonous but plaintive lullaby, — “ ’Tis blessed to die by Ganga, my son ! ” — “ To die by Ganga is blessed, my son ! ” There, you behold another seated up to the middle in water. The leaves of a sacred plant are put into his mouth. He is ex- horted to repeat, or, if he is unable, his relations repeat in his behalf, the names of the principal gods. The mud is spread over the breast and forehead, and thereon is wTitten the name of his tutelary deity. The attendant priests next proceed to the administration of the last fatal rite, by pouring mud and water down his throat, crying out, — “ Oh, Mother Ganga, receive his soul ! ” The dying man may be roused to sensibility by the violence. He may implore his friends to desist, as he does not yet wish to die. His earnest supplications, and the rueful expression of his coimtenance, may stir up your bowels of compassion, and you may vehe- mently expostulate with his legalized murderers in his favour. They coolly reply, — “ It is our religion : It is our religion. Our Shastra recommends him so to die for the benefit of his soul.” They then drown his entreaties amid shouts of “ Hurri bol ! hurri bol ! ” and persevere in filling his mouth with water, till he gradually expire ; — stifled, suffocated, mur- dered in the name of humanity — in the name of religion ! — and that, too, it may be, by his own parents ; by his own brothers or sisters ; by his own sons or daughters !

Sometimes strangers, or those who may have no relations, are abandoned on the bank, without undergoing the cere- mony of drinking Ganges water. Of these, some have been seen ci’eeping along, with the flesh half eaten off their backs by the birds ; others, with their limbs torn by dogs and jackals ; and others, still, partly covered by insects, while as

THE ABANDONMENT OP THE DYING.

235

yet the principle of life was not wholly extinct ! The circum- stance that they are strangers, or of a different caste from the passers-by, is quite enough to steel the heart against all compassion ; and to straiten the hands that they wdll not save. Hence, may a dead body be occasionally seen lying a whole day in a puUic thoroughfare ; and sometimes actually trampled on by the throng of an idolatrous procession !

The constant exhibition of scenes like the preceding, — scenes, which are to be witnessed, somewhere or other, every day, yea, and every hour of every day, along the banks of the Ganges, — may well justify the paradoxical exhortation of the late Mr Thomas, — “ Do not send men of compassion here, for you will soon break their hearts ! Do send men of com- passion here, where millions perish for lack of knowledge.”

Think of the helpless man in the parable, who lay, strip- ped of his garment, wounded, and half-dead, by the wayside. Think of the good Samaritan who, though a stranger, when he saw him, had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine ; and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him, and gave him to the host, and said unto him, — “ Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest, when I come again, I will repay thee.” Contrast this picture with any that has now been exhibited. If the one be a personifica- tion of the spirit and genius of Christianity, and the other a fit personification of the spirit and genius of Hinduism, — tell us which bears upon its face the impress of a hea- venly descent ; and which the stamp and character of an ascent from below ?

It is impossible to ascertain, with absolute precision, to what extent the inhuman practice prevails. Our only re- source is a reference to the statements of credible eye-wit- nesses resident at different stations. One writes, that among the higher classes in particular, “ hardly any one is allowed to depart this life in peace at home, but is taken to the banks of the river, and there offered up a sacrifice to Brahmanical superstition.” Another declares, that the Brahmans can, as may serve their interest, devote any sick

236

THE CRUELTY OF HINDUISM.

branch of a family to death ; and that by this barbarous cus- tom “incredible numbers are destroyed.” A third states, that from Hurdwar, — where the Ganges gushes through an opening in the mountains, and whence it flows with a smooth navigable stream to its mouth at the head of the Bay of Bengal, — is a distance of twelve hundred miles ; — that in its course through the plains, it receives eleven rivers, some of them as large as the Rhine, and none smaller than the Thames, besides innumerable smaller streams ; — that, through its whole course, and along many of its tributaries, the custom of exposing the sick more or less prevails ; — that, besides those who dwell in its immediate vicinity, many are brought from great distances to enjoy the privilege of dying on its banks ; — and that, if we “ consider the denseness of the population, and the number of villages, towns, and cities near which the river flows, it is easy to conceive that the loss of human life, occasioned by this custom, must be of awful extent.” A fourth records it as his deliberate opinion, that yearly, thousands of persons would recover from their diseases if this absurd custom were abolished.” A fifth, of still larger experience than any yet quoted, strongly avers, that “ the death of vast multitudes is procured or hastened annually, by Immersing a part of the body, in a state of dangerous weakness, in the Ganges, and by pouring large quantities of water into the mouth of the dying person.” From what we have ourselves been constrained to witness, as well as from oral communications received from respectable natives., combined with statements like the preceding, we have no hesitation in asserting that, — from exposure amid all the inclemencies of weather, and partial immersion in the stream, and frequent suffocation with its muddy waters, — thousands are annually hurried to premature death; and that hundreds are made to die, who, were it not for these cruel rites, w'ould, beyond all doubt, recover, and regain a perfect restoration of wonted health. And yet, acts which, in a Christian land, would be treated as wdlful murder, — far from being regarded as dishonourable, or criminal, or deserving of public exe- cration,— are reputed holy and meritorious, and demonstra-

THE CRUELTY OF HINDUISM.

237

tive of the greatest possible affection and kindness. Such is the stupifying power of a baleful superstition. To crowm the whole, it must be added that, according to the tenets of Hinduism, when once the sick are forcibly brought down to the river’s side to die, they cannot legally be restored to health. The inhuman right of administering Granges water, in its relation to the attainment of future beatitude, is deemed to the full as important as the ceremony of extreme unction in the Church of Kome. Nor is the similitude less striking as regards some of the consequences in this life. He to whom extreme unction is applied is devoted to death, and placed beyond the pale of all means of recover}" ; — he who is made to partake of Granges water must, in like manner, die ; or, if he do not, must submit to disgrace and degradation, often more difficult to be endured than death itself. This alternative has been happily described by a distinguished British officer. “ When any person,” says Captain William- son, “ has been taken to the side of the Granges, or other sub- stituted waters, under the supposition that he is dying, he is, in the eye of the Hindu law, dead ; his property passes to his next heir, according to his bequest ; and, in the event of recovery — which, from a sudden rallying of the Htal powers or other causes, sometimes happens, especially in cases of rapid and great prostration of strength, the poor fellow be- comes an outcast. Even his own children will not eat with him, nor afford him the least accommodation ; if, by chance, they come in contact, ablution must follow. The ^^Tetched survivor from that time is held in abhorrence,, and has no other resort , but to associate himself with persons in similar circumstances.” “ I have,” writes another British officer, “ taken a Gentoo out of the Granges. I perceived him at night, and called out to the boatmen. ‘ Sir, he is gone ; he belongs to God.’ Yes, but take him up, and God will get him hereafter. They got him up at the last gasp. I gave him some alcohol, and called it medicine. ‘ Oh, Sir, my caste is gone !’ — No, it is medicine. — ‘ It is not that. Sir, but my family wiU not receiye me. I am an outcast ! ’ What ! for saving your life ? ‘ Yes.’ Never mind such a

*iS 8 RELIGIOUS SUICIDE IN THE GANGES.

family." And, a^? a matter of fact, it may be added, that about fifty miles to the north of Calcutta (near Suksagor), there are two villages entirely inhabited by those degraded fugitives, who have become outcasts in consequence of sur- viving the inhuman rites attendant on dying in the Granges. There they intermarrj- and employ themselves like any other low-caste natives. What a revolution would the inculcation and observance of the single precept of Christianity, — “ Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you," — effect among the millions of British India !

Besides these exposures and immersions of the sick and the dying, there are at all times exhibited acts of voluntary self-devotement to the Ganges. These acts may be cele- brated in any part of the river, and on any day in the year. But there are certain auspicious days on which the per- formance of them will be attended with greater merit ; as well as certain sacred spots, such as Sagor Island, Benares, Allahabad, and other places of pilgrimage, where the rever- sionary advantages are pre-eminently great.

When an individual is distressed from the pressure of poverty, or has sunk into degradation and contempt, or is afflicted by some malady, supposed to be incurable, it is no uncommon thing for him to vow to part with life in the sacred stream. By such' an act of self-murder, — an act which is held to be of the greatest religious merit, — the poor man expects riches ; and the despised, freedom from re- proach ; and the distressed, exemption from sorrow ; and the diseased, deliverance from distemper in the next birth. Whereas, without such self-devotement, one and all of these might die with no prospect of melioration in the next migration.

But apart from those necessitous circumstances that might naturally tempt many purposely to part with life, some of the'^Shastras countenance and encourage in others, who have not the same temptation, the practice of religious suicide in the Ganges ; — pronouncing it, however, unnecessary in a Brahman, but highly meritorious in a Shudra. In such cases, the reward promised is a temporary residence in the heaven

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of one of the gods. The person, who has resolved voluntarily to renounce his life, is directed, in the sacred books, “ first to offer an atonement for all his sins, by making a present of gold to the Brahmans, and honouring them with a feast. Afterwards, putting on red apparel, and adorning himself with garlands of flowers, he is accompanied to the river by a band of music. Then, sitting down by the side of the river, he repeats the name of his idol ; and proclaims that he is “ now about to renounce his life in this place, in order to obtain such or such a benefit in the next world.” If the philanthropist should interfere, offering even to recompense him for desisting from the act of self-destruction, the de- luded man may probably reply, “ that he wants nothing, as he is going to heaven ! ”

All the preliminary rites being now concluded, the devo- tee,— accompanied by one or more Brahmans, to officiate on the occasion, and utter the incantations, — proceeds in a boat into the middle of the stream, furnished with a supply of cord and water-pans. Then the pans are fastened to the neck and shoulders ; and, while they remain empty, they keep the victim afloat. These are gradually filled, sometimes by the friends in the boat, sometimes by the devotee himself, as he is carried buoyant along the current ; — but when once they are surcharged, they sink ; and down they drag the victim to the bottom, amid the incantations of ghostly con- fessors, the rejoicings of friends, and the shouts of applaud- ing multitudes on the shore. A few gurgling bubbles rise on the surface, and speedily disappear, — all the monument that is ever raised to perpetuate the remembrance of the vic- tim of superstition. Ah ! how different the scenes in a Chris- tian land ! Think of the pastor’s visit to yonder cottage of the poor ; think of the tender sympathy that opens an inlet into the inmost soul ; think of the consolation that pours a balm into every wound ; think of the solemn prayer that excites emotions and hopes that are antepasts of bliss ; think of the serenity that overspreads the pale countenance of the dying man ; — and contrast all this with the scene now de- scribed, as of frequent occurrence on the bosom of the

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Ganges, and say, whether ye have ever felt sufficiently thank- ful for the privilege of free citizenship, and pastoral superin- tendence, in a Christian land !

From all that has now been stated, no one can fail to have drawn some inference as to the low estimate of human life in India ; — and low it verily is ; being in general reckoned of little more intrinsic value than that of any one of the brutal tribes. The doctrines of transmigration and fatalism, with their inseparable concomitants, naturally and neces- sarily lead to this result. It is Christianity alone, which, by unfolding the true origin, nature, and destiny of the soul, has conferred all its real worth and dignity on the life that now is, as well as on that which is to come ; — so that, in a country like India, the glorious declaration, that “ the Gos- pel hath brought life and immortality clearly to light,” may be seen to admit of a new and important though subordinate sense and application.

Some may, indeed, suppose, that the Government of the land ought to Interfere, and preserve its own subjects from self-destruction. On inquiry it will be found that the Government have sometimes, and in some places, attempted to prevent one or more of these cruel practices ; but, as Bishop Heber well testifies, “ with no other effect than driving the voluntary victims a little farther down the river ; nor, in- deed, when a man comes several hundred miles to die, is it likely that a police officer can prevent him.”

Should you early in the morning, when about to leave the Ganges, approach the metropolis of British India, you can- not fail to be struck by the immense multitudes, of all sects and of all castes, that resort to the banks of the sacred stream, to perform their ablutions and devotions.

Amongst these the worshippers of Shiva, the third person in the Hindu triad, appear conspicuous. All their af'tions vou may observe ; all their devotional utterances you may listen to. To a mere stranger, however, all must be unin- telligible pantomime. Were the actions and sounds dis-

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tinctly understood, the following would be found an average representation of both. After ascending from the waters of the river, they distribute themselves along the muddy banks. Each then takes up a portion of clay, and, beginning to mould it into the form of the Lingam, the symbol of his tutelary deity, devoutly says, “ Reverence to Hara (a name of Shiva), I take this lump of clay.” Next addressing the clay, he says, “ Shiva, I make thy image. Praise to Sal- pani (Shiva, the holder of the trisida, or trident). 0 god, enter into this image ; take life within it. Constant rever- ence to Mahesa (Shiva), whose form is radiant as a moun- tain of silver, lovely as the crescent of the moon, and resplen- dent with jewels; having four hands, two bearing weapons (the mace and the trident), a third conferring blessings, and the fourth dispelling fear ; serene, lotus-seated, worshipped by surrounding deities, and seated on a tiger’s skin. Rev- erence to the holder of the pinaca (a part of the Lingam). Come, O come ! vouchsafe thy presence, vouchsafe thy pre- sence : approach, rest, and tarry here.” The Lingam, or symbol of Shiva, being now formed, he presents to it water from the Granges, and various offerings, saying, “ Lave thy body in the Ganges, O lord of animals. I offer thee water to wash thy feet. Praise to Shiva. Take water to Avash thy hands ; smell this sandal- wood ; take these flowers and leaves ; accept this incense, and this flame ; consume this offering of mine (consisting of plantains, cucumbers, oranges, plums, and other fruits) ; take one more draught of this stream ; raise thy mouth, and now take betel-nut” (wdth various other roots and vegetables). He then wor- ships, rehearsing the names and attributes of the god ; and offers flowers all round the image, commencing from the east, — adding, “ Receive, 0 Shiva, these offerings of flowers. I also present these fragrant flowers to thy consort, Durga. Thus do I worship thee.” As an act of merit, he repeats, as often as he can, the names of Shiva ; counting the number of times on his fingers. Again and again he worships and bows, beating his cheeks, and uttering the mystical words, hom^ horn. He last of all throws the flowers into the water,

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prays to Shiva to grant him temporal favours and blessings ; twines his fingers one into the other ; places the image once more before him ; and then it away.

Thus terminate the morning orisons of hundreds and thousands of fellow-subjects on the banks of the Ganges. Who can have listened to the supplication of a follower of Shiva, one of the purest and best specimens by far in the Hindu liturgv', without being forced to contrast it with the sublime and all-comprehending brevity of that truly divine form of prayer, commonly entitled “ the Lord’s Prayer?” Who can have listened, without being forced to reflect, whether he ever knew before how much he is indebted to the Bible for a form of prayer, worthy of the Majesty of heaven, and suitable to the real wants of man ?

After landing on that idolatrous shore, and mingling freely with the inhabitants, one is apt to be bewildered and lost, amid the endless multiplicity and variety of their rites, forms, and modes of worship. An account of the diversified observances daily and habitually practised by aU the varj'- ing sects and castes, would fill many a ponderous folio. To attempt any such account, therefore, even if practicable, would be utterly preposterous. No one could be expected to have either the patience or the curiosity necessary for its perusal, who was not equally prepared to ply his way through the technicalities of fifty volumes of Acts of Parlia- ment. But the attempt would be, on other grounds, wholly unnecessary. Our object being, not to exhaust any depart- ment of Hinduism, but simply to select the leading points, and illustrate these by such details as may bring out dis- tinctly to the view of the uninstructed, the real genius and spirit of the system. For this purpose, a briefer course may be adopted and pursued.

In India, the division of time into weeks has all along been observed. The nomenclature of the days is derived from the names of the sun, moon, and planets, exactly as in Europe. The remembrance, however, of the seventh as a

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Sabbatk, or sacred day of rest, has been completely lost. In- stead thereof, there have been substituted certain perio- dical or anniversary days of high festival in honour of the principal divinities. These are so numerous, that it would be impossible within our limits to describe them all, as the description would be exceedingly vokmiinous. Every sect has its ovTi favourite tutelar^" deity, in honour of whom stated periodical festivals are held. So that there is scarcely a day in the twelvemonth on which the anniversary of one or other of the gods is not celebrated by one or other of the leading sects, or sub-sects. It is quite enough for our pur- pose, to refer to one or two of those festivals which — from the superiority of .the Deity adored, the prodigious multi- tudes that engage in the religious rites, and the universal suspension of business among all classes for several days — may strictly and truly be denominated national. In Bengal, in particular, the consort of Shiva, the destrojdng power, is the divinity that engrosses the largest proportion of daily, monthly, and annual devotion. Like the other principal deities, she has been manifested under an immense variety of fonns. Of these, a thousand are usually enumerated, under as many distinct appellations. Of the thousand forms, there are tico that have risen to unrivalled pre-eminence above the rest. These are the forms of Durga and Kali. To these, therefore, our attention may be chiefly directed.

In the form of Durga, the consort of Sliiva has been said to blend in herself the characters of the 01}mpian Juno, and the Pallas or armed Minerva of the Greeks. She is, however, a far more tremendous personage than both of these combined. Having been endowed by all the gods severally with their distinctive attributes, she concentrates in herself their united power and divinity. She has thus be- come at once their champion and protectress. — Hence, her towering pre-eminence above them all in popular estimation ; and hence, of all the annual festivals, that of Durga is most extensively celebrated in Eastern India. In this character, she is usually represented with ten arms, into which the principal gods delivered their respective weapons of warfare.

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From one, she received the trident ; from a second, a quiver and arrows ; from a third, a battle axe ; from a fourth, an iron club ; from a fifth, spears and thunderbolts ; — and so, from other gods, various other warlike instruments ; together with the befitting ornaments of a golden crovsn, and robes magnificently adorned, with jewels, and a necklace of pearls, and a wreathed circlet of snakes.

Thus martially accoutred, the belligerent gouaess is ever ready to encounter the mightiest giants, and most malignant demons that dare to invade the repose of the immortals. It was in consequence of destroying a giant, of such terrible potency as to have dispossessed the gods of their dominion, that she gained the name of Durga. As the description of this celebrated contest is a fair specimen of the manner in which the founders of Hinduism conceived and depicted those numberless battles of gods with which the sacred books abound, — -and as the reiterated rehearsal of it enters largely into all the meditations and prayers, the invocations and praise, the songs and the h}-mns of millions of adoring worshippers on days of high festival, — it may be well to in- troduce the original account of it, though in a somewhat abridged form, from the volumes of Ward.

In remote ages, a giant named Durga,* having performed religious austerities of transcendent merit, in honour of Brahma, obtained his blessing, c.nd became a great oppres- sor. He conquered the three worlds ; dethroned aU the gods, except the sacred Triad ; banished them from their respective heavens to live in forests ; and compelled them at his nod to come and bow down and worship before him, and celebrate his praise. He abolished all religious ceremonies. The Brahmans, through fear of him, forsook the reading of the Vedas. The rivers changed their courses. Fire lost its energy. The terrified stars retired from his sight. He as- sumed the forms of the clouds, and gave rain whenever he pleased ; the earth, through fear, gave an abundant increase ; and the trees jdelded flowers and fruits out of season. The gods at length applied to Shiva. One said, he has dethroned

* Durga — the a short, feminine : Durga — the a long, masculine.

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me ; another, he has taken my kingdom, — and thus all the gods related their misfortunes. Shiva, pitying their case, desired his wife, Parvati, to go and destroy the giant. She willingly accepted the commission. Durga prepared to meet her with an army of thirty thousand giants, who were such monsters in size, that they covered the surface of the earth, — ten millions of swift-footed horses, — a hundred millions of chai’iots, — a hundred and twenty thousand mil- lions of elephants, — and soldiers beyond the power of arith- metic to number. Parvati, having assumed a thousand arms, sat down upon a mountain, coolly awaiting the ap- proach of her formidable foes. The troops of the giant poured their arrows at her, thick as the drops of rain in a storm ; they even tore up the trees and the mountains, and hurled them at the goddess ; — she turned them all away ; and caused millions of strange beings to issue from her body, which devoured all her enemies except their great leader. He then hurled a flaming dart at the goddess ; she easily turned it aside. He discharged another ; this she resisted by a hundred arrows. He levelled at her a club and pike ; these, too, she repelled. He broke off the peak of a moun- tain and threw it at her ; she cut it into seven pieces by her spear. He now assumed the shape of an elephant, as large as a mountain, and approached the goddess ; but she tied his legs, and with her nails, which were like scimitars, tore him to pieces. He then arose in the form of a buffalo, and with his horns cast stones and mountains at the goddess — tearing up the trees with the breath of his nostrils ; she pierced him with a trident, when he reeled too and fro. Ee- nouncing the form of a buffalo, he reassumed his original body as a giant, with a thousand arms, and weapons in each ; she seized him by his thousand arms and carried him into the air, from whence she threw him down with a dread- ful force. Perceiving, however, that this had no effect, she pierced him in the breast with an arrow ; when the blood issued in streams from his mouth, and he expired. The gods, filled with joy, immediately reascended their thrones, and were reinstated in their former splendour. The Brahmans

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recommenced the study of the Vedas. Sacrifices were again regularly performed. Every thing reassumed its pristine state. The heavens rang with the praises of Parvati. And the gods, in return for so signal a deliverance, immortalized the victory by transferring to the heroine the name of Durga.

Suppose, then, you were in Calcutta in the month of Sep- tember, you might every where witness the most splendid and extensive preparations for the annual festival of Durga. In going along the streets of the native city, your eye might be chiefly arrested by the profusion of images unceremo- niously exposed to sale like the commonest commodity. On inquiry' you are told that wealthy natives have images of the goddess in their houses made of gold, silver, brass, copper, crystal, stone, or mixed metal, which are daily worshipped. These are stable and permanent heir-looms in a family ; and are transmitted from sire to son like any other of the goods and chattels that become hereditary property. But besides these, you are next informed, that for the ceremonial pur- pose of a great festival, multitudes of temporary images are prepared. The reason why we call these temporary will appear by and by. These may be made of a composition of hay, sticks, clay, wood, or other cheap and light materials. They may be made of any size, from a few inches to ten, twelve, or twenty feet in height. But the ordinary size is that of the human stature. The only limitation is that of the form. This is prescribed by divine authority ; and from it there must be no departure. Hence all are framed or fashioned after the same divine model. This, we may remark in passing, is one of the principal reasons why in India the arts of painting and statuary have for ages been stationary. These images may be made by the worshipping parties themselves, — and made so small, and of substances so little expensive, that the poorest may be provided with one as well as the richest. But if the parties do not choose to make the images themselves, they can be at no loss. There is an abundance of image-makers by profession. And, alas ! in a city like Calcutta, the craft of image-making is by far the

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most lucrative and unfluctuating of all crafts. If there be thousands and tens of thousands of families that are to engage in the celebration of the festival, there must be thou- sands and tens of thousands of images prepared for it.

This explains to you the origin of the spectacle presented to your eyes in passing along the streets of Calcutta. Before, behind ; on the right, and on the left ; — here and there, and every where, you seem encompassed with a forest of images of different sizes, and piles of limbs and bodies and frag- ments of images of divers materials, finished and unfinished — in all the intermediate stages of progressive fabrication. But not only is the sense of vision affected ; the ears, too, are assailed by the noise of implements busily wielded by the workmen. Y ou step aside, and standing at the door of an image-maker’s workshop, you gaze with wonder at the novel process. You recall to remembrance some striking passages in Isaiah and other prophets, descriptive of the very spectacle then exhibited to your own eyes : — how the carpenter “ heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak from among the trees of the forest ; — how he burneth part thereof in the fire, and warmeth himself, and saith. Aha, I am warm, and have seen the fire ; and the residue thereof he maketh his god, even his graven image ; — how he stretcheth out his nde, and marketh it out with a line, and with the compass, and fitteth it with planes, and fashioneth it with hammers ; — and how he then falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith. Deliver me, for thou art my god.” All this, and much more, in a similar strain, may now present itself with pecu- liar vividness to your mind. And you may remember, too, how you once thought that such passages of sacred writ had now become altogether antiquated. In your native land, you never had seen a graven image, nor a heathen temple. There all false gods, in the gross and literal sense of these terms, had utterly perished from off the earth, . and from under the heavens. And it had been so long- delivered from the presence of idols, and idol worship, that the mere remembrance of them had become wholly obliterated in the

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minds of the great mass of the people ; and but faintly and casually revived in the memorj’ of the traveller that has gazed at the wonderful Scandinavian relics, in the roofless stone temples of the North ; or at the still more wonderful Druidical remains, in the giant columns of the South. You remember, on the other hand, how, with the pliant tongue of infancy, you had been taught to lisp that there is but “ one true, living God, the Almighty Maker of heaven and earth” — and how you were taught to believe that the God- head, in whom “ we live, and move, and have our being,” cannot possibly be “ like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” And this knowledge had so commended itself to your expanding reason, and vour mature reflection, that you could not well conceive how it was possible that beings in human form, and endowed with human understanding, should become so bereft of all sense as to fabricate gods of wood and stone, the work of their own hands — gods that “ have mouths, but speak not ; eyes, but see not ; ears, but hear not ; noses, but smell not ; hands, but handle not ; feet, but walk not ; neither have any breath in their mouths.” Such descriptions, you had supposed, must have special reference to times long gone by — to remote eras of ignorance and barbarism — which may figure in the pages of recondite history and hoary’ antiqua- rianism, but can no longer be applicable to the present advanced and refined age ; — this age, so boastful of the march of intelligence, and the earthly perfectability of man ; — this age, so vauntful of its transforming rationalism and wide- spreading illumination ! Ah ! what a shock to such Utopian reveries must be given by the spectacle now presented to your eyes, in the very heart of the metropolis of the mightiest province of the British empire ! As you gaze at the busy operations of scores of image-makers, and hear all aronnd the sounding tokens of the presence of hundreds more, how you must be forced to feel that the language of the prophets, and of the Psalmist, is not yet obsolete ! How you must be amazed to find, that up to this year and month and day of the Chris- tian era, there exists a cotemporaneous state of heathenism

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and heathen image-making ; and that, too, on a scale of in- conceivable magnitude — precisely similar to what existed in the time of the prophets, thi’ee thousand years ago ! Yea more, that so exact is the parallelism, that were you to range through the vocabulary of all languages for terms to pourtray what your own eyes behold, you could not find words or figures more aptly representative than the graphic, the almost pic- torial, portraiture of the inspired seers of the house of Israel.

As you gaze at the image-makers, your thoughts pass to and fro. The recollections of the past strangely blend with the visible exhibitions of the present. The old settled con- victions of home-experience are suddenly counterpoised by the previously unimagined scene that has opened to the view. Your conclusions seem for a moment to vibrate in the bal- ance of a quivering judgment. To incline it one way or other, and thus determine the “ dubious propendency,” you again and again watch the movements of those before you. You contemplate their forms, and you cannot doubt that they are men. You narrowly mark their countenances ; and you cannot but observe the sparks of intelligence beaming therefrom. Y our wonder is vastly increased ; but the grounds of your decision have multiplied too. And where can you find more appropriate terms for its annunciation, than in the bold language of the evangelical prophet : — “ They have not known nor understood ; for He hath shut their eyes that they cannot see ; and their hearts that they cannot under- stand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire ; and shall I make the residue thereof an abo- mination ? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree ? He feedeth on ashes ; a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul ; nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand ? ”

After the abatement of the first surprise, you are impelled to address the men : — What, you exclaim, do you really be- lieve that, with your own hands, you can, out of wood and straw and clay, fabricate a god ; before which you may fall down and worship ? No ; will be the prompt reply, we

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believe no such thing. What, then, do you believe ? We believe, respond they, that we mould and fashion [only the representative image or graven likeness of the deity. How, then, come you to worship it ? W ait, may be the reply, till the first great day of the feast, and you will then see how it is rendered worthy of homage and adoration.

As the great day approaches, symptoms of increasing preparation thicken and multiply all around. People are seen in every direction peaceably conveying the images to their houses. The materials for wonder-stirring exhibitions and ceremonial observances, are every where accumulating. Thousands of residents from a distance are seen returning to their homes in the interior, laden with the earnings and the profits of months to lavish on the great occasion. At length the Government offices are by proclamation shut for a whole week ! Secular business of every description, public or private, is suspended by land and by water, in town and in country. All things seem to announce the approach of a grand holiday — a season of universal joy and festivity.

Ye British merchants ! — who are so often deaf to every call that does not reach you, as it rebounds from the temple of Mammon, — would that ye could understand how the continu- ance of such a state of society vitally affects pecuniary interests ! For many days in succession, no clearances at the custom-house for lading or unlading, — no tables open at the exchange or other public offices for the transaction and de- spatch of necessary business, — no hiring of native agency, so indispensable for preparing or disposing of valuable cargoes. Your noble vessels lie motionless, lazily reflecting their shadows from the bosom of the mighty stream, — their pen- nons idly floating in the breeze. — Your men dispersed from want of regular employment, — madly roaming over city and country on wild crusades of intemperance and vice ; — con- tracting habits of future insubordination and misrule, or haplessly treasuring up the seeds of incurable maladies. Apart altogether from the tarnishing of the British charac- ter, and the ruin of immortal souls, who can estimate the thousands that are thus periodically lost and consumed by

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the constant recurrence of the Durga Pujah, and other hea- then festivals ? If deaf to the call of your God and Saviour, — if dead to the highest and noblest interests of humanity, would that ye were in this case aroused to attend to your own ! W ould that ye were persuaded to throw those thou- sands, that are annually lost to you through the continuance of heathenism, into the Christian treasury ; for the express purpose of expelling that very heathenism, the continued reign of which constitutes your loss, — and then woidd these thousands be ultimately restored to you, or to your children in kind, a hundred, yea, a thousand fold. They would be restored to you with an ample revenue at once of glory and of profit ; — and in this instance, it would be demonstrated how the most rapid advancement of your own temporal pros- pei’ity was coincident with the promotion of the eternal wellbeing of your fellow’-men.

But to return to the festival. It extends altogether over a period of fifteen days. The greater part of that time is occupied with the performance of preliminary ceremonies, previous to the three great days of worship. Early on the morning of the first of the three great days commences the grand rite of consecrating the images. Hitherto these have been regarded merely as combinations of lifeless, senseless matter. Now, however, by the power of the Brahmans — those vicegerents of deity on earth — they are to be endowed with life and intelligence. A wealthy family can always secure the services of one or more Brahmans, — and of the very poor, a few may always unite, and secure the good offices of one of the sacred fraternity. At length the solemn hour arrives. The officiating Brahman, provided with the leaves of a sacred tree, and other holy accoutrements, approaches the image. With the two forefingers of his right hand he touches the breast, the two cheeks, the eyes, and the fore- head of the image, at each successive touch giving audible utterance to the prayer, — “ Let the spirit of Durga descend and take possession of this image.” And thus, by the per- formance of various ceremonies, and the enunciation of various mystical verses or incantations, called rmintras, the

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ghostly officiator is devoutly believed to possess the divine power of bringing down the goddess to take bodily posses- sion of the image. The image is henceforward regarded as the peculiar local habitation of the divinity, and is be- lieved to be really and truly animated by her. In this way the relation of the visible image to the invisible deity is held to be precisely the same as the relation of the human body to the soul, or subtle spirit that actuates it. The constant and universal belief is, that when the Brahman repeats the muntras, the deities must come, obedient to his call — agree- ably to the favourite Sanskrit sloka, or verse : — “ The uni- verse is under the power of the deities, — the deities are under the power of the muntras,— the muntras are under the power of the Brahmans ; consequently, the Brahmans are gods.” This is the creed of the more enlightened ; but a vast proportion of the more ignorant and unreflecting be- lieve something far more gross. It is their firm persuasion, that by means of the ceremonies and incantations, the mass of rude matter has been actually changed or transformed, or, if you w’ill, transubstantiated., into the very substance of deity itself. According to either view' of the subject, whether more or less rational, the image is believed to be truly ani- mated by divinity, — to be a real, proper, and legitimate object of w'orship. Having eyes, it can now behold the various acts of homage rendered by adoring votaries ; hav- ing ears, it can be charmed by the symphonies of music and of song ; having nostrils, it can be regaled with the sweet- smelling savour of incense and perfume ; having a mouth, it can be luxuriated w'ith the grateful delicacies of the rich banquet that is spread out before it.

Immediately after the consecration of the images, the worship commences ; and is continued with numberless rites nearly the whole day. But w'hat description can convey an idea of the multifarious complexity of Indian worship? — worship, too, simultaneously conducted in thousands of separate houses ; — for on such occasions everj' house is converted into a temple ? To bring the subject within some reasonable compass, you must suppose yourself in the house

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of a wealthy native. Let it be one which is constructed, as usual, of a quadrangular form, — with a vacant area in the centre, open or roofless, towards the canopy of heaven. On one side is a spacious hall, opening along the ground floor by many folding doors to piazzas or verandahs on either side. These are crowded by the more common sort of visi- tors. Round the greater part of the interior is a range of galleries, with retiring chambers. Part of these is devoted to the reception of visitors of the higher ranks, whether European or native ; and part is closed for the accommoda- tion of the females of the family ; who, without being seen themselves, may, through the Venetians, view both visitors and worshippers, as well as the varied festivities. The walls, the columns, and fronts of the verandahs and galleries, are all fantastically decorated with a profusion of tinsel orna- ments of coloured silk and paper, and glittering shapes and forms of gold and silver tissue. To crown all, there is, in the genuine Oriental style, an extravagant display of lustres ■ — suspended from the ceiling, and projecting from the walls, — which, when kindled at night, radiate a flood of light enough to dazzle and confound ordinary vision.

At the upper extremity of the hall is the ten-armed image of the goddess, raised several feet on an ornamented pedes- tal. On either side of her are usually placed images of her two sons ; — Ganesha, the god of wisdom, with his elephant head ; and Kartikeya, the god of war, riding on a peacock. These are worshipped on this occasion, together with a multi- tude of demi-goddesses, the companions of Durga in her wars.

In the evening, about eight o’clock, the principal pujah, or worship, is renewed with augmented zeal. But what con- stitutes or toorship^ in that land ? Watch the devotee,

and you will soon discover. He enters the hall ; he approaches the image ; and prostrates himself before it. After the usual ablutions, and other preparatory rites, he next twists him- self into a variety of grotesque postures ; sometimes sitting on the floor, sometimes standing ; sometimes looking in one direction and sometimes in another. Then follows the ordi- nary routine of observances ; — sprinklings of the idol with

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holy water ; rinsings of its mouth ; washings of its feet ; wipings of it with a dry cloth ; throwings of flowers and green leaves over it ; adornings of it with gaudy ornaments ; exhalings of perfume ; alternate tinklings and plasterings of the sacred bell with the ashes of sandal wood ; mutter- ings of invocation for temporal blessings ; and a landing up of the whole with the lowliest act of prostration, in which the worshipper stretches himself at full length, disposing his body in such a manner as at once to touch the ground with the eight principal parts of his body, viz. — the feet, the thighs, the hands, the breast, the mouth, the nose, the eyes, and the forehead.

After numbers have thus performed their worship, there succeeds a round of carousals and festivity. The spectators are entertained with fruits and sweetmeats. Guests of dis- tinction have atai\ or the essence of roses, and rich con- serves, abundantly administered. Musicians, with various hand and wind instruments, are introduced into the hall. Numbers of abandoned females, gaily attired, and glittering with jewels, ai’e hired for the occasion to exhibit their wanton dances, and rehearse their indecent songs in praise of the idol, amid the plaudits of surrounding worshippers.

Another essential part of the worship consists in the pre- sentation of different kinds of offerings to the idol. These offerings, after being presented with due form and ceremony, are eventually distributed among the attendant priests. No share of them is expected to be returned to the worshipper ; so that, on his part, it is a real sacrifice. Whatever articles are once offered, become consecrated ; and are supposed to have some new and valuable qualities thereby imparted to them. Hence the more ignorant natives often come craving for a small portion of the sacred food, to be carried home to cure diseases.

But it is to the almost incredible profusion of the offer- ings presented at such fe.stivals that we would desire to call your special attention. In general, it may be said, that the bulk of the people, rich and poor, expend by far the larger moiety of their earnings or income on offerings to idols, and

CHRISTIAN CONTRASTED WITH HEATHEN LIBERALITY. 255

the countless rites and exhibitions connected with idol wor- ship. At the celebration of one festival, a wealthy native has been known to offer after this manner : — eighty thousand pounds weight of sweetmeats; eighty thousand pounds weight of sugar ; a thousand suits of cloth garments ; a thousand suits of silk ; a thousand offerings of rice, plantains, and other fruits. On another occasion, a wealthy native has been known to have expended upwards of thirty thousand pounds sterling on the offerings, the observances, and the exhibition of a single festival; and upwards of ten thousand pounds an- nually, ever afterwards to the termination of his life. In- deed, such is the blindfold zeal of these benighted people, that instances are not unfrequent of natives of rank and wealth reducing themselves and families to poverty by their lavish expenditure in the service of the gods ; and in uphold- ing the pomp and dignity of their worship. In the city of Calcutta alone, at the lowest and most moderate estimate, it has been calculated that half a million, at least, is annually expended on the celebration of the Durga Pujah festival. How vast — how inconceivably vast, then, must be the aggre- gate expended by rich and poor on all the daily, weekly, monthly, and annual rites, ceremonies, and festivals, held in honour of a countless pantheon of divinities !

Ah ! it is when gazing at these heaps of offering so la- vishly poured into the treasury of the false gods of hea- thenism, that one is consti’ained to reflect, in bitterness of spirit, on the miserable contrast presented by the scanty, stinted, and shrivelled offerings of the professed worship- pers of the true God in a Christian land ? Would that in this respect the disciples of Christ could be induced to learn a lesson from the blinded votaries of Hinduism ! Take the case of a renowned city, — the third, in point of wealth and commercial importance in the British empire ; — a city on whose escutcheon and banner is inscribed the noble motto, that it is to “ flourish by the righteousness of the word.” What has been, on the part of its citizens, the mani- festation of a liberality, that must needs astound all Chris- tendom ; — and, if it were possible, cause the very universe

256 CHRISTIAN CONTRASTED WITH HEATHEN LIBERALITY.

to resound with the never-dying echoes of its fame ? Why ! — this great city, whose merchants are princes, and the hon- ourable of the earth ; — this mighty city, that sits as a queen among the principalities of the nations ; — this celebrated city did, on a late occasion, in very truth, contribute the sum of twenty thousand pounds to promote, within itself^ the cause of that Kedeemer, to whose vicarious sacrifice and mediatorial government it owes existence, and riches, and salvation,— all the possessions and comforts of time, — all the prospects and crowns of immortality ! Well, be it so ! We at once cheerfully concede that, compared icith the doings of others in this professedly Christian land, this is one of the best and noblest specimens of modern benevolence. But turn now to benighted Hindustan. Look to one of its chief commercial emporia. There, on a single festival, in honour of a mon- strous image of wood or clay, you find upwards of Jive hun- dred thousand pounds expended— not once, but annually ! After this, talk if ye will, of your liberalities. Boast of them. Eulogize them to the skies. Parade them as muni- ficent in public journals. Extol them beyond measure at your great anniversaries. Would that, when next disposed to trumpet forth the praise of your own doings, ye would go and proclaim your magnificent contributions to the cause of your God and Saviour in the presence of the deluded hea- then, who replenish with free-will offerings the halls of their idol Durga. Ah, methinks, that instead of deigning to re- ply, they might point, in scornful silence, to the multiplied tokens and pledges of their own prodigal bounty ! — and leave you to draw an inference which might well cover you with confusion and dismay ! For, what could the inference be, were the silence and symbolic movement rightly inter- preted and embodied in words ? What could it be but this ? — “ If the amount of free-will offerings be a measure of sincerity in our religious profession, surely our sincerity must be a hundredfold deeper than yours. If extent of sacrifice of worldly substance, to which we all so naturally cling, be a measure of our love to the object of worship ; surely our love to our god, which you reckon a poor dumb

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idol, must be a hundredfold more intense than yours towards Him whom you profess to regard as the only true God and Saviour. If visible fruits be the test of reality of faith, surely our faith in the truth of our religion must be a hun- dredfold stronger than your faith in the truth of yours. In- deed you seem to have scarcely any faith at all. And the little you do, has the appearance of being designed to save you from the charge of open infidelity, rather than to indi- cate a heartfelt interest in promoting the cause and honour of your God.” If a rebuke so cutting, from a quarter so un- expected, do not lead to amendment and increase in your Christian liberalities ; rest assured, that these poor blinded idolaters, whom you affect to view with pity and compassion, will one day rise up in judgment and condemn you.

The subject of offerings is not yet exhausted. At the annual festival of Durga, there are also hloocly sacrifices pre- sented. The number of these, though in general little thought of or little known, is very remarkable. When in- fidel scoffers have read in the Bible of the multitude of sacrifices constantly offered ; — more especially, when they read of King Solomon on one memorable occasion sacrificing twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thou- sand sheep, — they have not scrupled to denounce the narra- tive as wholly beyond the pale of historic credibility, — as partaking so much of the fabulous and the marvellous as seriously to damage the authenticity of the entire record that contains it. Ignorant men ! ignorant of the manners and customs of Oriental nations ; — and, ever true to the charac- ter of your race, presumptuous in proportion to your igno- rance. Were ye transported to the shores of Hindustan now, ye would find up to this day multitudes of sacrifices con- stantly offered at temples and in private houses ; in single cases almost rivalling, and collectively and nationally vastly out-rivalling in number the thousands and tens of thousands once offered by the Hebrew monarch, — at a time when the Sovereign reckoned it no impiety to allocate the resources of a State to the rearing of altars and temples to Jehovah, Lord of Hosts ; — nor, as the most exalted member of the

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visible Church, felt it any dishonour for a season to drop the functions of royalty, and assuming part of the office of high priest, solemnly engage in conducting the devotional exer- cises of a national worship. And if the overwhelming evi- dence addressed to your understandings had failed to con- vince you of the veracity of the inspired penmen, must not the testimony of sense as to the vast numbers of Hindu sacrifices, extort from you a confession in favour of the an- tecedent credibility of the Jewish record in the narration of numbers not more than parallel in magnitude I

At a single temple in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, the ordinary number of daily sacrifices averages between fifty and a hundred he-goats and rams, besides a proportion of buffaloes. On Saturdays and Mondays, which happen to be days particularly sacred to the divinity worshipped there, the] number of sacrifices is doubled or trebled; — while on great festival occasions, the number is increased from hun- dreds to thousands. At the annual festival of Durga, there are hundreds of families in the Calcutta district alone, that sacrifice severally scores of animals ; many present their hecatombs ; and some occasionally their thousands. It is within the present half century, that the Rajah of Nudiya in the north of Bengal, offered a large nmnber of sheep, and goats, and buffaloes on the first day of the feast ; and vowed to double the offering on each succeeding dav. So that the number sacrificed in all amounted, in the aggre- gate, to upwards of sixty-Jice thousand ! Mr Ward states, that the Rajah “ loaded boats with the bodies, and sent them to the neighbouring Brahmans, but they could not devour or dispose of them fast enough, and great numbers were thrown away.”

Returning to the scene in the house of a wealthy native on the first great day of the festival : — After the worship, and the offerings, and the dancings in honour of the goddess have been concluded, the votaries proceed after midnight to the presentation of animals in sacrifice. It is in the central roofless court or area of the house that the process of slaughter is usually carried on. There a strong upright post is fastened

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in the ground, excavated at the top somewhat like a double pi’onged fork. In this excavation the neck of the victim is inserted, and made fast by a transverse pin above. Close at hand stands the hired executioner, usually a blacksmith, with his broad heavy axe. And woe be to him if he fail in severing the head at one stroke ! Such failure would betide ruin and disgrace to himself, and entail the most frightful disaster on his employer and family.

Each animal is duly consecrated by the officiating Brah- man, who marks its horns and forehead with red lead, — sprinkles it, for the sake of purifying, with Granges water, — adorns its neck with a necklace of leaves, and its brow with a garland of flowers, — and reads various incantations in its ears, adding, “ 0 Durga, I sacrifice this animal to thee, that I may dwell in thy heaven for so many years.” With simi- lar ceremonies, each sacrificial victim, whether goat, sheep, or buffaloe, is dedicated and slain amid the din and hubbub of human voices. The heads and part of the blood are then carried in succession to the hall within, and ranged before the image, — each head being there surmounted with a lighted lamp. Over them the officiating Brahman repeats certain prayers, — utters appropriate incantations, — and formally presents them as an acceptable feast to the goddess. Other meat-offerings and drink-offerings are also presented with a repetition of the proper formulas. And last of all, on a small square altar made of clean dry sand, burnt-offerings of flowers, or grass, or leaves, or rice, or clarified butter, are deposited — with prayers, that all remaining sins may be destroyed by the sacrificial fire. This naturally leads us to answer a question that is often asked, namely. What becomes of the flesh meat of so many animals ? Part of it is offered on the altar as a burnt sacrifice. But the larger part of it always, and not unfrequently the whole, is devoured as food. The Brahmans, of course, have their choice ; and the remainder is distributed in large quanti- ties among the inferior castes. As it has been consecrated by being offered to the goddess, it is lawful for all who choose to partake of it.

260

THE FESTIVAL OF DLUGA.

It is impossible to note all the variations in the different modes in which the Durga Pujah is celebrated by the differ- ent castes and sects. Some individuals expend the largest proportion in peace-offerings, and meat, and drink-offerings ; others in bloody sacrifices, and burnt-offerings : some in the dances, and the tinsel garnishings, and fire-work exhibitions ; and others in entertaining and giving presents to Brahmans. The disciples of the numerous sect of Vishnu, though they celebrate the festival with great pomp, present no bloody offerings to Durga ; instead of slaughtering animals, — pumpkins, or some other substitute, are split in two and presented to the goddess.

The multitudinous rites and ceremonies of the first day and night oi the festival beingrnow nearly concluded, num- bers of old and young, rich and poor, male and female, rush into the open area that is streaming with the blood of ani- mals slain in sacrifice. They seize a portion of the gory dust and mud ; and with the sacred compost liberally bedaub their bodies ; — dancing and prancing all the while with almost savage ferocity. With their bodies thus bespattered, and their minds excited into phrenzy, multitudes now pour into the streets ; — some with blazing torches ; others with musical instruments ; — and all, twisting their frames into the most wanton attitudes, and vociferating the most inde- cent songs, rush to and fro, reeling, shouting, and raving, more wildly than the troops of “ iron-speared” and “ ivy- leaved” Amazons that were wont, in times of old, to cause the woods and the mountains of Greece to resound with the frantic orgies of Bacchus.

For two days and two nights more, there is a renewal of the same round of worship, and rites, and ceremonies, and dances, and sacrifices, and Bacchanalian fury.

As the morning of the first day was devoted to the conse- cration of the images, so the morning of the fourth is occu- pied with the grand ceremony of unconsecrating them. He who had the divine power of bringing down the goddess to inhabit each tabernacle of wood or clay, has also the power of dispossessing it of her animating presence. Accordingly,

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the officiating Brahman, surrounded by the members of the family, engages, amid various rites and sprinklings and incantations, to send the divinity back to her native heaven ; — concluding with a farewell address, in which he tells the goddess, that he expects her to accept of all his services, and to return again to renew her favours on the following year. All now unite in muttering a sorrowful adieu to the divinity, and many seem affected even to the shedding of tears !

Soon afterwards a crowd assembles, exhibiting habiliments bespotted with divers hues and colours. The image is car- ried forth to the street. It is planted on a portable stage or platform, and then raised on men’s shoulders. As the temporary local abode of the departed goddess, it is still treated with profound honour and respect. As the proces- sion advances along the street, accompanied with music and songs, amid clouds of heated dust, you see human beings, — yes, full-grown beings, wearing all the outward prerogatives of the human form, marching on either side, and waving their chouries or long hairy brushes, to wipe away the dust, and ward off the musquitoes or flies that might otherwise desecrate or annoy the senseless image. But whither does the procession tend ? To the banks of the Ganges — most sacred of streams. For what pu; pose ? Follow it and you will see. As you approach the river, you every where behold numbers of similar processions, from town and country, before and behind, on the right and on the left. You cast your eyes along the banks. As far as vision can reach, they seem literally covered. It is one living moving mass — dense, vast, interminable. The immediate margin being too con- fined for the contact of such a teeming throng, hundreds and thousands of boats, of every size and every form, are put in requisition. A processional party steps on board, and each vessel is speedily launched on the broad expanse of the waters. The bosom of the stream seems, for miles, to be converted into the crowd, and the movement, and the har- lequin exhibitions of an immense floating fair. When the last rites and ceremonies are terminated, all the companies

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THE FESTIVAL OF DURGA.

of image carriers suddenly fall upon their images ; they break them to pieces, and violently dash the shivered frag- ments into the depths of the passing stream. But who can depict the wondrous spectacle ? — The numbers without num- ber ; — the fantastic equipages of every rank and grade ; — the variegated costumes of every caste and sect ; — the strangely indecorous bodily gestures of deluded worship- pers ; — the wild and phrenzied mental excitement of myriads of spectators intoxicated with the scene ; — the breaking, crashing, and sinking of hundreds of dispossessed images, along the margin and over the surface of the mighty stream ; amid the loud shrill dissonance of a thousand untuneful instruments ; commingled with the still more stunning peals of ten thousand thousand human voices ! Here language entirely fails. Imagination itself must sink down with wings collapsed ; utterly baffled in the' effort to conceive the individualities and the groupings of an assemblage composed of such varied magnitudes.

Towards evening the multitudes return to their homes. Return, you will ask, for the purpose of refreshment and repose 1 No : but to engage in fresh scenes of boisterous mirth and sensual revelry. But when these are at length brought to a close, is there not a season of respite ? No : all hearts, all thoughts, are instantaneously turned towards the next incoming festival, in honour of some other divinity. And the necessary preparations are at once set on foot to provide for its due celeb I’ation. And thus it has been for ages past ; and thus it may be for ages to come ; — unless the Christian people of these lands aw’ake from the sleep of an ungodly, carnal security ; arise from the deep slumber of sottish, selfish, luxurious enjo}’ment ; and come forward, far beyond the standard of any present example, to implement their covenant engagement to advance the Redeemer’s cause. Oh, ye who do well to dwell at ease in your ceiled houses, when every where the temple of the Lord lies waste ! — ye w'ho do well to eat, and drink, and be merry, when the multitudes of the nations are up in arms against your Sovereign Lord and Redeemer, — up in arms against the true peace and

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everlasting happiness of their own souls, — those precious souls that Avill never die ! — ye may wholly resist every appeal that is thus addressed to you at a distance, in words : — but, frozen-hearted as many of you are, could ye, we would ask, wholly resist the thrilling appeal which the direct exhi- bition of the terrible reality would address to you ?

When we have stood on the banks of the Ganges, sur- rounded by deluded multitudes engaged in ablutions, in order to cancel the guilt and wipe away the stains of trans- gressions ; — here, assailed by the groans of the sick and the dying, stretched on the wet banks beneath “ a hot and cop- per sky and there, stunned by loud vociferations in the name of worship, addressed to innumerable gods ; — on the one hand, the flames of many a funeral pile blazing in view ; and on the other, the loathsome spectacle of human carcas- ses floating unheeded and unknown, amid the dash of the oar, and the merry songs of the boatmen : — and when we felt our own solitude in the midst of the teeming throng, — a cold sensation of horror has crept through the soul ; and the heart has wellnigh sunk and failed, through the overbear- ing impressions of sense, and the desponding weakness of faith. Gracious God ! have we exclaimed, how marvellous is the extent of thy long-suffering and forbearance ! What earthly monarch could, for a single hour, endure the thou- sand thousandth part of the indignities that are here daily offered to thy throne and Majesty, 0 thou King of kings ! And yet, thus it has been for ages ! Lord, how long will it continue to be! — Forever? No; no! When we look at the apparently unchanged past, and survey the apparently unchangeable present, the review and contemplation seem to sound the death-knell of hope, that would cradle us in black despair. But Avhen we glance at the future, as pourtrayed in the “ sure word of prophecy,” we there learn to realize the mystery of “ hoping against hope.” From these pol- luted waters of a turbid earthly stream, v/e turn the eye of faith to the waters of Gospel grace, which are seen, in the prophetic vision, to issue from under the threshold of the temple of Zion eastward. They swell and deepen into a

THE GODDESS KALI.

river. It is the river of life. Wherever it rolls, disease, barrenness, and death disappear. Within it every thing moves and is healed. Its banks also are shaded with trees, — they are trees of life, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof ever be consumed. Roll on, thou life-giving river ! In Judah’s land, on Calvary’s mount, where the great Redeemer sufiered, bled, and died, was thy fountain first opened. Roll on, thou life-giving river ! Long hast thou been in reaching this drearj' moral waste. But the time appointed, even the set time, is come. Now, roll on and overfiow the sterile wilderness with thy refreshing waters. Let life and health, verdure and beauty spring forth from thy gladdening presence — earnests of millenial glory — harbingers of celestial bliss !

Next to the annual festival of Durga, one of the most popular in Eastern India, is that of the Charak Pujah.

Strictly and properly, this festival is held in honour of Shiva, in his character of Malm Kola ; or time the great destroyer of all things. In this character, his personified energy or consort is Parvati, under the distinction and appropriate form of Maha Kali. In the annual festival held in honour of the former, the worship of the latter appears at all times to have been blended. And, in the lapse of ages, the female form of Kali has become a far more important and formidable personage, in the eyes of the multitude, than the male form of !Maha Kala ; and often engrosses more than a proportionate share of the homage and adoration of deluded worshippers. To save, therefore, the tediousness of circumlocution, and the intricacy of a perpetual double reference, we must confine ourselves to a brief notice of the goddess Kal% as connected with the celebration of the Charak Pujah.

It is proper, however, to state, that Brahmans, Kshattryas, and Vaishyas, take no active part in the actiml celebration of the rites peculiar to this festival. Most of them, how- ever, contribute largely towards the expense of it, and

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countenance the whole of the proceedings as applauding spectators ; though some of them, in words^ profess to dis- approve of many of the practices.

Of all the Hindu divinities, this goddess is the most cruel and revengeful. Such, according to some of the sacred legends, is her thirst for blood, that — being unable, in one of her forms, on a particular occasion, to procure any of the giants for her prey — in order to quench her savage appetite, she “ actually cut her own throat, that the blood issuing thence might spout into her mouth.” Of the goddess, — represented in the monstrous attitude of supporting her own half-severed head in the left hand, with streams of blood gushing from the throat into the mouth, — images may this day be seen in some districts of Bengal. The supreme delight of this divinity, therefore, consists in cruelty and tortiu’e ; her ambrosia is the flesh of living votaries and sacrificed victims ; and her sweetest nectar, the copious effusion of their blood.

The Kalika Purana, one of the divine writings, is chiefly devoted to a recital of the different modes of worshipping and appeasing this ferocious divinity. If, for example, a devotee should scorch some member of his body, by the ap- plication of a burning lamp, the act would prove most accep- table to the goddess. If he should draw some blood from himself, and present it, the libation would be still more delectable. If he should cut off a portion of his own flesh, and present it as a burnt sacrifice, the offering would be most grateful of all. If the devotee should present whole burnt- offerings upon the altar, saying, — “Hrang, bring. Kali, Kali ! — Oh ! horrid toothed goddess, eat, eat ; destroy all the ma- lignant ; cut with this axe ; bind, bind ; seize, seize ; drink this blood ; spheng, spheng ; secure, secure ! — Salutation to Kali ! ” — these will prove acceptable in proportion to the supposed importance of the animated beings sacrificed. By the blood drawn from fishes and tortoises the goddess is pleased one month ; — a crocodile’s blood will please her three ; that of certain wild animals nine ; that of a bull or a guana, a year : — an antelope’s or wild boar’s, twelve years ;

R

26G

THE GODDESS KALT.

a buffaloe’s, rhinoceros’, or tiger’s, a hundred ; a lion’s, a rein-deer’s, or a man’s (mark the combination), a thousand. But, by the blood of three men slain in sacrifice, she is pleased a hundred thousand years. Amid all the voluminous codes of Hinduism, there is not a section more loathsomely minute, more hideously revolting, than the sanguinary chap- ter devoted to the description of the rites and formularies to be observed at the sacrifice of human victims.

Under the native dynasties, it cannot be doubted that human sacrifices were very largely offered. And even now, when this species of sacrifice has been condemned and de- clared to be punishable as murder by the British Grovern- ment, clearly authenticated cases do still occasionally occur. During our own brief sojourn in Calcutta, a human victim was sacrificed at a temple of Kali in its immediate neigh- bourhood ; the sacrificer was seized by the officers of justice and capitally punished. About the same time, the Governor- General felt himself called upon to sti'ip a Kajah, in the east of Bengal, of his independent rights ; because, in direct vio- lation of existing treaties, he had carried off three British subjects to be offered in sacrifice to Kali !

‘•Indeed, this divinity is the avowed patroness of almost all the most atrocious outrages against the peace of society. Is there in India, as in other lands, a set of lawless men who, despising the fruits of honest industry, earn their livelihood by the plunder of their neighbours’ property ? At the hour of midnight, the gang of desperadoes will resort to some spot where is reared an image of Kali. There they engage in religious ceremonies, and there they offer bloody sacrifices to propitiate the favour and secure the protection of the goddess. Worshipping the instrument that is to cut through the wall of the house intended to be attacked, they address it in a prescribed form of words, saying, — “ O, instrument, formed by the goddess ! Kali commands thee to cut a pas- sage into the house ; to cut through stones, bones, bricks, wood, the earth, and mountains ; and cause the dust thereof to be carried away by the wind ! ” In full assurance of the divine blessing, and with unwavering faith in the divine pro-

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tection, they hasten to the execution of their nefarious de- signs. How must the very foundations of evert ordinary moral duties be swept away in a land where theft and plunder can be systematically carried on under the special patronage of the gods !

Again, is there in India, — as there is not, we believe, in any other land on the surface of the globe, — a still more lawless race of men ; — a close, compact, confederate frater- nity,— whose irresistible fate and hereditary profession it is, to subsist by murder ? These, too, well known under the name of Thugs, find a ready and potent protectress in Kali. To the divinely revealed will and command of this goddess, they universally ascribe their origin, their institutions, their social laws, and their ritual observances. Intense devotion to Kali is the mysterious link that unites them in a bond of brotherhood that is indissoluble ; and with a secrecy which, for generations, has eluded the efforts of successive govern- ments to detect them. It is under her special auspices that all their sanguinary depredations have been planned, pi’ose- cuted, and carried into execution. It is the thorough incor- poration of a feeling of assurance in her aid w'ith the entire framework of their mental and moral being, that has im- parted to their union all its strength and all its terror. In their sense of the term, they are of all men the most super- stitiously exact, the most devoutly religious, in the perfor- mance of divine worship. In honour of their guardian deity, there is a temple dedicated at Bindachul, near Mirzapur, to the north of Bengal. There, religious ceremonies are con- stantly performed ; and thousands of animals offered in sacri- fice. When a band of these leagued murderers, whose individuality and union have for ages been preserved in integrity, resolve to issue forth on their worse than maraud- ing expedition, deliberately intent on imbruing their hands in the blood of their fellows, they first betake themselves to the temple of the goddess ; present their prayers and suppli- cations and offerings there ; and vow, in the event of success, to consecrate to her service a large proportion of the booty. Should they not succeed — should they even be seized, con-

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victed, and condemned to die, — their confidence in Kali does not waver ; their faith does not stagger. They exonerate the goddess from all blame. They ascribe the cause of failure wholly to themselves. They assume all the guilt of having neglected some of the divinely prescribed forms. And they laugh to scorn the idea that any evil could possibly havo befallen them, had they been faithful in the observance of all the divinely appointed rules of their sanguinary craft. How must the chief corner-stone of ordinary morality be shaken, in a land where religion is so versatile as to throw the ample shield of Divine encouragement and reward over the most mnrderous banditti that ever appeared in human form !

If such be the general character of this goddess, what are you to expect of a festival held in honour of her lord, in his character as the great destroyer^ — a festival in which she, too, is adored, as his destructive energy ?

Most of the sectaries that embrace the form of ISIaha Kala, as their guardian deity — belonging chiefly to the class of Shudras — are busied for several days before the festival, with various initiatory ceremonies of purification, abstinence, and exercises of devotion. And those who wish to earn great merit on the occasion, are engaged in preparatory operations for a whole month.

The festival itself derives its name of Charak Pujah from chakra, a discus or wheel ; in allusion to the circle performed in the rite of swinging, which constitutes so very prominent a part of the anniversary observances. An upright pole, twenty or thirty feet in height, is planted in the ground. Across the top of it, moving freely on a pin or pivot, is placed horizontally another long pole. From one end of this transverse beam is a rope suspended, with two hooks affixed to it. To the other extremity is fastened another rope, which hangs loosely towards the ground. The devotee comes forward, and prostrates himself in the dust. The hooks are then run through the fleshy parts of his back, near the shoulders. A party, holding the rope at the other side, immediately begin to run round with considerable velocity.

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By this means the wretched dupe of superstition is hoisted aloft into the air, and violently whirled round and round. The torture he may continue to endure for a longer or shorter period, according to his own free-will. Only, this being reckoned one of the holiest of acts, the longer he can endure the torture, the greater the pleasure conveyed to the deity whom he serves ; the greater the portion of merit accruing to himself ; and, consequently, the brighter the prospect of future reward. The time usually occupied ave- rages from ten minutes to half an hour. And as soon as one has ended, another candidate is ready, — aspiring to earn the like merit and distinction. And thus on one tree from five to ten or fifteen may be swung in the course of a day. Of these swinging posts there are hundreds and thousands simultaneously in operation in the province of Bengal. They are always erected on the most conspicuous parts of the towns and villages, and are surrounded by vast crowds of noisy spectators. On the very streets of the native city of Calcutta, many of these horrid swings are annually to be seen, and scores around the suburbs. It not unfrequently happens that, from the extreme rapidity of the motion, the ligaments of the back give way, in which case the poor devotee is tossed to a distance, and dashed to pieces. A loud wail of commiseration, you now suppose, will be raised in behalf of the unhappy man who has thus fallen a martyr to his religious enthusiasm. No such thing ! Idolatry is cruel as the grave. Instead of sympathy or compassion, a feeling of detestation and abhorrence is excited towards him. By the principles of their faith he is adjudged to have been a desperate criminal in a former state of being ; and he has now met with this violent death, in the present birth, as a righteous retribution, on account of egregious sins committed in a former !

The evening of the same day is devoted to another prac- tice almost equally ci'uel. It consists in the devotees throw- ing themselves down from the top of a high wall, the second storey of a house, or a temporary scaffolding often twenty or thirty feet in height, upon iron spikes or knives that are

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thickly stuck in a large bag or mattress of straw. But these sharp instruments being lixed rather loosely, and in a posi- tion sloping forward, the greater part of the thousands that fall upon them dexterously contrive to escape without serious damage. Many, however, are often cruelly mangled and lacerated ; and in the case of some, the issue proves speedily fatal.

At night, numbers of the devotees sit down in the open air, and pierce the skin of their foreheads ; and in it, as a socket, place a small rod of iron, to which is suspended a lamp, that is kept burning till the dawn of day, while the lamp-bearers rehearse the praises of their favourite deity.

Again, before the temple, bundles of thorns and other fire-wood are accumulated, among which the devotees roll themselves uncovered. The materials are next raised into a pile, and set on fire. Then the devotees briskly dance over the blazing embers, and fling them into the air with their naked hands, or toss them at one another.

Some have their breasts, arms, and other parts, stuck entirely full of pins, about the “ thickness of small nails, or packing needles.” Others betake themselves to a vertical wheel, twenty or thirty feet in diameter, and raised consi- derably above the ground. They bind themselves to the outer rim, in a sitting posture, so that, when the wheel rolls round, their heads point alternately to the zenith and the nadir.

But it were endless to pursue the diversity of these self- inflicted cruelties into all their details. There is one, how- ever, of so very singular a character, that it must not be left unnoticed. If the problem were proposed to any mem- ber of our own community to contrive some other distinct species of torture, — amid the boundless variety which the most fertile imagination might figure to itself, probably the one now to be described would not be found. Some of these deluded votaries enter into a vow. With one hand they cover their under lips with a layer of wet earth or mud ; on this, with the other hand, they deposit some small grains usually of mustard-seed. They then stretch themselves flat

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on their backs, — exposed to the dripping dews of night, and the blazing sun by day. And their vow is, that from that fixed position they will not stir, — will neither move, nor turn, nor eat, nor drink, — till the seeds planted on the lips begin to sprout or germinate. This vegetable process usually takes place on the third or fourth day ; after which, being released from the vow, they arise, as they doatingly imagine and believe, laden with a vast accession of holiness and supererogatory merit.

Methinks, some one is heard incredulously whispering, “ Can these things really be so ? or are they traveller’s tales, or, at least, the incoherent fictions of a distempered imagina- tion ? When persons leave the shores of civilization, and, crossing the vast ocean, come in contact with outlandish scenes, outlandish manners, and still more outlandish men, their judgments are apt to get bewildered ; and their fan- cies run riot, as if borne away on the wings of an unbridled Pegasus ; — more especially, if they are seized with a slight craze of fanaticism, they cannot but see all things through a discoloured and magnifying medium ; and, being deceived themselves, it may be thought, without any impeachment to their honesty, that they undesignedly lead others astray with their extravagant statements and exaggerated representa- tions.” It is to repel, by anticipation, such unworthy and unfounded insinuations, that we have purposely rendered some of the preceding details so minute and specific. For where are the practices now described to be witnessed ? Not among barbarous hordes that roam over deserts untrodden by the foot of civilized man ; or wander by the tangled margin of rivers unknown to song. No ; but among the existing remnants of the most ancient civilization on the face of the globe ! — in the very midst of hundreds and thousands of professing Christians ! — in the heart of the metropolis of the richest, the fairest, and the mightiest province of the British empire ! — and under the very eye of the vice-regal repre- sentative of the Protestant Sovereign of these realms !

But the account of the Cliarak Pujali is not yet ended.

On the morning of the great day of the feast, all the

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multitudes crowd to the temples of Shiva, or Kali. Now, it happens, that in the immediate vicinity of Calcutta, there is one of the largest and most celebrated of the temples of Kali. The source of its celebrity is to be traced to a wild legend, embodied in one of the sacred Shastras ; and, as the rehearsal of it is on the lips of thousands and tens of thousands on the great day when they proceed in masses to worship at the shrine, it may be proper to present it here in an abridged form.

It may be remembered, that, according to their mythologic system, the active energy of the Supreme Brahra became personified under a female form, and that this goddess divided, or rather multiplied herself into three, for the pur- pose of marrying Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. As the con- sort of the last of these, she became known under the name of Parvati. But contradictions the most irreconcileable pervade all the parts of Hindu mythology. Fable rises upon fable, and legend upon legend, with singular profusion and rapidity, — each pretending to the lofty character of in- spired truth, and yet each at such open war in many vital points with the preceding, that no ingenuity can reduce the misshapen mass into a form of a continuous or consistent narrative.

In the present instance, the sacred legend thus pro- ceeds : —

Brahma, it would appear, in his earthly form or incarna- tion of Daksha, had a daughter named Sati, who was given in marriage to Shiva. On one occasion a quarrel arose be- tween Daksha and Shiva. The former then refused to invite his son-in-law' to a splendid banquet which he re- solved to give in honour of the immortals. To this insulting slight he also added the foulest reproach, — stigmatizing Shiva as a wandering mendicant, a delighter in cemeteries, and a bearer of skulls. On hearing her husband thus re- viled, Sati, overwhelmed with grief and sorrow, hastily returned to the banks of the Ganges, and there determined to yield up her life “ on the altar of domestic affliction.” Thi.s, we may remark in passing, is the divine example con-

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sfcantly held forth for imitation to poor widows ; who are greatly stimulated thereby to become Satis, or Suttees, by sacrificing themselves on the funeral piles of their husbands. Shiva, on observing the lifeless form of his spouse, became quite distracted. In the bitterness of his anguish, he thrust his trident through the dead body, and lifting it in the air, commenced dancing about in the most frantic manner. By the violence of his aerial motions, the three worlds w'ere shaken to the foundations. Gods and men were filled with alarm. Vishnu, the Preserver, hastened to arrest the threatened catastrophe. Shedding tears of sympathy, he endeavoured to console the phrenzied husband, by remind- ing him that “ nothing was real in this world, but that every thing was altogether maya, or illusion.” But Shiva’s grief was too poignant to yield to any consolation based on a cold metaphysical abstraction. As he continued to I’eel in agony, he burst into a flood of tears ; and these, uniting with the sympathetic tears of Vishnu, formed a capacious lake, which afterwards became a celebrated place of pil- grimage. Still he was utterly inconsolable. At length the Preserver shrewdly conjectured, that were the object of his grief removed out of view, calmness would be restored to his agitated soul. Accordingly, armed with a scimitar, he con- tinued, as the body was whirling round, to cut off one limb after the other. The different members, as they were suc- cessively severed — from the projectile force impressed on them by Shiva’s violent movement — were scattered to dif- ferent and distant parts of the earth. In the excess of his distraction, the bereaved husband discovered not his loss, till the whole body had disappeared. His grief was then assuaged, and the universe delivered from impending destruc- tion. Soon afterwards his beloved Sati reappeared, but in a new form ; announcing that she had happily been born again, as the daughter of Himavan or Himalaya, the ruler of mountains. In this form she became known as Parvati (from Parva, the ordinary term for mountain) — the insepar- able companion of Shiva.

In the meanwhile, the scattered fragments of Sati s body

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— amounting together with the ornaments to the exact num- ber of fifty-one — conferred peculiar sanctity on the places where they happened to fall. All of these were consecrated as repositories of the divine remains ; and adoration there became an act of extraordinary merit. At each, a temple was reared and dedicated to the goddess ; and in it was placed an image representing one or other of her thousand forms ; — along with an image of her husband Shiva, under the designation of Bhairob, or fear-inspirer ; in which capa- city he acts as guardian or protector of the place ; and is always worshipped at the same time with his spouse.

The toes of the right foot of the goddess are said to have fallen a little to the south of Calcutta, on the banks of one of the cross branches of the Ganges, — supposed to have been once the channel of the main stream itself. There they were buried in the earth, unsubjected to coiTuption or de- cay. The sacred spot, though illumined with beams of resplendent light, remained for ages undiscovered in the deepest recess of the forest. At length, in the vision of a dream, the site was made known by the goddess herself to a holy Brahman. Moved and directed by the heavenly oracle, he lost no time in raising a temple over the divine deposit. The temple, by express revelation, was dedicated to the goddess under her form of Kali ; and has ever since been famed under the designation of Kali-Ghat.

To the south of Calcutta is a spacious level plain, between two and three miles in length ; and a mile, or a mile and arhalf in breadth. On the west it is washed by the sacred Ganges ; on whose margin, about the middle of the plain, Fort-William rears it ramparts and battlements. Along the north is a magnificent range of buildings, — the Supreme Court, the Town Hall, with other public edifices, — and, in the centre, most conspicuous of all, the arcades, and columns, and lofty dome of Government House. Along the whole of the eastern side, at short intervals, is a succession of palace-like mansions, — occupied as the abodes of the more opulent of the European residents. In front of this range facing the west, — and, between it, therefore, and the plain.

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is the broadest and most airy street in Calcutta, well known under the name of Ohowringhee. Chiefly to the north of the plain, and partly to the east, beyond the ranges of European offices and residences, lies the native city, — stretching its intricate mass of narrow lanes and red brick houses, and “ hive-like ” bambu huts, over an extent of many miles, — and teeming with /lalf a million of human beings ! At a short distance from the south-east corner of the plain, across a narrow belt of low suburban cottages, lies the cele- brated temple of Kali-Grhat. The grand direct thoroughfare towards it from the native city, is along the Chowringhee road.

Thither, early before sunrise, on the morning of the great day of the Charak festival, we once hastened to witness the extraordinary spectacle. After a brief twilight, the first rays of the sun suddenly darted from the clear horizon, as if vio- lently shot from some heavenly artillery. Rejoicing like a strong man to run his race, the glorious luminary soon shone down from the serene and cloudless sky, with a glare of unmitigated brightness ; as if consciously designing by the contrast of light and purity and peace above, to heighten and aggravate the turmoil and confusion and horror of the dark scene below.

From all the lanes and alleys leading from the native city, multitudes were pouring into the Chowringhee road, which seemed at every point to symbolize the meeting of the waters, — realizing through its entire length, the image of a mighty confluence of innumerable living streams. The mere spec- tators could easily be distinguished from the special devotees. The former were seen standing, or walking along with eager gaze ; arrayed in their gayest holiday dress ; exhibiting every combination and variety of the snow-white garb, and tinsel glitter of Oriental costume. The latter came marching for- ward in small isolated groups, — each group averaging in number from half-a-dozen to twelve or fifteen, — and con- stituted somewhat after this manner : — Most of the party have their loose robes and foreheads plentifully besprinkled with vermilion or rose pink. Two or three of them are decked in speckled or party-coloured garments ; uttering

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ludicrous unmeaning sounds ; and playing off all sorts of antique gestures, not unlike the merry-andrews on the stage of a country fair. Two or three, with garlands of flowers hanging about their neck, or tied round the head, have their sides transpierced with iron rods, which project in front, and meet at an angular point, to which is affixed a small vessel in the form of a shovel. Two or three, covered with ashes, carry in their hands iron spits or rods of different lengths, small bambu canes or hukah tubes, hard twisted cords or living snakes, whose fangs had been extracted, — bending their limbs into unsightly attitudes, and chaunting legendary songs. Two or three more are the bearers of musical instruments — horned trumpets, gongs, tinkling cym- bals, and large hoarse drums surmounted with towering bunches of black and white ostrich feathers, which keep waving and nodding not unlike the heaving sombre plumes of a hearse, — and all of them belaboured as furiously as if the impression were, that the louder the noise and the more discordant the notes, the better and more charming the music. Thus variously constituted, the groups of devotees were proceeding along. On looking behind, one group was seen following after another as far as the eye could reach : — on looking before, one group was seen preceding another as far as the eye could reach, like wave after wave, in inter- minable succession.

Besides these groups of worshippers, who ai*e reckoned pre-eminent in holiness and merit, there are others that ad- vance in processions, — bearing various pageants, flags, ban- ners, models of temples, images of gods, and other mytho- logical figures, with portable stages on which men and women are engaged in ridiculous and often worse than ridiculous pantomimic performances. Hundreds of these processions spread over the southern side of the plain, presenting a spec- tacle so vast and varied, so singular and picturesque, that the pencil of the most skilful artist would not be dishonoured if it failed in adequately representing it.

At the extremity of Chowringhee, the road towards the temple narrows considerably. The throng is now so dense

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that one is literally carried along. On approaching the pre- cincts of the sacred shrine, it is found surrounded by a court and high wall. After entering the principal gate, which is on the western side, the temple itself starts up full in view. To the south of it is a spacious open hall or portico, elevated several feet above the ground, and surrounded by a flight of steps — above which rise a range of pillars that support the roof. Between the portico and the temple is a narrow path- way, along which the stream of spectators was flowing ; while the groups of the devotees marched round the side farthest from the temple. Being of the number of the spec- tators, we mingled with the teeming throng that pressed on with maddening phrenzy to obtain a glimpse of the idol. Here one and another would start aside and knock their heads against the temple wall, or brick pavement, mutter- ing incantations to command the attention and attract the favour of the goddess. It may here be noticed in passing, that a temple in India is not, like a Christian church, a place for the disciples to assemble in and engage in reason- able worship. No : It is ordinarily designed as merely a

receptacle for the senseless block of the idol, and a com- pany of Brahmans, as its guardian attendants ! Hence, as there is not much occasion for light, there are few or no windows. The light of day is usually admitted only by the front door, when thrown wide open. Darkness is thus com- mingled with light in the idol cell ; and tends to add to the mysteriousness of the scene. The multitudes all congregate without ; but there is no preaching in their “ halls of con- vocation,”— no devotional exercises to raise the soul on the wings of heavenly contemplation, — no insti’uctions in the knowledge of the true God, or the plan of a complete sal- vation,— no inculcation of motives to lead to the forsaking of sin, — no animated exhortations to the cultivation of vir- tue and piety : — all, all is one unchanging round of sacrifice and ceremony ; of cruelty, and sport, and lifeless form.

Standing immediately opposite the temple gate, we saw on either side stationed, as usual, a party of Brahmans to receive the proffered gifts. On one side lay a heap of flowers that

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had been consecrated by being carried within and presented to the goddess. On the other side, a large heap of money, — copper, and silver, and gold, — that had been contributed as free-will offerings. To the spectators, as they passed along, the Brahmans were presenting consecrated flowers, which were eagerly carried off as precious relics, — and, in exchange for them, the joyous votaries threw down what money they possessed. And this they did as profusely, as it was assuredly done cheerfully and without a grudge. Ah ! here again were we painfully reminded of the state of things as regards liherality on 'principle in Christian lands. What a contrast to our meagre and half-extorted contributions in the cause of Christian benevolence, was presented by the spectacle at the temple of Kali-Ghat ! What ! was one led to exclaim, — AVhat ! — is it really so, that error is fraught with a mightier charm than truth ? — that a foul and sanguin- ary superstition can operate on the soul more effectually than the benign religion of heaven ? — that ignorance is more . powerful than divine knowledge ? — that heathenish custom is superior in efficacy to enlightened principle ? — and that //the fear of a dumb idol can exert a more potent influence than the love of a bleeding, dying Saviour ? Ah, if this be so, what can our inference be, except that amongst us, almost every one ought to bear about him a frontlet between his eyes, inscribed with the motto, “ profession not principle ?” — and that almost all, having a name to live, are nevertheless dead in spiritual letharg}' and slumber, and deaf to the most sacred claims of duty towards God and man !

And one’s wonder could not be diminished, when he looked within the temple ; and, in the midst of the “ darkness visi- ble,” beheld the horrid block of the idol that had succeeded in conquering men’s selfishness, and in turning the stagnant pool of grasping covetousness into a running stream of lavish liberality. The figure within this temple is, in several of its parts, for what reason we know not, somewhat incomplete ; but it is still sufficiently frightful and hideous. In the sacred legends, the goddess is constantly described, and,

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in the thousands of images that are annually made of her, she is almost uniformly delineated as a female of black, or dark blue complexion, dancing savagely on the body of her own husband. She is represented with four arms ; — having in one an exterminating sword, and in another a human head held fast by the hair ; a third points downwards, “ indicating the destruction that surrounds her,” and the fourth is raised upwards, “ in allusion to the future regeneration of nature by a new creation.” She is represented with wild dishevelled hair, reaching to her feet. Her countenance is most feroci- ous. Her tongue protrudes from a distorted mouth, and hangs over the chin. She has three eyes, red and fiery, one . of which glares in her forehead. Her lips and eye-brows are streaked with blood, and a crimson torrent is streaming down her breast. She has ear-rings in her ears, — but what are they ? — they are the carcasses of some hapless victims of her fury. She has a girdle round the waste, — but what is it ? — it is a girdle of bloody hands, said to have been cut off the wounded bodies of her prostrate foes. She has a necklace round the neck, — but what is it ? — it is a necklace of ghastly skulls, said to have been cut off the thousands of giants and others slain in her battles ! And such is the monster-divinity who, on that day, calls forth the shouts, and acclamations, and free-will offerings of myriads of ador- ing worshippers !

Passing now to the eastern side of the court, we soon saw what the groups of devotees were to be engaged in. Towards the wall, there were stationed several blacksmiths, with sharp instruments in their hands. Those of a particu- lar group, that carried the rods, canes, and other implements, now came forward. One would stretch out his side, and getting it instantly pierced through, — in would pass one of his rods or canes. Another would hold out his arm, and getting it perforated, — in would pass one of his iron spits or tubes. A third would protrude his tongue, and getting it, too, bored through, — in would pass one of his cords or ser- pents. And thus, all of a group that desired it, had them- selves variously transpierced or perforated. When these

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had finished, — another group was waiting in readiness to undergo the cruel operation ; — and so, another and another, apparently without end.

Several groups then returning, mounted the steps of the portico in front of the temple, to prepare for their most solemn act of worship. But, oh, how’ impotent must human language ever be in the attempt to convey an adequate impression of the scene that followed !

Those of the different groups that carried in front the ves- sels already referred to, now ranged themselves all around the interior of the colonade. All the rest assembled them- selves within this living circle. On a sudden, at a signal given, commenced the bleating and the lowing and the strug- gling of animals slaughtered in sacrifice, at the farthest end of the portico ; and speedily w^as the ground made to sw'im with sacrificial blood. At the same moment of time, the vessel-carriers threw upon the burning coals in their vessels handfuls of Indian pitch, composed of various com- bustible substances. — Instantly ascended the smoke, and the flame, and the sulphureous smell. Those w'ho had the musical instruments sent forth their loud and jarring and discordant sounds. And those wdio were transpierced began dancing in the most frantic manner, — pulling backwards and forwards through their wounded members the rods and the canes, the spits and the tubes, the cords and the wTithing serpents, till their bodies seemed streaming wfith their own blood ! All this was carried on simultaneously ; — and that, too, within a briefer period of time than has now been occu- pied in the feeble and inadequate attempt to describe it ! Again and again would the loud shouts ascend from the thousands of applauding spectators — shouts of “ Victory to Kali ! Victory to the great Kali !”

Oh, as we gazed at the harrowing spectacle, how was the soul, by the resistless force of contrast, hurried away to more highly favoured climes ! Yes, — standing though we were at the distance of fifteen thousand miles from our native land, how did the soul, with lightning speed, flee across intervening oceans and continents ! — and, in the

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chambers of imagery, revive and realize the visions of other davs ! When we thought of the land of our fathers — that happiest of lands, if it only knew its own happiness ! — that hallowed land of Sabbaths and Sabbath observances : — when we recalled to remembrance the solemn stillness of a Sab- bath morn ; — how the murmuring noises of the crowded city are hushed, and silence spreads her sober mantle over the reposing landscape ; — how, at the sound of the church bell, the city gates pour forth their multitudes, and the country hamlets their groups of simple-hearted peasantry ; — how all go up with joyous expectation to the courts of God’s house ; there to hold communion with the great I Am, and the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, and the Holy Spirit that enkindles with the fervour of Divine love ; — how they join with sweet melody of heart in the voice of praise and thanksgiving ; and listen with breathless earnest- ness to the soul-ravishing message of infinite mercy and redeeming love ; — how they peacefully retire, with calm serenity diffused over the countenance, to the secret chamber of meditation and heaven-aspiring prayer ; — and how each household patriarch, assembling all the members around the family altar, opens anew the book of life ; distributes, in suitable fragments, the heavenly manna ; and finally com- mends one and all to the care and guardianship of that God who has led his fathers through the weary pilgrimage of this life, and has engaged by covenant-promise to be the God of his children still ! Ah, when these fondly remem- bered observances of a Christian Sabbath in our native land rose so vividly before the mental eye, in pi’esence of the abominable exhibitions of a heathen festival ; and when we contrasted the pure, peaceful, soul-elevating exercises of the former, with the scene of infernal revelries then before our view ; — how could we help exclaiming ? — Surely, if the former be a fit emblem and harbinger of that eternal Sab- bath which rolls over heaven’s bright inhabitants ; this other scene must be an emblem and harbinger of the restless tossings of the burning lake ! And, oh, is it possible that if British Christians were transported thither to gaze, but for

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a single moment, on such a master triumph of Satanic delu- sion,— is it conceivable that they could give sleep to their eyes or slumber to their eyelids, till they entered a vow in heaven to do all that in them lay to demolish such a hideous fabric of idolatry and superstition, and rear the beauteous •temple of Christianity upon the ruins ?

In conclusion, therefore, we would, with our whole heart and strength and soul, call upon all who profess to be dis- ciples of the Lord Jesus, to come forward now “to the help of the Lord, — to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” We call upon you by that wondrous scheme for the redemp- tion of a ruined world, which from all eternity engaged the counsels of the Godhead, to compassionate the poor dying perishing heathen ; — not to allow the Prince of darkness any longer to trample on his miserable victims without con- trol, or drag them as unresisting captives along the broad road that leadeth to perdition. We call upon you by the miseries of earth, the torments of hell, the joys of heaven ; by all that the Saviour has done and suffered, in His vica- rious obedience and agony and bloody sweat, — to come forth now and be instrumental in erecting the standard of the Cross on the downfall of the crescent and the ruins of Pagan- ism ; — and thus to snatch from the regions of woe the souls of many who may be fitted to sing the praises of Jehovah and the Lamb ! We call upon you, by your own eternal destiny, not to allow the fountain of Divine benevolence, once opened on the hill of Calvary, to remain there from age to age shut up and sealed, — a mere spectacle of solitary and useless and barren grandeur. — But come now, and draw therefrom in copious streams ; replenish your reservoirs ; fertilize the soil ; — and thus produce a rich harvest of fruit, which — when the earth and all the works therein are burnt up, and the visible heavens are no more — will increase in beauty, and flourish for ever on the shores of a blissful immortality !

CHAPTER IV.

THE GOSPEL THE ONLY EFFECTUAL INSTRUMENT IN REGENERATING

INDIA GENERAL CONSIDERATION OF THE AGENCY TO BE EMPLOYED

IN ITS PROPAGATION.

Various expedients proposed for remedying the evils under which India has for ages groaned — Some of these brief y reviewed — The Scheme of Political Reform — The Scheme of Economic Reform — The Scheme of Secular Education Reform — The Scheme of Temporizing Religious Reform — All these nugatory — The Gos- pel the only effectual instrument of genuine Reformation — Rlus- tration of this — The practical question proposed^ How^ or by what means is the Gospel to be most successfully propagated ? — Quota- tion from the Author of the Natural History of Enthusiasm — The three generic measures, Christian Education of the Young, Preach- ing to the Adults, and the Circulation of the Bible — These not an- tagonists, but mutual friends and allies — In reference to Education, the practical question considered. Whether is it better at the outset, to pursue the direct method of attempting at once to impart a general elementary knowledge to the many, or the indirect method of attempting to reach the many through the instrumentality of the instructed few ? — In reference to Preaching, the great practi- cal question considered. Who ought to be the Preachers? — General reasons adduced to prove that they ought to be natives — The in- adequate supply of existing Missionary stations — Prodigious dis- proportion between the number of labourers and the extent of the field — Occasional itineracy a very inefficient means of evangeliza- tion— Different causes of this pointed out — Superiority of the localizing system — Other arguments, besides the numerical one, in favour of an extensive native agency — The diminution of expense — The necessity of the mode of life being such as to bring a holy example fully to bear upon the people — The necessity of a familiar acquaintance with the tones and idioms of speech ; the manners.

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habits, and prevalent modes of thinking — Natives, the real reformers of their own country — How qualified natives are to be raised — Objections to Education Institutions in connection with the 3Iis- sionary enterprise considered — That 3Iissionaries are thereby converted into Teachers, Professors, and Lecturers, instead of being Preachers — That the scheme is different from that which was blessed with a Pentacostal effusion — That it is contrary to Apos- tolic example — This allegation examined at length in its various bearings — Circulation of the Bible — Question considered as to the amount of good to be expected from the written Word in the absence of the living voice to direct attention towards it — To raise up a native agency ought to be not a secondary, but a primary object, in conducting the 3Iissionary enterprise — Happy day for India, when, through the instrumentality of the Educational and other means employed, qualified natives shall becorne the Christian teachers, preachers, and translators to their countrymen !

Suppose the vital pulse of a nation to be for ages animated, its internal spring and life for ages saturated and leavened with the spirit of such a system as that of Hinduism, — a system which, by confounding the creature with the Creator, tends to annihilate the very feeling of moral responsibility, or, if conscience will speak out, points to a scheme by which man may practically assume to himself the merit of all that is good, and attribute to Deity the demerit of all that is evil ; — Suppose the external form and manifestation of a nation’s life to be for ages cast into the mould of those countless observances which are the spontaneous growth and product of such a system as that of Hinduism, — observances, beneath the shelter of whose divine sanction or divinely appointed expiations there is no act of lying or deceit, fraud or dis- honesty, vice or immorality, theft or plunder, devastation or bloodshed, which may not be perpetrated with a free and fearless impunity as to future retribution : — Suppose a nation to be for ages so Inwardly saturated, and so outwardly moulded, w'hat could we expect to find as the resulting con- dition of the myriads of its people I — What could we possibly expect, unless a condition the most degraded and demo- ralized, the most wretched and miserable ? And is not

THE SCHEME OF POLITICAL REFORM.

285

this, by universal consent, the present condition of the millions of India ?

Suppose, next, salvation and eternity were for the mo- ment kept out of view ; — suppose our consideration were wholly limited to the narrow span of time, and it were simply asked. How is the temporal estate of India’s teeming popu- lation to be ameliorated, — their personal, domestic, and social happiness to be augmented, — their individual and national character to be elevated and improved? What must be the soundest and most enlightened reply ?

In the endeavour to return a practical response to such a question, the men of this world are not slow in propounding their varied specifics. Those who attribute most of the evils to the influence of a grinding despotism tell us, that the establishment of a representative government and free insti- tutions— the investiture of the great body of the people with municipal rights and political privileges — would, by achiev- ing their emancipation from a tyrannical yoke, raise them in the scale of civilization, comfort, and earthly felicity. What enlightened mind is not ready to acknowledge such a gov- ernment and institutions, such rights and privileges, to be among the greatest of temporal blessings — and productive of the greatest temporal good ? But does not all experience prove that these must be the effects^ — the results of something antecedent^ — ere they can become the causes of any real and lasting conseqiient good? — For what are the institutions and privileges in question ? — What, but the visible forms in which certain previously excogitated opinions and cherished principles are embodied ? — What, but the external organs for the full manifestation and developement of tliese prin- ciples and opinions? To attempt, therefore, to regenerate a people, by bestowing upon them free institutions at the very outset, — when as yet they are literally steeped in the very slough of bondage intellectual, moral, and religious, indi- vidual, social, and political, — is surely to hegln at the wrong end. It is to confer forms that are the sensible vehicles of principles and opinions totally alien from those which ages have rendered inveterate ! It is to bestow physical

286

THE SCHEME OF ECONOMIC REFORM.

organs adapted and designed to manifest’ principles and opinions absolutely diverse from those which immemorial usage has tended to consecrate. What is this but to at- tempt to convey to an infant the strength of a giant, by forcing into its hands the club of Hercules ? — or to impart to a fool the wisdom of a philosopher, by investing him with an Academician’s gown ? — or to convert an Icelandic waste into a tropical garden, by suddenly transplanting into it the saplings of palmiras and tamarinds ? Incongruous and abortive attempts ! First, convey to the infant the giant’s strength, — and the new-born vigour will spontaneously ex- hibit itself in seeking for the giant’s weapons. Impart to the fool the intellectual energy of the philosopher, — and this rare endowment will spontaneously develope itself through the medium of appropriate external sjanbols. Communicate to the sterile waste the heat and moisture of a tropical clime, — and these vivifying powers will spon- taneously manifest themselves in the most luxuriant pro- duce. In like manner, imbue the mind of an enslaved people with the true spirit, the true genius, the true senti- ment of rational freedom, — and these will speedily manifest their inherent power by shaking off, like old fashioned and worn out garments, the positive forms and organs of an oppressive despotism ; and, at one and the same time, cloth- ing themselves in the representative forms, and developing themselves through the congenial organs of a free constitu- tion,— with its equitable sanctions, rights, privileges, and laws.

Others, — convinced of the impossibility of effecting, and the consequent mockery of pretending to effect, the regene- ration of an utterly ignorant and depraved populace by any merely political expedients, — have recourse to the plans and projects of the Economists. The impoverished and famished condition of the people, say they, is the originating cause of most of their miseries. Only increase their wealth, their capital, or the means of personal comfort and refinement, —

THE SCHEME OF ECONOMIC REFORM.

287

and you will render them happy and flourishing. In order to this, there must be a diminution of the land tax and other public burdens ; — there must be the introduction of an enlightened system of commerce ; — there must be a skil- ful developement of the internal resources of the country ; — there must be the application of machinery to the varied products of a soil exhaustless in its fertility ; — there must be increased facilities for communication and exchange, by the construction of roads and railways, canals and bridges. Now, all this is very good, excellent, and praiseworthy, so far as it goes. What philanthropist would not rejoice to promote any plan which promised to effect the alleviation of human suffering — the augmentation of human bliss ? But, in the present circumstances of India, is not such a scheme of economical reform, equally with that of political reform, — when proposed as the primary antecedent measure, — obnoxious to the grand objection of beginning at the end instead of the beginning ? Or, even if it were not, how would its most unbounded success secure the great ultimate end in view, viz., the real prosperity and permanent happiness of the people ? Suppose the wealth of every individual, — from the humble occupant of a bambu hut, to the lordly proprietor of a marble palace, — were increased tenfold, or a hundred- fold, what influence, inunediate and controlling, would mere affluence exert in bridling passion, extirpating vice, demo- lishing superstition ? Rather, while the mind and morals of the people remained unreclaimed, would not the inevitable tendency of an increase of wealth be, to open up an enlarged sphere for the indulgence of every wayward desire and propensity of corrupt nature ? While the spirit of Hindu- ism remained in its entireness, would not an ampler scope be afforded for the manifestation of its baneful power \ The enhanced profits of the lower orders, instead of being trans- ferred to the public treasury, would go to swell their offerings to priests and idols. The larger revenues of the noble and the powerful, instead of being applied to develope the bound- less capabilities of the soil, would be expended in throwing new splendour over the celebration of rites and festivals :

28S THE SCHEME OF SECULAR EDUCATION REFORM.

which might minister to their pride and love of fame in this life, and hold out the prospect of raising them to the enjoy- ments of a higher heaven in the next. The improved re- sources of the Brahmans, instead of being appropriated to real enlightenment of the popular mind, would be lavished in restoring and multiplying those purely scholastic semi- naries and idolatrous fanes and other establishments, — so well calculated to command the reverence, to rivet the mind and heart, to engross the passions and interests, and to enstamp the manners and customs of a sensuous apathetic imaginative people. The improved facilities of intercom- munion between the different provinces would only tend greatly to augment the number, and prolong the period, of meritorious pilgrimages to distant shrines and other holy places. In this way, every additional increment to mere wealth, instead of insuring a harvest of reformation and enduring prosperity, might only enlarge the springheads of that general corruption which must ever terminate in con- fusion and ruin. Chains of iron might, for a while, be con- verted into chains of gold, but the people would be manacled and miserable still ; — and only the more hopelessly miser- able, inasmuch as the road to destruction would be strewn with more alluring, though not less illusive fascinations.

Persuaded that if men be vicious and depraved, mere wealth would either leave them unchanged for the better, or make them more vicious and depraved than before, numbers have risen up to assert that something more is indispensable. Ignorance, say they, ignorance of the laws of nature and of all true science is the main source of vice and unhappiness. Only give men knowledge, — useful scientific knowledge, — and you will enlighten, reclaim, and elevate them to a new platform of earthly bliss. As if the wisdom of this world were resolved as long as possible to pass by the only efficacious instrmnent, morals and religion have been ex- cluded from this reforming scheme ! And since both in India and in Britain it has found the ablest advocates,

EFFECTS OF KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT RELIGION. 289

it is well to consider its peculiar adaptation to the end in view.

How often have we heard of the streams of “ useful know- ledge” flowing through the land, and fertilizing the intellects of the people into a rich harvest of reason and intelligence. Yea, after the manner and amplitude of Oriental hyperbole, how often have we heard this knowledge compared to a mighty ocean which has already begun, and is finally destined to encompass the whole world of intellectual being? Well, granting for a moment to the adorers of knowledge their very heart’s desire, might we not, for their special edifica- tion, push their own parallel into a few particulars ? Modern knowledge, say they, is like the great ocean, seen to roll its waters on every shore ! What then ? — and if, like the great ocean, it has its serviceable tides, may it not have its de- structive inundations too ? If, like the great ocean, it has its depths profound, may it not have its straits and shallows too ? If, like the great ocean, it has its roads and havens, may it not have its rocks and quicksands too ? • If, like the great ocean, it has its gales and gentle breezes, may it not have its storms and tempests too ?

But are we left to mere hypotheses on this subject ? No. Let us then briefly advert to the mode in which human know- ledge without religion does, in point of fact, usually operate. Experience amply testifies that every where the heart of man is naturally proud and selfish ; his intellect dark and degraded. And wdiile selfishness leads him to convert his own progress in any branch of knowledge into a test of its superior excellence, the degradation of his intellect slavishly binds him to the exclusive pursuit of that which is merely natural ,• having no spontaneous relish for those sublimer spiritual truths that specially concern the interests of eter- nity. This knowledge, however, from its variety, seizes, and from its adaptation to the natural intellect, fills all the avenues of the soul. Hence, the man who is much occupied with his favourite theme, soon becoming enamoured of it, gradually attains to proficiency ; and, at last, succeeds in acquiring a reputation for learning and wisdom. This, very

290 EFFECTS OF KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT RELIGION.

naturally, redoubles his zeal and his diligence. As he pro- ceeds, his intellect grows in strength ; and becomes I’am- pant with confidence. It exults in detecting the weaknesses and failures of others ; it glories in its own acquirements and achievements ; it trusts implicitly to its own sagacity, and relies exclusively on its own resources ; it is fiUed with self-sufficiency, and swoln with self-conceit ; — and, as the very frequency with which it may have formed theories and pictures of morality and religion, too often renders it insen- sible to the practical obligations of both, it soon acknow- ledges no master, — pronounces its own light to be sufficient, — scorning to yield reverence even to the High and Holy One ; who alone is Light, and Truth, and Life, and Goodness. Every unsanctified intellect thus becomes a tyrant ; every master intellect a master tyrant. The more splendid the talents, the deeper the shades that are cast on a nature already, alas, very dark and very depraved ! The more towering the genius, the more tremendous the engine for spreading devastation through the empire of truth and order, godliness and sobriety !

Now, when many are so trained, so disciplined, and so prepared, society — like the luxuriant but deceitful verdure that clothes the precincts of the volcano — has attained to its state of greatest external brilliancy and internal decay ; — and the elements that long slumbered, only to accumulate the greater strength, must at length burst forth in desolat- ing fnry. All bonds are broken ; all obligations dissolved ; all rights abolished ; all government subverted ; and all things sacred and profane trampled under foot by a tyranny that is merciless, just in proportion to the light, and know- ledge, and power of the unsanctified intellect.

Is this an imaginary picture ? Would to God that it were ! Unless all history be a riddle, and its lessons the visions of a dreamer, this, in the present corrupt state of human nature, is a portraiture of the inevitable tendency of all unsanctified knowledge — a tendency, to which the ex- perience of ages bears its unimpeachable testimony. But why I'efer to past ages ? Why not to the events of our own

EFFECTS OF KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT RELIGION.

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day? — and amongst these, why not to the most terrible exemplification of the tendency and effects of hioidedge without religion^ recorded in the annals of all time ! Some of the original founders of the modern French philosophy, about the middle of last century, were, beyond all debate, in their own sense of the term, philanthropists. For, was not theirs a system, which, without the aid of religion at all, accord- ing to their own calculation, was to regenerate the world \ Before their system, was not barbarism every where to give place to civilization — preponderant rights to equality — and tyranny to liberty? Was not truth, so long buried beneath the rubbish of centuries of ignorance and error, to experi- ence a species of resurrection? Was not reason, so long befooled by prejudice and superstition, to be restored to her rightful ascendency in the intellectual firmament? In a word, was not the new philosophy to construct an altar whence the flames were expected to ascend and spread and brighten, till they poured the stream of illumination round the globe ?

Magnificent rising sun of promise !- — doomed how inglori- ously to set in darkness ? Alas ! the heart of man is deceit- ful above all things, and desperately wficked ; who can know it ? Not one who does not see it clearly reflected in the spotless mirror of God’s own Word. The Encyclopaedists and Economists, and the whole body of fraternizing Illuminati of France, in casting that eternal Word in derision away from them, did thereby cast away the only lamp that would have guided them through the labyrinth of the heart’s natural perverseness. Who then need wonder that, wholly ignorant as they were of the real nature of the disease, they should have blundered fatally in prescribing a remedy ? And has not the disastrous issue accordingly shown that, instead of kindling a light which might illuminate the world, they were only fanning a flame that was soon to envelope it in a gene- ral conflagration?

Ah ! if one of the better-intentioned of the earlier fathers of the new philosophy had only arisen from the grave, and alighted in the vale of Paris during the midnight gloom of

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EFFECTS OF KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT RELIGION.

the Reign of Terror ; — if, there, he had met, in personified forms, his own philosophy metamorphosed into undisguised Atheism, openly proclaiming that there was no God, and that death was an eternal sleep ; — and, along with Atheism, her legitimate offspring, savage Anarchy, wielding his tremend- ous scimitar ; fresh reeking with the blood of thousands of unhappy \dctims, slaughtered in the name of humanity. — Ah ! methinks, he would start back as aghast at the hide- ous aspect of his own double progeny, as the “ Archangel fallen” from the shapeless monsters he encountered at the gates of Pandemonium ! And, like the thunder-stricken Seraph, he might thus break silence : —

“ Whence and what art thou, execrable shape.

That dar’st, though grim and terrihle, advance Thy miscreated front athwart my way !

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

What thing thon art thus double formed ? and why.

In this infernal vale first met, thou call’dst Me Father, and that phantom call’dst my Son ?

I know thee not, and never saw till now Sight more detestable than him and thee.”

To whom his own darling Philosophy, now transformed into naked, hideous Atheism, might thus reply : —

“ Hast thou forgot me, then, and do I seem Now in thine eye so foul ? once deemed so fair.

* * * when at th’ Assembly * * * *

****** with thee combined In hold conspiracy against heaven’s King,

Likest to thee in shape and countenance bright.

Then shining heav’nly fair, a goddess arm’d.

Out of thy head I sprung.”

Instantly demon Anarchy, Atheism’s natural child, stands forth, —

“ Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell.”

^Vith earthquake shock he falls upon the hapless father. — More successful in the onslaught than his Pandemonian pro- tot\q)e,he drags liim quivering to the guillotine — and speedily holds up his severed head to the gaze of a frenzied multitude, — an everlasting monument of the triumph of philosophy

EFFECTS OF KNOWLEDGE AVITHOUT RELIGION.

293

without religion — of the golden age of equal rights — of the ^halcyon reign of unbounded liberty !

After an example so recent and so calamitous, would it not indicate something like insanity to attempt to regenerate a country like India, by means of human philosophy and human science alone ? Hinduism, — which is so huge a com- pound of all that is false, monstrous, and extravagant, in every department of knowledge, physical, literary, and reli- gious,— could not long resist the vigorous onset of European science, if conducted on a scale of national magnitude. In the sudden demolition of established systems and established forms, — and in the entire absence of positive principles of counteractive power, — the newly awakened spirit might spring at one bound into the opposite extreme ; — manifesting itself in actions and events, from the dim and distant contem- plation of which, even in imagination, the mind most gladly retires. Exhausted at length by its own convulsive efforts, the sceptical and irreligious spirit might become stripped^of all vital energy ; while, as in the case of other revolutions, its very excesses of incredulity and indiscriminate outrage might produce a powerful reaction in favour of the ancient creed. The national mind of a people like that of India — among whom the religious sentiment or propensity has ever been manifested with peculiar power — might, with greater fervour than ever, rally round the standards of a faith which, though fiercely proscribed, had still lingered and survived behind the entrenchment of customs, mannei’s, and usages, rendered inveterate by the practice of ages ; and might with greater tenacity than ever, cling to forms and obser- vances, the abrogation of which had entailed nought but devastation and ruin ; and the absence of which had left a vacuum not to be supplied by the dim abstractions of science or the frigid speculations of philosophy. In a word, the tem- ples might be repaired ; the idols reseated ; the offerings and sacrifices renewed; the rites and ceremonies reinstituted ; and the festivals celebrated with greater pomp and magnificence than ever. In either case, whether viewed in its direct ope- ration, simply as the destroyer (without supplying a substi-

2.94 RELIGION' NECESSARY TO THE MAINTENANCE OF SOCIETY-.

tute), — or in its reaction, as the restorer of a system like that of Hinduism, what becomes of the boasted power of mere human science to raise a people circumstanced as are the Hindus to the enjoyment of a sort of millenium of tem- poral bliss ? Alas, alas, from first to last — from beginning to end — it is all mockery and delusion, as pregnant with disaster as with disappointment and shame !

Constrained by the united voice of reason and experience, many of the leaders of public opinion on such subjects as the present, have at length confessed that no where is igno- rant, vicious, enslaved man to be regenerated by mere politi- cal, economic, or philosophic reforms. They do now profess to tell us, in no faint w’hispers, that morals and religion of some description are absolutely necessary for the organi- zation and maintenance of a free and happy state of society. This is a truth which almost all in every age, who have sounded the depths of the human spirit in its varied wants, cravings, and appetencies, have been constrained to pro- claim. The acknowledgement of it is a concession which has often been extorted from the practical penetrative saga- city of men, who, in their own lives, gave fatal evidence that they would falsify it if they could. “ That religion,” remarks Lord Bolingbroke, “ is necessary to strengthen, and that it contributes to the support of government, cannot be denied without contradicting reason and experience both.” Again, “ to make government effectual to all the good pur- poses of it, there must he a religion ; this religion must be national, and this national religion must be maintained in reputation and reverence.” The iron-hearted Eobes- pierre, in that ever- memorable conclave which voted that there was no God, could boldly protest against the political inexpediency of the decision ; exclaiming, “ If there were no God; a wise government would invent one!” Napoleon, according to the authority of a modern French Statesman, was heard on one occasion to declare : — “ No society can exist without morals ; and there can be no sound morals

THE SCHEME OF TEMPORIZING RELIGIOCS REFORM. 295

without religion. Hence, there is no firm or durable bul- wark for a State, but Avhat religion constructs ; let, there- fore, every school throughout the land assume the precepts of religion as the basis of instruction. Experience has torn the veil from our eyes.” And of late it has become almost the fashion^ even in some of our great secular assemblies, from the Senate downwards, to moralize in a somewhat similar strain.

But though the necessity of morals and religion of some kind be now so openly and generally acknowledged, there is the same perverse infatuation as ever in obstinately reject- ing the only genuine morality, the only true religion ; — and that is, the Christianity of the Bible, the soul-awakening soul-purifying Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To this, however, it mtist come in the end. When human intel- lect has put forth all its strength and failed ; when human ingenuity has exhausted all its devices in vain ; when human reason has stood on the terminating point of the last pro- montory of that shore which bounds its dominion, and has gazed at the outermost horizon which circumscribes the range of its expedients, without discovering the object of pursuit : — then will the spirit of universal man be driven in despair, if not allured by persuasion, to recoil back upon the only real specific, — the only infallible panacea which has been provided by God himself. To talk, as many in high places are at present disposed to do, — to talk of resorting to a species of syncretism or electicism in religion, somewhat similar to that which characterised the struggles of an expir- ing Paganism, that would open a pantheon for the amicable cohabitation of the gods of all nations, — somewhat similar to that which characterised the death-tliroes of heathen Phi- losophy, that would amalgamate the peculiar opinions of the founders of all religions, and educe therefrom some depurated ultimate doctrine virtually comprehensive of them all : — to talk any longer of resorting to some such scheme as would thus toss the articles and confessions, the liturgies and homilies of all religionists, however heterogeneous, into one intellectual cauldron ; so that out of the fermentation con- sequent on the commingling of such discordant materials.

29(> THE CENTRAL POINT OF HINDUISM.

there might bring forth some volatilized substance which may be pronounced the common essence of them all ; — and then to propose rearing schools and temples wherein this etherialized decoction may be w'orshipped as a common idol by the countless throng of votaries, between the extremes of massive Apostolic Christianity and the unsubstantial shadow of leanest, lankest Deism : — seriously to talk, in this epoch of the world’s history, of any such scheme being practicable, is an outrage to all experience, — to talk of it as desirable, if practicable, an insult to common sense, — to talk of it as an optimism, even if practicable, and to the carnal mind desirable, a daring affront to the Majesty of the Most High !

Seeing then that all ameliorating schemes of mere human devising must in the issue prove abortive, — that even if suc- cess should attend them up to their full measure of capacity for effecting good, they must still prove but poor, weak, and insufficient measures, which

“ Will but skin and film the ulcerous part,

WTiile rank corruption mining all within,

Infects unseen,” —

what remains, but that we should at once betake ourselves to that only effective scheme which is announced and deve- loped in the blessed Volume of Inspiration ? And though that scheme has primarily in view not the physical health and wellbeing of the body, but the spiritual health and sal- tation of the soul, — not the petty concerns of time, but the momentous interests of eternity, — the slightest considera- tion will suffice to show how the less is necessarily involved in the greater ; how an adequate provision for realizing the felicities of heaven is the best and surest guarantee for en- joying the noblest heritage of happiness on earth.

In order to be fully assured of this, let us simply ask. What is the central point around which the whole scheme of Hinduism, in its theory and practice, is made to turn? It is, — that sinful man by his own sufficiency, his own services.

HINDUISM A SYSTEM OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. 297

his own works, his own meritorious obedience, can propi- tiate God, and earn to himself a right and title to immortal bliss. If man really knew God in His holiness, and God’s law as the perfect transcript of that holiness, he would be overwhelmed with the conviction of his utter inability to propitiate his offended Maker, or fulfil the whole of His law. Hence, would he be filled with hatred and enmity against that law which must denounce, and that God who must punish, all transgression. Hence, too, — as he could not altogether shake off the impression of the being and providence of God, or of the obligation of obeying His holy law, — he would in time be tempted and impelled to feign a deity like unto himself, and a divine law suited to his own impaired capacity of obedience ; — a deity whom he could appease if he willed ;-»-a law which he could fulfil if it suited his good pleasure. Hence, accordingly, the fundamental cause, source, and origin of Hinduism ; and of every other scheme of false religion. The system of Hinduism is nothing else than a stupendous superstructure raised upon this one grand central principle as its foundation-stone — namely, the principle of exclusive self-reliance^ exclusive self-righteousness, — -a self-righteousness far more absolute than that of Roman Gatholicism itself^hich would combine and harmonize grace and desert, faith and good works. Hence, the countless round of daily and almost hourly rites, ceremonies, and observances, — the countless round of fastings, pilgrimages, and rehearsals of holy texts, — the countless round of gifts, offerings, and sacrifices, — the countless round of ablutions, expiations, and atonements, — the countless round of aus- terities, self-inflicted tortures, and religious suicides, — the countless round of inquiries into the nature of things, medi- tations, and absorbed contemplations ; — all, all circulate for ever around the grand central, but false and detestable, prin- ciple that man, though fallen and sinful, may w'ork out by his own unaided strength a title to the divine favour, a right to celestial rewards or to supreme beatitude. The colossal scheme of Hinduism, as has already been shown, does embrace, and intimately incorporate with itself, all imagin-

T

298

THE CENTRAL TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY.

able departments of Tradition, Literature, Science and Art, — but these are like so many columns, capitals, and minarets, designed to garnish the inner citadel of self-righteousness ; or so many walls, towers, and buttresses. Intended to render it more firm, secure and unassailable.

This being the foundation-stone of the immense fabric of Hinduism, let us now see with what divine precision Chris- tianity is adapted to wrench it from its position, overturn the superimposed edifice, and drive the ploughshare of destruction over the crumbling ruins. For what, in the mighty system of Revelation, is that central truth around which all other truths revolve ? It is, — that not by any exer- tions, endeavours, works, or sufferings of our own, can we ever be justified before God ; but solely through “ the righte- ousness of God,” revealed from heaven, — the righteousness which God Himself hath effected and provided, — the real, true, and everlasting righteousness, or perfect obedience to the divine law both in its threatened penalties and inflexible requirements, which was exemplified by Christ, our Imman- uel ; — a righteousness which is freely and gratuitously, out of undeserved love and mere mercy imputed to us ; and — without money or price, doing or suffering, service or merit of any kind — received by faith alone ; — a righteousness which, when so imputed and received, is as really made over to us, as if we ourselves had wrought it out by a perfect fulfilment of the law in all its penalties and threatenings, as well as precepts and commands — as really accounted to be our own as if we ourselves had endured the infinite and eternal punishment due to our transgressions ; and at the same time had magnified the law and made it honourable by a perfect conformity to all its demands, whether in the way of duties to be performed, or of prohibitions to be inviolably respected. The moment this perfect righteousness is — through the instrumentality of that faith which is itself the gift of God — imputed to the believer, he is pardoned and justified from all sin ; freed from the sentence of condemnation ; acquitted of the guilt of transgression ; and entitled to “ an inherit- ance which is incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth

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not away, reserved in heaven.” No wonder that the bring- ing in of this finished, this spotless righteousness, should be extolled as the chief even of Jehovah’s works, — the clear manifestation thereof, as the crowning excellency of Eevela- tion, — the universal proclamation thereof, as “ the Gospel of the Gospel,” — and the free imputation thereof to hell-de- serving rebels, as the very consummation of Infinite Wisdom, Holiness, and Love !

What a revolution would the effectual lodgment of this single primal truth — “ that we are made righteous before God, and continue so, by grace alone ; through the mere imputation of the righteousness or meritorious obedience and sufferings of Christ ; the only perfect righteousness which can be maintained against wrath, sin, death, and hell,” — achieve in the national mind of a people so impregnated with the spirit of self-righteousness as the native inhabi- tants of India ! And blessed be God, that in attempting to secure an effectual lodgment of it in the understandings and hearts of men, we are not left to mere human instruc- tion, to mere human persuasion. No ; we have the promise of the presence of the Divine Redeemer Himself, and of the efficacious inffuence of His Almighty Spirit. Behold, then, how the believing and influential embracement of this one vital and fundamental doctrine would hurl away the entire mass of morbid fears, and legal sentiments, and meritorious observances, which, in the course of ages, have grow'n up into a gigantic system, crushing and paralyzing the souls and bodies of myriads of myriads ! Let the great body of the people be once brought — through the word of truth, sent home by the energy of the Holy Spirit — to sing aloud with Luther, “ Thou Lord Jesus art my righteousness, but I am thy sin ; Thou hast taken to thee what w'as mine, and hast given to me what was thine ; Thou hast taken upon thee what thou wast not, and given to me wdiat I was not,” — and how must the all-comprehending system of Hinduism evanish ! An absolute confidence in one almighty, omni- scient, omnipresent Mediator and Advocate, would at once supersede the necessity of applying to any one of the legions

soo

THE EFFICACY OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST.

of secondary mediators whether on earth or in heaven. — Hence would the power and tyranny of the Brahmanical and celestial hierarchies be for ever broken ; and the constantly recurring demand for gifts and invocations, to secure their favour and intercession, be for ever removed. An absolute belief that an almighty and all-merciful Redeemer hath ac- tually fulfilled, to the uttermost, all the righteous ordinances of an immutable law, in the stead of sinners, — and that he is both able and willing to impute to them, on believing, his own all-perfect obedience or active righteousness, — would at once expose the futility of their own poor, lame, inade- quate self-justifying performances. — Hence would follow a clear perception and operative conviction of the worse than uselessness of the attempts to restore peace and comfort in a troubled, pained, and restless conscience, or to earn a heavenly recompense, by resorting to the endless rites, forms, and ceremonies, — with all the half-gorgeous, half-barbaric pomps and vanities of Brahmanical worship, — and the whole vast apparatus of works and services of minor, secondary, or transcendent merit. For who, to adopt, once more, one of Luther’s pointed expressions, “ Who, that could soar with eagle’s wings to the Sun of Righteousness itself, would not be rejoiced to throw his crutches away ?” An absolute assurance that an almighty SaHour hath actually offered him- self, in the stead of sinners, as a complete oblation and satis- faction to divine justice — and that he has thereby drained off the full cup of merited retribution, and exhausted the full measure of threatened vengeance, — must lay bare the utter nugatoriness of the endeavour to supplant or supple- ment, in whole or in part, an all-perfect and freely imputed passive righteousness, by any voluntary sufferings of their own. — Hence, at once would be swept aw'ay the boundless variety of self-inflicted austerities, penances, and mortifica- tions, which are intended to diminish and gradually to exhaust the amount of penalties incurred by transgression ; as w'ell as the entire host of expedients designed to effect a deliverance from the purgatorial processes of transmigration in this world, and of penal severities in the regions below.

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In this way would the Gospel of salvation at a single stroke, — by its one grand essential doctrine of justification through faith alone in the meritorious obedience and suf- ferings, or all-sufficient all-prevailing righteousness, of Im- manuel— “ God manifest in the flesh,” — smite the stupendous fabric of Hinduism, and grind it to powder ; — and, over its scattered dust erect a temple, the foundation of which would be the Eock of Ages ; and every stone of which would be a living stone, glistening in the radiance of celestial truth, and tuneful with the hosannahs of seraphic melody. How differ- ent the Divine from every human instrument of reformation ! How wise, how gracious, how mighty the scheme of Divine appointment compared with the weak, partial, inadequate, temporizing expedients and devices of man ! The former does not, like the latter, confine itself to mere externals and outworks. It is not satisfied with the attempt to rectify one or other of the more objectionable observances of worship, — to controvert one or other of the more absurd and pernicious abstract principles, — to uproot one or other of the more cruel and abominable usages, — to lop off one or other of the more monstrous excrescences in the forms and institutions of gene- ral polity, — to expose one or other of the more palpable disfigurations of truth by scholastic and metaphysical sub- tilties, — to reinvigorate one or other of the more debilitated of the intellectual faculties. No : its grand aim and design is, to penetrate at once beneath the surface, and strike a deadly blow at the root of the whole mischief. And having extirpated the self-justifying pride, the inbred self-righteous- ness,— which spontaneously springs up in the soil of every human heart, — by the introduction and substitution of a spotless, because Divine righteousness, it sweeps away the very foundation of the palladium of all error in theory, and of aU ungodliness in practice.

When once sinful guilty man has been led thus to renounce his own righteousness, with all its “ filthy rags” and shackles and bondages of “ dead works,” — and has been made to stand erect, because accounted guiltless, in the righteousness of Christ, — he begins to breathe the air, and to act under

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the inspiration of that liberty wherewith the truth has made him fi’ee. And being made free, — free from the accusations of conscience, the claims of violated justice, the condemna- tions of an outraged law, — free from the fear of subordinate agencies, celestial, terrestrial, or infernal, — free from the terrors of death, and the grave, and everlasting perdition, — he is filled, he cannot but be filled, with solid peace and consolation, joy and gladness ; — he is animated, he cannot but be animated, with a cheerful boldness, an undaunted courage, a holy intrepidity ; — he pours forth, he cannot but pour forth, the song of triumph, — “ If God be for us, who can be against us? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth ? He that spared not His own Son, but deli- vered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things ?”

Now, when man is thus delivered, — not merely from all the external constraints of a never-ending round of burden- some ordinances, but from all the internal constraints of an ever-present burden of guilt and fear, — a glow of joyous generous warmth is diffused over the whole soul, fresh and reviving like the radiant blush of morn. It then prepares to start, as it were, by a free and elastic spring, into hitherto untrodden paths ; and plumes its wings for a sustained flight into hitherto unvisited regions. No longer pressed do^m at every turn by the incubus of artificial mechanical prescriptions, the mind uncoils itself from the incrustation of ages ; begins to develope its dormant activities ; and shoots out its emancipated energies, with happiest effect in evei'y direction. Then will the spirit of inquiry pene- trate every department of human research. — The mutual rights of governors and governed ; the reciprocal bonds of priests and people ; the rise and progress of society ; the foundations of every system of knowledge, human or divine ; the design, fitness, and adaptation of all existing forms and schemes of polity, civil or sacred ; all, all will be fearlessly investigated. Then will the genius of true liberty', no longer chained down by the fetters of despotism, spontaneously embody itself in free institutiows. Then will the genius of a

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wise economy, no longer bound to lavish its affluence in ministering to the “ pomp and circumstance ” of a lordly hierarchy of priests and idols, spontaneously expend its ac- cumulated stores in multiplying the sources of human com- fort and enjoyment. Then, too, will the genius of literature, science, and art, no longer foreclosed by finding every field preoccupied with the erroneous dogmata of an infallible authority, spontaneously roam at large over the wide domain of time and space, matter and spirit. New worlds will be disclosed to view, and fresh illumination shed upon the old. And thus will Christianity, by being primarily the great Evangelizer, vindicate unto itself the inalienable preroga- tive of being secondarily the only effectual Liberator, Intel- lectualizer, Civilizer, and Comforter of man !

Ought we then, in the first instance, to discourage or dis- countenance any direct attempts to better the temporal condition of the people of India, by repairing their muni- cipal and other civil institutions, drawing forth the natural resources of their soil, or increasing the amount of their general intelligence ? With solemnity of feeling we would reply, God forbid ! Let any and every effort of this descrip- tion be put forth, which the benevolence of man can devise, or the state of native society can admit. Such endeawurs may be prosecuted coUmjporaneously with the evangelizing process. All of these may be made to advance pari passu ; though the latter is beyond all measure the most potent in its operation, and the most extensive in its results. And, in very proportion as it succeeds, will the former be grafted upon the native stock, naturalized, 'and made to bear inde- pendent fruits. All that we demand and insist on is, that that scheme should be held as supreme, to which alone the palm of supremacy is due, — that that engine should be chiefly wielded and placed in forefront of the battle, which alone can win for us a decisive victory. And we now do, and must for ever strenuously contend, that whoever sin- cerely and honestly desires to see India emancipated, pros-

S04 THE GOSPEL THE ONLY EFFECTUAL REMEDY FOR MAN.

perous and flourishing as regards the things of time, does cast away from him the only instrument which can effec- tually realize the very flower and fruit of his own wishes, when, in blind fatuity, he nauseates and spurns the blessed Gospel with its unsearchable riches of free grace. Greatly, however, as we ought to rejoice at the vast retinue of tem- poral amelioration which must ever follow in the train of a conquering Gospel ; yet ought we most chiefly to rejoice at the more glorious retinue of spiritual blessings which con- stitute the \ery consummation of its triumphs. To see human beings, — once sunk in wTetchedness and barbarism, whether aiTayed in tattered rags or gilded with tinsel splen- dour,— now encompassed with a rich profusion of the com- forts and enjoyments of civilized life, — to see them exhibit in their conduct all the courtesies, decencies, and tender humanities of refined society, — is, no doubt, a lovely and cheering spectacle. But to see human beings, — at one time the slaves of sin, the bondsmen of Satan, and the heirs of perdition, — now freed from the guilt and power of sin, de- livered from the tyranny of Satan, and reinstalled as heirs of glory, honour, and immortality, — is surely a spectacle transcendently more beauteous and exhilarating. And w'ere both spectacles combined in one, where should we find lan- guage to pourtray the excellencies of so glorious a combina- But both have been, and may be conjoined in har- monious union. And the mighty power which can unite and realize them both, is that very Gospel which, though weakness and foolishness in the eyes of men, is in the hands of an Almighty Spirit, “ the power of God and the wisdom of God unto salvation.” So that to the blessed Gospel belongs, in the loftiest and most ’sublime sense, the incommunicable privilege of having “ the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come.” Accordingly when, — in direct contradiction to all the schemes and projects of all the politicians, economists, intellectual educationists, and liber- alizing religionists in the world, — we boldly aver, that the only real, the only adequate, the only infallible remedy for the numberless evils connected with time and eternity, under

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which India and other heathen lands have for ages groaned, is the glorious Gospel of our Lord and Saviour J esus Christ, we at once entrench ourselves in an impregnable fortress, — a fortress which has the unchangeableness of the divine decrees for its foundation, and the covenanted security of all the divine attributes for its bulwarks of defence.

In this momentous conclusion, all of every denomination, who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and in truth, must joyously acquiesce. The only question vvhich can arise amongst them, or which can possibly occasion any difference of opinion is the great practical one. How, or in w'hat way, or by what means, can we most effectually communicate the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified? On this important subject it affords us unfeigned pleasure to be enabled to introduce a passage from the pen of one of the most powerful and original of the religious writers of the present day, — a passage which expresses sentiments the very same in substance with those which we have been reiter- ating, both in India and in Britain, for years before we met with the work which contains it. “ The obligation,” re- marks the author of the History of Natural Enthusiasm, “ the obligation we are under, of attempting to convert our erring brethren to the faith of Christ, is not more clear than is the principle under the guidance of which we ai’e to pro- ceed in discharging the part assigned to us. ChrTSlipn teachers wield no supernatural arms ; they are simply — teachers ; the utmost they can do is to instruct and to per- suade ; and in the accomplishment of their task, they are bound to avail themselves of all those methods of influence which experience authenticates, and which Christianity does not condemn. It is true that the conversion of men is a divine work ; but it is not the less the work of human zeal, industry, and discretion ; and we are just as fully bound to use our utmost sagacity in the discharge of our part, as to discharge it at all.

“ It is certainly very proper to keep in view the abstract idea of preaching the Gospel, and to think of it simply as an announcement of pardon to those who, like ourselves, are

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guilty and condemned, and yet are heirs of immortality. In this general view the sons of Adam, of every tribe, stand, without distinction, on the same ground ; and in this view nothing more seems to be included in the idea of a mission to the heathen, than the sending forth of men who, having themselves become partakers of the grace of God, glow with holy zeal and love towards their brethren, and are willing to make the last sacrifice in attempting to win them to the hope of immortality. Doubtless the whole essence of mis- sionary labour is comprised in this abstract idea ; nor can it be imagined that any who go forth in this spirit shall be suffered to spend their strength altogether for nought, even though the measures they pursue are so little adapted to the specific character of the work before them, that miracle only could give them extensive success.

“ But this elementary notion of evangelical labour assur- edly does not include all that ought to occupy the attention of those who engage in the work of propagating Christianity among the heathen. If there are any who, from a jealous fear of the introduction of a secular spirit, would affirm that nothing ought to belong to a Christian mission but the bare announcement of salvation, such persons might instantly be convicted of a practical inconsistency ; for which of them is there that would not strive, in conveying religious instruc- adapt both his language and his argument to the capacity and disposition of those to whom he speaks ? Who would be so absurd as to exhort a child and an adult, a pea- sant and a scholar, to repentance and faith, precisely in the same terms ? None, in fact, would carry their theoretical con- tempt of human wisdom to this point of extravagance. Com- mon sense, not soon put quite to silence, leads even the most determined dogmatists to conform themselves, as nearly as they can, to the intellectual condition — to the ignorance, or to the known prejudices of those to whom they announce the Gospel.

“ But this adaptation of the style to the hearer contains, by implication, an apology for the use of all those subsidiary means which I have to plead for as essential to the com-

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pleteness of a Christian mission to the heathen. If the actual condition of the people we are attempting to convert is known — and it ought always to he known before we make the attempt, — then a mission to that people must include a 'peculiarity of means, that must make the outfit utterly inappropriate to any other destination.

“ Can any one blame this adaptation of means to special ends, who himself uses persuasion at all ? for in doing so he plainly recognises the principle, that a part is assigned to the skill and intelligence of the agent in the Divine economy of salvation. Having gone so far, he can with no reason stop short in half measures ; or after himself using discretion and skill in the business of Christian instruction, find fault with those who employ any means, how elaborate or circui- tous soever they may seem, which appear to have a tendency to facilitate the entrance or progress of religion. In a word, if Christians feel themselves bound, by the most solemn obligation, to preach the Grospel wherever they can gain a hearing, they are also bound, by the very same responsi- bility, to bring into the service, not only their zeal and piety, but all the sagacity, and skill, and knowledge they possess, or may acquire. To contemn any probable means of ac- complishing their great object, is in fact to spurn the sanc- tions under which they act. If, for example, a plan were proposed, which should recommend itself by its obvious reasonableness, Christians would have no more liberty to reject it, than they have to withdraw altogether from the missionary enterprise. The duty of preaching the Gospel contains the duty of doing so in the best manner we are able.

“ If the work of evangelizing the nations were held to consist simply in finding men of devoted piety, in fitting them out, and shipping them away to distant shores, as the winds of heaven may determine ; — if the missionary work be nothing more than the casting the good seed at random over the earth, then indeed we must grant that counsel, and concert, and knowledge, and special qualification, can add little or nothing to the hope of success ; and then, those who are the least esteemed in the Church for wisdom, or

308 THREE GENERIC MODES OF PROPAGATING THE GOSPEL.

least distinguished by acquirements, may, as well as the most accomplished, assume the reins of management.

“ A few years ago, this inartificial notion of missions might perhaps have found a multitude of advocates among the pious. But the rebukes of experience have now rendered it almost obsolete. All intelligent and well-informed persons have become thoroughly con^nnced that, so long as our mis- sionaries go not forth armed with miraculous powers, they must encounter difficulties which can be surmounted only by special qualities of mind, in addition to piety, courage, and devotedness. It is ascertained, also, that the necessary qualifications of a missionary are, in part, the gifts of nature to here and there an individual, and in part must be the result of a long and laborious training.”

Within our narrow limits it were utterly impracticable to enter into the wide field which the varied topics contained in, or 'suggested by, this long passage are calculated to open up for investigation and discussion. All, therefore, that can be attempted, is to offer a few practical remarks on some of the leading points.

What, then, with a special reference to India, is the great object which, as Christian philanthropists, we ought ever to avow ? The grand ultimate object we ought unceasingly to avow is, — the intellectual^ morale and spiritual regeneration of the universal mind ; — or, in the speediest and most effectual manner, the reaching and vitally imbuing the entire body of the people with the leaven of Gospel truth. Nothing short of this consummation, as our grand end, ought we ever to recognise ; — and in proportion to the magnitude of the end ought to be the number, and variety, and energy of our operations. The object being thus defined, the question next arises. How, or by what specific means is it best to be accomplish- ed ? — How, or in what way can the Gospel be most speedily and effectually brought to bear on the entire mass of the people ? Looking at the historv’ of the past, we may say, that by conmion consent, there are three generic modes of

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applying it. There is, first, the preaching of the Gospel to adults ; secondly, the teaching of it to the young ; and, thirdly, the translation and circulation of the BiUe and other religious works.

These may be regarded as the three primary measures for the practical application of the weapon of evangelical truth. Of the abstract propriety of resorting to one and all of these methods, no intelligent Christian has ever entei’- tained a doubt. The reasoning applicable to each is as simple as it is conclusive. God has already given efficacy to the preaching of the word ; He has promised to do so to the end of the world ; let therefore the word be faithfully preached at the seasons, and in the manner best suited to the circumstances and capacities of the hearers. God has already smiled propitious on the diligent prayerful training of the young ; He has promised always to bless such train- ing ; let therefore the young receive the rudiments, and the more mature the higher principles of useful and religious knowledge, in the way which experience proves to be best adapted to secure the desired end. God has already blessed the reading of the Scripture ; He hath promised that His word shall never return unto Him void ; let the Bible there- fore be circulated in the mode most eligible, and to the extent most practicable. Thus far, all who sincerely profess the Christian faith ought to be agreed.

How unwise, then, how' injurious, how almost impious is it, to pitch these means against each other? — Preaching against Education ; or the circulation of the Bible against either ? — as if they were mutual antagonists, instead of being what they truly are, mutual friends and allies ? What are they, but different methods for accomplishing the same end ? — different modes of bringing the Gospel-instrumentality into contact with the minds of different classes of human beings ? Happily, on the last of these measures little dif- ference of opinion has arisen among the friends of missions ; — but how often has education been unhappily represented as somehow opposed to the preaching of the Gospel ? If, indeed, by education were meant what is merely secidar,

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there would be difference, — there might be opposition. But if Christian education be meant, there can be no real anta- gonism. What is understood by preaching the Gospel ? Is it not to proclaim or make known Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, to guilty sinners as their all-sufficient Saviour ? If so, is not this included as an essential part of all Chris- tian education ? How then do the two differ ? As regards the subject taught, they can differ only as the whole differs from a part. As regards the individuals addressed, they can differ only as the adult differs from the juvenile popu- lation.

In every right system of Christian education, the making known of Jesus Christ as the Almighty Saviour of lost sin- ners, constitutes the most vital part of it. Around this central trunk may be made to grow many inferior stems, — protected by it and protecting each other ; — some more immediately connected, others more remote, — some germi- nating from the parent tree, others springing up as a sepa- rate progeny ; — some flourishing solely from the shelter affoi’ded, and others rising with something like independent vigour. In other words, an enlarged Christian education includes, besides the strictly religious part, much that is merely accessary, auxiliary, or indirectly related, — though all bearing harmoniously on the general welfare of man. Sound education is a comprehensive scheme, embracing a multitude of parts. But one of these parts, and that the prime one, is the communication of the Gospel message. When a master, with the Bible in his, hands, is earnestly pressing home upon his pupils the necessity and suitableness of the great salvation, is he not doing substantially the very thing that is implied in preaching the Gospel ? Where then, — since it is not in the scope and purpose of the knowledge communicated, — where is the antagonism between Christian teaching and Christian preaching ? Is it in the age of the persons addressed ? Surely it were preposterous to say so. As ordinarily understood, 'preaching in its technical sense, has special reference to adults ; and teaching, to the youn^. But how many an exhor- tation in the school or lecture-room would be styled preach-

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ing, if delivered from the pulpit ! How many an address from the pulpit would pass for teaching in the school or lec- ture-room ! What is the former but preaching to the young ? And what is the latter, hut an educating of the adult ? If in both cases the substance of what be conveyed, be the same ; if the scope and purpose of conveying it h^identical ; if the beings addressed be all aliTce endowed with immortal spirits that are equally lost by nature^ and equally stand in need of the great salvation^ what signifies the disparity of a few short years in the age of the hearers ! — and what essential differ- ence is there between teaching and preaching except in the name f Unless, therefore, we resolve to be guided by names and not by things, we can no more oppose preaching to educa- tion, than we can oppose any one particular to the universal that includes it, — no more than we can oppose Luther’s hundredth psalm to music in general ; or the song of Moses to poetry ; or St Paul’s discourse on Mars-hill to eloquence.

In this way, preaching may be said to be more limited in its aim and object, than education taken in its most com- prehensive sense. The former looks supremely to the con- cerns of immortality, and only indirectly to those of time. The latter embraces directly the Interests of time as well as supremely those of eternity. The former regards man chiefly as immortal ; the latter views him as immortal too, — though encumbered with a material vehicle which has its wants and necessities to be supplied, and points out the most effective modes of doing so. In a word, as regards the matter of instruction, Christian education is generic and universal ; Christian preaching, specific and particular.

But though preaching can directly inculcate no knowledge save that of Christ and Him crucified — ^no science except that of salvation — it does not follow that no other topic, in any shape or form, must ever be introduced. Salvation through a crucified Redeemer must be the grand predomi- nating theme ; — but within that, may, in some form or other, be embraced, or around it may be made to cluster collater- ally and subsidiarily, any really profitable theme whatsoever. In bringing down spiritual and celestial truth to the level of

:U2 CHRISTIAN TEACHING AND CHRISTIAN PREACHING.

man’s opaque understanding, which is the “ faculty judging by sense,” the preacher may expatiate in quest of symbols and apt similitudes, over fields that have no limit save that of the extent of capacity and acquirement on the part of his hearers. He may not directly lecture on civil or natural history ; he may not formally expound any principle in science, or point out its application to the arts. — But if education has made his hearers familiar with such themes, there are no facts of observation, no discoveries of science, no results of any one branch of research, that may not furnish variety for the lightning flash of metaphor, the convictive parallelism of analogy, or the Instructive imagery of parabo- lic illustration. This is not to degrade preaching ; but to render it more expansive and influential by the aids and appliances of education. It is not to secularize Christianity ; but to christianize all knowledge, and convert it into a minis- tering agent in the service of the Great King.

Far from there being any real antagonism between Chris- tian teaching and Christian preaching, the two in Scripture are not only conjoined, but used interchangeably as syno- nymes. If in one place it is f aid, “ Go and teach all nations in the parallel passage, the language is, “ Go and preach the Gospel to every creature.” How often is it recorded of St Paul that he taught and preached in the synagogue ! The distinction, and above all, the contradistinction is of modern, growth. The terms have now acquired a technical mean- ing. And though every exhortation to the young, and every evangelical address to the aged, whether in public or in private, be really a combination of teaching and preaching, — such and so inveterate has the distinction now become, that it were not surprising to learn that when it is recorded of Paul how he “ taught and preached in the synagogue,” the imagination of not a few would be, that he first preached a sermon to the adults, and then taught the young separately, somewhat after the fashion of our Sunday schools !

Protesting against the notion, that between Christian teaching and Christian preaching there is any real funda- mental difference, far less contrariety, we may, — for the sake

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of convenience and the prevention of circumlocution, — em- ploy “ teaching ” in its religious application, to denote the communication of the Gospel to the young ; and “ preaching,” to signify the communication of it to those of riper years. Then we say, whenever it is practicable, let m ham both. Some there are who insist exclusively on education, — others, exclu- sively on preaching. Both are demonstratively wrong. The former would shut out from the means of grace, the entire mass of the adult population ; the latter, by an act as sweep- ing, would consign to ignorance and death the vastly greater mass that never reach the years of maturity. Systemati- cally to exclude either of these classes is wholly unscriptural. Ere we dare to do so, we must insert restrictive terms in the perfect charter of heaven itself. “ Go and teach all na- • tions,” must be read — “Go and teach the young of all nations;”/ — “ Go and preach the Gospel to every creature,” must be read — “ Go and preach the Gospel to every adult creature.” What is this but to trifle with the Bible and with common sense? We must, then, insist upon it, that to the young and to the adult, — and to both alike, whenever and wherever practicable, — the Gospel is to be taught and preached ; and that, consequently, our apparatus of religious instruction, so soon as the state of things in any country can admit of it, should, in order to be commensurate with the real wants of man, be made to extend from infancy to adolescence, — from adolescence to old age ; — in a word, from the cradle to the grave !

While, therefore, abstractly and theoretically we can ad- mit of no limitation as to the classes to whom the knowledge of the Gospel ought to be communicated ; no limitation as to the legitimacy of one and all of the modes of dissemination al- ready specified ; — it is clear, that practically or temporarily there may be an untoward state of things which renders certain restrictions absolutely unavoidable. Thus, among wandering hordes of savages, not one of whom can read, it would be absurd to circulate copies of the Bible, even if it had been translated into their language ; — among them, too, it might be equally impracticable, at the outset, to establish

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schools for the young. Again, in such a country as China, where multitudes are taught to read, but from which all foreigners who might educate the young or preach to adults are systematically excluded, the circulation of the Bible seems the only expedient to which Christians can, in the first instance, resort. And even in a country like India, where numbers have learned to read, and where young and old are more or less accessible to instruction, there may be differences of opinion as to the relative 'prominence that is due to the respective measures so long as society is only in a transition state, — the proportion of Interest, and resources, and labour that should be lavished on each, — and the dis- tinctive form which each must assume from peculiarities of climate, locality, and government ; as well as the social, re- ligious, and hereditary opinions, habits, and prejudices of the people. At certain stages, also, of the farther progress of society towards a more elevated state of refined enjoyment, t\\e practicahility of different plans which tend to accelerate the progression, must vary with the parts which have al- ready sent forth the most vigorous shoots, and the ability to meet efficiently the peculiar exigencies of each. Hence may arise fresh differences of opinion as to the necessity and expediency of modifying former measures, and as to the best ways of adapting these to the flux and reflux of circum- stances. From these generalities we now proceed to offer some remarks on certain leading points involved in the three great measures for conducting the work of evangelization, beginning with the Christian Education Scheme.

Connected with this scheme, the single topic of incalcul- able importance in practice, on which we wish, if possible, to fasten attention, may be announced in the following terms : —

Since the young, composing as they do the majority of every people, are destined to become the heads of families, and the leaders of opinion in the next generation ; and .«ince a thorough Christian education must be allowed, on all

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hands, to be one of the most powerful instruments in demo- lishing superstition and prejudice, and in training up a race distinguished by intelligence, and, it may be, devoted piety ; — what, in the present heathenish state of things, is the course of instruction that ought to be pursued with the clearest prospect of speedy and triumphant success ? Ought it to be limited in hind and in degree, so as to admit of being spread, at the same expense of means, over a icider surface, and ren- dered available to a greater mass of the juvenile population ? Or, ought it to be multiplied in hind and increased in degree ; and, consequently, be restricted to a narrower sphere, and a more select number, with the view of ultimately and more speedily reaching the entire mass, through the instrumenta- lity of those awakened and enlightened ? In other words, — is it better to pursue the direct method of attempting at once to impart a general elementary hnowledge to the many ; or the indirect method of attempting to reach the many tlirough the agency of the instructed feio ?

Each of these methods has had its advocates ; each has now been tried in different parts of India with various suc- cess. Judging, however, from past facts and appearances, we may safely aver, that till of late the friends of Christianity in India have in a great measure, and with two or three exceptions, adopted and patronized the more limited or ele- mentary course of instruction — partly from its being un- avoidable at the commencement, and partly from its apparent directness of application to the great body of the people. In other words, their efforts seem to have been chiefly conflned to the general elementary instruction of children, or youths much below the age of puberty. But is this the best mode of attaining the great end proposed ? And are those means necessarily the best, which from their apparent directness of application may, at first view, promise to be the most effica- cious ? Or, supposing the mode and the means to be the best and most practicable at the outset, does it follow that they must always continue to be so ? As we are compelled to answer in the negative, it now devolves upon us to adduce satisfactorv reasons.

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Hei’e it may be premised that, as regards any plan which may have for its object the direct instruction of the mass of the people^ we must at once be struck with the consideration, that all the combined resources of Christian benevolence at present are, and must ever be, incommensurate with the vastness of the undertaking. This the advocates of general elementary instruction are willing to admit. They scruple not to avow, that the disproportion between the means and the object contemplated, is truly appalling. Yet they con- sole themselves with the hope, that to the extent to which the field is occupied, real good is effected. But what is this good ? What is the nature and amount ? And how produced ?

These are questions which, we believe, numbers of the supporters of Christian missions seldom think of asking in a scrutinizing intelligible form. And yet the importance of the result to which a proper answer would lead, — either as defending the propriety of present plans from the desul- tory attacks of some, and the systematic opposition of others ; or as establishing the desirableness of a change of measures by which a more efficient direction might be given to our resources in money and influence, — is enough to challenge an investigation.

The truth is, that when the intelligence is conveyed that several schools have been organized, that large numbers of youth are in regular attendance, and that small portions of the Christian Scriptures are daily read, the good people at home and in India generally rest content, — not because of indifference or apathy, but because of easy incurious self- complacency. They immediately conclude that much good is doing, and they are predisposed to expect still more ; with- out any very definite notion of what the good is, or of the process by which it has been, or is to be, brought about. Or if the subject be allowed to excite a temporary share of curiosity and reflection, the mind would appear to be satis- fied with some loose and vague notions respecting the change which the gift of reading, and especially the ability to read sacred books, must, some Imc or other, produce on the rising

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generation, in the way of disarming prejudice, and creating a thirst after knowledge, which may eventually prove of the utmost advantage to the rapid spread of Christianity. Nay ! there often lingers an indefinite impression that those who in early youth have been taught to peruse portions of the Bible ; — even though these should be perused with much the same kind of feeling as would be the fragments of a Puranic tale, and though the tuition should be conducted as it has hither- to been, in nine cases out often^ under a heathen master^ — must surely in manhood openly avow themselves followers of the Cross.

That an elementary education may qualify for the com- mon business of a humble life — that it may, in some in- stances, render certain terms familiar, which, on account of their strangeness, always prove repulsive to the adult or wholly uneducated, when addressed directly on the solemn truths of religion, — and that in these respects, something has already been achieved, may readily be acknowledged. But that any decided permanent change in the national intellect^ any real diminution of prejudice or of attachment to estab- lished forms, or of resistance to the reception of a holier faith, can, to any great extent, be traced to, or reasonably expected to result from such a course of education, it would require a sacrifice of judgment to enthusiasm to believe.

Let the matter be coolly and rationally examined ; let evidence be weighed ; let due deference be paid to the voice of experience ; let the constitution or successions of state in the human mind be attended to. — Admit that thousands -of children are initiated into the elements of education — that they can read ordinary books, write with tolerable ease, and cast accounts with creditable facility, and that much of what we may deem surpassing in beauty and utility, has been accurately committed to memory ; — and tohat is the re- sult ^ Is it a result fraught with benefits superior in kind and lasting in duration ? How much of what has been im- parted to the hoy^ at no small expense^ will possess a mvifying, regenerating influence ? How much will fixedly cling to, and permanently influence the conduct and character of the

31 8 EFFECT OF A MERE ELEMENTARY EDUCATION.

man? Generally, nothing at all beyond the artificial ’or mechanical parts of the acquisition — nothing save the ability to read, write, or apply to the cases of petty dealing, the simplest rules of arithmetic. The boy is positively too young to imbibe, and the instruction received too meagre to im- part, any vital principle which can keep even the knowledge acquired fresh upon the memory ; or can create that inex- tinguishable curiosity which will not be allayed till the means of gratification are secured. And, if his own mind has not attained to that standard of proficiency which will be of material benefit to himself, how is it possible for any influence to emanate from him that will produce the slight- est impression on the surrounding multitudes ?

It is unfair to judge of this subject by a reference to the state of things in Great Britain ; though such reference, properly made, may aid the conceptions of those whose cir- cumstances have not enabled them visibly to perceive the difference.

Now, in Great Britain, what is the usual effect of a mere elementary education ; such as that communicated in a com- mon milage school ? Is there any thing ordinarily conveyed, which, as a literary acquisition, can raise an individual to an eminence above his fellows, by widening the narrow circle within which his thoughts and sentiments would naturally revolve ? Or, is there any thing conveyed which can excite a hearty desire to pursue the study of literature and science, with the view of enlarging his own mind, and benefiting the community in which he moves ? It must be seldom indeed, we presume, that at a village school such knowledge can be acquired, or such ardent desires awakened. And why ? — because from the immaturity of the habit of reflection, much of what is read does not cleave to the mind as digested know- ledge— knowledge incorporated, as it were, with the very substance of mind, and forming the staple of thought : — because from the meagreness of the acquisition itself viewed in combination with this cause, the mind does not, and can- not obtain, that tasting of literature and science which would inevitably insure an increasing appetite for more.

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But it may be said, that in the case of the great body of the people there is nothing to render it an object in itself particularly desirable that many should attain to an intel- lectual superiority which might enable them to exert a per- sonal influence on those around — that it is quite enough, if, by being taught to read, they are endowed with the abi- lity to peruse and understand that precious volume which conveys the knowledge that “ maketh man wise unto salva- tion.” Without at present disputing the sufficiency of this endowment in a land where the Bible is believed and read almost by all, let us attend to its own independent effects, not when left unexercised, but when cultivated with diligence and unceasing care. Let us refer to those who, with heart and soul, are engaged in the work of communicating the rudi- ments not only of secular but of religious knowledge to British youth ; and what is the constant burden of their complaint — the one note of lamentation, that is never out of tune? — Is it not the meagre appearance of fruit as the result of all their devoted labours ? And what is the source of their encourage- ment to persevere in a task apparently so toilsome and pro- fitless ? — Is it not the hope of realizing some distant ultimate benefit ? Whence is this remote benefit expected to arise ? Is it from the sole unaided power of surviving impressions of early education ? Scarcely ever. It is mainly from the expec- tation that individuals so taught may, in after-life, be situated among those whose sentiments and example, — tallying with instructions formerly delivered, and practices formerly re- commended,— may reawaken and call forth into lively exer- cise principles of thought and action that had been imbibed in youth, but had lain dormant in the secret chambers of the soul. And it is chiefly on account of the greater facility with which, in such cases, sound impressions may be produced and deepened by the general influences that ever radiate from, and circulate amongst the members of a well-ordered and well-cultivated society, that the propriety of bestowdng early culture, however limited, is defended, and its actual bestowment proved to be more or less advantageous.

If, then, in a land where every circumstance is favourable

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to the growth of what is noble and generous — in a land where the reciprocation of enlightened opinions is free as the air of heaven — in a land where the sacred and civil institutions, the improved manners and customs, the records and traditions of centui’ies, the associations and pastimes of infancy, and, above all, the religious faith and observances of the people — all fully harmonize with the elementary knowledge, literary and religious, that is imparted ; — and if, with these incalcul- able advantages, such knowledge,— from after means of improvement, or those external, social, and spiriUial influences which quichen and mature, — generally fails in producing those decided changes that would materially affect the individual himself, or ameliorate the condition of society ; — who, that has any pretensions to a reflecting mind, may not discern the utter powerlessness of such elementary knowledge, liter- ary and religious, in operating the anticipated changes, in a country where that knowledge, instead of fully harmonizing, is found to run counter to all the institutions, manners, customs, habits, rites, ceremonies, traditions, metaphysical and religious opinions of the whole mass of the people ? — in a country too, where, as yet, there scarcely exist any of those after means of quickening latent energies, of developing the seeds of latent knowledge — any of those reviving influences * which issue from, and healthfully play around the entire fabric of a well-regulated community ?

Will it still be objected by some, that all this is mere theorizing ? It may ; but we would urge, yea, beseech them to reconsider the matter ; and see whether it be not rather a legitimate deduction from unquestionable facts. And should any doubt yet remain, we would appeal to a circumstance too weighty to be overlooked, and too conclusive to admit of evasion. Why is it that so many eye-icitnesses complain of the littleness of visible eflect arising from the institution and multiplication of elementary schools ? Allowing the efficacy which issues in conversion to be wholly beyond, and that which issues in mere intellectual or other temporal improvement, to be to a great extent, within the control of human agency, why do we hear so many sincere friends of the Christian cause

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marvel^ that no positive change towards a better condition of society has appeared from the extensive educationary opera- tions which have been conducted under Christian manage- ment for the last forty years ? Is not every expression of wonder on the part of those who have the means of judging, conclusive testimony as to the certainty of the fact, that no change has yet been effected by the operations in question, which bears a just proportion to the time and means already expended? And does not the preceding view afford the most natural, if not the only adequate explanation of the fact ? Again, we say, let the subject be duly pondered ; let it be contemplated in all its bearings ; let the sand-like character of the youthful mind be considered — its levity, its instability, its light-hearted carelessness ; let the meagre- ness of the knowledge, and the insufficiency of the mode in which even that little is imparted, be steadily kept in view ; more especially, let the meditative spirit dwell on the cir- cumstance, that whatever instruction is in the first instance conveyed, flows unmixed in one distinct channel ; and that all the feelings, sentiments, and actions of old and young, among the people, flow unremoved and unainalgamated in another channel essentially separated from the former : — and, instead of greatly marvelling that the aspect of society has not undergone more important changes, we may well be filled with astonishment at the want of sagacity or unreason- ableness of those, who could seriously expect changes so great and so decisive to result from causes so utterly inadequate. The ingredients that unite in swelling the cui’rent which flows in each channel, exhibit in one respect the peculiar pro- perty of those substances that possess no chemical affinity — those substances that are not only mutually distinct, but mutually repulsive of each other. And if it be held an object of importance wholly to displace that which has the preoccupancy, it can never be effected by the application of a small portion of antagonist ingredients — as these might float innocuously on the surface. If effected at all, the one must be gradually dislodged by a corresponding increase in the volume of the other. That, in the case of education as

322 EFFECT OF A GENERAL ELEMENTARY EDUCATION.

hitherto generally conducted in India, this increase has yet been sufficient, is widely remote of the truth. For it is wholly incredible that mere elementary instruction, commu- nicated under numberless disadvantages, can ever bear any reasonable proportion to the stupendous mass of prejudice and superstition which it is intended to remove or destroy.

Nor is the good effected by such a limited system simply partial in its nature and contracted in its extent ; it is very uncertain in its duration. Imagine a case in our own highly- favoured land. Suppose that from some of those almost subterranean caverns in the heart of our great cities, where ignorance, vice, and profanity reign \vith unchecked do- minion, hundreds of youth, no matter from what motives, are induced to attend one of our elementary Christian schools : — suppose that, during the period of their attend- ance, they are exposed, evening and morning, at home, to all the brutalizing influences of unhallowed lips and profli- gate examples : — suppose that, after one or two years, at the early age of six, seven, eight, or nine, they are all removed from school, and again wholly shut up within the haunts of ungodliness and immorality ; no more accessible to the warn- ing voice of the teacher, or the preacher, or any Christian friend : — what impression could we ordinarily expect to be conveyed to them at so tender an age, in such adverse cir- cumstances, which would cling to them in after-life, in spite of the unopposed host of corrupting temptations, and seduc- tive allurements to folly, sin, and shame ? And yet this is but a faint and feeble picture of the real condition of the great majority of elementary mission schools in India. Hundreds and thousands of children may, from various motives, be induced to attend ; at home they are encompassed with the demoralizing influences of a loathsome superstition ; after an attendance of one or two years, they are withdrawn from school; they then replunge into the dead sea of an abominable heathenism ; are swallowed up in it ; and, for the most part, no more heard of by those who would gladly guide them to- wards Zion. What lastinn impression can, in such circum- stances, be expected to be communicated I We are aware

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that there are occasional instances of persons, who in youth happened to receive an elementary education, having in riper years become converts to the Christian faith. But in these cases, it were a glaring misapprehension of the real nature of the facts to attribute the enlightened reception of Christianity, as an effect, to the elementary education, as the proximate in- strumental cause. The lines have fallen to these individuals in more pleasant places. By the woi'king of a gracious Pro- vidence, they have for a season escaped, as it were, from the vortex of heathen society, and, during that time, have come in contact with some of the people of God — and from these has emanated an influence which has been blessed in sub- duing the souls of the wanderers to the Saviour. All such cases, instead of proving the inherent power of rudimental instruction in effecting great changes on character, only fur- nish an admirable illustration of the efficacy of after social and spiritual influences, to awaken into life and enshrine with the glories of true light and liberty. The real question then is this : — Of all the thousands of youths who have received a mere elementary education, how many have, in consequence, and solely in consequence of it, contributed in after-life to the diffusion of free and enlightened sentiments? How many have lent a more favourable ear to the announcement of the glad tidings ? How many have become “ burning and shining lights ? ” How many would be found able and disposed to uphold even the present inadequate supply, in the event of European agents and influence being wholly withdrawn ? W e fear that the most boundless charity would weep over the scantiness of the catalogue. Indeed, so long as there is no living principle infused to maintain life, and no active leaven to quicken the dull sluggish mass, things must in a great measure remain at once stationary, and absolutely dependent on foreign aid — aid which, from its very nature, must ever be feeble and precarious. And should no change of plans be sanctioned by the Legislative Almoners of Christian benevolence at home, the hands of the Execu- tive in India must continue bound as with iron fetters, and the state of mental imbecility and childhood, so far as the

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cause in question shall operate, must be perpetuated from age to age. After the removal of a thousand generations, and the profuse expenditure of thousands of lives, and tens of thousands of gold and silver, we might look around for fruit, without discerning any to regale the eyes, or to cheer the heart ; — and even then might the sudden removal of foreign agency be the signal for a speedy and general relapse.

This state of things suggests to us an extreme, but some- what analogous case. In a country whoUy destitute of indigenous forests, a new colony is planted. The soil is naturally excellent, and by proper cultivation may be made to bear the most useful products of foreign climes. Among others, the seeds of trees of different species are transported and deposited in the earth ; they soon germinate and grow. But the coimtrj" is excessively cold, and the foreign supply of large timber being barely sufficient for ship-building, machi- nery, kc., all the young and rising plants are successively cut down for fii’e-wood ; none are allowed to attain to the maturity of growth that is necessary for bearing fruit. At length, by some rupture among the nations, or some disas- trous inroad of nature’s elements, all supplies from abroad are cut offi Must not the general miser)- of the people be ine\-itable ! Certainly. And yet, had prudence and judg- ment guided their counsels, and directed their efforts, instead of a limited and precarious supply from abroad, they might have had numbers of seed-bearing trees that would soon reproduce and multiply their kind a thousandfold ; and at no ver)- remote period, meet or even exceed ever)- possible demand, and thus render the inhabitants independent of all future contingencies.

From the whole train of the preceding remarks, what conclusion ought to be drawn ? Is it not this, — That in present circumstances, all efforts which may be confined to the direct method of diffusing mere elementary knowledge among the dense mass of the heathen youth of India must be very inadequate ; and, if exclusicely pursued, can entail little else than expense, failure, and disappointment. Hence, much of the unfruitfulness of the system of elementary

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instruction which, from various causes, in many respects unavoidable, has hitherto been chiefly prosecuted in mission schools ; — a system, occupying a sphere so very limited, as scarcely to embrace any of those higher objects, without the attainment of which, all previous advantages are compara- tively lost, — the youthful plants, from the premature aban- donment of them, not being allowed to fructify and grow into strength, and shoot out into the heavens their wide- spreading boughs. Hence the frank and ready acknowledge- ment made of late years by so many who have had the benefit of experience ; and the corresponding determination \/to bend a more special attention towards the indirect method of imparting that life and strength to the feic, which will at once impel and enable them to exert a potent influence over the many. Hence the persuasion that we ought no longer to rest satisfied with the thought of conferring some limited uncertain beneflt, and carelessly indulge the hope of produc- ing some future undefined good ; — that, after surveying the field, and taking reason and experience for our guides, we ought to confess, that to restrict ourselves to the spread of elementary knowledge, is in great measure a fruitless waste of our time, our strength, and our pecuniary resources ; since any doubtful good which may be immediately produced must terminate in and perish with the individual. — Hence the growing persuasion that, since our design is to reach most speedily, efficiently, and permanently the great mass of the people, we ought openly to avow the chief means to be, so far as regards education, not the elementary instruc- tion of the youth at large, but the raising up and qualifying a body of special agents, whose minds, from the length and variety of their studies, might be quickened, expanded, and enlightened. In every individual in whom we thus concen- trate the rays of a higher knowledge, we provide a new source whence shall emanate and diverge the rays of quick- ening truth, to vivify and illume all within the reach of its influence. And if all who are thus taught do not engage directly in the work of disseminating true knowledge among their countrymen, they cannot fail to teach extensively by

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their example, — to imprint a new character on their own children, — and to encourage and support the adoption of any measures that may have for their object the diffusion of sound and enlarged sentiment.

Were the friends of missions, therefore, regularly to inquire. How many young men are engaged in a course of study in the higher departments of knowledge ? — instead of. How many children are receiving instruction in the elemen- tary schools ? — they w'ould undoubtedly find in the answer to the former inquiry, by much the surer test of the present and prospective advancement of the Hindus. Indeed, so strong is our conviction on this subject, that we do not hesi- tate to say, that it w'ould augur more for the real welfare of India, were ten privileged to receive the higher instruction, rather than a thousand admitted to the elementary schools. Do we, then, disapprove of the organization of schools of the latter description ? Quite the contrary. In the face of all opposition, we would again and again reiterate the state- ment, that, in the first instance, such schools must be insti- tuted. But it is one thing to assert the necessity of prepa- ratory measures, and quite another to rest in these as an ultimate end. This were indeed a humiliation of judgment. If the condition of society be such, that few or none of the young are at once qualified and willing to enter on a course of higher study, what expedient can be devised, save that of opening initiatory schools, in which the proper qualifica- tions may be acquired ? But would it indicate much wis- dom to stop here, and expend in wasteful extravagance our resources on the subordinate object ? With very limited means at our disposal compared with the exigencies of the case, we should value and support inferior schools, princi- pally on account of their auxiliary connection with a higher seminar)' ; — and whenever that connection ceases to exist, and Bie elementary school forms no longer one of the nur- series of a superior institution, we should certainly hesitate to expend much on its continuance. Between the two grades of institution, there would be a reciprocal action and reaction. While the lower supplied the higher with dis-

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ciplined pupils, the higher would tend to infuse new life into the lower. As vacancies in the former would be filled up by pupils selected from the latter on account of their pro- ficiency, this constant removal of those who distinguish themselves to enjoy the benefit of a superior education, would operate as a powerful and salutary stimulus through- out the entire system. Wholesome emulation would thereby be excited ; increased exertion would ensue ; and greater sacrifices would be made by parents and guardians to insure the regularity and prolong the period of attendance. In- deed, when the advantages consequent on a course of study in the higher institution began to be understood by a com- munity rapidly growing in intelligence, the requisite quali- fications for admission might often be exacted without our incurring the previous trouble and expense of communicating them.

To sum up the whole in a few words : — From a full and comprehensive view of the nature and constitution of man, specially as modified by the Brahmanical system ; — from the feebleness of impression on the youthful mind in matters that require abstract thought, or tend vitally to affect, and permanently to change the heart ; — from the buoyant rest- lessness of the Hindu character ; — from the obliterating and stupifying tendency of the countless abominations of hea- thenism ; — from the pressing wants and growing necessities of a society newly awakening from the torpor of a long and dreary night ; — from the lessons of a past experience, which present little else than a catalogue of failures to warn and instruct ; — from these and other circumstances which might be indefinitely enlarged upon, it must be adjudged essential, — towards securing the full benefits of a Christian educational course, — that, above and beyond the mere ele- mentary schools, separate institutions should be founded for the express purpose of turning the former to full account, — for the express purpose of communicating that higher knowledge in every department of literature, science, and theology, the possession of which, with the Divine bless- ing, naturally tends to stamp, and permanently to fix, the

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character, — for the express purpose of preventing many a promising plant from being exposed to every rude blast and every scorching ray, instead of being transferred to a more genial soil and a more kindly atmosphere, where its roots might spread, and its branches wave defiance to every tem- pest. In the present condition of the people of India, onemch central seminary, of a higher grade, with its attendant retinue of preparatory gymnasia, would do more towards vitally impressing the intellect and heart of the people, and consequently towards farthering the great cause of national regeneration, than any number of mere elementary schools, however indefinitely multi- plied I

Dismissing for the present the subject of education, we come to the next primary measure, or that of preaching. The Grospel, it has been again and again remarked, must be preached to the adult population. In doing so, we are not only warranted, but invited to look for a plentiful effusion of God’s Holy Spirit to crown the proclamation with the desired increase.

Connected with this theme, the question of vast practical moment, — the question of questions, — which we mean to start and consider, is. Who are, or ought to be the preachers ?

Making every allowance for individual opinions occasion- ally expressed in written journals, or oral addresses — for desultory and ephemeral measures, or even for a few isolated systematic attempts, on the part of societies or their agents, — it cannot be doubted that, in the spirit and working of the modern missionary system as a whole, the reigning principle has generally been to look almost exclusively to the Churches at home for the continuous supply of supe- riorly qualified labourers. This ought now to be regarded as a fundamental error. It must not, however, be imputed to any man, or body of men, as blameworthy. Quite the con- trary. It arose partly from inattention to the means em- ployed in propagating Christianity in past ages ; partly from inconsideration as to the capabilities of foreign agents, and

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the peculiarities of the heathen mind ; partly from inexpe- rience of the specific necessities of the field to be brought under cultivation ; partly from the hereditary opinions and prepossessions of numbers of the friends and supporters of the missionary cause ; and partly from the frequent impos- sibility of acting otherwise in the earlier stages of the evangelistic process throughout the different nations of the earth.

But the time has now come when, from the calm and dis- passionate review of the past and present state of missions, we may, in reference to the source whence labourers ought to be drawn, be allowed to insist on the systematic adoption of an entirely opposite principle as the paramount one. In other words, instead of any longer looking solely or chiefly to the British and other Christian Churches not only for the original but the continuous supply of labourers, we ought now to say, Look to these Churches for the original supply of labourers to communicate the first impulse ; but let these give that shape and direction to their operations which may most speedily cause the field itself to send forth the continuous supply.

Unimportant as this distinction may appear, the steady observance of it would lead to the mightiest practical results. Were the latter principle to gain the ascendant in mission- ary counsels and plans, it would soon lead to a remodelling of the framework of the general system. It would furnish an entirely new test and criterion of the success of missions. Looking always to home, and dependent on it for a succes- sion of labourers, the prevailing object seems hitherto to have been, to secure as many ordinary converts as possible — to report as many in the list of baptized and communi- cants as possible. Now, mere numbers furnish no valid test of the really flourishing state of any mission. Look at that gorgeous exotic from a sunny clime ! How proudly it rears its majestic stem, and shoots out its magnificent foliage, and displays its dazzling hues, as if in derision of the flora of these northern realms ! — How it flourishes ! Yes ; it flourishes weU in the hot-house of a botanic garden, — but

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can it be said to flourish well in Scotland ? No ; not unless it become so naturalized, that, like an indigenous plant, it could thrive independent of shelter or artificial heat ; and could maintain its native vigour, in spite of frost and snow. So with a mission in any heathen land ! Our eyes are turned to schools where the Gospel is taught, — to chapels where it is preached. The spot is a Goshen in a land of moral dark- ness ; and, like Goshen of old, freed also it may be from the plagues and the pestilences that smite and destroy the sur- rounding multitudes. Behold, how Christianity flourishes ! Yes, it flourishes well in that garden, under the nurturing care, and vivifying warmth, of Christian missionaries. But can it be said to flourish in India ? No ; not unless it become so naturalized, and have taken such deep root in the soil, that it can flourish and perpetuate itself, independent of . foreign aid. ^ That a mission has succeeded in working out for itself the means of self-support and self-propagation : — This, this is the only valid test of real permanent success !

Tell us of a station where thousands of ordinary converts are reported, but not one capable of acting the part of an independent propagator of Christianity, — and we must say, that that mission, with reference to the present and more especially the future, cannot be said to be in a flourishing state. Tell us of another station, which can report no such thousands, but can point to a few capable of acting the part of evangelists — and that station we must pronounce to be in a flourishing state. As regards the vitality and per- manency of Christianity, the mission which, with the Divine blessing, raises up a few propagators, has done more than one which counts thousands who require all their own diligence, and the superadded vigilance of devoted foreigners, to keep alive the flickering spark in their own breasts. As regards eternity, a hundred souls are more precious than one ; — as regards the intrinsic worth of a soul, that of one feeble in the faith is as valuable as that of any one strong in the faith. But, as regards the country at large, and the welfare of its inhabitants, one convert strong in the faith, — able to sustain the life in himself, and communicate it to others, — is worth a

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hundred or a tliousand ordinary disciples. The soul of the humblest and most illiterate peasant may be as precious, in the sight of God, as the soul of the most powerful in intellect and the most advanced in spiritual gifts and attainments. But as regards the great interests of a realm (say Scotland), one Knox is worth ten thousand illiterate peasants. And the institution which might be honoured in rearing a Knox, would do more for Christianity and mankind, than if it brought ten thousand undisciplined peasants into the fold. The influence of the former extends far and wide in space, and propagates itself onwards along the roll of ages, vitally affecting the destinies of successive generations. The influ- ence of the latter might, in a great measure, be confined to themselves, and perish with themselves. In missions, that one which is still dependent on home for labourers, has got no permanent footing, and is no better than a sickly exotic, which will droop the moment it is left to itself and its own inherent powers. Left to itself in such a mission, Christianity might, in the course of a single generation, decline into the feebleness of old age ; and, in the next, from the corruptions and interblendings of it with surrounding heathenism, new heresies might spring up — the foul but stable monuments of its short-lived reign. It is not enough that in any mission there should be individuals known under the name of native teachers, catechists, or preachers. For what is a name without the possession of some corresponding substantial reality ? To ascertain the real va^ue of native functionaries, we must ask the ques- tion,— How many of these would proceed with their labours of love, were the vigilant superintendence, and animating example, and stirring encouragement, and pecuniary recom- pense of European missionaries suddenly and wholly with- drawn ? How many would unflinchingly persevere in their holy calling, if wholly abandoned ,to themselves and their own resources ? Alas ! how often would a faithful answer to this question reduce almost to nothingness even the present sorry catalogue of native labourers ! But how can we call those native labourers really worthy of the name.

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who are destitute of the mental and spiritual qualifications and heroic zeal which would carry them forward, supposing all European missionaries were removed in a day 1 However conspicuous the figure which numhers may make in statisti- cal columns, how can we call any mission flourishing which has not succeeded in raising up at least a few converts endowed with those pow’ers, gracious and acquired, that would embolden them to persevere, in the face of desertion and danger, in an independent course of labour ?

Leaving these generalities, we proceed next to exhibit, from a variety of special considerations, the necessity of making the rearing of qualified natives a primary, and not a second- ary or subordinate, department of missionary labour in India.

Supposing that the present missionary stations in India bore, numerically, a far greater proportion to its necessities than they really do, how are they supplied with agents ? Is the supply adequate to the demand at the stations them- selves? By no means. For years past, in Eastern India, almost all the central and branch missions of the great English societies may be said to be stationary. How is this ? Chiefly from the inadequate supply of European missionaries. There is scarcely a settlement which can, at this moment, afford to act on the aggressive, in effectually widening the circle of light into the circumjacent territory, without sub- tracting so much from its own limited efficiency. Few as are the stations that have been already formed, the seiwices of even one labourer could not be dispensed with for a season, however short, without leaving his sphere almost entirely destitute, — a circumstance which, in the present stage of improvement, would be tantamount to a total abandonment of the work already accomplished. For it is not in an in- fantine state of things, as it is in those more highly favoured lands where vital, self-sustaining, self-propagating princi- ples have long been implanted, and have taken firm and deep root. At home, for example, the spiritual labourer may retire for a season, and returning again, may find his

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work, if not advanced, at least prepared for receiving farther augmentation. In a country like India, it is far otherwise. At a vast expense of body and of mind the work may be conducted, and it may appear to progress. But let the workman temporarily withdraw his fostering presence, and speedily it is found to retrograde. Or, if the labourer be suddenly cut down in the midst of his career of useful- ness, there is no one to supply his place. His coadjutors have their hands more than full, — their own work cannot be relinquished without sustaining incalculable damage. Ere a successor, appointed from home, can reach the field, the portion which was partially cleared may have so rapidly relapsed into its original wilderness state, that the labour of spiritual husbandry must be begun anew, just as if little or none had ever been expended. And thus, the frequent removal of some labourers by death, and the withdrawal of others through various afflicting dispensations of providence, leave us too often to view, not a series of steadily advancing steps, but rather a never-ending alternating series of pro- gressions and retrogressions, — of expensive labour, and irremediable loss. — Just as the successive rollings of the tides of the ocean upon the shore would, in an unchanging- rotation, obliterate all the tracings which the highest wis- dom, combined w-ith the most consummate art, could deli- neate upon the shifting sands.

To enable, therefore, even the present limited stations to maintain an effective warfare with conterminous heathenism, and to become magazines of spiritual provision in the midst of a famishing land whence the bread of life may be liberally administered to the surrounding multitudes, it would be necessary to double or treble the present number of effective missionaries. Accordingly, another and another solemn appeal from the field of labour is made to ring in the ears of British Christians, calling for help ; — demanding that more labourers should forthwith be commissioned to speed to the missionary field, — not for the sake of planting new and remote stations, which, by scattering strength, would weaken, and by incurring certain expense and possible failure, must

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prove disastrous to the general missionary cause, — but chiefly in order to reinforce those stations at present estal> lished, and thus unfetter the hands of the senior brethren who may be possessed of the requisite qualifications to go forth more at large, and cause the name of Jesus to resound through many of those dreary habitations, where hitherto it has been unheard of and unknown.

Are the British Churches prepared to respond to these appeals ? J udging from past experience, we should say that something like a genuine and extensive revival must first take place, — something like a pentecostal effusion descend from on high, — ere we can look for a Moravian response to the summons. And if, in the present state of things at home w’e cannot expect the desiderated supply, must we sit down in despair of the farther extension of Christianity ? No such thing ! But ought not the extreme unlikelihood of ever being able effectually to provide even the present stations from home, induce us to think with more resolute earnest- ness of the expediency and necessity of raising up duly qua- lified native labourers on the spot ?

Again, if this conclusion be suggested to us fi’om a view of the insufficient supply of the present missionary stations in India, how resistlessly must it be forced upon us, when we consider the state of the country at large ! So utterly disproportionate is the number of the labourers to the extent of the field to be cultivated, that the very thought were enough to plunge the weak in faith into despair. In a short appeal for additional assistance to the Home Societies, drawTi up a few years ago, — in the name, and printed under the sanction, of the united body of missionaries of all deno- minations in Calcutta, — it was distinctly stated, that owing to the smallness of the number of undisabled labourers, they were immoveably settled in particular districts within a sphere so circumscribed, and to a desertion of the great body of the people so entire, as to extort the humbling confession, that, notwithstanding a few stated itineracies.

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undertaken at distant intervals of time, for a very limited period, and almost invariably in the same track, “ the soimd of the glad tidings had not yet been heard in one out of a hun- dred of the toicns and milages of Bengal I — And this in the province which includes Serampore ! — the province where so many devoted men, of all the leading Christian commu- nions, have so indefatigably laboured during the last forty years. Then, what must the destitution be in those immense districts in which not one solitary mission station has yet been planted ?

The prospect is indeed appalling ; but not at all to be won- dered at, when we compare the magnitude of the field with the scantiness of the labourers. People at home constantly rehearse their own doings, calculate their givings, and reckon up the array of their agents. How seldom do they try to realize the extent of territory to be overrun and occupied by the little band of missionary soldiers, or the formidable amount of forces opposed to them ! Really, if the English Government had chosen a single regiment of raw recruits, dividing it into little bands of triumvirates or decemvirates, — and had dispersed these over the wide world, to conquer a peace in all the colonies, — reserving the largest sub-divi- sion, as the only force, to meet Napoleon’s hundred thousand veteran warriors on the plains of Waterloo, it would not, in civil and military policy, be a more preposterons expedient than that with which many amongst us seem wondrously satisfied, in the attempt to reduce the anti-Christian strong- holds of the nations under the banner of the Cross !

That this is nothing in the style of burlesque or wild exaggeration, must at once appear from a statement of facts. And as the unknown may be best appreciated by contrast with the known, let us compare India with Scotland. What is the population of Scotland? About two millions and a-half How many are there, of all denominations, to pro- claim the everlasting Gospel? Upwards of two thousand. And yet, has not the cry been of late sounded in our ears, that there is a deplorable destitution of the means of grace within our borders ? — a cry which, energised by the mightiest

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living voice in Christendom, has pealed forth the alarming fact, that we are strangely nestling some of the worst horrors of heathenism in the very lap of Christianity. Oh ! if there were a tithe of the spirit of the primitive disciples in our breast, or even a tithe of the horoic self-sacrificing devotedness of our own refonning fathers, methinks that in a twelvemonth three or four hundred additional churches might be reared to obtrude the visible symbols of our faith in the eyes, and sound its glad tidings in the ears, of an ignorant and deluded populace. But letting that pass for the present, how stands the matter as regards India ? What is the amount of its population? At least one hundred and thirty millions. To proclaim the message of salvation to this amazing multi- tude,— subjected in the wondrous dispensation of Providence to our power, and placed within reach of our address, — how many labourers does Great Britain supply? Why, taking into account those who are disabled in consequence of having their constitutions shattered by exertion in an unfriendly clime, and sundry other causes, there are not one hundred effective Heralds of the Cross ! No ! — including the mission- aries of all our great societies, Church of England, Church of Scotland, Wesleyan, Independent, Baptist, — there are not one hundred men actually engaged in proclaiming the Gospel to a population of one hundred and thirty millions! — Not so great a proportion for India, as would he that of two men for all Scotland, with its retinue of islands I Only think of two preachers for all Scotland I If, at present, with its more than two thousand pastors, there is so much of rampant heathen- ism in the land, what would have been its condition, had there only been tico ? — one stationed somewhere south of the Forth, and the other somewhere north of the Tay ! Would not this be an idle mockery of benevolence — a bitter sarcasm on schemes of evangelization ? And yet it is the very counter- part of the dealings of Protestant Christendom, not only with India, but the world at large ! With an instrumentality in Scotland only proportioned to that in India, it could not, though already Christianized, continue nominally Christian for a single generation. Instead of making head against its

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remaining heathenism, instead of maintaining its present inadequate institutions, it would suddenly be submerged beneath the returning flow of a dominant Paganism.

People sometimes express their wonder that more has not been done in India. But after such a statement, the won- der ought rather to be that, in spite of our criminal short- comings, God has been pleased to work out so much through the institution on our part of means so preposterously incom- mensurate ! To overtake India even at a rate proportioned to the present occupation of Scotland, we should require, not a hundred^ but upimrds of a hundred thousand qualified labourers. Whence are these to come ? From home ? Why, unless every godly layman were suddenly metamorphosed into a minister of salvation — and by some awful catastrophe, the whole body of the faithful were driven to flee to some Indian Pella for refuge, as were the Jews of old from the city of their fathers, like stranded mariners from a sinking ship, — there is no reasonable prospect of obtaining the necessary supply from home. Must we then despair ? No. But is not the necessity enforced upon us of resorting to some other practical expedient ? And what can that be, save the vigorous endeavour to raise up a body of native labourers to cultivate the almost boundless field !

The only plausible objection on the score of numbers which may be urged is, that, though as a matter of rigid arithmetical calculation more than a hundred thousand labourers would be required to enable us to parcel out India into manageable localities, still something far short of this might suffice in the first instance, — and that by a system of itinerating^ a comparatively small handful might traverse all India. On this subject it is difiicult to speak or write with- out encountering a host of prepossessions which may recoil in a corresponding host of misapprehensions. Still the sub- ject is too important to be passed over in silence. What, then, is the very lowest grade of itinerating usefulness ? Surely that by which the Gospel message might be fully and

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faithfully sounded in the ears of every individual, for once during his lifetime. To achieve, however, even this in India, with the numberless natural obstacles in the way of free locomotion, would require the present number of missionaries to be increased tenfold ; — so that even this plan would force upon us the necessity of raising native labourers. But to what substantial results conld such itineracy, even if fully accomplished, be reasonably expected to lead I In some soli- tary instance the good seed of the Word so scattered might fall on some honest heart, and so bring forth fruit unto life eternal : — and would not one soul outweigh all the trouble and expense of the universal though almost profitless dis- persion ? True. That, how'ever, is not the point ; — the real question ought to be, what reasonable prospect of general ultimate success does that hold out ; and what test of pro- gress towards the reaping of a harvest of souls ? In scat- tering handfuls of corn over the frozen crest and towerinsr eminences of the Alps or Himalaya, a single grain might obtain a lodgment in the cleft or crevice of a naked rock ; and there exposed to the concentrated rays of a summer sun, it might rear its nodding form far aloft amid a region of sublime sterility ; — but what prospect would that hold out of reaping the bountiful returns of an autumnal increase ?

The only itineracy worthy of the name, as contradistin- guished from any modified form of the localizing system, is that which admits not only of universal extension, but of continual or frequent repetition of the same means in the same quarters. But an itineracy which would, in a given time, overtake every district of a countrv', leaving no town, or village, or hamlet unvisited, and no single individual un- aroused by the Gospel message, — an itineracy which would, within brief stated periods, renew the process of infusing an active leaven into the sluggish mass, till inquiries began to be excited, and individuals here and there were discovered in whose souls the Lord had commenced a work of grace, and eventually whole districts found ready, at the sound of the Gospel summons powerfully proclaimed by the living voice, to awake and shak& off the spiritual despotism which ages

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liad confirmed, — such an effective itineracy would require the present number of missionaries increased a hundredfold. Hence, again, the enhanced demand for native labourers.

Our object is not to condemn the itinerating system, but to point out the necessity of perfecting it ; till, by progres- sive advances, it may become identical wdth the localizing system. The vast superiority of the latter over every other in point of efficiency, solidity, permanency, and pervasiveness, has been demonstrated by a redundance of evidence, by the most eloquent of living men. And if, in a land where not one in ten with whom we meet is other than a friend, this system has been proved to be fraught with the mightiest momentum of aggressive powder as regards existing heathen- ism, and the mightiest vis inertice of conservative power as regards existing Christianity, how much more must it be so in a region where not one in a hundred with whom you meet is other than a determined foe ? If many of the current view's on the subject of missionary itineracy be correct, most of Dr Chalmer’s statements and reasonings are fallacious. But be- lieving his conclusions to be as legitimately established as any proposition in the ancient geometry, we would only labour the more incessantly, and pray the more earnestly, that measures might be devised for accelerating the transfer of the Indian and every other heathen field, from the itinerating to the localizing system. At present, when men, fired with holy zeal, behold such multitudes in peril of perdition, and so few to rescue, they are tempted to itinerate any where, and any how. In the gush of generous philanthropy they are hurried to and fro through the glow'ing desire to snatch as many brands as possible from the burning : — though, alas ! in this case it too often happens, as in the rending of an icefloe, or the stranding of a ship, that the able and the willing, in attempt- ing to save too many, suffer all to perish, — crowning the noble but Ineffectual effort w'ith no other trophy than the cenotaph of their own uncelebrated obsequies.

While there is not an argument employed to evince the

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superiority of the localizing to the itinerating system, in a land of almost universal Christian profession, which does not apply with tenfold greater force to a region of almost universal idolatrous profession, there are in the latter case, besides the general reasons founded on the catholic principles and attributes of humanity, special additional considerations.

The climate of India greatly militates against a system of effectual continuous itineracy. For several months the heat is all but insufferable for in-door labour; and absolutely unendurable for active operations, on any extensive scale, abroad. For several months more, during the prevalence of the monsoons, free intercourse, in most parts, is well-nigh impracticable. In Eastern India, as much rain falls in three months as in Great Britain in three years. And on many parts of the western coast the fall is more than double that amount. Most of the plains and valleys are in a great mea- sure under water. The lower part of Bengal, — the largest, most fertile, and most populous of all the provinces, — is for three or four months converted into an immense lake. The groves of bambu tamarand and palm-trees seem like the green summits of subaqueous forests ; and the villages, reared on low earthen mounds, look like floating islets of cottages. The natives pass and repass through the flooded paddy fields, seated one at each extremity of a long scooped-out trunk of the cocoa-tree. Open and free exposure to such extremes of heat and steaming vapour, the inhabitants of northern climes can never endure with impunity. With scarcely any exceptions, those who have maintained and en- deavoured to practise the theory, that by certain experimen- tal efforts and tentative encroachments, they might, through a long series of approximations, at length reach the standard of perfect assimilation with the climate, have uniformly failed. Not a few have in consequence been cut down at the very threshold of a splendid career of promising usefulness ; and they have fallen prematurely just in proportion to the extent of liberty they began to assume in braving the haz- ards of unmodified exposure. But what the European can- not, dare not, as the general rule, attempt, the natives of

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the soil may : — Hence, again, the necessity of resorting to a qualified native agency, if it be our design rapidly to over- spread and permanently to occupy the land.

In Bengal, such are the physical difficulties, that the stoutest advocates of the discursive itinerating system never dream of attempting to carry it into practice beyond three or four months in the year. Now, suppose a place were visited once every year, or even oftener, during the itinerating season, what is to become of it throughout the remaining eight or nine months ! Suppose the deepest impression had been produced, how much will remain of it at the end of nine months of all-absorbing secularity ? If, even in Scotland, an isolated parish, far removed from the ministrations of any neighbouring charge, had sermon preached in it only once or twice in a twelvemonth, and for nine months every year, no sermon at all, — with no resident believer qualified to address his friends, either in public or in private, — could such a parish be, by such means, thoroughly Christianized \ — or, if Christianized already, could it be saved from a relapse into Paganism ? To say that, once on a time, at a particular place, a listening audience has been secured, and a powerful impression produced, is to say little or nothing. Even in this Christian land, on a subject respecting which many of the audience may be deeply interested, and none perhaps opposed, let the deepest impression be made ; and, unless vigorously followed up by subsequent systematic reiter- ation in every shape and form, how long will it survive ? Is it not as notorious as that yesterday the sun must have risen in the firmament, that such an effect must, generally speaking, prove ephemeral if not instantly and perseveringly followed up ? How much more must this be the result in a case wherein the subject-matter of address may be uninvit- ing to all, and specially loathed and detested by the most influential of the people ?

Tell us that, in a particular spot, a deep impression seems to have been produced : tell us that, — instead of waiting to ascertain whether such impression has been real, or sand-like, or apparent merely ; or whether, if the mere

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effei’vesccnce of curiosity and novelty, it can be made to ter- minate in a reality, — you went away, when the fervour was at its height ; and if shallow, required most to be deepened ; and if real, required most to be rightly directed and regu- lated. Tell us that then you hastened off to pi’oduee the same impression somewhere else, — an impression as speedily to be abandoned to the impulse of every wayward accident, and the breath of every passing breeze, — and what really sa- tisfactory result has 4»een attained ? Or, suppose you never return again, as is often the case, what has been gained ? Or, suppose you do return in a twelvemonth, and find that while many remember your having been there before, the majo- rity only remember your presence as untowardly associated with a thousand nameless misconceptions, in regard to your doctrines and designs, what advantage has been reaped ? You may succeed in renewing the former impression ; and it may be that hasty opponents, learning caution from ex- perience of defeat, may be more wary in their renewed attacks. Well, what of all this, if, comet-like, you only blaze on them for a moment, and then leave them plunged into deeper darkness than before ? — Part of an invading army is sent from the main body to attack a citadel : they succeed in beating back a sally from the garrison, and in effecting a breach in the outer bulwarks ; but the moment that an impression has begun to be made on the besieged, the assaulting party retire. Flushed with the glorious achievement, they rush back to head-quarters -to report what an impression has been made. After some months or years, they are again sent to take possession of the fortress. To their amazement, they find that the breach has, in the interval, been thoroughly repaired ; and rendered, if possible, stronger than before. The attack is accordingly renewed, and the breach has again been made — made, pei’haps, more easily than before, because, having learned prudence from ex- perience, the besieged resolved not to diminish their num- bers by any more rash, unpromising sallies. But, instead of vigorously pushing on the advantage gained, the assailants hie back to the main army, to rehearse their fresh success ; —

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adding, moreover, how overawed the besieged had been, because they did not venture, as before, openly to issue forth to attack them in the open field. Thus, year after year, the attack may be renewed, and the report brought back of similar success. In the course of a century, there may be a succession of a hundred attacks, a hundred breaches effected in the outer ramparts, and a hundred reports of the wondrous exploits ; — and at the end of the hundred years, the fort may be as nearly on the eve of capture and sub- jugation as at the beginning ! So it may fare with the scheme of occasional or unfrequent itineracies, — when never followed up by permanent ministrations. Their history may consist of a monotonous record of deep impressions once made, and, it may be, annually renewed — deep impressions, but no real conquest, either temporary or pennanent. Hence it is that nothing can well be more unsound or unsafe than to adopt a certain platform calculus ; and, by an assumed and arbitrary equation, measure the amount of good effected by the number of isolated impressions reported in the nar- rative of a long itineracy.

This is not all. It is not merely that occasional impres- sions, altogether remote from the daily current of human thought and feeling, must, in the overwhelming majority of instances, prove fleeting and unstable, — terminating in little or no real and lasting good. In a heathen country like In- dia, should transitory visitations leave at any time behind them some seeds of truth, which, in individual cases, may fructify, — has the grave, the momentous consideration been sufficiently attended to, namely, that unintentionally there may be also implanted the seeds of much positive evil, which, sprouting with the tropical rapidity so characteristic of the growth of error, may inflict essential damage on the best of causes.

Let us draw one illustration of this from the medium of instruction. That medium is, of course, foreign to the Eu- ropean itinerant. Now, let us suppose, — what cannot be

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alleged in favour of one out of ten, — that he has a perfect mastery over the provincial dialect ; as well as an intimate acquaintance with human nature in the abstract, and human nature as modified by Hindu institutions. The dialect may contain no analogous terms to express some of the more spiri- tual doctrines of Christianity. If not, foreign terms must be inti’oduced ; or new ones coined ; or equivalent ones borrowed or compounded from the Sanskrit. In either case, how formidable the difficulty presented at the very outset of the process of instruction ! And yet that difficulty, in the case of a people immersed in grossness, — supersaturated with sensuousness, — is proposed to be overcome in the course of a single address ! Or suppose terms somewhat analogous to exist, it may scarcely ever happen that these are identical in import. If not, the confusion and intricacy, instead of being diminished, may even be enhanced ; — as it is often far more easy to introduce a new term, as the vehicle of a new conception, than to detach from an old term the idea to which it has once been wedded. On this subject we appeal at once to theory and to universal experience. We appeal to all, — who in the hey-day amusements of youth, have employed certain terms in connection with the jovial, the frolicsome, or the ludicrous, — whether, in riper years, the recurrence of the terms does not always insure a recurrence of the early associated ideas — so as to prove like discord to the harmony of sage discourse ; to detract from the gravity of venerable usage ; and even painfully to tumultuate the veTy exercises of devotion ? We appeal to all — in whose minds the various professions and the ten thousand events and contingencies of life have produced casual associations with terms that are wholly alien to the terms themselves — whether the same dis- turbing influences have not been experienced ? Apart alto- gether from such inveterate associations, we appeal to aU judges and pleaders, to all preachers and teachers, to all lecturers and speakers, in public and in private — to all, in short, who have exerted any degree of discrimination in their intercourse with their fellow-men, whether, even in cases where there is a community of speech — a reciprocity of

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information, — an intercommunion of sentiment, the same notion may not often be enunciated by the speaker in one sense, and understood by the hearer in another ? — And whether this does not repeatedly happen in cases where the party addressed may be earnestly anxious to be enlightened and improved ?

If thus it be at home, what must it be in a region like India I — where the audience may be not only wholly ignorant of the subject of discourse, but wholly disinclined to its an- nouncements, and more or less intolerant of its proposed results ? — where, moreover, there may be no natural commu- nity of language, nor parity of general knowledge, nor con- geniality of sentiment ? Above all, what must it be, where almost every term in the entire vocabulary of theology is pre- occupied and appropriated to the embodiment of some idea altogether foreign to the genius and spirit of Christianity ? — where every religious term is linked to what is erroneous in faith, idolatrous in worship, blasphemous in principle, or abominable in practice ? — and this too, not from the casual association of youthful pastime, nor the incidents of profes- sional engagement, nor the fortuitous coincidences of acci- dent and adventure, — but, from the systematic training of youth and the inveterate habits of manhood, the opinions of the head and the preferences of the heart, the immemorial usage of ancestors, and all the heart-stirring recollections of ages of glory and renown ! Take one or two examples as an illustration of the difficulty. Talk to the idolati’ous Hindus of sin — endeavour to convince of sin, that you may convince of righteousness. Sin is a term of familiar occurrence. But though freely used by both parties, what a discrepancy be- tween the ideas of which it is the common emblem ! When you mention sin, yours is the divinely revealed idea. But what can the use of the term suggest to the minds of the hearers, except the idea with which, from infancy, it has been associated as symbol and representative ? Will the utterance of a familiar sound from the lips of a stranger, all at once transfuse the new or additional idea which may be latent in his breast ? Impossible. The enunciation of

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the tei*m will at first naturally and inevitably excite in the hearers’ mind the very notions — and none other — to which they have all their days been accustomed. And what are these ? What is sin ? Probably the sin most readily sug- ' gested, will be that of touching something unclean, or partak- ing of food that has been handled by one of another caste, or some other imaginary offence still more frivolous. Talk of the necessity of the soul’s being cleansed from all sin ; — and the process of purification suggested will be that of ablution in the Ganges or some other sacred stream. Tell them that without holiness no one shall enter the kingdom of heaven ; — and the Impression conveyed will be, that with- out meritorious virtue, or that excellence which results from the performance of works of merit, or the endurance of ascetic mortification, it is impossible to ascend into any of the heavens of the gods. Proclaim the doctrinal fact, that the soul is now far off, alienated, or separated from God ; — and their own notion will be apt to be confirmed, that the soul is an individualized portion of the Supreme Brahm, temporarily severed from his substance and confined within the bonds of a material frame. Dilate on the necessity of the soul’s being again brought to God, and of being united to him by a true and living faith, in order to the enjoyment of perfect bliss ; — and you will be understood as enunciating the fundamental doctrine of their own Pantheism ; that to secure final beatitude, the soul must, by firm unshaken devotion and intense abstract contemplation, be reunited with the essence of the Supreme Spirit. Expatiate on the joys of heaven ; — and the mind will at once be filled with the endless round of sensuous enjoyments which, in their system, constitute celestial bliss. Discourse of the Divine Being, — employ the ordinary term for God, — and the thoughts of the hearers will be thrown adrift among a mul- titude of imaginary, false, and subordinate divinities. — To guard against misconception, prefix or substitute an appel- lation, expressive of some lofty attribute, such as uncon- trolled power and dominion, — and instantly will the attention be directed to one or other of the supreme gods, who, in a pre-

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eminent sense may be the depositary of that attribute. — To banish the possibility of such polytheistic confusion, seize at once on that term which is the incommunicable designation of the Divine Being, as contradistinguished from all other gods, superior or inferior, — and instantly you sug- gest the pantheistic conception of the Supreme Spirit, as the emanatim fount and universally modified essence of all other existences. Come to some doctrine which you believe to be peculiar to Revelation ; tell the people that they must be regenerated or horn again., else they can never “ see Grod.” Before you are aware, they may go away saying, “ Oh there is nothing new or strange here ; our own Shastras tell us the same thing ; we know and believe that we must be born again ; it is our fate to be so.” But what do they under- stand by the expression ? It is that they are to be born again and again, in some other form, agreeably to their own system of transmigration or reiterated hirths. To avoid the appearance of countenancing so absurd and pernicious a doctrine, you vary your language, and tell them that there must be a second hirth, — that they must be twice horn. Now it so happens that this, and all similar phraseology, is pre- occupied. The sons of a Brahman have to undergo various purificatory and initiatory ceremonial rites, before they attain to full Brahmanhood. The last of these is the inves- titure with the sacred thread ; which is followed by the com- munication of the Gayatri., or most sacred verse in the Vedas. This ceremonial constitutes, “ religiously and metaphorically, their second birth;” henceforward their distinctive and pecu- liar appellation is that of the twice horn., or regenerated men. Hence it is that your improved language might only convey the impression that all must become perfect Brahmans, ere they can “ see God” — a doctrine to which they would at once assent, inasmuch as none except those who, through the course of transmigration, rise to the exalted grade of perfect Brahmanhood, can attain to that “ divine knowledge'"’ which is essential to a reahsorption into the Supreme Spirit.

But why multiply examples ? These are sufficient to illus- trate our meaning, when we declare that every native term

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which the Christian missionarj’ can employ to communicate Divine truth, is already appropriated as the chosen symbol of some counterpart deadly error, — and that to sever these terms from meanings and associations which have been in- stilled from infancy, and rendered venerable by the usage of an immemorial antiquity, — converting them into the vehicle of pure and spiritual conceptions, wholly alien to the thoughts of a sensuous superstitious people, — must be a task of no ordinary difficulty. Indeed, we consider this as one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, of the more immediate difficulties with which the Herald of the Cross has to con- tend, when addressing an adult audience of Hindu idolaters. And yet, strange to say, though this be a difficulty which those who have most narrowly scrutinized the workings of their own and other men’s minds, will ever be the readiest to pronounce as most formidable, — it is perhaps the difficulty which of all others has in practice been least considered, — least weighed, — and least effectually provided against !

What is the drift of the preceding remarks ? Is it to pour contempt on all itineracy ? Is it to discourage preach- ing ? God forbid ! It is simply to reduce the former within its proper dimensions : it is to lead to a system which may render the latter not a name, a mockery, nor a phantom, — but a reality, a power, and an efficacy. When the preacher, by his address, may have raised misconceptions ; — when, through ignorance, prejudice, habit, and early association, the noblest truths may be merged into the most detestable eiTors — the most marvellous facts into mythological fables ; — when the sublimest theism may be transmuted into an atheistic pantheism, — the sublimest doctrines into the grovel- ling forms of idolatrous belief, — and the purest practices into the enslaHng round of degrading superstition — what is the remedy I Or is there any ? There is, — and it consists in frequent, patient reiteration ; accompanied with varied ex- planation, similitude, illustration, and argument. But for this the mere itinerating system can make no adequate pro- vision. In order to insure so indispensable an end, there must a fixed and stationary ministry. In other words,

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the localising system must be brought into full operation. Such a system efficiently conducted, would at once demand tens of thousands of labourers. And this again lands us in the necessity of resorting to natives, in a way more efficient, and to an extent vastly greater, than has ever yet been con- templated. Will this be denounced as innovation ? Innova- tion ! Why, it is only to seize the lyre of experience, and sweep it with the finger of common sense. We plead for itineracy ; we plead for preaching. All that we insist on is, that both should, if possible, be perfected. How we long to see the day when both may be so efiectually combined, as to lead to a universal process of productive and perma- nent localisation ! How glorious, — if really endowed with the requisite qualifications, and having at our disposal and appointment numbers of native teachers and preachers — how glorious to traverse the whole land as preaching itine- rants ! Wherever inquiry might be excited, or impressions made, there would w'e localise a missionary to stimulate the inquiry, heighten the impression, and in every way which wisdom could suggest, or experience confirm, follow up all the advantages already gained. Then would we pass on to another city or district ; and there would we, if favoured in like manner with increase from on high, repeat the same process. And after a circling series of stations had thus been planted within reach of concert and co-operation, how cheering would it be to return and revisit them all — strength- ening and confirming the churches ! This, this would be itineracy of the right stamp, — an itineracy which might not only diffiise, but perpetuate the leaven of Christian principle throughout the land !

Apart altogether from the demonstrable argument of numbers in proof of the necessity of raising a supply of na- tive teachers and preachers, there are other considerations, some of primary, and others of secondary importance. With- out any special regard to classification, we shall here briefly advert to a few.

350 OBSTACLES TO SL’CCESS OF EUROPEAN MISSIONARIES.

When we think of the vast extent of territory to be over- taken, and the tens of thousands required for the task, is it wise to overlook the economical part of missionary statistics I Other things being equal, must not that system be prefer- red, which contemplates the Christianization of India at the lowest pecuniary expenditure ? In accelerating that longed- for result, is it nothing that an effective native agency may be maintained at a fifth or sixth part of, the expense of a European agency of corresponding efficiency ? If five or six preachers can be supported in place of one, may we not hope that the means of Christian influence will be diffiised and multiplied at a rate five or six fold greater ? And would not this alone do much towards turning the balance in favour of native agency ?

Again, the missionary who desires to labour with real effect in impressing the adult population, ought to be ena- bled so to exhibit his entire mode, habits, and tenor of life, that, in his daily walk and conversation, — in his outgoings and incomings, — in his domestic and social dealings, — he might be observed and marked by all around ; — that, in this way, the preaching of his lips might be enforced by the ten- fold more efficacious preaching of a holy, harmless, and irre- proachable example, “ seen and read of all men.” Now, it requires little reflection to perceive, tliat in the way of fully attaining this grand object, a barrier is interposed by the exotic manners and habits of European missionaries. This holds true, more especially, of those modes of living to which experience has compelled the inhabitants of a northern clime to resort ; — not for the sake of comfort^ — for that is a commodity which, in the British sense of the tenn, is unknown in tropical climes, — but simply to insure some portion of health and efficiency for the discharge of necessary duties ; — not for the sake of enjoying the fabled luxuries of the East ; — for what would be luxuries at home, can there be only said to be so many artificial contrivances to obtain some abatement of positive suffering, — so many ingenious expedients, not so much to render life pleasurable, as to make bare existence possible. All such manners, habits, and

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modes of life, — of the precise nature and influence of which even a multitude of details would scarcely suffice to convey an adequate conception to those who have never been in India, — do more or less tend to raise up a wall of separa- tion between European missionaries and the natives, — so that the former can seldom let the fidl light of their example, however holy, shine upon the latter. This, it must be con- fessed, is a prodigious disadvantage and obstruction to the rapid spread of Christianity. In primitive times, it was the burning and shining example of purity and holiness, on the part of the disciples, — contrasting with the blackness of heathenism, as the radiance of sunshine with the gloom of a cloud in which the tempest sleeps, — that carried Christianity in triumph from the lowly hamlets of Galilee to establish for itself a residence in the palaces of imperial Rome. And until such an example be made msihly to obtrude itself upon the mass of the adult population of India, we can scarcely expect that Christianity will finally supplant the bloody sacrifices of Durga and Kali, or annihilate the abominations of Jug- gernath. Who, then, are to set this perfect example, in all its parts and details ? The disastrous results of past experi- ence, and the adverse testimonies of general practice, seem to proclaim, “ Not the European missionaries.” Must we therefore be driven to the alternative, that it is not to be exhibited at all I Surely not. What the Europeans, from physical incapacity and other causes, are found unable to achieve, qualified natives may. Thus the necessity of rearing a superior native agency is again forced upon our view.

Once more, in order thoroughly to impress a native audi- ence, it is indispensable that the preacher should possess a free and fluent command of the vocabulary and idiom of the language ; — a power of enunciating vernacular terms in ver- nacular tones and accents ; — and, above all, an intimate acquaintance with the habitual trains of thought and secret links of association, — the currents of feeling and the im- pulses to action, — the modes of conceiving the visible and invisible, and the ready and familiar .storehouse of illustrative

352 OBSTACLES TO SUCCESS OF EUROPEAN MISSIONARIES.

imagery. Now, the perfect acquisition of such endowments is, of all attainments not absolutely impossible, the least practicable to a foreigner. It supposes a length and breadth of thoroughgoing social intercourse, — a height and depth of intercommunion with the secret springs of intellectual and moral nature under new and strange modifications, — which it is scarcely conceivable how one in a hundred can ever attain. In its absolute entireness, it seems incommunicable. After one, two, or three years, one may be enabled to wield a tolerable mastery over the language. He may then preach ; but if it be in the style to which he was accustomed at home, he may in general as w’ell preach to the winds. In order to preach with effect, he must have the new experi- ence referred to. This implies not merely the study, but the personal observation of years. Suppose, then, that after four or five years, one has gained not only a command of the language, but a tolerable power over the flexible trains and modes of thought, — what next ^ In all probability, the grave ! Just as he is ready to preach with some prospect of success, he is cut dowm. It is a notable fact, that the larger portion of all the missionaries ever sent to India have fallen or been disabled within the first six or seven years of their sojourn ! This is no vague assertion. The simple statistical record show's that, after subtracting about half- a-dozen of extraordinary long lives, the average amount of missionary life in India does not exceed six or seven years ! In other w'ords, even supposing all the qualifications have been secured, the greater part are cut down before they have been enabled to employ them at all ; and the larger moiety of the remainder, before they have done little else than enter effectually on their labours. Would not this fact alone go far to prove that they are not European mis- sionaries who seem destined to do the p'ea/ work ? — thus again shutting us up to the necessity of a native agency ? And is not this conclusion enhanced prodigiously, when we consider that most of the foreign agents could never obtain the requisite qualifications at all ? — no, though they should live not seven years, but seventy times seven !

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Is not the same lesson enforced by the analogy of Provi- dence in the history of the past 1 Where is there an instance of any great reformation of the prevailing national faith and manners, in any country, having been achieved, except by a native or natives ? Look at the great legislative and religious reformers of the east and of the west — of China and India, Persia and Arabia, Greece and Rome. Look at the history of Christianity itself. Whom did God select to preach the Gospel to the people to whom pertained “ the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises V Indi- viduals who were of the seed of Abraham. And since to that favoured people had been confined for ages all the privileges of the everlasting covenant, was there not a Divine suit- ableness in causing the new era of the universal extension of these to Gentile nations, to be ushered in by members of that holy brotherhood ? Was it without Divine foreknow- ledge and design, that the prime Agent employed in execut- ing this commission should unite in his own person all the leading characteristics of Jew and Gentile ? Was it without Divine significancy and intent that Saul of Tarsus was, on the one hand, by birth, after the strictest of Jewish sects, a Pharisee, and by education of the school of Gamaliel ; — and, on the other hand, by birth, a citizen of Rome, the imperial mistress of the Gentile nations, and by education initiated into all the learning of the Gentiles ? Was this most rare and singular combination of endowments the result of fortuitous coincidence ? Impossible ! In it we may distinctly read part, at least, of the Divine purpose. It was this combination which peculiarly fitted Paul for the lofty office and distinc- tion of being, by way of eminence, the apostle of the Gen- tiles. It was in consequence of this that he was enabled, to the Jews so thoroughly to become a Jew, and to the Greeks so thoi’oughly to become a Greek ; — to place himself, as it were, in the identical points of view — however opposite and contradictory — from which .Jews and Greeks surveyed the past, the present and the future, as connected with the em- pire of spii’it, and the destinies of individual souls. Hence

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that wondrous versatility without compromise, — that un- matched applicability and adaptedness without conformity, — which distinguished all his reasonings and appeals, whether before the Jewish high priest, or the Roman governor, — whether in the Sanhedrim at J erusalem, or the Areopagus at Athens.

Look, again, to the great Reformation in the sixteenth cen- tury. Were not the Reformers of every kingdom in Europe, natives of the kingdom reformed ? Had not Germany its Luthers and Melancthons ? — Switzerland, its Bezas and Cal- vins?— England, its Cranmers and Ridleys? — Scotland, its Knoxes and Melvilles ? Suppose a transfer and exchange in any of these cases. Suppose, for example, that he whose voice, once raised in the centre of Germany, shook the Vatican, — dissolved antichristian confederacies, — and in its echoing responses has since reverberated round the globe ; — suppose that even the mighty Luther himself had landed on our Scottish shore : — think you that between his com- parative ignorance of the minute idioms of our tongue, and comparative inacquaintance with the national and pro- vincial peculiarities of the people : — think you that even Tie could have become the Reformer of Scotland ? All analogy is against the verification of the supposition, unless he were miraculously endowed. No ! It pleased that God who never has made a superfluous display of supernatural power, — never wrought miracles where the application of ordinary means would have sufficed ; — it pleased Him to raise up and qualify one born, and nursed, and cradled in the midst of us, — one who, from infancy, had caught the national spirit, imbibed the national predilections, cherished the national traditions, and become familiarized with the national proverb, and tale, and anecdote. — It pleased Him to raise up and qualify one who, from the very dawn of his being, had been steeped into all the peculiarities, domestic and social, civil and religious, which constitute the incommunicable national character of a people, — one who, having grown up to manhood saturated with these peculiarities, could instinctively or intuitively as it were, touch a hundred secret chords in the hearts of

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his countrymen, with a thrilling power which no foreigner could ever emulate. — In a word, it pleased Him who always most wisely adapts his instruments to their intended opera- tion, to raise up and qualify a John Knox to be the Refor- mer of Scotland. So, in like manner, must we conclude, from the analogy of history and providence, that, when the^ set time arrives, the real Reformers of Hindustan, vnll he qua- lified Hindus. As in every other case of national awakening, the first impulse must come from abroad ; its onward dyna- mic force must be of native growth. The glimmering lights that usher in the dawn may sparkle from afar in the western horizon ; but it is only in its ovti firmament that the Sun of Reformation can burst forth in effulgence over a benighted land.

It is needless to pursue the subject any farther. Let any one of the preceding statements be subjected to what abate- ments and deductions you please ; do not the whole, taken in conjunction, amount to a demonstration of the necessity of looking chiefly to native labourers ? If you really wish to see the Gospel taught and preached in faithfulness to the millions of India, are you not bound to regard the rearing of such labourers, not a secondary and subordinate, but a primary and principal, if not the prime and principal part of an effective missionary enterprise ? If, shut up to this conclusion, you next ask, how are they to be raised ? We reply, by asking another. How have you managed this most momentous affair at home ? It was from the writings of Wickliffe, and the inoculation of Scotchmen with Refor- mation principles in the Continental schools, that the ele- ments of change were first introduced into Scotland. But our forefathers soon ceased to depend on foreign impulse or foreign supplies. How came this to be effected? How came the tide of Reformation to roll so freely over the land, and its influences to descend downwards, perpetuated from age to age ? Did our fathers wait for miracles to qualify the labourers ? Or did they trust to chance, or accident, or

356 IMPORTANX’E OF AN EFFICIENT NATIVE AGENCY.

hap-hazard, in producing teachers and preachers of the Word? No. AVith a practical sagacity never surpassed and perhaps never equalled, they resorted to an expedient, the only effective one within their reach, — an expedient which has evinced its efficiency by proving, if rightly man- aged, fully adequate to the mighty end intended? And what was that ? AVhy, they just founded parochial schools for the young, and higher institutions or academies for the more advanced, and overtopping all, the metropolitan uni- versities with their divinity halls. From these fountain- heads of Christian education, they calculated that there would issue forth a successive supply of teachers and preach- ers of every grade. And did they calculate in vain ? Let history furnish the reply. For more than two hundred years Scotland has not looked to Germany or Switzerland. From its own institutions an abundant supply has been provided — has been perpetuated — and may be extended on- wards through every coming age. And where do the people of this land look now for teachers and preachers? Is it to the illiterate, — the mentally undisciplined but well-inten- tioned and pious adult ? No : it is to the godly youth, reared and trained in your own scholastic institutions. Now, why should not we attempt to do in India what has been done in Scotland ? In India we want — not scores or hundreds of native teachers and preachers as at home, — but thousands and tens of thousands. For the rearing of these, why should not we institute a counterpart-process to that which in Scotland has proved so eminently successful ? In other words, why should not we plant our Christian schools, academies, and colleges, on the Indian as well as on the Scottish soil ?

There are, however, minds which seem as if wrapt up in points, — moving circularly on pivots, — cherishing their own one little idea, — and spinning it out into their own one favourite theory. Any thing beyond or above the horizon of this Lilliputian domain, must be wrong — must bo antiscrip- tural — must be heretical. Such persons are ever apt to be scared by sounds. When schools and other institutions of

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different grades are spoken of in connection with the mission- ary enterprise, they are forthwith haunted with dread of the fanatical dreams of intellectualizing visionaries respecting the diffusion of mere secular knowledge and education apart from religion. Need we say, that with such institutions no missionary society had ever any thing to do — and God forbid they ever should ! For what has been the result of such at- tempts ? In the face of a perverse and scoffing generation, Ave must solemnly declare our conviction, that unless past experience be a lying chronicler, and past history a fable, such institutions, howeA^er eulogised by the men of this Avorld, must ever prove schools of dissatisfaction, agitation and tur- bulence,— nurseries of infidelity and atheism. With these, therefore, Ave would have nothing to do. No ! By the vene- rated shades of the German Luthers and Melancthons, — by the venerated shades of the English Wicklilfes and Cran- mers, — by the venerated shades of our Scottish Knoxes and Melvilles, — Ave protest and declare that neA^er, never Avould we, in deference to the clamours of any antichristian faction in Britain or in India, consent to the difiusion of general knoAvledge in connection with the missionary enterprise, ex- cept in close and inseparable alliance Avith that far higher and sublimer knoAvledge of the only true religion AA’hich is contained in the Bible, — the AA'hole Bible, — the unmutilated Bible, — and nothing but the Bible ! What, then, shall Ave say to those inland unadA^enturous spirits whose one or tAA^o ideas seem to bound the horizon of their intellectual vision, as much as the pillars of Hercules bounded the world of the ancient geographers ? IMay we not ask, whether Christian educational institutions have been of any aA^ail in our owm land ? If so, Avhy may they not be of equal utility in hea- then lands ? If otherwise, why do not those aaFo entertain such an opinion, in proof of the sincerity of their principles, go forth with the destroying scythe, and mow down our Christian seminaries of every grade ? Why do they not, in the spirit of the everters of Pelion and Ossa, strive to toss our schools and universities into the depths of sea? — and, turning round, and smiling at the AA'reck and haA'oc they

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have made, why not then declare that others have acted inconsistently with their views, in desiring to erect Christian institutions on the hanks of the Ganges or Godavery, as has been done on the banks of the Forth and the Clyde, the Isis and the Cam ? But this is too absurd. The most unthink- ing of pietists, — all, in fact, but the half-crazy or the wholly crazed, must be ready to allow that at home Christian in- stitutions are the very bones and sinews of the entire system of Protestant Christianity. And if they have proved of such incalculable service at home ; may we not again and again reiterate the question, why not prove of correspond- ing service abroad? We want thousands of labourers? Will you, we ask the friends of missions, will you supply them from home ? You cannot if you would ; and we would not have you if you could. The majority would labour under disabilities which would reduce their services to nonentity. W e must have native labourers ! Why, then, object to our employing the same means in rearing them, which have issued in a success so triumphant at home ? Why should that be right in principle in one quarter of the world, which must be repudiated as wrong in another ? Why should that' be sound, orthodox, scriptural, evangelical in one place ; which must be stamped as unsound, heterodox, antiscriptural, un- evangelical in another ? Why should that instrument which has secured and perpetuated the evangelization of once Pa- gan and Popish Britain, be condemned when we attempt to evangelize idolatrous India ?

To secure a race of native propounders of “ the truth as it is in Jesus,” fraught with the possession of all knowledge human and divine, and richly endowed with the treasures of grace, is our grand specific and central design in wishing to establish Christian seminaries in India after the model of those at home ] — and not, as has been “ slanderously report- ed,” in order to elevate human learning at the expense of divine truth ; or to regenerate a benighted people by the diffusion of mere “ useful knowledge ; ” or to countenance the demi-infidel scheme of civilizing first, and Christianizing ^ifterwards. And is not the design of all others the noblest ?

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is there not in the proposed means a peculiar adaptation to the proposed end — an adaptation sanctioned by the ap- probation of the wisest and most enlightened patriarchs of the Christian faith — an adaptation recommended by the most successful experiments of a triumphant Protestantism ? If the means be inappropriate, we demand to know by what species of moral or spiritual alchemy, in the absence of mi- raculous interposition, can qualified teachers and preachers be secured either in Britain or in India, apart from an erv- lightened Christian education ! If there be any, we demand that the process be explained to us, that we may be saved from the heartless, thankless expenditure of labour and of money, in supporting schools, academies, and colleges ? If there is no other, let us not be incessantly taunted and jeer- ed, merely for instituting, — not as the vagary of theory, but as the result of experiment, — the most effectual apparatus which the records of history point out as at all commen- surate with the end contemplated.

In this view of the case, besides nominating men directly to preach the Gospel, one grand and primary object with all our societies should be, to send forth individuals whose speci- fic commission might be, to devote their time and talents and energies to the raising up of numbers qualified to sound the Gospel from shore to shore. Hitherto, in the practical working of the general system, the leading object has been to send forth men to discharge the former of these functions rather than the latter. Now, the former, not one in ten of European missionaries ever will exercise to the satisfaction of his own conscience, or in such a way as to merit the approval of the truly wise and enlightened. The latter, the pious and learned European missionary not only can, but it is he alone who at present can, most efficiently discharge. And why should the European missionary insist, against the nature of things and the lessons of experience, on doing that which he never can adequately achieve ? Why should he leave wholly undone that which he alone is able adequately to perform ? To a buiming clime like that of India, let our great Missionary Societies therefore resolve to

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send forth from these shores, not only the men who are themselves expected to be working heralds in the open field, but also the men who in the hands of a gracious Providence may become the raisers up of those who shall prove the most effectual heralds. By so acting, what else is virtually done, except to transfer a large proportion of their present machinery from the home to the foreign field ? What- ever may have been the sentiments of the modern founders of missions, as to the qualifications of candidates, there can scarcely be but one opinion now on the necessity of their being first-rate men, — both as to natural and acquired at- tainments, as well as to endowments of grace. Have not our principal Missionary Societies already their respective institutions for the educating and training of those who are to be sent forth to the foreign field ? And is it thought to be any desecration of the ministerial character, any lower- ing of its dignity, that one or more ordained to preach the Gospel, should be placed at the head of these, — our home missionary institutions ? On the contrary, is it not by com- mon consent allowed, that they are the very chieftains of the ministerial phalanx, who alone are entitled to occupy the pre- eminent office of nourishing and chei'ishing not the members of an ordinary fiock, but a company of shepherds destined to take the oversight of many flocks ? Instead, therefore, of appointing mere preachers to the missionary field, we would have all denominations to send forth some of the most emi- nent and distinguished of their number, to carry on the same work in India and elsewhere, which they are now so success- fully conducting in Britain. The Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Wesleyans, the Independents, and the Baptists, have their respective universities, colleges, and academies, for rearing British teachers and pastors for the British field. Some of these also have their separate mission- institutions for rearing British missionaries for the heathen world. What, then, do we propose ? Simply, that each and all of these should establish similar institutions in In- dia, for the rearing of Indian native pastors and mission- aries for the Indian field. At the commencement of the

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missionary enterprise, this might not have been practicable. At home, ignorance and misconception, partialities and prepossessions unmodified by experience, greatly prevailed ; abroad, the most extravagant jealousies and suspicions on the part of rulers and ruled, as to the motives, designs, and plans of missionaries. Time, with its corrective processes, was necessary to open the eyes, and conciliate the views of all parties. Years have now rolled their course ; the aspect of things accordingly, both at home and abroad, is wdiolly changed. Tentative experimental efforts without number are on record, with all their results favourable and unfa- vourable. Initiatory, elementary, and preparatory labours, have advanced so far as to admit of a rapid spring upwards in the ascending scale of operation. What might have been utterly impracticable a century ago, may now be the demand of reason and experience, of providence and the very nature of things. Instead therefore of any longer vainly striving to rear at home such numbers as may directly overspread the land, let the conductors of missions furnish a few emi- nently qualified, who shall on the spot rear up those who can most efficiently overspread the land. Instead of expend- ing nearly all their resources on the education and equipment of British missionaries, let but a fraction henceforward be expended on the maintenance of a few superior men ; and the greater part on the educating and supporting of native labourers. By such a change of system, the progress abroad would in the end be vastly accelerated ; and tenfold more real work performed at tenfold less expenditure of British lives and British resources.

Such a scheme, vigorously carried out, would, no doubt, cause a considerable revolution in the present system of missionary operation at home and abroad. It would remove from it altogether the vague, the indefinite, the shadowy, the mysterious. It would gradually reduce the whole to plain, intelligible common sense. It would remove the false glare and glitter which has been thrown around the mission- ary character. It would dissolve the wild and airy visions which hover around the missionary enterprise. It woidd

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prove the work of evangelizing the nations to be a work of painstaking hard- toiling drudgery, — as void of real romance, as the labour of excavating and reclaiming the dingj’ realms of rags, poverty, and infidelity, which flank the lanes, alleys, and purlieus of our overgrown cities. Cruel disturber ! — may some respond, — Cruel disturber, to disenchant us of our glorious dreams ! We cannot help it ; our only reply will ever be, — Better far, infinitely better, that British sentimen- talists should be deprived of their regalements, than that multitudes of the heathen .should continue to perish !

To the general scheme now advocated, a host of jjbjections will be started.

By some it will be said that this is to send forth not mis- sionaries to preach the Gospel, but teachers or professors to discipline the young in class-rooms, and to lecture in the halls of colleges. The insinuation is, either that the preaching of the Word is hereby neglected or disparaged ; or that the latter ofiice is, in comparison with that of preaching, alto- gether inferior, undignified, or unproductive. Strange incon- sideration ! — inconceivable absurdity ! The preaching of the Gospel neglected or disparaged ! — when the main object in view is to magnify and make it honourable, by raising up hundreds who can preach it with the greatest effect ; and con- sequently, with the most cheering prospect of extended useful- ness I As well might he be said to neglect and disparage legal pleadings, who devoted his life to the qualifying of hundreds whose natural endowments might enable them to plead at the bar more successfully than himself. As well might he be said to neglect or disparage the ministration of medica- ments to the sick, the wounded, and the maimed, who ex- pended his energies in qualifying hundreds whose physical and other capacities might enable them to supply the neces- sary balm more effectually than himself. To talk of inferior or diminished dignity, — even if the charge were as well as it is ill founded, — must appear unseemly in the case of those whose large pretensions to humility would lead us to

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

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expect that they were prepared to act as '• hewers of wood and drawers of water" in the house of their God, if thereby His service might be promoted, and His glory advanced. The speech about unproductiveness is one far more fit for “ Milton's Paradise of Fools," than for an assembly of beings endowed with ordinary reflection. A master-mechanist, in- stead of directly plying the oar to save from the raging billows a crew of sliipwrecked mariners, builds a hundred life-boats, and instructs thousands how to guide them across the angiy surges. — M'hen a mighty tempest has strewn the shore with stranded navies, and numbers have been rescued from a watery grave by these life-boats, so buoyant and well- manned, can the labours of the mechanist be pronounced unproductive ? Again, an engineer, instead of directly plying an hydraulic machine to quench the flames of a blazing edi- fice, constructs a hundred fire-engines, and initiates thou- sands into the use of them. — MTien a conflagration, which has seized some neighbouring dwelling, and threatens to reduce whole streets to ashes, has been extinguished by these engines skilfully wrought, can the labours of the engineer be said to be unproductive I Once more, suppose war to be proclaimed by our Sovereign, and all loyal subjects to be sum- moned to the field. The strong and the active at once pre- sent themselves to serve in person. Of those who remain behind, there are some who are fired with the martial spirit ; their heart is ^dth marching armaments ; their conversation breathes of heroism, — though, from sundry causes, they may be incapacitated for the toils and fatigues of active warfare. Do they remain idle 1 Xo ; they stir up their neighbours. They infuse the spirit of patriotism into their sluggish bosoms. Thev accustom their ears to tales of noble darings. They enkindle the flame of generous emulation. They pro- Hde the weapons, and show how these are to be wielded. They inculcate all the lessons of the militar}' art. They habituate the inexperienced to the evolutions of the field, — the stratagems in attack, — the dispositions in the camp. In a word, by their appeals, their teaching, and their resistless energy-, they raise up and equip hundreds of warriors, who

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otherwise would have lagged behind, as idle and worthless loungers. These become the flower of the array. Of the num- ber, many distinguish themselves, — some at the head of bat- talions entering besieged cities, — others as commanders in the field of glory and of triumph. We ask, have the labours of those veterans who reared such a host of conquering war- riors been unproductive ? On the contrary, have they not been the best friends of their king, — the best benefactors of their country ? Have they not done a hundredfold more than others, by the course they have adopted ? Had they rushed on to the field in person, they might have testified their devotion to their country’s cause ^ but would they have helped so essentially in saving the king’s throne, or in de- fending their fellow-citizens ? They might soon have fallen ; and if so, what would their death be, but an idle martyrdom ? By retaining a fixed position, they raised up those who saved their country and their king. Deny them the title of soldiers if you will ; — were they not above the rank of common sol- diers or common commanders ? By creating, as it were, whole bands of heroes, did they not achieve the service of arch- warriors ? How applicable the whole of this representation to the case of missions ! ISIillions are stranded on the shore of an unprovided-for eternity — millions are exposed to the flames of an eternal burning ; — and if a man, instead of going forth single-handed to their rescue, employs himself in quali- fying hundreds, each of whom may be more likely to deliver than himself, — must his labours be stigmatized as unproduc- tive, merely because these labours are manifested only through an intermediate^ though vastly multiplied agency ! Again, the nations are in rebellion against the Lord and His Anointed. The Captain of Jehovah’s hosts summons us to battle. All the faithful are roused. Numbers rush to the field. Many are disabled for efficient active service ; but the fire, the energy, the skill, and the science, have not left them. They resolve, therefore, to raise up and equip an host of soldiers, who by wielding the sword of the Spirit, even- tually subjugate the whole land. Call not these men mis- sionaries or preachers, if you will. Are they not more than

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

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ordinary preachers, — more than ordinary missionaries ? Are they not entitled to the designation of arch-preachers — arch- missionaries ? If instead of serving in person, they have, by their presence and tuition, summoned into existence more than a hundredfold their own number of soldiers and captains, have their labours been unproductive in farthering the sacred cause of missions — the glory of God — the v/elfare of lost souls.

But though all were to proceed to the field, primarily to be engaged in the great work of rearing native missionaries, it does not follow that all must be exclusively so engaged, or any one of them by necessity permanently so. They may preach to the classes of preparandi every day ; they may preach to other audiences as often as they list ; they may en- gage in all the miscellaneous business necessary to the pros- perity of the mission. And if, after being gradually inured to the climate, habituated to the use of the languages and the usages of the people, any one should exhibit the decided predilection, and the 'requisite qualifications, bodily and men- tal, he might be separated entirely for native preaching. His place as preceptor in the mission institution might be sup- plied by one less experienced in the peculiarities, or less favoured by the necessary endowments for general discursive native work. Or if one showed the activity and tact, the conciliation and love and spirit of governance, he might be separated as superintendent of a circle of stations, amongst which he might constantly itinerate, exercising an inspection over them — confirming, inspiring, strengthening, and cherish- ing the churches. Or, if one had an aptitude and taste for language and criticism, he might be entirely set apart for con- ducting the work of translations. And so with every other conceivable office. In fact, such a scheme would be a nursery for training all Europeans, gifted with the natural capacities, to engage directly in native preaching, superintendence, translation, or any other office for which their respective powers and acquisitions best fitted them. By such division of labour, what a saving of time and money — what preven- tion of disappointment and heartbreaking !

In tills way, also, we might expect the occasional services

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of men in the heathen field, at present almost by physical necessity prevented. Men of long standing and experience would be best to act as superintendents and raisers of mis- sionaries. But these might be the worst fitted for the labours and exposures of direct preaching in the native tongues. At present, all are expected to learn living lan- guages, submit to infinite toils and personal hardships. Now, when men pass considerably the age of puberty, their indivi- dual and social habits are formed and fixed ; their organs of speech become rigid ; the frame less elastic ; — and altogether they may conscientiously feel that it amoimts to a physical impossibility that they can ever thoroughly master strange tongues, or bear up under the rocking of accumulated perils. Thus, even though our most celebrated divines were ever so willing, we could not expect them to excel in direct preach- ing to the natives. We could scarcely imagine any one of the patriarchs of our British churches, preaching in Ben- gali, or Mahratta, or Tamul, or Sanskrit ! In fact, the past and present system of missions, almost of necessity, exclud- ed from the field all such men, — almost of necessity threw the entire burden on the young and inexperienced. The child was sent to wield the sword of a giant ; — mere striplings were commissioned to bear the armour of Saul, — striplings who never had it in their power to certify’ their possession of the extraordinary faith which might cause their stone and sling to prove an equal match for the mighty and vauntful powers of heathenism. Hence, one of the reasons why there are so many labourers in the foreign field with hands hang- ing down, knees feeble, and feet lame, — with little or no cheering progress ! According to the other system, what is there to prevent some of the most eminent of our theolo- gians from going forth themselves into the missionary field ! AU the instructions, in the more advanced classes of a mission institution, being conveyed through the medium of English, our most renowned teachers and lecturers might be transferred from their charges and lectureships at home to a foreign station — and instantly on their landing, they might commence active exertion, and devote to the heathen

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the riches of their experience, the flower of their graces, and the excellency of their strength.

Many, fired with the glowing record of primitive times, cannot brook the tame common-place and dull monotony of the scheme proposed — cannot brook its noiseless begin- ning, and gradual and for many years almost imperceptible developement. Their minds ar^ borne along by vivid re- membrances of the time when thousands were converted in a day. Regarding every missionary as a successor of St Peter, they loill not he satisfied unless it can be reported that, whenever he stands up in the presence of heathen midtitudes, thousands at once surrender the prejudices of ages ; and in a day turn from dumb idols to serve the living God. Even where there are no such extravagant hopes, there are degrees of ex- pectation— more or less undefined — which hover around the brink of the marvellous, and crave for fresh fuel of excite- ment in the interesting, the striking, and the extraordinary.

These, however, entirely overlook one grand peculiarity in the history of Creation and Redemption. Between the Divine procedure at the two great eras, when the Creative and Redemptive acts were put forth, there is a striking analogy. Both were seasons when antecedence was vio- lently broken in upon. Both were seasons when all agency must be supernatural. At the time when all things were successively summoned from the womb of nothing, every act was a stupendous miracle. To magnify the wonders of omnipotent power, all the constituents of elementary nature were at once created — then separated into parts, or variously combined into all the forms, organized or unorganized, which constitute the universe. From the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the beast of the field, and creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, up to man, the lord of creation — all were produced at once in their mature and perfect state. God thereby proved what omnipotence could do ; and that, if He so willed it. He could, by a succession of creative acts, perpetuate a successive race of creatures —

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starting at once, like the premordial races, into the form and stature of perfect beings. But did He will so to act ? No : He appointed laws of propagation, growth, and matur- escence. And henceforth, all creatures were to multiply and replenish the earth agreeably to these ordinary law’s.

So at the time when the great work of redemption w’as consummated. — It was a season when heaven was lavish of supernatural agency. The coming forth of the eternal Son to tabernacle for a season, in human form, on a spot so humble, and among a race so guilty and depraved, w'as itself the miracle of miracles — to which there is nothing similar or second in the annals of eternity. After this, every miracle — the creation of a w’orld, or its annihilation — must sink into comparative insignificance. How much more such miracles as healing the sick, or raising the dead, or stilling the stormy w’aves ! And when the great work was finished, it pleased the Lord to display the wonders of omnipotent grace. The heavens were opened ; the Spirit descended in the plenitude of his influences. Around the heads of the Apostolic band. He appeared in the visible manifestation of cloven tongues of fire. Emblems divinely significant ^ — Tongues^ to indicate their future office, that of proclaiming the great salvation ; — cloven, to mark out the division and distribution of speech into divers languages, in all of which they were to make known the glad tidings ; — of fire, to show that the influence of the Spirit accompanying their preach- ing, would consume and devour like stubble every opposing obstacle presented by sin, or Satan, or the world. When, after this baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire, Peter stood forth in the midst of his countrymen, and preached Jesus of Nazareth, whom by wicked hands they slew, the heavens opened a second time, and thousands were new born, and attained “to the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus.” Jehovah thereby proved what omnipotent grace could do ; and that if He willed it. He could by an instantaneous opera- tion, perpetuate a successive race of perfect saints. But He did not will so to act. As in the case of natural propagation and succession, so here. To Adam and his seed, God said.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED,

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“ Multiply and replenish the earth.” To the second Adam and His seed was the like commission intrusted, to multiply and replenish the earth with a spiritual progeny. In the lat- ter case, as in the former, laws of growth and developement were appointed. And by the employment of such ordinary means alone, have we now any title to expect the divine blessing. We might wish, that at the sound of our voice, the fortresses of Paganism might fall, as did the walls of the fenced cities of Palestine, before the blast of the trum- pet. But if the Lord has willed otherwise, what remains but that we should resort to the more tedious, laborious, and Jess brilliant process of besieging and sapping. We may dislike the toil and the painstaking and the drudgery of all this. We may conceive that this step and that in the long slow process must be beneath our dignity. But what may all this prove except inward pride and rebelliousness against God ? It would indeed place us on a loftier emi- nence if, whenever we raised our voice, multitudes repented and were baptized. But if the Lord has decreed that we should now resort to the more toilsome process of expending years in teaching, catechising, and preaching, — reiterating again and again our expositions and exhortations, adding line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little : — if He has decreed that only as the result of such humble persevering labours, need we in general expect souls to be converted ; and if we refuse so to act as the Lord hath appointed, what is this but to murmur impiously at His dispensations — and, madly resolving that our own way and not His must be taken, impatiently to fret if, despising His, and adopting our own, we fail of the expected success ? A proprietor has a field to be cultivated ; the more difficult part of it he instantly and with ease upturns by means of some new and extraordinary instrument of hus- bandry. He commands his servants to go and cultivate the remainder. No, say they, not unless you give us your ,new and extraordinary instrument ; by which we can soon finish the work with ease to ourselves, and eclat from our neighbours. No, replies the master, such an instrument is

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no longer necessary ; here is an ample supply of ordinary implements. With these you must now labour. I do not expect that you will make the same rapid progress as if you wielded the more powerful engine ; but be diligent in the use of the means put within your reach, and the end in view will be fully attained, and I shall be satisfied. If, after this, the servants refuse, are they not rebellious servants ?

In like manner, if after a season of supernatural agency which was expressly designed to be temporary, God, in His Word and Providence, has testified that for the future a new and ordinary series of means was to be appointed : — if He in effect has said to His servants. In future you must work by ordinary means ; — and if they in substance by their con- duct reply, No ; Lord, we will not work unless Thou exhibit the extraordinary : — what is this but fighting against God ? If, on the other hand, after scanning the decisions of God’s Word, the analogy of Providence, and the history of the Church, we resolve to adopt and institute those ordinary means which have been substituted instead of the extraor- dinary : — if, instead of insisting on one only method of pro- cedure— that of addressing a multitude in a set form of speech, and expecting therefrom sudden miraculous conver- sions as the rule — we resolve cheerfully to betake ourselves to all those measures which the Lord himself hath appointed and blessed, can such resolution be justly stigmatized as a slighting of His holy will ? Rather, will it not prove that those who adopt it are the most loyal of subjects who ear- nestly desire to manifest their faith in the divine promises, — their resignation to the divine will, — their absolute sub- mission to the divine sovereignty?

Connected with this view of the subject, there arises another consideration of vast practical moment. In the case of the Jews and neighbouring Gentiles, at the beginning of the Chris- tian era, there was huge preparatory work. The former, in particular, were disciplined by typical ordinances and express prophecies, — by preliminary reflections and long-cherished hopes of a coming Deliverer. Were not the Gentiles at the same time prepared for change ? Was there not a con-

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slant and universal expectation ? Did not the Prince of Roman Poets celebrate by anticipation the glories of a new age ? The preparatory processes which paved the way for the Reformation of the sixteenth century, are matters of indisputable historic record. The pretensions of the Popes to the thrones and kingdoms of Christendom — pretensions constantly swelling in insolent audacity — sowed the seeds of impatience and revolt in the bosom of Princes. The exor- bitant avarice and shameless profligacies of the members of the hierarchy had widely created a lurking hatred and contempt. The monstrous height to which the system of “ cowls, hoods, and habits — reliques, beads, indulgencies, dis- penses, pardons, bulls,” — had been carried, awakened a senti- ment of secret but very general indignation. The discovery of a new world, the opening up of a passage to India, with the intensely cherished hopes of advantage in commercial enterprise, united to give an impulse to the mind, and to enlarge that narrow circle of thought within which, for ages, it had vegetated. But by far the most decisive denouement of a preparatory nature, was the revival of ancient literature. The Popish system was propped up by falsified history and apocryphal legends, a perverted logic and a corrupt philo- sophy. To maintain such an edifice in its integrity^ there must be ignorance at once profound and universal. Hence the reason why not only the reading of the Scriptures, but the study of all ancient authors whatsoever, was perempto- rily proscribed. At length, however, the capture of Con- stantinople by the Tui’ks drove a host of learned fugitives into Italy. These introduced along with themselves the writings of the master spirits of ancient Greece. Wearied and worn out by the interminable monotony of scholas- ticism,— with its quiddities, entities, essences, and hseccei- ties, — many of the generous youth of noble blood eagerly betook themselves to the original springs of Grecian history, poetry, and philosophy. The sound of the new acquirements penetrated the scholastic institutions of sober, thoughtful, inquisitive Germany; and numbers issued thence to drink at the pure Oastalian fount which had been

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opened in Southern Italy. ^V^lat was the result ? A free, open, and manly spirit of inquiry was infused. The fabric of superstition and scholasticism, in which the soul had for ages been imprisoned, received a violent shock. Numbers now dared to think for themselves, and give full license to the expression of their sentiments. The powers of error, alarmed at the dawning intelligence, denounced the new learning as heretical, and its leading promoters as heresi- archs. The decision of the mendicant monk accurately t)"pi- fied the spirit of Catholicism at large. ‘‘ They have,” said he, “ invented a new language, which they call Greek. You must be carefully on your guard against it ; it is the mother of all heresy. I observe in the hands of many persons, a book wTitten in that language, and which they call the New Testament. It is a book full of daggers and poison. As to the Hebrew, my dear brethren, it is certain that all those who learn it, instantaneously become Jews.” Still the ne\v learning grew in favour with an increasing number of the academical youth in different parts of Europe. Exasperated by its growing success, the champions of the reign of igno- rance and barbarism — pope and cardinals, bishops and chap- ters, monks and abbots, metaphysicians and theologians — all united as one man to annihilate by anathemas and per- secution, the apostles and emissaries of the new illumination. At the head of the latter were placed by universal consent, the celebrated Erasmus and Reuchlin, — the latter of whom, from his profound learning, was denominated “ a miracle of erudition,” the very “ phoenix of lettei's.” Around these as leaders, rallied the friends of literature, not only in Germany, but in Italy, Holland, France, England, and other coun- tries. There were thus arrayed against each other two grand confederated hosts, — the friends of ignorance and tjTanny, and the friends of light and liberty. It was no longer a private or a personal struggle. It was a contest of principle and opinion — a collision not of physical, but of intellectlial and moral energies — a hostile encounter between the hoar}' genius of the dark ages and the youthful spirit of modem illumination ; towards which the eyes of all Europe w'ere

A PROCESS OF PREPARATION NECESSARY. 373

forcibly drawn. The mutual shocks which ensued, tended to agitate the stagnant marshes of prescriptive ignorance and superstition, with the violence of a tempest. When multi- tudes were thus aroused and prepared for decisive change, Luther suddenly appeared on the field of battle. Armed with the panoply of all learning, human and divine,- — blessed with the light, and fortified by the graces of the Holy Spirit, he at once withdrew the allies from their fierce and baffling warfare among the outworks; — and ^by directing the com- bined attack against the very foundation-stone of Catholi- cism, which is laid on the rock of self-righteousness, he speedily converted the literary into a religious reformation. Hence the significance of the current saying among the Ko- manists of the sixteenth century, that “ Erasmus laid the egg which Luther only hatched.” Hence the famous admis- sion of Luther himself in an epistle to Reuchlin, that he (viz. Luther) “ had only follovv^ed in his (Reuchlin’s) steps — had only consummated his (Reuchlin’s) victory in breaking the teeth of the Behemoth.”

Judging from these and other similar analogies, must we not naturally expect a process of preparation in a country like India ? And what mightier engine of preparation can there be than an enlarged system of Christian education instituted specially to rear teachers and preachers I By it the abominations of idolatry must be consumed ; and the subtilties of Pantheism must be identified with the age of presumptuous ignorance. The minds of hundreds and thou- sands will be surcharged with the elements of change. Even when no direct conversion ensues, much of the spirit and influences of Christianity will cleave to the rightly educated youth, whatever may be their future situation in life. The Christian teacher, remarks a respected fellow-labourer,* with equal effect and truth, “ elevates the intellect ; but he also directs it aright. The Dagon of idolatry falls prostrate be- fore him ; but the temple is not left empty ; it is filled with the ark of the Lord. The religious feeling, the conscience, the sense of accountability are not unsettled or destroyed.

* Rev. Mr M‘Kay.

37 t A PROCESS OF PREPARATION NECESSARY.

They acquire new force ; they are enlightened, purified, and renewed. The man may defy them or flee from their voice ; but he flees with the arrow in his side. The words of the Gospel are like nails fastened in a sure place ; and the man who has once listened to them, is ever after constrained by the irresistible force of truth to judge every action by the Gospel standard. Thus far at least we must succeed. The spirit of God converts the soul ; and we trust it will not be withheld from us : — while we have the satisfaction of knowing that every youth, educated in our schools, leaves them with the law of Christ written upon his conscience, and a belief in the truth of Christ seated deep in his convictions^ Well has it been added, that “ the school prepares an audience for the preacher. A mind brutalized by idolatry, and ~ conscience perverted, almost blinded by a false standard, are not the soil in which the seed is best fitted to take root. But by enlightening the intellect and moral sense, a larger door of entrance is opened for the arrows of the Spirit ; and a class of hearers is pro- vided, differing but by hair’s-breadth from a nominally Chris- tian audience. The most advanced pupils may not only be diligent students in their respective classes, but regular attendants on the fonnal and direct preachings of the Word in another department of the mission. So that teaching not only prepares for preaching, but the two may go hand and hand.” Hundreds and thousands, — constantly leaving a superior institution after having attained to years of man- hood, and occupying every office and profession through the various grades of society, — become, from their superior intel- ligence, the guides and leaders of their countr}Tnen. Even though unbaptized, such disimprisoned spirits must every where constitute a class of hearers of the Word as different from their idolatrous countrymen, as the most respectable and attentive of baptized but unconverted church-members in a Christian land. What a glimpse does this view afford of the wide-spreading preparation for the “ set time” of the expected crisis ! Verily, it is a grand and solemn view of the subject ; however it may mar the immediate anticipa- tions of the over-sanguine !

GRADUAL PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY.

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While we hold that the conversion of the nations must be acknowledged to be the work of God, we know that pre- paratory methods have always been employed, though these have not been the same in all ages, or in all countries. In some parts of the world, the general or national adoption of Christianity has resulted from a process far too slow and imperceptible to be characterised as revolutionary. One individual, or one family after another, has been added to the adherents of the new faith, till at length, after the lapse of many years, or it may be, of ages, the whole nation has be- come obedient to the truth. This was the case in many of the northern kingdoms of Europe, in their translation from Paganism to the profession of Christianity. In other parts of the world, a work of preparation has long been conduct-, ed, by greatly diversified attempts to disseminate Christian knowledge, before scarcely one individual could be said to be really converted. And when the preparatory work has been accomplished, and the time appointed has arrived, the Lord has made bare his holy arm, and wrought mightily in the hearts of thousands, — leading them in multitudes to renounce their idols and their “ lying vanities,” — so that it might truly be said that “ a nation has been born in a day.” Such was the case in the South Sea Islands. The latter method would appear to be that which an all- wise Providence has ordained to be pursued, at least in Eastern India. For though missionaries have toiled and laboured incessantly for upwards of forty years, yet they have comparatively but few of even individual conversions to record. Must we then regard the prodigious exertions of the last forty years as made in vain ? By no means. They have tended, in different degrees, to 'prepare the people at large for the general ultimate reception of Christianity. And though the visible progress may not equal the ardent wishes of any, yet the latent progress, to the shrewdly obser- vant eye, far exceeds the measure which the cold incredulity, or stinted charity, or conceited ignorance of many, will allow them to concede.

Let these exertions, therefore, be continued, augmented.

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enhanced. Let the Gospel be boldly preached by all who are really qualified, whether possessing the sable countenance of the African, the olive complexion of the Hindu, or the ruddy hue of the Briton, — and though direct results may not im- mediately ensue, such preaching perseveringly carried on in fixed localities, must leave behind it a spiritual savour, which may be turned to account even after the silent lapse of years. Let the attempts to furnish correct translations of the Scriptures and other useful works, be wisely prosecuted with unceasing vigour. Let copies of the Scriptures and Tracts be extensively distributed wherever favourable open- ings are presented, and especially in the wake of an orally preached Gospel : — Above all, let seminaries of instruction of different grades, from the elementary school to the col- legiate institution, be established and vigorously upheld, — rearing teachers and preachers of the everlasting Gospel, and sending forth streams of quickening influences through the channel of a thousand disenthralled spirits : — Let these preparatory processes be strenuously persevered in; and there must, under the divine blessing, ensue a universal diffusion of the elements of Christian truth, and the voluntary as well as involuntary practical observance of many of the principles of the Christian Faith. Judging from the analogy of God’s dealings in times past, this universal diffusion of Christian knowledge, with a partial conformity to Christian practice, must soon be followed by the total overthrow of error, and the final establishment of truth. Meanwhile, during the transition process, one and another isolated individual will be added to the Church. It may be, also, that one and another isolated village will throw off the yoke; and nominally, at least, profess the faith of Jesus. All this will tend to animate the courage of labourers to persevere, by furnishing them with partial specimens, — a sort of first-fruits of the ripening har- vest. When all the preparations have been completed — when all things are ripe for explosion — some unforeseen event, too trivial to present itself beforehand to the most imaginative speculatist, may operate as a match set to the train. Some Indian Tetzel may preach up one or other of the worst ex-

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travagances of Brahmanism. Some Indian Luther may be roused to give expression to the sentiments that have long been secretly, though it may be vaguely, indefinitely, waver- ingly, cherished in the bosoms of thousands. Whole districts may awaken from their slumbers. Whole cities may pro- claim their independence. Whole provinces may catch the flame of liberty. — All India may be born in a day !

Many object to the scheme now advocated, as contrary to apostolic example. This objection rests on various grounds. “ The apostles, say some, constantly itinerated from country to country ; therefore ought the modern missionary to do the same.” This subject is involved in a strange confusion of ideas. The modern missionary is regarded as occupying the room of a primitive apostle ; and then, at one inconsider- ate bound, the conclusion is reached, that in all things the one must conform to the other. All that the apostles did must be imitated ; — all that is done without the warrant of their example must be condemned. But is there common sense in this I Surely not. In every thing fundamental and essential to salvation, the apostle and missionary must be at one ; in every thing secondary, subordinate, or acces- sary, there may be diversities correspondent with diversities of age, climate, and civilization. In all such matters the apostles themselves became all things to all men, — all things in all places, — and would become all things in all ages.

As to gifts and graces, some are ordinary, and others ex- traordinary. With the latter, the apostles were superemi- nently endowed. Are modern missionaries expected to imitate them in these ? Are they expected to work mira- cles ? — to heal the sick, cast out devils, raise the dead, utter prophecies, and speak in strange tongues ? If so, none are fit to become candidates for the missionary office,'but the disciples of the Irving-millenarian school. And in the capa- city of candidates they seem destined still to wait on till the Judge descend to reprove their temerity, and blast their presumptuous hopes. If, on the other hand, the modern

K a

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missionary be not endowed with extraordinary gifts either of knowledge or of power, — if those wlio send him forth cannot bestow such gifts, — is it not inane or insane in any of them to expect him to imitate the apostles in all things ? Take the gift of tongues : — wherein did it con- sist ? Was it not in this : — that into whatever city or region an apostle entered, he found himself instantly, with- out any previous study, and solely by supernatural com- munication, enabled to address the native inhabitants in their own vernacular dialect? When on one memorable occasion, there w'ere assembled at Jerusalem, “Jews, de- vout men, out of every nation under heaven,” what was it that confounded the far-gathered multitudes ? Was it not “ that every man heard the apostles speak in his own lan- mage ? ” At this they were “ all amazed, and marvelled, saying one to another. Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans ? And how hear w^e every man in our own tongue^ wherein we were horn ? Parthians, and Medes, and Elam- ites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cap- padocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Lybia, about Cyrene, and stran- gers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians ; we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.”

Is it not obvious that this miraculous gift of tongues was absolutely indispensahle to qualify the apostles for itinerating over all the nations ? Can modern societies endow their missionaries with this indispensable miraculous gift ? Impos- sible. If not, is it not worse than idle to expect that mission- aries can any where itinerate after the style and example of the holy apostles ? To expect them to do so, is to expect the blind to see without eyes, and the lame to walk without feet. Are we then left helpless ? No. The age of miracles is gone ; but the Lord has not left his people without re- sources. Few can ever master all the minutiie of tone, accent, and idiom, which characterise a foreign language ; but the learned native of every kingdom and province enjoys, in this respect, as regards his own people, the apostolic gift. True,

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he acquires not a mastery over his own mother tongue, as the apostles did, in a moment, by inspiration of the Spirit ; but by converse with his fellows, by imitation, by means of grammars, dictionaries, and other appliances, he gradually obtains that command of it, which inspiration could in a moment have conferred. Thus the learned native in Eng- land has for his English countrymen the apostolic gift of the tongue. The learned native in Wales has for his Welsh countrymen the apostolic gift of the tongue. The learned native in the Highlands of Scotland has for his Gaelic countrymen the apostolic gift of the tongue. The learned native in Bengal has for his Bengali countrymen the apos- tolic gift of the tongue. And so, the learned native of every kingdom, and nation, and province under heaven. Though not one in ten, or a hundred, or a thousand, can ever, like the apostles, perfectly emulate the peculiar indigenous gift of the natives of another realm, far less the gifts of the natives of many realms, or of all realms, it matters not. What one man cannot do for all counti’ies and provinces, one or more out of each may. And thus the acquisition of his own lan- guage, on the part of the native of any country, by the laborious use of ordinary means, and the multiplication of individual qualified natives in proportion to the number of distinct languages and dialects, would form a perfect substi- tute in place of the extraordinary apostolic gift.

To apply these remarks to India. In that vast region there are from thirty to forty spoken languages and dialects. To itinerate all over India after the apostolic example, one must first be able to speak in all these tongues ; — and so to speak, that in tone, accent, and idiom, his utterance may not be distinguishable from that of the natives of each of the widely-scattered provinces. Is this possible ? Not without the miraculous gift of tongues. To master even one, so as to speak it like a native, is a gift which has never been attained by one in ten of European missionaries. What then is to be done? You call on us to itinerate like the apostles. But without bestowing on us the necessary gift of tongues, you are virtually, as well as actually, calling upon

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US to achieve impossibilities ; while you despise altogether the use of those means, the emplojanent of which would fur- ihsh a perfect substitute in place of the apostolic itineracy ! Is this wise ? How different the scheme we propose ! In India there are central spots — such as Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay — where are congregated natives from all the contiguous provinces. We would therefore send men to India, not vainly demanding of them to copy an example which, in the nature of things, they never can ; but we would send them to do what they well can ; — that is, for the express purpose of rearing up natives, who, when duly qualified, may be dispersed over everj' province of the empire, each to declare in his own tongue the wonderful works of God. And if we look not at the changing form, but unchanging substance — not at the letter, but the spirit — we appeal to reason, and ask. Who are they that desire most effectually to realize the apostolic example ? — Those who, occupying a false position, would go forth to do special apostolic work, without the necessary apostolic endo\\Tnent ; — or those who, having ascertained their true position in the order of sequences, know and confess that, as they are not endowed with the apostolic gift, it were arrant presumption in them to undertake the apostolic work ? — those who would inaugurate themselves into an office which the scheme of Providence does not seem to have designed for them ? — or those who, imperfectly qualified to assume the office them- selves, would labour in patience to secure the race that shall most perfectly fulfil its duties ? V erily, we believe that those who will assume the oflBce, and insist on directly filling it themselves, — while they neglect the not less God-honouring / and man-benefiting office of preparing others for it, — do in very deed, though unintentionally, war against apostolic example. Scripture, and common sense ; — and that those who strive to prepare others for the office are the very per- sons who, in reality and in truth, do imitate the apostolic example in the only way in their ovsti power ; and who do insure the most perfect imitation of it on the part of others that can be realized without miracles.

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In reference to the itinerating system followed by the apostles, and which, in spite of notorious disqualification, we are strangely expected literally to copy — its exclusive advo- cates are guilty of still farther inconsistencies. We know there are many who entertain the subject in so vague and undefined a manner, that they have scarcely formed to their own mind any formal conception of their own favourite mode of proceeding. But in a general way, from personal inter- course with thousands of the friends of missions, we would say, that there is a notion looming, as it were, through the mist and haze of a confused and imperfectly uninformed understanding, that the very charm and essence of the apos- tolic plan consisted in itineracy. These look at the simple undisputed fact of their frequent and constant locomotion. The image before their mind is that of men perpetually migrating from city to city, and from province to province. In the prominence given to the perambulation, they entirely overlook, or but very slightly notice, what the apostles really did at those places which they visited. They delight to dwell on the rapid transition from one place to another. Their fancy catches fire when they follow the apostle — now in Arabia, the desert home of restless wanderers whose tents and camels alone bespeak it as not an empty solitude ; then, in Egypt, the land of cities and fixed habitations, of pyra- mids and sphinxes, and mystic hieroglyphics; — now, in India, sparkling with gems, and laden with perfume ; then, in Scy- thia, wrinkled with ruggedness and hoary with everlasting snow ; — now, in Palestine, adorned with the tabernacles of the true God ; then in Chaldea, the cradle of idols, that usurp and blaspheme the name of J ehovah; — now, at Athens, surrounded by the schools of philosophy, — from the Tub to the Porch, from the Forum to the groves of Academe ; and then, at Rome, decorated and enriched with the spoils of a conquered world — obelisks and columns from Egypt, statues and sculptures from Greece, embroideries and pearls from Asia — the regalia of all monarchies — the choicest products and treasures of all nations.

So carried away are they with the romance of such proce-

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dure that, — though they can endure nothing except public preaching before multitudes, and may even rejoice to have the representation of such preaching supplied by the genius of Raphael to heighten the effect, — they loathe descending into the infinite details of the real business — as tame and prosaic. Still, we must ask, what did the apostles really do ? Did they preach only to multitudes, amid all the excitement of numbers, and the novelties of strange scenes I No ; From house to house they preached — they reasoned — they dis- puted. They did more ; — icas if not their uppermost resolve, wherever they went, to leave behind them those icho coxdd preach in their absence ? The locomotion was but part of their pro- cedure, and a veiy- inferior instrumental part. Did they mere- 13- enter a city or village I and having there once or twice preached — did the}- then leave it, wth the vague satisfaction, that a deep impression had been made — returning no more for a length of time, or perhaps, for ever I No : wherever the}- entered, and found liberty of speech, they continued to preach on ; and when they found a door large and effectual opened, there they would remain for a period longer or shorter — a few weeks, or months, or even years — till the con- verts multiplied. Nor were they satisfied \\-ith ordinary- con- verts. Unless driven away by the scourgings and buffetings and stonings of a fierce and fiery persecution, there they staid, till they succeeded in raising up two or more presb}-ters, spe- cially qualified to exercise oversight over the flock — that thus the good seed might be perpetuated after they had gone. In raising up teachers, pastors, and evangelists, the apostles had extraordinary powers. They not only had miraculous gifts themselves, but had the power of bestowing these on others. ^Vith them, accordingly, the process of qualif}*ing preachers, might in general be an instantaneous one. Be that, however, as it may, the grand consideration is, that such powers as Grod had conferred they did employ for that end. So that the fact of their frequent distant wanderings is not more certain than the fact of their uniform undeviating practice in raising up, and leaving beliind them a race of qualified native labourers.

Now, is not this the very object which we propo.se to ac-

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complish ? When expected constantly to itinerate, and every where to preach the Gospel in person, we are called on to imitate only half of the apostolic example ! What ! do the rigid sticklers for apostolic example, call on us to imitate only half I — or rather the fraction of a half I — and that by no means the most important fraction ? They do — they will have us itinerate and preach — but as to the necessity of re- maining long enough at any one place to secure and train up converts, that is little attended to ; still less the desir- ableness of remaining till we rear native preachers ! Now, it is our earnest wish to imitate not a half, or a fraction of the apostolic example ; but the entire example, in the only way in which we can most effectually do so. Again, then, we ask, who are they that really act out the very spirit and substance of the apostolic mode ? — those who would itine- rate, without the necessary qualifications, — or those who, unable because unqualified themselves, would resort to the only means in their power to secure all the actual benefits and results of apostolic itineration, by raising up and dis- persing over the provinces those who can preach to all re- spectively in their mother tongues ? — those who, unlike the apostles, would pass rapidly from station to station, without waiting for substantial fruits, in the appearance of real con- verts, or waiting to train any of them for the ministry to be left behind as their successors — or those who, having found stations full of promise, would, like the apostles, wait and cultivate them ; not only to secure converts, but to train up those who might be the instruments of converting others when they were removed ?

We do not profess to imitate the apostles directly ; but by the blessing of God we do seek indirectly to achieve most of what they were privileged to overtake. The grand differ- ence between the apostles and us, consists in the nature of the means employed. By the inspiration of the Almighty Spirit they could at once speak with divers tongues. We are not so privileged : — but shall we murmur and rebel on this account ? No : By a rigid course of application, study and discipline, we may qualify numbers to speak fluently.

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each in his own tongue. And if we do so, have we not a substitute in lieu of the apostolic gift? We cannot, like them, work miracles, to command attention, overawe the mind, and attest our commission ; but we may, by slow and laborious reiteration of facts and evidence, establish the divine authority of the doctrine ; — yea, by a process of in- struction, we may confer the capacity of comprehension where it does not exist. If we humbly resort to this process, have we not a substitute in place of the apostolic gift ? We can- not, like them, lay our hands on converts, saying, “ Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” — instantly qualifying them for the work of the ministry ; but we may, by long continued tuition, accompanied by the secret influence of the Spirit, rear up those who shall be so qualifled. And if we do so, have we not a substitute for the apostolic gift ? In a word, wliat the apostles obtained miraculously, or achieved miraculously, in an instant — under a supernatural dispensation of providence and grace — we, under the ordinary’ dispensation of provi- dence and grace, may slowly accomplish by the diligent use of ordinary means. And if we refuse to resort to these means, our professed imitation of the apostles will be mock- ery and delusion in the progress — harrowing disappointment in the issue — rebellion against the ordination of heaven — murderous cruelty towards the souls which we desire to rescue as brands from the burning.

Oh ! it were glorious, if we had a miraculous command over the elements of nature. Who would submit to the gloomy operations of our dungeon-mines, if, by miracle, without labour or trouble, we could maintain a perpetual fire ? ^Mio would submit to the fatigue, and toil, and waste of time in travelling: bv cumbrous machines, if we could take wings like a dove ; or, without artificial aid at all, at once transport ourselves, with the ease of celestial spirits, to our destined haven ? ^VTio would submit to the toil of tearing and rending the stubborn soil with implements of husbandry, if, by a word, we could command a ripened har- vest ; or multiply the loaves and fishes, the wine and oil, into the fulness of an ever-present and spontaneous supply ?

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

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Surely none. But if God withhold the extraordinary power, shall we still strive to act as if we possessed it ? If so, were it not mad ambition, and perilous to boot ? How could we in that case escape perishing with cold, or plunging down- wards like the adventurer in Rasselas, or famishing for want of food ? But if God grant us ordinary means, which, if prayerfully employed, will secure all the substantial results of the extraordinary, ought we not to account it our highest privilege to use them ? If we do, in humble dependence on heaven, we may maintain a perpetual heat, accomplish all our lawful journeyings, and provide against the blighting famine : — in a word, we may attain all the ends designed by Providence, — and that, too, in the very way pointed out and approved by Providence. We shall be blessed ourselves, and shall be constrained to magnify the name of our God.

In like manner, it were glorious if, in connection with the spread of Christianity, the age of miracles were once more revived. Who would submit to the drudgery of master- ing strange characters and languages with the clumsy ap- paratus of grammars, and dictionaries, and reading lessons, and oral instructions of teachers, if, in a moment, we could expect to be endowed with the gift of tongues ? Who would submit to the drudgery of a species of pedagogy in conveying useful knowledge to acuminate the faculties, and enable them to appreciate the value and strength of histori- cal and other evidence, if, in a moment, we could expect to be endowed with the power of working miracles, to convince the candid, silence the gainsayer, and prove that God was with us of a truth ? Who would submit to the drudgery of years of anxious and protracted prelection to qualify preachers, if, in a moment, we could, by the laying on of hands, communicate all the necessary qualifications ? It is because we have no such extraordinary powers, that we must avail ourselves of ordinary ones — for the ultimate ac- complishment of the same end. Time, and labour, and persevering study, an apparatus of ordinary means, and a multiplicity of agents, may, through God’s blessing, even-

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tually achieve all that was done in an age of miracles. And to attempt doing so, is only to fall in with the course of Providence, and glide along with its gentle tide.

Still many will be ready to say, — Why so much ado about raising up highly educated men, by a process which, in the absence of miracles, must consume so much of the mission- ary’s time and strength ? Were the apostles themselves so educated ? No ; with a single exception, and mayhap, in the estimation of some, without a single exception, were they not all notoriously illiterate ? Why, then, should we wish for men of learning i Why should we not be satisfied with pious uneducated men like the apostles ? Why ? — Because, according to the arrangements of an overruling Providence, they will not in general answer our purpose. Functionaries of this description have already been weighed in the balance and been found wanting. The universal experience of all sects and denominations of professing Christians pronounces the scheme of a pious, simple, single-hearted, but illiterate ministry, as utterly unsuited to cope with the difficulties of an office whose high design is to reclaim the wilderness of the heart’s natural heathenism, and to multiply and replenish the earth with an abounding progeny of the faithful. How is this ? It is not difficult surely to perceive the reason why the apostles, though illiterate, did succeed ; and why ordi- nary ministers, when illiterate, cannot. The former were en- dowed with miraculous powers — the latter are not. Hence the success of the former ; hence, too, the impracticability of success on the part of the latter. Only endow us with mira- culous gifts, and with the power of conferring these on others, and we shall dispense at once with all learning. But as the case now stands, in the absence of miraculous gifts and powers, our main substitute is an extensive and sanctified learning. It was the design of the Almighty that the authority and truth of Christianity should at first be displayed with conspicuous and resistless evidence : — hence the profusion of miraculous endowment. It was His design that the evidence should be

OBJECTIONS ANSNVERED.

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heightened in its effect by causing its propagation to be mi- raculous too. Hence were men chosen void of learning and authority, that, when these were made to confound the wis- dom of the wise, and bring to nought the power of the mighty, it might be translucently visible to every eye that the finger of God was there. The preachers were poor, illiterate, powerless ; — among the multitudes of their early followers, not many great, not many noble were called. And why I For this express purpose amongst others, that it might be seen and felt by a conquered world, that it was not by the alluring bribes of wealth, the subtle arguments of philosophy, the vehement declamations of oratory, the menacing terrors of power, that Christianity triumphed; — that when, — in spite of all the rich and the learned and the powerful in the world, it was seen that the poor illiterate helpless fishermen of Galilee, — after wearing out their tormentors with the mul- titude of willing victims, and extinguishing the flames of persecution with their blood, — succeeded in planting a hated abhorred faith upon the rujn and downfall of the gorgeous and captivating superstitions of the nations, — the reason of every man might cry out, — “ This is the doing of the Lord, and marvellous in om- eyes.”

But are we entitled to infer that ProHdence would always follow the same plan in perpetuating and extending the Christian faith ? By no means. To adopt a pregnant pas- sage from the pages of a revered historian, — “ The divine authority and truth of Christianity having been once com- pletely established, it was fit that external means of a more ordinar}’ kind should be employed to facilitate its future difiusion, and that these should be varied according to the circumstances of the people among whom it was to be intro- duced or restored.”

The truth of this will best appear by Hewing in contrast the two most remarkable eras in the history of the world, — the early propagation of Christianity, and the grand revival of primitive Christianity by the Eeformation of the six- teenth century. To this would we crave special attention, because it is to the former that the friends of missions almost

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exclusively appeal for their models and exemplars in re- ports, speeches, sermons, and every department of periodical missionary literature. But why so ? — Why constantly ap- peal to a dispensation confessedly miraculous, for examples to guide us under a dispensation confessedly the reverse ? Why overlook the era of the Reformation ? Though not an era of extraordinary interposition, was it not watched and overruled by a signal exercise of the ordinary leadings of a superintending Providence ? In the primitive age all the means were miraculous. In the age of the Reformation all external means seemed to consist in a favourable conjuncture of circumstances, and a skilful combination of natural causes. But though the immediate presence of Jehovah was less visible, was it on that account less real ? No. It was His providence that prepared the conjuncture and brought about the skilful combination. It was the real though invisible influence of the Divine Spirit brooding over the moral chaos that vivified the mass, — predisposed the minds of men for change, — marshalled the hosts for battle, — and converted the most unlikely means into instrmnents to execute Heaven’s high designs.

When we think of that anticliristian despotism which, in the lordliness of its supremacy, annihilated the rights of conscience ; and, in the swellings of its pride, trode on the necks of the mightiest potentates : — when w’e think how it stood guarded and garrisoned by decrees of councils and edicts of kings ; by legions of ecclesiastic monks and armies of warriors ; by the appalling tribunal of the Inquisition and the thunders of the Vatican : — when we think how, in spite of such mighty antagonism, in the course of a generation, primitive Christianity — the nurse of liberty, civil and reli- gious, with its magnificent retinue of attendant blessings — was restored to half the prostrate nations ! — when we seri- ously think of all this, shall we deny that the finger of God was there? We may, with Adam Smith and the infidel school, do so. But surely not any of the friends of Protestant mis- sions, and least of all, those who plead for apostolic example in all things, will be found to accredit the infidel testimony.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

389

They, above all others, will at once concede that the Reforma- tion Avas, in a special sense, the work of Divine Providence.

Still different from the miraculous dispensation which ushered in Christianity, the Reformation was characterised by the sequences of natural causes, and the application of ordinary means. Now, as we have no right to expect the age of miracles to be revived, till the glorious period when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in, and all Israel shall be saved, would it not be wiser to look for our examples more to the non-miraculous than to the miraculous dispen- sation,— both having been alike distinguished, though in very different ways, by the signal interposition of the Almighty ? The revolution effected by the reformers was, in the vast- ness of its extent and influential bearings on the destinies of mankind, next to the first promulgation of Christianity, the most important in the history of the world. Surely there can be nothing derogatory in our contemplating it in order to discover what may be copied ? Why look always for our patterns to an age, the greatest part of whose doings we cannot imitate, because they were miraculous ; and not rather to an age, almost all whose doings we may imitate, because none of them were miraculous ? Why not, for our examples, study the predisposing causes which led to the mighty change witnessed by the latter — with the rise, pro- gress, and consummation of that change ? Why pass over the attainable and the imitable, and aim for ever at the unattainable and the inimitable ?

You tell us to look at the early propagation of Christianity, and mark how all the apostles and their first converts were poor ; and yet how, without the important aid of wealth, they prevailed : — and you tell us, too, to despise riches as an unnecessary or treacherous auxiliary. But you forget that they had what was far better, namely, miraculous gifts and endowments ; and that these formed a perfect substitute for wealth. These, however, we have not and cannot emu- late. We tell you to look to the Reformation, and mark how many of the reformers and their adherents were rich in the things of this world, as well as in faith ; and how they

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employed their riches in advancing the cause of Christ. These to them formed parr of the substitute for miracu- lous gifts and endowments ; and their disinterested use of them, we of the present day may perfectly imitate.

Almost all the apostles and early converts were low in origin, and mean and despicable in professional occupation ; and yet, in the absence of rank and office they prevailed : — and we are told to despise the natural influence of both in propagating Christianity. But they had an all-sufficient substitute in miraculous gifts and endoxMuents ; — these we have not, and cannot imitate. Look at the Reformation. Numbers of the reformers and their supporters were of honourable, many of noble, and a few of even royal descent, and all were led to employ the natural influence of rank and station in prospering the cause of Zion. In this, too, it is possible for us to imitate them.

Almost all the apostles and early converts were wholly without power or authority, and yet they prevailed : — and we are told to contemn the natural influence of power in evangelizing the world. But they had miraculous gifts and endowments in place of worldly power, and in this we can- not imitate them. Look at the Reformation. How many of the reformers were invested with power and authority, — electors of provinces and lords of the congregation ! And did they not most righteously employ their secular authority and influence in promoting the Protestant interests ? In this, too, their conduct may be advantageously imitated by the great and powerful of the present times. On this head, the celebrated author of the Life of Knox, who can be sus- pected of heterodoxy by no evangelical body of men, writes with equal strength and truth, — “ If we attend to the state of society in Scotland at that time” — (and the same remark is perfectly applicable to the former state of all the conti- nental kingdoms, and the present state of the greater part of the heathen world) — “ to the almost unbounded power of the barons — the vassalage of the people — the ignorance which reigned among the lower, and the rarity of education among the middle ranks, with other peculiar hindrances to

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the communication of knowledge, we shall be convinced that the Reformation, humanly speaking, and without a miracle, could not have spread as it did, — the truth could not have obtained a fair hearing, nor have come to the knowledge of the common people, — if it had not been embraced and patron- ized by persons of superior rank and means of information.” Almost all the apostles and early converts were rude, ignorant, unlettered men, and yet they prevailed : — and we are told to repudiate the aid of learning in the warfare mth Gentile philosophy and superstition. But, in place of learn- ing, they had miraculous gifts and endowments as a substi- tute ; and in this we cannot emulate them. Look at the Reformation. All the leading reformers and their disciples were not only learned hut notoriously the most learned men of the age. They were the great revivers, and most successful cultivators, of useful knowledge and science of eveiy kind. And these attainments they rendered eminently subservient to the advancement of Protestantism. Jt was by their mas- sive and mighty erudition that they assailed and ground to powder the stupendous fabric of scholastic subtilties and ecclesiastical tradition ; and, excavating the jewel of truth so long buried and lost, held it up once more to the gaze of an admiring world. In this sanctified use of literature and science we may, if we will, imitate the reformers in our pre- sent conflict with the gigantic errors and superstitions of the nations. And the possession of sound learning we are to regard as part of the substitute in place of miracles.

In short, between the apostolic age and the Reformation there is striking parallelism ; but in regard to the secondary means employed, it is that of marhed contrast. In the for- mer case, they were the poor, the ignoble, the weak, and the ignorant, whom God chose as his instruments in Chris- tianizing the world. In the latter, they were the rich, the noble, the powerful, and the learned, whom God chose as his instruments in restoring a tarnished and almost effaced Christianity to pristine purity. In the former, the gift of miracles more than compensated for the want of all natural advantages : — The absence of such advantages only made

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the interposition of the Almighty more illustriously mani- fest ; and made the evidence of His revelation shine with a blaze of splendour which was destined to illumine all ages of posterity. In the latter case, no fresh exhibition of pre- ternatural agency being demanded by the urgencies of the Church, the natural advantages of wealth, rank, power, and learning, were made to supply the place of miracles.

Here some unreflecting persons are ever apt to object, that, by the employment and operation of natural causes, we super- sede immediate divine agency. No such thing. True, there is nothing extraordinary in the fact that men, once become really Christians, should employ wealth, rank, power, learning, and every other natural advantage in forwarding the sacred cause of the Redeemer : neither is it extraordinary’ that the vigorous and extensive employment of these should exercise a prodigious influence on the minds of men, in strict accord- ance with the regular constitution of things. But is there no room left for the intervention of Omnipotence ? Let us answer this question by asking another : — Is it natural, — is it in ac- cordance with the spontaneous prompting and impulses of humanity, that men should freely and voluntarily turn all their natural faculties, acquisitions, endon’ments, honours, and influence into the channel of a religion, so pure and holy that it convicts all of guilt, and pronounces upon all the sentence of condemnation. Let the scanty largesses of the wealthy, the frigid indifference of the noble, the systematic neglect of those in authority, and the sardonic scorn and opposition of the learned, even in a land nominally Christian, furnish the reply. That there should be thunder and lightning when the heavens are surcharged with the electric fluid ; or a raging tempest when a rapid process of rarification somewhere de- mands a sudden supply of air to replenish the void ; or refri- gerating hailstones in sunshine when there is an excess of cold in the higher region of the atmosphere : — in all this there is nothing extraordinary. But if all such natural phenomena should be exhibited without any of the predisposing natural causes, would not the whole be truly miraculous ? — and just- ly entitled to be denominated an extraordinary interposi-

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tion of Almighty Grod ? But assuredly the roar of thunder and the flash of lightning ■ndthout the electric fluid ;"^the raging of a tempest without any process of rarefaction ; the falling of hailstones without any cold, would scarcely be more against the ordinary course of nature, or more clearly exhibit the immediate agency of Deity, than the free and generous emplojunent of wealth, rank, power, and learning, in support of a faith which pours contempt upon them aU, is contrary to the natural feeling and inclinations, the natural desires and emotions, of the proud and depraved heart of man. Who then inclined the naturally unmlling hearts of so many of the rich, and noble, and mighty, and learned, in the time of the Keformation, to cast in their several tributes so profusely into the common cause of truth? Surely it was none other than the Spirit of God secretly working in and through them. It was altogether the doing of the Lord, and marvellous in our eyes. By nature, so des- perately wicked is the heart, that to incline it to keep God’s pure and holy law, and to seek, at the sacrifice of all that it naturally most values, to promote the cause of truth and righteousness, is surely as much the work of Omnipotent grace, as the creation of the world is the work of Onmipotent power. For, “ as soon could the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots,” as could men by their own unaided power, “ do good, who are accustomed to do evil.”

Those, therefore, who would reject the emplo}*ment of wealth, rank, power, or learning, in advancing missions, merely because these were not employed in the spread of primitive Christianity, — when, at the same time, they can- not provide the substitute of miracles, — act as vainly as those who would reject the use of medicine, when, at the same time, they have no substitute in the miraculous gift of healing. As miracles were the substitute for natural and acquired advantages in the primitive age ; so natural and acquired advantages are the substitute for miracles in the present. Looking at the history of Providence, and more especially at the glorious era of the Keformation, let us resolve to conse- crate all gifts and attainments to the service of God. He who so signally blessed the riches, and wealth, and power ; and

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above all, the matchless learning of the reformers, will not withhold the same blessing when these are now expended on the war against the thrones and principalities, the dominions and princedoms of general idolatry. And we may rest assured that the man who has most natural and acquired advantages, and especially, most knowledge ; and who most devoutly dedicates them all as free-will offerings at the shrine of the mission-cause, is the man who is likely to be favoured with the greatest success.

Looking exclusively at the primitive age, and bidding us to despise natural advantages, you, in effect, tell us either to aim at the possession of extraordinary gifts that are utterly unattainable ; or without either natural advantages or the apostolic gifts of a miraculous dispensation, you still tell us to proceed to the performance of apostolic work ! We look at the Reformation age, and without coveting what is unat- tainable, we bid you aspire to the cultivation and possession of those natural advantages and endowments which God so eminently blessed under a non-miraculous dispensation. And once armed with Reformation gifts, we bid you speed all over the world in achieving Reformation work. Which of these procedures is most accordant with reason, — with Scripture, — with the palpable designs of Providence ? Surely if confident trust in the use of ordinary means, as if these were endowed with inherent efficacy apart from the Divine blessings, be stark Atheism ; the disuse and contempt of all ordinary means, — where God, by denying the extraordi- nary, designed these to be employed in His service, in subservience to His holy will, — must be practical Atheism and senseless fanaticism combined ! If, in the absence of miracles we dare not despise any natural advantages ; if, above all, we cannot expect to succeed without a well in- structed ministry ; it follows, of course, that such a ministry must be prepared. And, without miracles, there is no con- ceivable mode of preparation except by the ordinary method of scholastic and Christian discipline.

Here the subject might be brought to a close, were it not

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that the over-scrupulous and inconsistent sticklers for the literal form of apostolic example, are ready to resist all evi- dence, reject all appeals, and silence all arguments, by the most trite of all evasions. Oh, say they, the apostles did not establish systems and seminaries of education ! Only figure to yourselves the apostles teaching in schools, superintending systems, and lecturing in college halls ! If we are called on to do, after the apostolic example, what we cannot without apostolic endowments ; and are again called on to leave undone what we well can, merely because in totally different circumstan- ces the holy apostles did not do it ; — where are we to end? What in this case will become of that transcendent favour- ite of all who stickle so liberally for apostolic example ? Did the apostles establish l^ble Societies, with their large machinery of noble patrons and presidents ; directors, ordi- nary and extraordinary; committees, general and sectional; printing-presses, translation-libraries, and travelling agen- cies? The same question might be put, in reference to Sunday schools ; religious book and tract societies ; and in a great measure, all modern missionary societies. Only figure to yourselves St Peter and St Paul, and the rest of the apostolic band, engaged in wooing the great, and the mighty, and the noble to become patrons, and office-bearers and members of a Jerusalem Bible Society — burdened and overtaxed with the operose literary labour of translation — directing the operations of the press — submitting to the drudgery of correcting proof-sheets — preparing reports for public meetings, and proposing and seconding resolutions on the platform ! Is this ridiculous in your eyes ? Not more so than your supposition about mission-schools and mission- colleges. We insist upon it, that if we must abandon such seminaries, merely because the apostles did not at first establish any similar institutions, you are under the same stringent necessity to abandon the Bible and Tract Societies, because the apostles established none !

But is it really come to this, that we must sacrifice solid sense to tingling sounds — sacrifice the spirit and principles of the Gospel, to the form and letter in which these were

396

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

once embodied — and by our copying of both, render the Gospel itself as unfit to be the religion of “ all nations,” — as Judaism, or Mahammadanism, or Hinduism ! It cannot be. The advocate of the Bible Society will tell us, and he will tell us truly, that circumstances are wholly changed since the days of the apostles. They did not, he will tell us, establish Bible Societies like ours,— because they could not, see- ing that many of the essential elements in their present con- stitution and mode of operation, had then no existence ; and secondly^ because they w'ould not, seeing that the’profusion of supernatural endowments at once superseded the necessity of resorting to such slow and cumbrous aids. And is not the same remark most strictly applicable to schools ! They did not establish schools like ours, for two reasons,— because they could not, — “ Science,” as has been truly observed, “ science, as then taught, was not confined to the Christians, was not useful, was not true, did not destroy idolatrv', or prepare the way for the Gospel, and could be better taught elsewhere. The Christians, so far from standing on vantage- ground in regard to knowledge, were beneath the heathen ; and a Greek, or a Roman, or a Jewish priest, would laugh with scorn at the idea of sending his child to a Christian school.” Secondly, they established no schools, because they would not ; and they would not, because they had no need for them. The gift of miracles enabled them to do ^\•ithout such aids. And to waste their time and energy in conduct- ing scholastic discipline, when in a moment they could com- municate the necessary gifts, were as unwise as it would be for us to dispense with that discipline, which is our only means, under the Divine blessing, of convepng the necessary gifts in the absence of miraculous endowments.

In a word, with the apostles, miraculous gifts and powers superseded, of necessity, the use of all ordinary means, whether Bible, or Tract, or ^Missionary Societies ; whether Sunday or week-day elementary schools, or higher Collegiate institutions. In place of these supernatural endo\\ments, we have the press, an improved literature, a true science, an enlightened system of education — grand natural advan-

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

897

tages, which the apostles never enjoyed. And shall we not employ these, so palpably designed by heaven to be our auxiliaries under an ordinary dispensation, merely because they were not possessed and not needed, under an extra- ordinary economy ?

But we are not left to such reasonings, however conclusive. Though in the first instance the apostles employed not the engine of education, because they had far more than an equivalent substitute in the gift of miracles, we may yet plead in its behalf, both scriptural precept and apostolic example. In the Law of Moses, the Proverbs of Solomon, the Epistles of St Paul, and the W ord of God generally, is there no ex- press injunction relative to the teaching and training of the young ? Those who know their Bibles best, may almost ac- cuse us, in putting such a question, of being in jest. Accord- ingly, during the earlier part of the Mosaic dispensation, besides the domestic training which every Israelite enjoyed, we read of the public “ schools of the prophets.” And to- wards the close of that dispensation, we know that every synagogue was at once a place of worship for adults and a school of discipline for the young. Nor was the Jewish plat- form of juvenile tuition cast aside by the early converts. From the very dawn of the Christian era, though apostles, evangelists, and other heaven-endowed men did not engage in teaching schools, private Christians, who had no such gifts, did not neglect the education of the young. Hear the learned and judicious Mosheim on the subject : — “The Chris- tians (during the first century), took all possible care to ac- custom their children to the study of the Scriptures, and to instruct them in the doctrines of their holy religion ; and schools were every where erected for this purpose, even from the very commencement of the Christian Churchr

But there is something still more remarkable, and more to our purpose. If our view of educational and other means, as the only substitute we possess in place of the gift of mi- racles, be correct, what ought we to expect to find towards the close of the miraculous age ? W ould it not be, among other things, the establishment of a more extended and sys-

398

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

tematic course of education 1 Now, this is what history assures us actually took place. Hear, again, the learned Mosheim. After referring to elementary schools, he thus proceeds: — “We must not, however, confound the scJtools de- signed only for children with the gymnasia or academies of the ancient Christians, erected in several large cities ; in which persons of riper years, especially such as aspired to be public teachers, were instructed in the different branches, both of human learning and of sacred erudition. We may, undoubtedly, at- tribute to the apostles themselves, and their injunctions to their disciples, the excellent establishments in which the youth, destined to the holy ministry, received an education suitable to the solemn office they were to undertake. St John erected a school of this kind at Ephesus ; and one of the same kind was founded by Polycarp at Smyrna. But none of these were in greater repute than that which was established at Alexandria, which was commonly called the catechetical school, and is generally supposed to have been erected by St Mark." What say our sticklers for apostolic example to this ? Here, certainly not at the very beginning, but before the close of the apostolic age, we find not only schools for children, but g}*mnasia and academies for persons of riper years, where public teachers, and especially those destined to the holy ministry, were in- structed in the different branches, both of human learning and of sacred erudition ! — and all this under the sanction and encouragement of the surviving apostles and their cotempor- aries,— the evangelists, and their immediate disciples and successors, the apostolic fathers. Here, then, is scriptural precept and apostolic example for at least the fundamental principle of the very course which we are recommending to be pursued ; — and that, too, arising in the most natural order. During the first generation, when miraculous gifts superabounded, there was no call for gymnasia or academies to educate men for the holy ministry. The necessary qualifications were at once miraculously conveyed. And as the apostles and their cotemporaries were removed one after the other, — and with them the gift of miracles was gradually disappearing too, — Christians were obliged, un-

TRANSLATION AND CIRCULATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 399

der the “ injunctions ” of the apostles, to betake themselves to the use of ordinary means for rearing and perpetuating a succession of public teachers and preachers of the Word. When the total cessation of miracles ensued, they had, in dependence on Heaven’s blessing, to look to their gymnasia and academies for fresh supplies. These were, in fact, the grand substitute for miracles, under the subsequent ordinary dispensation of Providence. And from the close of the apostolic age downwards, whence came almost all public teachers ? — Whence but from the ancient schools ? Whence came the great body of the refonners — the men most hon- oured of God in their evangelistic labours, next to the apostles themselves ? — Whence but from the schools and seminaries established in different parts of Europe ? Whence do the Christian Churches and Missionary Societies at pre- sent derive supplies, whether for the home or the foreign field 1 — Whence but from the very same sources ? And whence can we expect to receive the thousands of qualified natives who shall overtake the realms of heathenism ? Only from similar sources opened up, and bountifully replenished in every land !

The third and last of the great measures of evangelization, is the TRANSLATION AND CIRCULATION OF THE SaCRED SCRIP- TURES. Connected with the prosecution of this object, there are as many broad fallacies, as many crude and undigested notions afloat, as on the subject of education and preaching. It is not a little curious that, among the most enthusiastic advocates of Bible and Tract circulation, are to be found many who are the most hostile to education — as if the dis- tributed Bible could be of any avail to a people without an antecedent education to qualify them for perusing it ! — that very education without which we might as well send harps to the deaf, or paintings to the blind, as disperse Bibles among any people wholly destitute of it ! But let- ting that pass, — when once a translation is completed in the language of any province, how common, hoAV very general

400 TRANSLATIOX AND CIRCULATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

the exclamation, “The Word of God is now thrown open to so many millions ! ” When translations in whole, or in part, have been made into all the leading languages and dialects of a country like India, how frequent the remark, “ The W ord of God is now thrown open to nearly the whole of its inhabitants !” From all this, the tacit inference often is, that the word of life must be virtually, if not actually, scattered like spiritual seed, and diffused like spiritual lea- ven over all the Indian continent — and that from this source alone, a prodigious harvest of quickened and ripened fruit is about to be reaped !

Is there not a grand fallacy Involved in such large expec- tations ? Think of a country suffering from universal famine, — to the famine has succeeded universal pestilence. The Government opens granaries of wholesome provision in cen- tral spots. You then exclaim, — “ Behold a redundant store of nutriment thrown open to the whole empire ! ” But what a mockery of benevolence were this, when all are so diseased that they have no relish, no desire for food, — when the re- ception of food might only nurse them the more rapidly for the grave ? W ell, side by side, you next establish a maga- zine of restorative medicaments ; and you now exclaim, — “ Behold a copious, an overflowing store of balsamic remedies is thrown open to the whole land !” Of what avail is this, if almost all the population are so debilitated and stupified with disease that they are either unable or unwilling to come and receive the necessary supplies? Well, you then send quantities of healing drugs indiscriminately to every door. But, — there being no kind friend to ply the insensible patient, — no skilful physician to administer these drugs ac- cording to the phases of the distemper, modified endlessly by peculiarities of constitution, and previous dietetic and professional habits, — they are wholly overlooked or rejected by the majority. Portions swallowed at random by others, either effect no good or prove positively injurious, — being speedily assimilated with the circulating fluids, or transmuted into venom that feeds and inflames the malady. And would it materially rescue the scheme from the charge of ineffi-

BENEFITS OF BIBLE CIRCULATION.

401

ciency, and unadaptedness, and mockery, to say, that amid a million of random chances, one, two, or more, by happy accident, did hit upon the appropriate medicine, and expe- rienced a cure ? W ould a few such cases be enough to entitle the Government to persevere in its course, and raise shouts and paeans of exultation at their prodigious labours in re- plenishing the storehouses, and erecting so vast a machinery for scattering masses of their contents ? Oh ! would ye not say, would not humanity say, would not reason second the appeal, — “ Along with your medicines send friendly and skilful physicians, who shall examine the patients, probe the disease, administer the remedy, watch the effect, return again and again, — conducting the recuperative processes to a happy issue : and, having arrested the disease, follow it up by a plentiful supply of wholesome food.” A perfect counterpart all this to the present state of things in a country like India, viewed morally and religiously ! For ages the land has been smitten with universal spiritual famine — famine of the word of life. And, as at once a cause and a consequence of the famine, it has been smitten for ages with spiritual leprosy and moral pestilence ; so that, from the cro^vn of the head to the sole of the foot, there is nought but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores. By means of translations you open in every province a depository of Bibles, — replenished at once with healing balm for every disease, and bread of heaven to nourish the renovated soul. You then exclaim, — “ Behold a superabounding storehouse of the word of life thrown open to all kindreds and tribes !” Ah ! but what avails it when every where the people, impo- tent and miserable through famine and disease, are both unable and unwilling to come and be supplied. The soul is sick and loathes wholesome food. Ere its taste and appetite can return, you must remove the disease. Well, overflow- ing wdth compassion, you then empty the depositories and disperse bales of the written word, wholesale, over the land : — raising the shout, — “ All India is now supplied.” Ah ! but wdthout a friendly advocate and skilful physician, the greater part is cast away as vile and worthless. Indis-

402

BIBLE TRANSLATION AND PREACHING.

criminately received and unskilfully applied by others, the balsam of life is often neutralized in its effects, — the very bread of life often assimilated with the ordinary aliment of an impure and filthy superstition, or speedily transformed by the acting of virulent disease, into a mass of putrescence as loathsome as the disease itself. And is it enough, in order to shield the defective procedure, and call forth the shout of gratulation, that, by some apparently happy hit or fortuitous coincidence, out of thousands of cases, one, two, or more have stumbled on the suitable balm, and been healed, and acquired a relish for the heavenly manna ? No, no. Such a system must be regarded as radically defec- tive. Why not, with the abundant supplies of the pharma- copoeia of evangelical truth, send forth the skilful physician — the living evangelist, to persuade, to urge, to probe, and to examine, — to minister and apply, to watch the varjing symptoms and meet the varying demands, and direct to- w'ards a successful issue ? And having done so, then, in the strength of the Lord, accompany and follow up the whole restorative process by a redundant supply of the heavenly nutriment !

From all this what is the inference designed to be drawm ? It is, that in a country like India, — drenched with the bitter and foul waters of every moral malady, saturated to the very core with the filth and mire of idolatrous abominations, — the translation and circulation of the Bible should not, as \j the general rule, be the precursor, but the concomitant and the consequent of an assiduously taught and a successfully preached Gospel. When, through the educational and other evange- listic means employed, a work of preparation has been con- ducted, and a race of superiorly qualified native labourers has, through God’s blessing, been reared, let these be every where dispersed and located as the teachers and preachers of the everlasting Gospel. Let the quickening energy of their living voice arouse the slumbering and stir up the dead, alarm the careless and direct the wandering, create new desires and awake new longings, furnish new tastes and stimulate to new inquiries. Let doubts be removed,

PECULIAR EFFICACY OF PREACHING.

403

difficulties solved, mistakes corrected, errors exposed, and delusions dissipated. Let the soul be healed by the touch of the wise and kind physician, accompanied by the effica- cious influences of the Holy Spirit. Then let an abundance of copies of God’s Word be supplied ; and they will nourish, edify, and build up for eternity ; as well as awake, excite, direct, and guide others, by witnessing the effect on their fellows. Then will Bibles be distributed with infinite profit and advantage. Every copy will produce some result more or less of excellent tendency. None will be wholly lost.

A second inference is, that, if the Bible, as the general rule, should accompany or follow, rather than precede, a faithfully and efficiently proclaimed salvation, the main strength of no mission should, in the first instance, be given to the task of translation. Whatever is absolutely necessary for conducting operations should be done, and no more. The strength of the mission should be given to the training of the young, and preaching to the adults, and especially to the rearing up of those who can, with zeal, and skill, and discretion, go forth with the word of life in their hands, — its spirit reigning in their hearts, — its message of terror to alarm, and message of mercy to allure, on their lips. The work of translation might then keep pace with the prepara- tion for its really profitable reception. Does not this seem to have been the order universally observed by Divine Provi- dence itself in the first grand encounter of Christianity with the Polytheism of the Gentile nations ? Where do we read of copies of the Scriptures being circulated among the idola- ters before the preacher arrived amongst them to awaken, expostulate, and expound ? Though holy men were miracu- lously endowed of God every where to preach in the different languages of the earth, where do we read of translations of the Scriptures having been made, either miraculously or by ordinary means, during the period of the Gospel’s first proclamation, and awful struggle with idolatry % Nowhere. Always, and in all countries, the living voice was the herald, — written epistles followed at a considerable interval of time, — and translations succeeded in the distant train.

404

DIFFICULTY OF PREACHING IN INDIA.

And is it not specially remarkable, that, while the apostles were miraculously endowed to preach to all people in their own tongue, they were not directed by heaven to v;rite the Gospels in all tongues, or even to pen their epistles in the vernacular languages of the Churches or communities to which these were addressed ? It was most natural and befit- ting, that the Epistle to the Corinthians should be written in Greek, — but why the Epistle to the Eomans in Greek, and not rather in Latin \ — or that to the Ephesians in Greek, and not rather in the vernacular language of Ephesus \ Surely He who had instantaneously qualified them to preach in all languages, could have enabled them to write in all languages, or translate into all languages, if He had so willed. Then why was the one done, and the other left undone ? The chief reason may be to us inscrutable ; but one natural cause we may conjecture as at least probable. The Bible abounds with principles and truths which it had not entered into the heart of man to conceive, and which consequently it never fell to his lips spontaneously to express. It also abounds with principles and truths, which, as they were once revealed and traditionally preserved, may be found scattered up and down the world in corrupt or distorted forms, or counterfeited in mimic errors. And as language is nothing else than the conventional expression of the feelings, and thoughts, and general knowledge of any people ; it bears every where not only a precise and definite proportion, but an absolute equality and parallelism of extent to the current range and nature of feeling, thoughts, and knowledge. Be- tween the conception and information of any people, and the representative sounds and symbols constituting the lan- guage of that people, there is a perfect identity in extent and signification. Hence it must be at once obvious that in introducing, for the first time^ the truths and principles re- vealed in the Bible to the notice of any distinct tribe, through the medium of its own vernacular language, — a change must be effected in the language proportioned to the revolution to be effected in the sentiments of the people. If erroneous impressions of the nature of man and the character of

PREACHING IN THE FIRST AGES OP CHRISTIANITY. 405

God, — erroneous impressions of the origin and destiny of the species, — erroneous impressions of reciprocal relations, and civil and religious duties, — if all must be corrected, purified, and enlarged ; — there must be a corresponding change in the meaning and use of words. If all former knowledge is to be new-modelled, and much to be new-created ; there must be a corresponding modification of old terms, — a revival of obsolete w 'rds with new meanings, — or a large infusion of vocables entirely new, — vocables, it may be, of foreign growth, or indigenous roots variously combined and manufactured into new compounds.

When Christianity began to be propagated, there was no language in the world through which to convey it, — without that language undergoing a radical change, by the attaching of new meanings to old words, and the copious infusion of terms wholly new, — except the Hebrew, or Hebraic Greek of the Alexandrian and other schools of Hellenizing Jews. Of the two, the preference was given to the latter, on account of the prevalence, or universality of its diffusion over the civilized world. This language, — the growth of apparently nothing beyond a train or series of natural causes and circum- stances,— seemed specially prepared by Divine Providence for its highest and noblest use, as the medium of communi- cating the last and most perfect expression of the Divine will to mankind. The Jews having been chosen as the special depositories of K relation, their language became its adapted and befitting medium. When the spirit of commercial enter- prise dispersed the tribes of the “ peculiar people ” over all the Grecian cities and their colonial dependencies, they gradually formed a new dialect, whose prevailing idiom was Hebrew, but the staple of whose vocabulary was Greek. In- corporating with its terms all the conceptions and ideas peculiar to the Jews as a people, — because derived by them from those holy oracles, the exclusive possession of which con- stituted their chiefest glory, — this Judaized Grecian dialect soon became moulded and fashioned into as proper a vehicle of Divine Eevelation as the Hebrew itself. And when it had been thus prepared by the overruling providence of God,

406 PREACHING IN THE FIRST AGES OF CHRISTIANITY.

the entire Hebrew Scriptures were translated into it ; and clothed in this new garb, these were ever afterwards renown- ed under the well-known designation of the Septuagint. The Septuagint Greek, therefore, was the only language generally understood, which could at once, without any alteration, con- vey the mind of the Spirit to man. Classical Greek, though of all languages then knowm, the most flexible and copious, would not answer so well ; because, — saturated throughout with the spirit of a polytheistic mythology, and pervaded by the genius of a false and atheistic philosophy, — its terms were preoccupied and wedded to an endless variety of con- nected ideas, associated meanings, and suggested inferences, arising from these fertile antichristian sources.

When an apostle or evangelist addressed in person, and with his living voice, any individual or audience, — in employ- ing the words of a vernacular dialect in new senses, or in coining and introducing new terms to express aright the new ideas, he could act as his own interpreter. He could explain and define ; he could vary his illustrative figures, similes, and images ; and by familiar intercourse discovering mistakes, he could reiterate explanations, till at last the new meanings were fairly fastened or engrafted on the dialect, and the new words understood in consequence of the apprehension and lodgment of the new ideas. It is plain that at least one whole generation must pass away, ere the dialect could be filtered from its heathenism, and ripened into an adequate medium for the embodiment of pure unadulterated truth. So long as those lived who spoke the language when the vehicle only of heathenism, their use of it would be distracted by the perpetual and obstinate recurrence of former notions and opinions. By teaching their children, however, the lan- guage after it had become the vehicle of very different ideas, these woidd grow up, knowing it practically only in its new form as an ^improved medium of speech, and having their minds undisturbed by the associated antichristian tenets and prejudices which, to the day of death, must have harassed and kept their fathers in bondage. But it would be very different with a dead translation. It could not stop

PREACHING IN THE FIRST AGES OP CHRISTIANITY. 407

to define and explain the new use of old terms, or the mean- ing of exotic ones : — or if it even did, it could not, on the recurrence of fresh misconceptions, reiterate the exposition in new forms ; and then in other forms again, till at last the people were disciplined, like children under scholastic tuition, into a perfect understanding of them.

May we not here discover a solution of the enigma, — why, though the apostles were privileged to 'preach in every language, they were not commissioned to write or translate the oracles of God in every language I

In their time, the only general language, — furnished by its previous embodiment of revealed truth with fixed appropri- ate vocal sounds or written symbols, being Judaized Greek, — that was employed as the sole medium of inspiration. In the meantime, that God, who agreeably to the adage is never known to “ interfere beyond the exigency,” was, in the course of Providence, rapidly preparing, by a grand, wide, extended, and simultaneous process, abundance of other media. Did He not first qualify and send forth proper agents, every where to proclaim, by the living voice, the truths of Revela- tion, and every where to be present to interpret, define, en- force, and reiterate, till at last the languages became modified, extended, and improved, — in a word. Christianized, — and therefore ripened into fit media for communicating divine knowledge without leading to any misconceptions beyond what must ever arise from the common ignorance of the natural understanding and the common perverseness of the depraved heart ? And then, but not till then, do we find Christians seriously betake themselves to the task of trans- lating the Scriptures into the different languages and dia- lects of the world. Where, in the whole history of primitive times, is there an instance of the Bible being translated into any language or dialect, before the people who spoke that language were at least partially Christianized ; and the language, therefore, new-moulded into a form better fitted for the written expression of Divine truth ?

And have not we, in these latter days, — in carrying on precisely the same kind of contest with the polytheism and

408 Luther’s translation* of the bible.

paganism of the earth, — nothing to learn from this most noticeable and most memorable order and succession in the procedure of Divine Providence in primitive times ? Has Jehovah set us the example of sending forth men — not first to translate His oracles into languages, which, in order to the expression of these oracles, must be more or less revolu- tionized,— and which, even when so moulded, must be more or less unintelligible to those whose notions and opinions remain unchanged, and who require interpreters to prevent endless misconceptions ? Has He, on the contrary, set us the example of sending forth qualified men first to proclaim the Gospel message with the living voice ? — And when the sen- timents of a people have been revolutionized, and their lan- guage has become the natural vehicle of these sentiments, has He then in the course of His providence supplied the means of embodying revelation in the new modified language to be dispersed among the population at large ? — If so, is it well for us so often actually to invert the order of this procedure, and act in apparent opposition to such an example ?

As a counterpoise, so far, to this view of the case, shall we be told of Luther’s translation of the Bible ; and the influ- ence exerted by it on the Reformation ? The case is not at all parallel. Rightly understood, instead of weakening, it greatly strengthens the view’ now taken. To make the cases parallel, all Germany must be supposed to be in a condition of unbroken heathenism — the very condition in which its in- habitants were, as set forth in the inimitably condensed and graphic delineations of Tacitus. But Germany was not so circumstanced in the time of Luther. Germany had been Christianized ages before. It had indeed sunk like other na- tions under the grinding yoke of a spiritual despotism, which smothered Divine tnith under a mountain load of fables, legends, traditions, and all the varied coinages, new wrought, new’ stamped, and new issued from the ten thousand mints of monkery. But, still, Germany was nominally Christian ; and its language had long been Christianized. That lan- guage was, therefore, fit at once to become the vehicle of Christian revelation. And when the translation was made.

PREACHING A PRIOR DUTY TO BIBLE TRANSLATION. 409

thousands and tens of thousands were not only predisposed, but burning with eagerness to receive, study, and digest its contents. Can any thing of all this be alleged in regard to any of the heathen nations, when first visited by Protes- tant missionaries I Rather, may not, must not every thing the very reverse of this, be truly predicted of them all? If so, is it not worse than idle to appeal to the Lutheran achievement as furnishing a model, a defence, an apology for attempting to imitate the same in all other circumstances, however different or even opposite ?

From all this, what is the legitimate deduction ? Is it not that, as the general rule, in heathen lands the Gospel taught or preached by the living voice, ought to precede the Gospel translated, printed, and circulated in dumb dead letter? How closely the published Gospel ought to accompany, or how immediately it ought to follow in the train of its pro- clamation by the living voice, whether to young or old, must depend on a thousand varying events — modified by a thou- sand unforeseen circumstances — which must be left to the judgment, discretion, and wisdom of him who proclaims it. It is only when curiosity has been awakened, inquiry excited, an habituation contracted with new ideas and with the use and meaning of the terms which convey these, that the Bible can be promiscuously circulated with real profit ; or can be expected to realize great, striking, or memorable results. Hence, again, we repeat, as the general rule, that the strength of a first mission to any heathen land, ought to be given to the oral inculcation of the Gospel, whenever, wherever, and in whatever form that can best be done, rather than to trans- lation. Hence, the non-necessity of such huge solicitude, and vast preparations, and lavish expenditure on translation, at the outset. In the first instance, let the general mind be awakened, and a demand for the Word created, and trans- lations will spring up with the onward tide — at compara- tively little trouble or expense. Prepare translations before the set time, and they may moulder in depositories, or be scat- tered like grain to decay on Alpine rocks, or be choked like seed in an Indian jungle. Prepare them against the set time

410

EDUCATED NATIVES THE BEST TRANSLATORS.

when newly implanted dispositions and preparatory trains of sentiment, a full or partial reception of proclaimed truths, and a familiarity with adapted terms have paved the way, cleared the wilderness, and prepared a soil, — and the circu- liition may be blessed like that of Luther’s German version.

Sooner or later there must be translations. And another question of paramount importance is. Who are to he the trans- lators ? — Foreign Christian missionaries, or Christianized natives ? — As the general t'ule, we fearlessly avow our sober conviction, that the translators who shall produce complete and permanent versions in any language, must be not foreigners, but educated natives. Hitherto on tliis moment- ous subject, the prevailing idea seems to have been different. Perhaps not in set terms or formal resolutions, but tacitly and virtually, the scheme of translation equally with that of preaching, has been conducted as if it could best be carried on by Europeans. Hence, in one way or other, between the salaries of missionaries and those of their native assistants, with libraries, printing-presses, and other apparatus, an im- mense proportion of missionary funds has from the first been expended on translations. Admitting as we do with our whole heart that the motives of all concerned were the purest, the noblest, and the most disinterested which could have actuated human breasts, the results of forty years allow us to ask the question. Whether such expenditure was in the most natural order of ProHdence ? It may have been so ; but the day may come when a different verdict will be award- ed by dear-bought experience. Notwithstanding the great expenditure of learning and talent, of time and strength and pecuniary resources, there is scarcely one of the twenty or thirty versions into the languages of India, which promises to stand out half a century ; or is likely ever to become the standard version in the language. When educated native Christians arise to undertake the task, all the present trans- lations may drop into oblivion : that is, when the time comes in which they can be turned to really profitable account, it may be necessary wholly to supersede them by others more perfect; and before that time, the good they effect may

EDUCATED NATIVES THE BEST TRANSLATORS.

411

be too infinitesimally small to admit of serious comparison with the large means expended. So that time, strength, and money, may have in a great measure been thrown away. Before the set time arrives, translations must be compara- tively unproductive ; — when that time comes, most of them may be superseded altogether. Tell us not, that though unlikely to prove lasting, these have done much towards preparing the way for such as shall be permanent. That we do not doubt. Already they have done so very materially. The real question is. Whether the time, strength, and re- sources lavished on them might not have been so expended as to have prepared the way still more speedily and effectu- ally ? Say that the half or third part, or any other very con- siderable proportion of missionary labour has been devoted to translating, superintending the press, &c. — the question is, Whether that strength might not have been employed in some other way better calculated to accelerate the time when translations would be extensively useful, — better cal- culated to raise up and create the instrumentality which might speedily produce them in half the time, at a mere fraction of the expense, and with tenfold greater accuracy? If most of the time and strength were devoted to the rearing up of those who would agitate the native mind by the teach- ing and preaching of the Gospel, — -the time might be greatly hastened when a real demand would exist for the written word, and a real preparation for getting it translated in the best form. There is not an argument demonstrative of the superiority of educated natives over educated foreigners as teachers or preachers of the Gospel, which does not hold true with still greater force respecting able translators of the Gospel. Where is the instance on record of a foreigner having supplied a really successful standard version of so difficult a work as the Bible in a strange tongue ? If any such there be, it must form a rare exception indeed to the general rule. No, — all history, all experience, a thousand failures proclaim, with one united voice, that, as the general rule, natives, — qualified natives alone, — can be the trust- worthy translators into their own vernacular tongues.

412

QUALIFICATIONS OF A TRANSLATOR.

Now, how can native translators be raised up duly quali- fied for the task ? How, except by the same course of large and comprehensive instruction which confers his qualifica- tions upon the teacher or the preacher, — with such specific additions as the peculiarities of the task may demand ? Let us then labour to rear up teachers and preachers. The process which invests them instrumentally in the hands of God’s Spirit with the requisite endo^Tuents, is shaking the fabric of Hinduism to its centre. When they go forth, the concussion extends in its effects. A demand will be created for the Word of life. The dialect will be rapidly enriched by the incorporation of new terms, and the unheathenizing of old ones. Let us seize the critical — yet precious moment. Let us single out those who may excel in language and criti- cism ; and let us set them apart for the arduous yet noble task of transfusing not merely the letter, but the spirit of God’s holy oracles into their own native tongues.

To excel as a translator of the Bible, is a task of vastly greater difficulty than nine-tenths of professing Christians can possibly comprehend. He who undertakes it should be a first-rate Biblical critic. To be a thorough Biblical critic demands a general scholarship at once extensive and pro- found. On this subject there is often a confusion of ideas. It is not necessary that the majority, or any large propor- tion of believers, should be Biblical critics. Enough for the vastly preponderating mass, that the great outlines of revealed truth should be so broadly marked, — so congruous with the divine perfections, so admirably adapted to the real wants and necessities of man, — that they cannot be mis- taken by the humble and simple-hearted inquirer, who may have no guide but a translation, and never can consult the original at aU. One of this most numerous class may well exclaim : — “ Some have doubted the existence of external objects, of companions and friends, of meadows and lawns, of hills and valleys, of fountains and streams, of sun, moon, and stars. But so long as I feel delighted, refreshed, and exhi- larated, amid the socialities, the beauties, and the bounties of earth and heaven, I shall not be disturbed bv the follies

QUALIFICATIONS OP A TRANSLATOR.

413

and frivolities of men, who seem anxious to prove, by ex- ample, that of all imaginable contradictions, their own con- duct furnishes the one of most consummate folly. In like manner there have been in all ages, and there will still be, religious sceptics. But while, — with my eyes directed to- wards the wide domains of Divine truth, verdant with beauty and teeming with life ; and more especially towards the Sun of Righteousness that irradiates these bright realms, — I feel the clamours of conscience pacified, the fears of guilt re- moved, the burden of sin lightened : — while my aspirations delight to ascend to the throne of the Lamb, and return in streams of refreshment and unmingled bliss : — while, in the fruition of such undeserved tokens of mercy here, and the full assurance of being privileged to drink of the very rivers of God’s pleasures in the New Jerusalem, my heart overflows with gratitude, and my lips with songs of praise,— can I, oh ! can I with the freezing suspiciousness of guilty nature, ques- tion the love of God the Father, the all-sufficiency of the Redeemer’s sacrifice, or the quickening influences of the Blessed Spirit? Impossible.” But however true that the great leading doctrines of Revelation are so potent and so clear, as to be capable of producing only one persuasion in the minds of all really devout believers in every age, it is not less true that the Bible which contains them is wrapt up in ancient dead languages, — and that to interpret these aright, and represent their genuine import and full force through the medium of other tongues, challenges the exercise of the strongest intellect,, amply replenished with all the furniture of human learning, as well as divine. When a man is favour- ed with such high endowments, he is qualifled to excel as a Biblical critic : — and when he does so, then, but not till then, is he fully equipped to assume the delicate and onerous office of transfusing the precise spirit and meaning of the peculiar phraseology of the sacred authors, into terms and idioms of like significancy in another tongue.

To raise up natives qualified after this sort, must be the work of time. But the general preparation for the ultimate appearance of faithful and successful translators, as well a.s

414

THE GOSPEL THE ONLY REMEDY FOR INDIA.

for turning their labours to profitable account, is rapidly progressing : so that by the time they do appear, an effec- tual door will be opened for their noblest exertions. Then will the services of Brahman Pandits, — whose minds, tinged and tinctured with heathenism, cannot fully comprehend evangelical doctrines, or know when these are accurately re- presented by their own vernacular symbols, — be wholly and for ever discarded. Learned native Christians will worthily supply their place. Combining in themselves all the commu- nicable advantages of the learned European Christian, with all the incommunicable advantages of the learned native Christian, these may be expected, as agents in the hands of God’s Spirit, to prepare translations which shall be intelli- gibly read by myriads of awakening inquirers, and shall endure as exhaustless depositories of the “ bread of life” throughout all generations.

The grand and only adequate remedy for the miseries of India, temporal and spiritual, is the Gospel of salvation, brought home and sealed through the energy of God’s Holy Spirit ; — that omnipotent energy, without whose operation on the soul, there can be no real conviction of the evil and danger of sin — no real experience of that “ godly sorrow” which is so essential an element in the “ repentance to salvation” — no forthputting of that faith which is the in- strument of receiving and resting in the imputed righteous- ness of a Divine Redeemer — no perception of the excellency of that knowledge of Christ which alone can savingly enlighten the understanding, or savingly impress the heart — no lively apprehension of the surpassing glories of the character and attributes of the Triune Jehovah, as manifested in the works of creation, providence, and redemption — no participation in that holiness of heart and life and conduct, which is a restora- tion of the image of the Godhead, and the sure prelude and preparation for everlasting bliss, — no joyous assurance of a covenant interest in that inheritance which “ eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart

BEST MEANS OF DIFFUSING THE GOSPEL.

415

of man to conceive.” But while we rejoice in proclaiming these transcendent verities, we must never forget that in bringing the Gospel fairly within reach of the souls of men, — there to be lodged and rendered efficacious by the influ- ences of the Almighty Spirit of all grace, — means must be instrumentally employed ; — means directly appointed and providentially sanctioned by heaven itself ; — means which, when applied in simple, absolute, unqualified dependence on the efficacious blessing of the Holy Spirit, cannot fail eventually to issue in a harvest of fruit for immortality.

The three generic means already referred to are, the Chr istian education of the young ; the preaching of the Gospel to adults ; and the translation and circulation of the Word of life. The main practical question is. How each of these is to be rendered most potent and influential in accomplishing the grand end in view ; namely, the speedy and effectual diffu- sion of the knowledge' of salvation throughout the entire mass of the people 2 In the answer which we have endea- voured to furnish to this question, applicable respectively to each of the three principal means, all the great lines seem to converge and unite as in one focus of concentrated light.

Do we desire to turn the Christian education of the young to the most profitable account 2 We ought, in the first in- stance, as much as possible to restrict the range of mere ele- mentary instruction, and to communicate an augmented quan- tity of knowledge to a select number ; in order that through the instrumentality of the thoroughly educated few, we may most rapidly and effectually reach and vitally impress the uneducated many. Do we desire to insinuate the elements of all truth into the vitals of the social and religious system, and thus produce a loosening, a fermentation, and a pre- paredness for change 2 We can do this with the readiest and most powerful effect, through the medium of highly educated natives. Do v/e desire to see the everlasting Gospel pro- claimed, as speedily as possible, in the happiest harmony with existing circumstances and with the mightiest energy, to the teeming millions of India 2 Wo can only expect to realize so glorious a consummation through the agency of duly quali-

416

NATIVE AGENCY A PRIMARY ORJECT.

filed natives. Do we desire to witness the blessed Word of God translated with purity and precision, into all the dialects and languages of India ? We can never behold this glorious end satisfactorily achieved, except through the instrumen- tality of natives, enriched with all the stores of human learn- ing, as well as the treasures of Divine grace. From all this, what is the legitimate, the inevitable conclusion ? Is it not, that the rearing of a race of natives so superiorly gifted, under the continual guidance and plentiful blessing of the Holy Spirit, ought no longer to be reckoned a secondary and subordinate, but a primary and paramount, object in every missionary enterprise ?

Here we may be met by many, saying, “ Why all this ado about Christian education, and the necessity of native labourers ? — as if these were unheard-of novelties. Have not all the great societies long had schools in operation, and native teachers, catechists, preachers, and translators ? Why then all this hue and cry ?” Confessedly there have been, for more than a century past in India, both native schools and native labourers. And we bless and magnify the name of our God, for any and all the real good which these may have been honoured instrumentally to achieve. There have been, and still are, native schools ; but what we complain of is, that till of late years, and for the most part even now, these are not of the description which the necessities of India pecu- liarly demand. There have been, and there are, native labour- ers ; but what we complain of is, that till of late years, and for the most part even now, these are not of the description which the necessities of India imperatively demand. So much the contrary, that we do not hesitate again to repeat what we have a thousand times reiterated both in India and in Britain, that the grand desideratum in the present system of Indian missions is the want of a really superior and thoroughly efficient native agency ; and that the capital source of the com- parative failure and languishing condition of most of our older missionary stations^ has been the want of a icell-contrived, skil- fully adapted^ regularly systematized^ and vigorously and per- severingly prosecuted effort to raise up such a race of native

NATIVE AGENCY A PRIMARY OBJECT,

417

labourers — endoxocd xcith the graces of God's Spirit in happy and harmonious conjunction with the highest qualifications tohich the united icisdom, learning^ and piety of the Christian Church can bestow.

Scattered over journals, platform speeches, anniversary sermons, and periodical reports, we do meet with passing hints and notices, strong expressions and isolated statements on this subject. But these, on the whole, have proved aim- less, pointless, objectless ; and, accordingly, have terminated in no real practical result, in any degree corresponding with the multiplying wants of India. Many an individual mis- sionary has keenly felt and honestly recorded his experience and resolution somewhat after the style and spirit of the humble, pious, and devoted Felix Neff, who, towards the close of his most laborious and successful ministrations, thus MT-ites : — “ I foresaw with sorrow that the Gospel which I had been penuitted to preach in these mountains would not ordy not spread, but might even be lost, unless something should be done to promote its continuance. I bethought me how it might be preserved in some degree ; and after mature deliberation., I determined to become a training-master., and to form a winter school, composed of the most intelligent and well-disposed young men of the different villages of my pa- rish,” &c. Like Felix Neff, many a missionary has become, single-handed and alone, “ the training-master ” of one or more promising youth ; but, like Neff, has speedily fallen, and left that work unaccomplished, which alone would “ leave permanent effects of his ministry behind him when he should be removed from the scene of action.” His successor, — it may be, with less experience, or entertaining different views, — not following out the plan, it has dropped, and ended in nothing. Again, one or more missionaries, of superior discernment, may have experienced a similar want, and may have united in projecting the larger plan of a mission-college. But, from some inherent defects in the system adopted, or inefficiency in the developement of some of its parts, or want of sufficient acknowledgment, as well as of a full, frank, and cordial co- operation from home ; or from the missionaries having their

418

DEFECTS OF SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN INDIA.

hands too full of other things, and giving but scraps and fragments of their time and attention to it ; or from a con- stant interruptedness in the succession of men of superior endowments and congenial minds to conduct it ; or from the contractedness of the range of topics embraced, and the too great brevity of the proposed curriculum of attendance — from one, or more, or all of these, and other causes united, no educational course in India has hitherto succeeded in rearing the natives who are destined to be its reforming evangelists. Even in Southern India, after the labours of more than a century, what is the longest, loudest, and most frequent cry ? Is it not the want of able and trustworthy native agents ? And what is the usual appendix to the ex- pression of this want ? Is it not an expression of wonder, how and why this should be the case ? It were well, when the cry is again raised, to try to suppress the appendix. Instead of continuing to wonder that no agents have appeared, — when all the while there has been an almost total neglect of the only efficient means of rearing them, — let the friends of missions vigorously betake themselves to the task of insti- tuting the preparatory means. Surely it must be admitted that there is something egregiously wrong or fundamentally deficient in the general system, when, after the labours of more than a century, and the apparent evangelization of whole vil- lages, a large proportion of the teachers in mission-schools are still heathen idolaters ; — and when it is freely confessed, that of the native catechists and preachers there are scarcely any possessed of that range of information, that extent of literary, scientific, and theological resources, which could enable them to advance the work altogether independent of the guidance of Europeans, or enable them to stand and persevere were the latter suddenly removed ! Mere faith, mere zeal, mere piety, mere spiritual experience, however indispensable as es- sentials and concomitants, can never form, in the candidate for the ministerial office, an adequate substitute, or, indeed, any substitute at all, for mental cultivation, — for the com- municated knowledge, and the varied preparations and en- dowments which an enlarged Christian education can confer.

DUTY OP THE MISSIONARY TO TRAIN NATIVES.

419

But if in Southern India, or elsewhere, the mighty task of training natives in right earnest is yet to be begun, it will not do to make of it a secondary or subordinate object, either in the view of the society at home, or in the estima- tion of the missionary abroad. Occasional, scattered, desul- tory, Isolated, interrupted efforts will never answer the end ; whether on the part of individuals, or small fraternities, or voluntary societies, or National Churches. There must be plan and system, disposition and arrangement. At home, it must be freely and fearlessly represented in the pulpit and on the platform, as a prime work. Individuals must be selected to conduct it abroad, from their special fitness for the task. These must not fritter away their time and strength on a thousand miscellaneous occupations, — reserv- ing for the educational course only fragments of time, and shreds of mental energy. No ! a due proportion of the very flower of their time and strength must be devoted to it. The saying must be adopted and converted into a standing maxim, that “ between doing the thing efficiently, and not doing it at all, there is no admissible medium.” Those whose understandings are dispersed over a multitude of themes, can never do real justice to any. Those whose hands are full of manifold labours, can never give more than the dregs of their strength to any. No ; they must throw their whole soul into the system. There must be thorough work. Those who are destined to influence others, as teachers or preachers, must be thoroughly grounded. In order to this, the missionary must have the pupils under his own eye — not for a few hours in the week, — not for a few months, — not for one, two, or three years, — but for eight, ten, twelve, or even fifteen years. He must at every turn and winding come into closest contact with their understandings and hearts, — not merely in the public class-room, but in the soli- tary chamber. He must not rest satisfied with imparting the treasures of knowledge, human and divine. He must not teach or preach merely : — He must train. And he must not train merely on stated occasions, but habitually. The instructor must maintain an intercommunion of mind

420

DUTY OF THE MISSIONARY TO TRAIN NATIVES.

with mind, that is free, open, generous — condescending to his pupil’s weakness, infirmity, prejudice, without seeming to condescend. He must — in prayerful dependence on divine grace — by his familiar conversation, as much as by his for- mal teaching, — ^by his secret exhortation and prayer, as much as by public preaching, — by his example in private, as well as his conduct in the open arena of life, — gradually impress upon them the stamp and image of his own mind, — that loftiness of principle, that disinterestedness of be- nevolence, that elevation of sentiment, — that zeal without indiscretion, that firmness without obstinacy, that courage without rashness, that ardour without intemperance, that gentleness without over-pliancy, that accommodativeness without compromise, that enthusiasm without any violation of the dictates of common sense, — that moral heroism which can smile in the midst of affliction and suffering, and re- joice in the prospect of death : — in fine, all the Christian graces efflorescing on the robust stock and frame-work of European character, nursed and nurtured as that has been amid the countless combined influences of the purest reli- gion, the highest civilization, the noblest science, and the most accurately recorded experience of ages. Let the Euro- pean missionary be privileged, through God’s blessing, to rear and send forth a few native labourers thus qualified, — each of whom will be able to teach, preach, or translate, with an effect surpassing his own ability, and who dare re- fuse to him the honoured title of missionary ? If he had brought a few common wanderers into the fold, would he not have been said to have discharged well the functions of an Ambassador of the Cross ? If, instead of simply bringing a few wanderers into the fold, he has also succeeded, through God’s blessing, in endowing them with power to go forth and call in other wanderers, — thus multiplying his own in- dividual ability, not by units, but by decades and tens of decades, — has he not achieved a vastly greater w'ork than the ordinary missionary ? Has he not, as an humble instru- ment in the hands of the Spirit, been honoured to accom- plish, in reference to modern missions, though at an imraea-

PAST AND PRESENT RACE OF NATIVE CHRISTIANS. 421

surable distance, what the blessed Redeemer himself did by His own imderived power ? — when, instead of going forth to preach in person the unsearchable riches of salvation. He raised up and qualified the apostles to go and proclaim the glad tidings to all nations ?

Oh, how different from the present race would be the body of converts thus reared, and how different their influence on the destinies of India ! Hitherto almost all (to adopt sub- stantially the oral confession of a faithful and experienced missionary), almost all the members of the native churches have laboured under essential deficiencies. However much we may hope, and trust, and confidently believe, that the names of many of them have been registered in the Lamb’s book of life, yet, except in a very few particular instances, they have not exhibited that strength and enduring stability of character which could reasonably entitle us to regard them as “ the seed of the Church” in the wide and populous domain of Indian heathenism. No ! they resemble more those feeble, shrivelled blades of grass which occasionally shoot up under the genial influence of a mild winter season ; and which serve to indicate that the vital powers of mother earth are not wholly extinct, rather than afford to the hus- bandman the promise of an abundant harvest.

And if we have been constrained to seek for a fitting type and image of the past and present race of native Christians, viewed as a body, in such feeble fugitive growths, where shall we go in quest of a suitable type and image of the new and superior race which we long and pray to see arise 2 Where, but in that grand product of India itself, — the ban- yan, or celebrated fig-tree,^ — so happily described by our great epic poet, as —

“ Spreading her arms

Branching so broad and long, that in the ground The bended twigs take root, and daughters gi'ow About the mother tree, a pillar’d shade High over-arch’d, and echoing walks between.”

Yes; this is the exact type, the visible representation of the Tdnd of converted labourer that is wanted for India ; —

422

HAPPY RESULTS OF NATIVE AGENCY IN INDIA.

one in whose expanded and sanctified intellect, in whose enlarged and purified heart, the seed of all quickening truth, human and divine, has been implanted. There it takes root and germinates. Fraught with vivifying power, up it

springs into a stately stem of intelligence and godliness ;

outw'ard it shoots its vigorous branches, laden with the sap of grace and fructifying knowledge ; and these again cast down their fibres of instruction and living influence, which fasten in the soil of other heads and other hearts. Thence arises many a new stem of fruitful piety, which, by a simi- lar process, extends outwards, — again descends and springs up ; — and so onwards without end, — till the whole land be converted into a beauteous garden, replenished with “ plants of renown” — plants of righteousness — which, though en- dowed with their ommi several individual identities, are yet so many inseparably united members of the great tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.

Hitherto, in the magnificence of empire, India has been truly said to have fomid nothing more precious, either to possess or be proud of possessing, than

“ Fiery opals, sapphires, amethysts,

Jacinths, hard topaz, grass-green emeralds.

Beauteous rubies, sparkling diamonds.

And seld-seen costly stones of so great price,

As one of them, indifferently rated.

May serve, in peril of calamity.

To ransom great kings fi-om captivity.”

^Happy day for India ! — when, through the descent of the Spirit’s influences on the devoted labours of her own emanci- pated sons, the garden of her early youth which has so long been parched into utter barrenness, shall be made verdant and fruitful by the distilling dews of heavenly instruction and the vale of her riper years, which has so long been strdwii with nought but forms, cold and lifeless as the dry bones in the valley of vision, shall be enlivened by the trumpet peals of the Gospel message, and the stirring activities of a resur- rection from the dead ;-^and the channels of all her know- ledge, which have so long been choked into stagnation by every thing noxious and venomous, shall be cleansed by

THE author’s opinions CORROBORATED.

423

letting in upon them a full stream from the fount itself of living waters, in God’s holy oracles.^ Then will India, even in the magnificence of empire, find no costly stone half so precious as the new jewel that hath been put into her hands — even the jewel of great price which hath ransomed, not only great kings, but great kingdoms, from their captivity, — ay, and the whole creation itself from the bondage, under which for ages it hath travailed and groaned. Then will India, even in the magnificence of empire, find no “ clothing of wrought gold,” no “ raiment of needle-work,” half so royal as the new robes wherewith she hath been clad, — robes woven of the beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Then will India, even in the magnificence of empire, find no delight in the possession of her “ fiery opals and beauteous rubies, her grass-green emeralds and sparkling diamonds,” half so great as her abounding joy in casting these down, as tributes of homage and free-will offerings of gratitude, at the feet of her long despised but now adored Immanuel.

Note. — After the preceding chapter was wholly written and sent to the press, the author was favoured with the perusal of an ahle work, hy an eminently calm and dispassionate observer, as well as zealous and distin- guished friend of missions — the Rev. klr Malcolm ; who w’as recently sent to South Eastern Asia, on a missionary tour of inspection, by one of the great American Societies. In that work, many of the views contained in the chapter now closed, are not only substantially corroborated, but some, of them expressed in terms fully more strong than the author had deemed it advisable to adopt. In the section relative to “ the dkadmntages under which the hest and purest missionary labour is exerted” Vol. II. p. 265, Mr Malcolm enumerates, amongst others, the following j)articulars : —

■ 1. An imperfect knowledge of the language of the people.

“ Scarcely one missionary in twenty has become ahle to preach with en- thre fluency, and probably never one had such a knowledge of the language as inspiration gave. Few can acquire such mastery of a foreign tongue, as to express their thoughts with the glow and intensity of a native, even when the idiom and structm-e of the language is thoroughly understood.

“ An experienced missionary in Bengal assured me, that on an average, not one half of the sermons of missionaries who undertake to preach is understood. Dr Carey, in a letter of August 1809, states, that after, by years of study, he thought he had fully mastered the Bengali, and had then preached it two full years, he discovered that he was not understood ! Yet Dr C.’s teachers flattered him that he was understood perfectly. This is a A'ery common deception of pandits and munshis. In the opinion of one of

42-t

THE AUTHOR S OPINIONS CORROBORATED.

the most experienced missionaries in the Madras Presidency, not one mis- sionaiy in ten, out of those who live the longest, ever gets that language 90 as to be generally understood, except when declaring the simplest truths. This is a difBculty not to be removed. Merchants and traders may easily acquire the vocabulary of trafSc and social life, and so do missionaries. They may go farther, and be able to read or understand literary and his- torical subjects. But to have the ready command of words, on abstract theological subjects, and all the nice shades of meaning requisite to discuss accurately mental and moral subjects, can only be the work of many years of intense study, and great practice.

“ 2. There is still a greater difficulty in the poverty of the languages themselves.

“ For terms which are of primaiy importance in religious discourse, words must often be used which are either unmeaning or foreign to the purpose, or inaccurate. It is not easy to exhibit this difficulty in its true magnitude to such as have not mixed with heathen.

“ For a multitude of our terms there is no word at aU. Among these are not only theological terms, such as sanctification, gospel, evangelist, church, atonement, devil, &c., but the names of implements, animals, customs, clothing, and many other things, of which ignorant and remote tribes have never heard, and for which entire new terms are obliged to be coined.

“ Let a man imagine how he would be embarrassed in reading a book, or hearing a discourse, in which he constantly met with Greek or Arabic terms, and words used in a sense differing more or less from that in which he understands them, and these often the principal terms in the sentence, and he may form some conception of this difficulty.

“ 3. “Want of familiarity with the system and sacred books to be encoimtered, and with national prejudices and modes of thinking.

“ For exposing with freedom, and attacking with power, a popular be- lief, these are eminent advantages. Hence, in part, the superior success of native preachers. The apostles were native preachers almost wherever they went ; and see how largely they used their intimate knowledge of the national religion and habits of thinking, not only in disputations, but in formal discourses and epistles. Many years must elapse before a mission- ary can attain this power ; and then only by the wearisome perusal of many volumes of disgusting l^ends, as well as contact with natives in many ways, and for a long period.

“ 8. The apostles were not every where met by a system of natural philosophy which directly contradicted aU their teachings.

“ Wherever Christianity now goes, a new system of geography and astronomy must be adopted. It cannot be said that the missionary may pass by this topic, and only preach Christ crucified. His hearers will not let him pass it by. The country he professes to have left, cannot exist by their system. The Shastra and the Bhagavad must fall, if his system be true. He will be attacked upon it. It will be regarded as a part of his religious belief, and he must clear away their cosmogony, before he can build his faith.

THE author’s opinions CORROBORATED.

425

“ With the few wlio can be so far educated as to understand and receive the Copernican system, this.difficulty is converted into a facility. Such are at least rendered unbelievers in their own religion.”

On the subject of education, Mr Malcolm does not appear sufficiently to discriminate between the admitted inefficiency of mere elementary schools, and the equally demonstrable efficiency of seminaries of a higher order. And be looks far too exclusively to immediate conversions as the test and criterion of educational usefulness — forgetful of the multitude of beneficial influences of an indirect and preparatory character which a rightly conducted system diffuses throughout a stagnant community. In other respects, many of his remarks and suggestions tally precisely with those which we have ventured to express. In page 303, he thus wi-ites : — “ The question seems not to have received sufficient attention, whether we should multiply schools, and teach mere rudiments to a great number, or restrict the num- ber, and carry the education to a high point. I am in favour of the latter course. No nation has become literary by universal instruction in reading and writing. These confer no knowledge ; they are only means for ac- quiring and diffusing it. In a country where the absence of books, peri- odicals, and political freedom, preclude advancement in after life, beyond the rudiments learned at school, these acquirements will not be generally retained ; or, if retained, are of little use.”

On the important subject of translations, our author thus comments : — “ At some stations, at least, less time might be devoted to translations and tracts.

“ It is not desirable that missionaries should in their first years devote themselves to translation and authorship, even if there be no Christian books in the language . To -wi-ite and translate, as exercises for them- selves, is important ; but they should put nothing to press till they have been years at their post, and have revised their woyk many times. It would be well if every missionary, qualified, by his early studies, to trans- late the Scriptures, were to take some select portion and occupy himself upon it, at leisure moments, for eight or ten years, or even his lifetime. He might sketch two or three tracts, and keep them by him in the same way.

“ The anxiety for an immediate production of books has caused the publication of Scriptures and tracts so imperfect, as to be almost, if not quite useless, and in particular passages, quite erroneous. To prove this, and at the same time show the sort of errors to which I allude, I will give a few instances which are mentioned to me, taken from distant and dif- ferent versions. John i. 1, ‘ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the Lord God Boodh, and the Word was the Lord God Boodh.’ Exod. iii. 2, ‘ The Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire in the knot of a tree.’ Acts i. 8, ‘ Ye shall receive the ix>wer of life and death.’ Matt. V. 3, ‘ Blessed are the destitute of life.’ 1 Cor. v. 6, ‘A little crocodile crocodileth the whole lump.’

“ YJien there are none of these mistranslations, there may be such a

D d

426

THE author’s opinions CORROBORATED.

want of idiomatic propriety, such an infusion of new words, or such general obscurity, as to discourage, if not bewilder, the heathen reader. Such, it appears from Jlr Medhurst,* is the case with Morrison’s Chinese version, of which the convert Lew Tse-Chuen, as quoted by him, says, — ‘ I per- ceive there is no unwillingness to accept the books, but, failing to compre- hend their meaning, they frequently throw the work aside.’ To the same effect is his quotation from Choo Tih-lang, a Chinese transcriber now in England : — ‘ Ha-ving perused the present translation of the Scriptures in^o Chinese, I find it exceedingly verbose, — containing much foreign phrase- ology, so contrary to the usual style of our books, that the Chinese cannot thoroughly understand the meaning, and frequently refuse to look into it.’ ilarshman’s version is greatly liable to the same objections.

“ The value even of a good version of Scripture is wholly overrated by such as suppose it to be as intelligible to heathen as our Bible is to the unconverted. The case is far otherwise. The most intelligent Pagan finds not only words, but facts, reasonings, and allusions, which he can no better understand than the Ethiopian eunuch did the predictions concern- ing Christ. He has not so much preparations for understanding the Bible as is required by our children in the nursery. Beside this want of pre- paration, is the littleness and debility of a heathen’s mind. Things must be explained to him as to an infant. Let the language be never so plain and idiomatic, he wUl rarely understand the subject, unless it be some simple parable or narrative. Hence the king of Siam, after hearing a Christian book read, threw it aside, sajdng, ‘ Let the teachers go on giving these books ; no man in my kingdom can understand them.’

“ The number of heathen who can read intelligibly, on subjects not connected with trade and common things, is very small. This point seems not to have excited sufficient attention ; and a few eflforts, lately made, lead to startling conclusions. * * * In a late discussion of another

subject in the Friend of India, it is declared by the editor, that not more than one million, out of the thirty millions of Bengalees, can read. And this estimate is twice as high as is made by some others. Mr Trevelyan, admitting that there may be a million, asks, ‘ And what sort of readers are this one million ? How many of them imderstand what they read ? There are probabli/ not fire hundred persons in all India not educated hy Euro- peans, who could take up a translation, in their own character, of any work on philosophy, morals, or religion, and read it extempore with understanding’

“ Our expectations from the difiusion of Bibles and tracts appear extra- vagant, if we reason upon them in the abstract. No school-teacher could hope to fulfil his duty by shutting himself up in a study, and sending out among liis pupils elementary treatises and cogent appeals. The avidity with which our books are received, is not to be ascribed to a general and intense desire to Imow the truth. The paper, the printing, the shape, and the colour of a book, make it as great a curiosity as a palm-leaf manuscript is to us. A heathen missionary might give away any quantity of such

• China, it* State and Prospects, p. 443.

THE author’s opinions CORROBORATED.

427

manuscripts in the streets of our cities, and the rush for them would con- tinue till they ceased to he curiosities.”

Once more, in page 333, Mr Malcolm thus dilates on the qualifications of native assistants : —

“ The importance of tliis class of auxiliaries can scarcely be too highly estimated. Without risk of health, and vdth little expense or inconve- nience, they can caiTy the tidings of salvation where a missionary cannot go, or may not be sent, for an age. They can travel, eat, sit, and lodge as the natives do. Between those and themselves, there is not that awful distance which can scarcely be overcome by a missionary. Their know- ledge of the language is complete, which can seldom be said of a foreigner. They know, from experience, the exact temptations, doubts, difficulties, and prejudices of their hearers. They can talk with an inquirer, often and long, without drawing opposition upon him, before he has become enlightened and firm enough to endure it. To be seen conversing a few times with a missionary, or to go repeatedly to his house, or chapel, excites almost as great opposition, as a profession of Christianity. Thus a man’s mind must be made up to encounter exceeding difficulties, before he has become sufficiently acquainted with the missionary’s arguments to know whether he will endure sufferings for the new religion or not ; that is to say, he must submit to be persecuted, before he knows whether the system is worth being persecuted for.

"Various reasons of this sort, some adapted to the condition of one country, and some to that of another, show the duty of fostering this branch of our force. Unordained natives have indeed been employed, and in some places to a great extent. And to their labours are traceable very numerous conversions. But it seems necessary to bestow upon them a much greater measme of mental cultivation and religious knowledge. Had half the pains been thus bestowed, which have been expended on common schools, how great would have been the gain !

“ 'Without some additional mental cultivation, doctrinal knowledge, and practical graces, native assistants are not able to avail themselves of their peculiar advantages ; some of which have just been named. It is well known that scarcely one of them is able to act alone ; and that, though so useful, when sustained and guided by a good missionary, they have run into manifold evils when left to themselves. Why is this ? They possess piety, zeal, and talents. It must be owing to the superior intelligence and acquired advantages of the missionary. Let us, then, lead them into that knowledge of the Word of God, and that measure of devotion, which at present they have no means of obtaining.

“ Slender would be the qualifications of a minister with us, whose oppor- tunities had been no greater than those of native preachers. Abstract from him all that his father and mother taught him, aU he learned at infant or Sxmday school, from the moral maxims of his horn-books, his copy-slips, his general reading, and the restraints of Christian society ; put in the place of this, every degrading, polluting, and erroneous thing, learned

428

THE author’s OPINION’S CORROBORATED.

by a heathen child, at home, at school, and abroad ; take away the intel- lectual benefits of an academic or collegiate course ; abolish all his know- ledge of the e^■idences of Christianity, history, chronology, geography, prophecy, mii'acles, and the state of the world ; all he ever gained by intercourse ■with eminent saints, or a perusal of their biographies ; all the helps he has had from commentators, critics, sermons, anniversaries, asso- ciations, religious periodicals, and intercourse -with enlightened fellow- ministers ; in fine, leave him nothing but some portions of God’s Word, and a few evangelical tracts ; and add to him a plenitude of errors and malpractices acquired in a life of Gentile abominations, — and you will have the present qualifications of a native assistant.

“ Some regular institution seems ■wanting, in every mission, for the express purpose of instructing those who give evidences of a call to this work. Advantages, similai- in kind, if not in extent, to those enjoyed by young ministers at home, should be placed within their reach. A supply of assistants, thus educated, would leave leisure to the missionary for necessary translations and revisions ; for exercising a general pastoral care over a large district ; for exploring new fields ; for corresponding with societies at home ; and for other duties, which can only be done at a great sacrifice of pastoral pursuits.

“ By no other course does it now appear that we can send the Gospel into aU the earth. We cannot hope to send forth from ourselves the himdredth part of an adequate supply of ministers for six hundred millions of Pagans, at an annual expense of from L.lOO to L.200 for each family. Nor could we consent to lay the foundations of Christianity, over so large a portion of the earth, by native preachers so ignorant of the system as those we no^w have.”

CHAPTER V.

MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE CONSIDERED.

The objection of the careless scoffer, ivho summarily denounces the whole as novel and visionary, the growth of modern fanaticism — The objection of the worldly politician who, with a special refer- ence to India, dreads the propagation of Christianity as danger- ous to the stability of the Anglo-Indian empire — The objection of unrefecting economists, who allege that, as so many return with immense fortunes from India, we should restrict our pecuniary demands to the people of that wealthy region — The objections of the latitudinarian liberalist, who pretends that it is an insult to obtrude our religion on the upholders of another faith ; that to teach our religion to their children is an invasion of the natural rights of parents ; and that it is cruel to disturb the peace of families by attempts to secure their conversion — The objection of the luxuri- ously wealthy, who evade every petition by replying that they have little or nothing to spare — The objection of the humble poor, who are fearful lest their mite should be too insignificant to prove of any avail — The objection of the speculative theorist, who waives all active support on the ground of hypothetical reasonings and an ticipations — The objection of the merely nominal, or sincere but weak-minded professor, that there is enough of heathenism at home, without troubling ourselves with foreign lands — Concluding appeal.

Against the missionary enterprise, hosts of objections have at different times been raised, — varying, as usual, with the character of the individual objectors and the fluctuating tide of public opinion. Of these many have now become obsolete, — from the erosion of time, the progress of intelli- gence, and the contradiction given to them by events. A few

430 OBJECTIONS OF THE SCOFFER TO CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.

continue still to stand their ground in spite of unanswerable argument and demonstrable evidence. Nor is this strange. Having their root far more in the cloisters of a corrupt heart than in the citadel of an ignorant head, they will endure so long as old nature is not universally renovated.

A scheme like that of Christian Missions, could not be expected to escape the ridicule and the scorn of careless scoffers. Alike ignorant and unconcerned about its object and design, these gallant personages, — disdaining the vulgar weapons of inquiry, reason, and argument, — usually satisfy themselves with summarily denouncing the whole as novel and visionary — the growth of modern fanaticism. Such a charge is so ludicrously absurd, that it may be deemed worse than superfluous formally to notice it. But those who think so, seem wholly to forget what has so often been well urged, namely, that even calumny charged home with confident boldness, is sure to leave some scar behind, — that from the very nature and constitution of our minds, we are ever apt to receive “ ill impressions from ill suggestions,” — that though the suggestions be not full received, because of our previous contrary belief, yet they tend to create suspicions, — and that, if our practice should ever cease to be conformed to our antecedent opinions and belief, the belief of others will be readily seized on to confront and neutralize our own, and thus interpose a shield between ourselves and the secret lashes of our consciences. On this account it is well to meet the present cavalier objection, however absurd, — seeing that it is the characteristic weapon of so large a class of the community. And we propose to meet it, simply by asking with calmness and gravity. What is the object and, design of the missionary enterprise ? — that we may be able rationally to infer whether it be worthy of being denounced as fanatical and visionary ? To this question, two distinct replies may be furnished, — one founded on historic fact., and another on high principle.

Those who urge the present objection we would first charge on historic grounds. Recall, then, would we address them, recall to your remembrance what all of you must

OBJECTIONS REPELLED BY AUTHENTIC HISTORY. 481

have read of the days that have long gone by. Recall to remembrance the time when our own forefathers in this now highly favoured land, wandered about as painted savages in the woods — sunk in ignorance and brutal barbarism. Recall to remembrance how they strove to root out every lingering indication of reason, by falling prostrate before blocks of wood and stone. Recall to remembrance the rude temples and dark recesses for the performance of their religious rites, — where riotous mirth and stupid amazement overwhelmed the deluded votaries, and the frown of revenge- ful deities haunted their imaginations like the very horrors of enchantment. Recall to remembrance the burdensome ablution, the' excruciating penance, the lawless revelry, the wanton indulgence, the butchery of human victims, — all of which were designed to appease, — all of which were believed to fill with joy and complacency the capricious, the impure, the bloody Demons of Druidism. When all this, and much more, has been revived on the tablets of memory, look around on the spectacle which now every where presents itself to your view. And having well marked the amazing contrast, seriously ask yourselves. Why are we not this day, like our naked forefathers, dancing wildly round some Druid- ical stone in the dark solitude of the forest ; or, cannibal- like, quaffing the bloody draught from human skulls, in the halls of Odin ? Why, instead of this, are we now privileged to assemble in orderly and solemn attitude, in temples dedi- cated to Jehovah Lord of Hosts ? Why have we, who do thus assemble, had our station allotted to us in the foremost ranks of civilized man ? Why are we the inheritors of domestic peace, and social refinement, and intellectual culture, scarcely vouchsafed in like measure to any other Jand ? ^Vhy are we the possessors of privileges, civil and religious, which in stability of foundation and reciprocal harmony of parts, may well be said to. be without a parallel in all the world besides ? Why, in short, a change so vast and so blessed from the condition of our savage and idolatrous ancestors ?

Let authentic history supply the answer. In days of yore, there were men sent from abroad on an embassy of loA^e, to

432

REAL OBJECTS OF MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE.

visit these shores. These men, — call them missionaries, or preachers, or apostles, or by any other name more grateful to fastidious ears, as the name cannot alter the nature of the recorded fact, — these men came with no ensign but that of the cross, — no ammunition but the Bible — the sword of the Spirit, — no commissariat but the Gospel graces shining in their walk and conversation. They came, they saw, they conquered. Through the blessing of God on their blood- less warfare, the savage islanders were subdued under the power of Christian truth. Their idols w'ere destroyed ; their sacred groves cut down or deserted ; their sanguinary' sacri- fices abolished. By becoming Christians, they became civi- lized ; — and thus were laid the foundations of that noble fabric, civil and religious, under whose shadow* we have gradually risen to the rank of one of the greatest, the wisest, and the happiest of nations, — and under whose shadow we might rise higher still, if we did not madly labour to disin- herit ourselves, and sacrilegiously struggle to disentail our children !

Do y'ou then ask, What is the object of the missionary enterprise ? Look at what Britain was two thousand years ago ; look at what Britain is now ; — and then ask, To w’hat are we Indebted for the mighty change I Solely to the mis- sionary enterprise of early times. In the transformation of Britain from an island of savage idolaters to an island which is the home of refinement, the abode of arts and science, the asylum of liberty, the palladium of that religion which is the fruitful parent of all other blessings, — you must behold a visible illustration of the object of the mission- ary enterprise, w'hich surely is the very contrary of every thing fanatical ; as w*ell as discover an irrefragable proof of the practicability of the object, which should demolish the absurd figment of its being visionary.

What, then, is the real object of our missionary enterprise ? It is to achieve for India and other benighted lands, what has been done, and it may be, under happier auspices, more than has been done, for Britain. Professing to love our neighbours as ourselves, and to do to others as we would

MISSIONS REALIZE THE DESIGN OF GOD.

433

have them in similar circumstances to do unto us, we desire, after the example of those devoted men who first visited the barbarous British shores, to go forth to those lands where ignorance and misery, rudeness and cruelty, ever tread on the heels of a dominant heathenism. W e desire to go, armed as they were, with that Bible whose heavenly truths, as experience amply testifies, can penetrate alike the kraals of the savage, the cottages of the poor, the mansions of the wealthy, and the palaces of kings ; — and in them all lay an arrest on the swelling tide of human depravity and human woe, — open up the spring-head of all purity and bliss in time, — and finally guide to glory, honour, and immortality. To pronounce such an object fanatical^ is surely to come under the woe of them that “ call evil good, and good evil ; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness ; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” To pronounce it msionary, is flatly to contradict the united testimonies of past history and personal experience.

We would next address the objectors m the ground of high principle. The question being again put. What is the object of the missionary enterprise ? The other answer of resistless force is. To hasten and realize the grand design which God contemplated from all eternity., in reference to the fallen race of man.

Why was the world at first created and stored through- out with such varied products of earth, air, and ocean ? It was for the manifestation of Jehovah’s attributes of power, wisdom and goodness : — It was to provide a blissful habita- tion for man in his primeval estate of holiness and innocence. Why then was it preserved when man, through disobedience, fell ? — Not surely that it might become a rich storehouse of bounties to foster the pride of the wealthy, or gratify the lawless appetite of the luxurious ; not that it might be- come a fit theatre for the intrigues of the ambitious, or the investigations of the proud ungodly philosopher ? No. It was preserved for infinitely higher, and holier, and nobler purposes. It was preserved for a new and peculiar display and vindication of Jehovah’s attributes in carrying on and

43-i REVELATION OF THE SCHEME OF RP:DEMPTI0N.

consummating the mysterious work of man’s redemption. It was preserved for the sake of furnishing a scene of pro- bation to the elect people of God, who were to appear through the various ages of its duration. It was preserved, that it might thus prove a nursery for the paradise, — that in it those seeds might be sown which were destined to spring up and blossom in the climes of immortality. And when the number of the redeemed is cpmpleted, and the last saint shall have terminated his allotted course, — then, also, shall God’s purposes, in regard to the world which we inhabit, be completed, and then shall “ the heavens pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat, and a new heaven and a new earth arise wherein dwelleth righte- ousness.”

Now this grand design of redeeming a world of lost sin- ners, through the intervention of a Divine Mediator, was distinctly intimated, though in language highly figurative, to our first parents in the garden of Eden, ere they were banished as outcasts from its consecrated domains. It was cherished with parental fondness by the ancient patriarchs who were gladdened in spirit at the cheering prospect of the future glories of Messiah’s reign. It was nurtured into maturity by a succession of holy prophets, whose souls, in- spired by the Spirit of all grace, gave forth those enraptured utterances which, strung on the harp of Judah, were destined to inflame the hearts of myriads in every age. After a vast expenditure of earnest desire and magnificent preparation, it at last burst upon the world amid floods of celestial light, when the heavenly host, in such strains as angels sing, pealed forth the joyous anthem of “ Glory to God in the highest,” for having, after so long and protracted a dawn, made the Sun of Righteousness to rise over the darkness of a miserable and perishing world.

The great design was now more distinctly than ever unfolded in the teaching of Him who, though Jehovah’s fellow, yet humbled himself and for a season tabernacled in human form. In His meritorious obedience and sacrificial sufferings upon the cross, was the divine design gloriously

REVELATION OF THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION.

435

consummated. Then it was that He cried with a loud voice, “ It is finished,” and bowed his head and gave up the ghost ! “ It is finished,” — The full completion of eter-

nal counsels; — the full developement of the fairest scheme of divine wisdom — the fairest product of infinite love. “ It is finished,” — Mercy and truth have met together ; righte- ousness and peace have embraced each other. “ It is finish- ed,”— The debt is paid ; sin expiated ; the law magnified ; justice satisfied ; mercy glorified ; and everlasting peace and reconciliation established between offended majesty and offending man.

Time was when the visible Church of the living God was wrapped up within the narrow confines of J udea ; and its professing members consisted exclusively of the families and tribes of Israel. In contradistinction, however, to such narrow boundaries and such scanty membership, holy seers were privileged to glance along the roll of ages ; and there to contemplate a bright and glorious era, in which the bounds of the Church of God should be none other than “ the ends of the earth,” and its professing members should consist of “ all the kindreds or families of the nations.”

Time, therefore, was, when “ the Gentiles ” were “ aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the cove- nants of promise.” In contradistinction, however, to such exclusive dealings, holy seers were commissioned to reveal the sublime address of the Ancient of Days, to His “ only begotten Son,” when He anointed Him king over His holy hill of Zion, saying, “ Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” When the Son appeared on earth, He significantly indicated to His disciples that the time for realizing the object of the holy oracle was near at hand. “ Other sheep,” said He, “ I have which are not of this fold,” — i. e., not of the Jewish fold; “ them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” And as the hour of “ the power of darkness” approached, we find Him, in His last intercessory prayer, after commending those around Him

436

OUR lord’s commission to his disciples.

to the keeping of the Father, giving utterance to the.se em- phatic words, “ Neither pray I for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on me through their word ; that they all may be one ; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” In other words. He then did, when on the verge of “ the agony and bloody sweat,” in direct and significant allusion to the ancient prophecy, solemnly ask the Father that all the worlds Gentiles as well as Jews, might be given to Him as His inheritance.

Would the Father refuse to hear the petition and accom- plish His own promise ? Impossible. At the v^ery moment when the everlasting covenant was ratified by the Redeemer’s blood, the veil of the temple was rent in twain. — Emphatic emblem to denote that the middle wall of partition was now broken down between Jew and Gentile ! At that moment the prayer was answered — the prophecy fulfilled. Henceforward the Gentiles were embraced within the ample folds of the ratified covenant, and became entitled to all its divine rights and godlike privileges.

Though, however, from that hour the Gentile nations be- came the “ inheritance ” of the Son by right of covenant, they did not at once become His by actual possession. No. But the covenant by which they were to become His, being now confirmed and sealed with His own blood. He was entitled, as the Mighty One, the everlasting King, the constituted head of mediatorial government, to “ gird His sword upon His thigh, with glory and with majesty ; and in His majesty ride forth prosperously” in the Gospel chariot, “ conquering and to conquer.”

Accordingly, when He arose victorious, after bursting asunder the fetters of death and the grave. He, as the great Captain of salvation, summoned into His presence the chosen leaders of his little army of spiritual warriors. And when about to reascend up on high, leading “ captivity captive,” He delivered unto them His parting commission, saying, — “ Go ye into all the world, teaching all nations, and preach- ing the Gospel to every creature.” In other words, “ The set time, foreknown of God from all eternity, — that day of

THE HEROISM OF THE PRIMITIVE DISCIPLES.

437

grace which constituted the joy of patriarchs, the song of prophets, and the chorus of angels — that bright and glorious era when gladsome light and liberty should be restored to all — has now arrived. In me aU the types and shadows of the law have been realized ; in me all the promises have been amply verified ; and by my blood has the everlasting covenant been ratified, — ‘ well ordered in all things and sure.’ In that covenant there is no distinction between J ew and Gentile. All nations are embraced in it as members of one great and universal family. Henceforward the whole world is mine by right of purchase. Still, though it is now my own, it doth not know, or will not acknowledge me. Every where it is up in arms, in unnatural rebellion against me, its Anointed King and Sovereign Proprietor. Go ye, then, my beloved disciples and faithful followers, go into all the world. Go, and in my name claim the rightful occupation of it. Go, and in my name wield the sword of the Spirit ; quell the rebels ; and reduce them to a state of natural and dutiful allegiance. Go, and in my name take possession of the con- quered nations. Go, and thus realize aU the ancient pro- phecies which announced that the time must come when the heathen shall be given to me as my inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as an actual possession. Go, and hasten on the blissful period, when the kings of Tarshish and the isles shall bring presents ; and the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts ; — yea, when all kings shall bow down before me, and all nations serve me, — when men shall be blessed in me, and all nations shall call me blessed. Go, and thus consummate the triumphs of that design which was contemplated from all eternity in the counsels of the Godhead, — the grand design of redeeming, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, a whole world of lost sinners from sin and corruption, death and hell.”

In obedience to this command, and in execution of the trust committed to them, the primitive disciples went forth in a spirit of such determined heroism, that before the close of the apostolic age, it could be said that “ their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the

438

DECAY OF THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT.

world. ’ But, alas ! the Christian Church soon relapsed into a state of sloth and slumber, and criminal neglect, in reference to the evangelistic ordinance of its great Head and Redeemer. Is proof demanded for the truth of this assertion. The pre- sent condition of the world is a confronting proof, as condem- natory as it is wellnigh universal. Ages have elapsed since the price of the “ purchased possession” was fully paid, and its title-deed sealed with Immanuel’-s blood. And yet, out of eight hundred millions, there are at present about six hundred who have never externally bent the knee, nor even nominally professed the name of Jesus — that only name given under heaven whereby man can be saved ! Three-fourths of the race of man literally without any knowledge of the true God and the way of salvation ! Three-fourths of the world in continued rebellion against their Sovereign Lord and his Anointed ! Three-fourths of the habitable parts of the earth, instead of being possessed as a vineyard of the Lord, lying waste as an undisturbed domain of the prince of darkness ! Think of the holy oracle addressed to the veteran warrior, at whose bidding “ the sun stood still in Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon,” while he led on the armies of Israel from victory to victor)’, in achieving the conquest of the promised land, — “ Thou art old and well stricken in years, and yet there remaineth very much land to he possessed^ With what thrilling emphasis might the same oracle be now addressed to the Christian Church — that Church which ought all along to have been a fertile nurse of heroes triumphantly leading on the march of spiritual conquest to the uttermost ends of the earth ! With what crushing force of conviction and unendurable agony of remorse, ought she, after ages of childish dotage and bald senility, to listen to the heavenly monition, “ Thou art old and well stricken in years, and yet there remaineth very much land to be possessed.”

Blessed be God, the Church, though long sunk into dotage and senility, has not become utterly dead. The cry has once more been raised in the midst of her — loud as the call of dvins multitudes which no man can number — that “ the field ” is not Scotland, or England, or Christendom, but “ the

REVIVAL OF THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT.

439

workl.” A voice from heaven, a voice from earth, and a voice from hell, is daily sounding in her ears, to speed and make haste, and cast in her sickle, ere “ the field” itself — the whole habitable globe — shall pass away, and no place be found for it. And has the Church been wholly deaf to the stirring call ? No : The Church of Christ at large has now been partially awakened. There is a shaking among the dry bones of formalism. There is a rustling among the withered leaves of profession. There is the sighing of a long imprisoned spirit, struggling towards deliverance. There is a panting after expansion and enlargement, without respect to nation or to climate. There is a longing for union and concentration of awakened energy in the universal diffusion of Divine truth. Now, what is all this, but the commence- ment of a return to the discharge of a bounden though long- neglected duty ? — a return to the enjoyment of an Inestimable though long despised privilege ? What is all this, on the part of the Christian Church, but an incipient endeavour towards a renewing of that covenant, by means of which alone she herself has been inaugurated into the possession of the means of grace now, and the hopes of glory here- after?— that everlasting covenant under whose immutable provisions she is solemnly plighted to go forth in direct obedience to the Divine command, and to do what in her lies towards the fartherance of that eternal design, the consum- mation of whose triumphs shall enable the Eedeemer to see of the travail of his soul in every land, and be satisfied ? In a word, what is all this grand, combined, and simultaneous movement, in discharge of a divinely imperative obligation, on the part of the Christian Church, hut another name for the missionary enterprise ?

If such, then, be the Divine origin and design of the mis- sionary enterprise, who can any longer lay any thing to its charge ? As to its origin. Who can henceforward vilify it as a novel scheme — the spontaneous product or self-combustion oi modern zQdXoiism\ What! — Novel? Modern? Avaunt thou falsifier of a glorious truth, whosoever thou art ! Instead of being, like your own senseless rationalism, the growth of

440

OBJECTIONS OF THE WORLDLY POLITICIAN.

yesterday, it is coeval with the Christian era — contempora- neous with creation — yea, antedating all time, it is registered in the statute-book of heaven, “ old as eternity.” As to ob- ject and design., Who can henceforward brand it as visionary i and fanatical ? What ! — Visionary and fanatical ? Avaunt j thou slanderer of thy God and Saviour, whosoever thou art !

If there be fanaticism here, you must cease to lay it to the account of those who merely labour as servants, and in obe- ' dience to a divine command, to promote it. You must go, and — oh, horrid ! — you must at once charge the Divine Author of the design — with visionariness and fanaticism ! Upon your head, and not on ours, must rest the blasphemy of the charge ! Look to heaven ; — God the Father is its Author ;

God the Son was sent forth, and he came into the world as the chief — the very Prince of missionaries — to reveal it ; God the Holy Ghost is its real though invisible Conductor along successive generations. Look to earth ; — the goodly fellow- ship of the prophets were its divinely-chosen chroniclers ; the glorious company of apostles its heroic executors ; and the noble army of martyrs its honoured witnesses ! And think you that a design so originated, so conducted, and so exe- cuted,— a design encompassed with such divine grandeur and I

glory, — can be thwarted in its progress towards ultimate uni- ^

versal accomplishment by the whispers of slander, the voice of tumult, or the outbreakings of malice ? Impossible. Al- i

ready hath it withstood the encounter of a thousand thousand )

embattled foes. And onwards will it maintain the contest, ?

till sin, and death, and hell, be swallowed up in victory ! |

«

)

The next class of objections which we propose to notice, ^

embraces those of the worldly politician. These refer almost ^

exclusively to India. About a quarter of a century ago, they were made to sweep through the land with the noise and vehemence of a tempest. Since then, there has been a general lull. But their energy has not been exhausted. In certain high places they still lurk ; and among certain sec- tions of the community they still circulate with a force which

MISSIONS TO INDIA SAID TO BE DANGEROUS.

441

has not been materially diminished. Their fallacy, there- fore, it is incumbent upon us to expose afresh, when plead- ing for the evangelization of India. All of them worthy of any notice, under whatever variety of form they may at dif- ferent times have been presented, will be found, on analysis, to resolve themselves into one. That one in substance is, “ That the introduction of Christianity into our eastern posses- sions., must endanger the stability of the British dominion^

This objection has been supported by reasonings drawn from different sources. Of these there are two of a charac- ter generically distinct — urged not contemporaneously, but at successive epochs.

Between thirty and forty years ago, when English Protes- tant missions began to be planted in the East, the loud alarm was raised of “ our empire in danger.” At that time, the ground of apprehension did not originate in oray prospective contemplation of the effects of the ultimate conversion of the natives. No. All the leading anti-missionary champions openly and strongly avowed their conviction of the utter im- practicability of such conversion at all. With them the cause of alarm was immediate. Not only in their estimation would the natives not embrace Christianity, but any endeavour to initiate them into its principles, would rouse them into fury. Such was the invincible attachment of the people to their own religion, that whenever it was touched, even by argument or persuasion, “ they grasped their daggers.” Any attempt, therefore, to interfere in any way with their religion, laws, or customs, was denounced as inevitably tending to the speedy and utter destruction of the British power. The establish- ment even of common seminaries of education, which the children might attend or not as the parents felt disposed, was severely reprobated as fraught with danger. “ The mind of man,” it was alleged, “ never conceived a wilder or more dangerous plan than that of instituting free schools through- out Hindustan. The institution itself would arm all India against us.” As to the plan of translating and gratuitously circulating copies of the Bible among the natives, it was most gravely asseverated, that “ if the ingenuity of Buona-

442

ATTEMPT TO RECALL THE MISSIONARIES.

parte had been exercised in devising a plan, which, with more certainty than any other, would destroy the British empire in India, he would have recommended that very plan.” In a word, so scrupulous, so jealous, and so combustible were the natives, on the subject of their own laws, customs, and observances, tlmt were it only to be announced that mission- aries were sent simply “ for their instruction, in the hopes of their embracing the only true religion ; but if they chose to continue obstinate in error, they would be interfered with no farther,” — such an announcement would instantly lead to a general insurrection as its inevitable consequence.

How was so sudden and fell a catastrophe to be averted ? By a palpable demonstration on the part of the British Government, that far from encouraging, it at least had not even the faintest ’desire or wish for the conversion of the natives. And how could such emphatic demonstration be made ? Not by any assurance in words, however strong or solemn ; but by some significant overt act. And what act would alone meet the alarming exigencies of the case ? No- thing less than “ the immediate recall of ever)- English mis- sionary, and a prohibition of all persons dependent on the Company from giving assistance to the translation or circu- lation of our holy Scriptures.” Such, in 1807, were pro- nounced to be “ the most, and Indeed the only, efficacious measures;” — on which the celebrated Andrew Fuller, with his usual point and caustic terseness, remarked, “ That they would be efficacious, there can be no doubt ; and such would be the application of the guillotine for the cure of the head- ache ; but whether it be just or w-ise is another question.” Such, in 1807, were publicly declared to be the only mea- sures which could allay universal suspicion and alarm, and save the British power in India from immediate and utter destruction. And the declaration of the indispensable neces- sity of resorting to these more than despotic measures, was echoed and re-echoed from the Ganges to the Thames.

Thitiy years have now elapsed since the issuing of this dolorous manifesto. And instead of the missionaries hav- ing been recalled, their number has been increased tenfold.

ALARM SHOWN TO BE UNFOUNDED.

443

Instead of the work of translating the Scriptures in the ver- nacular dialects of India having been suspended, the progress of that good work has been accelerated more than tenfold ; and that, too, chiefly by the hired assistance of learned Brahmans ! Instead of the circulation of the Bible having been violently arrested, it is not too much to say, that it has been augmented a hundredfold. Instead of free schools having been annihilated, they have been multiplied proba- bly more than a hundredfold ! And yet, far from general resentment having been provoked ; far from general com- motion and insurrectionary violence having been exerted, — beyond the individual hatred and contempt which the Gospel never fails to elicit from the carnal mind ; and occa- sional personal abuse from “ lewd fellows of the baser sort,” — there have not been any overt acts of opposition mani- fested on the part of the people of India. There has not been the slightest outbreak or tumult calculated to disturb the public peace of any district or village in the land ; far less calculated to endanger the security and permanence of the British empire.

Indeed, so preposterously unfounded were all the fears of the political alarmists of former times, that it is scarcely possible to compare their lugubrious oracular deliverances with the totally opposite character of subsequent events, with- out calling forth shouts of ridicule. Time has amply proved what the sagacity of Fuller and others enabled them to sur- mise, that the alarms — wdiich were said to prevail so exten- sively among the natives of India, and the recital of which was so industriously propagated in Britain, — wnre in reality all of them fabrications of the European terrorists themselves ; — the fabrications of men wdio themselves were hostile to vital Christianity and its interests ; — the fabrications of men who themselves had unhappily apostatized in spirit, though not in name, from the religion of their fathers ; and who could not brook the burning disgrace of being reminded at every step, of their degeneracy and guilt, by the confronting and confounding example of proselytes from heathenism.

The event having thus more than falsified the alarms of

444

MISSIONS SAID TO ENDANGER GOVERNMENT.

those who gravely averred, and again and again reiterated the averment, that the very attempt to instruct the natives, with a view to their conversion, would ignite their jealousies into a flame of a universal rebellion, the political objection, without being removed, assumed another and more ap- propriate form. The cry of immediate danger from any attempt to Christianize the natives, had of necessity been abandoned. But that spirit of “ old Adam,” which alone originated the false alarm, had not been changed. Ren- dered more wary, however, by the experience of the past, its authors now overstep the present ; and are seen rising in an ebullition of rage, when they contemplate the distant future. “ It has been lamented as a great political evil,” say our modern political alarmists, “ that there should be a difference of religion between us and our fellow-subjects in the East. But to that difference of religion more than to any other circumstance, do we owe the permanence of our oriental dominion. Is it supposed possible, that thirty thousand British subjects could retain an empire containing a hundred and thirty millions of people, if the Christian religion was universal in India? If, therefore, India is worth preserving, the introduction of Christianity ought to be discountenanced, and its farther progress suppressed.” Such, in substance, and almost in so many words, is the reasoning by which many, even in our day, would persuade the British Government to lay a violent arrest on the mis- sionary enterprise.

Now, in reference to all such reasoning, we might, in the first place, as believers in the divine origin of Christianity, at once take the highest ground, and respond in the words of one of its most illustrious advocates : — “ If Christianity be true, it is of such importance that no political considerations are sufficient to weigh against it ; nor ought they for a mo- ment to be placed in competition with it. If Christianity be true, it is of God ; and if it be of God, to oppose its progress on the grounds of political expediency, is the same thing as to tell our Maker that we will not have Him to reign over us, unless His government be subservient to our temporal inter- ests.” To this we might farther add, — If Clmstianity be not

OUR lord’s commission imperative.

415

only true, but the only true religion which is one day to be universal ; and which we, as professing disciples, are enjoined by Divine authority to propagate far and wide, — are we at liberty, from political or any other considerations, to with- draw from the work in any particular land 1 Has it ever been submitted to our decision, — to owr views of expediency or worldly policy^ — whether we should agree to yield obedience to an ordinance of heaven or not I If not ; are we not bound thus calmly but firmly to address our opponents, though they may enrol in their number the powers, and do- minions, and princedoms of the land ? — You declare that we are at liberty to proceed to the desert wastes of Africa, the wildernesses of America, and the numberless Archipelagos strewn over the bosom of the broad Pacific, — but that to India we have no right to go, and must not, as there the in- troduction of Christianity can “ do nothing but mischief.” How sadly deficient, according to this view, must its Divine Author have been, either in foresight or benevolence ! Our commission, as derived from Him, is as precise as it is per- emptory, “ Gro ye into all the world — the world of all nations,” without limitation or reserve. If your view of the matter were correct, our commission ought to have run thus, “ Go ye into aU the world excepting always the nation of Hindustan, and the hundred and thirty millions of perishing heathens there.” But, as there is no evidence that in the original commission there ever appeared any such important restricting clause, — to the exclusion of India or any other land, — we still feel bound, on the principle of obeying God rather than man, to persevere in our attempts to proclaim the Gospel to the mil- lions of the East, — leaving the future consequences to Him who, in issuing His commands, knoweth the end from the beginning, and “ doeth according to His will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of this earth.”

Descending, however, from a position which may seem too transcendental to those who are disposed seriously to urge the political objection, — we may proceed to occupy lower, and to them more intelligible, ground.

446

REASONS FOR DREADING THE LOSS OF INDIA.

Why, then, we may be permitted to ask, why do they dread the probable separation of India from Britain ? They nauseate the introduction of Christian knowledge, as sup- posed to hasten on that abhorred consummation ? Is it for fear of impairing the political bliss which, under the protec- tion of British skill and valour, India is said at present to enjoy ? If so, then are they bound to show how the spread of the pure, expansive, and ennobling truths of Christianity can, under any conceivable circumstances, prove injurious to the political peace and welfare of any country under heaven. They will ransack past history in vain for any such proof. If there be one truth which, more than another, all past his- tory confirms, it is this, — that all political compacts, not based on Christian principle and not leavened with Christian truth, have in them the seeds of disorder, confusion, and inevitable decay.

Or, rather, do they dread the anticipated separation, not on account of the people of India, but solely on their own account ? Utterly, or almost utterly, regardless of the real happiness, political or social, temporal or eternal, of the millions subjected to our sway, do they dread the loss of India, solely or chiefly on the ground of its interfering with their own worldly interests, their own selfish aggrandise- ment ? If so, what do all their fine spun reasonings, when disentangled from the web of empty pretences and profes- sions, amount to but this : — “ Since we have conquered India by our skill in the cabinet, and our valour in the field, we may now surely regard it as a legitimate quarr}" for the hunting of our prey. The myriads of its people are, it must be confessed, sunk in deplorable ignorance and revolt- ing superstition. Many even of their religious usages are sanguinary to a degree that reflects dishonour on humanity itself. But what of all this ? The people themselves seem wonderfully delighted with a system which certainly pleads in its favour a venerable antiquity. To it they seem enthusi- astically and invincibly attached ; and as under it the spirit of freedom is utterly crushed and supplanted by that of ab- ject passive obedience, in the continuance of such a state of

REASONS FOR DREADING THE LOSS OP INDIA. 447

things must consist our safety. Come, then, let us charter their ignorance ;• let us stereotype their errors ; let us eter- nize their false religion, their barbarous customs, and arbi- trary laws ; — and all this, that we may securely and at our ease carry on the work of pillage and of plunder, — all this, that we may continue unmolested to worship the mighty god Mammon, no matter though it be in the shrine of the cruelest superstition, and the bloodiest idolatry that ever desecrated the earth, or brutalized the race of man.” Let those assertors of the political objection, whose overt acts, belying their profession, but too plainly betray these to be the genuine sentiments of their heart, the actuating prin- ciples of their conduct : — Let them for once act the part of honest men : — let them for once exhibit at least one attri- bute of the British character — and that is manly British cour- age : — let them for once plainly speak out ; — and we venture to assure them that they will meet with a warm reception. Placed by their own inhuman selfishness beyond the pale of ordinary dealing, instead of being any longer received with the cold and formal courtesies of argument, they will be met with one united front of holy indignation on the part of an outraged Christian people.

But there is a more sober class of political objectors that would recoil, with a feeling somewhat akin to horror, from the conscious entertainment of such views. They, too, dread the prospect of a separation of India from Britain. The causes of dread may be of a character somewhat vague and undefined. They may think, perhaps, of the battles fought, and the victories won in achieving the conquest of that dis- tant land. They may think of the laurels which that singular conquest has entwined around the brows of our statesmen and warriors. They may think of the treasures which it has poured into the lap of Britain. They may think of the fresh lustre which it has added to the British Crown. And they may — not without good reason — conclude that, on the day of separation, the sun of Britain, thus shorn of his orient beams, must set in darkness, and set perhaps for ever. Be the

448 THE BRITISH LEGISLATURE SANCTIONS MISSIONS,

causes of uneasiness, however, at the thought of the contem- plated loss what they may, these cannot but eye, askance, the labours of missionaries as likely to pave the way for it.

Now, we may fairly meet this class of political objectors on their own ground, and still triumphantly vindicate the missionary cause.

Granting, mei’ely for the sake of argument, that their worst apprehensions are to be realized, and that the inevit- able result of Christianizing India will be to sever it politi- cally from Britain ; — will the friends of missions alone be chargeable with the production of such an untoward event ? With emphasis, we would reply, nay. The British Legisla- ture has now happily relieved all societies at home, and all mis- sionaries abroad, from the responsibility, by transferring that re- sponsibility to itself Look at the Act of Parliament of 1813, passed by the Lords and Commons, and sealed by the Royal signet. No matter at whose instigation the Act was passed ; ■ — since passed it has been, formally and deliberately — and is now a standing ordinance of the Supreme Legislature of the United Kingdom. By that Act, legal permission is granted to missionaries, and other religious teachers, to settle in India ; and the terms in which that permission is ceded, are very explicit. The special clause thus begins : — “ And whereas it is the duty of this country to promote the interest and happiness of the native inhabitants of the British do- minions in India, and such measures ought to be adopted as may tend to the introduction among them of useful knowledge, and of religious and moral improvement : and in fartherance of the above objects, sufficient facilities ought to be afforded by law to persons desirous of going to and remaining in India, for the purpose of accomplishing those benevolent designs f &c. In this clause, “ religious and moral improve- ment” is as expressly contemplated and provided for, as “ the introduction of useful knowledge and the adoption of practical measures for the dissemination of both, is de- clared to be the duty of this country. From this, it is clear, that the British Legislature was prepared to anticipate any possible changes which might arise from “ the introduction

SUM VOTED FOR USEFUL KNOWLEDGE IN INDIA. 449

of useful knowledge and of religious and moral improvement,” — prepared to regard these as “ the accomplishment of bene- volent designs.” Be the consequences, then, of introducing our “ useful knowledge,” and our “ religion and morals” into India, what they may, is it not clear beyond debate, that the British Legislature has, by its own public and solemn Act, volunteered to assume and incur the responsibility of these consequences ? And if so, is it not the height of injustice to ring the changes for ever on the exclusive respon- sibility of religious societies and their agents, in their at- tempts to instruct and enlighten the people of India ?

But there is a still stronger plea in favour of the friends of missions, — a plea which does more than merely exculpate them as regards the possible subversion of the British power in India, in consequence of the enlightenment of the native mind. By Act of Parliament they are fully, formally, and honourably acquitted on that head, whatever may be the re- sult evolved from the womb of futurity. When the British Legislature, in 1813, enacted, that “ such measures ought to be adopted as may tend to the introduction of useful know- ledge and of religious and moral Improvement ” among the natives of India, it gave a substantial proof of its sincerity, by decreeing at the same time, that the Executive should ex- pend at least ten thousand pounds a-year for “ the purpose of accomplishing those benevolent designs.” How has this part of the legislative enactment been carried into effect ? For many years, the larger proportion of the parliamentary grant was expended in actively perpetuating the despotic reign of Mahammadan delusion, and Hindu idolatry ! Learned Maulavis were hired for inculcating the dogmas of the Ko- ran, and learned Brahmans were salaried for initiating pupils into the mysteries of the Hindu Shastras. And this was designated popular education ! This was the equivalent provided by the Executive to correspond with what the Legislature intended by the expressions, “ useful knowledge, and religious and moral improvement !” Never was an act of benevolence more thoroughly stultified in its execution. It is not the first time that the Indian authorities, both at

450 GOVERNMENT SCHEME OF EDUCATION IN INDIA.

home and abroad, have evaded or despised the decisions of the Supreme Legislature ; — though it is not often that this has been done so openly and fearlessly as by the Chairman of the Court of Directors, who, in a byegone generation, wrote expressly to the hesitating Governor of Bombay, that “ his orders were to be the Governor’s rules, and not the laws of England, which were a heap of nonsense, compiled by a few ignorant country gentlemen, who hardly knew how to make laws for the good of their omti private families, much less for the regulating of companies and foreign commerce.”

Of late, however, things have been wholly changed. The smaller moiety of the Parliamentary grant which before was expended on English education, has now’ become the larger. And to it ample additions have accrued from various sources. To what, then, is this larger sum now devoted ? It is to “ the introduction of useful knowledge,” chiefly through the me- dium of the English language. One half of the legislative enactment is thus carried into execution. But, as to the other half, or the introduction of “ religious and moral im- provement,” the Executive has resolved to have nothing to do with it. Hence it is that the Government scheme of education in India, is a scheme openly, avowedly, and sys- tematically to communicate Jcmwledge without religion.

Now, we have no hesitation in declaring that, if it be one main object of Government, — no matter whether for the be- nefit of the natives, or its own aggrandisement, — to preserve inviolate the political connection of India with Britain, this resolution to communicate knowledge without religion is a suicidal act. This we declare calmly and deliberately, as our unalterable conviction — a conviction founded not on specu- lation or theorj', but on observation and experiment. We declare it, too, in fuU anticipation of the shouts of idle triumph which the statement may elicit from the inveterate enemies of all knowledge on the one hand, and the thunders of decla- matorv’ abuse from the advocates of mere secular knowledge on the other.

It is idle for men in this land to attempt to cozen us, by fine writing, into a belief of at least the harmless?iess of

EFFECTS OF KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT RELIGION.

451

knowledge without religion. On this subject there is a grand fallacy abroad, which consists in confounding the abstract with the concrete. That may be superlatively excellent in the for- mer state, which may prove superlatively noxious in the latter. What more enlivening and beautifying than the rays of the sun ? Let these impinge upon a good soil, and they become the prolific source of all that is profitable and lovely in the vegetable creation. Let the same rays impinge on a stagnant marsh, and they become the equally prolific source of miasmata, pestilence, and death. So all true Jcnow- ledge, viewed abstractly by itself, must be pronounced good. Let it drop on the soil of a sound understanding and an honest heart, and it will become the parent of good. But let it fall on a perverted understanding and a vitiated heart, and the same knowledge may generate much of what is wholly mischievous. It is because the understandings of all men are by nature darkened, and their hearts by nature depraved, — and because no knowledge can savingly en- lighten the former or regenerate the latter, save the know- ledge of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, brought home by the quickening energy of the Holy Spirit ; — it is on this account that all other knowledge without religion., instead of a blessing, may prove a curse. Were human nature in a state of innocence and holiness, all true knowledge, literary or scientific, would be not merely negatively harmless, — it might be positiyely beneficial. But so long as human nature is guilty and depraved, such knowledge may become not merely negatively useless, — it may prove positively injurious. And does not all experience authenticate this conclusion ? In this respect, the advocates of the alleged harmlessness of knowledge without religion, — not we, are the real specula- tors. Even if their premises were not often altogether inad- missible, what are their conclusions at best but unverified theories ? Yea more, in this Christian land, they cannot at once subject them to the test of Ou 'perfect experiment for the purpose of verification ; they cannot at once reduce them to practice, and so convert them into the results of tried ex- perience. And why ? Because in this land there is such a

452

THE NON-RELIGIOUS THEORY OF EDUCATION.

leaven of the Christian spirit diffused throughout the mass ; there is such a tissue of Christian principle interwoven with the entire fabric of society ; there is such an atmosphere of Christian appliances encompassing like faithful centinels all our time-honoured institutions ; — in a word, there is such an accumulation and variety of counteractive influences of a moral and religious character, as must, for a season at least, neutralize the experiment of communicating know- ledge without religion ; and effectually evacuate it of all its most dangerous tendencies.

Hence, of necessity, the utter delusiveness of every appeal which can be addressed to the people of this Christian laud, as to the present harmlessness of a system of education with- out religion ! Those who make the appeal altogether over- look the most essential circumstances now alluded to. They wholly overlook the purifjnng and regulating inffuences of our domestic altars, our social Christian intercourse, and our Sabbath religious observances. And because by such multiplied extraneous inffuences the genuine tendencies of the experiment must for a time be overborne, they, forsooth, pronounce it to be in itself harmless ! They might as well assure us that a doze of helebore must be a very harmless draught ; as there have been many cases where those who swallowed it escaped unhurt ; — wilfully suppressing the im- portant fact, that to the application of some potent medi- cament the patients have been wholly indebted for their deliverance from the jaws of death.

In India, however, there is a fair and open field for test- ing the non-religious theory of education. The natives have no Sabbaths, and no Christian institutions. Among them there is no inculcation of vital influential truth in the family circle or in social converse, in the mart of business or in the popular assembly. With them there is a multitude of wild and scandalous fictions for their creed ; an eternal round of unmeaning or revolting ceremonies for their practical reli- gion. These fictions and ceremonies can oppose no ade- quate resistance to the native tendencies of an enlarged communication of “ useful knowledge ” without religion. No.

THE NON-RELIGIOUS THEORY OF EDUCATION.

453

Before it they are driven away like dust before the whirl- wind. In India, therefore, where there is no atmosphere of sufficiently potent connteractive influences, as in this Christian land, the experiment may be made with every possible advantage in the way of observing and recording its effects. As it may be isolated from all the surrounding influences of vital religious truth, its effects may be seen in all their directness, and bareness, and nakedness.

Now, in the metropolis of British India, the experiment has actually been tried. It has had more than twenty years for its developement. And what have been the fruits ? Of these we have seen enough with our own eyes, and heard enough with our own ears, to satisfy us that, in the present corrupt state of human nature^ the genuine native tendency of any institution, which attains to full maturity in the commu- nication of knowledge without religion, is inimical not merely to true religion and sound morals, but also to the political peace and wellbeing of a community. We hesitate not to affirm that every such institution in India will ultimately be found, when perhaps it is too late, nothing better than a manufactory of as regards a?/ religion — a manufactory

of rebels^ as regards allegiance to the British Government.

In the days of thoughtless literary enthusiasm, we used to wonder what the poet could mean when he asked —

Can knowledge have no bounds, hut must advance

So far, to make us wish for ignorance ?

But we have lived to see the day when experience has thrown its elucidating comment on the question. And now we re- spond ; — Yes, knowledge can “ advance so far,” — knowledge without religion can “ advance so far, to make us even wish for ignorance.” In other lands we have found “ knowledge without religion,” in its unthinking selfishness, advocate principles which would disorganize society, and plnnge it into the vortex of anarchy and misrule. We have found “ knowledge without religion,” in its contemptuous pride, eye with disdainful scorn the hapless victims of delusion and ignorance. AYe have found “ knowledge without religion,” in its cruel hard-heartedness, treat with sardonic indiffer-

454

THE NON-RELIGIOUS THEORY OF EDUCATION.

ence the woes and sufferings of humanity. We have found “ knowledge without religion,” in its base ingratitude, re- pay the most lavish and unmeasured kindness with malice and persecution. We have found “knowledge without reli- gion,” in its savage lustfulness, overstep boundaries which even poor dumb irrationals seem to respect. We have found “ knowledge without religion,” in its quenching of generous natural affection, remorselessly trample under foot some of the dearest and the tenderest ties which link man to man in the domestic circle ; so that it was no uncommon case for a father, who had witnessed and smarted under these effects, to bring his child, saying, “ I wish my son to learn English, as that may in many ways promote his best interests. And if the penalty of so doing must be, that he forsake his ancestorial faith, I would rather see him be- come a Christian in your institution, however much I would deplore the event, than an apostate in the Government Col- lege, without any religion at all.” We have found “know- ledge without religion,” in its atheistic fanaticism, ravingly blaspheme the very God of heaven, in whom “ we live, and move, and have our being.” We have found “ knowledge without religion,” in its contempt of constituted authority, breathe sentiments of rebelliousness, saying, “We are very much obliged to our foreign rulers for theknowledge whichhas let us into the secret of their weakness and our own strength — the knowledge which must qualify us speedily to get quit of them, and undertake the management of our own civil and militai*}" affairs without their help.” All this, and much more, have we found among the legitimate fruits of “ know- ledge without religion.” The last of these findings, in par- ticular, we once formally offered to the very highest authority in the land to substantiate by overwhelming evidence ; in order, if possible, to open the eyes of our British rulers to the ultimate dan^erousness of the Government educational schemes. After all this, have we not good ground for reiterating the declaration, that “ knowledge without reli- gion ” may advance so far to make us all wish again for the reign of ignorance ? And can it be too frequently impressed

MISSIONARIES THE BEST FRIENDS OP GOVERNMENT. 455

upon US that knowledge, like a two-edged sword, can cut either way, — and that every thing depends on the arm which wields it ? Can it be too often reiterated, that, in the hands of religion, it may, like the touch of Midas, convert all things into gold ; but, in the hands of irreligion, may, like the head of Medusa, turn them all into stone ? Yes, verily, — knowledge with religion, — knowledge as the handmaid of true religion, — is fraught with power to transform the bar- ren wilderness of mind into a garden bedecked with reason and high intelligence ; but, knowledge without religion, — knowledge as the antagonist of religion, — is armed with potency to rebarbarize the globe.

Such being the destructive tendencies of “ knowledge with- out religion,” and such the anti-religious characterof Grovern- ment schemes of education in the East, would any one ask. Who are at this moment really the truest and the best friends of the British Government in India 2 May we not with con- fident boldness reply. They are the humhle missionaries of the Gross I These come in most opportunely, to fill up the dark void which Government itself has created, and which it is either unable or unwilling to supply. These come in with the softening and hallowing doctrines of Christianity; which, like oil poured upon the troubled waters, tend to assuage the tumult of anti-religious, anti-social, and anti-loyal turbulence. Every convert becomes a steady friend and supporter of the present Government; not from mere personal interest or pur- blind partiality, but from an enlightened conviction that com- pared with the native Hindu or Mahammadan dynasties, it has, with all its faults, proved a source of manifold blessings to his native land. The missionaries thus labour, and labour successfully too, in conciliating the natives to the British sway. Indeed, if they had been hired, and sent out on purpose to achieve this end, they could not possibly have promoted it more effectually than they do at present. And they do it from motives the most noble, generous, and disinterested. They see men raging against the Lord and his Anointed, — hateful and hating one another, — and their language is, As patriot citizens of Zion, as loyal subjects of the King of kings.

456 MISSIONARIES THE BEST FRIENDS OF GOVERNMENT.

we cannot, we dare not withhold that sublimer knowledge which will restore men to their offended Maker ; and by so doing, impart the power and the will to exercise all the reci- procities of kindliness and goodwill among their fellows. The missionaries see men disaffected to the Government under which they are bom ; they believe that Government to be, on the whole, a blessing to the country, — and their language is. As patriot citizens of this eartlily kingdom, as loval sub- jects of the Crown of Britain, we cannot, we dare not with- hold that controlling knowledge which, by teaching all to fear God, renders it imperative upon them to honour the king and all “the powers that be” as “ ordained by God.”

The missionaries thus virtually labour to correct the blimders of Government, and to save from the ruinous con- sequences of its own unenlightened policy. They are in fact better friends to the Government than the Government is to itself. If the ingenuity of the most malignant foe had been at work to de\'ise the most effectual plan for silently, but surely, undermining the British power, it could not have con- trived any system more thoroughly adapted to such an end, than that which Government itself has instituted. The more triumphant the missionary' cause, the more wiU the evils of the Government system be neutralized and counter- acted. The Government plan would accelerate the time when India must be separated from Britain ; the missionary scheme would greatly retard the process, and put off the time to a greater distance. And thus wiU it be found, when the day arrives in which India is separated from Britain, — as arrive it must, — that it has been deferred to a later period, just in proportion to the success of the missionary enterprise! Come, then, ye political alarmists, and for once %*iew things in the light of facts. If ye do, instead of any longer igno- rantly vilifying the missionaries as dangerous to the perma- nence of your dominion, you must be led to regard them as they truly are, your best friends, — friends, who would save your empire in spite of yourselves, and transmit it onward for ages beyond the time when it must have been lost, if left to the^operation of your own reckless policy !

OBJECTION OP UNREFLECTING ECONOMISTS. 457

Connected especially with India, there is another objec- tion very prevalent among a large class of unreflecting econo- mists. “Behold,” say they, “ behold what numbers constantly leave this country in absolute poverty, and return with immense fortunes from India ! If India be a land of such boundless wealth, why come to us who are so poor, for money to send men thither ? Why not secure all the pecu- niary means required in that region where these seem most to abound ! ”

Strange inconsideration ! Suppose India were a land of gold ; suppose every one of its inhabitants rich as Croesus: — what were that to our purpose ? To whom could we apply? It could only be either to natives or Eurofeans. To the former, would it be reasonable in the first instance to apply \ Surely not. For what is our object ? It is to turn the people from dumb idols to serve the living and true God. How then . could we presume to ask men to contribute to the sup- port of agents expressly appointed to demolish that scheme of religious belief, to which they themselves are hereditarily and passionately attached ! Far more reasonable would it be to petition a conscientious Roman Catholic priest to sub- scribe for the erection of a Protestant chapel opposite to his own, for the express purpose of demonstrating that he was an idolater, — a corrupter of God’s word and ordinances ! There would be neither reason nor common sense in such a petition. We must first enlighten the minds of those who are in darkness ; and after they have been convinced of their error and have embraced the truth, we may then, and not till then, expect their assistance in support of the new faith. This is what we desiderate in behalf of India. We crave the means of sending to its people the message of sal- vation ; and when once the knowledge of redemption through the blood of Christ has been savingly received, our demands at home shall cease. When the number of converts is mul- tiplied, they will be able and willing to uphold, extend, and perpetuate the means of grace. Those treasures which they now lavish on idols and idol-worship, will be poured upon the altar of Christian devotedness.

F f

458

INDO-BRITISH LIBERALITY.

As to the Europeans who return with great “fortunes,” it seems to be wholly overlooked, that their being able to revisit their native land laden with such spoils, is one of the reasons why they usually have so little to spare for charitable purposes abroad ! Thither they go purposely to amass w'ealth. It is neither their wish nor intention to make their home there. On the contrary, they uniformly regard themselves only as strangers in a strange land — as temporary sojourners in a land of voluntary exile. The uppermost desire of their hearts is to return as speedily as possible to their native land ; and there is a constantly prevailing impression, that any thing devoted to what they may regard as extraneous objects, is not a mere pecuniary loss, — but a loss entailing the post- ponement of the happy day which is to realize the long cherished purpose of their hearts, and the chief end of all their labours. Another circumstance is greatly overlooked, viz., the small number of British residents in India altogether. In Calcutta, which contains a larger British population than any other Indian city, the entire aggregate does not exceed three thousand, — including every sex and age ! Among these three thousand there are, exactly in the same way as among any similar numbers at home, the unbeliever and the scoffer, the careless and the lukewarm. From these, what efficient aid could we reasonably expect in diffusing the knowledge of salvation, through a crucified Redeemer ? And yet, after deducting these from the scanty catalogue, how small a pro- portion is left endowed with the enlightened understanding and the sanctified heart that would prompt them to the exer- cise of Christian benevolence ? Of this small proportion, how- ever, it must to their eternal honour be recorded, that they are liberal in their contributions to the cause of Christ far beyond the ordinary standard at home. Notwithstanding the multitude of other local claims, the very last collection from a mere handful of people in the Scotch Church, Cal- cutta, in behalf of the General Assembly’s Mission, amounted to two hundred and fifty pounds \ And this is only a fair specimen of Indo-British liberality.

But, considering the smallness of the number of con-

OBLIGATIONS OF BRITISH CHRISTIANS.

459

tributors, how insignificant must the entire sum of their contributions — even though more than ordinarily liberal — prove ! how inexpi’essibly disproportionate to the enormous extent of the field to be cultivated ! AVe must then continue our appeals to the Christian people of this land, who have numbers as well as loealth on their side. And in appealing to them in behalf of India in particular, there are special claims which may and ought to be enforced. Many, we are remind- ed, constantly return from India with fortunes ; and we are advised to relinquish our call upon the people at home, and tiTist to India itself, — which is so exhaustless in riches, — for the means of promoting the missionary enterprise. Now, admitting the premises, — and keeping out of view the mon- strous incongruity of demanding from heathens the means of demolishing heathenism ; or of throwing the entire burden on a mere fraction of the British residents, — would not reason constrain us to draw a directly opposite conclusion ? If such wealth be constantly imported from India into Britain, are not the people who are thus benefited bound, in honour and in gratitude, to make some small recompense in return ? Are they not laid under a debt of obligation which they are bound by every principle of an immutable justice, in some form or other, to repay ? Oh, it is heart-rending to reflect on the coldness, the selfishness and the baseness which would in such circumstances refuse to acknowledge the obligation, or to cancel any portion of the contracted debt ! AVhither can we go, throughout this land, without being met at every turn with remembrancers of India ? What city or district can we enter without being confronted with some monument of the temporal benefits derived from India ? On approach- ing one of our great cities we behold a superb dwelling-house, and ask. Whose is that ? How often is the answer returned, “ O, it belongs to such an one who is driving a gainful trade with India ! ” As we proceed, our eyes are fastened on some public edifice which, for architectural beauty, may be the pride and the ornament of the city. We ask. What is that? How often is the answer returned, “ O, it is such or such a charitable institution, founded by such an one who made

460 OBJECTIONS OF THE LATITUDINARIAN LIBERALIST.

his fortune in India ! ” Again, as we travel along the highway, our attention is directed — here^ to some naturally barren spot, which taste and fancy and wealth have trans- formed into a villa of surpassing loveliness, — and there, to some magnificent mansion, with its verdant lawns, and noble gardens enriched with the products of far distant climes, and out-spreading forests which rise in majesty, and crown the brows of the neighbouring hills. We ask. Whose are these ? How often is the reply, “ 0, these belong to this one and that, who made their fortunes in India ! ” How can we help exclaiming, — Is it really so ! Has India been drained to adorn our temples of commerce, and swell the revenues of our realm ? Has India been drained to bestud our cities with establishments for the education of the young and the relief of the aged, and open up asylums for our poor irrationals ? Has India been drained to convert our barren knolls into beauteous villas, and spread “ the pomp of groves and garniture of fields ” over hills and valleys otherwise doomed to eternal sterility ? Has India been drained to pour in the tide of opulence upon our shores ; and by enhanc- ing the value of the soil and multiplying the demands for its varied produce, to augment incalculably the comforts and enjojTnents of the general population ? And shall we coldly and selfishly and ungratefully refuse to do aught in return for ransacked, impoverished India ? Ah, if we do, how can we expect to escape those visible retributions in the depar- ture of power and the loss of empire, wherewith the God of Providence hath ever visited the nations that misimprove their privileges, and abuse their solemn trust ?

We now proceed to advert briefly to the objections of the latitudinarian liberalist. Of these, the form assumed by the most recent in this country, and especially in India, is, that “ it is an insult to obtrude our religion on the upholders of another faith — that as “ eA’ery father has the right of rearing up his child in the faith in which he himself con- scientiously believes, so, when the missionaries instruct the

OBJECTIONS OP THE LATITUDINARIAN LIBERALIST. 461

child in a religion different from his father, they do thereby invade the natural right of the parent — and that, moreover, “ it is a high moral offence to disturb the peace of heathen families by attempts to communicate our religious knowledge to any of their members.”

Of the first of these objections the liberalist ought to be heartily ashamed ; seeing that in condemning himself, it reflects not a little on his pretensions to sanity of judgment. For, it surely requires nought beyond the grasp of the most juvenile understanding to perceive, that — if it be on our part an insult to obtrude, by evidence and argument, our religion, which is the religion of heaven itself, on the notice of the upholders of another faith — it must be, on his part, an insult far more gross, far more inexcusable, to obtrude his new- fangled earth-born schemes of policy, economy, and educa- tion, on the conscientious upholders of other and far different systems.

The second of the objections, it is at once conceded, is of a character much more subtle, plausible, and insinuating. In reference to the question of natural right,” it must be candidly acknowledged to be next to impossible to pro- pound an argument which can command an universal, or even a general, assent. And why ? Because so long as the world is agitated amidst conflicting opinions on the subject of religion, so long must large classes of men differ as to the fundamental principles on which the solution of the ques- tion must hinge. Still, there must be a right and a wrong somewhere ; there must be some mode of treating the subject in which most reasonable men may be ready to acquiesce. It appears to us that at the outset we must pass by that whole class of misguided men who consider all religions as alike inexpedient and alike false ; since, for them to maintain that there are natural rights to teach and support what is pro- nounced by themselves to be inexpedient or false, were too ridiculous to be imagined. The question must then rest chieffy between those who loosely believe that all religions are alike expedient and alike pleasing in the sight of Heaven — and those who believe that all religions are alike inexpedient

462

NATURAL RIGHT.

and alike displeasing to God save one, i. e., Christianity. If the advocates of the former branch of the alternative could establish their position, there would be no great difficulty in admitting, that it seemed to be the ordination of Providence that the people of every country should inherit a natural right to the religious system prevalent amongst them, in the same way as they might be said to enjoy a natural right to the varied products of their respective soils. But this position never has been established to the satisfaction of any number of rational and enlightened men. And to proceed without farther inquiry to deduce inferences from it as to natural rights, were to build on a baseless assumption — were to resort to a plain “ begging of the question.” Widely dif- ferent is the case with those who advocate the latter branch of the above alternative. They proceed on no assumption of the matter in dispute ; they have recourse to no “ begging of the question.” The truth of Christianity having been demonstrated times and ways without number, to the entire satisfaction of thousands and tens of thousands of the most rational and enlightened men that ever lived, its adherents have, as they think, an indisputable title to proceed on the admission of its truth. Believing, therefore, as they do, on groimds that have never been invalidated, that Christi- anity is true, they are constrained to look upon every other religious system as erroneous — dishonourable to God, and destructive of the happiness of man. To be more specific : — they would belie their reason and their conscience, did they not, for example, regard Hinduism as a system of error ; and, as such, a system which does all that the impotency of human contrivance can achieve to undeify the Deity, — all that the malice of the “ powers of darkness ” can devise to infatuate and ruin man. Accordingly they must deny, ab- solutely and without reserve, the existence of any natural right, on the part of any parents, to teach and perpetuate a system of falsehood and delusion so loathsome and deadly. In a loose general icay — agreeably to common parlance, and not in strict propriety of language, — it may be said, that the father has a natural right to teach his child religion. In

NATURAL RIGHT.

463

the same way it may be said, that the father has a natural right to command the bodily services of his child. But in neither case is the right unlimited. Far otherwise. It is subject to a high and solemn responsibility. It is neces- sarily confined to things indifferent, to things agreeable, or, at least, to things not contrary to the will of God — the Supreme Lawgiver. Thus, should the father command his child to lend him the aid of his bodily services in stealing or robbing^ it is plain that he has overstepped his jurisdiction ; and even the law of the land would not dismiss the boy as guiltless in such a case, on the ground of his acting under the father’s authority. A father has no natural right to issue such a command. And if in his ignorance or folly he has done so, it is clear that the command is nugatory ; — it is superseded by the contrary command of a higher power. If it were not so, God would be conferring a natural right to violate his ewn laws — which is nothing short of blas- phemy. In like manner, suppose the father to have a natural right to teach religion to his child ; it is plain that so far as the supposed natural right is concerned, it must be expressly confined to the inculcation of what is agreeable or at least not contrary to the will of God. Should the father, for instance, teach his child that an idol is God, and that the idel ought to be worshipped as God, it is palpable that he has, in the sight of Heaven, overstepped his jurisdiction. He can claim no natural right to teach that which the Great Creator hath denounced and prohibited. For who has the power of conferring a natural right ? The very expression imports that this is the sole and unalienable prerogative of the Great Author of Nature. One step more leads to the unanswerable query : — Is it possible, is it for a moment to be conceived, that the God of Truth, — the pure and the holy God, who cannot look upon sin but with abhorrence, — could have conferred on any of his creatures a natural right to inculcate any faith like that of Hinduism, i. e., to impart the knowledge of a system of hideous error, — that, by so doing. He could have enforced, by the sanction of Omniscience and the thunders of Omnipotence, the exercise of a privi-

464 RELIGION DISTURBS THE PEACE OF FAMILIES.

lege to insult His own Majesty, to violate His own laws, and to cover His subjects with confusion, shame, and ever- lasting dismay ? In the solemnity of apostolic language, w'e exclaim, “ Hod forbid ! ” Pause, then — is our appeal to the liberalist — pause, we beseech you, ere, in your ignorant and misdirected zeal for the pretended rights of man, you seri- ously entertain a sentiment, which, in its principle, is so derogatory to the God of heaven, and in its consequences so disastrous to the temporal and eternal wellbeing of man.

As to “ disturbing the peace of heathen families,” what a deplorable ignorance does the objection betray ! — an igno- rance unconquerable by any statements which man can sup- ply. so long as the heart is unregenerate. Who knows any thing of the corruption of human nature, without being con- vinced that it is impossible for the sin-condemning doctrines of the Gospel to be promulgated without, in a certain sense and to a certain extent, “ disturbing the peace of families,” and, it may be, the internal peace of whole kingdoms ? What mean these emphatic words — “ Think not that I am come to send peace on earth ; I am not come to send peace, but a sword ; to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother ? ” — Not — what some perverse interpreters would have us to believe, — not that He who uttered these words was one whose direct design was to put the world in a flame of discord and rebellion ! — the whole strain of prophecies forbids the impious thought ; the annunciation of angels at the birth of the Messiah for- bids it ; the whole life, precepts, and doctrines of the blessed Jesus forbid it ; the parting words to his sorrowing disciples forbid it ; his very title, and a distinguishing one it is, as “ Prince of Peace,” forbids it. What, then, is the meaning of these significant words ? They have been, and may well be paraphrased thus : “ Do not expect that I shall be quietly owned and submitted to, or that my religion will be readily and peaceably embraced ; for if j'ou do, the event will defeat and disappoint your expectations. Though I was sent to refine and civilize mankind, and root out of their nature all sour, unsocial, and mischievous passions, and to make men

man’s natural aversion to the gospel. 465

gentle, affable, and condescending in their behaviour, yet, through the prevailing degeneracy and corruption of the world, I shall prove the occasion of strife and discord, of un- natural heats and animosities, of violent hatreds and bloody massacres ; and men will, on the account of my religion, break through the bond of natiire, and the strongest ties of humanity, as if indeed the very end of my coming was, not to give peace, but rather division ; to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother!' And how fearfully has this solemn forewarning been verified ? How often has that very Gospel, — which was “ Heaven’s best gift,” and sent expressly “ to bring peace on earth and good-will to the children of men,” — been fiercely opposed by the cor- ruption of sinful creatures, who constantly mistake its spirit, misrepresent its nature, and abuse its blessings ? Ay, and how often has it been made the innocent occasion of the shed- ding of rivers of human blood ? After this, who need affect surprise or evince displeasure at the missionaries on account of “ the disturbance of the peace of families ” by the promul- gation of the Gospel ? It cannot, however, be too often re- peated, that such a painful effect proceeds from no evil design on the part of the missionaries ; — from no evil tendency on the part of the Gospel. Quite the contrary. It results directly and solely from the opposition made by depraved men them- selves to the sin-condemning doctrines of the Cross. These doctrines are neither designed nor fitted to produce such results. To the evil passions of mankind, which war against the salutary restraints of holiness and truth, are these la- mentable effects to be attributed. So far, then, as the spirit of the Gospel itself is concerned, these effects may be truly characterised as “ collateral and incidental.” But our Saviour emphatically foretold, — and all past experience has verified the prophecy, — that from the stubborn and prevailing de- generacy of mankind, effects like those already described must, in the first instance, be exhibited in a greater or less degi’ee, wherever the Gospel is faithfully proclaimed. In a country like Hindustan in particular, where the opposition to the spread of the Gospel is so inveteraU and so universal.

466

man’s natural aversion to the gospel.

its successful issue in the conversion of any member or mem- bers of a family may well be expected to be accompanied almost inevitably with the wrath, hatred, and revenge of those bigoted relations and friends, from whose opinions and practices they are obliged conscientiously to differ. If there should be no successful issue, the “peace of families” would not cei’tainly be much disturbed. In this view of the sub- ject, “ the disturbance of the peace of families ” occasioned by efforts to propagate the Gospel and by the success attend- ing these efforts, might reasonably be considered, — so far as the proclamation of the Gospel and the establishment of it in every family are concerned, — as a certain indication, however undesirable, not a direct necessary result, of the completeness or universality of the missionary triumph. Must the prime agents in the movement be, on that account, supposed to rejoice, because of the universal disturbance of the peace of families ? Malevolence or ignorance may make the supposi- tion ; but the principal actors themselves will ever be found bewailing the blindness and depravity which can convert the noblest product of heaven’s boundless love into a source of wretchedness to man, and of outrage against heaven’s Lord.

But it is clear that parties who differ so irreconcileably in their estimate of the good to be lost or gained by a change of religion, must ever differ proportionately in their estimate of the nature of the attempt to effect that change. The one class, with their equalizing views on the subject of religion, may easily conclude that it is a piece of useless toil, if not of wanton mischief, “to disturb the peace of families,” by any efforts to substitute one form of faith for another which is not allowed to possess higher claims. The other class, with their views of the immeasurable superiority of Chris- tianity, must reject this latitudinarian conclusion with the disinterested zeal of genuine philanthropy. Led to believe that the Christian faith is the only true religion — originally announced at the dawn of creation — gradually developed in a magnificent chain of prophecy — and gloriously consum- mated in the life, sufferings, and death of the Son of God ; — that it is the only religion which can sublimate and refine

OBJECTION OF THE LUXURIOUSLY WEALTHY.

467

liuman nature ; which can exalt it from earth unto the hea- ven of heavens, there to behold, as it were, unveiled, the glories of the Great Jehovah ; which can cause it to soar aloft without bounds or limits to check its swift and resist- less movements, and so advance from one glory to another, rising higher and higher in infinite progression ; — Led, we say, to believe all this, on the ground of overpowering evi- dence, must we not infer, that to impart a knowledge of this religion is to impart a blessing which no finite mind can fully comprehend, — is to bestow a treasure richer far than all the wealth of “ Ormus or of Ind Must we not be con- vinced that, to convey it in obedience to a divine command, is an act of duty to God, paramount to the natural wishes of corrupt nature, and to rights which are the veriest fig- ments of a depraved imagination ? Must we not be persuad- ed that the bestowing of this sublime enriching knowledge is an act of purest, holiest, most god-like benevolence ? And must we not, of necessity, conclude that those who actively oppose the communication of it — no matter on what pretext — do in reality oppose the highest good of their fellow-crea- tures ; — that all those who have set on foot the unholy crusade, and joined in the insane shout against religious in- struction, are, in the sight of Heaven, the bitterest, cruelest enemies of the race of man ?

The next objection to be noticed is that of the luxuriously wealthy. How often do we hear individuals of this class loudly complain of the varied and unceasing demands of Christian benevolence \ How often do we hear them char- acterise the sums so levied as noxious imposts and odious taxes ? How often do we hear them brand those who en- gage in levying them as beggars and extortioners ? How often do we find them, when hardly pressed, doling out the scantiest pittance with a grudge ; or, perhaps, wholly shut- ting the mouth of the petitioner, by the silencing answer, that “ They have little or nothing to spare ? ”

Little or nothing to spare ! That you have little or

4G8

OBJECTION OF THE LUXURIOUSLY WEALTHY-

nothing to spare must prove your condemnation, not your excuse ! The case is so clear that it must flash on every candid mind with the force of a self-evident pi’oposition. Let us suppose a master to deliver, in loan, Jim talents to one of his servants, saying. Trade with these, and turn them to the best account ; — the interest or produce of one of them you may reserve for your own maintenance and efficiency, as an instrument in my service ; but the interest or produce of the other four you must lay out for the improvement of my inheritance, after the manner prescribed. Now', wdiat, if the servant should prove faithless ; and, — instead of being satisfied wdth the share allotted to himself, — should appro- priate the whole of the remainder, with the exception of a mere nominal fraction, — expending it all on his ow'n selfish gratifications ? In such a case, it is plain, he can have little or nothing left which he can allot to his master’s use. But would this amount to any justification of his conduct ? Quite the reverse. His having nothing to spare for the master’s use, in the circumstances supposed, must prove the very ground of having the sentence of condign punishment pro- nounced upon him.

Now, is not this the very counterpart to the case of all God’s creatures, who receive certain talents, such as riches and other temporal gifts and possessions, to be employed in His service ; and who, instead of so employing them, alienate the whole, or nearly the w'hole, to be consumed on their owm lusts ? Having thus misappropriated the bounties of heaven, they can have little or nothing to spare for the advancement of the cause of their Divine Master. But wdll their inability to contribute, shelter them in the day of reckoning ? Verily it will prove the severest indictment against them in the book of God’s remembrance. On them the sentence of con- demnation must be pronounced ; — a condemnation founded on the grossest dishonesty, and aggravated by the basest and blackest ingratitude.

How similar the case of our modern luxurious temporizers to that of the temporizing .Jew’s in the times of old ! The Jews w’ere expressly enjoined, in their countless offerings at

OFFERINGS TO THE ALMIGHTY.

469

the altar of the Lord, to bring the best and choicest of all their substance. Every thing must be perfect in its kind. If the offering 'consisted of sheep, or goats, or bullocks, or lambs, they must all be without spot or blemish. The blind, or broken, or maimed — the bruised, or crushed, or cut — in short, any creature which had any thing superfluous or lack- ing in his parts must not be presented to the Lord. In the latter days of degeneracy how did they endeavour to evade God’s ordinance ? To refuse to bring any offering unto God’s altar would be to proclaim national atheism. This, therefore, they did not venture to do. What then ? They still kept up the form. But instead of any longer presenting the choicest and the best at God’s altar, they appropriated the choicest and the best to themselves. And, in express contradiction to the Divine command, the blind, and the lame, and the torn, and the maimed, — in a word, the vilest and most worthless, they devoted to the service of J ehovah, the sovereign Proprietor and bountiful Giver of all !

Their insulted Maker at last commissions an inspired messenger to appear amongst them. How does he deal with the apostatizing people ? Does he, assuming the atti- tude of soft, bland, fawning, simpering complaisance, thus address them : — “ Friends and brethren of the house of Israel, these offerings of yours are not exactly what the law see’^s to require. Still, they are better than nothing. At all events, they are an acknowledgment of your obligation to serve the Lord. Besides, the law, in its strict letter, has for so long a time fallen into desuetude, that many may naturally suppose it now to be altered or modified in its demands. Though this, however, does not appear to be the case ; still, society has now advanced to such a height of luxurious refinement, that, to avoid the charge of needless singularity, a larger share of substance, it is presumed, may be appropriated for your own use than was at all needful in a simpler and less artificial age. If ye were suddenly to withdraw from your tables and general establishment what was formerly devoted to the altar, and restore it to its original destination, ye might be reckoned sanctimonious —

470

JEWISH OFFERINGS.

over-rigid — morose — austere. Ye might, in this way, di.s- gust and repel your wealthier neighbours. And, by depriv- ing yourselves of the means of reciprocating their visits and entertainments, you might lose all your influence over them ; and thus weaken and damage the general profession of reli- gion in the land. Gradually, however, it would be well, by abridging somewhat the expenditure on your o\\ti selfish enjoyments, to consecrate a larger proportion to the cause and service of God ; and thus eventually, and by insensible degrees, return to the perfect standard of the law?” Was this the style in which the holy seer addressed a backsliding people ? Oh no. Filled with jealousy for the Lord of Hosts, and roused into indignation at such barefaced embezzle- ment of His peculiar property, he at once launches forth in the strain of withering expostulation — “ To offer the blind, and the lame, and the sick, is it not evil ? Should I accept this at your hand ? saith the Lord.” As he proceeds with his message of stern reproof, he demands, in a tone of unearthly vehemence, “ Will a man rob God ? Will a man rob God ?” Nor does he stop short here. Personating the Almighty, in whose name he spoke, he descends with the tremendous anathema, — “ Ye are cursed with a curse ; for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.”

Now, in what essential respect does the conduct of modern luxurious professors of the name of Christ differ from that of the backsliding J ews of old ? Is it not your Lord’s com- mand that ye should honour Him with the best of your sub- stance, and with the first-fruits of your increase ? But far from obeying the command, is it not true that ye honour yourselves with the best of that substance which He hath given you — that ye luxuriate yourselves with the first-fruits of that increase which He hath bestowed ? Instead of studying how little ye can w’ell expend on yourselves, and how much ye can devote to the cause of heaven, is it not your chiefest care and concern to study how much ye can expend on yourselves, and how little on the cause of heaven ? Ye scale the mountains and traverse the forest ; turn the dry land into water-courses, and deepen or divert the chan-

SCANTINESS OF CHRISTIAN OFFERINGS.

471

nels of rivers ; plunge into the depths of ocean, and pierce into the caverns of the earth ; brave the rigours of the frigid, and the fervours of the torrid zone ; — in a word, ye lay every province of nature, every element and every clime, under contribution ! And all, for what ? That ye may have more abundant means of advancing the glory and honour of your Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer ? Oh, no. For what then ? Let those magnificent mansions, which ye build for your own habitations, while the temple of the Lord lies waste in this and in other lands ; — mansions, garnished with the richest products of nature and of art, and replenished with vessels and ornaments of silver, and of gold, and of stones most precious : — let those splendid robes of scarlet, and of purple, and of fine linen, sparkling with the pearls and jewels of tropical climes : — let those viands and delicacies, transported to your tables from every distant shore : — let those voluptuous couches that roll, pen- dulous, along the streets, bedizened with equipage of every hue and colour : — in a word, let those immense establish- ments, with their manifold appurtenances for securing that carnal self-indulgence, which all who name the name of Jesus are bound to abandon — and those skilfully contrived expedients for heightening the enjoyment of objects which they are commanded not to love, — and those varied appli- ances for pampering desires, tastes, and appetites, v/hich they are solemnly enjoined to crucify : — Let all these furnish the confounding reply, “ The earth is mine,” saith the Lord, “ and the fulness thereof.” “ No,” say the luxurious pro- fessors by their conduct, “ the earth is ours, and the fulness thereof.” “ The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,” saith the Lord, “ and the cattle on a thousand hills.” “ No,” say the luxurious professors by their conduct, “ the silver is ours, and the gold is ours ; and ours is the cattle on a thousand hills.” “ The bread you eat, and the raiment wherewith ye are clothed, and all other temporal posses- sions, are mine,” saith the Lord, — “ to you they are lent in trust, to be improved in my service, and restored to me on my return, with a large revenue of increase ; — occupy till I

472

SCANTINESS OF CHRISTIAN OFFERINGS.

come.” “ No,” reply the luxurious professors by their con- duct, “ all these things are our own ; — and having a right to do with our own as we will, w^e shall not occupy theni in Thy service ; nor expend them for the promotion of Thy glory. Our wish and will is to devote them to the advance- ment of our own ends, our own glory and honour, our own comfort and gratification.” And true to their impious and rebellious purpose, do not these luxurious professors — pro- fessors of the faith of Him, who, “ though He was rich, yet for their sakes became poor, that they through his poverty might become rich” — throw their all into the channels of self-pleasing and self-aggrandizement ? Yea, and when they cannot soar so high as they would, is it not their unwearied study to soar as high as they can ? In this unholy emulation and rivalry, does not every lower grade in society struggle hard to press upwards and reach the position of the next higher in the ascending scale ? In spite of their own denun- ciations of “ a levelling equality,” are they not thus, in spirit and design, the most perfect levellers — labouring, though not in a downward, but in an upward direction, — labouring with might and main to establish one grand and universal system of equality ? And having thus exhausted the best of what they possess in ministering to their own covetousness, pride, and luxury, what can they have left for the service of the Great God, the bountiful Giver of all ? — What, but the most wretched and pitiable remnant, — the very refuse and offscourings of those very possessions which are exclusively the gift of heaven ? When, therefore, at the call of Christian benevolence, or from dread of the rack of stout and sturdy importunity, they bring a miserable fraction of this most miserable remnant to the service of their God and Saviour, what is this but in spirit and in letter to emulate the repro- bated conduct of the Jews of old ? And were a special mes- senger from the Lord of Hosts — another Isaiah or Malachi — to rise up amongst us : — were the voice of inspiration once more to break upon our ears, in what accents might we expect it to address us ? — in accents, surely, that might wring confessions from the very stones, if not from awakened

OBJECTION OF THE HUMBLE POOR.

473

guilty consciences ! While contrasting your wretched offer- ings, ye luxurious professors ! in the cause of true godli- ness and benevolence, with 5^our profuse oblations at the shrine of worldly conformity, with what stunning effect might the Prophet exclaim, “ To bring the blind and the sick, and the torn and the maimed, — to bring the useless and the worthless, the very refuse and offscourings, to the altar and treasury of the Lord, is it not evil ? — is it not evil ? Shall I accept this at your hands ? saith the Lord. Bring me no more such vain oblations ; such offering is an abomination to me ; the calling of assemblies I cannot away with ; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.” As his soul kindled at the aggravated insolence and contempt of such conduct towards the Majesty of heaven, with what thrilling power might he cry out, “ Will a man rob God ? — will a man rob God ?” And, ere the quailing spirit had time to breathe, hark ! down might come the thunderbolt of denunciation, “Ye are cursed with a curse ; for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.”

Somewhat similar in words, but very different in spirit, is the objection of the humble pious poor. They do tell us, and they tell us truly, that they have little or nothing to spare. Earning with difficulty the bare necessaries of life, they often can have little or nothing superabounding for the missionary or any other great cause. Their largest contribution may appear to their own eye so very minute, compared with the magnitude of the object prosecuted, that they are very apt to deem it presumption, if not a mockery of heaven, to pre- sent it. Now, these must be reminded that, with a just and gracious God, they shall be accepted for what they have, — not for what they have not. They must be reminded that a peculiar blessing from on high accompanies the free-will offer- ing of faith, however insignificant. They must be reminded of the case of the poor widow who came and threw into the treasury two mites., which make a farthing ; and of the empha- tic commendation of the blessed Redeemer, who called His

Gg

47-i OBJECTION OF THE POOR REPELLED.

disciples, and said unto them, “ Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury ; for all they did cast in of their abun- dance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” They must be reminded that the greatest magnitudes consist of an aggregation of littles. What more minute and apparently useless than one or two particles of dust? Yet, such particles sufficiently multiplied may con- stitute a mountain or a globe ! When from the effect of a long-continued drought the earth is dried and parched, — all nature droops and languishes, — what more minute and apparently more useless than one or two drops of rain ? Yet such drops sufficiently multiplied, may constitute a shower which will refresh the chafed ground, and cause it to bud and blossom with surpassing luxuriance ! When hundreds of millions are to be' turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto the living God, what more minute and apparently more inadequate than one or two mites from the humble poor? Yet several of these mites united may purchase a Bible ; that Bible may speed its way across the ocean to foreign shores ; and there, falling into the hands of a heathen, may, through the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, convert a soul to God. Yea more, such mites sufficiently multiplied, may help to send forth a herald of the Cross to proclaim the message of salvation to thousands “ dead in trespasses and in sins.” And if, oh ye humble poor ! if a Bible purchased, or a Christian ambassador partly sent through the aid of your accumulated mites, when accompa- nied by the sweet incense of your prayers, prove instrumen- tal in bringing one soul to the cross of Christ, — the fact may be unnoticed by men, it may be unknown to yourselves, — but rest assured that the fact shall be recorded, and your names shall be registered in the annals of eternity. Oh yes ! The kings and great men of the earth rear the sculp- tured statue and the stately monument, in the vain hope of transmitting their names with reverence to succeeding generations. And yet the sculptured statue and the stately monument do crumble into decay, and must finally be burnt

OBJECTION OF THE SPECULATIVE THEORIST.

475

up with the general wreck of dissolving nature. But he who hath been privileged, directly or indirectly, to bring one soul to the cross of Christ, hath reared a far more enduring monument ; — a monument which shall outlast all time, and survive the wreck and ruin of a thousand worlds ; — a trophy which is destined to bloom and flourish in immortal youth in the climes of immortality ; — and which will perpetuate the remembrance of him who raised it through the boundless duration of eternal ages !

It were useless to rehearse the many frivolous pretences put forth by narrow-minded theorists, in order to evade the obligation of supporting the missionary enterprise, — such as that “ without the aid of miracles the world cannot be con- verted, and they must withhold their co-operation till these are bestowed,” — that is, till such time as their co-operation may not be needed ! To all who shelter themselves behind this or similar subterfuges, we can only apply the remark of the author of the Natural History of Enthusiasm : — “ Who- ever,” says he, “ on the plea of hypothetical anticipations (or hypothetical reasonings), sneaks away from the post of Chris- tain duty, must be regarded as possessed of no common sense, or no human sympathies. Even if it could he shown on the strongest grounds of probability^ that we may expect a Divine interposition to-morrow, such as should supersede our labours ; still it remains certain, that to-day the work of preaching the Gospel is the duty of all who call themselves the disciples of Christ."

The only objection of an hypothetical nature which at pre- sent is at all likely practically to influence the minds of any proportion of the professing friends and disciples of the Lord Jesus, is that arising from the anticipated destiny of the Jewish people. It is now all but universally believed, on the clearest testimony of Scripture, that God has marvellous things in store for the remnant of the seed of Abraham ; — and that their call and restoration to the land of their fathers is, in some way or other, to be inseparably linked with the

476

CERTAINTY OF CONVERSION OF THE JEWS.

bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles.” Hence the strange- ly inconsequential inference of many, that all measures for the evangelization of the heathen world ought to be suspend- ed till such time as the Jews, whether by ordinary or mira- culous means, are reinvested with their long-lost privileges ! Do these allow themselves to consider, that if their inference he valid noic, it must have been equally so durinq the primitive ages ? — and that the apostles and their successors, instead of pro- claiming the unsearchable riches of Christ to all heathen nations, ought to have suspended their evangelistic operations till the Jews, who in their time had been “ cast off, ” should be reinstated in that national relationship from which they had '•'‘fallen away /” Far different has been the conduct of those in every age who have resolved to study the dispensations of the Almighty in their entireness of mutual bearing and connection ; and who have resolved to embrace the whole, and not a mere frag- ment, of revealed duty. Hear the strain in which one of the wisest, most acute, and most sagacious of Christian men embodies his convictions on the subject of the ultimate con- version of God’s ancient people, and its influence on the conversion of the Gentile nations : — “ Every’ view,” says he, “ that we have thus taken of the great question respecting the future prevalence of the Gospel, — while it admonishes of the high importance of equal prudence and zeal in the means which are employed for its propagation, — ser’\’es also, blessed be God 1 to establish our confidence in its ultimate and rmi- versal dominion. At what perdod, or by what parlicular means, whether ordinary’ or miraculous, the Divine Being may be pleased to accomplish the conversion of His ancient and peculiar people, it belongs not to us to judge. But it is impossible not to anticipate the influence of their conversion — at whatever time it may take place — in hastening that happy time when the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah shall extend over the uttermost pari;s of the earth. Even the present condition of the Jews, regarded as the fulfilment of prophecy, — their continued existence as a separate people, after having been dispersed for more than seventeen hundred vears among all nations, — affords one of the strongest argu-

OBLIGATION TO DIFFUSE THE GOSPEL.

477

ments that can be addressed to a reflecting mind, for the Divine mission of the Saviour of the world, and, consequently, for the ultimate triumph of His Church on earth. But what additional overpowering evidence of Divine truth will it afford to all other nations, to behold the fulfilment of those prophecies which relate to the future greatness of this long- despised and long-neglected race? When the Messiah shall at length manifest himself as the glory of his people Israel, — when his outstretched arm shall be visible to every eye, in all the splendour of their re-establishment in the abode of their fathers, — when the Sun of Eighteousness shall again rise upon that land in which the redemption of men was accomplished, — when the rays of that divine glory which, to the outward eye, seemed to be eclipsed on Mount Calvary, shall yet visibly illumine that scene of former humiliation and suffering, — it cannot surely be too much to expect that the Gentiles shall every where come to His light, and all the kings of the earth to the brightness of His rising. The know- ledge of the Lord shall then speedily cover the earth, and there shall be no longer any thing to hurt or destroy among men.” But did he who thus expressed himself with such emphasis and eloquence, relative to the restoration of the Jews, and its influence on the surrounding nations, deem it incompatible with his conviction on this head, to engage in any exertions in behalf of the Gentile world ? He had not so learnt his Bible. No ! With equal force and truth does he proceed, saying, “ One Christian duty does not supersede another. If we he neglectful of the means hy which God puts it in our power to advance the interest of all, or any, who par- take of our common nature, we are unquestionably answerable for such neglect. While we are commanded to ‘ do good to all men,’ we are commanded to do it ‘ as we have opportu- nity.’ Our opportunity is the criterion of our obligation — both of the strength of the obligation itself, and of the sphere within which ive are called to labour for its fulfilment.” Again, — “ while we anticipate this glorious result” (the happy time when the knowledge of the Lord shall universally pre- vail), “ let us also respect and honour, as it becomes us,

478

CONVERSION OF THE GENTILES.

whatever labour may, under God, be conducive to the gra- dual accomplishment of his glorious purpose. We shall, in this way, have the honour to accord and co-operate with the gracious purpose of heaven, in behalf of our fallen race ; and shall at length receive, through Divine grace, the glorious recompense of those who, in consequence of their turning ‘ many to righteousness, shall shine as stars for ever and ever.

The author of these remarks was not a man of mere words. Casting his eyes over the heathen world, he soon beheld a door great and effectual opened, in the good providence of God, for the spread of the Gospel among the millions of idolatrous India. Seizing so favourable an “ opportunity” as “ the criterion of his own obligation,” he laboured to awaken the Church, of which he was so bright an ornament, to a due sense of her responsibility. Nor did he labour in vain. If that great and good man — the venerated father and founder of the Church of Scotland’s India Mission — had only been alive this day, how would his spirit have been stirred up to bless and magnify the name of the Lord, for the cheering success of that mighty enterprise which he was privileged as the hon- oured instrument to originate ! But, while thus rejoicing at the progress of the Gospel among the Gentiles, would he look askance at those measures which contemplate, under God, the conversion of the Jews? No ; his capacious mind would view loth objects as only two departments of one grand evange- lizing process ; and his philanthropic heart would rejoice the more at the twofold prospect of speedily realizing the glori- ous era when both Jews and Gentiles shall be gathered into one fold, under the Great Shepherd. And were we all thus to rejoice before the Lord, would we not be treading in the footsteps of St Paul ? While he protested that his “ heart’s desire and prayer to God was, that Israel might be saved ; ” and while he laboured beyond measure, “ if by any means he might save some of them,” — did he not exult in magnifying his office” as “ the Apostle of the Gentiles? ” If, then, we possess aught of his spirit, must we not banish all delusive theories, and at once exclaim, “ Woe be unto us if we preach

IS JEWISH TO PRECEDE GENTILE CONVERSION ? 479

not the Gospel according to the opportunity presented to us, whether to Jew, or Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free ! ” In the genuine spirit of sectarianism, those who would defer any efforts to convert the Gentile nations till the restoration of God’s ancient people, ring the changes incessantly on one or two isolated texts. And not only so, but like all other sec- tarists, they quite consistently separate even these texts from the context ! Look, for example, at the celebrated passages in the eleventh chapter of the Romans, — “ Now, if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness I ” — “ If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?” In perpetually quoting these words, — which do assuredly imply that the future recall of the Jews will be a prolific source of revival, enlargement, and blessing to the Gentile Churches beyond any former precedent, how seldom is attention directed to the words immediately preceding ! But these words are very significant. “ Have they stumbled that they should fall?” asks the apostle, “ God forbid ; but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles to pro- voke them to jealousy r Again, “ I speak to you Gentiles, if, by any means, I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh.” Once more, “ blindness in part is happened to Israel till the fulness of the Gentiles he brought in." These remark- able words, in the opinion of the soundest and most recent commentators, such as Hodges, Haldane, &c., do clearly imply that, “ as the result and design of the rejection of the Jews was the salvation of the Gentiles, so the conversion of the latter was designed to bring about the conversion of the former. The Gentiles are saved to provoke the Jews to jea- lousy; that is, this is one of the benevolent purposes which God designed to accomplish by that event.” Again, “ the Jews will be excited, by seeing God’s favour to the Gentiles, to reflect on their own fallen condition, and to desire to possess the same advantages. When the Jews can no longer hide from them- selves that the God of their fathers is among the nations whom they abhor, they will be led to consider their ways, and

480 OBLIGATION TO LABOUR FOR BOTH JEW AND GENTILE.

brought again into the fold of Israel.” Once more, when it is said that the partial blindness of the Jews is to continue until the conversion of the fulness of the Gentiles, “ it does not necessarily imply that all the Gentiles are thus to be brought in before the conversion of the Jews occurs ; but, that this latter event is not to take place until a great multitude of the Gentiles have entered into the kingdom of Christ.” “ It is a consolation that the Jews are under no exclusion that forbids the preaching of the Gospel to them, and using every effort for their conversion. Though the national re- jection will continue till the appointed time, yet individuak from among them may at any time be brought to the know- ledge of God. The blindness of the Jews will yet cease, not only as to individuals, but as to the body. It is not stated at what time this will happen ; hut it is connected with the fulness or accession of the Gentiles to the body of Christ.” “ The rejection of the Jews was not intended to result in their being finally cast away, but to secure the more rapid progress of the Gospel among the heathen, in order that their conversion might react upon the Jews, and be the means of bringing all at last to the fold of the Re- deemer.” From all this, what is the legitimate inference? If, from the passages quoted, it appear indisputable that the full enrichment and blessedness of the Gentiles must follow the complete restoration of the Jews, — is it not equally indisputable that a very general and extensive calling of the former must precede the national conversion of the latter^ and he overruled as one of the leading providential instruments in realizing so glorious an event ? Now, as no calling of the Gentiles has yet occurred that will adequately answer to the comprehensive phraseology of Scripture, — and as without a more extended call of the latter than has yet been wit- nessed, the full blessedness of the former cannot be consum- mated,— those who long and labour most strenuously for the restoration of ancient Israel, should long and labour with equal ardour for the promulgation of the Gospel among all Gentile nations. And, since the fidness of the Gentiles cannot be expected without the antecedent fulness of Israel,

JEWS IN EASTERN ASIA.

481

it becomes those who long and labour for the salvation of the former, to long and labour, as far as in them lies, for the effectual national conversion of the latter. In a word, it well befits all who love the Saviour and the souls of men, in imitation of apostolic example, to use all diligence towards bringing in the fulness both of Jews and G-entiles, that the blessed era may be hastened, when both shall centre in one holy brotherhood.

So much for legitimate deduction from the language of Scripture. What light, if any, do existing appearances throw upon the subject ? Ignorant of the experience of others, we shall simply record our own. About nine years ago, it was our privilege to act as a member of a small committee in Calcutta for the spread of the Gospel among the Jews. The number in that metropolis is but small, — averaging about two hundred families. They fluctuate exceedingly ; being chiefly strangers engaged in commerce from other parts of India — the Eastern Archipelago, and the Arabian Gulph. It was soon very palpable that one of the chief obstacles to the reception of Christianity was, the present condition of the heathen nations. In substance did these Oriental Jews constantly express themselves, — “ You say that Christianity is the only true religion, and that it was destined to pervade the whole world. It is now eighteen hun- dred years since its first promulgation. Individuals of our nation are scattered over all quarters of the globe. Every where we find ourselves confronted by a mass of Pagan ido- latry. Christianity is thus shut up within a narrow corner of the earth. If it were, as you allege, the true religion, and destined to be universal, this could not be. Christianity, therefore, cannot be the true religion, — its alleged preten- sions to universality being wholly baseless. We must, there- fore, still cleave to the law of Moses.” Such being the strong hostile impression on the Jewish mind in Eastern Asia, does it require any argument to prove what a power- ful effect would be produced upon it by a general breaking down of the surrounding idolatries of the Gentile nations, and a general progress towards the reception of Christianity

48-2

EFFECT OF GENTILE CONVERSION UPON JEWS.

instead ? Would not such a general result at least neutral- ize, if not annihilate, the staggering objection from the pre- sent limited extension of the religion of Jesus, and the con- sequent almost imiversal dominion of heathenish worship ? Would not the spreading progress of Christianity stir up the inmost soul of the Jew, to surmise that this abhorred faith might, after all, prove to be the true religion, seeing that it threatened to become imiversal ? Would not the signal reformation, in the external manners and customs, of converts from a degrading superstition, and the palpable amelioration in their outward temporal estate, still farther tend to impress the scattered remnant of Israel with a sense of the power and excellency of the Christian faith ? Would they not, from these and other causes, be more mellowed and softened towards a candid if not favourable entertain- ment of the message of the great salvation ? And if, while numbers were thus every where awakening to serious reflec- tion and penitent confession, Jehovah did make bare His holy arm, and restore them, as a body, to the land of their fathers, — who does not perceive how mightily such a mar- vellous event would be calculated to arrest the attention, arouse the inquiries, impress the understandings and the hearts of all in every land, among whom a knowledge of God's dealings with his peculiar people had been previously difiFused ! Who does not perceive, how in this way, the previous call of multitudes from among all the Gentile nations would “ provoke the Jews to jealousy,’' — leading to their general conversion and national restoration • — and how such generEil conversion and national restoration must inevitably react upon the nations, so as to lead to the bringing in of their fulness? If, then, the Word of God and existing facts seem to conspire in pointing this out as the probable order of events, how unwise, how antiscriptural, to suspend for a moment the present efibrts to evangelize the Gentiles ! — those efforts, the success of which, with the Divine blessing, not only insures the rescue of myriads of immortal souls from perdition, but seems destined, in the providence of God, to prove eminently instrumental towards

OBJECTION OP THE NOMINAL CHRISTIAN.

483

the future restoration of the house of Israel ! — those efforts, the success of which is thus designed to hasten on the pre- dicted period which shall witness the incorporation and integration of both Jews and Gentiles in the bosom of one visible universal Church ?

The form which the favourite objection of the merely nominal or sincere hut weaJc-minded professor usually assumes is as follows ; — “ Why talk to us so much about heathenism abroad ? Have we not enough of heathens in Scotland and England, without crossing oceans and continents to find them ? Labour, therefore, by all means, to convert those at home first ; charity begins at home ; and then, but not till then, will it be time to turn your attention to those abroad.’’’’

It is a matter of simple and notorious fact that this most trite of all objections is advanced by many whose whole tone and demeanour incontestibly prove, that by them it is em- ployed merely as a convenient mask under which to evade the calls of Christian benevolence, and throw, ridicule on the subject of conversion altogether. These do assume the Christian name ; and could not, therefore, without forfeiting the very shadow of a title to it, openly asperse one of the fundamental duties of their faith. But though Christians- in name, they are in reality unbelievers or infidels in heart. Their adopting this particular form of objection is designed to convey the impression, that they have some concern for the maintenance of their faith, and some interest in the spiritual welfare of their fellow-men ; — only, at present, the sphere of benevolence ought to be contracted. It is designed to be implied that the destitute condition of their brethren at home has claims on their sympathy, and that they are willing to do something to promote their conversion. And were these once turned to the Lord, it is even designed to be insinuated that the case of the heathen abroad might then demand serious consideration.

All the while, however, there may be nothing farther from their heart than a vital interest either in the conversion of

48i

OBJECTION OF THE NOMINAL CHRISTIAN.

heathen at home or heathen at a distance. Never, never would they spontaneously originate any movement for the attainment of either object. So far from this, when fairly and downrightly caught on their own ground, they too often prove the utter hollowness of all their pretensions. Set on foot an enlarged scheme of Christian philanthropy for home. In some Highland glen or city lane, which, — from long neglect, has been allowed to run into a wilderness of heathenism, — propose to erect a fabric for the assembling of the people, with a view to their instruction in the know- ledge of salvation and ultimate conversion to God. Go to the more wealthy of those who pray to be excused from con- tributing to foreign missions on the ground stated in the present objection. If honest in their profession, will they not rejoice to have it in their power to give substantial proof of their sincerity, — seeing that you design to accomplish the very object^ and the only one, which they acknowledge to be at present legitimate ? Most undoubtedly ! Go, then, and apply to them for help, — go confidently, and appeal to their owm avowed principles. Ah ! but they were not prepared to be taken so smartly at their word ! They were not prepared to have the sincerity of their profession put to so direct, and practical, and substantial a test ! Hence, they receive your application coldly. They stammer and stagger in their utterances. They hesitate and inquire, and inquire and hesitate again. At length they contrive to slide away from their original ground altogether. Still, they do not quarrel with your object. Oh, no ! The object they allow is excellent, and they highly approve of it. But their mind is now somewhat changed on the subject of means for its at- tainment. They do not novo think that the building of a Church, or the preaching of the Gospel to the adult and the aged, is the best method. They are disposed to conclude that the object could be best accomplished by directing your attention to the young. They advise you, therefore, as the real friends of intellectual, moral, and religious improve- ment, to abandon your present scheme, and institute an- other exclusively directed to the cultivation of the youthful

OBJECTION OF NOMINAL CHRISTIAN REPELLED.

485

mind. And, in this case, they assure you, — in order to maintain an outward show of consistency, — that you may depend on their cordial and liberal support.

Well, time rolls on ; and, in the flux of circumstances, it is in your power to propose the erection of an educational seminary in the same locality as that of the intended church. You now go with a doubly assured confidence to the pro- fessed friends of youthful improvement. But, to your amaze- ment and surprise, you find your reception as cold as ever. What ! — Do they now disapprove of their own selected and favourite scheme ? By no means, — if you trust to their mere profession. Such disapprobation will not in words be avowed. What then ? Why, there are many drawbacks and diffi- culties in the way. The calls for charitable purposes, at all times so many, of late, in particular, have become so mul- tiplied, that they cannot all be attended to. Besides, the time of your application has been unhappily chosen. They have been newly drained by extra expenses — in building houses or improving farms, in supporting public measures or helping needy friends, in educating a growing family or settling them in the world. Farther still ; — the season has been unfavourable ; the produce of the field is deficient ; money is scarce ; and, to crown all, the poor are crying for meat. “ And would you,” ask they, in a tone of impassioned earnestness, and in the language of an appeal which they hope to be resistless, “ would you have us, by contributing at present to your foreign schemes, to rob the poor of bread 9 ”

With men who can be guilty of all this shifting and shuffling, it is in vain to argue. It is in vain to tell them that all this pleading is but a tissue of wretched sophistry and flimsy evasion. To begin with the climax of the address, expressive of such earnest concern for the welfare of the poor, — their words seem warm and tender ; but, to the eye of Omniscience, the heart may be cold as Polar ice, and hard as the nether mill-stone. Such language is too frequently uttered only in the spirit of the traitor-disciple, who seemed to sympathize so intensely with the poor, that he thought all wasted which did not go directly to the relief of their

486

OBJECTION REPELLED.

temporal wants. — Not that he cared for the poor ; but because he had the bag, and bare what was put therein.” That this is no misrepresentation of the spirit by which the present class of objectors is actuated, their actions too often testify. Their private voluntary liberalities may be so very stinted, that they draw down upon themselves a compulsory legal assessment. They then talk of being ground to the dust ; and complain of the poor as an insupportable burden, — to get quit of which they would not sorely regret a visi- tation of the plague or of the pestilence.

It is in vain to tell them that by their refusing to assist in planting and upholding the church and the school, they are augmenting the evil complained of a hundredfold. It is in vain to tell them how the experience of all ages tends to prove that ignorance, indolence, and profligacy, follow close in the rear of a destitution of the regular means of moral and religious instruction. It is in vain to tell them how igno- rance, indolence, and profligacy, ever have been the fruitful parents of penury and want. It is in vain to tell them that the royal road towards reducing the number of the poor and the needy to the lowest minimum^ — consistent with the im- perfections of a probationary state, — is vigorously to estab- lish the means of conveying moral and religious instruction to the entire mass of the population. It is in vain to appeal to the resistless inference, that they who withhold their mite from the planting of a church or school where it is really need- ed, are only hoarding it up to be drawn forth with double, triple, or decuple interest, into the exhausting receiver of a clamant poverty, — while, at the same time, they are deeply responsible before God for entailing, by their accursed ava- rice, on thousands around, all that reckless ignorance and brazen hardihood of profligacy which never fail to issue in de- moralization, impoverishment, and death. And if an appeal, founded on the all-engrossing interests of time, will fail to move, — how idle is it to appeal to higher motives deduced from the economy of grace ! W e might as well expect to sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind, as to obviate the foolish cavils, expose the glaring inconsistencies, convince the under-

OBJECTION REPELLED.

487

standings, or open the hearts of those whose absorbing world- liness renders them, in such matters, argument-proof. With such individuals we must at once go to the root of the disease. We must calmly, affectionately, yet faithfully address them, saying, “ Miserable, self-blinded, infatuated men ! ye know not the plague of your own hearts, — and that is the reason of all your apathy and selfishness and inconsistency. Ye advise us to abandon the heathen abroad, and begin with the hea- then at home. Would that ye were led to act in accordance with your own counsel ! Charity, you say, begins at home. Would that it were exercised where it is most required ! There is a boundless world of heathenism abroad ; and there is, alas, a world of heathenism around you at home. But there is another world of heathenism much nearer home than either the wilds of Paganism, or the wastes of city lanes and rural parishes. That other world, as an eloquent writer has in substance remarked, you constantly carry about with you : — it is “ the little icorld of heathenism in your own heart /” Would then that in its most pungent, and in your case, most appropriate sense, you did begin at home — at the home of your own hearts ! Would that ye laboured to extirpate the heathenism thence ! And if, through God’s blessing, ye succeeded, v/e venture to predict that all your views about heathenism, whether around you or at a distance — and all your views of duty regarding it would at once be completely changed. After that, not one appeal would be needed to enlist your most devoted services in the missionary cause. In a word, your own conversion to God would at once lead you with intensest fervour to long, and pray, and labour after the conversion of the lohole world of heathens whether at home or abroad. For if there be one axiom more indisputable than another in Christian economics, it is this : — ‘■''That the man whose soul is largely fraught with the love of Christ, can entertain no objections, and can stand in need of no argument to convince him of the duty and obligation of propagating the Gospel throughout the worlds Indeed, so absolutely indisputable is this, that the moment a professing believer whispers a suspicion on the subject, there is reason

488 OBJECTION OF WEAK-MINDED CHRISTIANS.

to doubt whether he has any faith at all ; or, if he has, there is reason to conclude that it is wellnigh smothered beneath the rubbish of ignorance and misapprehension. In the case of such persons, therefore, instead of entering at once into an argument about missionary obligation, it is always well to move the previous question, and ask, Believest thou the Scriptures ? If the reply be in the affirmative, the next question should be, Understandest thou practically what thou readest ? For without such practical belief and understanding, no one can possess the state of mind, either as to knowledge or right feeling, which is essential towards comprehending the nature and object of the missionaiy enterprise ; or appreciating the suitableness and the urgency of the motives which must impel every genuine disciple to the fartherance of it.

There is another and a ver>' numerous class by whom the present objection is advanced, in arrest of all demands to join in supporting the missionary enterprise : — a class of in- dividuals who, in the judgment of charity, may be reckoned heirs of salvation.

These are of the number of the weaker brethren — weak not so much in faith and in the spiritual life, as in the understanding or power of enlarged comprehension. Their souls, it may be, are turned to the Saviour — and on Him they may lean as their “well-beloved.” But they are so occupied in the search after spiritual comforts, or the investigation of spiritual frames, or the rehearsal of spiritual experiences : — they are so perpetually in quest of spiritual regalement from the sermons of favourite preachers, or the publications of favourite authors, or the conversations of favourite friends ; — in a word, they are so shut up within a narrow enclosure of snug selfish spiritualities, that there is little room in their hearts, and little leisure in their passing hours, for any consideration of the interests of the general cause of the Redeemer throughout the world. They are themselves all the home in which they feel specially concerned.

NARROW VIEWS OP SOME CHRISTIANS.

489

Or, if they step over the threshold of their own personality, it may be to sit in the chair of authority, and to act the part of self-installed critics of popular men, or reviewers of public measures, or chroniclers of their neighbour’s fail- ings, or oracles in the coteries of religious fellowship. Or if, perchance, they do creep across the narrow domain of domiciliary and social piety, it may be zealously to embark in upholding the peculiar interest of that section of the Christian Church with which they are in communion ; or to swell into vastly disproportionate magnitude some minor article of faith, or little point of external observance in their ritual, order, or discipline ; — that is, zealously to labour in attempting to convince themselves and persuade others that the small lamp of midnight oil is a vastly more important light than the great luminary whose glorious shining causes the very stars to hide their heads ! Or if, farther still, they ever venture beyond the petty range of party and of sect, it may be to exercise their minds a little, and contribute a little in endeavouring to provide for the multiplied wants of those destitute of the means of grace in the land of their fathers. But here the horizon of their benevolence is wholly bounded. Beyond the land of their nativity they have little knowledge, and still less consideration. One might be in their society for years, and, so far as they are concerned, never know that there were any other human beings on the face of the earth worth caring for, except the inhabitants of these highly favoured isles, — never know, indeed, but that Scotland or England, the Orkneys or the Hebrides, really constituted the world. He, therefore, who has traversed the ocean, and mingled with men of every colour and of every clime, must feel in the fellowship of such people, as if shut up with a company of anchorites, in some cleft of the rock, or some still deeper cavity towards the centre of the earth. And as to the scheme of redemption, in its grandeur, vast- ness, and universality, — embracing the destinies of myriads of the human family, from the first song of “ the morning stars” to the sound of “ the last trumpet,” — it seems to ex- ceed the compass of their understanding as far as the cycles

II h

490

HEATHENISM AT HOME.

of eternity defy the calculations of their arithmetic, or the amplitudes of space surpass the reach of their corporeal grasp.

Now, how are we to deal with this race of narrow- viewed Christians of every grade and name, whose thoughts of duty centre on self ; or circulate in the little orbit of family, or friends, or neighbourhood, or party, or denomination, or native land, — to all of which in succession may be extended the appellation of home ? These, when appealed to on behalf of the foreign missionary enterprise, object not to the prinv- ciple — but somehow or other they chime in with the objection, that the necessities of home ought first to be wholly supplied. And in their use of the objection, — though not openly avowed in so many words, yet, in the intelligible language of action — they do proclaim that, in their estimation, home has at present the only claim upon them — that, so far as the}' are concerned, all Christian efforts ought to be confined to home. How, then, are we to deal with this class of recusants ?

Our treatment of them, it is clear, must be very different from that of the former class. Those now in view, we trust, are believers ; though their minds are very contracted, and their view's of the enlarged design of Christianity very in- adequate. They accordingly acknowledge the sovereign authority of Christ as the great head of the Church ; and, so far as they understand the nature of his ordinances and laws, they at once confess their obligation to yield to these an implicit obedience. Let us, therefore, summarily address them somehow as follow's : — You proclaim, not perhaps in words, but by the whole tenor of your conduct, that home., in one or other of its varied applications, is the only legiti- mate sphere of Christian benevolence. There are enough of heathens at home, you say, therefore let us expend all our disposable means at home. Now we pray you to consider, — seriously and solemnly w'e beseech you to consider, — whether such language, how'ever plausible it may appear to yourselves, be taken from the vocabulary of heaven, or unconsciously bor- row'ed from that of hell ! Be not startled at such plainness of speech. Time is passing ; sinners are perishing ; the grave is opening ; and eternity, with its irreversible awards, is

OBLIGATION TO PREACH THE GOSPEL UNIVERSALLY.’ 491

nigh at hand, at the very door. We cannot, therefore, afford to waste the precious flying moments in idle dalliance of phrase. ’What, let us ask, is the ultimate design of heaven in regard to the spread of the Gospel, as promulgated in the sacred oracles ? Is it not that, through human in- strumentality accompanied with the agency of the Spirit, its light should he diffused so as to acquire a dominion co- extensive with the habitable globe ? ^Vhat, on the other hand, has ever been the malignant policy of the great enemy of God and man, as sketched in graphic notices in the page of Inspiration ? Is it not, at all times, and in aU places, to eclipse or extinguish the light of the everlasting Gospel 2 And when he fails in this, has not his next object ever been to shut up its hallow’ed rays within as small a corner as he can 2 — so as by all means to do the least possible good ! And how does he set about the execution of his designs 2 Think of the case of our first parents in Paradise. The Great Author of their being most peremptorily enjoined them, saying, “ Thou sTialt not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou slmlt surely die.” But he who was “ a liar and a murderer from the beginning” dares to contradict his Maker. “ God,” in- sinuates he, “ is so good and gracious that He could never have laid you under so unconflding an ordinance, — so rigorous and unreasonable a restriction. You may rest assured that there is either some mistake as to the terms in which the command has been announced, or some misconception as to the literal interpretation thereof. Notwithstanding, there- fore, the apparent prohibition, you may^ — believe me, — you may eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and yet you shall not surely die, but be as gods, knowing good and evil.” The unhappy pair were caught in the diabolical stratagem ; they ate ; they sinned ; they fell. And up to this day, is not the earth burdened with the curse of their transgression 2 So again, in like manner, as regards the Divine injunc- tion to difflise universally the blessed knowledge of salvation, which is designed by God to repair the ruinous effects of partaking of the forbidden “ tree of knowledge, of good and

492 OBLIGATION TO PREACH THE GOSPEL UNIVERSALLY.

evil!” He who is exalted to be Head and King of His Church, and Governor among the nations, peremptorily en- joined his professing disciples, saying, “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature^' — promising to them His countenance and presence to the end of time. The great adversary is alarmed for the safety and integrity of his dark and dire dominion. This great master of sub- tilties, ever fertile in devices, cunningly contrives to contra- dict Him, whom, in mortal conflict, he was compelled to own as Conqueror and Everlasting King. “ The Redeemer,” secretly whispers he in the unwitting soul of this one and that, “ is so full of kindness and compassion, that He could scarcely have issued an edict so authoritative, — demanding services so extensive, and exacting such sacrifices of time, and strength, and property. No, no ! There must be some mistake here. Depend upon it, there is some mistake, either in the language of the commission itself, or in the literal in- terpretation which some austere disciples would put upon it. Rightly and rationally interpreted, the words, ‘ Go ye into all the world,’ must mean, ‘ Go not into all the world ’ in its largest and most comprehensive sense, but ‘ only to the world of home!' And, ‘ preach the Gospel to every creature’ must signify, ‘ Do not preach the Gospel to every creature,’ in the strict literality and universality of that term, but ‘ only to every creature at home! It is yo\xr privilege, therefore, and apparently yo\XY duty, just to stay at home — to confine all your attention and labours to home, — to preach the Gospel to the perishing thousands at home. Surely home has the first and highest claims on your benevolence. It is the land of your fathers, — the cradle of your youth, — the nurse of all your tenderest associations. It must be entwined about your hearts by ten thousand peculiar ties, — the endearments of the domestic circle, the reciprocities of friendship, the agencies of business. What, then, have you to do with foreign lands ? ” Such ingenious specious pleading, carried on by the promptings of Satan at the bar of a deceitful heart, too often, alas ! gains easy credit with thousands'who instantly raise the loud shout of “ Home — thousands who

APPEAL TO CHRISTIANS.

493

seem to be caught in the subtile snare, — the insidious plot against the Lord and His Anointed ! And speedily do thou- sands more re-echo to the shout, saying, “ Home, home ; — there are enough of heathens at home ; enough of work to be done at home ; — then, why should we trouble our- selves with the heathens of foreign lands ? ” And thus, so far as such Christians are concerned, the Prince of Dark- ness is daily and hourly allowed to thwart and defeat the mei’ciful designs of the Prince of Light ! The liar and mur- derer of souls is daily and hourly allowed to triumph in per- petuating the reign of sin and the miseries of the curse throughout the greater part of the habitations of guilty re- bellious man !

We would, therefore, entreat and beseech the members of every Christian Church and communion, who are chiefly concerned in this most solemnizing theme. We would en- treat and beseech you, as from the borders of the daily grave of myriads of fellow-immortals, — rushing, in ignorance and guilt, to the bar of the great assize : — we would entreat and beseech you, by the goodness of God to your own souls, and His severity towards those who believe not, — by the unsearchable riches of His grace, and the full “ thunder of His power” in executing vengeance on the impenitent : — we would entreat, we vrould beseech ; and, if we could, — on our bended knees, and prostrate in the dust at the feet of every one of you, — we would adjure you to reconsider your most fatal, your most antichristian determination. Come, ponder and decide now. There is not a moment to be lost. Say, — Will ye, by inscribing “ Home, only home,” on the banner of your benevolence, any longer fraternize with the agents, and do what in you lies to farther the cruel designs, of the arch-apostate ? Or will ye, by emblazoning your standard with the divine watchword of “ All the world,” and “ every creature,” henceforth prove yourselves right leal and trusty soldiers in the conquering army of the King of kings ? Make haste, and choose now which part ye will. There is no alternative before you ; and there must be no delay. By the one act or the other ye must instantly re-

494

APPEAL TO CHRISTIANS.

solve to side with God or Satan — Christ or Belial. And oh, if, in the blindness of your minds, or the perverseness of your wills, ye do, consciously or unconsciouslv, decide in favour of the latter ! — “ Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon,” lest the great infidel confederacy in every land should sound the loud note of triumph at your treasonable decision; — yea, and the “ Nether world” itself, with joy —

“ Hear, far aud wide ; and all the host of heU,

With deaf’ning shout, return the loud acclaim ! ”

In conclusion, we call upon all that name the name of the Lord Jesus in sincerity and in truth, to come forth now to the mighty warfare about to be waged with the antichristian powers of the nations. Equipped in the whole armour of God, henceforward resolve to silence every objection, not so much by learned arguments as by decisive action. Never, since the world began, has the voice of Providence pealed with louder accents in the ears of a slumbering generation. There have been times more signally characterised by the thunderbolt-visitations of ambitious conquerors, or the vol- canic eruptions of an infuriated people. These, however, have hitherto been either ephemeral in duration, or compa- ratively limited in space. But lift up your eyes this day, and turn them to the Old World or to the New, — to the north, south, east, or west, — and every where you behold a deep, sullen, intractable, determined spirit, — swiftly circulating in an under-current through the entire mass of mankind, — and ever and anon bubbling forth in jets of violence upon the surface. It is the innovating spirit of change. Already hath it seized upon all plans, all forms, all systems, all insti- tutions, all policies, all religions. Already does it sweep the wide earth as with a resistless and ever-increasing torrent, — threatening to hurry the most venerated products of all intellects and of all ages into its absorbing eddies. And we hear of the earth being filled with the sound of prepa- ration,— the tumultuous noise of congregated myriads — of passions raging wild and lawless as the waves of ocean, —

TRUTH WILL ULTIMATELY PREVAIL.

495

of the fearful dissolutions of law and contempt of authority, of the mercenary jarrings and contentions of opposing fac- tions, which infuse their deadly venom into the very sinews of society, — of envyings, and strifes, and never-ending dis- cords, that swell to a tremendous height, unsettling the foun- dations of established order, — awakening awful suspense and foreboding fears. We hear, in reference to things sacred, of scoffings, and jestings, and pleasantries, and flashings of malignant wit which, like the corruscations of flaming me- teors, dazzle only to bewilder and perplex ; — laughing out of the world the doctrines of human depravity, and guilt, and condemnation, as the antiquated dogmas of gloomy asceticism or gothic misanthropy ! Above all, we hear of countless delusive phantasies under the counterfeit names of rationalism, utilitarianism, liberalism, spiritualism, per- fectionism,— and a thousand other isms — that would strike down the very corner-stone of revealed truth ; and cause all faith in it, as fixed and unchangeable, to droop, and wither, and decay, and pass out of the number of recognised exist- ences ; — all, all shaking the surface of the social, political, and religious waters into a thousand billows, that cross, thwart, and devour each other, — causing the hearts of the stoutest to quail and fail for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth ! Must we, therefore, despair of the ultimate triumph of Divine truth ; or mournfully conclude that faith itself may yet be extin- guished ? Oh, no. Sooner would the earth be severed into fragments, than Truth be finally routed, or faith wholly evanish. When the great Author and Finisher of our faith expired in agonies upon the cross, the rocks rent, the earth quaked, and the sun refused his shining. And were all faith in Him, — and in those eternal verities that cluster around Him as the central sun in the firmament of Truth, — finally to expire, methinks all nature would dissolve, or teem with the elements of eternal torment. But it is here that meetings for pi’ayer and for the spread of the Gospel open up one cheering glimpse into the future. Meetings like these seem to prove that there is still a righteous

496

A CALL TO CHRISTIAN ACTIVITY.

remnant in the land that sigh and cry over its abominations, and exult in the assurance that, however dark the horizon, “ all the promises do travail with a glorious day of grace.” When we I’ecall the days of old, — how, for the sake of righte- ous Noah, the race of men was saved from being wholly de- stroyed by the waters ; and how, if ten righteous men were found in Sodom and Gomorrah, these cities of the plain would not be overwhelmed with fire and brimstone from heaven ; — and when we think, that in this land there is still a righte- ous remnant, — of whose existence, our prayer-meetings and other evangelical assemblings furnish so precious and de- lightful a testimony ; — who can tell but that, for its sake, the Lord may yet be pleased to cause the ark of our covenant to ride in safety over the troubled waters, and to land us in the haven of quiet and unchanging rest ? Oh, let us then, as many as believe in the Lord our Righteousness, be roused from our drowsy slumber. The night is far spent — the day is at hand. The emissaries of darkness, — whose name, for multitude, is legion, — knowing that their time is short, every where confederate against the Lord and His Anointed. Is it not high time, then, that all who are loyal to our heavenly King should unite — unite in those bonds of love, which are indissoluble, because love is eternal. And if in the contest we perish, let us resolve to perish in the breach, — that our heroic death may become the life of an imperishable cause. Let us rally round the great Captain of Salvation. And, as we march under His banner, resolved to conquer or to die, oh, let us disdain the watchword of party or of sect — of country or of home. Let our battle-song, like that of pro- phets, and apostles, and martyrs, still be —

“ Salvation ! oh, salvation I The joyous sound proclaim,

Till earth’s remotest nation Has learnt Messiah’s name.”

CHAPTER VI.

BRIEF NOTICE OF THE EARLY RISE OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND’S INDIA MISSION.

The Church of Christ ceases to fourish when it ceases to he missionary — Towards the close of last century the Protestant Churches began to awaken from their long slumber — The Church of Scotland, which for years had maintained the attitude of specta- tor, at length resolves, in 1824, in its national corporate capacity, to embark on a missionary enterprise — Committee appointed by the General Assembly to conduct it — Rudimental conception of an education and preaching mission to India as originally announced and approved of by the General Assembly — Dr Inglis the undisputed author of it — Evidence of this assertion — Notices of preparatory measures during the years 1825, 6, 7, 8 — In 1829 the first Mis- sionary nominated — His disastrous voyage to India, and reception there — Dr Bryce — Difficulties in ascertaining the existing state of things, with a view to missionary operation — Reasons for prefer- ring to a rural station Calcutta, as the centre of future labours — The primary design to establish a central Institution for higher education — Reasons for abandoning this design at the outset — Resolutions to institute preparatory schools — Elementary schools in the Bengali or vernacular dialect totally inefficient for the pur- poses of a higher Institution — Choice to be made between Sanskrit and English as the medium of superior instruction — English pro- nounced the grand instrument for conveying the entire range of European knowledge, literary, scientific, and theological, to the select few ivho, in various ways, were to infiuence the minds of their countrymen — Account of the opening of the first English mission- seminary, ivitha view to an enlarged European education — Various incidents connected therewith — Introduction of the intellectual or mental developement system of tuition — The Bible nw essential part of the scheme of instruction — Notices of the early impressiori pro- duced by its perusal — Illustrations of the effect of general knowledge

498 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST ESSENTIALLY ACTIVE.

in demolishing the sacred authority of the Shastras — Vatious refections arising out of this subject — Vicissitudes of the frst twelvemonth — First public examination of the Institution — Its happy effect on the European and native community — Some of the present and anticipated results of the Educational part of the system pointed out — Its general bearing on the evangelization of India.

When, from amid the storms of Popish persecution, and the troubled ocean of contending factions, the Reformed Churches at length reared their placid brows into an at- mosphere of profoundest calm, they appear to have resolved to enjoy a breathing time of repose, as the purchase of their struggles, and the consummation of their triumphs. Unwise resolution! Fatal inaction ! And why ? Because the pre- sent is not the appointed season of the Church’s rest., but of the Church’s warfare. The supreme function which she has been constituted to discharge, under the existing dispensa- tion, is to achieve the spiritual conquest of “ the world ” of “ all nations.” In the vigorous attempt to discharge this sublime function aright, she has ever experienced the pro- mised blessing from on High in all its divine plenitude. In neglecting to discharge it, she has ever been bereft of the promised blessing ; and has, in consequence, again and again been smitten with the blight of spiritual barrenness. Un- tiring activity is the very life of every’ warrior ; and there is no exemption in favour of those who wield the sword of the Spirit. Consult past history, and ask, How came the hero who forced the Pyrenees and scaled the Alps — the victor in a hundred battles — how came he to be at length subdued ? What neither the craggy’ PyTenees nor the icy Alps, the wasting siege nor the sanguinary battle, could ever have effected, was more than realized by a temporary respite from the strife of arms. It was the inglorious ease and luxurious indulgences of Capua, that unnerved the sinews of the Car- thaginian’s manly strength, — drying up the springs of his martial prowess ; — and thus more than undid what had triumphantly withstood the .shock of Rome’s veteran legions on the bloody plains of Cannse. So it has ever been with

MISSIONARY SPIRIT IN SCOTLAND.

499

the Church militant on earth. The season of her spiritual warfare with the ungodliness and heathenism of the nations, has ever been the season of her greatest inward prosperity. The season of her sluggish ignominious repose, has ever been the season of her internal lassitude and decline.

Towards the close of last century, the Protestant Churches began to awake from their lethargy. The tide of philan- thropy began to flow at large over its ancient narrow boun- daries. The world once more began to exhibit the sublime spectacle of multitudes of all denominations, in their collec- tive as well as individual capacities, displaying the activities of reawakened natures, and causing the earth to resound with the praises, and be enriched with the fruits of a divine benevolence. And though the Church of Scotland, as a National Church., continued for a time to maintain the atti- tude of spectator rather than fellow-worker, there were still individual laymen, and individual ministers, who were not behind the “ very chiefest ” of the promoters of the modern evangelistic enterprise. Besides supporting many societies, exclusively Scottish, — societies which could rank a Brainerd among their Missionaries, — were not these men ever ready, with a catholicity of sentiment worthy of better times, to lend their aid to every scheme, whether of domestic or of foreign growth, which had for its object the glory of God and the best interests of men ? Among whom did the great reli- gious societies of England find more eloquent champions, or more successful missionaries, than among the pious clergy and laity of Scotland? Was not a clergyman of the Scot- tish Church one of the principal originators of the London Missionary Society ? — a Society whose earliest enterprise has been blessed of heaven, to the transforming of many a savage isle of the Pacific into the choicest realms of the Prince of Peace? And were not the venerable Fuller and the de- voted Marshman, and many more besides, ever ready to testify, that nowhere in the United Kingdom, whether with- in or without the pale of their own communion, did they, as the accredited advocates of their respective Societies, meet with more redundant hospitalities, or overflowing

500 ORIGIN OF MISSIONS IN THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

sympathy, or cordial support, than within the bosom of the Church of Scotland ?

Gradually, however, without previous concert or commu- nication, the conception was springing up in the minds of many in widely distant parts of the kingdom, that the Church of Scotland, in her collective corporate capacity as a National Church, ought to acknowledge her obligation to embark on the great cause of missions, — that she should concentrate her scattered forces in one focal point, and open up to her o^-n members an authorised channel for the influx of their benevolent contributions. Still the conception long floated vaguely, undefinedly, and silently amid the current of other thoughts. At length indinduals began to speak out in their official capacity in the loM-er Church Courts. Some of these Courts were stimulated to send up overtures on the subject to the General Assembly — the Supreme Ecclesiastical Judi- cature ; — amongst which the SjTiod of Aberdeen specially distinguished itself. When a favourable train was thus pro- videntially preparing at home, an energetic memorial dated Calcutta, December 1823, from the Eev. Dr Biyce, then senior clergj-man of the Church of Scotland, at Fort- William, in the East Indies, tended powerfully to attract attention towards that benighted land as a peculiarly promising sphere for missionai’y operation. What now seemed wanting was, that some one of weight, authority, and influence should arise, who could embody the growing spirit at home and abroad in an intelligible form, and clothe it in adequate and appro- priate expression. Such an organ of the widely prevailing wants and wishes of the pious members of the Church of Scotland, it pleased the God of Providence to raise up in the person of the late revered Dr Inglis ; — a man of lofty and commanding intellect, who seldom failed to carry convic- tion by the marvellous ease wherewith he disembarrassed the most mazy theme of its intricacies, not less than by the trans- parent clearness of his statements, and the argumentative force of his reasonings ; — a man, whose sagacity, acuteness,

HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SCHEMES.

501

and comprehensive business-habits were universally acknow- ledged to be unrivalled ; — a man, whose personal honour and high moral integrity, were held to be so unimpeached and unimpeachable, that in almost all difficult cases of Church policy he was consulted with like freedom and con- fidence, by opponents as by friends ; — a man, finally, whose unobtrusive but ripening piety threw a halo of mellowed lustre over his latter days — irradiated his passage through the dark valley — and ceased not to brighten onwards till eclipsed by the more glorious sunshine of Jehovah’s pre- sence. Accordingly, when in the Session of May 1824, a man of such eminent endo^vments stood forth in the General Assembly — the Supreme Eepresentative and Legislative Council of the Church — formally to propose that the Church in its national corporate capacity should organise a mission to heathen lands, whole mountains of objections were levelled, entire valleys of sceptical doubts were filled up. Late, indeed, it may be, but with the advantage of a thousand experiences, did the representative Body of the Church of Scotland, on that memorable occasion, for the first time officially recognise and record their solemn and unanimous conviction, that it was a duty which they owed to their God and Saviour — a duty which, under the covenant of grace, they owed to their fellow-creatures — to engage without delay, in aiding those splendid efforts, which aimed at nothing less than the diffusion of the light of true science and true religion throughout all the habitations of men. While this ordinance specially embraced the cause of foreign missions, it is a fact in itself most edifying and worthy of perpetual remembrance, that on the very day preceding its adoption, the Assembly had with equal unanimity decided on cultivating the almost equally necessitous field of home missions. — So that by a double resolution, — proposed and adopted on two successive days, — a twofold object, never to be dissevered, was distinctly embraced, namely, the extension of the means of grace to the spiritually destitute at home, and to the spiritually destitute abroad.

In order to carry out into practical effect the Assembly’s

502 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY RECOMMENDS COLLECTIONS.

designs respecting the home and foreign fields, it was agreed that two separate executive Committees should be appointed — selected from all the Presbyteries of the Church, but to hold their meetings in Edinburgh, — for the direction and management of all the concerns of the projected undertak- ings, and of the funds to be provided for their prosecution, so far as such direction and management could not be over- taken by the Assembly itself — that the general course of procedure to be followed out, the selection and examination of ^Missionaries and teachers, and all the more particular means to be employed, for the accomplishment of the objects in view, might with propriety be reserved for the considera- tion of the proposed Committees, — it being understood that they should, from time to time, report their opinion upon all those points to the Greneral Assembly, before taking any steps relative thereto, beyond what the necessity of the case might in the meanwhile seom to require.

And as in England it is the high function of our gracious Sovereign, in the capacity of head of the United Church of England and Ireland, by a royal letter, to appoint, from time to time, collections to be made in all the Churches of England and Ireland, in aid of the Episcopal Society “ for propagating the Gospel in foreign parts;” — so, in Scotland, that duty naturally devolved on the General Assembly, or supreme representative Body of our National Church, in reference to its own deliberate and unanimous undertakings. Hence, the Assembly did “ most earnestly and affectionately recommend to all ministers of parishes. Government churches and chapels of ease, — and the members of the Church gene- rally, that they should use their best exertions to promote the sacred cause in which the Church had resolved to engage for the benefit of our fellow-men at home and abroad, by collections, subscriptions, voluntary contributions, and all other means which, in their various stations, they might be enabled by Providence to employ.”

From their more intimate acquaintance with the neglected

INDIA SELECTED AS THE FIELD OF MISSIONS.

503

portions of the home field, particularly of the Highlands and Islands, measures were adopted with the utmost promptitude with a view to overtake the Educational destitution, — mea- sures which have since been extended and amplified so as to embrace, according to the means supplied, every necessitous district, whether rural or civic, within the bounds of the Church. With respect to the foreign department, the final adoption of any definite scheme, was, from various unavoid- able causes, which it were wholly irrelevant now to recount, very much retarded. One point was speedily determined. The original resolution expressive of obligation to the Great Head of the Church, and of sympathy with our perishing fellow-men, recognised “ the world” as the only legitimate and scriptural “ field ” for the missionary enterprise. But the inadequacy of available resources at once to overtake all, of necessity compelled the Church to select some section of “the field” for initial operations. For reasons potent and manifold, the position chosen was India — India, which in territorial extent, is at least forty times the size of all Scot- land— India, whose population is at least fifty times the aggre- gate of all Scotland — India, compared with which, in reference to a supply of ordained preachers of the everlasting Gospel, Scot- land, though still destitute, is provided for in the overwhelmingly disproportionate ratio of a thousand to one ! — and even Green- land and Labrador, the West India and South Sea islands, Hottentotland and New Zealand, in the vastly unequal ratio of a hundred, to one !

As to the practical plan or method of procedure to be adopted and prosecuted on the chosen field of labour, the general conception — as summarily embodied in the report of Committee to the General Assembly of 1825, and somewhat more largely in the subsequent pastoral letter addressed to the people of Scotland, — maybe thus briefly stated. — While the preaching of the Gospel was to hold the foremost and most distinguished place in any system of operations that might eventually be adopted, it was purposed from the very commencement, to institute and support seminaries for education of various grades, — as grand auxiliary instru-

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DETAILS OF THE MISSIONARY SCHEME.

raents in removing deep-rooted prejudices ; in preparing the mind more attentively to listen to, and more intelligently to comprehend, the sublime discoveries of Christianity; and, above all, in rearing a body of well-qualified natives, who, as teachers and preachers of the Word of life, might en- gage in the mighty work of emancipating their countrymen from the yoke of spiritual thraldom, and conferring the precious boon of that liberty wherewith Christ maketh His people free. In order to give coherence, efficiency, and unity to the whole system, and bring to maturity the more vigor- ous shoots that might have sprung from the preparatory culture in elementary and other schools, it was also, from the first, resolved that a central or collegiate Institution should be established for communicating a knowledge of the higher branches of literature, science, and Christian theo- logy.— So much, indeed, did the establishment of such a seminary enter into the original designs of the General Assembly, as fully appears from their printed records, — that it was intended, if possible, to be the first.

At the commencement of the undertaking, it was resolved, agreeably to the recommendation of the Committee, that the central seminary (with branch-schools in the surround- ing country) should be placed under the charge of a Super- intendent or Head Master, who was to be an ordained minister of our National Church, and not less than two assistant teachers from this country, together with a certain number of additional teachers to be selected from those natives who might previously have received the requisite education, — that the Superintendent (being, as already said, a clergyman) should embrace opportunities, as they occurred, to recommend the Gospel of Christ to the faith and accept- ance of those to whom he found access, — that, with this view he ought to court the society of those natives more especially, w'ho had already received a liberal education, and if encouraged by them, ought to put into their hands such tracts, illustrative of the import, the evidences, and the his- tory of our Christian faith, as might be sent to him for that purpose, under the authority of the General Assembly,

AUTHOR OP THE RUDIMENTAL SCHEME.

505

— and finally, that he ought also to preachy from time to time, in the hearing of such persons or others who might be induced to attend him, either in the hall of the seminary over which he presided, or in such other convenient place as might be afforded him.” Such, in a few words, was the rudiment of the scheme — as originally conceived and ap- proved of by the General Assembly — which, amid its varied modifications and expansions, has ever since been known under the designation of the India Mission.

Of this rudimental scheme the sole, the xmdisputed author, was Dr Inglis. With him it originated ; — not as the result of hints and statements embodied in overtures and memo- rials to the General Assembly, but as the product of his own solitary independent reflection on the known constitution of the human mind, and the general history of man. Simple it is, — indeed so simple, that many may cry out. Where is the novelty or the originality here ?— But it is its very simplicity which constitutes the monument of the reflective sagacity of its author. Neither in the principle nor in the mere form of the scheme itself, is there any thing novel, any thing original. In its essential principle and practical working, it is only a counterpart of the scheme whereby our Scottish Reformers at once perfected and perpetuated the Refor- mation in this highly favoured land. Nor was it wholly new in the history of modern missions. Many a zealous missionary had,' from the experience of a thousand painful failures, been driven into the proposal or adoption of some- thing similar. But considering the fundamental principle on which modern missions started ; considering the tenacity wherewith their most zealous supporters continued to cling almost exclusively to that principle ; considering also the host of misapprehensions to which any compound scheme of teaching and preaching was naturally exposed ; — -it was some- thing novel, something original in the history of missions, for the founder of a new one to stand forth and formally propound such a scheme as his initial measure. It was something novel, something original, for a man in his closet, by abstract reasoning on general principles, to excogitate a

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FIRST IDEA OF THE MISSIONARY SCHEME.

scheme which the dire necessities of experience had already, at least partially, forced on the attention of others. And it is all the more remarkable, inasmuch as the author was at the time wholly ignorant of those more popular and in- telligible arguments, whereby the wisdom of the scheme may now be triumphantly vindicated ; — such as the potency of all true knowledge in demolishing the stupendous system of Hinduism. Of arguments of this description, both the original author and the original executor of the compound scheme were alike ignorant ; since these gradually developed themselves in the progress of the work abroad.

It was not in 1824 that Dr Inglis first conceived his rudimental idea of the scheme of an Indian Mission. In a published sermon preached before “ The Incorporated Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge,” on June 5, 1818, all the principles which led to the forma- tion of that scheme are distinctly unfolded and elucidated. In that discourse, the author, by a brief but masterly chain of argument, shows that there is something in the very nature of our religion, which so accords with the Scripture intimations of its ultimate universal prevalence, as to en- courage our hope that it shall be, at length, universally acknowledged among men ; and that the very limited mea- sure of the acceptance which it has hitherto obtained, can be duly accounted for, upon principles consistent with a belief of its future universal dominion. In reference to our present subject, it is laid down as Indisputable, that “ a man of an understanding mind, habituated to thought and reflection, has an advantage over others for estimating both the evidence of the Christian doctrine, and its accom- modation to human wants and necessities.” From this position, what was the inevitable inference ? It was, that “ schools for the education of the young, in every depart- ment of useful knowledge (secular as well as sacred), were calculated to lay a foundation for the success of all other means which might be employed for the more general diffusion of the Gospel,” — these Christian seminaries being designed “ to lay hold of the human mind in its earliest

FIRST IDEA OP THE MISSIONARY SCHEME.

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years, — to impart to it, in the first place, those rudiments of education, which may lay open to it the resources of religious knowledge, — and, while divine truth is presented to its reception,— to improve and strengthen by degrees its capacity for appreciating both the import and the evidence of what God hath revealed.” Against such an inference, two objections might be started, which the author virtually anticipates. First, it might be asked. Whether this implied that a disciplined and cultivated understanding was in all cases, or Indeed in any, essential to a reception of the faith of the Gospel ? No, replies our author. “ In what degree the exercise of an understanding mind is necessary to our entertaining the faith of the Gospel, it would be the height of presumption to say. We are in the hand of Him who made us, and not only can He fashion us again according to His will,— He can make His grace effectual, as it seems to Him wise and good, for supplying the defects which arise from either the weakness or the want of any natural poioer or capacity whatever. But it is, unquestionably, the way of God to address himself to our natural powers and capacities, so as to make them subservient to our spiritual interests ; — to say the least, it is most commonly in this way that His gra- cious purposes appear to be accomplished. It is, therefore, obvious that we may entertain a stronger hope of the preva- lence of the Gospel among nations which have not hitherto received it, in proportion as they shall acquire that intellec- tual vigour — that capacity of estimating what is just and true — which results from the cultivation and exercise of the understanding.” Again, it might be asked, Whether the external evidence which a cultivated and enlightened under- standing alone can estimate, ought to be regarded as, in- itself, and alone, adapted and equivalent to the great end of producing the faith of the Gospel ? No, replies our author. — “ It is with too much truth that unbelief is ascribed to an evil and corrupt heart. The obstinate attachment of the heart to what is evil, has experimentally proved itself sufficient to counteract the strongest evidence ; and, though it be only the Spirit of all grace that can effectually subdue

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FIRST IDEA OF THE MISSIONARY SCHEME.

the corrupt dispositions of the heart, God is pleased, in this case, as in others, to accomplish His purpose by the inter- vention of natural means. The intrinsic excellence of the Christian doctrine, and its accommodation to our spiritual wants, are, through Divine grace, made obvious to the eye of the mind ; the prejudices of the corrupt heart are thereby overcome ; and our inclinations, instead of resisting as for- merly, the external evidences of the truth, co-operate with that evidence towards our establishment in the faith of the Gospel. But so far as faith is in this way produced, it can be produced only in those who are more or less qualified to estimate the excellence of the Gospel doctrine, and to judge of its accommodation to their wants ; — and the better that we are qualified, by the exercise of our understanding, to form a just conception of the value of the truth as it is in Jesus, the more advantage do we certainly possess (whether we improve it or not) for receiving the truth in the love of it.” But whatever difference of opinion may exist among wise men as to the degree in which the exercise of an understand- ing mind is necessary to our entertaining the faith of the Gospel, there can surely be no difference among those who reflect at all, as to the necessity of the exercise of an under- standing mind to a very considerable degree^ on the part of those who are destined to proclaim to others the faith of the Gospel. On this subject the remarks of our author are in his happiest and most conclusive style. “ It will be admit- ted,” says he, “ on all hands, that though the human mind, in its rudest and most uncultivated state, were better qualified than it is for receiving divine truth, — a mind, both culti- vated by exercise, and stored with knowledge, is, at any rate, indispensable to the Teachers of religion. Now, whatever progress may be made in the conversion of any ignorant and uncivilized people, by means of teachers sent to them from a more enlightened land, how are such a people to hold fast what they have received, unless there shall be ultimately found among themselves men qualified for the office of in- structing their brethren ? Or, how shall such an order of men be found, — qualified in the degree that is desirable, —

DR INGLIS’ PASTORAL ADDRESS.

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if means be not previously employed for the cultivation of the mind in the various departments of science and useful knowledge ? Supposing that the great body of any people should, in the sincerity of their hearts, profess themselves Christian, but should, at the same time, remain little, if at all, capable to give a reason of the faith that is in them ; and supposing that there were not among them any order of men, whom education had qualified to guard and fortify their minds against such deceivers as might be abroad in the world — aided, as deceivers always are, by the corrupt propensities of the human heart — what natural security could we have against such a people-being speedily betrayed into a desertion of the faith of Christ. Even in the most enlightened countries, it is to be feared that a large pro- portion of the people would be found very poorly qualified to maintain possession of the truth as it is in Jesus, if it were not cherished in their hearts by the admonition and example of others, whose intellectual faculties are more improved and invigorated than those of the mass of the community. The education of a few proves, in this respect, a security to the faith of the many. But how is this security to be obtained ? how is this important advantage to be wrought out for any people who now sit in darkness, without a gradual establish- ment of seminaries of learning ; in which the minds of a few, who are to be light unto others, may not only be stored with useful knowledge, but improved and invigorated by proper exercise?"’ From these and other similar views so lucidly and powerfully stated in 1818, the proposal of some such scheme as that which was promulgated in 1825, followed as naturally and necessarily as any legitimate corollary from a proposition in geometry.

In 1826, Dr Inglis wrote, in the name of the Committee, and widely circulated, his celebrated “ pastoral address to the people of Scotland,” which — after repelling objections against the possibility and expediency of propagating the Gospel in India, unfolding the most ample grounds of encouragement.

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PREPARATORY MEASURES.

and briefly developing the general conception of the scheme to be adopted — he thus concludes ; “ In taking leave of the subject and of you, we feel that there are motives and encou- ragements arising out of the work itself to which we exhort you, that will have a more powerful effect on your minds than any words or arguments which can be employed. It seems impossible that in this case we should not have one common feeling ; for it is a feelinor which has its oriorin in the law of our nature. Having our omti hope in Christ and his salvation, it would be altogether unnatural that we should not have a desire to communicate this blessed hope to those who, with ourselves, have one common father — whom one God hath created. Is it possible that we can rely on the merits of Christ as a Saviour, for the exercise of that mercy and grace, by which alone we can be delivered from everlasting misery, and made partakers of everlasting happiness, without an earaest desire to make knowm the way of salvation through Him to others who partake of our common nature ? Or is it possible that this benevolent desire should not be promoted and strengthened by the precious hope of advancing, at the same time, the honour of Him who redeemed us ? Is it pos- sible that the promise of the Spirit of all grace to strengthen and prosper us in every righteous undertaking, and the most special promise imparted to us by our Heavenly Master, in reference to this most blessed work, that He will be with us alway even unto the end of the world — should not effectually encourage us in such labour of love ? Or, is it possible that the assurance which is given us of the ultimate and universal prevalence of the Redeemer’s kingdom, should not establish our minds in the use of all wise and righteous means for hastening that happy time when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth ?” These, verily, are weighty evangelical pleadings from the pen of one whose thoughts never were expressed till weighed and reweighed in the balance of a penetrating judgment — and which, when expressed, were never enunciated except in a style that knew no expletives !

In 1827, Dr Inglis reported to the General Assembly, that during the past year, the Committee had vigorously applied

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themselves to the requisite means of promoting the subscrip- tions and parochial collections, by which they might realize the pecuniary fund which was necessary to the accomplish- ment of the Assembly’s object ; and that, amongst other measures, a correspondence was opened with every Presby- tery of Scotland, by a communication with at least one of its members, with the view of securing, if possible, a universal co-operation and support. It is but due to the memory of Dr Inglis to state, that he himself conducted the whole of this most voluminous correspondence ; — and that in doing so, not in a brief, formal, official style, but with all the am- plitude of address which is the dilated expression of a deeply interested mind, he underwent an almost incredible amount of dnidgery and personal labour. And what was the result of all these efforts at the end of a twelvemonth ? It was, that “ out of more than nine hundred parish churches, and fifty-five chapels of ease, collections were made in no more than fifty-nine parish churches and sixteen chapels,” — that the aggregate of these did not amount to one thousand pounds — that the subscriptions amounted in extraordinary donations to about three hundred^ and in annual contributions to about ninety pounds ! Such, notwithstanding the earnest appeals, the great preparations, and the unwearied exertions which for two or three years had been made — such was the amount consecrated by the entire Church of Scotland during the first twelvemonth, to the support of her oum missionary enter- prise ! Humiliating though this statement must appear, what cause of encouragement and thankfulness to the Most High does it afford, when contrasted with the thousands, from hundreds of parishes, now annually contributed ? No wonder though the indefatigable Convener felt constrained to make the reluctant confession, that “ the means employed had in a great measure failed.” But was he on this account to be daunted and repulsed? No ! Deeply persuaded that the work was the Lord’s, and must fiually prevail, he was resolved to persevere. And strengthened in this persuasion by the most encouraging assurances from every corner of the Church, of the cordial disposition of the clergy to co-operate

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PREPARATORY MEASURES.

in the laudable undertaking, “ as soon as circumstances should at all admit,"" he expressed his trust in the Great Disposer of all events, that the time might not prove very distant when the pious and benevolent cause would wear a very different and more propitious aspect. “ When engaged,” said he, “ in such a cause, it would ill become us to despond, or to relax our efforts, on account of such discouraging cir- cumstances, as those to which reference has been made. Your Committee feel that such circumstances are only a call upon them, in the course of providence, for more patient and energetic endeavours. It may be fairly hoped that, when blessed with renewed prosperity, the people of our land will not be disinclined to manifest their gratitude for it to the Giver of all good, by liberally devoting a portion of what He bestows to the great purpose of advancing and extending the Redeemer’s kingdom on earth.”

The following year. Dr Inglis w'as enabled to report, that the state of the funds had become so favourable as to en- courage the Committee “ to look out for and select a proper person, who, as an ordained minister of our National Church, might be sent to India, for the purpose of laying the foun- dation of such a seminary of general education and religious instruction, as the Assembly had from the beginning pro- jected.” How pure and single-hearted, how noble and disinterested the views of Dr Inglis and his coadjutors on this important subject were, must abundantly appear from the following emphatic and impressive statement : — “ Y our Committee,” remarks Dr Inglis in his official report to the Assembly, “ your Committee, at a late meeting, instructed their Convener to request the assistance of the Professors of Divinity in the different Universities of Scotland, for finding a man in all respects qualified for the very important and very delicate service in question, and at the same time willing to undertake the duty. They feel that more depends on a wise and prudent selection in this case, than upon all the other exertions in their power to make. They therefore implore the aid of every member of this Assembly, who may have it in his power to point out among those who have a heart for

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the undertaking, any man better qualified than others, for the arduous but blessed work to which the person appoint- ed will be called to devote himself. And the members of your Committee individually trust, that in a case so momen- tous and sacred, no man will even suspect them of being influenced in their choice by any other motive than a single and exclusive regard to the most important of all objects, — that of imparting the light of the Gospel to those who now sit in darkness.”

Early in 1829 was nominated by the Committee the first Missionary ever sent forth by the Church of Scotland, in its corporate national capacity, to heathen lands. In a sketch so very brief, it is not possible to advert to the variety of mental conflicts, religious experiences, peculiar leadings of Providence, and other circumstances which gradually pre- pared the individual for entertaining so solemn a call. To one point only need farther allusion be made. When, — being as yet only on probationary trials before the Presby- tery of St Andrews, — he was first seriously applied to on the subject, by one of the ablest, most laborious, and most suc- cessful parochial ministers in Scotland,— the Eev. Dr Ferrie of Kilconquhar, — he at once, on account of youth, inexperi- ence, and honest unconsciousness of possessing the requisite qualifications, shrunk from the responsibility of undertaking an office whose importance could only be surpassed by its acknowledged difficulties. Ready, cheerfully ready, did he profess himself to forsake all that he most loved and valued in his native land, and respond to the summons, saying, “ Lord, here am I, send me ” — could he only be satisfied that he had a legitimate call, and that his compliance might not prove an act of daring presumption. After the tender and enlightened Scriptural representations of his reverend father and friend on this head had tended to dissipate many a gathering cloud from the horizon of simple evangelical duty, there were two questions, a positive answer to which he at once announced as absolutely indispensable to his

514

FIRST MISSIONARY ORDAINED.

entering even on the preliminary steps towards a negotia- tion. These questions were : First, Will the individual appointed to India be under the control and authority of any man or body of men, in the station destined to be occupied ? Secondly, Will he be free and unfettered in the adoption of any measures which to him may appear best calculated to make known the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gen- tiles ? Not many days were suffered to elapse, before it was authoritatively replied to the first of these queries, “ That no local control or authority whatsoever, direct or indirect, would be exercised over the movements of the Missionarj^ — that to the Home Committee of the General Assembly, and to it alone, he would be responsible : ” — and to the second of the queries, “ That while, besides the direct preaching of the word, it was resolved that an educational seminary' should be founded, especially for the training of notice teachers and preachers, every- thing connected with the mode and manner of its organization, — the system of tuition and discipline — the modifications and adaptations of the original rudimental scheme to existing circumstances, — and all other details what- soever would be left solely to the Missionary ; and that, in other respects, the most boundless liberty would be con- ceded in resorting to whatever means he might deem most expedient for the profitable dissemination of divine truth.'" Soon afterwards, the nomination took place. In May of the same year, the appointment was formally ratified by the General Assembly. On the 12th August, the Missionary was ordained to the evangelistic and ministerial office by the Presbytery of Edinburgh, — Dr Chalmers having presided and officiated with his wonted power and eloquence on the solemn occasion. About the middle of October (14th) he set sail in the Lady Holland, East Indiaman, from Ports- mouth. And never, most assuredly, as stated years ago in an address before the General Assembly, — never did the first agent of any society leave his native land, “ more en- tirely unfettered, untrammelled, unembarrassed."" When the venerable originator of the mission was asked, — and often and earnestly was he asked, — for some injunctions or

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directions as to the proper course to be pursued, — some hint or general idea, not of what must be, but of what he would desire to see realized, if circumstances admitted of it, — his invariable reply in effect was, “that the field was so neio in all its features and circumstances, that instead of giving rules for the guidance of others, he should, in a great mea- sure, be himself guided by the representations sent from the field of labour.” Accordingly, the Missionary took his departure, without any information or instructions whatso- ever beyond what was to be found in the original brief resolution of the General Assembly, and the pastoral ad- dress of the Convener of its Committee to the people of Scotland. Even the reasons which led Dr Inglis himself to give such prominence to the educational part of the scheme were not so fully known to him as they are now, — since the sermon of June 1818, in which these reasons are most explicitly announced, was only put into his hands for the first time, a few months ago.

Up to the time of the Missionary’s embarkation, pros- perity had so accompanied his every movement, like the perpetual sunshine of a cloudless sky, that in his wrestlings by day, and his meditations by night, the utterance of the inspired oracle kept pealing in his ears, — “ If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons ; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not ? But if ye be wthout chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” How can fading memory recall the searching inquiries to which this impressive considera- tion led him, when about to bid farewell to his native shores ? Had he discharged aright all the more obvious duties and claims of kindred, friends, and country ? Had he duly exa- mined the evidence, the tenor, and reality of his call ? Had he rightly weighed the vastly important obligations of his new office ? Had he fully considered the danger of rushing imwarrantably to uphold the ark of the testimony ? Had he carefully surveyed the difficulties, and sufficiently count- ed the cost ? Were his prevailing motives pure ? — the glory of God the chief object ; the love of Christ the actuating

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principle ; the regeneration of perishing sinners the travail of his soul ; and their final redemption his richest recom- pense of reward ? W as he, with his whole heart, prepared to give up every idol, relinquish every darling pursuit, and, for the sake of Christ, joyously submit to be accounted “ the offscouring of all things?” Was he really so fortified by faith and prayer, that, amid scorn, and reproach, and perils, and living deaths, he could cheerfully serve an apprentice- ship to martyrdom ?

But no sooner had he embarked, than that gracious God who has “ the times and the seasons ” engraven in the roll of Providence, caused the day of visitation and of trial to arise. Seldom has there been a voyage, from first to last, so fraught with disaster and discipline ; — within, the “ floating home ” of the deep, a fiery furnace from the combustion of evil tongues and wicked hearts ; — without, unusual vicissi- tudes of tempest and of danger. These, however, were but the beginnings of trouble — the first wavings of the rod of chastisement to prepare for the crushing stroke. On Satur- day night, the 13th February, the vessel violently struck on the rocks of an uninhabited barren island, about thirty miles north of Cape Town. With the utmost difficulty the pas- sengers and crew escaped with their lives. The noble vessel soon went to pieces, and almost every thing on board perish- ed. The losses of the Missionary were such as could not easily be recovered. Besides the loss of personal property, from a collection of books, in every department of knowledge, amounting to upwards of eight hundred distinct works, only a few odd volumes were picked up on the beach, — most of them so shattered, or reduced to a state of pulp, as to be of little or no value. But what was felt most, as being to him irreparable, was the entire loss of all his journals, notes, me- morandums, essays, &c., &c., the fruits, such as they were, of the reflection and research of many years, when he pos- sessed special opportunities which he could never expect again to realize. “ But they are gone,” was his own written declaration at the time, “ they are gone ; and blessed be God I can say ‘ gone ’ without a murmur. So perish all

BIBLE ONLY ARTICLE SAVED.

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earthly things ; the treasure that is laid up in heaven alone is unassailable. God has been to me a God full of mercy ; and not the least of His mercies do I find in the cheerful resignation with which he now enables me to feel, and to say, ‘ The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.’ ”

The only article which was recovered in a wholly xhnda- maged state, was a quarto copy of Bagster’s Comprehensive Bible and Psalm-book ; which, as the parting memorial of a few dear friends, had been carefully wrapped up in leather, and thus escaped uninjured by the Waters of the briny deep. Ah ! the lesson and the schooling of a mysterious Provi- dence seemed now complete ; and its designs and intentions perfectly developed. He who had thought that he had “ sifted ” his heart “ as wheat,” and could find no engrossing idol lurking there, now discovered that he had been to a degree never previously imagined, a wholesale idolater of hooks and written 'papers ! It seemed as if the heavens had sud- denly opened, and a voice from the Holy One had sounded w'ith resistless emphasis in his ears, saying, “ Fool that you are, to have centred so unduly your cares, and anxieties, and affections, on books and papers ! So intense and de- voted was the homage of your heart towards these, in the eyes of the heart-searching God, that, as there seemed no other method of weaning you from them, your heavenly Father, to save you from the doom of an idolater, has in mercy to your soul removed the idols — sinking them all to the bottom of the deep, or scattering them in useless frag- ments on this desolate shore ; all, all save one, and that is, the ever-blessed Book of Life. Here is the Bible for you, — grasp it as the richest treasure of infinite wisdom and in- finite love — a treasure which, in the balance of heaven, would outweigh aU the books and papers in the universe. Go, and prayerfully consult that unerring chart, — that infallible di- rectory,— humbly trust to it, and to your God ; and never, never wiU you have reason to regret that you have been vio- lently severed from your idols, as thereby you become more firmly linked by the golden chain of grace to the throne of the

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missionary's appeal to the church.

Eternal.” Assuredly, had Jehovah himself, in terms such as these, addressed the poor trembling convicted idolater in accents of thunder, when standing apart on that dreary African strand, the gracious designs of Providence could not have been more distinctly interpreted, nor the precious lesson more ineffaceably engraven on the inner tablet of the soul.

The conclusion of a letter, addressed at the time to the Convener of the Assembly’s Committee, is found, on refer- ence to the original document, to be as follows : — “ Thus unexpectedly has perished part of the first fruits of the Church of Scotland in the great cause of Christian philan- thropy ; but the cause of Christ has not perished. The former, like the leaves of autumn, may be tossed about by every tempest ; the latter, more stable than nature, ever revi\'inor Math the bloom of vouth. will flourish when nature

O ^

herself is no more. The cause of Christ is a heavenly thing, and shrinks from the touch of earth. Often has its high origin been gloriously ^^ndicated. Often has it cast a mockery on the mightiest efibrts of human power. Often has it gathered strength amid weakness ; become rich amid losses ; rejoiced amid dangers ; and triumphed amid the fires and tortures of hell-enkindled men. And shall the Church of Scotland dishonour such a cause, by exhibiting sjimptoms of coldness or despondency, in consequence of the recent catas- trophe ? Grod forbid ! Let her rather arouse herself into new energy : let her shake oflF every earthly alliance with the cause of Christ, as a retarding, polluting alliance : let her confide less in her ovra resources, and more in the arm of Him who saith, “ Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit : ” from her faithful appeals, let the flame of devoted- ness circulate through every parish, and prayers to the Lord of the harvest from every dwelling ; — and then may we expect her fountains to overflow, for the watering and fertilizing of many a diy and parched heathen land. For my own part, recent events have made me feel more strongly than ever the vanity of earthly things, the hollowness of earthly hopes. They have taught me the necessity of being “ instant in season and out of season,” of “ spending and

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being spent” in the cause of Christ. My prayer is, though at a humble distance, to breathe the spirit and emulate the conduct of those devoted men who have gone before me ; and if, like them, I am destined to perish in a foreign land, my prayer is, to be enabled cheerfully to perish with the song of faith on my lips — ‘ 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0

grave, where is thy victory V Pardon my warmth — at such a season, coldness were spiritual treason.”

Having set sail in another ship from the Cape, on the 7th March a tremendous gale was encountered off the Mauritius, in which the vessel wellnigh foundered ; and at the mouth of the Ganges she was overtaken by a hurricane, and violently ■tossed ashore, so that all the horrors of a second shipwreck were experienced. On Wednesday evening, 27th May, after nearly an eight months’ voyage of continuous and varied perils, the Missionary with his partner reached Calcutta, more dead than alive, through exhaustion and fatigue. It seemed as if “ the Prince of the power of the air” had mar- shalled all his elements to oppose and prevent their arrival, and it seemed (if it be lawful to compare small things with great) as if for the gracious purposes of trial and discipline, a certain amount of license had been granted to him as in the days of old, when, 'n reference to one of those worthies of whom the world was not worthy, “ The Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power ; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.” But foiled he was, through sustaining grace, in any attempt to extort a rebellious mur- muring against the dispensations of Providence. The very contrary was the effect uniformly produced — even that of calling forth and invigorating the energy of faith and con- fidence in the Bock of Ages. In the first letter, dated the very day after landing in Calcutta, is found this passage : — “ Thus have we at length reached our destination, after a voyage at once protracted and disastrous. But if, in respect to the things of earth, it pained and impoverished, the ex- perience of my dear partner and myself leads us solemnly to declare, that, in respect to spiritual things, it greatly revived and enriched us. For the loss of earthly comfort and pos-

520

KINDNESS OF FRIENDS.

session is a rich gain indeed, when accompanied by the in- crease of that treasure which nothing can diminish or impair. Through God’s blessing we were enabled to view the whole as the apparently severe, but unspeakably kind discipline of a Father, ‘ who afflicteth not willingly, nor grieveth the children of men.’ How base were it then to fret ; how ig- norant to complain ; how cowardly to despond ? For where is faith without a victory ? Where is victory without a struggle ? And can there be a struggle without enduring trials, and encountering difficulties ? To the feeble and dastardly soldier of the Cross be all the ease of indolently lagging in the rear ; and all the security that can result from being the last to engage, and the foremost to escape from- approaching danger ! To us, we would pray, be the toil, and the hardship, and the danger, and the crowm of victory for our reward, — or death, when maintaining our Master’s cause, for an eternal glory ! ”

On reaching the scene of future labour, after such a voy- age, the s}Tnpathies of the ^Missionary Bretliren and of jirivate Christians of all denominations were powerfully called forth. To none were we more indebted for acts of kindness than to the late Bishop Corrie, then Archdeacon of Calcutta ; and to the Rev. Dr Bryce, then senior minister of the Scotch Church. The conduct of the latter, in particular, was such as to challenge a grateful and lasting remembrance. Though the event proved that the rudimental scheme adopted by the General Assembly was in many essential particulars totally different from the one proposed in the Calcutta memorial of 1823, — and that the first Missionary was to be placed under the ecclesiastical control and authority of no man or body of men, except the Supreme Council of the Church itself, through its own Home Committee — being left as free and unembarrassed in all his movements as if he were the only Presbj'terian in British India ; — it is but justice to the senior minister of St Andrew’s to say, that he never indi- cated either disappointment or cold indifference. On the

INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF MATTERS.

521

contrary, he from the first discharged towards the Missionary more than the ordinary offices and courtesies of Christian friendship and brotherly regard. With neither the inquiries instituted, nor the plans projected, did he ever interfere ; — no, not so much as to obtrude his own spontaneous sugges- tions. But whenever consulted about any local or other difficulty, never did he decline, frankly and promptly, lend- ing his counsel or assistance in any way in which either might be made to advance the great cause. No sooner was the mission organized, than he became its warmest and most disinterested advocate ; and ever since, both in India and in Britain, has he laboui’ed to promote its general interests with a zeal that has never wearied — with an energy that has never relaxed.

Immediately on our arrival, the first impulse was to set on foot as exact an inquiry as possible into the existing state of things, with a view to determine the practical question. Where and how we were to commence operations ? From instituting an immediate inquiry, many dissuasives were powerfully urged on the part of friends. But these were not allowed to prevail. Even if, agreeably to the usual practice, we could have sat down, as they strongly advised, to the exclusive study of the native languages, there could be no internal peace. The mind would ever be roaming into the future, — ruminating on the thousand possibilities that might be undeveloped in its womb, — weighing their probable relative importance, and calculating their probable actual manifestation. Besides, no useful suggestions founded on observed or ascertained facts, could be offered to the Com- mittee at home, that might guide their deliberations, or advantageously modify their decisions. For these and other reasons, the resolution was at once taken to commence inquiry without delay ; and not to desist, if God in mercy bestowed health and strength, till something definite, if not satisfac- tory, might be obtained ; — and the result could not certainly be said to belie the propriety of the resolution.

The difficulties that interposed were neither few nor such as can readily be conceived at home. To know accurately,

K k

522

OBSTACLES TO INQUIRY.

it was necessary to inquire personally, and inspect person- ally. To personal inspection the season was most unfriendly. In the way of personal inquiry, the chief obstacle, altogether apart from the physical obstructions, lay in the verj- scanty local information possessed by most of those to whom access could be found. To an inquisitive stranger, this ignorance of localities and statistical detail, whether referable to the physical or moral condition of the country and its inhabi- tants, constitutes a striking feature of Anglo-Indian society. The cause is obvious. There are mo gentlemen at large in that society ; and comparatively few who have spare time or inclination for observing, and inquiring, and recording facts. All seem intensely and laboriously occupied with their various callings. That country, even in a worldly sense, is never felt by any to be their home, or the place of their rest ; — their whole ambition being to create, as speedily as possible, the means of returning for the enjo}Tnent of ease, and comfort, and recruited health, in the lands of their nativity. One routine, accordingly, is observed day after day, with almost unvaried monotony. All must have their exercise ; which in that country commonly imports nothing more than that they are to sit or recline for an hour or two in some species of vehicle drawn in the open air. The time even for this peculiarly tropical exercise is verj’ limited. From a city like Calcutta, it is scarcely possible within the very limited period of morning and evening twilight, to reach the champaigne country. Consequently, “the Course,” or largest space open towards the river, is, morning and evening, the place of constant resort to all who wish to inhale a few breaths of the freest and least tainted air. For any considerable number, in such a state of things, to be- come in the least degree acquainted with the physical capa- bilities of the country, or the moral condition of its inhabi- tants, is plainly impossible. 0/ the native city and population of Calcutta itself, and its immediate neighbourhood, little is gene- rally known by the great majority of the British residents ! — And yet some of these — themselves almost ignorant — presum- ing on the simple fact of their Oriental residence, and on the

OBSTACLES TO INQUIRY.

523

credulity of tlieir altogether ignorant hearers, have at times ventured, after their return, to call in question or flatly to contradict the veracious statements of those who have given days and weeks, and months and years to the task of per- sonal investigation.

Still, from the nature and amount of those difficulties which impede the progress of inquiry in that hostile clime, it is perhaps not possible for any individual enterprise to supply the necessary information. The resources of Grovern- ment alone seem commensurate to the undertaking. And a master-mind, — possessed of all the advantages of penetration and experience, the philosophy of facts and the philosophy of principle, and the varied facilities which a vigorous administration could afford, with hundreds of subordinate inquirers scattered throughout the provinces, — would pro- bably find the task of directing the different agencies, dis- criminating, digesting, and arranging the mass of collected materials, no sinecure employment. It is much to be desired that the real glory of the achievement should stimulate some highly-gifted and qualified individual to the attempt : — and its utility, when accomplished, would more than compensate an enlightened Grovernment. Be this as it may, it is the fact, that no first-rate statist has yet arisen in the Eastern World — that of Calcutta itself, the metropolis of British India, and its circumjacent territory, there is no proper statistical account ; far less, — with one or two circumscribed or almost local exceptions, — of the various dependent pro- vinces. Now this contractedness of individual observation, combined with differences of sentiment, not only disappoints but embarrasses the new inquirer by the strangely contra- dictory statements he receives, relative to the past progress and present state of things — relative to what Christian benevolence has done, is doing, or should do, together with the most approved means of attempting the accomplishment of it. If one be content to glide along the surface, he may remain ignorant of the jarring elements that move in con- trary currents, or only slumber in readiness for collision, underneath. But let him wish to dive to the bottom of the

524

EXERTIONS TO PROCURE INFORMATION.

troubled ocean, and he may be truly thankful if he is ever privileged to reach it at all — or, having succeeded in his arduous attempt, ever privileged to retrace his pathway to the upper atmosphere of undisturbed calm.

Since, however, it was resolved to make the attempt, the acquaintance of all from whom any useful information could be gleaned, was sedulously cultivated. With this view fre- quent interviews w’ere obtained wdth many of the principal office-bearers of literary, benevolent, and religious societies. Various notices were also received from some of the Hon- ourable East India Company’s civil and military servants ; who had not only been long in India, but, in the course of public duty, had been stationed successively throughout many of its w’idely scattered provinces. At the same time, the habit was acquired, of constantly accompanying one or other of our esteemed fellow’-labourers — Episcopalian, Independent, Baptist, or W esleyan — to their respective sta- tions ; when preaching under the shade of a tree by the way- side ; or in a Bangalau chapel in some leading thorough- fare ; or very early in the morning and late at even, without any shelter at all, in the neighbourhood of a bazaar or mar- ket-place ; or when distributing tracts and Bibles ; or, last of all, when inspecting and catechising the children in the elementary Bengali schools. In these and other ways, besides witnessing all the existing missionary operations, w’e had ample opportunities of speedily seeing much, hearing much, and learning much of the opinions, habits and prac- tices of the low'er classes of the natives ; partly from personal observation, and partly from the frank and full communi- cations of our more experienced brethren. From the very first, too, it was our studied endeavour to court the society of those natives belonging to the more wealthy, influential, and learned classes, who had already received a liberal edu- cation. Nor w'as the endeavour made in vain. Indeed, the favour, good opinion, and friendly feelings of many were soon turned towards us in a way so very unexpected and unusual, that w'e could find no adequate solution of the fact, save in the vivid recognition of a special superintending Providence.

SITE OF PROPOSED EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.

525

With a few, an intercourse was commenced almost im- mediately on our arrival ; which continued, not only with unabated, but with increasing interest, till the day of our departure from India. Partly through the medium of English, and partly through the medium of Bengali when subsequently acquired ; sometimes in our own dwelling, and sometimes in the open verandah or on the flat roof of a native residence, with the brilliant expanse of heaven for our canopy ; — we have held oft-repeated and long-conti- nued converse with Merchants, and Zemindars, and Rajahs, and Brahmans. And in this way, not only did we succeed, at a very early period of our sojourn amongst them, in obtaining a tolerable insight into their habitudes, mental and moral, — as well as their opinions on almost all subjects, social and traditional, literary and religious, — but also, from time to time, in communicating to many the very substance of the Gospel message, in the only way in which that can at present be usually attempted in the case of the higher classes, — namely, in the way of friendly conversation and discussion.

The materials furnished by these multitudinous visitings, inquiries, and observations, might occupy a volume ; abound- ing, undoubtedly, with much of the dry, the minutely cir- cumstantial, and the common-place — uninteresting to the general reader, and unfit to meet the public eye ; — but fertile, at the same time, in weighty experimental lessons, to guide the practical judgment, in the formation and future prosecution of those plans which aim at the permanent amelioration of native society.

Our present object is chiefly with the bearing of these inquiries on the solution of the two questions relative to the site of the proposed Institution^ and the specific mode of frocedure.

As to the first of these, it may be proper to advert to the terms of the Plome Committee’s decision. In the Report for 1829, it is expressly stated, that “ the site of the proposed

526 CALCUTTA PREFERRED TO A RURAL STATION.

Institution should be in the province of Bengal ; and, though twt in the city of Calcutta^ within such a distance of it as might admit of the Institution being occasionally visited by some of our countrymen, servants of the Company, who were residents in that city and its neighbourhood.” With such a decision formally adopted and recorded, the subject was calculated to demand inquiry and challenge the most rigid investigation. Such inquiry and investigation were, accord- ingly, attempted to be pursued. And, after the attention was successively directed to different districts around Cal- cutta, and the requisite information obtained, — the conclu- sion, grounded on evidence the most satisfactory, was, that m place entirely coincident with the idea expressed in the As- sembly's Report at that time existed. Either the population was found to be too scattered for concentrated effort ; or not of a description to admit of being readily stimulated to tlie purpose of higher branches of study., without the protracted pre- paratory labour of years ; or no premises for residence and class-rooms could be had, without building at a considerable expense, and after all incurring the hazard of a doubtful experiment ; or, lastly, all the most eligible situations were found to be at least partially preoccupied by the Mission- aries of other denominations. The only district least liable to any of these objections, and in other respects most promising, was discovered to be that of Kishnaghur and Santipore, in the north of Bengal. But — apart from other and most weighty reasons — when it was considered that it Avas about a hundred miles distant from Calcutta, — a dis- tance, which in that climate rendered it, in point of free intercourse and ready communication, nearly as remote and inaccessible to the British residents in the metropolis, as John O’Groat’s House is to the inhabitants of Edinburgh, — we could not satisfy ourselves that the immediate selec- tion of it would accord either with the letter or spirit of the Assembly’s Resolution — and could not, consequently, in the absence of farther instructions from home, incm- the respon- sibility of making it the scene of a, first experiment.

Besides, all inquiries tended to confirm the conclusion.

REASONS FOR PREFERRING CALCUTTA.

527

that Calcutta itself supplied by far the most promising field for the centre of future operations. Every part of India presents to the missionary initial difficulties of a most for- midable nature. When, therefore, preference is given to one, in comparison with another, the preference must be foimded not on exclusive but relative advantages. Thus, to a city like Calcutta, numbers are very naturally attracted from all parts of Eastern India, in consequence of the mul- tiplicity of employments arising from its being the seat of Supreme Government, and the grand emporium of Oriental commerce. Hence the origin of such evils as these, viz., that the incessant fluctuations of a migratory population must, in many instances, prove vastly injurious to regularity of attendance and persevering continuance of study ; — that, in addition to the practices and effects of a debasing mytho- logical idolatry, we must have to contend with the number- less vicious habits superinduced by the Mammon-idolizing spirit of a money-making and fortune-seeking people ; — and that from the facilities of intercourse, and the free and ready circulation of sentiment, the spread of noxious prin- ciples is accelerated, and the power of combined resistance enlarged and consolidated. But over against these and other analogous evils, we had to set the important consider- ation, that Calcutta, as the great seat of Government and spring of mercantile speculation, is the centre of the most powerful and pervasive influences ; — that the frequent epis- tolary correspondence and personal intercommunion main- tained between those who are even partially taught during a temporary residence in the metropolis, and those narrow- minded and prejudiced friends who remain behind in their provincial settlements, may gradually predispose the latter for subsequent and more direct efforts to enlighten them ; and so ultimately accelerate the progress of all truth, human and divine ; — that, if the facilities of propagating error be augmented, the facilities of disseminating truth are corre- spondingly enlarged, by means of the press, the ready distri- bution of defences and expositions of true religion, and the ease experienced in convening assemblies for public discussion

528

REASON'S FOR PREFERRING CALCUTTA.

or public address ; — and, finally, that if the minds of a civic population be, in one sense, less unsophisticated than those of a rural population, they are, at the same time, less shackled by the moulds of prescriptive usage, and the fetters of inveterate prejudice.

Without attempting to balance advantages and disad- vantages at all, it might appear to many that the single circumstance of apostolic example being decidedly in favour of making cities the great centres of evangelic operation, ought to prove altogether decisive of the question of pre- ference. But, apart from this most mighty and solemn consideration, the searching inquiries into which we were led, seemed to furnish certain inferences from undisputed and indisputable facts, which could leave no reasonable doubt in determining in favour of a city like Calcutta. The state of things in Bengal was discovered to be far too back- ward to admit of young men being sent from a distance to strangers and foreigners, for the express purpose of enjoying a liberal education. In many, perhaps even in most parts of it, there had not then been excited that prevailing desire to receive a higher instruction, which would insure a sufficient supply of pupils. And in the interior or provincial cities and districts generally, such ignorance and distrust relative to the intentions and designs of European philanthropists seemed to pervade the great mass, that much preliminary time and attention would be required to soften prejudice and conciliate confidence. Even in the !Mahammadan Col- lege of Calcutta, and the Sanskrit College of Benares, though founded and supported by Government, “ European superin- tendence teas," according to the official report, “/or tnany gears strenuously and successfully resisted."

Hence, to insure the immediate success of any extensice Institution of a superior kind, three things required to be especially attended to : First, it must be planted in the midst of a dense population. Secondly, among that population there must either be a prevalent desire to benefit by the advan- tages which it offered, or numbers of that class of persons who could admit most readily of being stimulated by the

REASONS FOR PREFERRING CALCUTTA.

529

prospect of its proposed advantages. Thirdly^ a considerable proportion must have their minds so divested of hostile pre- possessions, as readily to intrust the young to the operation of an educational system under exclusive European super- intendence. To the absence of one or all of these essential prerequisites of early success, may be attributed much of the temporary failure of one or two collegiate seminaries pre- viously instituted on the banks of the Ganges. Now, of all places, not in Bengal alone, but in India, Calcutta was un- doubtedly that which could present the most tenable plea for the existence of all these indispensable prerequisites, or accelerating causes of probable early success. There, the population was overwhelming in number ; and though thou- sands were migratory, tens of thousands were stationary ; — Calcutta itself containing upwards of half a million, and its vicinity so densely peopled, that within a circle of twenty miles, the number was estimated to exceed two millions — a number equal to what is contained in all Scotland. — Of this vast promiscuous population, a considerable proportion mani- fested an earnest desire for instruction, and particularly in- struction in European literature and science. — And, lastly, — from the miscellaneous labours of pious and devoted Mis- sionaries, from the disturbing force exerted by one part of the Government Scheme of Education, from the gentle and almost insensible process of attrition unceasingly carried on around the basis of the entire fabric of native society by the multiplied streamlets of influence which flowed from the very presence and contact of an enlightened European com- munity ; — from these and other concurrent causes, no where in all India had there been manifested so general a taxation of ancient inveterate prejudices, more especially among the upper classes ; — the metropolis being, in this important par- ticular, at least ten years a-head of any other city or district that could be named.

For all these reasons, it Avas decided in our own mind, that Calcutta itself, and not any place in the interior, ought at once to be fixed on as the permanent site of the pro- posed central Institution ; — and this decision, with a full

530

THE MODE OF PROCEDURE.

statement of the determining reasons, was duly announced to the Home Committee. Eventually, the decision was formally approved and ratified, — and the progress of every year has since tended to convince all parties, whether at home or abroad, that the choice was the best which could have been made, — and that the hand of an overruling Providence was to be traced in all the steps which led to its adoption. Had a station in the interior been chosen, as originally designed — designed on grounds, which at the time appeared amply satisfactory, — the name of the India Mission would this day, in all human probability, have been almost unheard of and unknown. The little general interest which it excited in and before 1829, would have been dwindling into something still less ; till by this time it might have reached the veiy' zero of utter extinction.

The next point to be determined was, the mode of procedure, primary object had been to establish at once a central Institution for communicating a higher education, — literary, scientific, and theological, — to a more select number, who might, in diverse ways, beneficially influence the minds of all around them ; and some of whom, by the blessing of God and the power of His grace, might become qualifled, in the capacity of teachers and preachers, to act as the instructors of their countrymen, “ not only in the arts and sciences of the civilized world, but in the things which be- longed to their everlasting welfare.” It is ob\dous, that in order to be qualified to enter such an Institution, a consider- able amount of preliminary instruction would be indispen- sable. Before, therefore, proposing to hire, far less to erect buildings containing suitable accommodation for class and lecture-rooms, prudence and discretion demanded an antece- dent inquiry to be instituted, as to the prohability or likelihood of obtaining a reasonable number of pupils who had already undergone the preparatory discipline, and had acquired the preparatory attainments.

Now, it certainly did contravene all the anticipations

CENTRAL INSTITUTION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION. 531

entertained at home, to find, after collecting every possible information on the spot, that, even in Calcutta, the state of things, so far as Christian influence extended, was so back- ward as not at all to admit of the immediate establishment of a higher or collegiate Institution. And why? For the strongest, though not the most gratifying, of all reasons ; — either that none icho were willing were found qualifled, or that none who were qualified were found willing to enter it. To every Missionary of every denomination, and every European super- intendent, and almost every successful teacher of a native school, the question was put repeatedly and in every variety of form, “ Whether they knew of any young men who were likely at that time to avail themselves of the opportunities of improvement presented by such an Institution as the one then proposed ? ” — and the reply, uniformly and universally, was to the effect, “ That they were acquainted with none.” How was this unpropitious state of things to be accounted for? The reason was obvious. Up to that time, the atten- tion of the Calcutta Missionaries, so far as concerned edu- cation, was almost exclusively directed to elementary Bengali schools ; where the highest attainment ever reached by the most advanced class was, with scarcely any exception, con- fined to a moderate proficiency in reading and writing the native language, and a little smattering of arithmetic. From such schools, no adequate supply, or rather no supply at all could be obtained or even expected, towards the replenishing and perpetuating of a higher central Institution. Amongst this class of pupils were found some of the willing, hut none of the qualifled. Again, those trained in the Hindu College and other seminaries sanctioned, controlled, or in part sup- ported by Government, were so thoroughly inoculated with the “ education without religion ” system, and consequently so saturated with antichristian prejudices, that not one of them seemed disposed to cross the threshold of an Institu- tion on whose outer porch must be inscribed the motto, “ He who enters here must moralize and religionize, as well as geometrize.” Amongst this class, therefore, were found many of the qualified, hut none of the willing. And hence,

532

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.

from these different causes combined, the fondly cherished scheme of starting at once with a higher or collegiate Insti- tution was, though with inexpressible regret, and solely owing to the calamitous necessity of circumstances, w’holly abandoned.

What then was to be done ? Done ! That alone which could be done ! The original scheme was, it is true, ucholly abandoned, — but not for ever abandoned. It was only for a time, — seeing that a temporary abandonment amounted to a physical necessity. Simultaneous with the abandonment of the primary design, was the determination to adopt and prosecute another. Since, in consequence of the limited, or the antichristian system of instruction hitherto pursued, scarcely one individual advanced enough, or willing enough, to enter a superior Institution, could be found, — what course remained for adoption ? — What alternative could remain, except to endeavour to institute means for the regular prepar- ation of a sufficient number of young men, ucho might he at once qualified and willing to enter upon a higher course ? To insure this preparation under multiplying disadvantages, must be the work of time. Delay and postponement of the original design, not an abandonment, must be the inevitable result. Patience, therefore, became a virtue of necessity; — as a proper allowance of time must be granted to overtake even the labour essential to the insuring of the preparatory qua- lifications. In other words, instead of organizing a higher Institution, it was now resolved to open one or more elemen- tary schools.

But was not this resolution, mav some ask, at variance with what has been already advanced respecting the com- parative inefficiency of elementary schools ? By no means. It is one thing to assert that, in the first instance, such schools must be instituted ; and quite another to affirm, or at least to act, as if these were the only ones that ought ever to be instituted. From the first the great object — that of giving a higher education to a select number — was never for a

OBJECTIONS URGED AGAINST ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 533

moment lost sight of ; and for its ultimate accomplishment, it was proposed that the strength of our resources should be reserved. Besides, it was distinctly foreseen and confidently anticipated, that the means about to be expended at the outset on the inferior object, might, in the course of time, be greatly diminished, if not, in some cases, altogether withdrawn.

Here some zealous persons, not easily reconciled to the loicerhig of dimity supposed to be implied in the descent from a collegiate Institution to a mere elementary school, laboured to persuade us to wait and set measures on foot to secure at once the erection of a handsome edifice ; which, by its out- ward attractions to the eye of a people so enslaved to sense and captivated by outward appearances, might aUure some of the qualified recusants, and stimulate others to qualify themselves for entering within the precincts. Against this representation it was urged, that from the nature and origin of the recusancy of the qualified, its removal by any such means seemed more than problematic. As to the other result, it was at once conceded, that great and extensive improvement could never be realized, till the natives had begun to take a share of the bm-den upon themselves, — had ceased to accept of all knowledge merely as a free gift, instead of paying its just price, — had ceased to regard such appropriation of wealth as so much squandered and lost, instead of considerinor the whole as a fair exchang-e in which the real gain lay all on their side. But, however true all this might be ; — still, it seemed not less true, in point of fact, that the natives in general had not yet learnt to appreciate sufficiently the value of the more precious commodities offered for acceptance or purchase in the know- ledge-market ; — and not less natural, therefore, that they shoidd manifest no desire to submit to sacrifices in helping themselves to what they had not yet learnt to value. The grand object then must be to confer, where it never existed or where it had been extinguished, the capacity for estimat- ing the value of true knowledge ; and the desire to obtain it would follow, and the means would be forthcoming to give the desire its due gratification. Now, how such capacity and

534

PAST EXPERIENCE.

desire could be communicated by the mere exhibition to the outward eye of a material fabric, however stately its pro- portions, or gorgeous its embellishments, was what we could not well understand. No : the real thing wanted was, by an “ aggressive movement ” in the first instance, to obtain unobstructed access to the mind ; and by freely imparting, without money and without price, the hitherto unknown, and therefore unvalued treasure, to create the capacity for estimating, and the desire for possessing it, at any sacrifice. In other words, make the natives once fairly taste and see how very good and pleasant a thing it is ; and then, without the show and parade of mere external attractions, there will be a demand and competition for it.

But apart from all such considerations, the missionary field in India had already exhibited the experiment of erecting collegiate buildings, before there were scarcely any pupils qualified to enter them, — buildings which, — though monu- ments of the benevolence of their founders, — presented the painful spectacle of a prodigious machinery fabricated at a vast expense, with scarcely any ravo materials on which to work. Had these experiments, then, been wholly useless ? By no means. It is not that nothing was done by them ; for a certain amount of good was achieved. It is simply that the thing done was not at all proportioned to the extensive machinery. Even if no direct fruit had accrued, they would not have been in vain. To subsequent labourers a failure is often as fertile in practical lessons, — though in a very dif- ferent w'ay, — as success itself. Do not men expend as much on the beacon-blaze that simply warns off from danger, as on the pharos that guides into the peaceful haven ? Still, no one would seriously contemplate the experiments in question, without having his prayers quickened, no less for the zeal that is truly wise, than for the wisdom that is truly zealous.

The effect of surveying these experiments, on our o^^^l de- termination, was at the time, in a letter to the Home Com- mittee, thus summed up : — “ From all this it is evident, that if, as wise men, we are to prefer the solid to the showy, the substantial to the nominal, the humbly useful to the magni-

IDEA OF COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION ABANDONED. 535

ficently unproductive, we cannot hesitate in relinquishing, for the present, the idea of founding a Collegiate Institution, — cannot hesitate in directing all our educational energies towards establishing and extending those elementary semi- naries that must act as the permanent and ever-teeming nurseries of an Institution of a higher order. And then, like the ocean — which, by a beautiful process of nature, amply replenisheth the fountains that overflow into rivulets, — whose waters uniting return in copious streams, and re-stock the original capacious reservoir, — will the higher Institution, by a similar process of reciprocal influence, amply enrich the sources that supplied it, and render them ever full and ever flowing. This appears to be the order of nature. And those alone who are unreasonably impatient, and whose faith would seem to keep pace only with the visible fruits of their labours, can object to it. But assuredly those who live by faith more than by sight — those who can sow, and ever continue to sow in tears, in the dim and distant, but certain expectation of ultimately reaping in joy, — and those slone, prove that they inherit a portion of the spirit which animated and supported prophets and holy men of every age.” The resolution was accordingly formed to bend the whole strength towards the preparation of individuals able and willing to enter a higher Institution ; and when we could point to these, the intention was to demand the erection of a larger ediflce to accommo- date them in prosecuting their more advanced studies. To employ a very homely illustration : our design was not, like that of the witless colonist, first to erect a huge mill, at a vast expense, in an uncultivated waste, and, having done so, look around in vain for any corn to grind. Our design was to cultivate the ground first, and, having secured the prospect of an abundant crop, then erect the mill to convert the grain into materials for the “ staff of life.”

The attention having now been turned exclusively, in the first instance, to elementary schools, the question was, of what description these should be, and on what footing established ?

53()

BENGALI SCHOOLS.

Bengali being the vernacular dialect of the province, the first idea naturally was to institute a series of Bengali schools ; and, with the view of accomplishing this end, we repeatedly traversed, sometimes alone, sometimes in the com- pany of a European or native, almost every street and lane of Calcutta. Here certain facts, already partially observed, came out with peculiar vividness. In the Bengali schools established by Missionaries, there was such a rapid succes- sion of pupils, that little or no substantial knowledge of any kind could possibly be conveyed, — the greater part remain- ing only a few months ; several a twelvemonth ; the merest fraction a year and a-half ; scarcely any more than two years. As the general rule, all left school the instant they could read, write, and cipher a little. This was a practice so invariable in its occurrence, so obstructive of all real progress in its effects, that it furnished the theme of universal lamenta- tion,— tending to cramp the energies and damp the zeal of many an ardent and devoted labourer. It became, then, an important inquiry to ascertain the cause of this phenomenon, and see whether or not it admitted of a remedy. If so, good and well. If otherwise, it was plain that such schools could never be the proximate nurseries of a higher Institution. Some of these causes were, on inquiry, found to be the follow- ing. The learned Brahmans taught their own sons, and those of their Brahman neighbours, Bengali and Sanskrit ; and natives of rank and wealth had their male children initiated by Brahman tutors into the elements of common Bengali in their own houses. None of either of these classes would be induced, on any consideration, to attend a common Bengali school, established and superintended by a Christian mission- ary. The middle clas.ses of natives usually proceeded in this way: — A native of respectable caste, but of moderate income, would hire, for the merest trifle, a Sirkar, — or illiterate peda- gogue, not a Brahman, — as tutor to his omi sons ; and in lieu of an adequate salary, would allow him to take in a certain number of the children of his neighbours to join in a class with his own, and exact from each of these a bagatelle of a fee. Of this description of indigenous schools, or schools

INEFFICIENCY OF INDIGENOUS SCHOOLS.

537

originated and supported by natives themselves, it had been ascertained by the School Society that there were about two hundred in Calcutta.

In the country, these vernacular schools are very simple. In many parts of India, where, for lack of moisture, the hot winds prevail and burn up every blade of grass, children are taught to write on the sand or powdery dust. In Bengal, from superabundant moisture, there is perpetual verdure, — a surface that has been green since the day of creation. There the practice is different. Go into a country village bestudded with cocoas, mangoes, tamarinds, and bananas, — amongst which the huts are so irregularly scattered, that you can scarcely ever see more than one or two at a time — and in the centre, or at the outskirts, you may behold the village school. The shade of a banyan or some other wide- spreading tree, usually forms the overarching roof of all that is wanted as a school-room — the bare earth or green sward, all that is wanted in the way of seats or benches. There the boys sit cross-legged. Books and slates, pen and paper, they have none. A few green leaves plucked from a species of the palm-tree, and a calamus or reed, picked, it may be, from the wayside as they passed along, form the substitute for pen, paper, and books. Armed with these implements, and a little black composition for ink, they are provided with a complete scholastic apparatus. Whatever is written on the leaves, is written at the oral dictation of the master ; and in mastering the alphabet, as soon as the sound of each letter is enunciated, its figure, form, or representation, is delineated with the reed, — so that, by the time the letters can be recognised and pronounced, they can be accurately written too.

Here it occurred that one of two things might be done — either to extend patronage and support to a number of these indigenous schools, with the view of improving them — or to establish new schools on an independent footing, which might serve as models for imitation, and eventually supersede the useless ones altogether. The former course had been already adopted and pursued to a great extent, and with considerable

L 1

538

BENGALI MISSION SCHOOLS.

success, by the School Society. But though — by means of vigilant supervision, and the offer of premiums to teachers and taught, who on competition might be found the most meritorious — a better system of tuition, as well as printed lesson-books, were in many cases introduced, it was on the principle of perfect non-interference with the subject of reli- gion. And from the very nature and constitution of those indigenous schools, it w'as at once apparent that a missionary w'ould find it next to impossible to ingraft Christianity upon them ; or to impress them with any decided Christian ten- dencies, by introducing either Christian books or Christian masters ; or even Christian knowledge by means of oral instruction without books. Though, therefore, at the time, a very liberal offer to transfer to us the superintendence and partial support of a large number of these schools was made, it did not appear that, as Christian missionaries, we were w'arranted to undertake the charge of them — entrammelled by fetters and conditions which virtually excluded all Chris- tian influence from being brought to bear upon them ; and more especially as, even in their best estate, they did not seem fitted to become preparatory gjmnasia for a higher Christian Institution.

The only remaining course, therefore, seemed to be, to establish a few independent Bengali schools, w'hich might be at once organized and taught after a decidedly Chris- tian model. The question then was, who would attend such schools? — and w^hat probable prospect did they hold out towards the ultimate accomplishment of our great end? From what has been stated, it will appear that none of the children of Brahmans, nor of any of the higher and wealthier classes, could be expected to attend ; nor of any of the very lowest classes or outcasts. And of the middle classes, it was evident that few or none would attend who could afford the miserable paltiy'^ pittance of a fee in one of their own schools. Who, then, would attend ? Only the children of very poor natives, along the borders between the inferior grades of the middle and the lowest castes. Such was the general result obtained after a narrow inspection of the

BENGALI MISSION SCHOOLS.

539

existing state of native society. Those usually came to the mission-schools who were too poor to pay the veriest trifle in their own. They came, therefore, simply and solely to obtain gratuitously that which they would in preference seek for in their own, if they could afford to pay for it. And having once obtained all that they sought for ; — -which was, in general, nothing more than the most meagre of acquisi- tions, the art of wTiting the alphabet and figures — the ability even to read being what very few cared for ; — off they went in quick succession, without ceremony, and without even returning thanks for the boon conferred, and were heard of no more !

It thus appeared that, in point of fact, all the pupils who frequented Bengali mission-schools, were children of indivi- duals of a very inferior grade in society, — individuals who had been in no perceptible degree alFected by those changes which were insensibly stealing into the higher circles, — indi- viduals over whom caste and its prejudices still held absolute and undisputed dominion, — individuals imbued from infancy with the notion that it was an indignity to ancestors, an impiety against the gods to change the profession of the caste in which they were born, or aspire to any thing beyond the humble heritage of their birth, — in a word, individuals who, from the very circumstances in which they were placed, had no desire whatever, and in whom no arguments, no induce- ments could create the desire to seek after, or cultivate any of the higher branches of tuition, whether of native or of foreign growth. Instead, therefore, of being filled with surprise and regret that none of this description could be prevailed on to remain long enough in school to derive what we would reckon any real benefit ; the wonder ought rather to be, that any one at all acquainted with their views and feelings could expect them to remain.

And even if the children of the higher classes could be prevailed on, as they could not, to attend Bengali mission- schools, the case would not be much altered for the better. What influential motive could be presented to them to pro- secute the study of Bengali for any length of time ? Not one.

540

IDEA OF BENGALI SCHOOLS ABANDONED,

Bengali was not to them the language of their own literature, science, or religion ; — that honour was exclusively monopo- lized by the Sanskrit. It was not the language of Govern- ment, or jurisprudence, or practical law ; — that honour was absorbed by the Persian. It was not the language of com- mercial and general business ; — that honour belonged to the Hindustani, It was a language, therefore — up to the time of Carey and his coadjutors — as rude, as unreduced to method or rule, as the most barbarous of the common vernacular dialects of Europe during the middle ages. Hence all the WTitten knowledge of it ever deemed necessaiy, was intended only for the lowest, meanest, and commonest intercourse and transactions of life — social and domestic. If, without any recognition of orthographical, etymological, or syntac- tical rules, wealthy men could scrawl a note of invitation to a feast or ceremony ; — if the ryot could mark down the num- ber of mauns of rice bought or sold ; — if the petty retailer could note the receipts of the day in rupees, annas, and pice ; — if the sirdar-bearer, or any other head-servant, could enrol the number of articles intrusted to his charge, — and so wdth others, — this is all that was ever expected of Bengali. It was never thought to be of any other use. The idea of studying it for the sake of acquiring knowledge through it as a meditun, was an idea which in any right or available sense was unknown to the natives. It was an exotic, transplanted from abroad to their mental soil ; and probably would never have sprung up, had not Carey and his followers resolved, through it, to convey to more than twenty millions the treasures of the Word of Life.

On a review of all the circumstances of the case, it was palpable as the light of day, that in the then existing state of things, mere elementary Bengali mission-schools would not at all answ^er the purpose of preparing a race of quali- fied pupils for entering the proposed Collegiate Institution. Indeed, so strongly was this felt at the time, that it was resolved we should have nothing whatever to do with them — that to establish even one, would be only to throw away so much time, money, and labour, for little or nought —

THE BEST MEDIUM OP INSTRUCTION. 5j?l

that the prospect of being able to turn them to any really profitable account, seemed so distant, protracted, and inde- finite (in the absence of some more effective measure), that if nothing better could be done, we must announce the utter failure of one leading part of the contemplated design ; and patiently wait, and watch the dealings and the openings which might arise in the course of a mysterious overruling Providence.

With the abandonment of the Bengali schools, was the educational department of the original plan, therefore, aban- doned ? No. The course of the inquiries which led to the abandonment of these, tended to open up new facts, new prospects, new instrumentalities for its accomplishment.

As in the different kingdoms of Europe, all national in- struction has long been conducted through the medium of the spoken national languages, — so had it been originally supposed that all national instruction in a great province like that of Bengal, should be conducted through t le pro- vincial tongue of Bengal, — a language spoken by more than twenty millions of people. Inquiry had utterly dissipated this notion. For the reason already stated, Bengali could not possibly supply the medium for all the requisite instruc- tion ; — nor, even if it had a sufficiency of adequate terms, had it any adequate supply of the necessary apparatus, in the form of appropriate books.

It now appeared that, as regarded the communication of a course of knowledge in any of its higher departments, to a select portion of Hindu youth, the choice coul i only lie between two, viz., the Sanskrit or learned language of the natives ; and the English, the language of their rulers.

The determination of this choice involved the decision of one of the momentous practical questions connected with the ultimate evangelization of India ; — a question which has ever since convulsed nearly the whole world of Orientalists and Christian philanthropists. The question was. Which shall hereafter be established as the language of learning in India I

542 RESOLUTION’ TO PREFER THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

Which will prove the most effective instrument of a large, liberal, and enlightened education I — the best primary medi- um of conveying the literature, science, and Christian theo- logy’ of Europe to those who by their instruction and example are to be the teachers and guides of their country’men ? The wrong determination of so vital a question, at the outset, would have greatly retarded and embarrassed every subsequent movement. It was not, therefore, mthout earnest prayer to God for counsel and direction, that a decision was attempted.

It would seem at first view, that there could be no room for hesitation. All argument and authority not only pre- ponderated in favour of the Sanskrit, but seemed exclusively to favour it. The Supreme Government had decided in its favour. Their schemes of education were essentially based on the assumption, that as a matter of course, and without the possibility of dispute, it must be the best. All learned Orientalists, whose opinion had hitherto been despotic and uncontrollable law, were enthusiastically and exclusively in its favour. And what was most silencing of aU, the theory and practice of some of the oldest and most experienced Missionaries in Bengal were decidedly in its favour. Against such a formidable array of authority, who could have the hardihood to contend ? Must not the very’ muttering of dissent be ascribed to the mere love of singularity, or be branded as a grand impertinence ! Yet it was in the face of the highest authorities, — in the face of Government enact- ments, and learned dissertations, and the practices of Chris- tian philanthropists, that the resolution was taken after the maturest consideration, wholly to repudiate the Sanskrit and other learned languages of India as the best instru- ments of a superior education, — and openly and fearlessly to proclaim the English the most effective medium of Indian illumination, — the best and amplest channel for speedily letting in the full stream of European knowledge on the minds of those who by their status in society, their character and attainments, their professional occupations as teachers and preachers, were destined to influence and direct the national intellect and heart of India.

REASONS FOR PREFERRING ENGLISH TO SANSKRIT. 5-iS

Such a project was denounced by the great Orientalists. They could tolerate, and as members of the Government Committee of Public Instruction, they did practically sanc- tion one use and application of the English language, — that is, for qualifying a select number of native youth to become translators of European books into the Sanskrit and other learned languages of India, which in their estimation were the only effective media for enlightening the national mind. But the proposition — altogether to supei-sede these learned languages, by the employment of English as a universal sub- stitute— they stigmatized as the result of some new species of mental affection, to be henceforward known under the appellation of Anglomania."

Into the various reasons for this decision our space forbids us to enter ; nor is it necessary, as the subject has already been so often illustrated.* One practical reason appeared so very obvious, that it was matter of wonder why it should have been so long overlooked. Suppose Sanskrit were as perfect an instrument as the English for conveying Euro- pean knowledge, which it is not ; suppose it were as easy of acquisition as the English to native youth, which it is not ; suppose the attainment of it were as open to all classes as the English, which it is not, — seeing that, by an ordinance reckoned to be divine, three-fourths of the people, consisting of the lowest and mixed classes, are, under pains and penal- ties, forbidden the study of it; — suppose, in short, it possessed all the advantages which the English does, as a lingual vehicle, how different, how contrary the results produced on ■a native mind, by the respective acquirements of these two languages ! There are scarcely any European works trans- lated into the Sanskrit ; and even if there were, every term in that sacred tongue is linked inseparably with some idea, or sentiment, or deduction of Hinduism, which is a stupendous

* See pamphlet entitled “ New Era of English Language and English Literature in India,” passim “ Church of Scotland’s India Mission,” 2d edition, p. 30-31. “Vindication of Do.,” seventeenth thousand, p. 20. 21. p. 4. Also, “ Missions the Chief End of the Christian Church,’’ 3d edition, p. 77-81 .

544

OBJECTIONS TO THE ADOPTION OF ENGLISH.

system of error ; — so that a native in acquiring it becomes indoctrinated into a false system ; and, after having mas- tered it, is apt to become tenfold more a child of Pantheism, idolatr}-, and superstition than before ! Whereas, in the very act of acquiring English, the mind, in grasping the import of nisw terms, is perpetually brought in contact with the new ideas, the new truths, of which these terms are the svmbols and representatives ; — so that, by the time that the language has been mastered, the student must be tenfold less the child of Pantheism, idolatry, and superstition than before.

Still, though the superiority of the English as an instru- ment of enlightened education was demonstrable, the prac- tical question recurred. Does there exist among the natives the desire, combined with the ability, to acquire a competent knowledge of it ? Or, what probability is there of any num- ber being able and willing to avail themselves of the offer to convey instruction through it as the chosen medium ? The subject, it must be confessed, was on all hands wrapped up in intricacy and embarrassment ; of which, at this distance of time and place, it is not possible to convey an adequate conception. In a city like Calcutta, the felt supremacy of British power and influence in every department, political, judicial, and commercial, naturally and necessarily tended to create a gradually increasing demand for a certain amount of English on the part of the natives ; — such an amount as might enable them to act the part of head servants, copyists, and petty agents in the varied transactions of social life. Availing themselves of this fact, individual Missionaries had at times opened elementary classes for instruction in Eng- lish. But so soon as the young men had acquired all the smattering, in the way of writing and broken oral gibberish, essential to their humble vocation, they invariably disap- peared, without carrjrng away with them any solid or valu- able attainment whatsoever ; — to the mortification and dis- gust of the instructor, and his final abandonment of so useless an employ. Accordingly, when it was proposed to establish a new English seminary, the strongly expressed opinion of some of the best friends of missions was, that the experiment

ENGLISH EDUCATION ASSOCIATED WITH INFIDELITY. 545

would prove worse than useless. “ In a few months,” said they, “ or at the utmost, in a year or two, all the pupils will run away ; and considering the chicanery so notoriously prevalent among the menial class of natives, you may only be multiplying evil instead of good.” To this our reply in substance was : — “ At a time when scarcely any native knew English, the merest smattering must have brought a good price. But the demand for such a class of native ser- vants, assistants, and intermediate agents, is not unlimited. Already there appear to be so many in quest of employment, that the market must be well stocked. By opening the facilities of a new Institution, we shall soon have the marTcet overstocked. What then ? Surely this — that when the num- ber of these smatterers or elementarists is made to super- abound, many amongst them will be forced to perceive that their only chance of securing a preference, will be to acquire attainments superior to their fellows — to advance a step higher in the progressive or ascending series of intellectual acquirements. When that higher step has been surmounted by considerable numbers, many will feel the necessity of advancing higher still ; and so upwards to the very pinnacle of that proficiency in sound knowledge which it is our wish to communicate. And if only a few be once made to partake of a free draught at the refreshing fount of English know- ledge in its higher departments, we have no doubt that a craving will thereby be created for fresh supplies ; and that the strongest guarantee for the continued attendance of the pupils, will be found in the perfect delight which they must experience in the vigorous prosecution of their studies ; as well as the growing sense of the advantage of so doing, both for time and eternity.” With such and similar statements were the objections of many repelled at the time ; the ex- periment was tried ; and the day has arrived when these inferential anticipations have been more than verified.

Other zealous friends of Christianity, looking at the Government Hindu College and its fruits, could not help associating a superior English education with infidelity. Giving us credit for the best intentions, they scrupled not.

546

NECESSITY OF CHECKING INFIDELITY.

in their ignorance or heedlessness, to characterise our in- tended scheme as an injidelizing process, rather than one which would promote the evangelization of India. To this representation the reply was obvious : — “ The Hindu College has produced its bitter fruits simply because it communi- cates the knowledge which destroys a false religion without supplying that which would build up in the true. Instead of scaring us by such an experiment, the very existence of a seminary like the Government Hindu College, furnishes one of the most urgent arguments for the establishment of a new Institution, — its co-ordinate and rival as an intellec- tual gymnasium, — its unrivalled superior, as the nursery of religion and morals. From the circulation of European literature and science, but wholly exclusive of morality and religion., the young illuminati, too wise to continue the dupes and slaves of an irrational and monstrous superstition, do, it is admitted, openly enlist themselves in the ranks of infidelity. Here, then, is a new power which threatens soon to become more formidable than idolatry itself. Already it has begun to display some of its ghastly features, and boastfully to exhibit its prognostics of anticipated triumph. And in the storm of conflicting opinions which seems gather- ing on all sides, it may easily be foreseen, that unless our vigilance and exertions are increased in a tenfold degree, infidelity, and not Christianity, will be the power that must cause the downfall of idolati’y ; and with it also, the over- throw of all that we most value. It becomes, then, a ques- tion of vital, of paramount importance, — How are we most effectually to resist the encroachments of this new anti- idolatrous and antichristian power ? Can any plan be devised more likely to arrest its desolating progress than the founding of a superior Christian seminary ; with the view of raising up another race of young men, who, having their minds imbued with the enlightened spirit of modern science, and regulated and controlled by the principles of true religion and sound morality, can challenge the common enemy on his own terms ; and, aided from on high, eventually carry by storm the strongest positions of his lofty citadel ?

OBJECTIONS OF THE INDIANS OP THE OLD SCHOOL. 547

And if some expedient appear manifestly necessary to meet this new state of things, and that now suggested promises, under the Divine blessing, to prove the most effectual, ought we to linger in ruinous indecision ? — Or, is it wise to delay the adoption of the projected measure, till, by our procras- tination, we allow the opposing influences to grow and swell into a torrent, which may sweep away in its impetuous career every bulwark that we can oppose to it ? Reason and expediency proclaim. No.”

Hereupon a numerous and influential party of our own countrymen, “ the Indians of the old school,” came forwai’d with their objections. It was admitted that a desire to ac- quire the English language prevailed to a considerable ex- tent. Besides the more mercenary class of natives already referred to, there were others who had begun to resort to the English fountain-head. From the various incipient and slowly developed, but long-continued tendencies towards ultimate change, more particularly amongst some of the higher classes, there began to be manifested a desire on the part of not a few to emulate, to a certain extent, and with- out infringement of the laws of caste, English manners and customs, — as well as the determination to secure for their children an English education. Unhappily, however, this higher class of natives was associated with the operations of the Government College, and entirely under the influence of the advocates of education without religion. Accordingly, the constant speech of aU “ old Indians” was the follow- ing : — “ However desirous some of the higher classes may be of obtaining an English education, to enhance their re- spectability in the eyes of Europeans ; and however readily boys of a lower caste may be induced, from ignorance or selfish motives, to peruse books of a religious nature ; there is still such a blind and inveterate adherence to their own idolatrous system, such determined hostility towards Chris- tianity as the great antagonist of that system, that when- ever the proposal may be made to read the Christian Scrip- tures, the school must instantly and inevitably be vacated by all the pupils of a higher caste.” To this we had a two-

548

REPLY TO OBJECTIONS.

fold reply : — “ First, when you deny that such young men as are able and willing to master the English language, can be induced to read the Bible, or receive instructions in the principles of the Christian faith, you appeal with triumph to past experience. But yours is a triumph without a victory. Under the shelter of power and influence, and wealth, your exclusive plan has been tried ; and it has succeeded : — But what inference can be drawn from this success except the obvious one, that your plan is practicable ? The other ex- periment, viz., that of making Christianity an essential part of a course of superior English education, has yet been unat- iempted. How, then, can the success of that which has been tried, in circumstances the most favourable, disprove the probability of attaining success in the case of that which has been left untried ? In the sight of reason alone, independ- ent of experience, the proof must be held inconclusive and the triumph most unfounded.” Our second and principal reply was : — “ There are already very noticeable sjTuptoms abroad, that the Indian Government is well disposed to transfer to English much of the patronage which hitherto has almost exclusively been lavished on the learned languages of the East. Besides, in the very nature of things, a larger share in the administration of affairs must ere long be ex- tended to the natives than has hitherto been vouchsafed ; and an acquaintance more or less with the language and literature of the ruling power, must form an indispensable prerequisite qualiflcation for office. Should these two causes concur, as concur they must at no distant period, there will be a demand created for English far beyond what the Grovemment College can supply. And from the somewhat relaxed opinions of numbers of the present generation of respectable natives in the metropolis, is it not probable, is it not all but certain, that if we furnish a superior English education, hundreds will gladly avail themselves of the advantages offered, and risk the consequences of a simul- taneous instruction in the evidences and doctrines of the Christian faith ? At all events the stake is so great — the crisis so imminent — the conjuncture so favourable — that the

OPENING OP MISSION SEMINARY.

549

experiment is worth trying, even if it should prove a dead failure ; — and tried it shall be.”

The resolution having now been formed, that elementary English schools were best adapted to the ultimate end con- templated, no time was lost in attempting to give practical effect to it. A tolerably sized hall in an old building in the central part of the native town — once occupied as a Hindu College, and latterly as a chapel by “ Hindu Unitarians” or Pantheists, was hired for the purpose. All the necessary preparations in fitting it for educational purposes having been completed by Monday the 12th July, a note was for- warded on the evening of that day to a native of rank and influence, who had expressed himself favourable to our de- sign ; — stating, that on the following morning we should at- tend at the intended school. On Tuesday, at his recommen- dation, five young men made their appearance. With these, chiefly through an interpreter, we had a long and pleasing colloquy. They went away expressing themselves highly gratified. The tidings they communicated to their friends and neighbours. On Wednesday twenty more appeared. The most of these, too, retired with the most favourable im- pressions. On Thursday, the number of additional candidates amounted to eighty. So that, without public notice or adver- tisement of any description, the hall, which only held about one hundred and twenty, was completely filled in three days.

On Friday, it was our intention to examine, arrange, and classify, but were prevented from so doing by the appearance of upwards of two hundred new applicants. These assembled in the back court ; and in their petitions were so clamorous and importunate, that after struggling in vain to explain and pacify, we found it utterly impossible to proceed. J udging from the exceeding earnestness of the entreaties, that instead of having to solicit the attendance of any as a favour, hundreds must be refused for want of sufficient ac- commodation,— it was announced that a selection would be made ; and that, in order to secure the greater decorum

550

NUMEROUS APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION.

and regularity, every application must be made in writing ; and accompanied, if possible, by a special recommendation from some respectable native or European gentleman.

It was with the utmost difficulty we got clear of the crow'd. They would extort promises which could not possibly be made ; because the means of fulfilment was not at hand. Numbers, afraid lest they might be among the unsuccessful candidates, rushed after us from the hall and court. On the street, encompassing us about, they formed a voluntary retinue. Expostulation on our part was vain. Their en- treaties were vehemently reiterated. To every exhortation, patiently to await the approaching selection, they turned a deaf ear. To the last, many held on ; and even lingered for hours in front of our dwelling-house.

During the next week, four or five hours each day were spent in receiving applications and examining candidates. As interesting proofs of the earnest desire of parents and guardians to obtain an English education for their children and friends, a number of their written applications, bearing as they did the credentials of their own authenticity, were sent home to the Assembly’s Committee.

Finding, toward the end of the week, that new candidates were still pressing forwards, in numbers scarcely diminish- ing,— it was found necessary to close the lists for the pre- sent, and proceed to make the proposed selection. To those whose names were not enrolled, or might be rejected, less could not be said than that there was an earnest desire to receive all ; and to secure, as soon as possible, additional accommodation. In the meanwhile, as a temporary arrange- ment, and in order to make the best of the means at our disposal, it was resolved, — though attended with greater fatigue to the teachers, — by a particular alternation of the junior and senior classes at different hours of the day, to convey suitable instruction to double the number which the hall could at once accommodate.

Throughout the whole progress of these preparatory arrangements, the excitement among the natives continued unabated. They pursued us along the streets. They threw

NUMEROUS APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION.

551

open the very doors of our palankeen ; and poured in their supplications with a pitiful earnestness of countenance that might have softened a heart of stone. In the most plain- tive and pathetic strains, they deplored their ignorance. They craved for “ English reading,” — “ English knowledge.” They constantly appealed to the compassion of an “ Ingraji ” or Englishman ; — addressing us in the style of Oriental hyperbole, as “ the great and fathomless ocean of all ima- ginable excellencies,” for having come so far to teach poor ignorant Bengalis. And then, in broken English, some would say, “ Me good boy, oh take me ;” others, “ Me poor boy, oh take me ;” — some, “ Me want read your good books, oh take me ;” others, “ Me know your commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods before me, — oh take me and many, by way of final appeal, “ Oh take me, and I pray for you.” And even after the final choice was made, such was the continued press of new candidates, that it was found absolutely necessary to issue small written tickets for those who had succeeded ; and to station two men at the outer door to admit only those who were of the selected number.

From all this it might naturally have been concluded, that the actual thirst for English instruction was incredibly greater than the most sanguine could at all have antici- pated. But there were certain abatements and subtrac- tions, which the past experience of others suggested ought to be made from the plenitude of this conclusion. Hitherto, in native schools, looks^ as well as instruction^ had been gratuitously supplied, — in order to allure the careless and ignorant to desire their own improvement. What was the consequence firsts The sinful practice of flocking in num- bers to any newly opened school, for the sole and exclusive purpose of obtaining books ; and when these were once obtained, of running away with the prize ; — and, second^ The vicious practice of perpetually shifting from one school to another, from a spirit of restless, aimless curiosity, and vague unmeaning novelty. Hence the excessive pressure for admission might, after all, have only indicated an un-

552

CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION,

wonted outburst of the spirit of avarice, proportioned to the greater extent of anticipated liberality in the distribution of books ; — which, instead of being converted into stores for the intellect, might be turned into so much waste paper for petty retailers in the bazaar. And the school might have been filled in part only with drainings from other seminaries, — which would drop away, as curiosity was gratified, and the feeling of novelty wore off.

A state of things so unpropitious to the cause of edu- cation, and the best interests of the natives themselves, it was desirable to rectify without delay. Accordingly, with the view, if possible, of applying an early remedy to these great and acknowledged evils, it was resolved that, besides the other precautionary measures already referred to, the very principle of selection must be regulated by two in- dispensable conditions •.—firsts that all those chosen should instantly pay for the class-books to be employed ; — and, secondly, that the parents and guardians should formally sign, in the presence of witnesses, a written agreement binding themselves, under certain pecuniary penalties, to the obser- vance of various regulations respecting the hours of daily attendance, and a prolonged period of attendance ; which tended to arrest, if not annihilate, the wandering propen- sities.

Nearly the whole of the ensuing week, or last week of July, was occupied in expounding the nature and reasonableness of those conditions ; and in meeting such of the parents and guardians as came forward deliberately to attach their own signatures to the agreement. The great end contem- plated was effectually secured. Many of the idle, the wan- dering, the frivolous, the ill-intentioned, at once disappear- ed. And the lists were eventually filled up with the names of two hundred and fifty, for whom the hooks were purchased and the agreement duly signed; — that being the utmost possible number which could be admitted. Subsequently it was found, as had been anticipated, that no agreement was necessary to insure regular and continued attendance ; — the pleasure and profit of the studies pursued having been suffi-

BUSINESS OF TUITION COMMENCED.

553

cient to induce many of the young men to resist the lure of offers of immediate employment, and to remain at school in opposition to the persuasion of some, and in spite of the threats and persecution of others.

On Monday, the 2d of August, — the selection of the pupils being now completed, and all being regularly distri- buted into classes, irrespectively of age or caste, according to their ascertained attainments or non-attainments, — the busi- ness of actual tuition for the first time commenced. The highest class, about forty, consisted of those who had ad- vanced so far as to be able to spell and read with tolerable ease words of two syllables, — without, however, understand- ing, except in a very few instances, a single word. The second class consisted of those who could spell and read words of one syllable. The third, of those who had simply mastered the alphabet. All the rest had to commence with A, B, C. Scarcely one of them had ever been in a school of any description. What insignificant attainments the more advanced parties possessed, had been acquired inci- dentally from the private or home instructions of acquaint- ance or friends. Several phrases current in colloquial inter- course had in like manner been picked up by rote. Beyond this, there was neither possession nor pretension on the part of any one.

Our educational bark was now fairly afloat on a sea of ignorance ; — but, with the cloudy horizon partially opening before, and a fresh gale of hope in the direction of the fair havens, the fear of prospective perils was overborne by the joyous prospect of triumph on reaching the happy land of promise. Had any one ventured to predict only a month before, that we should start under such favourable auspices, he would have been treated as an unreflecting sleeper, and his prediction as the vision of a dream.

In the conclusion of a long communication forwarded at the time to the Home Committee, — of which the preceding narrative exhibits the substance, — are found the following remarks : — “In what has been advanced, I have been studious to avoid what the world calls ‘ effect.’ I have endeavoured

M m

554 DIVINE GOODNESS IN PROSPERING THE SCHEME.

to present you with a plain statement of facts. And if in any respect it is faulty, it is on the ground of deficiency in the detail, and of dimness in the colouring. I have presented simple facts. And oh, if some of them are not facts that are calculated to tell more emphatically on the minds of the people of Scotland than all mere abstract reasoning, how- ever convincing, and all mere eloquence, however overpower- ing to the heart and feelings, we must be constrained to believe that ours is an age in which men prefer speculation to action — the brilliant colouring of the fancy to the unvar- nished simplicity of resistless realities — the glowing crea- tions of an inoperative philanthropy, to the actual fruits of a productive benevolence. I must confess that, when I re- called to mind the days of other years — those days of clouds without a ray of promise — when the heralds of the Cross toiled and perished ere they could persuade one native to receive wholesome instruction at their hands, and the preju- dices of the people were pronounced unchangeable by the voice of ages, — and when I contrasted all this with the pre- sent dawning of a glorious light, and the singular necessity imder which I w'as laid of turning a deaf ear to the earnest entreaties of hundreds craving for instruction, — I must con- fess that my heart was often ready to burst for want of utterance. To God, who is ever rich and overflowing in mercy and in love, be all the praise and all the glory ! ” From the brief statement now given, it will appear that the modified form of practically carrj’ing out the educational part of the Assembly’s Scheme was in actual operation for two months before the Home Committee could receive any intelligence of the arrival of their first Missionary at the scene of his destination. Of all his movements, plans, and resolutions, due information was regularly forwarded to Dr Inglis, the Convener of the Committee. Here we cannot but pause to offer our humble tribute of grateful homage to the spirit of noble impartiality, considerate candour, and paternal Indulgence, with which that great and good man received every communication from the missionary field ; and in which he conducted the whole of the correspondence

ARRAXGEMEXT OF SCHOOL.

555

therewith — a spirit which those who best know the inner workings of the enterprise, will be the readiest to testify, has been largely inherited, and during the last five years often beautifully exemplified, by his respected and beloved friend and successor — the present Convener — Dr Brunton. Before this pure, elevated, and disinterested spirit, no preconceived idea or opinion has ever been allow^ed to stand its ground, when any thing different has been pointed out by the Mis- sionary on the field of labour, as more likely, through the Divine blessing, to secure the success of the heavenly under- taking. Of the Home Committee as a body, justice and gratitude alike demand of us to record, that never were men less disposed to exercise mere power ^ however constitutional. The bond between the Home Directors and the foreign agents, has never been that of mere official authority on the one hand, and mere official submission on the other. No ; — the bond all along has consisted in a fatherly interest and confidence at home, which have been amply reciprocated by a filial respect and confidence abroad. Long may this blessed bond which rests on faith, is cemented by love, and sealed by prayer, continue to exhibit its happy fruits in mutual harmony of design, and conspiring movement of parts, in dependence on the aid of Almighty grace, towards the realization of the anticipated triumphs !

The few first days had still to be devoted chiefly to the task of marshalling the different classes and assistant teach- ers ; and of reducing the whole to order, discipline, and prompt obedience to the will of the controlling authority. And never, certainly, were such military exercises more needed. Not one present seemed to have the remotest notion of rule, plan, or system ; — no more than so many untamed creatures newly caught in the caves of the rock, or the jungles of the forest, and suddenly transported to the abodes of civilization. Each seemed to think that he ought to be allowed to sit, or stand, or speak, or read, or move, or come and go, just w’hen, and where, and how he

556

INTELLECTUAL SYSTEM ADOPTED.

pleased. No assistance whatever was derived from the as- sistant teachers. These required to be disciplined as much as the most undisciplined of the pupils. And as to any improved method of instruction, they required a separate training as much as the pupils whom they were called on to instruct. Decision, moved by kindness, and regulated by method, soon tended to reduce this apparently intractable mass of unrestrained self-wnlledness into cheerful captivity, under the yoke of an exactly-defined regime and plastic deference to recognised authority.

The plan or mode of tuition adopted was what has been termed “ the intellectual system which has been brought to such perfection by those distinguished educational philan- thropists, Mr Wood of Edinburgh, and Mr Stow of Glas- gow ; — subject of course, to such peculiar modifications in the arrangements and details, as the change of circumstances obviously demanded. This is the natural and true system ; suited to the condition and capacity of rational beings. It w’as beyond all debate the strenuous and unabated prosecu- tion of this Indianized modification of the intellectual or mental developement system of instruction, which, imder the direction of Divine Providence, so speedily caused the infant Institution to outpeer all its predecessors in the estimation both of natives and of Europeans, — which soon assigned to it, as an elementary school, somewhat the same rank among the seminaries of Calcutta, as has so long and deservedly been awarded to the Sessional School among the Edinburgh Institutions, — which gradually converted it into a Normal School for teachers of nearly as great prominence in Eastern India, as the Normal School of Glasgow among our Scottish establishments, — and which finally is raising it into the status of a mission-college with its Divinity Hall for the equipment of preachers of the everlasting Gospel.

At first, even the most advanced of the boys and young men appeared to possess little or no characteristic intel- ligence. If, on distinctly pronouncing such a simple sen- tence as this — “ The sun shines,” — it w’as asked. What is it that shines ? the question w'ould be answered by a vacant

RAPID PROGRESS OF PUPILS.

557

unintelligent stare. They had read something, but to attend to the import of what they read, or exercise the least degree of thought upon it, was a practice to them wholly unknown. Still, there was nothing to discourage. Having ourselves experienced all the horrors of the dull old mechanical sys- tem during the earlier years spent in school, and being able even now to realize the impress of that unbounded joy which filled the soul, when first emancipated from its thraldom, and made to feel conscious of the possession of at least some small portion of reason, we readily persuaded ourselves that, under a system of tuition still more imperfect, it was almost impossible for the youth assembled before us to make a different exhibition. Instead, therefore, of upbraiding them for their apparent stupidity, we were naturally led to cheer and encourage, — warmly expressing our conviction that the fault was not theirs if they appeared to such disad- vantage,— cheerfully ascribing their present state to causes over which they had no control, — and strongly assuring them that, by persevering diligence, their progress might not only be sure, but rapid. Sooner than could well be anticipated were our expectations realized. Scarcely had a week elapsed, when the state of things assumed a decided change of aspect. Forwardness of manner became respect- ful ; irregularity of habit acknowledged some rule : slug- gishness of movement was quickened : the unfixed tendency of thought seemed more stayed : fickleness and levity of conduct settled down into greater sobriety : aimlessness of effort began to be directed to a purpose ; and passive indo- lence of mind was roused into activity. It was now found that there might be mental as well as bodily exercise — an intellectual as well as a physical appetite — a regalement of reason as well as of sense. It was found that ingenuity and fancy might be displayed in framing intelligent replies and felicitous illustrations, as much as in the skillful con- trivance and dexterous execution of material mechanisms.

And what was the result ? A new and enlivening joy, — fresh as the sparkling dewdrops that begem the bosom of nature at the opening dawn of a summer morn, — beamed

558 INTRODUCTION OF THE BIBLE INTO THE SCHOOL.

from many a youthful countenance on the discovery of a power which all had previously possessed, without having hitherto been made conscious of the possession.

This was the time for the formal introduction of that prime branch of knowledge, without which all education is more than defective. The hostile prognostications of the “ Old Indians” were now about to be put to the test of experiment. For what experiment could be more decisive than that about to be made on an assemblage of upwards of a hundred natives, assembled at one time, — one-third of whom were about the age of twenty^ — one-fourth of whom were Brahmans, — the greater part of the remainder of re- spectable caste, — and not one that we knew of the very lowest ?

It was at once freely confessed that the subject was not without its difficulties. But to the shame of our countr}'- men, it must be told that these difficulties, though not per- haps originated, had been increased a hundredfold by the base and treacherous proceedings of Britons bearing the Christian name. In their total ignorance of the reality, a very general impression had at an early period gone abroad among the great mass of bigoted natives, that the Bible was the most infamous of all books — that it was expressly written by the Melech'haSy the “ polluted and unclean” (the “ Feringees,” or “ European Infidels”), for the express purpose of abusing and vilifying the pure and holy religion of Brahma. And this most untoward impression, if not originally suggested, had been at least rivetted and confirmed by the policy and example of their Christian governors, in the course of a cen- tury of absolute dominion, — a policy and example quite the reverse of that pursued by preceding governments. Every official transaction the Mahammadan rulers of India were wont to preface with the grand formula, “ There is but one God, and Mahammad is his prophet.” On every occasion, public or private, they loudly and fearlessly appealed to the Koran as the model of taste and the miracle of learning, — the standard of literature and the well-spring of philosophy, — the ultimate authority in law and the sole depository of

THE BIBLE PREVIOUSLY HATED BY THE NATIVES. 559

true religion. What was the result ? Cordially as the great mass of Hindus hated the Mussulman and his Koran, — policy, interest, curiosity, impelled hundreds to the study of Arabic and Koranic lore. Without the resistless argument of the sword, hundreds were 'persuaded m their minds to become pro- selytes of the Islamic faith. How different the conduct of their Christian governors ! Instead of prefacing their official proclamations with the grand article of Christian doctrine, “ There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus:” — instead of fearlessly appeal- ing to the Bible as the fountainhead of all sound principle in legislation, jurisprudence, and religion, — their grand scheme of policy was, by every possible artifice, treacherously to con- ceal their faith ; and by threats of pains and penalties, wholly to keep back from view and to suppress the great standard of that faith. What was the result \ — A national indoctrin- ation of the native mind into the conviction that the Bible was so hateful a book, that even its professed adherents were ashamed of it in the presence of strangers ! Instead of hundreds being led and encouraged, as in the case of the Koran, by interest or cirriosity, to examine into its claims or contents, and ultimately become acquainted with it, the conduct of their Christian governors tended to extinguish the first stirrings of curiosity, — tended to crush the first risings of inquiry, by annihilating the very possibility of attaining honour, or station, or rank, or wealth, or consideration, or power, through any avenue that visibly bordered on the faith of Jesus — tended to concentrate all previous hostile prejudices and senseless prepossessions in one grand focus of national antipathy against the very name of Christ — and thus virtually cause their chiefest political good — their supreme worldly interest — to consist in hating that blessed name, which is the only name given under heaven whereby men can be saved ; and in scornfully branding as the very “ abomination of desolation” that most precious of all books, which alone can prove the light and the life of a benighted and famishing world ! The same crooked and traitorous policy extended to every department. From the educational system pursued

560 CAUTION NECESSARY IN INTRODUCING RELIGION.

in even- Groverament’seminan, and ever)* Institution patron- ized by Government officials (apart from the elementary mission-schools), the Bible was systematically excluded by rules as rigorous and in\*iolable as those that rejrulate the maintenance of a strict quarantine in warding off the pes- tilence or the plague. Hence it happened that the odium, — originally excited towards the Bible as some unknown evil of portentous magnitude, — instead of being diminished, was unreasonably enhanced. Every prejudice was doubly fenced; every ignorant surmise set on keener edge ; every feeling of aversion exacerbated into the very extreme of sensitive acute- ness. Indeed, such images of loathing and terror were often conjured up, and associated-with the best of books, that it would seem as if, — in order to thicken the shades of an ignorance already dark and confused as chaos, — the powers of darkness had been permitted to encompass and bewilder the minds of the deluded people with the phantasmagoria of some Pandemonian enchantment.

In such a peculiar and unnatural state of things, — from the proverbial extent of native prejudice ; and, to the great majority of those present, the startling novelty of the in- tended proposal, — from the confident vaticinations of failure on the part of so many veteran British residents, and the acknowledged inexperience of him who undertook to conduct the experiment, — it was deemed advisable to proceed with a degree of cautiousness which, in a maturer state of fhinas, might indicate something akin to pusillanimity, — a degree of circumspection, aU the reasons for which even subsequent labourers on the spot can never adequately appreciate.

As it was, some zealous friends magnanimously advised us to disregard all scrupulous cautiousness as savouring loo much of mere worldly prudence. The style of address which, on the first day of our meeting, it might have suited their own views and practice that we should employ, was somewhat as follows : — “ Young men of Calcutta, aUow us, at the outset, briefly to unfold our main object in coming hither to instruct you. All your own learning we consider as teeming with error ; all your religion as false ; all your gods as monsters

ADDRESS ON INTRODUCING THE BIBLE.

561

of wickedness. We have come hither, therefore, to ‘ over- turn, overturn, overturn’ the whole. We have come to lead you to abandon all your foolish prejudices ; all your blinding superstitions ; all your damnable idolatries. Now, the grand instrument for affecting this destruction of all which, under the spirit of so strong a delusion, you have been led to value ; — the grand substitute, — unfolding the knowledge of that revelation which alone points out the true way of attaining present and everlasting happiness, — is the Bible. In order, therefore, in the most effectual manner to gain the great end of our mission to this country, it will be absolutely necessary for all who attend this school, daily to read a portion of the Christian Scriptures.” Had such a declaration, or any thing similar in substance and form, been delivered in the presence of the hundred and fifty youths assembled in the Chitpore Eoad School, on Monday, 2d August 1 830, there cannot be the shadow of a doubt, that all, without exception and with one accord, would have instantly risen and withdrawn, — dis- appointed in their expectations, and irritated at what they would regard as an insulting address.

Instead of this, however, the substance and form of address assumed, as nearly as possible, was the following : — “ My young friends, one great object of my coming hither, is to convey to you all the European knowledge I possess my- self,— literary^ scientific^ and religious. You, too, have vast store-houses of knowledge, such as it is. And I cannot but confess the humiliating fact, that your ancestors were com- paratively learned and civilized, when mine were nothing better than ignorant painted barbarians, who, somewhat like your Bengal tigers, ranged at large over the jungly forests ; or like your Himalayan bears, roved wild over the mountains. But times are changed now, and we, their descendants, have changed with the times. We have now become civilized, and possess vast treasures of learning which we reckon worthy of being communicated to others. Of this, you yourselves prove that you are not ignorant, by the desire which you have manifested to acquire our lan- guage ; and, through it, our learning. As there is a book —

562

ADDRESS ON INTRODUCING THE BIBLE.

the Vedas — which you reckon the fountainhead of all your best knowledge ; so there is a book — the Bible — which we esteem the fountainhead of all our best knowledge. But I cannot disguise from you the fact, — neither could I if I would, as ye yourselves must have been told, — that between every department of your learning and ours, — whether liter- ary, scientific, or religious, — there do exist the greatest, the most irreconcileable difierences. Many of you, I know, have heard that much of our knowledge, particularly on the sub- ject of religion, is mischievous and dangerous : — so, many of us have heard that much of your knowledge, especially on that subject, is mischievous and dangerous. How, then, in the case of such reported difierences, ought wise men to act 1 Ought we to look with open eyes only at our own, and turn with bandaged eyes towards yours. And ought you to deal in the like manner by us I Surely not. This is not the determination of enlightened wise men, but of blinded fools. Accordingly, how are wise men to act in this matter? Many of us do study your languages and your books. In this way, are we not able coolly and deliberately to compare your knowledge \sdth our own, and to judge for ourselves which is best? Most assuredly. Well, what we at present w'ish for and expect is, that you, acting the part of wise men, should in like manner study our language and our books. And ha^dng done so, will not you, too, be able to institute a comparison between all your knowledge of every kind, and all our knowledge of everv' kind, and thus determine for yourselves which is best ? Undoubtedly you may. Deter- mine, therefore, to persevere in your present resolution, and you wiU, ere long, acquire the means of arriving, through the guidance of the Great God, at a true and wise decision. In the meantime, will it not be wisdom on your part to suspend all judgment on debateable points, tiU, by accession of know- ledge, ye be able to judge for yourselves ? ”

A general address of this kind, in the peculiar cir- cumstances of the case, was all that was deemed, in the first instance, adnsable. And it had the desired effect. The single notion that they themselves were to be constituted

EFFECT OF THE ADDRESS.

563

judges in the matter operated like a charm. There was no molent wounding of national honour ; no virulent attack on hereditary prejudice and superstition ; no wanton aspersion of systems consecrated in their eyes by the homage of un- numbered ages. Conciliation and confidence were the result. And aU those lurking feelings, which were ready to break forth at the first breath of intemperance into the waves and tumult of resentful ire, were instantly assuaged ; — then followed a great calm.

When, by this first general address, some of the most rugged asperities of prejudice were smoothed away : — when, by the vigorous introduction of the intellectual system of tuition, things were advancing in the happiest train : — when the pupils themselves had begun to catch freedom from the incipient exercises ; and seemed more than delighted with “ the new and good teaching,” as many of them chose to designate the plan : — when not a few of the parents, stimu- lated by the daily reports which invaded the family circle, “ came to see,” and judge, and express their own admiration : — then was the vernal moment of conciliated confidence and favourable impression seized on, for fully carrying into effect the main design of the Institution.

About a week after our regular commencement, when teachers and taught had fairly caught the spirit of the sys- tem, we began to urge it as a universally acknowledged part of every good system of education, that those principles should be inculcated which are calculated to affect the heart and regulate the conduct ; as well as that knowledge which tends to improve the judgment and enlighten the under- standing ; — and that, as the labours of every day were in- tended to make the youths present wiser and happier, it would be proper to commence these labours by imploring the blessing and protection of the Great God, whose loving- kindnesses have ever been exhibited towards all his creatures. After resorting to various modes of illustration and improv- ment, which it is needless to detail, we had the satisfaction to perceive, that the propriety and reasonableness of the proposal to adopt some practical measures in accordance

564

FIRST RECEPTION OP THE BIBLE IN SCHOOL.

with the views delivered, was by some cordially assented to ; and by none openly called in question. There was, in con- sequence, very naturally excited a considerable degree of curiosity, bordering upon anxiety, to know what the plan about to be proposed might be.

Having obtained from the Calcutta Bible Society a grant of upwards of a hundred English New Testaments for the use of the school, we ordered these one day to be produced ; — stating, that in the present imperfect state of the pupils’ knowledge of the English language, it was not advisable to commence with an extemporaneous prayer, lest some parts might be misunderstood, and others misconstrued, and so evil be produced instead of good ; — that, on this account, it was better to have recourse to some written form of prayer wnich could be perused by all, and thoroughly explained and understood, previously to its being used ; — that of all the forms we had ever seen, we knew of none so brief, and yet so comprehensive — so worthy of God, and yet so appropriate to the wants of men — as that contained in the volume we then held in our hands ; — and that all would now have an opportunity of judging for themselves whether it breathed a sentiment, or encouraged a petition, which a truly good man would not be ready, yea, rejoiced to offer in earnest sup- plication to the Great God, the Father of all. Saying this, with an anxiety for the result, which those present little knew, we presented each with a copy of the New Testament.

All quickly and eagerly turned to the title-page. After a moment’s pause, a young man of Brahmanical caste started up, and with some degree of animation, cried out in these identical English terms : — “ Sir, I not want read any thing gainst my own religion; and I not want read any thing of your; and I not want be forced to become Christian.” It was then explained generally, that there need be no apprehension about being ever required to read any thing in school, written formally and specifically against his religion ; nor to peruse any thing connected with ours beyond what could be shown, to his own satisfaction, to be most worthy of God to bestow, and most profitable for man to know.

OBJECTIONS AGAINST RECEPTION OP BIBLE OBVIATED. 565

believe and practise — that nothing could be more unfounded than the notion so frequently and zealously propagated by the enemies of truth, and so naturally believed by ignorant natives, that it was the deliberate intention of Europeans to force them to become Christians — that the very idea of force, when applied to mental conviction, was the barbarous relic of a barbarous age, and could never be entertained by an enlightened mind — that all which was ever conceived, or could ever be intended by us, consisted simply in presenting in a proper form to all around, what was felt by ourselves to be holy, just, good, and true ; leaving it to the truth itself, if favourably received, to impress the conscience and enlighten the understanding, — and that, if it should fail in carrying conviction, he who propounded it could not still feel himself at liberty, in prosecution of his object, to resort to any other weapons than those of argument and persuasion.

Though satisfaction was manifested by the silence that ensued, there was still a species of argumentum ad hominem reply resorted to, which seemed to prove irresistible.— Having previously ascertained that some of the young men present had studied Persian, and that Arabic was far from being an uncommon acquisition among the more respectable classes of Hindus, we thus, in substance, addressed the young Brahman antagonist : — “ Are there any natives who acquire a knowledge of other languages besides Bengali ? ” — Yes ; many learn Sanskrit ; some, Persian ; and some, Arabic. “ Do you know any who have studied Arabic ? ” — Yes. “ Any who have read an Arabic book?” — Yes. “ What book ? ” — The Koran. “ Indeed ! have they, then, become Mahammadans ? ” No, no, no, — with prodigious emphasis — was the reply. “ Were they not afraid of read- ing the Koran ; and did not you, in kindness, represent to them the exceeding danger of reading it ; lest, by becoming acquainted with its contents, they should be forced to turn Mahammadans ? ” The inference was now too palpable to require a separate statement in words ; and there was, in consequence, a gentle but almost universal expression of satisfaction and triumph.

566

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ.

The books were then opened. The Lord’s Prayer was distinctly read and explained, paragraph by paragraph. It was thenceforth used every morning, as a solemn form' of adoration and prayer, before entering on the duties of the day. From that time forward, the first hour was devoted to the reading of a portion of the Bible. From the young men ihemselws, neither murmur nor objection was any more heard against the stated perusal of the Scriptures. It is true, that a few of the parents, stimulated chiefly by some of those who xmhappily belied the Christian profession, did shortly afterwards complain. But, in general, a frank and candid explanation quite satisfied them. So that, after the expirj’ of several months, it could be reported that only three or four cases had occurred, in which the continued study of the Bible formed a pretext for abandoning the school. To prevent the possibility of mistake or after reflection, from the time the Institution was fairly organized, it was made a standing -rule that no hoy should he admitted unless his father or guardian should accompany him in person., and see icith his own eyes, and hear with his own ears, what was taught therein.

After the Lord’s Prayer, was read the Parable of the Prodigal Son ; wherein the tenderness and compassion of our heavenly Father towards penitent sinners are set forth with such inimitable simplicity and force of truth. And as in Bengal, the principal objects of worship — kept constantly before the eyes of their deluded votaries, by offerings, sacri- fices, festivals, and self-inflicted penances — are Durga and Kali, the most bloody and ferocious of even Hindu divinities, the contrast of this parabolic representation of the Supreme God and Father of all, was felt in silence by many, beyond what at the time they could hardly venture to express.

The next portion of Scripture selected, was the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians. Perhaps in the whole Bible, within so narrow a compass, there could not be found a passage which brought out so many points of contrast with the genius of Hinduism, as the first seven verses of that chapter. And yet, from no direct reference or allusion what-

CHRISTIAN AND HINDU DOCTRINES CONTRASTED, 567

ever being made to that false system, It was read not only without irritation, but with positive admiration and delight. The apostle tells us that though he could speak “ with the tongues of men and of angels,” and had not charity, he was as useless and profitless a thing as “ sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” A Hindu is taught to believe that to speak with the tongues of men is of the very essence of uti- lity and profitableness, — but that, to speak in Sanskrit, the tongue of the gods, and other celestial and angelic beings, is not only the perfection of all superexcellent learning, but an endowment of the most transcendent merit specially reserved for Brahmans, the terrestrial representatives of Deity. The apostle tells us that if he had “the gift of prophecy, and had not charity, he was nothing.” The Hindu is taught to believe that the gift of casting nativities, and foretelling the minutioe of an individual’s or a nation’s history, by means of the second sight of astrological intuition and calculation, not only raises the possessor far above “ no- thing” among men, but admits him into intimate partner- ship in immunity and privilege with the gods. The apostle assures us, that though he understood all systems and “ all knowledge, and had not charity, he was nothing.” The Hindu is taught to believe that he who attains to the under- standing of all systems and all knowledge is a man who has merit greater far than most of the gods in the Pantheon, — has risen above the liability to future transmigration, — has attained the chief good, or final beatitude, which consists in identification with the essence of the Supreme Brahm. The apostle assures us that though he had “ all faith so that he could remove mountains, and had not charity, he was no- thing.” The Hindu is taught to believe that he who could exercise the power of working such miracles, is a man whose soul, even while in the body, has been severed from all the trammels of materialism, — has become intimately acquainted with the Supreme Brahm, — and is about to be wholly absorb- ed in his essence. The apostle tells us that though he should give “ all his goods to feed the poor, and had not charity, he was nothing.” The Hindu is taught to believe that if he gave

568 CHRISTIAN AND HINDU DOCTRINES CONTRASTED.

ull his goods to feed the poor pilgrims and holy mendicants, that swarm not in thousands, but in millions, through every province of the land, it would be an act of such merit, that however great or aggravated his sins had been, it would be sure to secure to him the enjoyment of paradisiacal plea- sures. The apostle tells us that though he should give “ his body to be burned, and had not charity, he was nothing.” A Hindu is taught to believe that if he torment his body by suspending it over smouldering ashes, or by applying to it the blazing brand, or by exposing it on an earthen stage to four fires under the fierce rays of a vertical sun, or finally by casting it into the flames to be wholly consumed, — each and all of these acts will raise him, irrespectively of all other pretensions, for a period of years proportioned to their dif- ferent degrees of merit, to one or other of the heavens of the gods. In the perusal of these apostolic statements, there was no small amazement secretly and honestly felt, as afterwards confessed, though not at the time expressed in words. The amazement was heightened chiefly by the con- trast which the mind, as by the quickness and force of intuition, was drawing, at every successive step, between what was then read in school and what had been previously taught at home.

What, then, was this “ charity,” without which the pos- session of all other gifts and attainments — even the very highest which it had ever entered into the imagination of the sages of Hinduism to conceive — could only leave the apostle room to confess that he was nothing ? The curiosity, fully to comprehend what it could be, was raised to the highest pitch. It must be a something, and truly is a some- thing, which has no correspondent conception in the whole range of Hinduism. It is none other, viewed abstractly, than that perfect love to God and perfect love to man, which is the very bond of perfectness — the fulfilling of the whole law — the concentration of all conceivable moral ex- cellence. Viewed concretely and in detail, it is, as the apostle tells us, that charity which “ suffereth long, and is kind ; envieth not ; vaunteth not itself ; is not puffed up ; doth

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not behave itself unseemly ; seeketh not her own ; is not easily provoked ; thinketh no evil ; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; beareth all things ; believeth all things ; hopeth all things ; endureth all things.” As each of these pregnant clauses was read in succession, it was commented on and illustrated at some length. At every step, all were called on seriously to reflect ; and endeavour to realize in their own minds what a world this would be, if such “ charity ” formed therein the grand governing principle. Then would all “ uncleanness, lasciviousness, hatred, vari- ance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, “ be banished from the habitations of man : ” — then would “ love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tem- perance,” reign paramount in the blissful land. Earth itself would be turned into a heaven, purer and happier far than any which fable yet has feigned, or poetry conceived.

Throughout, all were attentive ; and the minds of a few became intensely rivetted, — which the glistening eye and changeful countenance, — reflecting as in a mirror the inward thought and varying emotion, — most clearly indicated. At last, — when, to the picture of charity the concluding stroke was given by the pencil of inspiration, inr the emphatic words, “ endureth all things,” — one of the young men, the very Brahman who but a few days before had risen up to oppose the reading of the Bible, now started from his seat, exclaim- ing aloud, “ Oh, Sir, that is too good for us. Who can act up to that ? who can act up to that V A finer exemplifica- tion, taking into view all the circumstances of the case, could not well be imagined of the self-evidencing light of God’s holy W ord. It was an almost unconscious testimony to the superior excellence of Christianity, extorted from the lips of an idolatrous Brahman by the simple manifestation of its own divine spirit. It was a sudden burst of spontaneous homage to the beauty, and power, and holiness of the truth, in its own naked and unadorned simplicity, at a moment when the mind was wholly untrammelled and unbiassed by prejudice, or party interest, or sect.

N n

570

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

“ Too good for us ! Who can act up to that ? ” — repeated we in the hearing of all. “ Why, what you reckon ‘ too good for us,’ it is the grand object of the Bible effectually to teach how we may ultimately attain. What you think, and think truly, we cannot act up to, in our own strength, it is the grand object of the Bible effectually to point out how we may ultimately realize. And rest assured, that no one can study the Bible with honesty of heart, and with prayer to God for light and guidance, without in the end becoming possessed of that divine ‘ charity ’ which will enable him to act up to all that has been read, and is itself the con- summation of blessedness. A possession so glorious, and yet, through God’s infinite mercy, placed within the reach of you all, who would not desire to labour to obtain ! And as the perfect and only way of obtaining it is clearly point- ed out in the Bible, — and the Bible is given supremely, if not exclusively, for that very purpose, — who will not hence- forth peruse it with feelings of enhanced interest and de- light ? ” The appeal w’as not in vain. In fact, if an angel of darkness had been suddenly metamorphosed before their eyes into an angel of light, the change could not appear greater than the difference of aspect under which the Bible now appeared from what it exhibited but a week before.

The next portion of Scripture read, was “ The Sermon on the Movmt.” Addressed as that Divine discourse originally had been to a people with whom the spirit of religion was nothing, and the Utter every’ thing, it could not tally more exactly with the circmnstances of the Hindus, had it been framed specifically for their “ reproof, correction, and in- struction in righteousness.” There is scarcely a statement of error in principle or practice, which does not find most strikingly exemplified its parallel or counterpart in Hin- duism. There is scarcely an announcement of truth, in principle or practice, which does not find most strikingly exemplified its contrast and contradiction in Hinduism. Yet not one item had any immediate or specific reference to Hinduism or the Hindus. It was all directed against

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Judaism and the Jews. And hence was it pursued without one feeling of irritation or alarm ; though, as we advanced, it was felt by all, that, had the words Hinduism, Hindus, and Brahmans, been substituted in place of Judaism, Jews, and Pharisees, the representation would have been complete, not merely in the outline, but in the minutest details. This attentive perusal, therefore, of the divinely-constructed dis- course, tended to effect a total revolution of ideas ; — to introduce a whole world of new ones.

Such significant descriptive expressions as “ the poor in spirit,” and the “ pure in heart,” — so finely contrasting with the almost Satanic pride of caste, and the almost exclusive ceremonial purity of bodily ablutions, — seemed to dart into the soul with the force, vividness, and freshness of an im- mediate revelation from heaven of what was previously un- known, unheard of, and nnconceived. No reasoning was needed to demonstrate the truth of the proposition, — that the “poor in spirit” and “the pure in heart” are blessed. It was in general very difficult at first for the mind to emancipate itself from the outward yoke of carnal ordin- ances, and the incubus of an all-absorbing carnality of in- ward vision. But no sooner had the grosser interceptive media been removed — no sooner had the Scripture notion of “poverty of spirit” and “purity of heart” been conceived, — though still looming, as it were, through the “ misty horizon- tal air ” of a mental world, on which the Sun of Truth had not yet fully risen, than the truth was admitted without ar- gument. It seemed to shine in the light of the simple state- ment itself. It seemed to commend itself to the unreclaim- ing conscience with somewhat of the same intuitive force with which the axioms of geometry commend themselves to the unresisting reason. The one seemed as much the natural aliment of conscience as the other of reason ; and, like all wholesome and appropriate food, it required merely to be introduced, to be at once received and assimilated with the substance and circulation of the moral system.

The exposure of the Pharisaic fastings and disfigurings of the countenance, and repetitions of prayer at the corners

572

DOCTRINES OF THE VEDAS.

of the street, and divers washings, and other external per- formances,— all, all designed to be viewed and accepted by God as tcorks of merit, — seemed to strike home with the con- victive force of the prophet’s faithful admonition, “ Thou art the man.” The identity between the spirit, character, and actions of the sanctimonious but hypocritical Pharisees, and the spirit, character, and actions of the generality of Brah- mans, seemed so absolute and entire, as to lead some to wonder whether, after all, it was not the latter that were ^ really present to the wTiters’ minds, though veiled under the fictitious name of Pharisees ! When, on one occasion, the Jl question was put, What do you mean by Pharisee I a boy of inferior caste, looking significantly at a young Brahman in the same class, and then pointing to him, archly replied.

He is one of our Pharisees ! — while the Brahman simply re- torted in great good humour, True, verj' true ; my caste is like that of the Pharisees, or worse ; but you know I am not to be like my caste.

By the system of caste the Hindus have been divided and cantoned into so many isolated selfish sections, — each scowl- ing on all the rest with feelings of irreconcileable aversion, hatred, and contempt. But, besides this general influence of caste which renders the race eminently “ hateful, and hating one another,” there is special provision in their sacred vTitings for the growth and manifestation of ever)' feeling of spiteful enmity and malignant revenge ! Will it be credited, that religion can be brought in to inflame, in- stead of mitigating the darker and more destructive passions of the soul ? But it is even so. Not in the unwritten tra- ditions of a gloomy superstition, not in apocryphal writings disowned by all except a heretical sect, — no, but in the Vedas — the eternal Vedas, which at every successive repro- duction of the universe, are believed to proceed direct from’ the very mouth of Brahma — ^there are laid down in minute detail the forms of a religious service, or solemn act of wor- ship, designed to involve an enemy in calamity or destruc- tion. When it is desired to insure the certainty of success, a priest or holy Brahman must officiate, arrayed in black

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garments ; of the foes whose injury or ruin is sought, four images must be made, and clad in black ; the sacrificial fire must be kindled, and into it, after the usual consecratory rites, must pieces of the flesh of the appointed animal be thrown, from eight to a hundred, or a thousand, or a hundred thousand, or even a million times ; at each burnt-offering, the priest, with his finger, must touch the mouth of the image of the enemy, uttering one or other of the prescribed forms of prayer. Of these V edantic formulae a few may be Instanced ; — “ 0 Agni ! (god of fire) thou who art the mouth of all Gods, do thou destroy the wisdom of mine enemy. O Agni ! fill with distraction the mind of this my enemy. 0 Agni ! destroy the senses of this my enemy. O Agni ! make dumb the mouth of this my enemy. O Agni ! fasten with a peg the tongue of this my enemy. 0 Agni ! reduce to ashes this my enemy.” Hence it is that prayers, incanta- tions, and bloody sacrifices, for insuring the removal, subjec- tion, damage, or destruction of an enemy, are interwoven with the ordinary ceremonial observances of the people. The unforgiving spirit — the spirit of indomitable hate — the spirit of implacable revenge, is thus nursed and reared into plenitude of growth and strength by the varied stimulants of religion, — is made to kindle into a blaze of conflagration on the very altars of saeredness, — and is permitted to expire only with the real or imagined extinction of the hated foe. Judge, then, of the surprise and amazement of some of the more thoughtful of the young men when they came to read these passages : — “Ye have heard that it hath been said. Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy ; but I say unto you, love your enemies ; bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you ; that ye may be children of your Father which is in heaven ; for Hemaketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye ? do not even the publicans the same ? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

5/4 BIBLE USED IN SCHOOL FOR RELIGIOUS PURPOSES.

So deep, indeed, and intense was the impression produced, that, in reference to one individual at least, from the simple reading of these verses might be dated his conversion — his turning from dumb idols to sene the living and the true God. There was something in them of such an overwhelm- ingly attractive moral loveliness, — something which con- trasted so luminously with all that he had been previously taught to regard as revealed by God, that he could not help crying out, in ecstasy, “ Oh, how beautiful, how divine T Surely this is the truth, this is the truth, this is the truth.” It seemed to be a feeling (though of a higher and holier nature) somewliat akin to that experienced by the discoverer of a celebrated geometric theorem, when, in a delirium of joy, he rushed along, exclaiming, “ I have found it, I have found it ” — and did not rest satisfied till his thanksgivings went forth in a hecatomb of burnt victims on the altar of his gods. In the other case, for days and for weeks the young Hindu could not cease repeating the expression, “ Love your enemies, bless them that curse you,” kc., kc., constantly adding, “ How beautiful ! Surely this is the truth.” Nor was he allowed to rest satisfied till in the end his gratitude for the discovery ended in renouncing all his sacrifices, hecatombs, and false gods, for the one great sacrifice by which the true Gtjd for ever perfected them who have come to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.

In this way we proceeded with the reading of the Bible for an hour daily in all the higher classes. From the v'erv' imperfect knowledge which these had of English at the beginning, our progress was necessarily very slow. But the slowness of the progress was perhaps more than compensated by the searching analysis to which each sentence was sub- jected ; and by the variety of comment, illustrative example, and amplification, resorted to for the purpose of overbearing the barriers of ignorance, prepossessions, and misconception. Here must we state, once for all, that while, from the very- first, the Bible itself was thus made a school and class-book, it was so made distinctly, avowedly, and exclusively for reli- gious and devotional exei’cises, with the view of bringing all

EVILS OF USING THE BIBLE AS A CLASS-BOOK!. 575

the faculties of the soul into contact with the life and spirit and quickening influence of Jehovah’s holy oracles ; — and never, never for the parsing, syntactical and sundry other grammatical exercises of lingual acquisition. Than this practice, which, we fear, is but too common, we know of none more likely to lower the Bible from its unapproachable eminence of sacredness, as “ the Book,” “ the Book of books — and we have never ceased, and, through God’s blessing, never wiU cease, humbly but resolutely to lift up our solemn protest against it. We would not wish, on this subject any more than on any other, to advocate an unten- able, or impracticable, or dangerous extreme. We would pray, on the one hand, to be delivered from the Pharisaic idolatry which would hold up to the nations the very papyrus or parchment on which the words of inspiration are written, exclaiming, “ Behold the Book, fall ye down before it, and worship it;” instead of crying aloud, “Behold your God revealing himself through the medium of His written Word ; fall ye down and worship before Him.” So, on the other hand, we would pray to be delivered from the Sadducean lati- tudinarianism or indifference which would strip the written W ord of all its sacredness, by mingling it up with the pars- ings, construings, correctings, trappings, ferular visitations, and all the other irreverent bustle of pedagogal gpnnastics.

On the frontispiece of their Bible, the Jews were wont to inscribe, in flaming characters, the exclamation of fear and astonishment extorted from Jacob by the vision of Jehovah at Bethel — “ How dreadful is this place ! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” On which the great Owen most appropriately remarked, “ So ought we to look upon the Word with a holy awe and reverence of the presence of God.” But if any scheme could be devised more cunningly than another, by which under the semblance of honouring and magnifying it as a school-book, we could succeed in divesting the perusal and contemplation of it of all “ holy awe and reverence ” of God’s presence, it is the very practice which has now been reprobated — I’eprobated, not so much from abstract consi-

576 THE BIBLE TO BE READ IX SCHOOLS DEVOTION ALLY-

derations, however convincing, as from painful experience of its most blighting effects.

If the Bible is to be made a school and class-book — and rather, infinitely rather let us decide on the banishment of grammars, and geographies, and all popularised excerpts consecrated exclusively to science and the muses, from our schools, than suffer it to be dislodged by the great anti- christian confederacy from its tlirone of rightful supremacy in wielding the sceptre over the entire educational realm : — If the Bible, we say, is to be made a school and class- book, let it not be evacuated by its divine significance, by being turned into common use for testing the rules and laws of ever}’ self-elected dictator in the ancient domain of speech. Let it not be lowered from its regal dignity to dance attend- ance and serve as a humble vassal at the outer portals of knowledge. Let it be ever maintained in the right ascen- sion of its sacredness — the meridian altitude of its spiritual power. Let it be gratefully studied as the Book of Life : let it be joyfully consulted as the chart of heaven : let its holy oracles be listened to with profoundest awe ; let its cheering revelations be welcomed and hailed as the brightest rays from “ the ancient glory : let its statutes, testimonies and righteous judgments be implicitly submitted to as the unchanging ordinances of the King of kings ; and then, and then only, will that best of books — the Bible — be allowed to promote the grand design for which it was by Heaven bestowed. Then, and then only, will it be duly reverenced ; the God who gave it duly honoured ; — the mj-riads of young immortals trained in educational seminaries duly quickened and edified, — fortified for the vicissitudes of time, and ripened for hosannahs of eternity.

Kor let aught be alleged on the score of impracticability. AVhat has been effected in an Institution for the children of Hindu idolaters, cannot surely be enrolled in the category- of insuperables. At first, indeed, from the mere rudimental attainments even of the most advanced, as well as from the want of elementary class-books of a gradually preparatory description, no school-book of any kind could be had in

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adequate or regular supply, but those published by the School-Book Society ; and from these all knowledge of a religious character has been systematically excluded. Now, it must be obvious that the very young, — those who knew not the English alphabet, or knew no more than the alpha- bet of their mother tongue, — could not read a portion of the Bible either in English or Bengali. What, then, was to be done ? W ere these to be left wholly without religious in- struction until they had advanced so far as to be able to peruse the Scriptures ? If so, a year or two might inter- vene ; and, so far as reading was concei’ned, hundreds, in the course of time, might quit the Institution, as ignorant of divine truth, and as much immersed in heathen darkness, as when they entered it. This was a distracting reflection, and opened up a most comfortless view of the future. What, then, was to be done \ What was the remedy ? If there were any, how was it to be applied ? The remedy devised was simple ; and, as the result proved, effective. It consist- ed in the compilation of a progressive series of three new elementary school-books, — each consisting of two distinct divisions or parts, which might be denominated the common and the religious.

The first part was composed of appropriate lessons of the most miscellaneous character ; — partly original, partly se- lected, and partly altered, abridged, or compiled from the contents of pre-existing school-books. Into this division all manner of topics were introduced, calculated to arrest the attention, excite the curiosity, and summon into vigorous exercise the conceptive and other intellectual faculties. Here, too, all orthographical, etymological, syntactical, and prosodial exercises were carried on with the most boundless freedom ; — without any risk of jarring with that solemnity of feeling which the very name of Deity ought ever to in- spire ; — without dislocating any doctrine of faith, or linking it with grotesque, incongruous, or painfid associations ; — without trenching by a single intrusive movement on any one province of sacredness. The second division, in each number of the series, was devoted exclusively to religious

578 DIFFICULTY OF INTRODUCING A NEW SYSTEM.

topics. These portions were read, not for the purpose of grammatically mastering the English language ; but for the sake of gathering up the doctrines and precepts, warnings and promises, examples and lessons therein taught, exhibit- ed, or enforced. They were treated, therefore, purely as means instrumentally designed to awaken the conscience, and Aariously to influence and impress the heart. Thus, by the separate perusal of a small portion of each division daily, there arose a happy combination of lingual and literary acquisition, and of those nobler exercises which tended to promote moral and religious improvement.

What was the result of this combined process systemati- cally persevered in ? Let us consider the matter a little farther. At first, till the advantage of it was experienced, many of the pupils were apt to get impatient at being so closely confined to one book. A most vicious system had begun to domineer in almost all the elementary English schools. From the thirst for a smattering of English, scores of empirics arose who professed to have recipes for some royal road towards the acquisition of the language. This consisted in making the deluded pupils secure a load of books. In a few days or weeks after entering the school, each pupil might be seen laden with a primer, a grammar, a dictionary, a book of geography, a collection. Gay’s Fables, History of Greece, Pope’s Iliad, and other works. A few sentences might be read in each ; and the student made to believe that he was a ready-made English scholar. The sys- tem had taken such deep hold of the general mind, that it was no easy matter to persuade even the most intelligent, that they could ever become scholars without at once being put in possession of such a multitude of books, — that it was not the amount of knowledge heaped up in the pile of school- books, which made them learned or wise, but the amount actually transferred to the mental repository. And though many were at length satisfied from the reasons and argu- ments adduced, yet they were so constantly hooted, twitted, and ridiculed, as the “ students of one book,” and, inferen- tially, “ of one idea,” by acquaintances and companions who

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daily paraded the streets with an encyclopaedia of knowledge in their hands, with scarcely a single idea in their heads, that it required every conceivable expedient, on the part of the master, to curb the spirit of impatience, to suppress the rising murmur of dissatisfaction, and to save the newly launched vessel from foundering in the struggle to ascend against a torrent of viciousness. Still we persevered ; — our motto being. Wait and see ; have patience and judge by the result ; and our daily repeated aphorism. It is not the quan- tity of aliment crudely and hastily swallowed, but the quan- tity properly prepared and well digested, which can assimilate with and nourish the general system, whether of body or of mind. Still, we persevered, — every lesson, though very short, being made a vital exercise for all the faculties, — a healthful employment for the understanding, or the heart, or both. And by the time it was finished, it had been gone over so often, and in so many different forms, that there was scarce- ly a boy in the class, who, if asked, would not be prepared to repeat it verbatim from memory.

What, now we are prepared to ask, was the result of such a process, — continuously and systematically persevered in ? The result was necessarily of a miscellaneous nature. But one portion of it was, that by the time any of the classes reached the end of Instructor, No. III., such was the com- mand which they had acquired of English vocables, both as to enunciation, derivation, and meaning, — such the mastery of idiomatic English phraseology, — such the stock of new ideas gleaned in divers ways, from different departments of general knowledge, — such, above all, the accumulated store of Scripture principles, and Scripture facts, — that they were prepared not only to read with fluency, but to gather up with a considerable degree of intelligence, the drift, scope, and import of any English work, written in a simple, chaste, and classical style. This, therefore, was the stage chosen for a complete change of class-books. Instead of having an addi- tional Instructor, No. IV., constructed after the model of the three former, one-half secular and the other sacred, — it was now found practicable and best, at once to put a copy

580

IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED.

of the entire Bible into the hands of each pupil for exercises in the religious department of the course ; together with separate class-books of a higher grade, for conducting the historical, geographical, scientific, and other more advanced studies. From this arrangement, the pupils, having their minds equipped and furnished, entered with signal advan- tage on the prosecution of higher branches of knowledge ; — every branch from the outset being made an exercise for the faculties ; — no step in advance being taken till the pre- vious one had been thoroughly secured, — and every step in the onward progression being a natural preparative for that which was designed to follow it.

Here we may remark on the influence and importance of what is usually termed secular knowledge. The subject has repeatedly been sufficiently illustrated ; and there need be no repetition now. Only, in sketching the early rise and pro- gress of the Calcutta Mission, we may refer historically, to the simple incident which opened up to our own mind, the first practical glimpse of the real importance of the engine which knowledge had placed in our hands for the thorough demolition of the most ancient system of error now on the face of the earth. The manner in which Bible truth came into silent yet effective collision with the errors of Hinduism, has already been briefly noticed. And in referring to the like collision between the truths of modern literature and science, and certain other errors of Hinduism held alike venerable and sacred, we have one of the finest practical illustrations of true knowledge becoming the handmaid of true religion, which the history of the world can supply.

The incident has been described as simple. Indeed, it is so simple, that to many it may appear ludicrously insignifi- cant ; utterly undignified, and painfully out of keeping with the more serious parts of this narrative. And so it might be viewed, if it had been isolated, and if it had terminated wholly in itself. But nothing is insignificant, which becomes the starting point of an onward series, terminating in some

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important result. Still less is it insignificant, if, instead of being merely the first number of such a series, it should be the occasional cause that suggested, and originated the entire series itself. What can be more common, apparently more insignificant, than the fall of an apple ? And yet, in the case of the immortal Newton, this familiar incident, — viewed as the suggestive source of that mighty series which terminated in the most magnificent of all human discoveries, — is at once rescued from its littleness by the vastness of the tree which sprung from so humble a root.

But for the incident itself. — The conversation being con- ducted, partly in Bengali and partly in English, a few days after the commencement of our labours, it happened that the word “ rain ” occurred in the lesson of one of the junior classes. In the course of ordinary interrogation, the question was put. What is rain ? It was replied, “ Water from the sky.” Has it been produced by the sky itself ? “No.” How then has it been formed ? “ Oh,” said one, with the smartness and self-possession so characteristic of Hindu youth, “ Do you not know that yourself 2” I think I do, said the master ; but my present object is to find out whether you know it. “ Well,” remarks another, with .an air of manifest satisfac- tion, “ ril tell you. It comes from the trunk of Indra’s ele- phant.” Indeed, said I, that is a new theory of the origin of rain, which I did not know before ; and I should now like to be informed on what evidence it is founded. “ All I can say about it,” responded he, “ is, that my Guru, (or religious teacher), told me so.” But your Guru must have some rea- son for telling you so. Did he ever see the elephant himself 2 “ Oh no, how could he 2 The elephant is wrapped up in the cloud, as in a covering ; and no one can, therefore, see it with his own eyes.” How then came the Guru, to know that the elephant was there at all 2 “ To be sure,” said he, “ be- cause the Shastra says so.” Now I understand the matter : You have asserted that the rain comes from the trunk of Indra’s elephant, simply because the Guru has told you that this is the account contained in the Shastra 2 “ Certainly ;

for, though I never have seen it with my own eyes, yet I

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CONVERSATION WITH A HINDC BOY.

believe it is there ; because the Gura has told me that the Shastra sap so ; and what the Shastra says must be true.”

At the early period at which this conversation took place, tyro as we were in our knowledge of the minvAice of Hindu- ism, we were not in the least aware of the existence of such a theory at all. Hence the reality of our own surprise when it was first announced. Subsei|uently we learned that either the boy or the Guru had been under a slight mistake. The Shastra -theoiy of the cause of a specific meteorological phe- nomenon. had been expanded into a theory of the origin of rain in general. Strictly speaking, it is what we term a “ waterspout,” which, in the Shastras, is declared to be a violent jet from the trunk of the elephant on which Indra, the god of the firmament, is represented as riding when tra- versing his aerial domains. This slight mistake, however, very little affected the %ivode and manner of the mental pro- cess of arri\nng at the conclusion which followed.

True to our original predetermined design, we did not choose directly to contradict the Shastra, by casting ridicule on the alleged theoiy, as palpably absurd ; or branding it as absolutely false, — ^the manifest corruption of a mphological fable. Instead of this we simply remarked to the boys that the theoiy which their Guru had taught was very different, indeed, from that which our Guru, had taught us in Scot- land. And now that we had learnt from them their theory' on the subject, it was asked whether they would not like to hear ours, and so have an opportunity of comparing the two together. Nothing would delight them more. Their attention was then directed to a very simple phenomenon. It was asked, In boiling your rice what is observed to rise from the vessel ? “ Smoke or vapour.” When a dry lid is

held for some time over it, what effect is produced ? “ It

gets wet.” ^^^lat makes it wet ? “ The smoke or vapour.”

True ; and when it gets very, very wet, does all the vapour continue to stick to it ! “ No ; it falls off in drops.” Very

good. VTiat then would you say of the vapour itself, that it is dry or wet ? “ Wet, sure enough.” And whence can the wet vapour proceed ? “ It can only be from the water in the

CONVERSATION WITH A HINDU BOY. 5S3

vessel.” Is the vapour a diflPerent kind of substance from the water ? “ Xo.” Why think yon so ^ “ Because when

it gathers on the lid we see it turn into water again.” So you conclude that the vapour is just a part of the water in the vessel: “Yes.” What then drives it off from the

rest, and makes it fly into the air ? “ It is its nature to do

so.” Think a moment ; when you hold a cup of cold water in your hand, do you see vapour arising from it ? “ Xo.”

What then makes the diflference between the drinking water in your cup, and the water that boils the rice ^ “ The one is cold and the other warm.” What makes it warm ? “ The

fire.” So then it is from the water warmed by the fire that you see the vapour ascend, and not from the cold? “ Yes.” What must you infer from this ? “ That it is the fire which

in making the water warm, makes it go into vapour.” Yery right. The attention was next directed to the application of all this. The pupils were referred to a very familiar pheno- menon in Bengal. After a heavy fall of rain on the heated ground, when the morning sun darts from a cloudless hori- zon, they were asked what they had been accustomed to witness ? “ G-reat vapours.” It was then brought out, at

some length, in an interrogatory form, that these vapours consisted of water exhaled by the heat of the sun ; like the vapour separated from the water in the vessel, by the heat of the fire ; — that these vapours, ascending, impinged on the cold, upper strata of the atmosphere, exactly as the vapour from the water in the vessel did upon the cold lid ; — and that, becoming there condensed and accumulated beyond what the atmosphere could uphold, the whole fell back again upon earth, in multiplied drops of rain. Such, added we, is the simple theory of the origin of rain, which we once learnt from our Guru in Scotland.

When there is an open and ingenuous mind, and an honest heart, we may well admit, with the French philosopher, that there is no argument so persuasive as truth ; which, in such a case, has no need to exert all its proofs, but enters natu- rally into the understanding ; — leaving the disciple nothinff to do when it is once learnt, but to think of it. Most stx’ik-

584

DOIBTS OF THE TRUTH OF THE SHASTRA.

ingly was the force of this remark exemplified in the instance now narrated. Such was the directness of the analogy, such the obtrusive verisimilitude of the whole statement, that no sooner was the identity of the two sets of phenomena an- nounced as a fact, than the truth of the given theorj' was conceded, in the first moment of ingenuous impulse, without any farther proof. “ How natural ! — how like the truth ! — surely it is true ! ” — was the general exclamation. Instant- ly, however, one of the boys, — as if suddenly recovering his recollection, and finding that he had committed himself, and gone too far, — began to manifest some tokens of alarm at the unwelcome discover^’ : “ Ah ! ” said he, ^dth a pecu- liar earnestness of tone and manner, “ Ah ; what ha%’e I been thinking ? J[f your account he the true one, what becomes of our Shastra ? — what becomes of our Shastra ? If your account be true, then must our Shastra be false. Our Shastra tnust either not be from God, or God must have written lies. But that is impossible ; the Shastra is true, Brahma is true ; — so your Gurus account must be false : — and yet it looks so like the truth ! ”

Now, here was the commencement or first germ of a mental struggle, which, though painfully protracted, and marked by numberless alternations, only terminated in the case of some, with the entire overthrow of Hinduism. Up to that moment, the very notion that it was possible for any thing in the holy Shastras to be false, had not been conceived as the creation of even a fitful dream. On the contrary, the youth had been taught that these Shastras were the very essence of unchanging truth, — that as such they had com- manded the undoubting belief of all ages, — and that to these, as the ultimate infallible standard, from which there can be no appeal, the decisive reference must be made in all matters of Government and law, custom and manners, philosophy and religion. The conviction resulting from this tuition being matured at an earlier period than memory can w’dl trace, it becomes inseparably linked ^vith the most hallowed associations, — inwoven with all the modes of thought, and incorporated with the strongest impulses of

THE TRUTHS OF SCIENCE OPPOSED TO THE SHASTRAS. 585

nature, — impulses of interest, prejudice, and pride. Hence, in the case of a thorough-bred Hindu, of all possible axioms, that which is believed to be the simplest, clearest, and most indisputable is, that whatever is contained in the Shastras must be true ; and whatever is contrary to the Shastras must be false. Even to hesitate on a point so sacred and funda- mental,— a point so substantiated as to take its station of superior rank and authority in the van of all axiomate truths, — must presuppose a degree of mental effort which those who have been nursed in the lap of truth and freedom in a Christian land can never adequately conceive. Not- withstanding, in the case now described, there was at least a momentary hesitation. It was clear as the light of day, that a disturbing force had, for the first time, operated on the very foundation-stone of systematic error in the mind, — that an arrow from the full quiver of universal truth had fairly lodged in its most impregnable citadel. In other words, there was now the sudden injection of a doubt, where all doubt was believed to be impossible ; there was the sudden starting of a suspicion, where suspicion was believed to be an insult to the memory of an immortal ancestry — an impious contempt of the authority of the gods. Yet, so palpable were the facts, so natural the inference and so like the truth, — that, in spite of such an array of antecedent antipathy, the mind strove in vain to shake itself loose from a dreaded and hated but struggling and fast- cleaving conviction.

On this simple incident we make the following additional remarks : —

Though we were previously acquainted in a general way with the fact, that modern literature and science were as much opposed as Christianity itself, to certain fundamental tenets of Hinduism ; our own conception on the subject was vague and indeterminate. It floated in the horizon as an intangible abstraction. Now, this incident — by reducing the abstract into the concrete, — by giving the vague gene- rality a substantial form, — by converting the loosely theo- retical into the practically experimental, — at once arrested,

o o

586

TRUTH SIMPLY STATED.

fixed, and defined it. A vivid glimpse was opened, not only of the eflect of true knowledge, when brought in contact with Hinduism ; but of the modus operandi, — the precise mode in which it operated in producing the effect.

To what practical determination did this glimpse clear the way ? It led to an immediate inquiry into all the more vulnerable points of Hinduism ; — or those points which were most weak and exposed, because they admitted of being assailed with weapons dra^m from the magazine of smise, — with the facts of observation and the results of experiment. From a daily advancing knowledge of what these points were, advantage was taken of every favourable position to make a fresh assault. But there was no going out of our way in quest of such points ; neither were there any forced marches in order to reach them. No. Advantage was simply taken of any appropriate term, incident, fact, or event, just as it might happen to occur in any of the daily lessons. In this way the predisposing tendencies to suspi- cion were greatly allayed. Neither, when the opportunity presented itself, was there any formal crusade against the false system ; any open and direct attack ; any offensive display of the number and strength of our forces. We knew too well, that all this would only irritate the ever- jealous spirit of Hinduism, — provoke it to assume the aspect of a partisanship embittered, because aggrieved, — and event- ually lead to the organization of systematic unconquerable opposition. On the contrary, the uniform method was, simply to announce and explain any principle or fact as it occurred ; and though it might be known to clash with something corresponding in Hinduism, the contrariety was never first pointed out by the teacher. No. He contented himself with a statement and exposition of the truth, — leaving it to the pupils themselves to make that special application of it which could not fail to detect and expose contrariety. And seldom indeed did they fail to make the desired appli- cation, altogether unprompted and unchallenged, save by the self-evidencing forcibleness of the contrast between the new information imparted, and their own pre-existing con-

LITERATURE AND SCIENCE DESTROY HINDUISM. 587

ceptions. The truths were simply announced ; and, when assented to on the ground of their own independent evidence, were left to work their own way. Often, often was the truth of a principle or fact admitted before its hostile nature could be understood, or the unavoidableness of its application de- scried. In this way there was a sort of silent warfare in- cessantly maintained, — the blow being levelled with deadlier aim, inasmuch as it was seldom known beforehand whence it was to proceed, — and a species of raking fire kept up from self-exploding engines that lurked unseen and unsuspected through every portion of the new territory traversed in the daily march. When the wound was once inflicted, it was too late to think of a safe retreat, or of escaping unscathed. When assent was once given, as the result of acknowledged demonstration, it was too late to attempt to draw back or withhold it. Honourable retreat was impossible. If the principle or fact be true, it must be applied. The applica- tion is made, and what follows ? Another bolt or bar is wrenched from one of the gateways ; another stone is drawn from one of the foundations ; another fastening is loosened from one of the barricades of the fortress of Hinduism. And thus one part after another is torn away, till the whole is in ruins. It was originally resolved to introduce the higher branches of literature and science, as indispensable to an enlarged and liberal education. But what a new and special incentive was now supplied for their introduction? What new motives ? It now seemed as if geography, general history, and natural philosophy, — from their direct influence in destroying Hinduism, — had been divested of their secu- larity, and stamped with an impress of sacredness. In this view of the case, the teaching of these branches seemed no longer an indirect, secondary, ambiguous part of missionary labour, — but, in one sense, as direct, primary, and indubit- able as the teaching of religion itself.

Again, we may remark on the advantage which the advo- cate of truth possesses, when the system which he assails abounds with ‘physical as well as metaphysical errors. The former are of a nature so much more palpable, and easier

588

SCIEN’CE DESTRUCTIVE OF MAHAMMADANISM.

of overthrow than the latter, because they admit of being subjected to rigorous experiment, or tested by the evidence of sense. So long as a false system is confined exclusively to the region of the imaginative, the intangible, the invisible, • the spiritual, it may be unassailable by any merely human . s weapons ; but let it once descend into the region of the real, the tangible, the visible, the physical, and ever)' sense may supply irresistible weapons of attack. There is nothing that galls a learned Mahammadan more than when a skilful antagonist contrives to draw him off from the metaphysics of the Koran to some of its physical dogmata. When asked l whether the religion of the Koran was designed to be univer- sal,— he glories in replying in the affirmative. When asked \ whether it is not an imperative ordinance of his faith, that, during the great annual festival of the Eamzan, every one of the faithful should fast from sunrise to sunset, — he unhe- sitatingly, and without qualification, admits that this is a command which dare not be broken without an act of im- piety against God, — an act of contempt against Mahammad, , i the prophet of God. You then appeal to the indisputable | geographical fact, that in the arctic and antarctic regions, i

the period from sunrise to sunset annually extends to several '

months. You next ply him with the physical impossibility " !

of the supposed Divine ordinance being observed in these regions ; and then you push home the alternative, either that his religion was not designed to be universal, and there- fore, according to his own previous admission, not divine ; or that he who framed the Koran was unacquainted with the geographical fact, and therefore, instead of being inspired by God, must have been an ignorant impostor. So perfectly galled does the Mahammadan feel when for the first time plied with this argument, that he usually cuts the Gordian knot by boldly denying the geographical fact ! And when, afterwards, he finds the amount of evidence in its favour too overwhelming to be set aside by an unsupported negative, many, many are the glosses and ingenious subterfuges to which he feels himself impelled to resort. But these in time serve the cause of truth ; for when the day of sifting and

i

POPERY OPPOSED TO TRUE SCIENCE.

589

shaking comes, the perverse ingenuity of these scholastic defences will only expose the desperateness of the cause. One strong clear glance of unfettered common sense will cause them to be numbered with the things that were.

Its intermeddling with physics proved one of the chiefest sources of weakness in Popery at the time of the Reforma- tion. Had it kept within the domain of spirit, the shock of the Reformation might not have proved half so tremen- dous. In that case, the whole of the worldly philosophic race, who cared as little about vital religion as their prede- cessors of Greece or Rome, might have eyed the system with cold indifference or silent contempt ; and it would have been spared their sharp missiles. Unhappily, however, for itself, though happily for mankind, it did cross the limits of the spiritual domain. Entering the physical, it dallied with prevailing errors ; and, seizing them in its embrace, hence- forth identified and made them inseparably one with itself. Never was there a more suicidal act than when the Church of Rome staked its infallibility on the truth of these errors ! — when, for example, it thundered out from one of the holiest of its tribunals the celebrated verdict — “ That to maintain the sun to be immoveable, and without local motion, in the centre of the world, is an absurd proposition, false in philo- sophy, heretical in religion, and contrary to the testimony of Scripture, — that it is equally absurd and false in philo- sophy to assert, that the earth is not immoveable in the centre of the world ; and considered theologically, equally erroneous and heretical.” A blunder this so great, that many have found it hard to say, in the residt, which proved most disastrous, the doctrine of indulgences in religion, or of the mobility of the sun, and the immobility of the earth in astronomy ! — which entailed the most terrible retribution in after-ages, the persecution of Luther or the imprisonment of Galileo ! In consequence of such a system as that now recorded, the Church of Rome made itself strangely vulner- able, by gratuitously erecting one of the weakest possible points of defence ; and that one, too, in front of the very position where the enemy could erect some of his strongest

590

HIXDULSM ABOUNDS IN FALSE SCIENCE.

batteries. It heedlessly subjected its own errors to the resistless demonstration and fatal exposure of sense and science. It provoked to an exterminating warfare against itself, the embattled phalanx of new philosophers, as well as of sincere theologians. Before the united attack. Popery fell from its high places through half the nations. And the Protestantism which succeeded, involved a protest against those egregious errors in physics, — which, in the hour of its delusion, it enstamped as sacred verities, — almost as much as a protest against those senseless traditions that super- seded the Word of God, — those damnable heresies that nullified the work of redemption altogether.

Its having descended into the region of physics, is proving in our own day one of the primary sources of the weakness of Hinduism. Had it been exclusively confined to the Idealism or Pantheism of the Vedant, Hinduism would with- stand all the mightiest assaults of such gross and ponderous weapons as those of sense and fact. Right well do the most skilful of its Brahmanical defenders know this. Hence, their policy is to draw off their antagonist from the domain of physics and sense, to the region of metaphysics and tran- scendentalism. And if he is so unskilful as to allow himself to be dragged away, he may already bid a long adieu to vic- tory. When all the premises are not only subtile metaphy- sical abstractions, but bold and unwarranted assumptions, what must the elaborate superstructure be ? Such, how- ever, is that abstract of the Hindu Vedas, called Vedantism. Effectually to reach such a system by argument, solely based on primary truths, or universal intuitions, were as vain as the attempt of Sisyphus to roll his stone to the summit of the mountain. Effectually to apply to it the deductions of obser- vation and experiment, were like pouring water for ever into the same bottomless buckets. But no system of false religion ever abounded more with false physics than Hinduism. To these the great mass of the people most resolutely adhere. Why not, then, bring into contact with these, the opposite truths which are level to ordinary understanding, and redu- cible to the evidence of sense ? Already has it been tried with

THE FALSE PHILOSOPHY OP THE BRAHMANS.

591

effect ; already have hundreds been thereby rescued from the yoke ; and true science muII prove far more formidable to Hinduism than to Popery ; inasmuch as physical errors are far more intimately MTOught into the very frame and texture of the general system of Hinduism, than false philosophy ever was into the fabric of Popery.

Here, we may remark on the advantage of having the young to address even on the subject of physical truths, in preference to the aged. The mind of the natural man uni- versally yields Avith reluctance to whatever mars its self- formed systems and reasonings. Often has the sceptical philosopher in Europe contrasted the demonstrable evidence of science, with what he chooses to denominate the fluctu- ating principles of moral and religious evidence ; and often has he gloried in the solution which this seems to give of the apparent stability and ready reception of science, and the apparent changeableness and frequent rejection of revealed religion. But a brief sojourn among the adult Brahmans of India, would tend to lay his gloryings in the dust, and prove the fallacy of his conclusions. He would there learn that when on any subject men have been long habituated to believe ■without supporting evidence, they will continue, without any reclamation either of reason or con- science, to believe in spite of opposing evidence. He would there learn that golden but despised lesson of practical wis- dom, that the admission of any evidence of any truth very much depends on the particular interest of individuals, and the exist- ing state of their heart. Thus, men’s hearts by nature are in love with the world, its pursuits, its pleasures, and its gains. They have an interest in discrediting the evidence of a pure, holy, and humbling religion, which is opposed to worldliness in every shape ; and while they can, they will turn a deaf ear to it ! Now, in India, it so happens, that the minds of the learned Brahmans are preoccupied with a system of false philosophy, which, equally with their system of false religion, professes to be revealed from heaven. Their craft, therefore, depends on the existence of the former as well as of the latter. Tlieir worldly honours, credit, reputation,

592

CONVERSATION WITH A BRAHMAN.

and support, are indissolubly leagued with its permanent continuance ; and they have a xital interest in rejecting all evidence, however clear, or however potent, which would in the least degree interfere with it. Accordingly, as a matter of fact, all those Brahmans who have grovm up to maturity^ under the full influence of their own system, all those whose minds have been thoroughly formed by it, whose inte- rest and honour, whose pride and prejudice, whose natural affection and religious feelings have been wholly pre-engaged in its behalf — all these are found prepared to treat with sovereign contempt, not only tJi£ deimnstratioris of modem science, but the eery testimony of their own senses, rather than relinquish “ one jot or one tittle’" of what is so dear to them ! Let an experiment the most triumphant be exhibited, if it only tend to expose some part of their corrupt philosophical creed, rather than jield their assent, they will not scruple to pronounce the whole as maya, — the effect of mere optical illusion ! — or rather of the illusory energv* of the Supreme Brahm !

As a curious illustration of this general assertion, we may relate the following anecdote : — One day, when we were en- gaged in reading a portion of the New Testament in Bengali, with a learned Brahman, the subject of baptism occurred. He asked various questions respecting the import and design, which we endeavoured to answer. “ So then,” said he, “ the water is employed as a svTnbol merely, of the cleansing effi- cacy of Christ’s blood ; and not as possessed of any inherent cleansing efficacy.” Yes. “ Then,” said he, “ our system is superior to yours.” How so f “ Why, we have water that possesses the power of washing away sin.” Whence comes that water ? “ It is the water of the Ganges.” But

why not any other water as well ; for instance the water of that tank, — pointing to one in the neighbourhood ? “ Be-

cause,” said he, “ Ganges water alone is endowed wdth the quality of essential purity.” Essential purity ! What do you mean b}- that ? It often looks the most impure of all waters ? “ True, it looks so ; but the mud and other loose

ingredients are no part of it ; these are adventitious, and by

CONVERSATION WITH A BRAHMaN.

59S

simply allowing the water to stand, all the particles may be seen to separate and subside of their own accord.” After these particles have subsided, do you maintain that the water is essentially pure? “Yes.” That there is in it nought whatsoever which has not been spontaneously sepa- rated ? “ Nothing.” What if something could be shown

to you still to exist therein, — something which has not been separated along with the visible muddy sediment. “ That is impossible.” Well, well; but what suppose it could be shown to you ? Having then explained the nature of a microscope, and of the infusory living atoms which it reveals, we put the case hypothetically, as we had no instrument by us. Now, suppose you were made to see these living crea- tures in the Ganges water, even after it has been filtered of all gross impurities, to your own satisfaction ; would you not be compelled to give up your dogma of essential purity, as explained by yourself? “ No.” What ! Would you deny the testimony of your own eyes ? “ No ; not that either.”

What ! Not give up your dogma, and not deny the testi- mony of sense ? How do you get out of the dilemma ? “ Why, rather than admit the existence of such minute living creatures in pure Ganges water, I would believe that my senses did deceive me, — that it was the result of some inexplicable optical illusion ; but in the present case such an alternative would not be necessary.” What then ? How can. you reconcile your supposed perception of the animalculae with the resolute maintenance of your original dogma ? “ Oh !” said he, “ I would simply insist upon it, that the living creatures existed not in the Ganges water, hut in the interposing glass, — and that it was some peculiar quality in the water which rendered them visible in the glass ! ” Now if the tangible, visible, and experimental, could be gravely and easily disposed of in this way, it must be seen how end- less and hopeless all mere argument, founded either on intui- tive principles of belief, or on admitted facts, must prove in the case of such minds. And thus it is, that an instructive exhibition, the have possibility may never have

occurred even to the imagination of our European savans,.

594 ADVANTAGE OF ADDRESSING THE YOFNG HINDUS.

may be manifested to the view, as often as the experiment is tried. — On the one side, the sceptical European philoso- pher, smiling with scorn at the senseless incredulity of the Indian Brahman, — and on the other, the Indian Brahman smiling with conscious superiority, at the good-natured credulity of the European philosopher !

It has recently been remarked, that “ the prejudices and multiform errors of a Jew educated in the service of the Talmud, are not less subtile, and often are more fearfully wrought into his very soul, than those of philosophic Hin- duism.” That may be ; — having had no experience of such a Jew, having never had it in our power to make the com- parison, we dare not be so presumptuous as to deny the possibility. But we have had experience of a “ philosophic Hindu;” — and this we will say, that we have no language which can adequately express the fearful working of his subtile systenr into the soul. It seems wrought into the soul, like woof into the warp ; so as to be destructible only with its destruction. The soul seems imbedded in it ; yea transfixed ; yea impaled ; so that there can be no separa- tion but in death. The two seem united, not in the way of mechanical juxtaposition, however close ; but blended and fused, after the manner of chemical combination, which no mere force, no mere violence can ever disassociate. And if after this superlative degree of in-working, impaling, and intimate amalgamation, there can be still a higher degree, — the fearful pre-eminence of being greater than the great- est of the prejudiced devotees of the false Brahmanical phi- losophy must be awarded to the Talmudic Rabbi !

How widely different the case of the young ; even though subjected to the varied influences of the system from earliest years of infancy ! Their minds are pliant, supple, and ductile, — already prepossessed, it is true, in favour of the system, but not perfectly inwoven with it ; — preoccupied but not fixedly impressed ; — pre-engaged, but not actually fused in its mould. The process, — which naturally leads to such intimate union, blending and fusion, — has fairly be- gun ; and unless timeously arrested, must, in riper years,

BIBLE INSTRUCTION.

595

terminate in an apparently unalterable state. Youth, then, in its openness and frankness, its ingenuous candour, and unsuspecting honesty, — youth is the golden season for get- ting the start of confirmed worldly public interests, inve- terate prejudice, rivetted religious feeling, the love of ap- plause, the pride of reputation, the dread and shame of apostasy from a cause once defended ; — youth is the golden season for favourably preoccupying the mind with principles of truth, connected with every department in the worlds of matter or of spirit, — with “ the knowledge and love of God our Saviour, before the actual habits of guilt are engrafted upon the evil bias of corrupt nature,” — with the knowledge and love of every science that unfolds the wondrous work- manship of the Divine Architect, or promotes the social well- being of man, before the habits of systematic error have grown up like rank weeds in the barren soil of ignorant nature. As regards, therefore, the facility of all sound instruction, whether literary, scientific, or theological ; and the prospect of cultivation, whether intellectual, moral, or religious, there is a prodigious difference between the aged and the young. It is a difference of degree., however, and not of hind. There is the same original corrupt bias, the same original barren ignorance. The same corrupt bias is gradually moulded by the same various influences into the like habitual modes of thought, feeling, and action ; and in the same barren soil, there are sown, and take root, and spring up luxuriantly the same seeds of error. But between the two there is the same difference as between the incipient growth and the maturej — between the soft and the indurated clay, — the malleable gold and the brittle cast-iron, — the pliant twig and the trained tree. In a word, the mind of the young is like a plantation of tender saplings ; the mind of the aged like a forest of gnarled oaks.

Once more, we may remark as to the position allotted to Bible instruction in the Institution. Some there are who still dream that, in the enlightenment of India, we are apt to award the palm of supei’iority to useful and scientific knowledge advocating its precedency in point of rank, and

596

LESSONS FROM PASSING EVENTS.

its priority in point of time. These individuals, happily few in number, imbued with a good share of the Brahmanical spirit, and emulous of their brethren in the East, first seize on a congenial report without inquiry ; unthinkingly believe it without evidence ; and then resolutely persevere in the belief, not only in spite of evidence, but in spite of the most solemn protestations to the contrarj’. Consigning them to the same categorj’ of incurables as the Indian branch of the great brotherhood, we would appeal to all who are not predetermined against conviction. Requesting of them but a moment’s consideration, we ask ; — From the statement now given, does it not appear as a simple matter of historic fact, that in the Assembly’s Mission seminary, Bible in- struction did actually precede all other regular instruction ? There w'as no previous course of literary or scientific edu- cation. So soon as the Institution was effectually organized, the Bible was introduced. Its sacred lessons were taught before the inculcation of a single branch of “ useful” or “ scientific” knowledge. Its use as a class-book was ante- cedent to the employment of any book of general literature or science ; and to its perusal, the first and freshest hour of the day was regularly allotted. To it the highest rank was assigned in the system. Its shrine was approached with awe and reverence ; and its contents imfolded with that solemnity of feeling which became the oracles of the Most High Grod.

Besides the regular perusal of the Scriptures, advantage has been constantly taken of every favourable opening con- nected with any of the topics of the daily lesson — of passing events, unexpected surprisals, gentle glows of generous emo- tion, spontaneous impulses of gratitude, momentarj’ relaxa- tions of prejudice, sudden* jets of unpremeditated inquiiy and all other opportunities which occur freely, naturally, at the moment, wholly unforeseen, and therefore without any preparation ; — advantage has been taken of all such occa- sions to drop a practical remark, — instil a moral or reli- gious principle, — suggest a moral or religious application. In this way it has been found that we might daily teach.

RELIGION" THE ENTIRE BUSINESS OF THE INSTITUTION, 597

ay, and preach most successfully too, not only by direct and foiTual explanations of the Christian Scriptures ; but often with far more visible effect, by occasionally insinuating the blessed truth which they contain, in ways so incidental, and in forms or modes so inobtrusive as to strike the deeper root, in consequence of not raising any gust of opposition to blast or consume. Thus was religion made to pervade the entire business of the Institution : it became the o;i'eat animating principle of the whole system. It was soon acknowledged to be supreme in our estimation, not by forcible attempts to push it into ostentatious prominence, but by its being seen and felt to exist in real, living, noiseless influence throughout aU our teachings, plans, and movements.

Such pervasion of religious principle was not found to fet- ter the communication of useful knowledge ; it only deduced new inferences, pointed out new applications, and superadded a host of new motives to persevere in the acquisition of it. It did not cramp the rising freedom of thought ; it only from time to time caused it to shoot into fairer fields and clearer heavens, — aiming at a nobler mark, in expectation of a nobler prize. It did not tend to desecrate religion, but to consecrate all knowledge. It did not tend to render the cause of philosophy fanatical. No ; but by linking faith in the Invisible with the evidences of sense, and consociating the revelation of Jehovah’s Word with the interpretations of Jehovah’s works, it tended to banish fanaticism from religion, and atheism from philosophy. It did not tend to secularize Christianity, but to Christianize all true literature, and all true science ; and by baptizing both in the fount itself of heavenly purity, send them forth into the world with un- sealed vision and regenerated natures.

Our plan, therefore, was not first to plant and rear the tree of literary and scientific knowledge, and afterwards to graft upon it a scion from the stem of Christianity. Such a graft would prove but a sickly exotic on an uncongenial stock ; and, however often renewed, could never flourish and produce good fruit. Neither was it our plan to plant and rear the tree of religions knowledge, and afterwards.

598

NOVELTY OF THE INSTITUTION.

by some process of “ budding,” attempt to force the young tendrils of literary and scientific knowledge to sprout there- from. Such unnatural forcing could only produce what was feeble and worthless, while the violence endured would cause the parent trunk to degenerate. Keligion and science have each its own independent seed ; and why should not each be sown and take independent root ? But though independent in their root and growth, why should they be reared as an- tagonists ? — the one like the Indian manchaneel with its golden fruit, so fair to the eye, but noxious to the taste ; and the other like the neighbour white-wood, which supplies a balm to neutralize its deadly qualities ? Why should they not rather be planted and reared in happy and mutual alliance ? To accomplish this was our great object. Nor did we at- tempt in vain. A healthy root of each was transferred to a hitherto unreclaimed wilderness of heathenism. They were planted asunder ; speedily they threw up vigorous shoots, but at such a distance as to appear, to the eye of inexperi- ence, incapable of coalescing ; and so diminutive, as to make it doubtful whether they might not be dwarfed beneath the veterans of the wilderness. But they rose with such an inter- nal spring of vigour, as to drain off all the disposable mois- ture ; and thus accelerated and hastened on the process of natural decay, which had already seized on their aged pre- decessors. While they mounted upwards in stately majesty, like the trees of pastoral song, they stretched out their spread- ing arms till they united in mutual embrace — intertwining branch with branch, and bough with bough, and foliage with foliage, in such undistinguished union, that the weary tra- veller, in enjoying repose under the grateful shade, and im- bibing nourishment from the grateful fruit, scarce could tell to which of the friendly allies he was most indebted.

The first six months after the establishment of the Insti- tution were characterised by fully more of outward stir and excitement, and interest, than were subsequently manifested. Not only wei’e all thinas neic — the discipline, the system of

HINDUISM IN DANGER.

599

tuition, the varied truths communicated — but they were alike new to all. It was like the sudden raising of a curtain from before the eyes of prisoners in a dungeon, — the sud- den bursting of an unknown world of wonders on the asto- nished view. Hence the frequent ejaculations of surprise and amazement — the insatiable curiosity — the perfect ra- mnousness for more knowledge — the boundless, yet aimless longings, — the alternate utterances of heartfelt delight at the discovery of some striking truth, and of heartfelt pain at the detection of some fondly cherished error. Afterwards, of course, there could not be such fulness, and freshness, and vividness of outward manifestation. By far the greater part would become familiar with every thing. There could not be again a whole school of novices ; — only a few additions being made from time to time, to fill up the ranks, and supply the vacated places. Hence they would slide almost imperceptibly into familiarity with the different subjects, from the swift contagion of constant intercourse with their fellows.

Flushed at first with the exciting novelty of all they said, did, and learned, they could not suppress their feelings. Elated by their superior attainments, impetuous with youth- ful ardour, and fearless of consequences, they carried the new light which had arisen on their own minds to the bosom of their families, — proclaimed its excellencies on the house-tops, — and extolled its praises in the street-assemblies of the people. With the zeal of proselytes, untempered by the dis- cretion of ripened experience, they did not always observe the necessary circumspection in their demeanour and style of address ; or manifest due regard and consideration for the feelings of those who still sat in darkness. Even for the in- fallible Gurus, and other holy Brahmans, before whom they were wont to bow in prostrate submission, their reverence was greatly diminished. They would not conceal their gra- dual change of sentiment on many vital points. At length, their undaunted bearing and freedom of speech began to excite observation, and create a general ferment among the staunch adherents of the old faith. The cry of “ Hinduism in danger” was fairly raised.

600

OPPOSITION OF THE CHUNDRIKA.

On reaching the school one forenoon at the usual hour (ten o’clock), we were struck at the contrast to its wonted appearance. The entire system had for some time pro- gressed with undeviating regularity ; and in nothing was greater punctuality observed than in the hours of attend- ance. Every day the bell was rung precisely at ten ; the || outer door was immediately shut ; and no boy, if late, w'as admitted. Judge then of our surprise, when, after the bell was rung and the outer door shut, we entered the hall of the Institution, and found it all but deserted. On the forms appropriated to one class only two or three seated ; on others, one or two ; and on some, none at all ! The number present altogether amounted to little more than half-a-dozen. \

What the cause could be, it was impossible to conjecture. ' The few who had made their appearance were interrogated I on the matter. Instead of replying, one of them, unwrapping from the loose folds of his upper vestment a Bengali news- paper, came forward ; and, pointing to a particular para- graph, requested us to read it. It was the Chundrika of that morning, — the established organ of the great mass of bigoted Hindus, who make it a fundamental article of reli- gious duty to uphold all things as they are. The editor, who ' had long distinguished himself as the Ooryphoeus of the idolatrous unchangeables, had pounced upon the school ; and resolved with one stroke of his formidable pen to crush it for ever, — to wipe away the memorial of it from recognised existence. The Institution was there condemned in no mea- sured terms. In language the most offensive it was denounced as an engine for uprooting Hinduism. The subjects taught were held up to reprobation. The very mode of study was depicted in a way to prove most grating and galling to the feelings of ignorant Hindus. The entire system was ana- thematized. The parents who allowed their children to ^

attend were threatened with immediate excision from caste k

by the Dharma Shabha, or Holy Assembly of the orthodox ; of which the editor himself was the secretary. And finally, in case any of the impure or the outcast should still attend, and the place for their sakes should be kept open, it was

THE PUPILS WITHDRAWN FROM THE INSTITUTION. 601

earnestly recommended, as a precautionary measure, to do as was wont to be done elsewhere in the case of houses known to be infected with the plague ; — that is, it was strenuously urged, that a yellow flag, or some other distinguishing sig- nal, should be hung out immediately in front of the Institu- tion, to warn all the unwary and ignorant among the sound followers of Brahma, that this was the habitation of a moral and religious pestilence !

This hostile edict operated at first somewhat after the manner of a thundering bull from the Vatican in the palmy days of Popery. And it cannot be doubted, that, in other times, ay, and in hundreds of other places in India, at the present time, it might have insured the temporary failure of the Institution against which it was directed. As it was, all the natives connected with it, seemed to have been seized with a sudden panic ; and in consequence, almost all the pupils were withdrawn in a single day. “ Very well,” said Ave, in the hearing of the few who had ventured to breast the general torrent, “ it cannot be helped. To us personally it is a matter of little moment. Those who have withdrawn are their own greatest enemies ; and must, in the end, find them- selves the greatest losers. But of this rest assured, that as long as there are half-a-dozen to meet here, the Institution shall not be shut. It will afford us the greatest pleasure to attend daily for their instruction. And the number being so small, the advantage to them may be all the greater.” So saying, we proceeded to the regular duties of the day ; and went through all the ordinary routine, just as if no disaster had overtaken us. The effect of this was, that however much the few present had doubted and wavered in the morning, they all left, with the determination sealed, to brave all con- sequences rather than abandon the Institution. By them the report that the Institution was not to be shut was widely circulated in their respective neighbourhoods ; and next day, a few of the deserters ventured to return along with them.

It soon began to appear that the greater part of those Avho had placed their sons or wards in the Institution, had

P p

602

RETURN OF THE PUPILS.

1

not been actuated, in the withdrawal of the pupils, by their own spontaneous convictions of duty. Far otherwise. Their private views of Hinduism had, from various causes, become quite latitudinarian. And to sound the alarm, and marshal troops in its defence, might appear to them like notes of preparation to preserve alive a dying and decaying car- cass. But, having no vital principle of truth, they could not withstand the least blast of persecution, or endure the threatened loss of caste, with all the degradation, shame, and ruin thereby entailed. Hence, not willingly, but by constraint, they were at last overawed into silent acquies- ^ cence with the prevailing sentiment and decision. When, therefore, the excitement arising from the first panic gra- I

dually subsided, and no actual steps had been taken against J

the first recusants, one and another gladly found their way - back to the Institution : so that in little more than a week, , ' all, with three or four exceptions, had returned. ' i

Not long afterwards another philippic appeared in the Chundrika ; followed by a dispersion somewhat similar to the former, but more partial and temporary. Another and |'

another succeeded at different intervals, in other native news- papers besides the Chundrika, — each feebler in its practical effect than the preceding ; so that after two or three years the most Holent tirade that could be published did not per- >

ceptibly affect the Institution. Denunciations might then be fulminated with absolute impunity, which, during the first six months, would have caused it to be deserted, — leav- i

ing nothing but bare walls and empty benches. The reasons were obvious. People had become accustomed to this con- demnatory language. From the old school of natives it was expected to proceed as a matter of course ; and familiarity with such a weapon had blunted its edge, and deprived it of the power of inflicting a serious wound. Besides, hundreds having once cropped the fruit of the tree of Western know- ledge, and found it pleasant to the sight, sweet to the taste, and profitable for nourishment, their experience and con- i sciousness were not to be annihilated by the decrees of any )

ignorant and imperious dictator. Again, the new illumina-

OPPOSITION DESPISED BY THE HINDUS.

603

tion had enlisted in its favour the names of many Hindus of rank, wealth, and influence ; the number of its advocates was rapidly increasing ; and what was better, from commu- nion of sentiment and affinity of pursuit, they were daily becoming more united among themselves. Hence the lead- ers of the adverse majority, though at first fully determined to resort to extreme measures, began to shrink from the execution of their own decrees. To excommunicate a few only of the iceakesi of the offenders, would be officially and formally to proclaim their own conscious impotence ; to cut off all, powerful and weak together, they seemed to dread as likely to cause a breach and schism so extensive as to depopulate one portion of the territory of Hinduism, and expose the unarmed weakened remnant to eventual dissolu- tion and ruin. But “ spiritual thunder-claps ” that fall in- nocuous, cease to be feared ; and those who continue wrath- fully to hurl them, come at last to excite only derision and contempt. From these and other causes combined, even the editor of the Chundrika, — the redoubted champion of Hinduism, — the leader and organ of the Dharma Shabha, whose first sentence of condemnation emptied the Institu- tion,— at length issued his anathemas, only to be despised by a daily increasing number of his own countrymen. In no other case, perhaps, in our day, could the picture of the ecclesiastical historian be more strikingly realized, — “ Me- thinks I see a feeble old man, who finds himself despised by his children ; and not able to get out of his bed to chastise them, as formerly, flings at them any thing he finds under his hands, to satisfy his impotent anger ; and, raising his voice, loads them with all the imprecations he can devise.” Amid perpetual modifications in the course and scope of study and of discipline, suggested by the ever-varying phe- nomena of a rapidly transitionary state, — yet without the least change of fundamental principles, or the slightest deviation from the original design, — the system continued to be conducted throughout the first twelvemonth. During this time the minor fluctuations in its developement were vastly greater and more frequent than at any subsequent

604

FIRST EXAMINATION’ OF THE INSTITUTION.

period. Still, in the midst of all, there was decided pro- gress. The fertilizing tide of improvement was gradually spreading over the barren shore, — every partial ebb in its waves being invariably succeeded by a greater flow. After the experience of six months, the scheme of a complete edu- cational course, which might require nine or ten years for its developement, — with grounds, reasons, and illustrations, occupying in all about a hundred closely wTitten folio pages, was drawn up and transmitted to the Home Committee. All that has since been done, has only been the successive filling up of the different parts of this outline.

About the termination of the first twelvemonth, it was judged desirable to hold an examination of the pupils in a central hall on the European side of Calcutta. The leading design was to bring the Institution and its objects more prominently before the notice of the British residents ; most of whom, however willing, could not be expected to visit the Institution itself on account of its distance and position in the native town. It was not without much deliberation and much prayer for guidance from above, that such an exami- nation was hazarded at so early a period after the organi- zation of the seminary, — a period characterised by so many difficulties to be surmounted, so many obstructions to be removed. It was felt that, humanly speaking, more might depend on this first examination than on any subsequent one, — that its success would give a new and mighty impulse, while its failure might for years blight all our rising but still quivering hopes. Through the overruling Providence of Grod, as the event fully showed, it did prove eminently successful.

Dr Bryce, who had already privately visited and examin- ed the Institution, kindly agreed to preside at the examina- tion ; which was attended by a numerous and respectable audience of European ladies and gentlemen, besides several natives of high rank. Among the visitors were the Vene- rable Archdeacon Corrie, and almost the whole body of

REPORTS OP THE EXAMINATION.

605

Company’s chaplains and missionaries at and about the Pre- sidency. From the novelty of the general system pursued, and the vivid interest newly excited in favour of the scheme, lengthened reports of the entire proceedings were published in all the Calcutta newspapers. The following statements and remarks are extracted from the three leading daily journals ; and considering how widely these differed on all great questions of party policy and religion, their concur- rent testimonies in favour of the examination, must e.xhibit the broad seal of authenticity. No documents could possibly be furnished possessing higher historical value.

The India GtAZETTE, after various preliminary remarks, thus proceeds : — “ The boys of the different classes respec- tively, were rigidly and minutely questioned on whatever portions they had learnt of the English Eeader, published by the School-Book Society ; Pearson’s Dialogues on Gleo- graphy and Astronomy ; Outlines of Ancient History, from the Creation to the Augustine Age, by Archdeacon Corrie ; and the leading parts of early Sacred History, as detailed in Genesis, and parts of the Gospels. They were questioned and cross-questioned in the most intricate manner possible ; and their ready and correct answers evinced not only a re- collection of what they had read, but a perfect knowledge of its meaning in every way. The boys in the more advanced classes readily formed a substantive from an adjective, and vice versa, — and those in the head class (who have all got through the Parts of Speech and rules of Syntax) unhesitat- ingly stated the primitive of any terms ; and particularized all its derivatives, connectives, and compounds. They also translated or explained their lessons when required in the Bengali language ; or expressed the import in English by definition or example. The examination concluded about two o’clock ; and all the visitors who witnessed it appeared highly gratified with the result.”

The Bengal Hurkuru, after briefly noticing the rise, pro- gress, and design of the Institution, continues his remarks as follows : — “ .Judging from the examination held yesterday, the system of Instruction is admirably adapted to teach

606

REPORTS OF THE EXAMINATION.

children the true use of language, viz., that of being employed as signs of ideas, embracing at the same time in its opera- tion, an unremitting exercise of the understanding ; — as a full and entire sense and meaning of the sentence read, even to the parts of speech and grammatical construction of it, the pupil is taught to comprehend and explain. This he is taught to do, as soon as he can read lessons in monosyllables. This important particular in the education of children has been heretofore too much neglected ; while parents and teachers have been contented with mere mechanical reading, with the mere sound and articulation of words, without pay- ing attention to the information which the young mind may acquire from them.” After furnishing a specimen of the mode of examination, he thus proceeds : — “ It is not necessary to enter into all the minutiae and various forms of interrogation by which an ingenious instructor might employ the under- standing of his pupil, as the above will afford a glimpse of what the system is, and shows that the pupil proceeds in substantial acquirements, exactly in proportion to the expan- sion of his understanding. The pupils were called up in classes to the number of eight, and acquitted themselves to the satisfaction, if not to the admiration, of the considerable number of ladies and gentlemen present ; particularly in the answers which they gave touching some material facts in the history of the Christian religion, as well as regarding that religion itself. Perhaps it would be better if a peculiar sys- tem of theology were not inculcated, — if that were left to be acquired or rejected by a maturer understanding. Never- theless we do not hesitate to say, that schools established upon this plan, are the most direct way of enlightening and evangelizing this country.”

The John Bull, after some introductory remarks, thus testifies : — “ The singularity, and we are glad to be able to add the success, of Mr D.’s mode of instilling instruction, had for some time past attracted considerable attention from those who had visited him in his class-room in Chitpore- road ; and the result, as proved by a more public examina- tion, was looked to with not a little curiosity by many inte-

REPORTS OF THE EXAMINATION.

607

rested in the progress of native education. The Institution has only been in activity for a few months ; but during that time it seems to have proved beyond doubt, that the exer- cise of the understanding, to the extent of comprehending accurately and fully what they read, may be conjoined with the more mechanical labour, even in very young pupils. The mode by which Mr D. attempts to accomplish this most desirable object is very simple ; and consists in putting the sentence, read by his pupils, into every possible shape, so as to thoroughly sift out its meaning, in all the different phases it can be made to present ; but it is a mode which, to be perfectly understood, ought to be seen in practical operation. We think it might be most advantageously adopted in other seminaries of native education. It has one most powerful recommendation to public notice, — that it interests the boys in what they are taught in a manner the most lively and gra- tifying : and without fagging or wearying their attention, keeps them all alive and on the alert at the same moment. It therefore obviates one great objection to the old system of education, that while one boy was unde, going examina- tion, the others were too often inattentive and idle. The examination on Friday was altogether gratifying, and the progress of the pupils, considering how short has been their attendance at the Institution, we may say without exagge- ration, wonderful. But the most interesting part of the exhibition was held, by common consent of the visitors, to have been the examination of the highest class in the history of the Bible, and the connection between it and the leading truths and doctrines of the Old and New Testament. It is the fashion of the present day to teach, that no peculiar sys- tem of theology should be instilled into the minds of youth, but all left to be received or rejected by a maturer under- standing. We deprecate such doctrine in the strongest terms. We maintain that from youth upward, religious knowledge should be afforded to them : and how this is to be done, without conveying it according to some sect of theology or another, we are at a loss to perceive ; and those who maintain the doctrine are at no great pains to infonn

608

THE INSTITUTION RISES INTO NOTICE.

US. The views of Christianity, which the higher classes of Mr D.’s Institution have been taught, are those undoubtedly that are to be found in the orthodox standards of the Church of which he promises to be so useful a missionary ; and, we believe, there were many of the visitors present, who listened to the questions of the master, and the answers of the scho- lars, with the more pleasure, that they were reminded of the humble parish school at home, where ‘ a peculiar system of theology’ is inculcated from the earliest dawn of the intellect ; and where the fruits, under the blessing of Grod, have been a pious and a moral population. The seminary of education, at which religion, in some form or other, stands not at the threshold to receive the pupil, ought not to be countenanced or supported by any wise Grovemment or any pious man. The idea of bringing up youths in scientific and intellectual knowledge, while their minds are all along left a blank, as to religious impressions, until they can choose a faith for themselves, appears to us at once the most absurd, and dangerous crotchet, that ever entered into the heads of men calling themselves Philosophers, Statesmen, and Legislators. We are persuaded Mr D. is on the right road to attain the truly worthy and benevolent object of his Mission ; and we would encourage him to persevere, as he has begun, in all manner of holy boldness ; proving himself ‘ a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly di^^ding the word of truth.’ At the close of the examination. Dr Bryce addressed a few words to the scholars of the Institution, encourasrinor them to perseverance in their studies.”

The great and unexpected success wherewith Divine Pro- vidence was pleased to accompany this examination, gave a mighty impulse to all our future labours. The favourable opinion so decidedly expressed by influential members of the British community, reacted powerfully on the native mind at large ; in the way of conciliating prejudice, inspiring confi- dence, and secnring a more hearty and general co-operation. The interest manifested on the part of so many mapnates of the ruling caste in the progress and welfare of the pupils, poured fresh animation and vigour into all their onward en-

RESULTS OF THE SYSTEM.

609

deavours after the attainment of the English language, and the incalculable wealth of knowledge, human and divine, that is treasured up in it. In a word, to the no small delight and surprise of the founder, the general impression then pro- duced, at once dragged the infant seminary from a humble obscurity, and thrust it forth into public favour and noto- riety— putting to flight all floating misconceptions and sus- picions on the part of the more pious members of the Chris- tian communion — dissipating the ill omens and auguries of the enemies of religious instruction — drowning the vehement clamours of the more bigoted portion of the native commu- nity, amid the full blaze of a sudden popularity, which ushered it back amongst them with a new status assigned to it, as well as a commanding frontier-position among the educational Institutions of the metropolis. On the reopen- ing of the seminary, the numbers of new applications for admission was more than trebled. Additional accommoda- tion was provided. Every year thereafter the character and credit of the system were progressively augmented, in the estimation both of natives and Europeans. Elementary tuition was gradually advanced into an academical or colle- giate course, somewhat similar to that pursued at one of our Scottish Universities. The Jive who entered on the day of its first commencement, have since swoln into an average attendance of eight hundred. And the Governor-General, the fount of all power, honour, and influence, at length did homage to it by publicly proclaiming in the face of all India, that it had produced “ unparalleled results.”

Here, however, we must pause. Into farther details, relative to the working of the educational part of the sys- tem, we cannot at present enter. To its immediate and anticipated results, we can only refer in the most general terms.

Of these results some are direct., some indirect. The lat- ter, though usually least thought of, and incapable of being adequately represented, may often prove, in their vMimate

610

INDIRECT RESULTS.

tendencies, even more valuable than those which are direct and visible to every eye. To this particular subject allusion has already been made in an address before the General Assembly. Referring to the Calcutta Institution, it was remarked as follows : —

“ Besides its direct and immediate results in destroying, in the minds of hundreds, the combined powers of igno- rance and prejudice, idolatry and superstition, and substi- tuting the ennobling principles of true literature, science, and Cliristian theology instead, — look at the munber of pro- blems, fraught with the most momentous bearings on the future destinies of India, which it has helped triumphantly to solve.

“ Was it nothing, for example, by means of the unrivalled success with which God had been pleased to crown it, to have demolished the bugbear of alleged impracticability, as regards the attendance of respectable natives, for a series of years, on a Christian Institution, — and to have confounded the sophistical reasonings of hollow expediency, on the score of non-interference with the religious prejudices of the natives ? — Nothing, to have paralysed the arm of opposition — to have satisfied scepticism itself, — and to have converted the suspicions of craven cowardice into unbounded confi- dence ? — Nothing, to have given a higher tone to the senti- ment of many of the most influential British residents, on the essential constituents of sound education, — to have in- fused a new' and better spirit into some of the older systems, — to have generated the desire of remodelling some that were beginning to become effete ? — Nothing, to have given such an accelerative impetus to the cause of native instruc- tion, that scores of seminaries have already been established, which otherwise w'ould never have seen the light of day,*

* “ How numerous,” remarks Mr Trevelyan, in an address to the friends of Education in Lidia on the influence of example, “how numerous are the instances in which visitors to the General Assembly’s celebrated Academy have caught the spirit of the plan ; and been induced, on their return to their respective districts, to form the nucleus of similar Institutions ! ”

Besides these, there are now, as recorded in the Committee’s Reports,

INDIRECT RESULTS.

611

— and to have provided many of those new seminaries with duly qualified teachers, that have received an intellectual, moral, and religious training in your central Institution ? If^ as a learned gentleman opposite,* and zealous friend of every Christian enterprise, lately remarked, with admirable point and truth ; — If ‘ the schoolmaster be the school,’ — in other words, if the minds of the pupils, faithfully reflecting their master’s image, must ever be cast in the form and mould of his opinions : — Who can estimate — who can suffi- ciently magnify the amount of wholesome influence which the Assembly’s Missionary Institution, viewed as a grand Normal Seminary for the training of teachers, is likely to exert on the future destinies of India ? Once more, — Was it nothing, in the metropolis of such an empire as that of British India, in consequence of the peaceable fruits of righteousness which your Institution has produced, to have succeeded in convincing certain timid alarmists in high places, that, as Christianity has never taught rulers to op- press, so will it never teach subjects to rebel I — And to have given a msihility of demonstration to the aphorism of the ancient apologist, that then only is a Government most sure that it exceeds in friends, when it most surely knows that it exceeds in Christians ? — In the name of reason and common sense, we ask, "SVas all this nothing, as regards the ultimate regeneration of the people of India ? ”

Another indirect result of a momentous character, viewed as preparatory towards a great ultimate change, must not be left unnoticed. After a few years attendance at the Institution, the young men acquire sufficient boldness and

several Branch-Schools, in immediate connection with the Central Insti- tution, Calcutta. The largest and most advanced of these is the Semi- nary at Taki, about fifty miles E. of Calcutta. The distinguishing circum- stance connected with tliis Seminaiy is, that it is supported clnejUj by the Zemindars of the place, — who contribute between two and three hundred pounds annually towards its maintenance. May not the enlightened libe- rality of these Hindu proprietors, KaUnath Roy Chaudri, and Baykon- tonath Roy Chaudri, — put to shame many a Christian proprietor in this laud ?

Mr Colquhoim of Killermont.

612

DIRECT RESULTS.

confidence to speak out freely and undisgulsedly in the very bosom of their families. Within hundreds of domestic circles, — circles to which at present the European missionary can find no access, — conversations and discussions are thus carried on night after night, on the subject of Hinduism and Christianity. In this and in other ways there is a leaven gradually diffusing throughout the mass. There is a gentle and insensible process carrying on ; a process yearly widening in its extent ; a process of loosening, sapping, and undermining ; the effects of which, though as yet not patent on the surface of society, and consequently not visible to the outward eye, — will assuredly come forth in a stream of influential manifestation, in the day and crisis of India’s great deliverance.

The immediate and direct results are very palpable. As already stated, there is not a branch of true literature or science which does not furnish weapons to demolish Hin- duism. Let any one seriously peruse the second chapter of this work, and without any farther illustration, he must be satisfied that our chronology and history, our geography and astronomy, our mental and moral philosophy, brought to bear on so stupendous a system of error, must wrench it up by the very foundations. This, accordingly, we find to be the fact. When even the minutest portion of true knowledge, derived from whatever source, once fairly obtains an entrance into a mind wholly dark, bewildered, and lost in mazes of error — exposing its deformities and shaking its confidence in some established principles and practices — the work of improvement is usually half accomplished. The curiosity is strongly excited still farther to search, examine, and inquire. As the mind advances in its inquiries, change succeeds change : — every new effect becomes not only the earnest, but the prolific source of successive improvement, — and every unexpected discovery seems only to add new fuel to desires which begin to burn. — and will burn inextin- guishably. In vain do the bigoted adherents of “ things as they are,” prefer the clamorous charges of ingratitude to holy teachers, irreverence towards deified ancestors, and

HINDUISM PALLS AND CHRISTIANITY RISES.

613

impiety towards the gods. Such outcries only excite com- passion and provoke a smile.

And be it never forgotten, that while a process of de- struction is thus advancing, as regards Hinduism, there is a simultaneous process of upbuilding in the knowledge and principles of the Christian faith. From the first, the truths of God’s word are habitually inculcated. Gx’adually the Bible itself is read ; its sacred lessons prayerfully perused ; and its message of salvation pressed home upon the under- standing, the heart, and the conscience. The evidences, external and internal, of our most holy faith, with all its revealed doctrines in their divine order and harmony, are systematically unfolded. Of truth in every department, the pupils who rise to the higher classes, obtain a firmer and more intelligent grasp than young men of the same age usually do in the best conducted of our home institutions. With this circumstance, all^.trangers are particularly struck. The Eev. Mr Malcolm, of vhe United States, the talented author of a volume of missionary travels in the East, thus wtites of the young men in our Institution : — “ I examined several classes in ancient and modern history, mathematics, astronomy, and Christianity ; and have never met classes showing a more thorough knowledge of the books they had studied. Nearly all of the two upper classes are convinced of the truth of the Gospel ; and went over the leading evi- dences in a manner that, I am sure, few professors of reli- gion in our country can do.” One reason of this is obvious. Their minds being prepossessed with a system of error be- lieved to be divine, no opposing truth on any subject will be received till it is first sifted, examined, and viewed in all its forms, bearings, and relations. There is an ante- cedent reluctance on the score of interest and feeling and prejudice, to relinquish long-cherished error ; there is an antecedent aversion to entertain any parallel hostile truth. Accordingly, when the error has been supplanted from its intrenchment in the soul by the introduction and lodgment of some correspondent truth — we may be sure that the latter has not been embraced till it has forced for itself a way into

614-

symptoms OF MENTAL RENOVATION.

the mind through the blaze of resistless evidence. As re- gards Christianity in particular, there" is a new species of evidence to the awakening mind of a Hindu, the overwhelm- ing force of which we cannot in this land fully realize. It is this : — In proportion as the pupil advances in the knowledge of true literature and science, in the same proportion does he find the citadel of Hinduism crumbling around him in all directions. On the contrary, the farther he advances in the knowledge of true literature and science, the more thoroughly does he find the evidences, the facts, the doctrines of Chris- tianity confirmed, illustrated, and vindicated. There is thus made to rush through the eye of the understanding, 'a vivid and almost sensible perception of the falsehood of Hinduism, and the truth of Christianity.

At length, the most decided symptoms of at least mental renovation begin to appear. The disenthralled spirit seems to labour for words to expresf^j the feeling of joy at the thought of deliverance from the prison-house of ages, — the sensation of astonishment at the low and abject condition of the surrounding multitude, — the earnest longing to assert the liberty of conscience, and the authority of reason.

Pantheism must be denounced, — and Idolatry, with all its concomitants of ceremonial form, and cruel rites, and abominable worship. The Infinite, Eternal Spirit, is no longer vaguely blended and confounded with the materialism of a created universe, — and no forms of nature or of art, ani- mate, or inanimate, will be invested with his incommunicable attributes. The spotless holiness of His character no longer be tarnished by the ascription of deeds which would indicate the consummation of all possible depravity, — nor will His infinite wisdom and goodness be insulted by forms of worship, which would prove that the souls of rational and accountable beings had become shrivelled into some new species of spiritual existence, whose distinguishing characteristic was the annihilation of all conscience and in- telligence.

The last refuges of Polytheism no longer afford any shelter. They are the beacons of the soul’s continued

DESTRUCTION OF SUPERSTITION.

615

degradation, and must be destroyed. Enlightened reason will not tolerate such evasions and defences as these — that images are worshipped as gods, merely because of the diffi- culty of fixing the mind on the Supreme Being — that the image is only animated by a god at certain seasons, and after the performance of a peculiar ceremony of Divine ap- pointment— that as, to the palace of an earthly monarch, there are various ways of access, and the presence-chamber of majesty is to be entered solely through the instrumenta- lity of ministers, so, in like manner, may different modes of worship lead to the heavenly mansion, the peculiar abode of deity ; and the gods may be worshipped simply with the view of enabling men to approach the Supreme Brahm — that as one must know the alphabet previous to his entering on the study of a language, so must rites and ceremonies be observed till the mind has become pure, and capable of practising the spiritual mode of worship which is agreeable to Divine wisdom — that the knowledge and worship of Brahm, and the meditation on gods possessed with shape, being, both of them occupations of the mind, they must, as such, be alike conducive to the obtaining of salvation — that it is enough if the god selected for worship be regarded as the author of the world ; and even if not regarded as such, it is still enough if he be worshipped in faith — that all the gods are in reality but one being, which only appeared in different shapes — that what is written concerning the birth, death, lusts, anger, rage, envy, strife, factions, and fascina- tions of the gods, is mere illusion — and finally, that whatever objections may be raised against the worship of images, with all its accompanying rites, it is impossible to believe, and impious to assert, that practices which are expressly required by the Shastras, and have been handed down by tradition from sages and gods, can be charged with error, or betray the soul into sin !

The destruction of Superstition, so far as it owes its existence and its power to ignorance, is found to be coeval with that of idolatry. Beings awakened to sober reflection will not readily believe that men, — whose knowledge does

61G

ABOLITION OF CASTE.

not appear to reach to minor passing events ; whose power is not seen to extend to themselves or their relations ; and whose character, though reputed to be that of a saint, is more than doubtful, — can, at the mere bidding of the will, unfold the past, reveal the future; and, by charms and in- cantations, enrich the poor, exalt the feeble, restore the sick, raise the dead, and arrest the course of the heavenly bodies. The mind will not, as formerly, be often haunted with the fear of imaginary beings, or filled with harrowing ideal phantoms. The dread of treading on a charm which may communicate disease, or cause misfortune, will not agitate a man in crossing the street, neither w'ill the evil sight of another be enough to insinuate poison into the most wholesome food. The fall of a feather, a sneeze, the sound of a reptile, will not be believed to render an under- taking unsuccessful ; and the waiting for the arrival of a lucky day or hour, or the disappearance of an unlucky con- stellation, will not be allowed to interrupt business, and encourage indolent or vicious habits.

Simultaneous w'ith the destruction of idolatry and super- stition, will be the abolition of Caste. When the reign of the gods is at an end, the divine origin of caste is no longer held as a sacred verity ; and disbelief in its divinity must break the sinew of its strength. In the order of events, it neither precedes nor follows the overtlu’ow of idolatry by any measurable interval : — both fall together. When we hear the assertion made and reiterated, that we must anni- hilate caste ere we can expect to sap the foundations of idolatry, we suspect that it is dictated by the same wisdom which would direct us carefully to separate the cement from the walls of a building about to be levelled with the ground. Idolatry and superstition are like the stones and brick of a huge fabric, and caste is the cement which pervades and closely binds the whole. Let us, then, undennine the com- mon foundation, and both tumble at once, and form a common ruin. In India, one class of the community is supremely interested in the stability of idolatry and its endless rites ; because from these arise their divine honours.

ABOLITION OF CASTE.

617

their paramount influence, their unfailing aggrandizement. Now, an abject ignorance is the vital soul of idolatry ; which, in its turn, by constantly occupying the thoughts, and moulding the actions of men, renders ignorance an evil unfelt. To secure the continuance of this ignorance — for ignorance can never oppose its own continuance — in a regular, fixed, and systematic form, society was divided and subdivided into numberless classes or castes ; to be con- fined impassably to one defined profession, and excluded as impassably from all knowledge, beyond that which costly gifts might occasionally extort from the Brahmans, “ the mouths of the gods.” It is thus that the institution of caste extends to all the parts of a living idolatry ; fixes each in an unchangeable position ; and cements the whole into one close and compact body. And it is from unacquaintance with the nature of this fact alone, that any one could expect the separate destruction of parts so mutually binding, so closely interwoven, that wisdom proclaims, “ They must be destroyed together, or not at all.” But destroyed together, in many cases, they have already been . The same cause inevitably proves the ruin of both. The same light of sound knowledge, which exposes the utter folly and ix’rationality of idolatry and superstition, does at one and the same time expose the partiality, the cruelty, and the injustice of that artificial system which is framed to uphold them ; and at one and the same time drag from their long concealment the arrogance, the ignorance, the mercenary motives, and oppressive measures of the men whose honour and glory de- pend on the vigorous maintenance of the present wetched state of things. In other words, the cruel, anti-social, tyrannical dominion of caste, is made to be known, abhorred, and trampled under foot — with an indignation which is not lessened by the reflection, that over ages and generations without number it hath already swayed undisturbed the sceptre of a ruthless despotism, which ground men down to the condition of irrationals ; and strove to keep them there, vidththe rigour of a merciless necessity.

With the overthrow of idolatry, and superstition, and

Q q

618

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS UNDERGO A CHANGE.

caste, it is clear that the greatest part of the manners, cus- toms, and habits of those most enlightened must undergo a total revolution. When the number of the enlightened shall be greatly multiplied, society must, in fact, be resolved into its original elements. It is not in India as in those countries where religion and its rites are carefully distinguished from forms of business, and from the practices and habits of ordi- nary life. There the whole are blended in one undistinguished mass. Scarcely an action of life can be named which is not amalgamated with some religious ingredient. There is no exemption for the most frivolous. Every thing connected with the forms of buildings, utensils, dress, ornaments, meals, ablutions, &c., is associated with some impression, or mo- tive, or observance of a religious nature. Hence, the un- changeableness of Hindu customs. Being founded on the basis, or accompanied with the sanctioned rites of religion, they necessarily partake of its divine and inviolable autho- rity. But once let the foundation be undermined, and the whole fabric must crumble into fragments. When the charm of immemorial usage and ancestorial tradition is dissolved, and supplanted by the light of knowledge, then must expire all the noxious practices which flow therefrom. Accord- ingly shame and confusion are ever found to seize the hearts of all who receive an enlightened education, because of the iniquitous practice by which the female half of the teeming myriads of India, — instead of enjoying the light of day, breathing the free air of heaven, softening the asperities of life, awakening the varied tendernesses of nature, and difius- ing an unperceived but mellow influence throughout society, — have been cruelly immured, sunk, degraded, brutalized — fitter companions for the brutes that perish, than helpmates of him who was formed in God’s image. When the chains of caste are broken, then are abandoned all the peculiar pi’actices which result therefrom ; — such, for example, as the common practice of collecting dust from the feet of a Brah- man, and applying it as a specific for all maladies. When the present mythology is pronounced a monstrous and ex- travagant fable, then must terminate the peculiar practices

KNOWLEDGE DAILY INCREASING.

619

that flow therefrom ; — such, for example, as the practice at certain seasons, of covering the body with a portion of earth conveyed from spots said to be consecrated by the actions and battles of the gods. When local deities cease to be acknowledged, then do cease the peculiar practices which proceed therefrom ; — such, for example, as the practice of pilgrimage to holy shrines, by which multitudes annually suffer pain and weariness, or famish by the way, or lie un- buried on a distant shore. When the Ganges is no longer esteemed as a goddess, then must be abolished the practices of resorting to perform ablution in its muddy waters ; and of violating the tenderest sympathies of natui’e, by hurry- ing the helpless sick and aged to perish prematurely on its sacred banks. But why enlarge or particularize? The great law of the moral and physical world is, that a change in the cause must introduce a corresponding change in the effect. Hence it happens that, with the dowmfall of idolatry, superstition, and caste, all the countless habits, manners, customs, and practices of the educated Hindus become entirely changed or greatly modified.

Then does mental freedom become the parent of a restless inquisitiveness ; and this, again, insures an onward acces- sion of augmenting knowledge. Nor is the knowledge con- fined wholly to theory. The records of authentic history supply the reforming sons of the East with lessons and examples, to warn and instruct. Comparisons begin to be instituted between the political, civil, and religious insti- tutions of different countries ; with the view of ultimately remodelling their own. Plans begin to be contemplated for extending encouragement to the elegant arts ; — and where can the naturalist find a more splendid field for his curious and useful researches ; or the economist for applying his les- sons of practical wisdom ? The sciences begin to be admired and cultivated for their beauty and utility, — for the admir- able revelation they afford of the Creator’s workmanship, — and for the powers they enable man to wield over the ele- ments. Eesolutions begin to be formed towards applying the principles of science to the purposes of life, — to improve-

620

CONVERSION OF SOULS AIMED AT.

ments in the mechanical arts which contribute to the various necessities, and conveniences, and comforts of social well- being ; — to plans for facilitating the intercourse between the provinces, and calling forth the inexhaustible resources of that highly favoured land. Who that knows aught of the present state of the people of India, can deny that these are gigantic changes which have already begun to be manifested in the minds of individuals ? What real philanthropist will not glory in adding new strength to any pow'er which can accomplish them ? And if one of the most effective powers be that of an enlightened Christian education, — as expe- rience amply proves it to be, — may not he blush to style himself the friend of man who would breathe a whisper of opposition to its happy influence ?

Still, it will be said by the pious Christian that all this is not enough. So say we. However cheering and momen- tous be the mental revolution now glanced at, it falls vastly short of the aspirations and designs of Christian philan- thropy. These aim at something more than intellectual im- provement and external reformation. These aim supremely at the conversion of lost souls to God. This is the grand end towards which all our labours must ever be directed. To its fartherance and accomplishment all our educational plans and expedients must ever be rendered subservient. By the vigorous prosecution of the means now described, it is in our power, in humble dependence on God’s ordinary providence, to root out the monstrous errors of Hinduism, and to substitute for them true literature and true science. Yea more ; — it is in our power to build up the knowledge of Christian evidence and doctrine in the minds of hundreds, so that these become firmly persuaded of the truth of both ; — in a word, become intellectually Christianized. Beyond this, the use of ordinary means will not carry us. But beyond this there must be a progress, else our prayers must remain unanswered, our primary design unrealized. We w'ant to behold not merely intellectual Christians, but heart- Christians ; — not merely individuals intelligently convinced of the general truth of Christianity, but vitally aw^akened

MEANS OF CONYEBSION USED.

621

to discern and experience its special suitableness and adap- tation to their omti case, as guilty and polluted transgressors of Grod’s holy law.

Now, all the necessary knowledge we can, and are bound, by every lawful means, to communicate to the intellect. But we cannot render it efficaciously operative in impressing and renewing the heart. No ; as soon might we strive to roll back the great rivers to their springheads in the lofty mountains ; or force the tides of ocean to retire within the caverns of earth ; or command the sun to retrace his course in the firmament of heaven ! Savingly to change one heart is wholly beyond the power of all human, of all created capacity. To whom, then, does the supernatural power belong ? The volume of inspiration, the testimony of God’s chosen people in every age, with one concurrent voice pro- claim, that such a power is the exclusive possession^ and its exercise the sole, the unalienable prerogative of the Almighty Spirit of all grace. What, then, have we to do ? Have we no duty to discharge, as instruments, connected with the con- version of lost sinners ? No duty ! — We have an all-important duty to perform. It is, in the first place, our part, by every legitimate measure, to bring the knowledge of salvation into immediate juxtaposition with the understandings and the hearts of men. It is, in the second place, our part, and our privilege to wrestle in prayer, that the Holy Spirit may exert his gracious influence in opening the understanding, softening the heart, and rendering the knowledge of the truth savingly influential. It is our part to make known the glad tidings, that for sinners of the race of Adam a Saviour hath been provided, a Surety found, the blood of the Everlasting Covenant shed, — that the sins of the most flagitious offenders may be pardoned, though these should be numberless as the sand on the sea-shore, and in magni- tude exceed the great mountains ; though the cry of them should reach unto heaven, and the guilt of them point dovm- wards to the blackness of darkness, which fills with horror the prison-house of condemned spirits. It is our duty and our privilege to look to the influence of Omnipotent grace

622

ACTUAL CONVERSIONS IN INDIA.

as that which alone can secure for the joyous message a believing reception. If, then, in our Educational Institution we have succeeded, through the Divine support, in impart- ing to hundreds the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified ; — if we have waited upon our God in an attitude of devout, persevering, importunate prayerfulness for His eflFicacious blessing ; — what more could we, as humble and unworthy instruments, attempt to achieve ? Nought of which we can be aware. If we have diligently endeavoured to discharge our part, — though in weakness, and with much fear and trembling, — what could we do but leave the result with God ? If we have planted and watered, what could we do but look to God for the increase ? Suppose, then, we had not been favoured with a single case of real conversion, we should still be satisfied that, in communicating the knowledge of salvation, we were walking in the prescribed path of duty ; — satisfied that we were under an imperative obligation to persevere unswervingly in the same path ; fortified by the full assurance of hope, that the Lord, in His own good season, would cause the seed sown in a well cultivated soil to fruc- tify, bud and blossom, and bear fruits for immortality.

But, blessed be God, we have not been left to a mere assurance of hope^ however strong and however well found- ed. In the unsearchable riches of His grace He hath been pleased to refresh His weary heritage with the transporting spectacle of souls converted to the Saviour. ^Ve have not as yet to report of great multitudes pricked to the heart and crjdng out “ What must we do to be saved ?” — but we have to report of conversions superexcellent in quality. In imme- diate connection with the instructions conveyed in our Insti- tution, individuals have been led openly to renounce their idols, openly to embrace the Lord Jesus as their God and Saviour, under circumstances the most appalling to mere flesh and blood. It has often been alleged, that there never has been a sincere conversion among the heathens of India ! — No sincere conversion ! — How can sincerity be most effectu- ally proved to exist ? How, except by the number and extent of the sacrifices to which individuals will submit in defence

SINCERITY OP CONVERTS TESTED. ()23

of their profession ? It is by such a test that the sincerity of apostles and mart}TS in every age has been most tri- umphantly vindicated. Now we assert, that in the Calcutta Institution there have been conversions that will abide the application of such a test, in its most unmeasured severity. Individuals have been led to cleave to Jesus in spite of per- secution. They have been confined, chained, and cruelly beaten ; they have been driven to relinquish father and mother, and all endearments of home ; they have been con- strained to submit to the loss of substance and hereditary possession ; they have gladly submitted to the alternative of being prepared to undergo a slow death by poison, rather than abandon the cause and cross of Christ. “ Father,” exclaimed one of these youthful heroes when threatened to be put to death secretly without witnesses, “ Father, I am as determined as you are ; you may kill my body, but you cannot kill my soul ; and this I tell you, that if ever I am at liberty, nothing will prevent me from being baptized?” Who can lay any thing to the charge of such converts ! If there was not sincerity here, we despair of any criterion whereby it can be tested. Suppose the thousands in a Christian land who declaim about the mercinariness of Hindu converts were subjected to a similar test, how would they abide the trial ? Ah, if the thousands, and tens of thousands who make a goodly profession, who have been baptized into the name of Jesus, who frequent his ordi- nances, who partake of the emblems of his broken body and shed blood, were made to pass throngh so fiery a ci’ucible, — threatened with bonds and imprisonment, with loss of tem- poral possessions and cruel death, — how few would pass unscathed through the flames of so terrible a persecution ! Alas, alas, how huge the proportion of vile dross, of which the aggregate would be found to consist ! — and how small the portion of fine gold ! — Overcome by the most resistless evidence, we must then believe that the cases now alluded to have been cases of real indnbitable conversion. The individuals have already received an excellent education ; and some of them ai’e at this moment still farther prosecut-

62i

BEARINGS OF EDUCATION ON CONVERSION.

ing their studies with the view of being eventually ordained as preachers of the everlasting Gospel to their benighted countrymen ! — When once such an event, which forms the very consummation of the educational department of the system, shall be realized, the native preachers will be settled along with native teachers in favourable localities. There, will both teachers and preachers labour in commu- nicating the Gospel to old and young, — by every variety of mode and method which past experience may suggest, or the peculiarities of the case may demand. By the reiter- ated and simultaneous instillation of Gospel principles into the minds both of the juvenile and adult population within manageable, because circumscribed localities, the founda- tions of idolatry will be gradually sapped and undermined. The leaven of Divine trutli will be insensibly working into the very heart of the corrupt mass ; inducing a progres- sive fermentation ; and preparing for that revolution in the popular mind, which usually heralds the most decisive tri- umphs of the Cross.

From all that has been stated, the general bearings of the educational department, on the ultimate evangelization of India, must be evident, without any recapitulation. In a thousand indirect ways, it is effectually introducing and widely disseminating the elements of dissolution, the seeds of change, the principles of renovation, into the ancient system of Hinduism — all, all preparatory to the establish- ment of the universal dominion of the Christian faith. In a thousand direct ways, it is leading to the conversion of lost sinners ; and especially to the qualifying of a body of native agents who, as teachers and preachers of the Word of Life, are destined to go forth in the name and strength of the Lord, sowing the indestructible seed, which, watered by the dew' of heavenly grace, shall one day be reaped in a harvest of redeemed souls — redeemed through the blood of Imma- nuel from the bondage of sin, the dishonours of the grave, and the horrors of perdition.

Let us then persevere as we have begun. Let us be instant in season and out of season, in making know n the Saviour’s

HINDUISM ALLEGED TO BE UNCHANGEABLE.

625

name. Let us strive, directly and indirectly, in winning souls to Christ. Let us pray without ceasing for a more copious effusion of the Spirit’s influences on the labourers and their labours. Let us entreat the Lord especially in behalf of the hundreds who are mentally emancipated from the yoke of ages, who are intellectually persuaded of the truth as it is in Jesus, and who are thus not far from the kingdom of heaven, — that the Holy Spirit may touch their hearts as with a live coal from the altar, converting their knowledge into wisdom, and their gifts into graces. Abjur- ing the more than presumptuous dogma, that there is any inherent renewing efficacy in mere human means apart from the Divine blessing, let us also abjure the worse than fanatical dogma, that there is reason to expect the Divine blessing apart from the use of appointed means. Let our most strenuous labours be ever accompanied with not less strenuous and persevering prayer : let our most fervent prayers be ever followed by hearty practices ; and we have the promise of the Eternal, that sooner or later we shall reap the most glorious reward.

Again and again has it been alleged that the system of Hinduism is unchanged and unchangeable. Such an allega- tion, it might be demonstrated, is directly contrary to the designs and purposes of the Eternal, as revealed in God’s holy oracles. If, apart from this momentous consideration, a fallacy so pertinaciously reiterated could be demolished by argument and fact, the intelligible processes that have been for years conducted, and the visible fruits that have already been realized in the Calcutta and other Educational Institutions, are more than sufficient to inflict its death- blow. The Brahmans, as already remarked elsewhere, the great pillars of the system, may indeed boast that it is to last for ever ; and they may find a few scantling admirers among the professed disciples of a better faith. They may continue to regard themselves as the living representatives in human form, of sages, and demi-gods, and full-grown divinities, that encircle with golden radiance the summits of Sumeru. They may stalk proudly forth in front of their

626

BOASTING OF THE BRAHMANS.

legions ; and laugh to scorn the pretensions of a revelation which is but as of yesterday, compared with the mighty roll of ages that has wafted down their own hoary chronicles ; and eye with derision the magnificent triumphs of our mo- dern philosophy. The rise and progress of the former they may compare to the sudden growth of some russet-weed, that springs up in a day, and may be trodden under foot, or crushed beneath the wheels of every passing vehicle, — and the whole vast mass of European literature and science may seem to them but as a drop, a single drop, surreptitiously abstracted from the boundless ocean of Shastra erudition. The present they may view solely in the mirror of the past ; and in it regard nought as valuable that has not the stamp of an immeasurable antiquity. In men who are themselves the chosen high priests of those ancient mysteries, which it were profanation for the multitude to attempt to compre- hend, and a still greater profanation not to believe and venerate ; nothing may awaken a holier indignation than to presume to question their own infallibility as the dispensers of a treasure so divine ; while the sacrilegious attempt to intrude upon the long and undisturbed reign of ignorance, superstition, and “ philosophy falsely so called,” may be more than enough to excite their pious horror, and call forth their direst anathemas. With infinite satisfaction they mount on the wings of tradition, and reach some of those fantastic regions of the past which exclude from the view things pre- sent, and even things terrestrial ; and there, enlightened by another sun, encompassed by another atmosphere, surrounded by other fields, and associated with beings of different order, they may enjoy, in reference to earth, a kind of oblivious absorption. There they may repose on the downy pillows of self-complacency, and swell with self-elation at every thought of their heaven-born origin and godlike privileges. There they may loll and muse on those tales of wonder that scorn the application of reason, and set at defiance the extravagance of romance ; or they may sleep and dream of those feats of unearthly valour which are said to have been witnessed from the snowy heights of Himalaya, and to have

DESTRUCTION OF HINDUISM CERTAIN.

627

encircled with the halo of immortality, many a plain, and many a river, long ere. in our estimation, this globe had taken its station, by the fiat of the Almighty, among the orbs that float through the regions of immensity ! And it may be, that we might as well attempt, by the artillery of reason, and argument, and observation, and fact, to remove them from their aerial citadel, as expect that the planets could be wrenched from their orbits by the artillery of the clouds. What then ? Must we conclude that their repose is to last for ever ? No, no. The whole strain of Scripture prophecy forbids it. The entire mass of historic experience forbids it. Three centuries ago, did not a stupendous sys- tem of false religion and false philosophy ^ colossus-like, be- stride and crush the universal mind of Europe \ At length, when the time appointed came, did not the commissioned herald arise ? Sounding the trump of true religion, did he not shake the entire fabric to its basis, throughout every province and kingdom of Christendom? Then, following closely in his rear, did not another chosen herald arise ? — and, sounding the trump of true philosophy, did he not dash the surviving fragments into the pool of oblivion ? C Shall not we be encouraged by examples so illustrious, and tri- umphs so complete, to go forth now, among the vast fabrics of false religion, and false philosophy in the East ? and if, in the name and strength of our God, we sound, not in succession, but simultaneously, the double trump of true religion, and true philosophy, can we doubt of a victorious issue ? Impossible I^Vhen those hitherto unsealed tow'ers, which have furnished the sons of Brahma with a refuge and a hiding-place, shall have been shaken and undermined by the very instruments which they now profess to regard with disdainful scorn, they may, rather they must, be awakened by the crash of descending ruins !

AYith a form of prayer composed by the celebrated Lord Bacon, we may now appropriately conclude the whole of the present subject : — “ To God the Father, God the Word, God the Spirit, we pour most humble and hearty supplica- tions ; that He, remembering the calamities of mankind, and

CONCLUDING PRAYER.

G2S

the pilgrimage of this our life, in which we wear out days few and evil, would please to open unto us new refreshments out of the fountains of His goodness, for the alleviation of our miseries. This also we humbly and earnestly beg, that human tilings may not prejudice such as are Divine ; neither that, from the unlocking of the gates of sense, and the kindling of a greater natural light, any thing of incredulity or intellectual night may arise in our minds towards Divine mysteries. But rather that, — ^by our mind thoroughly cleansed and purged from fancy and vanities, and yet subject, and perfectly given up to the Divine Oracles, — there may be given up unto faith the tilings which are faith’s. — Amen.”

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APPENDIX.

BRIEF SKETCH of the circumstances ■which led to the deli'very of the Jirst Series of Lectures on the Evidences and Doctrines of Xatural and Revealed Rehgion ever addressed to an Audience of Educated Hindus in Eastern India, — with notices of some of the residts, as mo* especially manifested in the ultimate conversion of a few to the faith of Jesus.

It is not in the physical constitution of nature alone that a chaos has pre- ceded a paradise. In the moral -world the same order has been ohservmd. The reason of the order or law we may be imahle to unfold ; it may yet be hidden in the recesses of the uncreated mind. But of the constancy of the law — p^eser^•ing, amid the widest dissimilarity of objects, an iden- tity of principle, — it were ignorance to doubt. It is early as the date of creation, and extensive as its limits.

Moral as well as physical elements may, for years or ages, lie dormant or misshapen, — unimpregnated with life or motion, or any of the incipient principles of change. But let them once be aroused from torpid slumber, and quickened by some vi-vifying power, — let them once be brought into close or hostile collision, — and in the conflict the pure ai-e ever found to assimilate, and ascend with buoyant energy above the gross : light emerges from the darkness ; deadness is awakened into vitality ; out of e-vil is produced good ; out of deformity, beauty ; out of confusion, harmony.

Mere repose can never afford any certain indication of life or health. It may be the repose of perfect stagnation — the lifeless surface of tlie re- ceptacle of all that is impure, deformed, and putrescent. Such we believe to have been the fatal repose, or foul stagnation of mind, among the natives of India for many centuries, or — if they rather rvish, through infatuated credulity, to persevere in consummating the disgrace of glorying in their own shame — for ages so vast in number, as to appeal* to the beings of a day to be lost in the dark abyss of eternity. To imbue, then, this impass- able mass ■with any of the pi'inciples of Hfe, — to impress it with any of the tendencies of motion, — to bring its sluggish elements into any kind of collision -with each other, or with purer elements ; — this, this is the task of Herculean magnitude.

On this account it was that we rejoiced, in June 1830, when, in the metropolis of British India, we fairly came in contact with a rising body

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of natives, who had learnt to think and to discuss all subjects with un- shackled freedom — though that freedom was ever apt to degenerate into license in attempting to demolish the claims and pretensions of the Christian, as well as every other professedly retealed faith. We bailed the circumstance, as indicating the approach of a period for which we had waited, and longed, and prayed. We hailed it as heralding the dawn of an auspicious era, — an era that introduced something setr into the hitherto undisturbed reign of a hoary and tyrannous antiquity, — an era that could not be too highly prized, as it promised to realize in the bud the instinc- tive longings, and ardent hopes of the past, and expand into the future its opening blossoms and its ripening fruits.

To many it might appear like blindly dissolving the connection between cause and effect, to found our encouragement on frowns and mustering opposition. But really, any thing is better than that inaction — that Ufeless- ness — that unimpressible apathy of soul which presents an aspect as cheer- less and hopeless, as a mass of rude, uninformed matter. Life is better than death, though it first appear only in the ragings of the prince of <^rk- ness. Activity is better than total inertness, though at jfrrt exhibited only in the convulsive heavings of the spirit of error. Enough that a portion of life and motion has been communicated ! Enough that the enemy has at length been shaken out of his impregnable security — that he is uiged to sound the trumpet of alarm — that he is compelled to rally his scattered and long slumbering forces — and that he finds himself necessitated to prepare for the toU, and the fierceness, and the hazard of a mighty contest !

About the time already referred to, the Government Anglo-Indian Col- lege of Calcutta had begun to put forth some of its ripest fruits. That Institution, as has already been repeatedly remarked, is the very beau-ideal of a system of education tcithout rdi^ion. It communicates largely European literature and science ; but, as far as its regulations extend, neither within nor without its walls wiU it tolerate the impartation of rdlfuau truth. Now, the citadel of Hinduism being, from the base to its highest pinnacle, a citadel of error, it can never resist a vigorous onset of true knowledge, however secular. Accordingly, their ancestorial faith was completely subverted in the minds of the more advanced alumni of the Government College, but nothing better was attempted or allowed to be substituted in - its room. JIany had become, or were rapidly becoming, sceptics ; and others direct atheists.

In this state of things, the question was seriously agitated by the friends of religion and social order. What can be done towards checking this growing licentiousness of opinion, and giving a wholesome direction to the newly awakened mind ? Happily, the greater part made it their profession and their boast, that they were free inquirers after truth. The sincerity of this profession was speedily put to the test. Addressing them separately and collectively, the simple downright appeal was pressed home

APPENDIX.

on their understandings and their heaid ; — “ Hinduism you now know suf- ficiently, to despise it ; but do you really kimc Christianity 1 If not, is it fair, honest, or reasonable, to condemn it as a noxious superstition, unknown and unheard ? XVe believe it to be not only true, but thtjth itself ; and we profess to be able to give a reason for the belief that is in us. Are ye not then bormd in consistency, as avowed inquirers after truth, to give at least a candid hearing to its claims, before ye finally reject it ?”

These and similar appeals were not made and reiterated in vain ; though many were the difficulties that had to be surmounted before verbal admis- sions were turned into practices. And not the least of these lay in the extreme aversion which was felt to seem even to receive any instruction from missionaries, — whom it was the fasliion to regard either as ignorant fanatics, or designing impostors, — the Arch-Brahmans of Christianity, which, from its extensive sway both in the Old World and New, only appeared as the most gigantic of the superstitions of the earth ! At length, however, all obstacles were removed ; and a goodly number agreed to attend — some to save their credit for consistency — others out of sheer curiosity ; — some, as they afterwards confessed, to display their own supe- rior learning and talent, and befool the missionaries ; and others, from a really conscientious desire to investigate the claims of the Christian faith. Hence first originated the idea of instituting a systematic course of Theological Lectures in the Engbsh language, designed expressly for the Educated Natives.

The subjects to be embraced were : — 1st, The External and Internal Effidences of Natural and Revealed Religion. 2d, The proofs, derived from profane history, of the fulfilment of Sciipture prophecy, as a source of evidence, which, it was supposed, the attainments and preffious studies of the young men would prepare them to appreciate. 3d, The facts re- corded in the four Gospels, as exhibiting the moral character of the Founder of Christianity, and the genius and temper of His religion ; and, 4tMy, The doctrines of Revelation.

In attempting to carry on this first design, several indiffiduals happily co-operated. The delivery of Lectures on the first part of the proposed course was devolved upon me. The justly lamented Mr Adam, of the London Missionaiy Society, undertook the second. Mr HUl, of the same Society, and now of Oxford, the third. And Mr Dealtry, now Archdeacon of Calcutta, the fourth. Jly house being conveniently sitnated in the square of the Hindu College, it was agi'eed that there our public meetings should be held. The lower part of it was accordingly fitted up as a lec- ture room. After repeated conferences, all the practical aiTangements were finally concluded. The lecturer was to be permitted to finish his lecture without interruption. Thereafter, one or aU of the auditors in succession were to be allowed the most unrestricted liberty to start all manner of objections, and freely interrogate the lecturer as to any of the points discussed by him.

By mutual understanding, it was resolved that the First Lecture should be of a general description, and introductory to the whole course. As the

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force even of truth itself depends much upon the moral state of the heart, it was to be chiefly devoted to a statement of the moral qualifications necessary for investigating truth, — with a special view, as far as possible, to purge the mind of those prejudices which so powerfully obstruct its advancement in true knowledge. The preparation of this Introductory Lecture was undertaken by Mr Hill. And early in the month of Aug^t 1830, at the time and place appointed, the Lecture — a truly appropriate and eloquent one — was delivered to a highly respectable and attentive auditory of young native gentlemen.

Instantly the report spread through the native community, with the rapidity and violence of the beacon blaze of feudalism. The whole town was literally in an uproar. Like a gairison taken by surprise, and sud- denly awakened out of a long and profound sleep, every one sprang to arms, — resolved to defend himself from this unexpected attack of an in- veterate foe. It is impossible to conceive or describe the wide and simul- taneous sensation produced. Ignorance of the real nature of our object — and particularly of the mode of prosecuting it — varied, distorted, and ex- aggerated every rumour. The prevalent idea seemed to be, that by fair means or foul — by bribery or magical influence — by denunciation or cor- poreal restraint — we were determined to force the young men to become Christians. Moreover, it was insidiously alleged, by many who knew better, that this was only the commencement of a general system of coercive measures towards the conversion of the mass of the people. And^in this supposed aggressive movement of ^•iolence, the Government itself was, by a perverse ingenuity, dragged in for a full share of the blame. Meetings without number continued for several days to be held, and various measures of self-defence were discussed or resolved upon. At last, some of the more bigoted of the parents went and lodged their complaints with the body of College managers, composed partly of natives of rank, and partly of Euro- peans— one of whom must always be a functionary high in the service of Government. The line of duty which that body ought to have pursued on the occasion was perfectly clear. They ought distinctly to have declared, that their part of the compact was to allow neither Christianity, nor any other religion, to be taught or discussed within the college, — that to this engfagement they had most rigidly adhered, — that their authority did not extend beyond the walls of the Institution, — that they had neither the right nor the power to interfere with the manner in which the students might dispose of their leisure hours, and that all such pritate oversight must whoUy devolve on the parents and guardians themselves. Nay more, as they had the most unbounded confidence of the native community, they might, had they so willed it, by seasonable and satisfactory explana- tions, have completely dissipated the cloud of misapprehensions under the darkening and confounding shades of which that community was be- trayed into the most groimdless extravagances of thought, word, and deed. But instead of acting in this way, the managers assembled in breathless haste ; concocted and issued, with all their signatures appended, a decree expressive of their “ strong disapprobation ” of the past conduct

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of the young men ; and peremptorily prohibiting their attendance, in future, on any society or meeting for religious discussion, under the pain of incurring their “ serious displeasure.” Immediately on the issuing of this intolerant order, we had no alternative but publicly to announce the necessity imder wliich we were laid of discontinuing, at least for a time, the delivery of the intended Course of Lectures. The Government Gazette exposed the absurdity of supposing that any of the public authorities had any share at all in the matter. To prevent, however, the possibility of misconception, some of us deemed it to be our duty to solicit a private audience of the Governor-General, in order to explain at large the real circumstances of the case ; — though, as his Lordship assured us, he felt quite satisfied of our integrity of motive and propriety of conduct, without any such explanation. In the periodicals and public journals of the Pre- sidency, various statements were inserted, expository of our views, and amply vindicatory of our object.

So far as the European community were concerned, when once the simple facts were divulged, there was but one imanimous opinion on the subject. All the English Jomnals, without any exception, united in our defence, and in the strongest and most indignant condemnation of the conduct of the College managers. Their interference was denounced as “ presumptuous, because, as managers, they had no right whatever to dic- tate to the students of the Institution, how they should dispose of their time out of college ; ” — as “ tyrannical, because, although they had not the right, they had the power, if they would dare the consequences, to inflict their serious displeasure on the disobedient ; ” — as “ absurd and ridiculous, because, if the students knew their rights, and had the spirit to claim them, the managers would not venture to enforce their own order, and it would fall to the groimd, an abortion of intolerance.” In a somewhat similar strain of indignant remark was the conduct of the managers commented on by the editors of all the English Journals.

Indeed, it was impossible, on any principle of reason, or any genuine maxim of prudence, to justify their intolerant decree. Could it be said, in the frst place, to be distinguished by the quality of wisdom ? From the manifold modes in which wisdom may manifest itself, we select one that is very familiar, viz., the adaptation which subsists between means and ends. Wherever means are so skiLfolly contrived as invariably to produce the desired efltect, there do we discem an outward manifestation of wisdom — one of the brightest attributes of a designing inteUigeuce. Now, as the inten- tion of the managers was to accomplish a certain end by the application of certain means, — the end being, the suppression of one or every species of religious inquiry, and the means, an absolute or peremptory decree, — we might pointedly ask. Was there a congmity between the means employed and the end intended to be accomplished ? Was there an acknowledged connection between external violence, and a forcible restraining of the freedom of mental inquiry ? When the faculties of the soul were awakened and powerfully moved in a specific direction, was there in outward force an adaptation peculiarly suited, and a charm sufiiciently potent, suddenly

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to an-est its gi’owing activities, or divert them into a different channel ? Tlie uniform testimony borne by the history of all ages proves the contrary. And the power of this testimony is such, that it will not be reckoned an indication of wisdom, to attempt, by violence, to crush the expanding energies of a mind really awakened to the investigation of all-important truth, till it shall be deemed the perfection of wisdom to apply mere brute force as the only effective means of quenclung a blazing conflagration.

Could it be said, in the second place, that the decree was distinguished by the quality of justice ? Without alluding to the many forms in wliich the abstract principle of justice may exhibit a special developement, we may simply refer to one that is universally known and acknowledged. “ It suits the character of a god,” said the Scythian ambassadors to Alexander, “ to bestow favours on mortals, — not to deprive them of what they have.” It also suits the character of man, when possessed of the means, to emulate the generosity of the former action : it both suits his character, and is always in his power, to recoil from the injustice of the latter. What is pecuharly one's own — what belongs inalienably, or by virtue of constitutional right, to a particular individual — it is just to let him possess ; it is palpably unjust to alienate. Apply this simple principle to the present question. An exact definition of religion is not necessary. We know, in general, that it is only another name for the relation which subsists between a soul and its !Maker — together with all the thoughts, feelings, and duties, involved in that high and holy relation. It is the intercourse of the soul with God. It is the expression for that whole as- semblage of reciprocal dealings between the spirit of man and the Eternal Spirit. Hence it is that the very existence of religion, as a separate intelligible reahty, depends absolutely on the indissoluble relationship between the creature and the Creator ; and necessarily excludes the idea of any intermediate claim — of any ulterior interference. The right of the Almighty to the free and entire homage of the heart, and an immediate reference to his will in all things, flows necessarily from his character as Supreme Lawgiver, Sovereign, Judge. The right of man to unshackled freedom, in following the dictates of conscience in the sight of God alone, enters as an essential ingredient into the nature of that moral constitution under which he is placed — is involved in the very condition of humanity — and ceases only when man ceases to be a creature. Hence the e^’il, the real injustice of the intention, or attempt to strip man of liberty of conscience on those subjects that supremely concern the soul, in the high and noble relation which it bears to the Omniscient Judge. It is an usurpation of the prerogative, an alienation of the unchangeable claims of Deity ; it is a deprivation of the inalienable right, an attempted de- struction of the solemn responsibility of man : it is an evil, therefore, an injustice, that vastly exceeds the limits and measures of finite calculation. The very intention to commit such an outrage is unjust ; the actual attempt is, if possible, still more unjust ; and an obstinate perseverance in the attempt must be the most unjust of all. Let us think seriously of all this, and then revolve in our mind the fact, that the managers of the

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Hindu College not only intended, but actually attempted ; not only 'at- tempted, but actually persevered in the attempt, violently to deprive the native youth of their birtliright — their most glorious possession — freedom of thought— liberty of conscience in what exclusively concerned them and their God ; — and we leave it to the lovers of justice to devise, if they can, any designation sufficiently expressive of the injustice of the attempt.

Could it be said, in the third place, that the decree was distinguished by the quality of goodness ? In this interminable theme, we fix upon one point for illustration. From some motive — the spu’it of philanthropy it may be — an enlightened education is confeiTed on the native youth, admirably adapted to destroy all faith in the false religion of their fathers. And then, in the spirit of this anomalous philanthropy, an imperious interdict is immediately laid on the attempt to substitute a purer and a better faith. Was this goodl Why, though the accountability of man were a shadow, and an eternal hereafter a dream,- — this could scarcely be called good. What, then, shall be said — when the one is found to be a substance, and the other a sober reality ? Is it not a serious and a solenm thing to know what that is which can insure God’s favour now, and the continuance of his favour for eveimore ? And how can this knowledge be acquired in circumstances such as those already described 2 In the world, there are many forms of religion, and each of these professes to disclose this prime of knowledge — the richest jewel in the empire of truth. Now, all of these forms may contain some truths, but all of them cannot be equally tine. How, then, is the true to be discovered by an ignorant, but thoughtful and inquiring mind ? Only by a careful examination and comparison of evidence and subject-matter. Otherwise, one may “ perish for lack of knowledge.” For millions, and millions more, in every coimtry and age, have already embraced and adhered to systems in themselves most corrupt, and in their eflFects most deadly : — Why ? Not, because they have seriously examined the evidences and contents of other religions, and have been con- viiiced, from the comparison, of the superiority of their own ; — but, because they have examined only one ; or rather, have knoT\m, or determined to know, only one ; and have embraced it without any examination. Was it good, then, on the part of a managing body, clad in “ a little brief autho- rity,” to crush all such inquiry, and examination, and comparison ? Was it good, forcibly to restrain beings endowed with immortal spirits, from discovering the true religion — the tine relation between the creature and the Creator — the true source of present and never-ending bliss ? And, by virtue of such forcible restraint, was it good to be guilty of that worse than homicidal act, which might involve the souls of so many in the hazard of present and eternal condemnation ! AVhere were the relentings of gener- osity—the tender meltings of a genuine benevolence ? Here, alas ! there were none.

After a brief period, the violent commotion subsided. But the agitation — igniting certain combustible elements that had long lain dormant, and

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summoiiing into exercise some of the strongest principles of our common nature — had given an impulse previously unknown to the sluggish, inert mass of mind. The inquiries and discussions had evoked a spirit, which, instead of being crushed, could only he stimulated by intolerance, — a spirit which, noisily eflFers'escing then, has been silently, but effectually, fermenting ever since.

There were firo practical ways in which this spirit continued pubhcly to manifest itself.

The/rst appeared in the almost instantaneous /onnation of a great number of debating societies. The young men were indeed forbidden to hold or attend any meetings, avowedly organized for the discussion of merely religious subjects. But this prohibition only aroused all their latent energies ; and they immediately resolved to form associations, at which, under the garb of literature and philosophy, they might give free utterance to all the sentiments of their hearts.

Up to the time of issuing the prohibitory enactment, there existed among the new race of Uluminati, only one society for literary investigations ; and it had been instituted chiefly by the influence, and perpetuated by the encouragement and presence, of a few European gentlemen, who took a warm interest in the enlightenment of the native mind. But after the pro- mulgation of that decree, the direct stimulus of European agency was not needed. A fount of thought, and feeling, and inquiry, had been opened, which must find vent for itself, even if it be through the cretices of the most rocky obstacles. “ The night of desolation and ignorance,” remarked a writer in one of the native newspapers, “ is beginning to change its black aspect ; and the sky, big with fate, is about to bring forth a storm of know- ledge, which will scatter and sweep those airy battlements away that so long imprisoned the tide of thought.” New societies started up with the utmost rapidity in every part of the native city. There was not an evening in the week, on which one, two, or more of these were not held ; and each individual was generally enrolled a member of several. Indeed, the spirit of discussion became a perfect mania ; and its manifestation, both in frequency and variety, was carried to a prodigious excess. But this was the/rst natural result of the explosion of that mine which had so recently been sprung.

At one or other of these societies I felt it to be at once a duty and a privilege constantly to attend ; because there I could pbtain a more thorough acquaintance with the genuine and undisguised sentiments of the educated natives, — as well as with their peculiar modes of thinking on all subjects, liter- ary and philosophical, political and religious, — than it was possible in any other way so speedily and effectually to have acquired. To a British-bom subject, the free use in debate of the English language by these olive-com- plexioned and bronze-coloured children of the East, on their own soil, and at the distance of thousands of miles from the British shores, presented something indescribahly novel and even affecting. Nor was the effect at all diminished, but rather greatly heightened, when, ever and anon, after the fashion of public speakers in our owm land, the sentiments delivered

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were fortified by oral quotations from English authors. If the subject was historical, Robertson and Gibbon were appealed to ; if political, Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham ; if scientific, Newton and Davj' ; if rehgious, Hume and Thomas Paine ; if metaphysical, Locke and Reid, Dugald Stewart and Brown. The whole was frequently interspersed and enlivened by passages cited from some of our most popular English poets, particularly Byron and Sir Walter Scott. And more than once were my ears greeted with the sound of Scotch rhymes from the poems of Robert Bums. It would not be possible to pourtray the effect produced on the mind of a Scotsman, when, on the banks of tbe Ganges, one of the sons of Brahma, — in reviewing the unnatural institution of caste in alienating man from man, and in looking forward to the period in which knowledge, by its transforming power, would make the lowest tjqse of man feel itself to be of the same species as the highest, — suddenly gave utterance, in an apparent ecstasy of delight, to these characteristic lines : —

“ For a’ that, and a’ that,

Its cornin’ yet, for a’ that,

That man to man, the world o’er.

Shall brothel’s be, for a’ that.”

How was the prayerful aspiration raised, that such a consummation might be realized in a higher and nobler sense than the poet or his Hindu admirer was privileged to conceive !

But the most striking feature in the whole was the freedom with which all the subjects were discussed.

The gi’and characteristic of the inhabitants of tropical climes generally, is their passive indolence of habit, bodily and mental. The natural and necessary effects of such a habit are very well described by Sismondi, in his short treatise on Prejudices, in the Edinburgh Encyclopsedia. This indolence, says he, “ or love of repose, timidity, and mental inactirity, — those voluntary diseases which weaken and paralyse the exercise of reason, without substituting any other faculty of the mind in its stead, — must necessarily produce an aversion to new ideas, to change, to reform ; to all, in short, that requires any great energy of mind, or that militates against the principles men had already formed ; and its empire is great, according to the inveteracy of their prejudices. And this dread of new experience, this repugnance to investigation, this unwillingness to the exercising of their faculties on subjects of speculation to which they have been unaccus- tomed, are increased and fortified by personal and national pride. There is not one point or department in the ancient system that they will consent to abandon, because in then’ estimation, every part being connected with the whole, is equally sacred ; which is indeed the case, when they are all equally founded on ignorance and prejudice. Such, undoubtedly, is one of the principal reasons of the unshaken stability of these constitutions in the East, which have enchained the faculties of the human mind, and put a complete stop to the progi’ess of improvement.”

Now, it was not possible to be present for half an hour in any one of

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the societies now refeiTed to, witliout being fully persuaded that of this mental disease the speakers had been thoroughly cured, — that, out of this passive indolence of habit, which resists and abhors all change, they had been thoroughly shaken. Indeed, the boldness and fearlessness with which they canvassed the established opinions and practices of their countrymen, and the daring hardihood with which they assaUed the sentiments of some of the greatest masters in the republic of letters, whether European or Asiatic, I seldom have seen equalled, and never surpassed, in that happy land, the very touch of whose soil is freedom. It was an exhibition which could not fail to impress with astonishment the mind of a stranger, who had been accustomed to regard a Hindu as the very personification of superstitious credulity, and bhnd unthinking sub- missiveness to the dictation of a domineering priesthood.

Now, what was the insti-umental cause of this mighty transformation ? It was none other than what is termed a “ liberal English education.” If it had not been for such an education, these free and rampant spirits, — instead of being able to denounce the most revered sentiments of their fathers as worse than antiquated prejudices, — would have been utterly paralysed by a noxious priestcraft, and prostrate before a block of wood or stone. The legitimate result of English instruction could be no matter for abstract theory there. It glared upon one’s very senses. The stoutest denier of it would soon be compelled to confess, that in the English lan- guage, with its true literature and science, we have an engine by which, if rightly wielded, the most towering superstitions and idolatries of the East might be levelled as effectually as the walled cities of the nations by the concussion of the Roman catapult.

Nevertheless, from the entire absence of instruction, it was very melancholy to observe the dreary wanderings of the educated natives on the subject of religion, — whose ways alone are pleasantness and peace. Their great authorities, as already noticed, were Hume’s Essays and Paine’s Age of Reason. With copies of the latter, in particular, they were abundantly supplied, — supplied from a land which has taught more than one valuable lesson to mankind, if mankind were only \^^se to leam. It was some wretched bookseller in the United States of America, who — basely taking advantage of the reported infidel leanings of a new race of men in the East, and apparently regarding no God but his silver dollars — despatched to Calcutta a cargo of that most malignant and pes- tiferous of all antichristian publications. From one ship a thousand copies were landed, and at first sold at the cheap rate of one rupee per ' copy ; but such was the demand, that the price soon rose, and after a few months, it was actually quintupled. Besides the separate copies of the Age of Reason, there was also a cheap American edition, in one thick vol. 8vo., of aU Paine’s works, including the Rights of Man, and other minor pieces, political and theological. Strange, the migrations and transmission of error as well as of truth ! How little can an apostle of error or of truth foresee through what unknown i-ealms and ages the good or evil seed which has been sown may be diffused ; as if scattered

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by the winds of heaven, to regerminate, and grow, and expand into Eden- trees of life, or Upas-trees of death ! How little could it have entered the imagination of Paine himself, that from the banks of the Ganges there would hereafter spring a race w’hose ruined spirits might one day upbraid him as the author of their curse !

At the new societies, opportunities were constantly presented for the advancement of counteractive statements and opinions on almost all subjects. When a topic for debate w'as selected, indi\dduals were not appointed to open the discussion on either side, as is customary in this country. Their theory w'as, that, as professing inquirers after truth, they ought not to do violence to any one’s conscience, by constraining him to argue against his own settled convictions. All were therefore left alike free in their choice ; — hence it not nnfrequently happened, that more than half a dozen followed in succession on the same side. After aU the mem- bers who were disposed had concluded, the strangers or visitors present were invited to deliver their sentiments on the leading subject of the evening’s discussion, or on any of the sentiments expressed by the different speakers in the course of it. It is scarcely necessary to add, that to this invitation it was ever felt to be a pri^'ilege to respond. And thus, after the proper debate had terminated, there often arose a new discussion in many respects more important than that which had preceded it. In this way, by being voluntarily put entirely on a level, and freely entering the lists with those enthusiastic disputants, I w’as led to serve a regular appren- ticeship in obtaining, unknowingly, some of the necessary qualifications for more effectively conducting certain labours that were afterwards to be devolved upon me, in the leadings of an overruling Providence.

The second way in which the newly awakened siiirit strongly manifested itself, was through the medium of the press. A few months before the ex- plosion consequent on the intended delivery of the Lectures, already so often refen-ed to, — an attempt was made by the College iUuminati to establish a Journal, under the name of the Parthenon, which might form a register of their thoughts and feelings. But, as stated by the editor of another paper, “ it died in its infancy, in consequence of the obstacle that was thrown in its way by misplaced authority. It withered in its vei-y blossoms, by the heat of fanaticism on the part of a number of bigots, without ripening the fruits it was calculated to produce.” Previously to that period, there were only two newspapers in Calcutta, in the vernacular tongue — the Chundrika and Cowmudee — of genuine native growth. Even these had been in existence only for a year or two ; and, to the agitation of the question relative to the abolition of Sati (Suttee), or burning of widows, they were wholly indebted for their origin.

The former paper was started as the organ of the ultra-idolatrous party, — constituting the great mass of the people, — and stood forth the impassioned advocate of religious female suicide. The latter arose in self-defence, as the organ of the purely Pantheistic party ; consisting of a few learned

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Brahmans and their adherents, who do not hesitate si>eculatively to despise idolatry in its grossest forms ; but most of whom, in practice, hesitate as little to pay external homage to its rites and observ-ances. The subject of Sati having become wellnigh exhausted, these papers were rapidly lan- guishing into decay. But the ferment produced by the Lecture controversy opened up new themes for discussion, and infused new and unwonted life before the crisis of their expiring agonies. Opposed to each other as these papers were, on the Sati and other questions of their own superstition, they both professed to adore the V edas, and assumed an offensive attitude to- wards aU other forms of faith. For the first time, Christianity now began to be vigorously assailed from the native press. Hence arose a ne« and very important sphere for missionary labour, — which we resolved not to leave for a moment unoccupied, — as those who made the attack felt themselves bound, in justice, to throw open their columns for defence.

But these senior journals did not furnish a sufficient outlet for the multifarious manifestations of the new spirit. In its first irregular and violent outbreak, — before the different opinions could either be known or reduced into distinct classes, and before the leading representatives of generic differences of opinion could be drawn together for co-operation by mutual affinity of principle, — there suddenly appeared a thick crop of ephemeral publications, in the form of weekly newspapers, about the size of a quarto sheet. The burst of desire for unlimited freedom of utterance through the press, seemed, if possible, to exceed the raging mania for oral discussions ; and new vehicles of sentiment sprung up, in number and rapidity, like mushrooms, — though most of them were destined to be as short-lived. Indeed, in regard to the greater part, the idea was irresistibly suggested, both by their contents and after-results, that instead of being laboratories for the manipulation of wholesome sentiment, they had an- swered the purpose of scape-valves for the discharge of the superabouuding fumes of rancour, hatred, and virulence ; — and these fumes having once been emitted in continuous explosions, the valves naturally closed, leaving the remaining feculence quietly to subside in each foul repository.

If, in the midst of such heterogeneousness, any thing could be said to be possessed in common, it was the bitter hostility towards Christiamity which characterised all the journals. Here the evil genius of Paine was again resuscitated. Passages from his Age of Reason were often translated verbatim in the Bengali, and inserted in the nativ^e newspapers. The editor of one of these published a separate pamphlet, attacking the Bible on the score of its alleged inconsist eucies. A copy of it he transmitted to me, with his compUments, challenging a reply. On examination, I found it to consist chiefly of patched extracts from Paine, clothed in a Bengali garb. I need scarcely repeat, tliat the advocates of Chris- tianity were never loath to step forward in vindication of their most holy faith. And, indeed, with such effect was the warfare on the defensive pushed, that some of the editors resolved to suspend their attacks alto- gether, rather than be constrained to pubhsh the reply of the Christian missionaries.

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Out of the general agitation, at last arose, in close succession, three journals, decidedly superior to the rest in ability, matter, and execution. These, for years, survived the wreck and ruin of their less fortunate cotemporaries — ha-sdng soon become the acknowledged organs of two very distinct classes of natives.

The first established of these was the Reformer ; published exclusively in the English language. It excited, on its first appearance, an unbounded curiosity, chiefly from the circumstance of its being the /rst English news- paper ever conducted by natives. It represented the sentiments of a party not large in number, but potent in rank and wealth, — the party of the celebrated Rajah Rammohun Roy. Except the Rajah himself, not one of this party could be said to have acquired a thorough English edu- cation. As regarded mental culture, they were not half AngUcized ; and as regarded Hinduism, they were scarcely half liberalized. Wliat knowledge of English and liberality of sentiment they possessed, had been contracted chiefly in their constant habits of business and intercourse with enlightened Europeans. In politics, the Reformer at first assumed a tone of rancorous and undiscriminating violence towards the British Govern- ment,— outdoing the wildest flights to which ultra-radicalism has ever soared in these lands. A nondescript species of native oligarchy and republicanism combined, was the panacea proposed for remedying all the ills of India. It was thus unskilful and injudicious enough to attempt the erection of towers and palaces out of the surrounding rubbish, by beginning at the top of the intended edifices — forcing a poor, blinded, ignorant, priest-ridden race, to listen to weekly orations on their abstract rights and privileges, as members of a great social polity, before they were capacitated to comprehend one jot or tittle of their indmdual rights as men. In religion, it professed itself inimical to the popular idolatry. But instead of proposing an entirely new substitute, it simply pleaded the necessity of a reform in the prevailing system — the necessity of sweeping away the mass of corniptions which, it alleged, had been accumulating in dead letter and living pi'actices through a long succession of ages ; and the consequent propriety of reverting to the supposed purer and less abhorrent system of the Vedas. It thus became the advocate of the monothism, or rather pantheism, of these ancient writings — treating it, however, more as the highest product of mere human philosophy, than as a doctrine of Divine revelation. In its advocation of the Vedant system, it advanced the most baseless and extravagant assertions instead of sober evidence ; while it unsparingly loaded with reproaches and abuse, the purest, the holiest, and the sublimest truths that ever shone in the spiritual firmament of a benighted world. A long series of articles, in particular, on “ the Sermon on the Mount,” were distinguished by a subtile and per- verse ingenuity, in extracting evil out of good, that greatly exceeded any thing exhibited m the pages even of Paine ; and to the shame of some of our countrymen, it must be added, that in the preparation of these, ma- terial assistance was known to be obtained from men born and brought up in the bosom of the British Churches, and still retaining the dishonoured

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name of Christians ! But how could all this motley, inefficacious, meta- physico-religionism, — how could all this blind and tenacious cleaving to error, — all this contemptuous rejection of the only faith that is throughout adapted to the necessities of universal man, — ever prove helpful in really reforming a nation corrupt to the very core ? — was the natural exclamation of every true friend of India.

The other two journals were, the Enquirer and the Gyananeshun — the former in English, and the latter in Bengali ; both conducted by native editors.

These became the established organs of that small party of educated Hindus who had made the highest attainments in English literature, and the highest advances in liberality of sentiment ; who, alive to the ineffi- cacy of half-measures, and scorning the hypocrisy of double-dealing, had at once renounced, both in theory and practice, the whole system of Hinduism, pure and impure, ancient and modem, Vedantic and Puranic ; — and who, being thus left in a region of vacancy as regards religion, announced themselves to the world as free inquirers after tmth.

The speeches and writings of this party were at first marked by a de- gree of wild vehemence, which appeared to those who could not realize their peculiar eaperience, as worse than ridiculous. To one, however, who freely mingled in their society in so many ways, it appeared extremely natural. I know not whether I can succeed in conveying to others my own concep- tion of their position ; but at the risk of sharing in the ridicule with which they were visited, I must make the attempt.

All who have dwelt in a land in which the alternations of the seasons are known in their extremes, may remember the time and the place when, with transport of feeling, they could exclaim with Randolph —

How Flora decks the fields With all her tapestry ! and the choristers Of every grove chaunt carols ! Mirth is come To visit mortals. Ev’ry thing is blithe.

Jocund, and jovial !

They also can realize the perfect contrast to all this. Right well can they understand the poet in his description of a season, when —

Nought around

Strikes the sad eye but deserts lost in snow,

And heavy loaded groves ; and solid floods That stretch athwart the solitary vast Their icy horror to the frozen main.

And not less vividly can their fancy paint the return of those “ softer gales, at whose kind touch the dissolving snows are lost in living tor- rents.” The channelled streams now labour to tear away their icy fetters ; they continue to rise ; they swell into floods : at length, >rith resistless impetuosity, they burst their frozen banders, oveidlow their wonted

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boundaries, and, with unsparing fury, spread terror and devastation over the surrounding country. Soon exliausted by the unnatural effort, the rage of the elements abates. The waters, gradually subsiding, withdraw within their accustomed limits ; and in streams and rivulets they glide along, covering the banks with verdm’e, and the plains with smiling plenty.

It^is not my intention minutely to push the application of these remarks. It is enough to state, that there is a balmy, blithesome period — the spring season of youth — the due cultivation of which must insure an autumn loaded wdth golden fruits, and the neglect of which must be prematurely succeeded by a state of being more dreary than the winter of old age. And in no country in the world can the transition from the verdant to the bleak, from the improvable to the almost unimprovable state of exist- ence, be more rapid than in India. No sooner is there manifested the incipient developement of those varied tendencies, mental and moral, which, if well directed, might be purified, strengthened, and ennobled, than they are, one and all of them, perverted or arrested ; — the moral sunk into the lowest depths of debasement ; and the mental crushed beneath the brooding incubus of monstrous fables and life-devouring forms. In such a state of things, who could escape 2 Not one. And few can expect wholly to escape till a brighter morn dawn on that benighted land.

Among the innumerable multitudes who had fallen victims to a soul- withering superstition, must be reckoned the spirited editors of the two journals last named, who may well be considered as the fitting representa- tives of the party that had advanced farthest in the pursuit of English literature and science. But to them it can never be a matter of reproach that theirs was the inevitable doom of aU ; though it must be matter of eternal thanksgiving to the great God, that, through His blessing, one of them has been enabled in some measure, and the other entirely, to con- quer the destiny which seemed prepared for them at their birth.

Placed at the age of twelve or fourteen in an Institution where the rudi- ments of English were imparted, they greedily drank in large draughts of English feeling and sentiment. Having at length completed an ample course of literature and science, w'hat a scene began to present itself to their astonished view ! Hinduism appeared spread out before their un- sealed vision like a dark dismal wilderness. Mounted on an eminence of intellectual light, they looked down, and beheld the millions of their coun- trymen grovelling at the base, tumbling and tossing alternately in the mud and mire of brutal worship, and for ever enveloped amid the cliill damps and noxious vapours of a loathsome superstition.

For a long time they weighed, laboured, and struggled ; and before they had obtained a single glimpse of the beauteous universe of revealed truth, they were aroused into uncontrollable indignation at the darkening shades of the horrid spectacle presented to the mental eye. The violent explosions of bigotry all around soon determined them publicly to break silence. And almost simultaneously they announced the publication of the Enquired and Gyananeshtjn newspapers, the one in English, and the other in

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Bengali ; as media for giving full scope to their own feelings and senti- ments, as well as those of the party of which they were soon recognised as the leaders. And forth they did break with a tremendous noise, re- sembling that of many waters dashing to pieces the barriers that long confined them. Their attacks on the monstrous system of Hinduism generally, and on the all-absorbing selfishness and pride of the Brahmanical order in particular, were bold, unsparing, and destructive. Their ridicule was in general well pointed ; their satire and sarcasms most cutting ; their arguments aptly chosen to convince the understanding of the natives.

From the sudden rebound of execration with which this first shock was met on the part of the Hindu community, the editors half shrunk ; — and when they gazed at the havoc they had made of all that was accounted reverend and sacred by those around them, they seemed half-inclined to relent. But they had gone too far. There was no alternative, except either to brave the execration of a blind and bigoted race, or to hazard the contempt of all truly wise and good men. They chose the former. And onwards still they rushed in their wild career, like an overflowing torrent, carrying destruction wherever it swept, — hurling, in indiscriminate confusion, the defences and refuges of a tyrannical priesthood, and the towers and bulwarks of ciU religions, into its eddying waters.

After the first paroxysm of indignation had exhausted itself in unmea- sured utterance, the rage of destructiveness somewhat abated, and they gradually returned to a channel of thought and expression more regularly marked by boimds of reason and sobriety. Still, each seemed to resemble the mountain stream, which, within its comparatively narrow bed, seems ever restless, grumbling at the many obstacles that thwart its progress ; — then suddenly starting forwards, next tumbling over a precipice ; and growling angrily as it escapes from the dark and fathomless pooL

The approach of at least one of these to the champaigne country, along which it afterwards proceeded more gently and usefully, — fertilizing, instead of spreading desolation all around, was accelerated by a train of events which must next be briefly narrated.

During the whole of the discussions, oral and written, to which refer- ence has now been made, the breach between the ultra-idolatrous party, consisting'of the great mass of the people — and the ultra-liberal party, consisting of the most highly educated of the rising generation, was daily widening.

The levelling sentiments of the latter, as faithfully recorded in the Enquirer newspaper, seemed wholly to monopolize the conversation of the Hindus in their leisure hours. Being diametrically opposed to popular prejudices, the authors of them were detested and abhorred by their bigoted countrymen ; and drew upon themselves “ the thunders and ful- minations” of some, and “ the curses and maledictions” of others. Again and again were the riii^adifrs of the growing apostasy summoned before “ tribunals of the Orthodox,” to answer for their conduct in thinking, and

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speaking, and writing rebelliously against the religion of their ancestors. These summonses were contemptnously slighted ; and the awful threats not only of disgrace, but of final excommunication from caste and all its privileges, treated as “ idle wind.”

But although “ these burstings of the rage of the bigots,” as the Enquirer expressed it, did not effectually daunt the spirit, or materially alter the determinations of the leaders, it need not be wondered that they were somewhat staggered, and their less courageous friends often tempted to act inconsistently with their professions. “ To oppose,” said the Enquirer, “ the machinations of a whole set of people ; to bear the threats of zealots and ascetics with indifference ; to withstand the attacks of fanatics and hypocrites ; are acts that presuppose a considerable degree of fortitude — and this is a virtue very unequally gifted by nature. It will not, in con- sequence, be surprising if some of our friends, who have been refined by knowledge, and enlightened by education, be dismayed at the excitement of the bigots. This fear may lead to very serious evils. Observing the worldly inconveniences to which liberalism is subject, persons may very naturally be induced to be inconsistent in their principles and actions. Bloicing hot and cold icith the same mouth, will be the consequence. Professions and feelings will not be reconciled with each other ; and every misfortune to which hypocrisy — and that is a bad cause — gives birth, will befall the natives.”

Far from being surprising, the wonder is that such a result was not universal. For what had any of these educated natives to support the soul in the midst of grievous persecution 1 Nothing ; literally nothing. Error in religion they had detected and denoimced ; but a single vital truth they had not yet discovered, — or if they had, did not embrace or believe. Their delight in exposing error they mistook for a love of the truth ; and their reprobation of what was demonstrably wrong, they confounded with the admiration of what was immutably right. Then' religious creed, such as it was, consisted wholly of negatires. In it there was not a single positive principle — not even the simplest and most fundamental of aU principles — a rational belief in the being of a God. Now, does not the whole history of mankind prove that it is not the simple detection negatively of error, but a firm persuasion of positive influential truth, which can sustain the soul in the midst of difficulty and danger ? He is the freeman and the dauntless man, and the immovably determined man, whom the truth makes free, and dauntless, and determined. Often has the truth commu- nicated, as it were, a portion of diiTuity to man. Often has it inspired that loftiness of spirit which proclaimed him gloriously free, though a thousand despots might claim him as their slave. Often have all the threatenings, and tortures, and flames, which malignant subtilty could suggest, or fiendish cruelty apply, left the soul deeply imbued with the love of truth, to rise in native majesty above the ruins of the outward man. — like the sun in the firmament of heaven, who, when dai-kest clouds obscure, or raging storms embroil the troubled atmosphere, — stiU shines on far above the region of darkness and of tempest, in aU his unborrowed

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and effulgent glories ! But in the case now referred to, there was no fulcrum of religious truth on which the soul might be stayed in the day of trial. In issuing the first number of his pajjer, the editor’s language was : — “ IIa\dng thus launched our bark under the denomination of Enquirer, we set sail in quest of truth and happiness.” And for montlis no truth seemed to be found ; for nought appeared in the paper but denunciations of bigoti-y and superstition. There was enough to prove what was not truth — but no clue whatever to direct to what was tnith. There was not even so much as an allusion to the existence of a great First Cause. AVho then need wonder that under the continued rage of persecution, some became faint- hearted, and others submitted to ignominious retractation ?

It was interestingly curious to remark, about the beginning of July 1831, how the tidings of the introduction of the Reform Bill, into the House of Commons, operated on spirits that were beginning to betray sjTnptoms of depression and languishment. The first announcement of that measure, with the glowing speeches and ajjpeals that accompanied it, as to the ne- cessity of change, and the assertion of popular rights, wrought with a mighty reviving influence. The next number of the Enquirer, in parti- cular, seemed as if penned with fire. All that is enchantingly heart-stir- ring in the story of Grecian and Roman liberty was rapturously rehearsed. And in the Reform Bill of England was traced the germ of Reformation throughout the world. “ Hail, freedom, hail ! ” nmg through the impas- sioned sentences. And tjTants and despots, aristocrats and priests, were already seen every where hanging down their heads, and bewailing the early departure of their power and glory.

About the end of July, the Enquirer wrote as follows : — “ The rage of persecution is stiU vehement. The bigots are up with their thunders of fulmination. The heat of the Gurum Slvahha * is violent, and they know not what they are doing. Excommunication is the cry of the fanatic : we hope perseverance will be the Liberal’s answer. The Gurum Shabha is high ; let it ascend to the boiling point. The Orthodox are in a rage ; let them burst forth into a flame. Let the Liberal’s voice be like that of the Roman, — a Roman knows not only to act but to suffer. Blown be the trumpet of excommunication from house to house. Be some hundreds cast out of society ; they will form a party — an object devoutly to be wished by us.”

The time for commencing the work of formal excommunication arrived much sooner, and in a way more singular, than the Enquirer or any one else could have imagined ; — fumisliing a notable instance, on a small scale, of what has been so often exemplified in the changes and revolutions in the moral world, that when an extensive train has been laid, it is impos- sible to foretell at what point, on what occasion, by what igniting circum- stance, it may be made to explode. It may be thought strange that an explosion did not take place sooner, when such outrages were committed

* The proper designation of the Society \sDharma Subha, or “ Holy Assembly,*’ the lead- ing Society of the great idolatrous party. Gurum means “ hot,” and is introduced ironically to denote the heat of wrath against the Liberals.

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against the popular faith. But the truth is, that the number of the liberals, and the rank and influence of their friends, were staggering circumstances. Hinduism in Calcutta was evidently on the decline ; and its adherents would not, if they could possibly avoid it, resort ^to the last extremity against so many. Besides, it was firmly believed, that by bribes, tempta- tions, and especially threats and ill treatment, they would wear out the pa- tience and break down the spirit of the illuminati into a recantation of their errors. This prospect the bigots regarded as certain, and its realization would have been the most glorious triumph. Again, these liberals, though they abused Hinduism, neither knew nor embraced any other form of faith. If they had done so, excommunication must have followed as a matter of course. Once more, popular Hinduism is so largely a matter of “ meats and drinks, and divers washings,” rather than of opinions or principles, — that a latitude may be for a time winked at as to the latter, which could not for a moment be tolerated as to the former. If, for instance, instead of ridi- culing the gods, or denouncing their religious services, any of the liberals had been knoA\Ti openly to partake of a piece of “ beef,” a sentence of excommunication would instantly be carried into execution.

Some of the less prudent of the liberal party, unpossessed as they were of any moral or religious principle, gradually turned them liberty into licentiousness, and allowed themselves to run into every excess of riot and of outrage.

On the evening of the 23d August (1831), a considerable number of these assembled in the family-house of the editor of the Enquirer, and took possession of the apartment where they were wont to hold their meetings for deliberation or discussion. The editor himself happened to be from home ; and in his absence, his friends resolved to give practical proof of the conquest they had achieved over hereditary prejudice. How could this be most efifectually done ? By an act which, with our habits and asso- ciations, we might pronounce ridiculously trirtal. If there be any thing on which a genuine Hindu is taught, from earliest infancy, to look with absolute abhorrence, it is the flesh of the bovine species. If there be any thing which, of itself singly, must at once degrade a man from his caste, it is the known participation of that kind of food. Authentic instances are on record, wherein a Brahman, violently seized by a ^Moslem, has had such meat forced into his mouth ; and though deprived of voluntary agency, as much as the veriest automaton, the contamination of the touch was held to be so incapable of ablution, that the hapless, helpless, unwilling victim of intolerance, has been actually sunk, along with his posterity, for ever into the wretched condition of outcast. Well, in order to furnish the most emphatic proof to each other of their mastery over prejudice, and their contempt of the ordinances of Hinduism, these friends of liberty had some pieces of roasted meat — believed to be beef — brought from the bazaar into the private chamber of the Enquirer. Hav- ing freely gratified their curiosity and taste with the unlawful and unhal- lowed food, some portion still remained ; which, after the return of the Enquirer, was thrown, though not with his approbation, in heedless and

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reckless levity, into the compound, or inner court of the adjoining house, occupied by a holy Brahman, amid shouts of — “ There is beef ! there is beef ! ” The sacerdotal master of the dwelling, aroused by the ominous sound, and exasperated at the unpardonable outrage which he soon found had been perpetrated upon Ms feelings and his faith, instantly rushed with his domestics to the quarter whence it proceeded ; and, under the influ- ence of rage and horror, taking the law into his own hands, he violently assaulted the Enquirer and his friends.

Knowing that they had been guilty of an action which admitted of no defence, the latter confessed their criminality ; uniting in apologies for the past, and promises of amendment for the future. But neither confession nor apology, nor promise of amendment, would suffice. The openly avow- ed opinions and conduct of the Enquirer and Ms friends, had long been a public scandal and offence in the eyes of their bigoted countrymen ; and, short of formal excommunication, they were, in consequence, subjected to all manner of persecution. But the crisis — the hour of unmitigated retribu- tion— had now arrived. Hundreds speedily rallied around the Brahman, the sanctuary of whose home had been so grossly violated by the presence of the abomination of abominations. Inflamed with uncontrollable indignation, they peremptorily demanded of the family of the Enquirer to disown him in the presence of competent witnesses, under pam of expulsion from caste themselves. Having no alternative, Ms family then called upon Mm for- mally to recant his errors, and proclaim Ms belief in the Hindu faith, or instantly to leave the home of his youth, and be for ever denuded of all the pri^’ileges and immumties of caste. He chose the latter extremity. Accordingly, towards midnight, udthout being able to take formal leave of any of Ms friends, he was obliged to take his departure he knew not whither, because he could not be prevailed upon to utter what he knew to be false. “We left,” wrote he, “ the home where we passed our in- fant days ; we left our mother that nourished us in our childhood ; we left our brothers with whom we associated in our earliest days ; we left our sisters with whom we sympathized since they were bom.”

As he and his friends were retiring, the infuriated populace broke loose upon them ; and it was with some difficulty they effected their escape, and found shelter in the house of an acquaintance considerablj' removed from the paternal residence. The separation from his friends he felt so heavily that it threw him into a fever. Soon, however, he recovered his bodily health ; but remained much agitated and distracted in mind. At times he was desperately enraged against a religion wMch severed Mm from his mother and affectionate relatives ; and in the Enquirer newspaper he broke forth mto more vehement denunciations of Hinduism than ever. Still, as to all positive truth in religion, his mind was utterly blauk. At a later period, he thus expressed himself : — “ At that time I was perfectly regard- less of God, and never took the trouble of thinking of him. This ingrati- tude, however, was overcome with kindness by Him ; for, though I never did even seek after the nature and attributes of my great Creator, yet, as a merciful Father, he forgot not me. Though I neglected him, yet he had

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compassion on me ; and, withont my knowledge or inclination, created, so to speak, a circumstance that impelled me to seek after Him.”

The circumstance here alluded to was simply this — that, unknown to him, I had requested a mutual friend to urge him to come to my house to hear what I had to say respecting recent events. This plan was adopted to prevent the suspicions, alarms, or misconception that might be produced by my visiting his abode in so peculiar a conjuncture. And my purpose was, not merely to express my sympathy with him, but — taking a proper advantage of his difficulties and sufferings — to press with all earnestness upon his mind the absolute necessity of obtaining smMwhat to sustain his own spirit in the hour of trial, — someichat also to communicate to those around, in place of that which he laboured so mightily to destroy.

His o%vn brief but simple account of the matter is as follows : — “ One afternoon, a friend of mine asked me to accompany him to the Rev. Mr D., who never lost sight of us in all our wanderings. I complied with his request, and went to this gentleman’s house with him. Mr D. received me with Christian kindness, and inquired of the state in which we all were. He openly expressed his sentiments on what we were about ; and while he approved of one half of our exertions, he lamented the other. He was glad of our proceedings against eiTor ; but sincerely sorrow at our neglecting THE TRUTH. I told Ilim it was not our fault that we were not Christians ; we did not believe in Christianity, and could not therefore consistently profess it. The reverend gentleman, with great calmness and composure, said, that it was true that I could not be blamed for my not believing in Christianity, so long as I was ignorant of it ; but that I was certainly guilty of serious neglect for not inquiring into its evidences and doctrines. This ■word ‘ inquiring’’ was so uttered as to produce an impression upon me which I cannot sufficiently well describe. I considered upon my lonely condi- tion— cut off from men to whom I was bound by natural ties, and thought that nothing but a determination on the subject of religion could give me peace and comfort. And I was so struck with Mr D.’s words, that we instantly resolved to hold weekly meetings at his house for religious instruction and discussion.”

On this occasion, happening to have a copy of GiUies’ Historical Collec- tions in my possession, I read several passages out of it, to show how it was the belief of positive truth which sustained the great martyrs and re- formers of the West in the midst of cniel sufferings and death ; and how they never destroyed error without being able at once to point to a nobler substitute in the temple of truth. This work, which contained so much peculiarly adapted to his case, he carried along with him for farther per- usal in his own abode.

In the way of holding the proposed weekly meetings, obstacles thick- ened on every side. Europeans, bearing the name of Christ — Socinians, Deists, and Infidels of every grade, — conscious of the importance of the crisis that had arisen as regarded the future faith of the educated natives, — plied all their arts and wiles to prevent the current of emancipated thought from running into the channel of primitive apostolic Christianity.

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On the part of the bigoted Hindus, a deadly opposition was manifested. “ Persecution is high,” remarked the Enquirer newspaper, “ for we liave deserted tlie shrine of Hinduism. Tlie bigots are violent because we obey not the calls of superstition. Our conscience is satisfied we are right ; we must persevere in our career. If opposition is violent and insurmountable, let us rather aspire to martyrdom than desert a single inch of the ground we have possessed. Conspiracies are daily formed to hurt us in every possible way. Circulars stuffed with falsehoods have been issued to de- fame our character ; and all cruelties which the rage of malice and the heat of fanaticism can invent, have been planned to be exercised upon us. But we wiU stand persecution. A people can never be reformed without noise and confusion ; the absurd prejudices of the Hindus can never be eradicated without violent persecution against the reformers. "We have undertaken this task. And shall fear — the quality of the coward and the attribute of the guilty— be our guide 1 Does not history testify that Luther, alone and unsupported, blew a blast which shook the mansions of error and prejudice ? Did not Knox, opposed as he was by bigots and fanatics, carry the cause of reformation into Scotland ? Blessed are we, that we are to reform the Hindu nation. We have blown the trumpet, and we must continue to blow on. We liave attacked Hinduism, and will perse- vere in attacking it, until we finally seal our tiiumph.”

Indeed, so effectually did he now blow his trumpet, that in order to escape personal assault, and perhaps murder, he was compelled, on the 28th September, suddenly to quit his new residence ; and in all Calcutta, not a native dared to shelter him. At last, in a European lodging-house, he found a temporary asylum. Thither followed many of his staunchest friends and coadjutors — who also had been variously abused, insulted, and maltreated one having very narrowly escaped death by poison ; and another insanity, by the administration of a peculiar drug.

Having learned, towards the evening of the following day, what had transpired, I did not hesitate a moment in proceeding to the new rendez- vous. Til ere I found a large number assembled, pouring forth torrents of indignation against the bigots ; and vowing ample revenge, not on their persons, but on their superstitious faith. If each had been aimed that night with thunderbolts, they would all have been hurled at the fabric of Hin- duism. “Destroy Hinduism, because it is absurd, and wicked, and false,” was the universal watchword ; but beyond this they did not, they could not go. Hours of vehemence were spent in contending and debating about plans for the accomplishment of their object. The establishment of “A Reforma- tion Society” was the favourite scheme. Public meetings and addresses Were contemplated ; — the press was to be put into more active operation ; — pamphlets and tracts were to be written, and freely circulated in thousands. But as almost all of them, in consequence of their apostasy, were disinherit- ed, how were the necessary expenses to be defrayed ? Happily, one of the number had large property of his own, so secured as to be unassailable ; and in the generosity of new-born and indignant zeal, he vowed he would devote the whole of it to farther the cause of Hindu reformation.

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Again and again did I endeavour to impress upon their minds the ne- cessity of pausing in their intended career of violence. It was urged that their Society could not be true to its name. It would not be one for radical refoi’m, but simply for radical destruction ; — not a Reformation, but an Eradication Society ; — a Society for levelling all things, and recasting nothing into a purer form. On every one of their papei-s, and pamplilets, and acts, — on their very brows, on fi-ontlets between the eyes, every sane person would be provoked to read, as if legibly inscribed, the epigi'amatic sarcasm of the English poet, —

Formless themselves, reforming do pretend.

As if confusion could disorder mend.

Again and again was their attention directed to the Refonnation in Europe, as the great pattern which they should copy,- — a reformation of whose remote benefits they were then partaking, in the improved literature and science which they had imbibed, and in that British philanthropy which laboured to aid them in casting aside the shackles of a degrading super- stition and a domineering priesthood. The Reformers of the 16th century were armed not only with power to destroy, but with power to rebuild. With one arm they mowed down the bulwarks of error ; with the other they were enabled to rear the temple of truth. For every particle of rubbish which they removed, they were prepared to offer in exchange a pearl of great price — richer far than all the pearls on the Indian shores. All this was contrasted at length with the position of our Hindu refoimers. These could only destroy and lay waste,— they had nothing to substitute — nothing to offer in exchange. So that, even if they succeeded to the extent of their wishes, their progress could only resemble that of the hurricane or earthquake — whose com’se is ever marked by an undistinguished mass of ruins, and in whose train ever resounds the voice of lamentation and woe.

The perfect counterpart of their intended refonnation was pointed out in the origin, progress, and terrible issue of French illumination and re- form in the last centm-y. There, was a beacon, enough to scare the most reckless innovator. Even Gibbon, one of their own favourite authors, was appalled at the effects of the infidel refonn in France in its very earliest manifestations ; — so appalled, that he denounced the scheme of abolishing any long established religion, and actually resolved to wTite a dialogue, supposed to be can-ied on in the shades below, between Lucian, Erasmus, and Voltaire, — causing that reforming triumvirate unanimously to condemn the attempt to destroy any national superstition in any region of the globe, even though it were as intolerant as the Inquisition itself. And certainly it were the height of madness to wade through anarchy and blood, merely to supplant the social idolatry of superstition by the savagely anti-social idolatries of a Hydra-headed infidelity.

After several hours of discussion, it was at last conceded, that their scheme of reformation could not be complete, unless they were prepared to direct their countiynnen to something which might be more than an equivalent for what they wished to destroy. But where and how was this

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equivalent to be found i “ Come and see,” was my reply. The equivalent which the Reformers of the 16th century supplied in place of Popish idol- atry and superstition, was primitive unadulterated Christianity. And does not the experience of three centuries in the West prove liow nobly it has answered the purpose ? Does not the history of the world prove that pui'e Cliristianity has been the grand instrument of real civilization — ^the best friend of science and art — the fruitful parent of civil and religious liberty ? Now, Christianity in its purest form is at present in our keeping ; and we are ready to impart the invaluable treasure to you. Once become pos- sessed of it, and you may reform as rapidly and extensively as you please. With the one hand you may wield the scythe of destruction, if with the other you can strew' around you what millions of the most enlightened men that ever lived have pronounced “ unsearchable riches.” At all events, come and inquire ; come and examine ; come and see. If in the end you discover what will commend itself to your understanding and conscience — good and well. A cup of blessedness will be your own por- tion, and it will overflow in a stream of blessing towards your deluded countrymen. If you should fail in the discovery, you will not be in a worse condition than you are now ; and by sincerely making the attempt, conscience will be dispossessed of an upbraiding sting. It may be in your power now to do for India what the Refoi'mers of the 16th century achieved for Europe,— your names, like theirs, piay mingle with the hosannahs of all posterity, — descending as an inheritance of greatness, and as ralljing watchwords of patriotism to latest ages. Or, by your neglect, and way- wardness, and misconduct nov, your names may be doomed to perpetual infamy in Hindustan, and descend in the same category of execration as the Voltaire.s and De L’Amberts, and w'hole ignoble army of destructives in revolutionary France.

Moved at length by these and similar representations, they resolved to attend at my house every Tuesday evening, for the purpose of religious instruction and discussion. Hence the origin of the tecond attempt to establish a course of Lectures on the Evidences and Doctrines of Natural and Revealed Religion, for the special benefit «f the Educated Natives — an attempt which, in the face of numberless counteractive causes, and vexatious annoyances on the part both of Hindus and Europeans, was soon commenced, carried on, and eventually crowned, through the Divine blessing, with the most pleasing success.

And here I cannot but remark, in passing, the singular overniling of an all-wise Providence, in suffering the /rst attempt, on the preceding year — though begun under the most favourable auspices — to be whoUy airested. The mystery was now clearly revealed in the glass of revoh'ing time. At the former period the plan was allowed to be subverted, because none of the parties were sufficiently prepared for it. The educated natives were not prepared. The greater part were trammelled by College regula- tions ; all were overawed by parents and friends ; none were seriously actuated by sufficiently influential motives stimulating them to persevere. Now, however, numbers had left the College ; some w'ere ejected, from

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their homes, and excommunicated from the fellowship of Hinduism ; many were disciplined by persecution into a more sober and contemplative habi- tude of mind ; and, what above all constituted an entirely new element in their mental being, they seemed overpowered with the conviction, that simply to destroy was not enough — that to entitle and enable them to destroy with effect, they must have something to substitute. In Calcutta, the first complete schism that had ever taken place in the heart of the citadel of Hinduism, had now occurred — a schism arising in the midst of an agitation which threatened to shake the entire fabric to its base ; — and the breach was absolutely irreparable. Heretofore the schismatics were amply satisfied with hunting down error ; now, circumstances arose which overwhelmed them with a sense of the necessity of seriously endea- vouring to discover truth. Hence, altogether, were they infinitely better prepared to hear with attention, and to examine with honest candour.

To this subject the Enquirer newspaper of 7th October thus adverts : — “ Our discussions have hitherto been too general ; it is time to descend into particulars. A Christian missionary very wisely told us on Tuesday last, in an interview, that the present time is a very important crisis ; and that the future happiness or misery of a vast portion of the Hindus de- pends upon it. We accordingly propose to let the Enquirer be devoted particularly to the propagation of truth, and the subduing of eiTor and prejudices. It may be asked, what is the truth we here mean to pro- pagate ? Our reply is, that we, for the present, mean to avoid positively recommending any religious doctrine to our countrymen. Whatever we have satisfactorily discovered to be error, we will teach them to reject ; what we may hereafter feel as truth, we will spare no pains to induce them to adopt. We will, in the meantime, be employed in an inquiry after truth ; and if, by the time the Hindu mind will be free from pre- judice, and capable of appreciating truth, we make any progress in our investigation, we will, in spite of the greatest persecution, and most dif- ficult opposition, be at the service of the Hindus. We are indebted to the counsel of a reverend gentleman for giving us a spirit of inquhy ; and we will, under no consideration, fail to benefit by his counsels. Let our friends now state what they respectively^feel as truth ; and let us, in the sincere spirit of patient investigation, discuss what may be offered to our consi- deration. Let us have all a fair field, and adopt what reason and judgment may dictate.”

Such was the subdued and rational tone in wliich all the leading reform- ers resolved to enter on the important investigation of timth. As indica- tive of the continuance of this softened and improved temper, we may quote from the Enquirer of the 4th November the following passage : — “We feel that theological truth is the most important of all, because it influences our conduct through life as moral and social beings. We are ready to inquire into the nature of all creeds, however superstitious, — much more of Christianity, which has civilized a whole continent. We know that a sincere Christian cannot possibly be a bad man ; we are far from being unwilling to be instructed in its nature. A reverend gentleman

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of the Presbj-terian sect has undertaken the task of unfolding to us the nature of this set of doctrines. "NVe attend him every Tuesday in the evening, and avail ourselves of his benevoU;nt serWces with feelings of thankfulness. 'Whether we shall be convinced of all that he says or not, it is impossible for us to predict at present. XVe have entered into the inquiry with a sincere love of truth ; and this is all we could do. We have perceived Hinduism is folly, and we speak against it. If we be not convinced of the truth of Christianity, we cannot possibly do any mischief ; for we are only clearing the obstacles that lie in the way of its propagation, and preparing the mind to receive it if true. We are communicating to our countrtTnen only those subjects about which we are settled. What we are not settled in, we are silent about ; inquiring into, and examining in the meantime, the nature of the doctrines which we know have human- ized almost the whole world, and raised man in the scale of reason and of civilization.’.’

HaHng thus briefly narrated the circumstances in which the second attempt to commend Chiistianity to the Educated Natives of Calcutta originated, as also the temper in which the majority seemed disposed to enter on the investigation, I shall now briefly glance at the commencement of the course along which it was conducted. To enter at large into the subject is impossible. It were to write a volume of no ordinary size on Christian Evidence and Doctrine, as well as to furnish answers to all ima- ginable objections. For, immediately after the delivery of each Lecture, all were allowed freely to canvass every topic embraced in it ; and the consequent discussions were often continued for hours. During the week that intervened between the different Lectures, all in whose piinds doubts and diflSculties stiU lingered, were in-s-ited as often as they pleased to a personal iuteiwiew ; or, if they preferred it, they were encouraged, in writing, to put all manner of queries, and to demand all manner of expla- nation,— while I engaged, in u-riting, to re^ond to every query and demand. These intervenient discussions, oral and tcritten, occupied much time ; but, by thus satisfying the minds of inquirers, we were enabled to make pro- portionably rapid progress with the weekly Lectures. At the first opening, from forty to sixty professing inquirers after truth, on an average, at- tended ; and for a long while the greater part persevered with unvarying regularity. Most of them, to their credit be it recorded, continued to manifest throughout a becoming temper. Several of them, however, were more than troublesome — proud, forward, rude, boisterous, and often grossly insulting. StiU, calmness, patience, and perseverance, graduaUy softened down all asperities. The novelty of the scene long continued to attract numbers of all classes, Hindu, East Indian, and European, — as spectators.

As to any actual knowledge of religious truth, all were aliki ignorant. One of the leading members of the Enquiring fraternity, afterwards thus described his religious condition : — “ "^’e disbelieved,” wrote he, “ in Hin- duism ; and we no more kept our sentiments behind the curtain. But we

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knew nothing of God. Some of us actually thought the being of God an impossibility ; the rest doubted, or disbelieved it ; but never took the trouble of seriously inquiring into the subject.” In such a state of mind, — as has been already stated in an address before the General Assembly, — it was found absolutely impracticable to advance a single stej) without first determining the question as to the Being of a God.

Some believed the being of God to be impossible, and thought they could prove the impossibility. Instead of wasting time in unravelling mere verbal sophisms, I proceeded at once to show, after the manner of Foster, in his celebrated Essays, that however much an inquirer might, for want of evidence, be constrained to'return the verdict of “ not proven,” it was demonstrable that no finite being could ever return the verdict either of “ disproven,” or “ impossible,” — that it was demonstrable that no one without the attributes of ubiquity and omniscience, could pretend to rise to the “ height of the great argument,” which would entitle him absolutely to deny either the being or the possibility of a God. The way was thus cleared of any antecedent impossibility which might bar all positive proof.

It was at once conceded, that to those who rejected the testimony of tradition, — refused to listen to the voice of their fellows, — and never had their attention directed to the observation of nature’s mechanisms, the proposition, “ There is a God,” did not announce itself as self-evident, — did not immediately demonstrate its own verity to the understanding, like the universal theorem, “ The whole is greater than its part.” No more would the proposition, “ There is a sun in the firmament, the glorious source of light to worlds,” announce itself as self-evident to the man who was born and brought up in a dark cave of the earth. In this latter case it must be palpable to every one, that the absence of conviction arose not from any real want of sufficient evidence as to the existence of a sun, or any real incapacity to discern the evidence on the part of him who was imprisoned in the cavern. . No. Millions could testify that the sim shone resplendent in the heavens ; and the caverned man was endowed with organs of vision quite unimpaired. But conviction was absent, simply because the organs were not brought in contact with their corresponding object. Let a glimmering taper be introduced into the subten-anean vault, and instantly the correspondence between the eye and the coi’poreal light is elicited. The present reality of the latter . is acknowledged as soon as it is seen, and its singular property in manifesting surrounding objects joyously recognised. I^et the man next be raised to the surface of earth. Even should the glorious luminary of day be shrouded iir cloitds, what a scene would birrst upon the astonished stranger ! In his cell, the tiny lamp not orrly manifested its own presence, but the presence of other- objects — though feebly, and within very limited distances. But now he beholds trurnberless objects, extending to the distairce, irot of a few feet, but of many rrriles — having their lineaments exhibited with a transparent vividness of which before he had no conce])tion. Would he require any one to inform him that here, too, was light ? Impossible. Light it must be ;

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though, judging from its effects, it must proceed from a source transceud- ently greater and more glorious tlian that which dimly revealed tjie recesses of the cavern. And what if the cloudy curtain which oversj)read the face of heaven were suddenly drawn aside, and the king of day shone forth in bright effulgence, — diffusing tenfold greater brilliancy over hiU and dale, and woods and plains, and murmuring streams ! Would he now require any farther proof of the proposition, that “ there is a sun in the firmament, the source of light to a world whose radiant beauties it seemed less to reveal than to create ? ” No. It would exhibit the surest credentials of its exist- ence in the surpassing splendour wherewith it dazzled the appropriate organ of vision.

In like manner, it was shown that there might be numberless higher truths which might, to the mind of a particular individual, appear more than dubious, not on account of any real deficiency in the evidence of their reality, but solely because the discursive faculty, whose office it is to contemplate them, had never been brought fairly in contact either with the truths or their evidence. Of this description might be the proposition relating to the being of a God, the Alaker of all things. Supposing those present knew nothing of God, or of his works as evidencing his being and perfections ; supposing also their attention had not been directed to man in his specific character as the ingenious fabricator of various mechanisms, — their situation, in reference to the first proposition, would be exactly similar to that of the man in the dark cave in reference to the second.

Their attention was therefore first directed to man as an artificer, and to his works, as exhibiting contrivance or design. Waiving altogether the abstract inv’estigation relating to the nature of the connection between aii harmonious disposition of parts subservient to certain uses, and design or contrivance impl3’ing the ordination of an intelligent mind, a number of mechanisms with which they were quite famihar were analj'sed. From this review it was freely admitted, that in the works of man a regular series of relations, or a nice adaptation of parts, conspiring towards an end or purpose, did necessarily imply the presence of designing skill,— and that designing skill was one of the most distinguishing attributes of an intelligent mind.

Having been once thoroughly famihar with the import of the declaration, that, in reference to all human mechanisms, a suitableness of means to an end — an exact order and disposition of parts, mutually relating to each other, and concurring in the production of one common ascertainable result, — irresistibly forces upon the mind the impression of design, and design the impression of intelligence, — their situation might be compared to that of the man in the cave when the glimmering taper was introduced, which gave him the first conception of what was meant by light, and its power of manifesting surrounding objects.

Having all of them studied Natural Philosophy, they were next reminded of the general principles of Optics. They were reminded how gradual, and after what a lapse of ages, the proj)erties of light, and the laws of its

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transmission and refraction, were discovered. They were reminded of some of the mechanical contrivances that have resulted from an intimate acquaintance with such laws and properties. In reference to the principal of these — the telescope — tliey were reminded of the progressive improve- ments in its construction, from the rude fabrication of Galileo to the latest achromatic invention. Rough sketches on large sheets of pasteboard were then exhibited, to represent more vividly the leading stages of improve- ment, and impress their minds more strongly with the conviction, that each new suggestion ran parallel with every fresh accession of knowledge, and combined with the superior skill and ingenuity of the philosophic artificer. In all these cases it was admitted, with the most unhesitating assent, that the optical instruments, in the admirable disposition of their parts, and their apt subserviency to the end in view, furnished a complete demon- stration of superior knowledge, wisdom, and counsel, on the part of the original inventor, and subseque^ improvers. It was allowed that they announced, with resistless force, the presence and direction of an intelli- gent designing cause.

After this, was presented a drawing of what might be termed the highest and most perfect order of telescope. This, as in the case of those already shown, was seen to possess different lenses of such figure, and in such relative position as to bring the rays of light to a proper point for the formation of a visual image. It was described as possessing in perfection the chiefest of late improvements, viz., a combination of lenses composed of materials of different refracting powers, to coiTect the confusion arising from the separation of colours, in rays passing through one homogeneous substance. Besides this, it was described as possessing a piece of exquisite mechanism, by means of which it could adapt itself to different degrees of light, — enlarging or narrowing the outer aperture of the tube according as the light was deficient, or the reverse. What was more singular still, so delicate was its sensibUity as to the presence of light, that it dilated or contracted itself without needing any new adjustment on the part of him who used the instrument. And, to crown the whole, it was shown that — whereas, hitherto, for the sake of adapting the instrument, as demanded by the laws which invariably regulate the transmission of light, to objects at different distances, the contrivance was to substitute other lenses, and shorten or elongate the tube with the hand or screw, — that instead of such a slow, awkward, and clumsy process, this last and most perfect of telescopes was so delicately constiucted, that by means of a subtile and refined mechanism, it could, without any manual application, exactly ad- just itself to every diversity of distance. Up to the" two last statements, all was distinctly understood and cheerfully assented to. But the an- nouncement of these was evidently received with a smite of incredulity. No such improvements in the manufacture of telescopes had ever been heard of, and the possibility of them the mind could not grasp. Hence arose the incredulity, not because too large an inference on the score of designing skill had been deduced from a consideration of these exquisite mechanisms, but because the degi’ee of designing skill implied in theih

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seemed too great to be within the reach of human intelligence and ingenuity.

This was precisely the spontaneous confession which the lecturer was most desirous of caUing forth. And when it was suggested, by this one and the other, that they would rather see the instrument itself in actual operation, than witness a delineation of it on jMiper, accompanied by a mere verbal explanation, it was at once replied, that they were possessed of an inestimable treasure, of which they did not seem themselves to be aware — since each of them, in reality, had already a pair of these telescopic inventions. For the singular instrument now described as constructed accordii.g to the most perfect knowledge of the laws and properties of light, and endowed with self-adjusting mechanical contrivances so exqui- site as to appear almost beyond the wit of man to imagine, and altogether beyond his manual dexteritj' to execute, was none other than the human eye ! The sudden announcement respecfcg an organ with the use of which they liad been so long familiar, without ever thinking of the exquisitely skilful and scientific construction which alone fitted it to subserve so many invaluable purposes to man, did not fail to excite a pleasurable though perplexing surprise.

Who, then, contrived and executed the mechanism of the eye — a me- chanism so incomparably perfect, that to imitate even a part of it required a knowledge of the properties of light and of the laws of vision, which existed no where in the world till five thousand years roUed over succes- sive generations of its inhabitants, — to imitate one half of which rudely, and at a humble distance, has made more than one Galileo immortal, — and to imitate the other half in any way, however imperfect, has wholly outbaflled the utmost stretch of human skill, though backed by the bril- liant triumphs of modem science ? It was not, it could not be, man himself. An intelligence superior to that of man must have conceived and fashioned it. That superior Intelligence we denominate God. The eflFect of so simply deduced a conclusion seemed such as, for a moment at least, by its clear light, to banish Atheism into congenial night. No additional illustration of the evidence, fi-om manifest intention and design, for the Being of a God, could render its nature more clear, or its force more conclusive. Other examples might be enumerated in thousands, — but each would only consist of a simple repetition of the same fundamen- tal principle of evidence, — each would only furnish a distinct and inde- pendent corroborative testimony. The modes and objects alone would vary ; the simple elements of proof would be identically the same in all. No new argfument could be advanced, — each new instance reiterating the same argument in another form. A congeries of separate testimonies might be accumulated — as endless as the objects of the universe are end- lessly multiplied. In point of strict logical conclusion, it would therefore answer no end to heap up exemplifications. But in order to afifect and impress the mind more deeply, the amplification of the subject was thu.s adverted to. — If such be the inevitable conclusion from the examination of a single organ in the human frame, what must be thought when we

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survey the rest of this wondrous microcosm ? If tlie liuman frame be such an assemblage of contrivances — all indicative of a reach of intelli- gence which the collective wisdom of all men in all ages, far from rivalling, cannot but very remotely approximate, — what shall be said when we think of the countless myriads of organized beings, animate and inanimate,— all displaying similar traces of designing skill ? AYhen we observe the ap- paratus of instruments, subservient to important known uses, with which minute and microscopic atoms are furnished — the singular combinations displayed in forming larger portions of mechanised matter— the exquisite arrangement of particular parts in constituting higher separate existences throughout every portion of nature — the admirable distribution of indivi- dual beings in composing varieties of systems — the marvellous relation and subordination of system to system — the less absorbed in a greater, which itself is comprehended in another that rises higher, and that in a higher still, in endless progression — displaying an absolute “ infinity of designs,” and uniting the most perfect harmony with endless diversities throughout the illimitable regions of space : — surely, as the result of such contemplation, we cannot but exclaim, — Herein is wsdom ; herein is de- signing intelligence, which, from our utter incapability of gauging more than the surface of its unfathomable depths, may well be termed “ in- finite.” If, in the case of him who was raised from his subterranean residence when the sky was overspread with clouds, he still saw a prodi- gious multitude of objects manifested with greater lustre than before, would he not laugh to scorn the suggestion that this more comprehensive and perfect manifestation was not the effect of light 3 If it be admitted in the case of thousands of products around us, that an exact order and disposition of parts invariably argues the wisdom and skill of an intelligent mind, must not the like admission be made in reference to all products whatsoever which exhibit equal signatures of wisdom and skiU 3 JIust not the necessity of such admission become demonstrable in proportion as the evidences of design become more conspicuous 3 If the lesser prints and footsteps of design potently convince of the i^resence of a designing intelligence, how much more the greater and more manifest characters of a skilful contrivance 3 And if the organized mechanisms in what have been termed “ the works of nature,” are found in number, variety, and degree, infinitely to surpass the most curious, and skilful, and elaborate contrivances of human ingenuity, sharpened by a knowdedge of aU science, and the practice of aU art ; are we not bound, in argumentative consistency, or rather in rigid mathematical conclusiveness, to refer the inconceivably greater multitude of vastly more perfect contrivances to an intelligent mind, transcendently higher and more glorious than that of man 3 If here we were only enabled at once to lift the veil — to draw aside the curtain — and let in the full blaze of revelation, what a spectacle would present itself to the loftiest intellectual vision 3 God, the supreme designing in- telligence, would not then exhibit himself merely in dim subordinate reflections from the comparatively obscure mirror of his works, but shine forth, in the peerless combination and ineffable splendour of His natural

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and moral attributes, through the transparent medium of His own word. And in such a flood of self-evidencing light would He manifest himself to all the expanded powers and purified sensibilities of the soul, that any longer to doubt of His being, would be as impossible as to call in question the existence of the king of day when he suddenly bursts upton gazing multitudes, in more than royal magnificence, from behind a thick canopy of clouds !

But though a series of statements, of which the preceding is a very meagre analysis, seemed to produce a momentarv conviction, it was soon found that it was neither so deep nor permanent as the demonstrable, or rather intuitive, nature of the evidence was calculated to effect. The reason soon became obvious. The minds of all were overladen with hos- tile prepossessions and misconceptions which it was scarcely passible all at once to eradicate, so as to put them in the most favourable position for discerning the evidence. A favourite maxim of theirs was, that on the subject of religion there neither were nor could be any first principle*, on which a conclusive argument could be founded. And this, absurd as it was, had been so often repeated, that it had almost assimilated itself with their rational nature. Again, as some of them afterwards honestly con- fessed, far from approaching the subject with impartiality or even indif- ference, they laboured under the worst and most inveterate of aU preju- dices—that which is based on interest. Their secret Irish was, to find the theorem relative to the being ofGod incapable of any proof. And when a strong predisposition is on one side, it is easy to overleap all the fences of reason to escape conviction. Besides, all had been, from the days of childhood, thoroughly familiarized with the more patent phenomena of external nature, — and these constituted the elements of their knowledge, wholly unassociated with an idea, or even a surmise, of their exhibiting a numberless series of adaptations of means to ends, indicative of the pre- sence of a designing mind. In their own sacred books, the Supreme Being is said, at the time of manifesting the universe, to assume the attribute of omniscience, — but it is that of momentary simple knowledge. He is never spoken of as vise, in the sense of being the author of skilful designs — nor are his works ever appealed to either as proofs or illustrations of the operation of creative trisdom. Again, though they had greatly exer- cised their ratiocinative and dialectic powers, they had almost wholly ne- glected the cultivation of that sense of resemblance and analogy, on the vividness of which the intuitive force of the evidence for design so greatly depends. They had so accustomed themselves to metaphysical subtdties and strings of verbalisms or syllogystic reasoning, that they delighted to soar into regions where common sense would be an impertinent intruder. They were thus tempted to overlook the grand aphorism — that all valid reasoning necessarily implies certain primary intuitive principles, them- selves unproved, — and only the more indubitable because antecedent to all argument and incapable of all proof. They had so inverted the order of nature, and elaborately artificialized the grounds of conviction, as to suppose there could be no certainty except as the conclosion of

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a long chain of consecutive ratiocination. So that in this state of mind the very simplicity and directness of the demonstration from palpable marks of design, only subjected it to the gravest suspicions. They had become acquainted with many of the laws and properties of nature, in the study of natural philosophy. But they never once rose beyond secondary and physical causes, which appeared to them rolling on in a perennial flow, as if under the influence of some blind unintelligent necessity. The very regularity of all the successions of state in the system of created things, lulled them into an uninquisitive moody indifference. Their attention had never once been directed to the admirable mechanisms resulting from skilful combination and adjustment of the laws and properties of material substances — significant of forethought, intention, design, intelligence.

Omng to the entire novelty of the subject, and the want of a prepara- tory and appropriate mental culture, a strange confusion seemed to enshroud it, in this respect, viz., that in the works of human art, their origin and pro- gress could be accurately observed and understood, as they advanced in the hands of the artificer j — whereas in the works of nature, their origin seemed lost in the recesses of time ; their progress could be but partially surveyed ; and the supposed artificer never made himself visible. It was insisted on, that all considerations connected with time, and mode, and in- strumentality, were but accessories wholly irrelevant to the point in view. The simple point was : — Here is a piece of mechanism, — Does it subserve any useful purpose that is distinctly comprehensible ? Are the means em- ployed for the accomplishment of that jHirpose distinctly comprehensible too ? And are these means so skilfully adapted to the intended end, that if known to be designed by man, they could not fail to extort an instantane- ous and involuntary acknowledgment and admiration of the high intelli- gence of their Author ? If so, how could tlie actual operation of a design- ing mind, whether seen or unseen, be for a moment denied without the most egregious inconsistency ? Wliat would the denial of it amount to but to the ridiculous conclusion, that design does necessarily imply intelli- gence where it suits not a man’s fancy or interest to say the contrary ? That which illumines a dark vault is admitted to be light, because the lamp whence it proceeds is visible to the eye. That which Ulumines the world in a cloudy day, is not light, becanse to the eye the source of it is not visible !

From the operation of these and other canses, there arose, to be dis- cussed during the ensuing week, a whole host of objections and evasions.

By some it was attempted to get quit of the mechanisms of nature alto- gether, by reviving the Indian doctrine of illusion, or the idealism of the Berkeleyan School ! It was shown that, by the fundamental principles of either system, however much the existence of a material universe might be denied, the Being of a God was not only admitted, but demonstrated ; and that the application of metaphysics at all to determine the reality or unreality of an external world, was just as incommensurate as would be the application of a barometer to measure the iceight instead of the height of mountains.

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By others, recourse was had to the doctrine of a casual coalition of atoms — a doctrine propounded and elaborated into a system by the founder of one of the heretical schools of India, ages before the name of Epicurus was heard of in Greece ! It was shown at length, that the ancient au- thors of this fictitious scheme might be so far excused, on the ground that they really knew little or nothing of the wondrous contrivances exhibited in the frame and structure of organized matter. But since modern obser- vation and science had imveiled the beauty and perfections of so many of those natural mechanisms, the folly of the man who would refer aU to a verbal inanity, designated chance, could be proved infinitely to exceed the delirium which would assert of the Government House in Calcutta, that all the particles of the varied materials of which it is composed — brick, mor- tar, marble, brass, iron, lead, timber, paint, glass — that all, dancing and roving about in vacancy, once happily met, and fortuitously arranged them- selves into those commodious proportions and ornamental designs, which render the ^•iceregal residence the noblest edifice in the city of palaces.

Others resorted to the figment of an infinite series of sequences in the works of nature, without an eternal First Cause. It was shown that this hypothesis involved a self-contradiction. Either, as has been pointedly observed, either “ some one part of this infinite series has not been succes- sive to any other, or else all the several parts of it have been successive.” If some one part of it has not been successire, then there must have been a first part, which annihilates the supposition of its infinity. If all the se- veral parts of it have been successive, then they must all have been once

future — a time may therefore be conceived when none of them existed,

and if so, the termination of the chain may be distinctly recognised ; and tills, too, destroys the supposition of its infinity.”

All these and other grounds of evasion having been at length abandoned, one last refuge yet remained. With a subtUty characteristic of Indian metaphysics, some represented as follows : — WeU, granting the principle that contrivance implies a contriver, design a designer ; granting the fact, that the world exhibits multiform contrivances and designs ; granting also the conclusion that there must be a great contriving and designing mind, the architect of the fabric ; must it not follow, that the harmony and nice adjustment of parts and attributes, — such as power, volition, knowledge, and wisdom, indispensable to the forecasting and fashioning of so many wonderful contrivances, necessaiily implies adaptation and design I And if, in things visible, adaptation and design necessarily indi- cate a designer, may there not be a higher designing cause which conceived and formed the invisible Author of the present universe, — and a higher stUl, the framer of that, — and so on backwards to infinity, without ever reaching an eternal First Cause ?

It was, first of aU, replied with Paley, that the admission of an intelli- gent Author of the world seiwed every practical purpose, since the power and the wisdom exhibited in its formation, vastly exceeded the grasp of human capacity, — that to the wisdom which could plan, and the power which could execute so stupendous a system, no possible limits could be

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set, — that these attributes, therefore, were infinite (and consequently belonged to an infinite essence), in the only sense in which such finite creatures as we are can ever conceive infinity at all — and that it were net less irrational than impious to withhold our homage from the Divine Architect, of whose being and attributes all creation is acknowledged to be a witness with ten thousand tongues, on the score of some supposed abstract metaphysical possibility that there may be an ascending series of higher architects, respecting whose being all creation is dumb, and whose existence revelation flatly negatives. But apart from this practical solu- tion, it was shown that no argumentative advantage was gained from the hypothesis, since an infinite series of invisible designing causes really involved the same absurdity and self-contradiction as an infinite series of visible undesigning causes.

Finding, however, that we were getting more and more entangled in a lab3rrinth wherein we might roam for ever without approaching nearer the wished-for goal, we resolved, on the next public occasion, to present the whole subject in an entirely new point of view. From the peculiar state of mind into which these inquirers had wrought themselves, it now became palpable that in their particular case the primary thing wanted — the rudi- mental desideratum — was a firm lodgment of the proposition that there must be a Fiasx Cause of some description or other. Till they once admitted and became familiarized with that fundamental truth, it was clear that all their thoughts must wander loosely without a fixture or fulcrum, — and that start where we might, and adduce what evidence we pleased, we were in the end tossed to and fro, and lost amid the bewilderments of an infinite series of intelligently designing or blind undesigning causes.

Hence the necessity of resorting to a mixed mode of what has been, though very improperly, styled the a priori argument ; for there never was, there never can be, strictly speaking, an a priori argument for the being of God. What is meant by such an argument ? It is an argument from cause to effect, from antecedent to consequent. It is this that contra- distinguishes it from the a posteriori argument, which is an argument from effect to cause, from consequent to antecedent. In reference to the being of a God, the application of the latter is not only legitimate, but rigidly philosophical. That for every effect there must be an adequate cause, is a maxim which, however it may be cavilled at by atheistical speculators, is sanctioned by the common consent of mankind, and is enshrined as the basis on which has been reared the magnificent temple of all modern science. When, therefore, from certain effects, such as the marks and traces of design in the phenomena of nature, we infer an adequate design- ing cause, — we occupy irrefragable ground. Now, a rigid a priori proof for the being and attributes of God, must of necessity be wholly independ- ent of the existence of such effects as those which indicate design. But it is easy to see that such an argument is in the nature of things impossible. The thing to be proved is the existence of a, first cause. To prove tliis’by an a priori argument, would requii'e us to imagine the existence of some- thing antecedent to the fii'st cause, from which antecedent something, as

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a basis, we might argue downwards to the origin of this cause. That an- tecedent something would then he itself the first cause, for whose existence a demonstration was sought ; so that the a priori argument for a first cause must suppose a first cause already proved.

Such an argument has often been vainly attempted by scholastic philo- sophers ; but that which is now known under the name of a priori, aims at no such impossibility. It does overlook, in the first instance, aU that is special or distinctive in the phenomena of nature : It does wholly disregard their laws, properties, and distinguishing characters ; — but it does not pre- ‘tend to overlook or disregard the simple /act of their existence. This fact, ‘ that there is something now in actual being,” it does assume, — and that is all. In this respect it entirely differs from the a posteriori argument, whose force wholly depends on a specific consideration of the frame and structure of external objects. In strictness of phraseology, therefore, it is neither wholly a priori, nor wholly a posteriori, — but something compound- ed of both. Of this kind is the celebrated demonstration of Dr Samuel Clarke. It was to an argument of this description, that peculiar circum- stances constrained me to resort, in order to establish the necessary exist- ence of a First Cause, — irrespectively, at the outset, of a specific consider- ation of its nature and attributes. And it was to prevent any misconception on this head, that in an address delivered and published four years ago, I chose to designate it “ a mixed mode of the a priori argument.”

The subject is too lengthy to be introduced here ; and a bare analysis would prove unsatisfactory, if not utterly unintelligible. Suffice it to say, that starting with the simple assumption, which was readily conced- ed, viz., that “something does now actually exist,” — a consecutive chain of reasoning was conducted more after the model supplied by Howe, than that of Dr Clarke, — moulded throughout, as far as possible, to the taste and comprehension of the hearers, — and accompanied with illus- trations adapted to their known intellectual habits and pursuits. It was shown, that, as nothing could not possibly have originated any tiling, and as no being could be its own maker without involving the contradiction that it existed before it actually existed, — seeing that some- thing really now is, it must follow that “ some being hath ever been, or did never begin to be.” In like manner, it was shown successively, by a continued appeal to well-exercised reason, that some being must ever have been uncaused, or of itself without a cause ; independent, or dependent on nothing without itself ; necessarily existent, or existing neither by its own choice nor that of another, and consequently by the intrinsic absolute necessity of its own nature. Thereafter, from a lengthened review, it was shown how, in order to avoid palpable absurdities and contradictions, the changeable and constantly changing state of things must be admitted to imply, not necessary, but dependent communicated being. When, by appropriate links, this ine^■itable admission was connected with the previous demonstration of the existence of some eternal, uncaused, self- originated being, — the grand conclusion was established, that there is an eternal, self-existent, independent, and necessary Being, — who must be

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the original, or great Fii-st Cause and Author of “ this perpetually variable state and frame of things.” And this great First Cause is what we denominate God.

With this simple unembarrassed conclusion, the lecture of the evening terminated. And I must own, that during the ensuing week, I felt more than surprised at the impression which had been produced by it. Though, as a mere appeal to abstract reason, I was not then, neither have I since, been conscious of any flaw in the chain of argument, — and I know not how it can be refuted without open ^dolence to the common reason of mankind, — yet, I freely confess that, however unanswerable in itself, it was not an argument that ever ritally influenced, or tended vitally to persuade my own mind. On this accoimt mainly it was that, in the first instance, I altogether avoided it ; and was only driven to betake myself to it from the necessity of circumstances. After much prayerful anxiety for the re- sult, it was, almost as a dernier resort, taken up and handled, somewhat like a bow drawn at a venture. But He — to those present emphatically the unknown God, — whose existence it was designed, however dimly and remotely to establish, was pleased to direct the shaft. For after that night, I heard no more of there being no great First Cause and Primeval Source of all things.

It may appear to some, that after aU, comparatively little had been gained ; since nothing had occmred to indicate whether the self-existent and original cause of all things was an intelligent or unintelligent Being ; — and herein, after all, as Dr Clarke veiy properly remarks, “ lies the main question between us and Atheists.” But, if the peculiar state of mind of those to whom the argument was addressed, be distinctly under- stood, it must be conceded that much had been gained. They had become wholly lost in mazes of infinite series, and of infinite successions. They were running a race ; but as to the prospect of reaching a fixed goal, they might as weU have been traversing the diverging sides of a parabola. Now, their being brought, on the ground of iiTefutable argument, to admit the being of a great Fihst Cause, was an actual reaching of some fixed goal, —around which all these thoughts might steadily revolve. As to future safety and usefulness, it made aU the difierence between a ship without rudder and compass, when vehemently tossed about by the tempest on a shoreless ocean, and the same compassless and rudderless ship snugly riding at anchor in a peaceful haven.

The existence of a great First Cause ha\'ing now been admitted, we next evening entered on a more specific inquiry into His nature and attributes.

The axiom assumed as the basis of proof in this department was, that “ no cause can ever communicate to its effect any real perfection wliich it has not actually in itself,” — otherwise, something real and positive would be produced by nothing. — After due explication and \findication of the truth of this axiom, it was shown in the ordinary way, how from the motion and action observable in the external world, we must infer that the First Cause is self-acting, self-mo'S'ing, — ha^fing “ the power of action and

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APPENDIX.

motion in and of itself,” — underived from any other source. From our own consciousness of possessing inteUigence, it was inferred, that the self-exist- ent must also be an intelligent cause. And here, the ordinary a posteriori argument from design was introduced with resistless effect. It was no longer appealed to, in order primarily to prove the existence of Apretioudg unacknow- ledged cause, — but only in order to illxistrate the nature of a cause whose eternal existence was cdreadg acknowledged. In this respect, a new review of the wonderful mechanisms wherewith the world aboimds — of the evi- dently intentional adaptation and exact fitness of aU things to their respec- tive ends — and of the inimitable beauty and harmony which overspread the whole, did not fail to exhibit the most indisputable signatures of design, — and design, the most convictive eridence of the operation of a designing intelligence.

Then followed proofs of the unity and spirituality of the Initial, Effi- cient cause, — the existence of whose mighty works proved His power, and their exquisite contrivances His wisdom or inteUigence.

To the subject of His spirituality, in particular, it was found necessary to devote a whole evening, — because some of those present had deeply plunged into the quagmire of gross materiaUsm. Their notions on this sub- ject were partly of Indian and partly of English growth. In India, for probably three thousand years, one of the principal heretical schools has consisted of a sect of rigid materialists. It has its ancient authorita- tive standards and subsequent commentaries and disquisitions. In these, materialism has been framed into an elaborate system. Assuming the eternal existence of a material atom, so minute as to be “ imperceptible to a needle’s point,” the philosophers of this school proceed to deduce from this wonderful atom, by a process of successive expansion, the entire fa- bric of the visible universe. And they cooUy and deUberately assert that inteUect and inteUigence are the material product of a material substance. The Indian scheme has at least the merit of being consistent with itself. If it regards man as a being whoUy material, it regards the only Deity of which it admits, as whoUy material too. This is more than can be al- leged of the EngUsh phUosophic schools of MateriaUsts. They treat of man as material ; but have not yet proclaimed the materiaUty of God. In this respect, their system is absurdly inconsistent with itself ; as it might be proved, that the very premises, which are said to lead to the conclusion that man is material, if legitimately foUowed out, would demonstrably impel us to believe in a material Deity ! Many had learnt to talk of “inteUigence” as “ a property of matter under certain modifications” — an assertion as wise and warrantable as would be the affirmation that “ light is a property of blackness under certain modifications ;” — of “ in- teUigence,” as “ the result of material organization,” — an idle figment contradicted by ten thousand experiments, and veUed in words which can only captivate the creduUty of ignorance ; — of “ inteUigence,” as an “ ingredient or inseparable adjunct” of a certain kind of “ animal life ;” which itself is said to consist in “ an assemblage of animal functions,” or “ modes of operation ! ” — as if the functions or modes of action of any

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thing could be the cause of its own existence ! — as if that which owes its origin to its own modes of action could be the source and origin of what is represented as a main part of itself ! — All this, and other such flat nonsense — or, if that term be too vulgar for ears polite — all this unin- telligible sense had been learnt from the British and French schools of materialism !

The many contradictions and sophisms involved in the leading schemes of materialism having been sufficiently exposed, we proceeded to consider the remaining attributes of the great First Cause.

Here, however, we must stop. To proceed any farther with even the most meagre analysis, would be to write a volume on the outlines of the external evidences of natural and revealed religion, — would be to fur- nish answers to all manner of objections. For this we have at present neither time nor space : — suffice it to say, that, eten on the subject of evidence, no lecture was ever concluded loithout some practical refections and appeals natu- rally arising from the subjects discussed — reflections and appeals calculated to awaken the conscience and impress the heart. When the authenticity and authority of the Christian Scriptures were fully admitted by some, and no longer opposed by others, we proceeded to consider the nature of their contents. In unfolding the substance of God’s holy oracles, our uniform plan was, systematically to combine the doctrinal with the practical. A leading doctrine, proposition, or theorem, which we held to be clearly revealed in the Bible, was distinctly announced ; it was then substan- tiated by a reference to numerous passages which, according to the estab- lished canons of criticism and exegesis, could not be otherwise interpreted ; and lastly, the doctrines so substantiated was pressed home not only on the understanding, but on the hearts and consciences of the hearers. The rudimental doctrine of Christianity being, that all men are sinners ; and, as such, the subjects of the Divine displeasure, and the heirs of everlasting perdition ; that doctrine was stated in the broadest Scriptural acceptation, without qualification or reserve. For several weeks it was illustrated, vindicated, and enforced. The Bible, the past history and existing state of the world, and the secret experience of aU present, were summoned as witnesses at the bar of the understanding and the conscience, to give weight and authority to the condemnatory verdict. At first all were startled and taken by surprise, — expressing amazement at the unexpected extent of the charge of guilt preferred against them. Some were mightily offended, as if a personal affront had been offered. Others were perfectly exasperated with rage and fury, — denouncing the entire charge as a foul calumny or wicked libel upon their character. The consciences of a few, however, as the result fully proved, were pricked to the quick. Agitated and perplexed, these were suddenly thrown into a new and untried state of being — the Word of Life, sealed by the efficacy of the Spirit, signally displaying its wondrous efficacy.

After having dwelt at length on the nature of man’s disease, and the reality of his helplessness, we passed on, from certain prospective glances,, to contemplate more at large the nature of the remedy. To prepare the

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mind for beholding the ovei’flowing fulness of grace in the spring-head of redemption, we first of all expatiated on the real difficulties which stood in the way of a remedy at all. For this purpose the character and attri- butes of Jehovah, as unfolded in the Bible, were spread out, chiefly in the sublime simplicity of the language of inspiration itself. His holiness, in particular, was unveiled in its awful and mysterious grandeur — that holi- ness which forms the burden of seraphic song — that holiness, in whose presence e\-il cannot dwell — that holiness which, in its burning purity, is not only sin’s opposite, but sin’s active, unvielding, everlasting antagonist. Having its root or foundation in holiness, the sovereign and judicial attri- bute of justice was largely descanted on — that justice which infallibly determines and maintains ' the Creator’s rights, and the creature’s duties, — that justice which infallibly apportions the rewards and punishments consequent on obedience and disobedience,— xmchangeably demanding the bestowal of the one, and the infliction of the other. With these views of Jehovah’s character and attributes, were next contrasted the evil and malignity of sin, — sin which would sully the purity of Di\-ine holiness — traverse the plans of Divine wisdom — disturb the felicity contemplated by Divine goodness — abrogate the sanction of Divine truth — nullify the pledges of Divine faithfulness — violate the claims of Divine justice — sub- vert the stability of the Divine government sin, which would not only affront and outrage, but, if possible, annihilate the Divine perfections, and reduce the boundless creation into an universal pandemonium.

From such a review and comparison, it was concluded — on grounds clearly revealed in Scripture, and incapable of being gainsayed by en- lightened reason — that the treason and turpitude of sin, in the sight of a holy God, are so aggravated, that the penalty of every transgres- sion can be nothing less than death — death, even to excision from the beatific presence, and the endurance of merited suffering through unend- ing ages, — and that, however overwhelming the thought, such penaltVj in all its tremendous mimitigated severity, is not only not opposed to any moral perfection, but is itself the necessary and unavoidable result of the combined manifestation of God’s adorable and unchangeable attributes. Hence the terrible alternative, either that the self-existent immutable Jehovah must change, and consequently, as such, cease to be ; or the guilt of every one delinquent, in any portion of His dominions, must be visited with severities at once penal and eternal. And as the former branch of the alternative must be pronounced the chief of all impossibilities, the understanding of a finite being must liave rested satisfied with the latter, however dreary, and hopeless, and unalleviated. The highest created in- telligences must for ever have been baffled Ja solving the problem, How God could be holy, and just, and true, and yet the Justifier of guilty rebels. Already had many of Jehovali’s attributes been manifested wath un- equalled lustre in the spotless mirror of His works. The production of innumerable worlds glorified His power : the order and harmony of created things glorified His wasdom : the unmingled happiness of blessed spirits glorified His goodness : the restless tossings of rebel angels in the fiery

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lake glorified His justice : — but how could mercy and grace be glorified, except by the pardon and redemption of hell-deserving sinners 1 Yet mercy and gi-ace could never be glorified ■without the full vindication of every other attribute — that is, -without what must have for ever appeared to aU finite capacity absolutely impossible.

Here, then, was presented the Di\'ine solution of the apparently insur- mountable difficulty. In the counsels of eternity, it was resolved that the second Person of the glorious and ever-blessed Godhead should in time assume the human form ; and as Immanuel, God with us, become the Surety and the Substitute of sinners. He alone was able : for neither angel nor archangel could adopt His language, and say, “ I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again.” But the grand subject of almost stupifying amazement was, that He should be ■willing — that He, whose all-comprehending mind could measure the evil desert of sin, and whose perfect holiness must have frowned on it with iiTeconcilable displacency — that He who could adequately conceive the aggravated guilt of rebellion against the Majesty of heaven, and whose inflexible righteous- ness might have demanded to avenge it — that He, the brightness of the Father’s glory, should condescend to stoop so low for apostate rebels ! When the “great mystery” was first dimlged in the courts above, well might all heaven break forth into hosannahs of praise and admiration of the Illustrious Surety. Again and again might they compare the magni- tude of the crime with the magnitude of the deseiwed punishment ; — contrast the infinite malignity of sin with the infinite holiness of the Divine nature — the transcendent majesty of the Son, with the vileness of rebels to be saved — the resplendent glories of heaven, with the unfathomed depths of his coming degradation. And louder and louder might they raise their hallelujahs ; till, lost and overwhelmed in wonder and astonishment, they could only exclaim, in di\'ine simplicity of language — “ Herein is love.”

For ages subsequent to the fall of man, the prospect of deliverance through an Almighty Sa-viour constituted the hope and the joy of the faithful ; — the successive announcements of the gi’eat design formed the staple of prophecy ; and its gi’adual developement, the liistory of Pro-vi- dence. But it was only when the Son of God became incarnate in human form, that the grand act of mercy and of justice was consummated. As man — to adopt, in substance, the remarks of an old divine — as man, the Saviour became subject to the law ; as God, He magnified and made it honourable. As man, he suffered the penalties due to transgression ; as God, He amply satisfied every demand of holiness, justice, righteousness, and truth. As man, he gave his soul an offering for sin ; as God, He stampt the offering with infinite value. As man, he died ; as God, He conquered death, and the grave, and hell. In a word, aU the Dirfne attributes were illustriously vindicated, grace and mercy glorified, and everlasting peace and reconciliation established between offended iMajesty and offending man.

All the preceding subjects, and many more, directly or collaterally in- volved in the -s-icarious sufferings and sacrificial and atoning death of

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Immanuel, were largely descanted on. More especially was the wondrous love of Christ pressed home in its varied practical bearings, — that love, the very thought of which ever set the heart of the great apostle on fire ; and ever caused the pen of inspiration itself to quiver when summoning us to scan its height, and depth, and length, and breadth j — challenging us to confess that it “ passeth knowledge,” — that it is vast beyond the grasp of aU finite conception, and that no metaphor can embrace the amplitude of the theme.

But though utterly unable to scale unmeasurable heights, or gauge imfa- thomable depths, or take the dimensions of illimitable lengths and breadths, those present were again and again besought to contemplate more fully the freeness and the richness of that love of God in Christ, which flowed forth to redeem a guilty world, — which, in reference to the past, has been pronounced everlasting ; and which, at every point of a coming diuation, will be everlasting still, — which, in time, fixed itself upon the human race when they had no merit and no moral excellence ; yea, when all were alike wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked ; — objects of spiritual loathsomeness in the sight of heaven, and outcasts in the universe of God. Again and again were they besought to consider the greatness and the strength of that love which “ many waters could not quench, nor the floods of great waters drown,” — which led Him who was “ fairer than the sons of men,” to have His “ -visage so marred more than any man’s, and His form than the sons of men ; ” — which caused Him to appear “ red in His apparel, and His garment dyed in blood ; ” treading the wine-press alone ; sustaining the curse of a broken law, and the -wrath of an avenging God ; — and all this, to cancel that guilt of theirs, which even eternal tor- ments could never atone for, as eternity -wiU never end ; and wipe away those stains of sin which oceans of blood could never cleanse ! And while they thought of aU this, they were besought, -with consciences quickened, and stony hearts softened, and souls enkindled with the fervour of Divine love, to exclaim in language, whose very simplicity proved the subject to be vast beyond all hyperbole to express it : — “ Herein is love : not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and gave His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.”

With these latter exhortations, there were also blended frequent notices of the administration of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter ; who was sent forth in virtue of Christ’s accepted sacrifice, — distinct intimations of His person- ality, His Dh-ine character and attributes ; a vindication and enforce- ment of the necessity of His preventing and co-operating grace ; and various other indispensable ofiices in conducting the economy and efficiently applying the fruits of redemption. At the same time, the urgent call for humble confession, earnest supplication, and importunate prayer for repentance and forgiveness, — as weU as for the quickening, enlight- ening, and sanctifying influences of the Spirit, — was again and again reiterated.

In the course of these latter prelections and addresses on the subject of tnan’s disease, and the all-sufficient remedy pro-vided in the Gospel, vital

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impressions, through the gracious influence of God’s Spirit, began to be made on the minds of several of the native auditors.

The first intimation of a decided change in the mind of any, was con- veyed to me in a note, of which the following is a transcript : —

“ My Dear Sir, — The bearer of this cliit (note) is my brother ; have the goodness to examine him ; or do just as you please.

“ If you can make a Christian of him, you ivill have a valuable one ; and you may rest assured, that you have my hearty consent to it. Convince him, and make him a Christian, and I will give no secret opposition. Scepticism has made me too miserable to wish my dear brother the same. A doubtfulness of the existence of another world, and of the benevolence of God, made me too unhappy, and spread a gloom all over my mind ; but I thank God that I have no doubts at present. I am travelling from step to step ; and Christianity, I think, will be the last place where I shall rest ; for every time I think, its evidence becomes too overpowering. Adieu. Most truly yours, Mohesh Ghose.”

In the editorial article of the “ Enquirer’’ newspaper, beaiing'date 28th August 1832, are found these words : — “ We had the pleasure on Sunday last of witnessing, at the old church, the baptism of a native gentleman. Baboo Mohesh Chunder Ghose, in the name of the Father, Son, and the

Holy Ghost, by the Rev. T. . Baboo M. C. Ghose was brought up at

the Hindu College. The education of the college made him abjure Hin- duism as a mass of superstition ; and the weekly lectures of Mr D. excited in him a desire to inquire into the claims of Christianity. The fruit of a steady examination of the evidences of this religion has, under the provi- dence of God, been his conviction of its truths ; which conviction he pub- licly declared the day before yesterday. Well may Mr D.be happy, upon the reflection that his labours have, through the grace of the Almighty, been instrumental in convincing some of the truth of Cliristianity, and others of the importance of an inquiry into it. We hope ere long to be able to witness more and more such happy results in this country.”

From a notice of this convert, inserted in the intelligence department of the Calcutta Christian Observer, 1st September, the following paragraph is an extract : — “ When in November 1831, he first attended the Rev. Mr D.’s Lectures on the Evidences and Doctrines of Natural and Revealed Religion, no language can well describe the impression produced on the minds of many of the auditors, by the forward, bold, reckless manner in which he advanced his numberless atheistical assertions. But, to his honour be it said, that if he was the most rash and daring in broaching objections, he was also the first to acknowledge their utter fallacy, or utter frivolousness, when exposed in their naked barrenness. No one could accuse him of double-mindedness. What he felt, or thought, be it right or be it wrong, he at once, without veil or covering, or sly equivocation, made known to all around. And if no one was more apt to blunder, or more ready to attack, no one was half so ready to acknowledge his error, or confess his weakness. In a word, though considerably in advance of the

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majority of his fellows in talent and attainment, the most remarkable feature in his mental constitution seemed to be a straight-forward ingenuous- ness. Hence it is, that, in spite of the judgment formed of liim by those who saw him chiefly in public, ilr D., who saw as much of him in private as in public, was wont to regard it as most probable that he would be the first to make a public profession of Christianity. And so it has happened. Shaken out of Atheism, he took shelter in Deism ; driven from Deism, he sought refuge in the general acknowledgment of Christianity, as a revelation from God ; awakened to a just sense of the utter dreariness, and wholly unscriptural nature of those representations of the Christian system which would fritter it into something as cold-hearted and inconsistent as the most meagre Deism, he at length embraced those transcendent views of di\'ine truth which have been entertained by the overwhelming majority of Chris- tians in every age.”

In another Calcutta periodical, a singularly interesting account, written by the young convert himself, was inserted ; detailing the successive steps of that painful and protracted mental process by which lie was led down- ward, from Idolatry to Atheism, from Atheism to Materialism, and from Materialism to blind Physical Necessity ; and thence again, in an upward ascent towards Deism, and ultimately Christianity, — but characterised by a marked and apparently studied silence as to any of the external means which had been blessed by God in effecting each internal change and tran- sition from the labjiinth of a Ikletaphysco- Atheistic-material necessity, to the peaceful haven of a sound and settled conviction of the truth, as it is in Jesus. This circumstance, together with the fact, that he was baptized by a clergyman who had not had the remotest connection with him till after he had resolved to make a public profession of the Christian faith, led to the rise and circulation of many idle surmises and unprofitable speculations.

On this subject, a few extracts from the Calcutta Christian Observer, for October, will convey all the information which historic justice requires. “ In our last number we mentioned the fact of Baboo Mohesh Chunder Ghose lia^fing been baptized at the old church ; and we dwelt rather largely on the external circumstances connected with his conversion from Hinduism to Christianity. In the Christian Intelligencer for the present

month, is a letter addressed by the Baboo, to the Rev. T. , detailing

the steps by which he was led to renounce Idolatry and to adopt the Christian faith ; in which is a total silence in reference to those circum- stances spoken of by us as facts. We in common with many others were greatly surprised, and concluded that either we had unintentionally fallen into a great error, which we were bound to remedy without delay, or that the Baboo, for some unkno^vn reason, had purposely suppressed the truth. We immediately made inquiiw ; and the following communication will set to rest the matter, -as it regards the correctness of our former account : —

To the Editors of the Christian Observer.

“ Gentlemen, — Ha^^ng been infonned that certain misunderstandings have arisen by my keeping silence to take notice of the facts that were

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mentioned in the Christian Observer, about myself, after my baptism ; I hereby send a few lines to obviate them, if possible. The facts that were mentioned in the forementioned periodical, regarding the external circum- stances connected with my change of mind, ai'e perfectly genuine ; there is not a syllable of them strained or forged. I have nothing to say of the opinions which the writer thus held ; my business is with the evidence of simple facts, and I have done my duty in having coiToborated them. — Most obediently yours, (Signed) “ Mohesh Ghose.”

After this candid acknowledgment, and especially when it is known that the Baboo, in private conversation, and in letters addressed to his friends, does not hesitate to declare the whole truth, and yet, in the paper to which we have referred, does not say a word on the subject, we must say it appears to us “ passing strange.” In a letter shown to us, by his own special permission, he strongly declares, that “ he hopes that his being baptized by Mr J. niU not give rise to the opinion that he was led to the faith by him, for that Mr J., as well as himself, were directly opposed to such an idea — he solemnly assures his friend, that "if there be a mortal man on earth, to whom he owes so much for turning his Atheistical mind to the consolations of Christianity, it is to Mr D. — adding, that “ this should be taken as his sincere opinion, as he could not be satisfied in his conscience as long as he had not done justice on this point.” Thus far the testimony of the Calcutta Christian Observer.

Not to speak of the hopeful renovation of heart, it would be difficult to imagine a renovation more thorough in the external deportment of any one than in that of M. C. Ghose. His fearless and ferocious vehemence in the advocacy of aU that was blasphemous and dissocializing, became transfonned into a calm and w'ell-regulated, but determined energy, — a bland and forbearing, but unconquerable meekness, in defence of the truth. He was often wont to give vent to his own feelings of surprise at the change which he was conscious of having undergone. On one occasion, in our house, in the company of several friends, after being wrapt up for some time in deep and intense meditation, he suddenly broke silence nearly in these words : — “ A twelvemonth ago, I was an Atheist, a Materialist, a Physical Necessitarian ; and what am I now ? A baptized Christian ! A twelvemonth ago, I was the most miserable of the miserable ; and what am I now ? In my own mind, the happiest of the happy. What a change ! How has it been brought about ? The recollection of the past fills me with wonder. When I first came to your Lectures, it was not instruction I wanted. Instruction was the pretext, — a secret desire to expose what I reckoned your irrational and superstitious follies, the reality. Contrary to my previous wish, contrary to my previous determination, I was driven from my first position. I then occupied another, resolved never to yield. Contrary to my previous wish, contrary to my previous detennination, I was driven from that also. I then occupied another, as eagerly resolved as before, never to abandon it. Contrary to my pre\-ious wish, contrary to my previous determination, I was again driven away from it. And so.

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at every stage I resisted ; — being predetermined not to advance a step fartlier ; for I hated Christianity, and could not endure the very thought of being so convinced as to be obliged to embrace it. And yet, I knew not what was in it ; I could not continue silent. When compelled to yield one point, I never felt the less sure of being able to maintain that on which I next depended. In this way, contrary to my original expectation, contrary to the strongest wishes of my heart, I was carried on step by step, till at last, against my inclinations, against my feelings, I was obliged to admit the truth of Christianity. Its evidence was so strong that I could not resist it. But I still fdt contrary to what I thought. On hearing your account of the nature of sin, and especially sins of the heart, my conscience burst upon me like a volcano. My soul was pierced through with horrible reflections, and terrible alarms ; it seemed as if racked and rent in pieces. I was in a hell of torment. On hearing and examining farther, I began, I know not how or why, to find relief from the words of the Bible. WTiat I once thought most irrational, 1 soon found to be very wisdom ; what I once hated most, I soon began to love most ; and now I love it altogether. What a change ! How can I account for it ? On any natural principle I cannot. For every step that I was made to take, was contrary to my previous natural wish and will. My progress was not that of earnest inquiry, but of earnest opposition. And to the last, my heart was opposed. In spite of mysdf, I became a Christian. Surely some im- seen power must have been guiding me. Surely this must have been what the Bible calls ‘ grace,’ — free grace, — sovereign grace, — and if ever there was an election of grace, surely I am one.”

The editor of the Enquirer, in gi'Ang an account of the baptism of M. C. Ghose, expressed a hope that he should be able, ere long, to “ witness more such happy results.’’ He himself was the next candidate for baptism.

His case excited more than ordinary interest. In his earlier days he became, like his fathers, the victim of a soul-withering superstition. While yet a youth, how could he help being entrapped in the thousand entangle- ments which beset him ? As a Brahman, he would from infancy be initiated into all the mysteries of a heathen priestcraft. As a Kulin Brahman, a Brahman of the highest'caste, he had before him the prospect of much worldly enjoyment ; and the certain assurance of unbounded reverence from the great mass, who would esteem it their highest privilege to be permitted to do him honour. But Providence had better things in store for Krishna Mohana Banerji. His subsequent career, as a student in the Hindu College, and latterly, as editor of the Enquirer newspaper, has already been briefly sketched. From the first, he was a most regular and attentive hearer of the Lectures specially addressed to those Educated Natives who fiercely denounced Hinduism without having succeeded in discovering a substitute. And, to his credit be it spoken, he never relaxed in his endeavours to impress his countrymen with a sense of the duty of attending, in order to give the subject a candid consideration.

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The first visible symptom of improvement in his views appeared in the unhesitating assertion, in his Journal, of the being of one Supreme Intelli- gence ; whose power, wisdom, and goodness, as manifested in the works of creation, are without bounds or limit. Afterwards were admitted many discussions, chiefly carried on by correspondents, respecting the evidences, and last of all, the doctrines of Christianity. And though, in conducting these, the editor took no very decided part, yet did it most clearly appear to which side he was gradually inclined to lean. Wliile he professed to admire the moral precepts of the Gospel, his mind was long painfully agi- tated with doubts respecting the divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures. And after their authority had been established to his satis- faction, his mind revolted at what appeared to him the utter unreasonable- ness of some of the doctrines therein propounded ; and more particularly the doctrine of the atonement, which necessarily implies the dicinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

His own simple account — written shortly after his baptism — of the dilemma in which he was placed in relation to this subject, is as follows : —

“ My attention having been particularly directed to the Socmian and Trinitarian systems, I at once felt more favourable to the former than the latter ; but not seeing any thing in it so great, that it might reasonably call for the adoption of such extraordinary measures as those which Jesus employed for its propagation, I could not yield my conviction to it. On the other hand, I understood not aright the doctrine of the atonement ; and on grounds of mere natural reason, could never believe it to be pos- sibly true. And as the Bible pointed unequivocally to it, I strove to per- suade myself, in spite of the most overpowering external evidence, not to believe in the Sacred Volume. Neither could I be satisfied with the forced interpretation of the Sociuians. Socinianism, which seemed little better than Deism, I thought could not be so far above human compre- hension that God should think of working such extraordinary miracles for its establishment. Accordingly, though the external evidences of the truth of the Bible were overwhelming, yet, because I could not, on prin- ciples of reason, be satisfied with either of the two interpretations given of it, I could not persuade my heart to believe. The doctrines of Trini- tarian Christians, which I thought were really according to the plain im- port of Scripture language, were all against my feelings and inclinations. Socinianism, though consonant with my natural pride, seemed yet so in- significant, as a professed revelation, that I could not conceive how, with propriety, an All-wise God should work miracles for its sake. So that I remained in a state of doubt and perplexity for a long time ; till God, by the influence of his Holy Spiiit, was graciously pleased to open my soul to discern its sinfulness and guilt, and the suitableness of the great salva- tion which centred in the atoning death of a Divine Redeemer. And the same doctrine of the atonement which, when not properly understood, was my last great argument against the divine origin of the Bible, is now, when rightly apprehended, a principal reason for my belief and vindication of the Bible as the production of infinite wisdom and love. From my own

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conscience I can now say, that an examination of the external eNidences of Christianity will serve only to give a iead knowledge of it ; and though the understanding may submit to it, the heart will not do so till God, by His grace, convince it that it is under the curse of sin, and deserves his vengeance. Though it is true that the arguments for Christianity are more than enough, and that it is the greatest and the most philosophical of all truths, — though no assertion could be a more flagrant falsehood than that it is ‘ built upon faith, not reason,’ — yet he who would be a Christian indeed, must pray that he may have a deep practical sense of that which his understanding may tell him is true. He must ever bear in mind, that the purposes of true religion are not merely to give knowledge to the in- tellect, but purity to the heart ; and that a Christian is nothing if he have not a faith which worketh by love, and bringeth forth all the peaceable fruits of righteousness.”

"When, after the removal of all his doubts and perplexities, he at last came formally to announce his desire to be admitted a member of the visible Church, his whole deportment and conversation were expressive of the deep>est humiliation and contrition on account of his former sinful wanderings. Of this his sentiments respecting the proper place for admi- nistering the ordinance of baptism, offered a simple and beautiful illus- tration. “ Some,” said he, “ urge me to go to your church, and be bap>- tized there ; but I cannot agree to it. ily own desire is, that that place which has been the scene of all my public opposition to the true religion, should also be the scene of my public confession of it. If I go to the church, my native acquaintances will not go, because their doing so would seem to their friends as making themselves one with the Christians. But they wiU come to your Lecture Room, as they have been accustomed to do. And my fervent wish is, that those — who knew me as an idolater, an atheist, a deist, and unbeliever, and may have been strengthened in their own unbelief by my arguments, — may now be the witnesses of my public recantation of all error, and public embracing of the truth, the whole truth, as revealed in the Bible. -And who can tell, but the sight and the example may be blessed by God to the awakening of some of my poor countrymen.

Of his baptism, the following is one of the notices that appeared in the Calcutta Journals : —

“ One of the most solemn, and at the same time gratifying scenes that we ever witnessed, was exhibited last evening at the house of the Rev. A. D. The occasion was the public avowal and profession of Christianity, sealed by the ordinance of Baptism, of an intelligent Katin Brahman, the well known editor of the Enquirer newspaper.

“ This sacred ordinance was administered in the presence of a numerous and highly respectable company of ladies and gentlemen, and of upwards of forty natives, the majority of whom are quondam pupils of the Hindoo College, and were some of its brightest ornaments.

“ The service was commenced by the Rev. >Ir Mackay in a short and

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impressive prayer ; Mr D. tlien advanced with the young convert before the audience ; addressed him at considerable length on the nature of that rite by virtue of which he was admitted into the church of Christ ; and concluded by asking, in the most solemn manner, several questions, relative to his present views and resolutions.

“ The first question was to the following effect : — ‘ Do you renounce all idolatry, superstition, and all the frivolous rites and practices of the Hindoo religion ? ’ To this the Baboo replied — ‘ I do, and I jn’ay God that he may incline my countrymen to do so likewise.’ The second question was : — ‘ Do you believe in God the Father and Creator of all, in Jesus Christ as your Redeemer, and in His sacrifice as the only means whereby man may be saved, and in the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit 1 ’ To this, with considerable emotion, he replied, ‘ I do, and I pray God to give me His grace to do His wiU.’

“ These, and other questions being answered, Mr D. administered the ordinance in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; and then engaged in prayer, the whole company kneeling, and apparently wrapt in the most intense devotion. The fact of a sensible young man, who had received a hberal education, and a Kulin Brahman, throwing off the shackles of a grovelling superstition, and embracing for his faith the glo- rious Gospel, after a long and patient investigation, with the sacrifice of the affections of a tender mother and fond relations, exposed to the ridi- cule and cruel treatment of his countrymen, and, despite of these, counting them as dross for the excellency of the knowledge of the truth, eventually avowing his conviction of that tnith, and now receiving the outward sign of that grace of which he is the subject, was indeed enough to excite that deep interest which was so conspicuously manifested.”

These baptisms, though small in number, were in quality of inestimable value. As regards the individual soul and eternity, every genuine bap- tism is as precious as every other. But as regards the influences exerted on society, there may be the utmost possible difference in degi'ees of value. The baptisms now recorded did produce an impression on the public mind, both native and European, which, in intensity of interest, vastly exceeded what might be expected from their numerical amount. Some of the rea- sons are obvious. These were the first that had ever taken place in Eastern India among the better classes of natives who had acquired a thorough European Education. This alone was enough to draw general attention towards them. Then, again, the individuals were not only of respectable caste and family, but from the eventful change and incidents in their brief career, of universal notoriety. This most especially held true of one of the number. "What man, woman, or child, in Calcutta, had not heard of the name, and some of the doings of Krishna Mohana Banerji ? Hence his baptism, in particular, became the theme of conversation and discussion with every group that met on the street or in the bazaar ; in every snug coterie reposing under shade from the mid-day sun ; in every school ; and in every family circle. Hundreds, or even thousands of bap-

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tisms among the low caste, or no caste, or illiterate grades, generally would not have excited a tithe of the mental stir and inquiry then exhi- bited among all classes ; and among the higher order, probably none at aU. Sagacious natives began to think in a way they never did before, how European knowledge had destroyed the belief of numbers in Hinduism ; and how the same knowledge was now seen to coexist with the public profession of a foreign faith. This contrast and coincidence in the minds of some awakened certain strange thoughts, or rather unshaped phantasms of reflection, and ominous forebodings. And others were painfully haunted with the fact that a Kulin Brahman, a Brahman of the highest order of that priesthood which they had supposed eternal and unchangeable, had actually proclaimed the faith of Brahma, a lie, and the abhorred religion of Jesus, the Truth. Verily, — was the sentiment pent up in many a heart, and embodied in many a significant expression, — verily a blow has been struck at the very heart of Hinduism ; the Christian’s argument threatens to be a more destructive weapon than JIahammad’s sword ; this we saw and knew how to repel ; but that we perceive not : who can fight against a power unseen ?

Some of the most disputed points connected with the evangelization of India, these baptisms helped materially to settle.

How often had Europeans objected, that the barrier of caste was insu- perable, and the conversion of Hindus, especially those of the higher caste, impossible. By an appeal to the Bible and to facts, this had been proved not less impious than false. And now, in the city which contains the largest assemblage of Europeans and natives any where congregated in India, it met its final death-blow. In reference to these baptisms, a public Journalist on the spot thus wrote : — “ We look upon these repeated in- stances of the renunciation of idolatry, and the public acknowledgment of the truth of Christianity, as a refutation of the bold assertions of many, that the Hindu will never be converted.”

The fact that numbers had previously embraced the Christian faith, no sane man ever attempted to deny. But then there was always some drawback or ground of evasion. We were first told that these aU con- sisted of the lowest and most ignorant of the people, and that ignorance led to a nominal profession. In many specific instances, this charge, too, was proved to be unfounded. And the present baptisms afforded incon- trovertible confutation ; for the converts w'ere of the most respectable of the people, and had their minds illuminated and enlarged by British liter- ature and science. The evidences and doctrines of Christianity they could expound and defend with an ability to which not one in ten of the traducers of Christian Missions could make the smallest pretension.

Again, we were told, that if not wholly degraded and ignorant, previous converts in general were poor, needy, poverty-stricken creatures ; who, having nothing to lose, might have something to gain by assuming the name of Cliristian. This charge, too, had been proved, to say the least, most grossly exaggerated. In the present instances, such a charge would be palpably false. In reference to these, the Calcutta Journalist

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already quoted, with truth and emphasis, remarks : “ There is but little probability that any native, especially one of respectability and high caste (of which description were those recently baptized), will embrace the Christian religion except from the purest and the best of motives, — a sin- cere and cordial belief in its truth. It is not compatible with the natural disposition of men, to relinquish their hold on worldly advantages without a thorough persuasion that they substitute for what they relinquish a greater and more substantial good. A Hindu of the class referred to, therefore, can entertain no mercenary motives, and no hope of worldly influence, by renouncing the tenets of Hinduism. He exposes himself to persecution, to personal abuse, to the ridicule, contempt, and indignation of his relatives and former friends. For what does he do this ? Not for pecuniary gain or worldly advantages ; but because he is absolutely con- strained, by the aU-powerful conrictions of his understanding, that Clms- tianity is true, and is wilhng to forsake all, for Christ’s sake and the Gospel.”

Early one morning, about the beginning of December 1832, another of the young men entered my study. After the ordinary salutation, he sat down ; and, for a quarter of an hour, opened not his lips. From the expression of his countenance, I perceived that he was labouring under some great mental conflict ; but could not ascertain its nature or cause. At last, bursting into tears, he suddenly broke silence in these words : — “ Can I be saved ? Shall I have the privilege of being called a son of God, and a servant of Jesus Christ ? Shall I be admitted into his holy family ? ”

After the firs't tumult of emotion was assuaged, he gave an account of the manner in which he had been awakened on the previous night, — an account which was subsequently recorded in writing by himself as follows ; — “ All your Lectures on the Existence of God, — the possibility, probability, and certainty of Divine Revelation, and the degraded and sinful state of human nature, by which we have forfeited all our rights and claims, — I heard regularly and attentively ; particularly, the latter parts of each, in which you used to push them home into our hearts ; and thought better to speak to the heart than to the intellect. But the Lecture of last even- ing has aflected me more than aU the rest. I cannot remember the very words ; but the following was the substance of the passages that stirred me witliin : — ‘ If we are all lost sinnere before God, do we not deserve His wrath ? Are you, then, prepared to die and appear before Him ? Should any of you hke to go to hell, and bear everlasting punishment there ? Your answer must be in the negative. Then how wiU you shun the im- pending vengeance ? Should you not be thankful to any one who freed you from this deplorable state ? Should you not believe on him, and eagerly embrace his doctrines ? Here God is ever gracious and merciful. He has opened a new way of deliverance, that is, through Je.sus Christ. He is the way, the tnith, and the life. Those that believe on Him shall have eternal life ; and those that do not believe shall inherit eternal

U U

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punishment. Christ underwent the punisliment that is due to us, even the death of the Cross. He gave himself a ransom for aU ; and He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. He died for aU, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him that died for them. He invites us with the most warm affection, ‘ Come unto me all ye that labour and are hea^y laden, and I will give you rest — so let us directly go to him. Let us renoimce aU our sins and wickedness ; and with a humble heart and contrite spirit, let us drink the cup of sal- vation which is filled with His precious blood, and inherit the everlasting kingdom prepared for the saints.’ These, and other such expressions, came so forcibly on me, that I began to meditate more closely and solemnly on the subject of salvation ; and said within my heart, while sitting in the Lecture Hall, — Am I prepared to die ; if required this very night, am I prepared to die ! No. Then, why not go to Him, who is ready to receive and save me ? H there be no other way but through Him, then, O my soul, why not search after that way, and without doubt you wriU gain the harbour ! When I was thinking all this, the meeting was dissolved ; and I walked out. I resolved not to go to my own home that night ; but went to a friend’s (Baboo K. M. Banerji, recently baptized), who is dear to me in the Lord. All the way from you to him, I had nothing but solemn meditations — only condemning myself — that, why did I neglect so great a salvation ? Why did I spend so much time in rioting and cavilling ? But now is the accepted time ; even now, O my soul, neglect not a moment to go to Him who is ready to receive you. Such kind of thoughts occupied my whole mind while I was on the road, and often recollected the recent words delivered by yon. When I arrived at Baboo K. M. Baneiji’s house, about ten in the night, I found him surrounded by a number of young men, cavilling and criticising your Lecture. I was backward to mix in the company, lest I might fall into their snares ; bnt went and sat down in the comer of a separate room, where I had better company than theirs. About eleven o’clock, when they went away. Baboo K. inquired for me ; and finding me sitting in the room alone, asked the cause of it. At first I could not speak, nor express my feelings, but stared at him ; and then, with a sorrowful voice, acquainted him with the particulars. He, being a Christian, rejoiced in his heart, and strengthened me greatly on the subject. I then asked him to join me in prayer ; and after the solemn communion with God, I sought his advice as to what I should do ; for I still felt very uneasy in my mind. His advice was, to go to you early in the morning. Accordingly, after a night of trouble and sorrow, I am here to ask yon. What shall I do I Can I be saved ! I am aftuid to die. Oh ! can I be saved ! ”

It is needless to say how deeply affected I felt at this simple narrative. My reply was, in the words of the apostle, “ Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou skalt be saved.” And, after expatiating to my yoimg friend on the theme of “ Christ cmcified,” and commending him in prayer to the Lord, he seemed mightily revived in his mind. Indeed, so sudden and complete was the relief which he found in believing, and so

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overjoyed was he by the new sense of deliverance through tlie Cross of Christ, that he earnestly wished that very day to be baptized.

Never have I witnessed so palpably vmble a manifestation of the self- evidencing power of the Word of God. It was the awakening Word of God which, on the preceding evening, had pierced like an arrow into his con- science— which left him self-convicted, self-condemned — and made him cry out in agony of spirit. Can I be saved ? — and again and again. Can I be saved ? His soul, when he first entered my apartment, seemed not only overcast with the gloom of anxiety and doubt, but violently agitated by the terrors of a condemning law. But the storm and the tumult which the Word of God had raised, the same Dhine Word was potent to aUay. The Gospel message appeared suddenly to distil upon the soul like a refresliing shower upon the thirsty land ; after the lowering clouds that pealed with thunder, and flashed with lightning, had burst away. He now no longer insisted on the removal of particular objections formerly brought against certain passages in the Bible. Some of these had resisted the influence of every answer. But these now suddenly gave way before the breath of a new life ; as leaves that have withstood the storms of win- ter are seen to drop before the fresh reviviscence of vegetative energy in spring. He now needed no arguments or reasonings to persuade him of the suitableness and all-sufficiency of the sacrifice on Calvary. In the announcement of “ the glad tidings,” the Spirit of God seemed, as it were, in a moment to remove the scales from his darkened vision. Groaning under the disease of sin and the load of guilt, he simply looked to the Saviour on the Cross ; he looked with the eye of faith, and. felt himself made whole and disburdened. Could he doubt the efficiency and suffi- ciency of the heahng virtue that streamed from the fountain of Immanuel’s blood ? No. He experienced the fulness of its power. Doubt its efficacy to save ? — No more than the blind whose eyes are opened, or the deaf whose ears are unstopped, or the lame whose feet are made to walk, can doubt the efficacy of the means that liave actually restored them to light- and liberty. Doubt its sufficiency to satisfy ?— No more than the famished man can doubt the sufficiency of a sumptuous banquet to appease his hunger, after he has actually partaken of it ; or the naked man the suffi- ciency of robes of purple to cover his nakedness, after he is actually clothed in them ! No. Led by Divine grace, he came and found Jesus of Naza- reth, the Son of God, 'the Saviour of the world ; and instantly did he cling to him as “ all his salvation and all his desire.” He came, he saw, and was healed. He came sorrowing and moumiog in anguish of spirit : He went away rejoicmg with a joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Soon after this he was publicly admitted into the visible Churcli by baptism.

After these baptisms had taken place, the state of things among the Educated Natives liad become wholly changed. At the outset of the course of Lectures, all were nearly of one heart and one mind, — every heart being inflamed with a fiery rage against Hinduism,— every mind

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engraven with a negative Atheism, or a positive anti-Tlieism. But after having been incessantly engaged for upwards of a twelvemonth, we found, at the commencement of 1833, tiie original confederacy broken into fragments of a very dissimilar composition. Some of those who were formerly dis- tinguished as haughty leaders in the ranks of a reckless Atlieism, had now been admitted into the Christian Church, as humble disci])les of the meek and lowly .Jesus. A few, without being yet baptized, openly acknowledged their belief in Christianity ; and gave evidence of vital impressions having been produced in their hearts. These might be reckoned of the order of catechumens. Besides these two classes, a considerable number did not scruple to avow their conviction that the Bible contained a true revelation from God ; but were staggered at our representation of its doctrines, par- ticularly the doctrine of the Trinity. These were a sort of Demi-believers or Socinians ; who were still desirous of carrying on the important inquiries on which they had embarked. A fourth party professed not to be alto- gether satisfied with the evidences, and yet did not see well how they could be invalidated. These neither positively believed nor positively disbelieved ; and thus, quivering in the balance between dubiety and cer- tainty, formed a class of Demi-infidels, who also wfished to be considered as inquirers after truth. A fifth section distinctly proclaimed their dis- belief in the Divine authority of the Bible ; its morality they did not hesitate to admire, but on no higher ground than they might admire any good precepts or maxims in Manu, or Socrates, or Confucius. These consti- tuted a school of Deists, who were yet not unwilling to be enrolled in the catalogue of inquirers. Apart from aU these divisions, there existed a sixth ; which entirely threw off the mask it at one time assumed. These openly declared, that they neither believed nor wished to believe, — that they neither admitted the truth of Christianity, nor would any longer trouble themselves with an investigation into its e-sidence or doctrines,— in a word, that they cared nothing about the matter, and would have nothing more to do with it. These — resolved not to run the hazard of reproach, or worldly loss, which might be suspended on the contingency of conviction, — above all, resolved not to abandon their habits and propen- sities,— seemed froqi the first, predetermined to shut their eyes against the light of evidence ; their grand maxim being, “ Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die.” They had originally professed themselves inquirers, not from a sincere desire to leam, but from a hearty resolve, if possible, to expose Clmstianity in the weakness of its cvfidence and the absurdity of its doctrines ; and to cover its public advocate with shame and confusion. Having signally failed in their campaign against the truth, they gradually withdrew their presence altogether ; and returned to wallow unmolested in the mire of sinful vanities. In the meantime, having repeat- edly done violence to the dictates of natural reason, and the promptings of natural feeling, they latterly became far more blinded in their imder- standings, hardened in their hearts, and seared in their consciences than at the beginning. They hated the light, because their deeds w’ere eril ; and in the end appeared to give fatal evidence of being wholly given up to

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a reprobate mind. So true is tlie declaration, that where the Gospel becomes not the savour of life unto life, it is sure to prove “ the savour of death unto death.”

To meet the wants of individuals differing so widely in sentiment, a new system of operations was commenced about the beginning of 1833.

1. For those who had given credible e^'idence of being true believers, whether baptized or as yet unbaptized, a jjrivate week-day class was opened for the more systematic study of Christian evidence and doctrine in the mmutest details ; in order that they might be the better panoplied to

in the gathering warfare with the enemies of the truth ; and also a Sunday class for the reading of the Scriptures, and other practical and devotional exercises, in order that their own souls might be continuously fed, and gi-ow in grace, till they attained to the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus.

2. For all who admitted in any form, definite or indefinite, the Divine authority of the Bible, but who entertained the most discordant views of the nature of its contents, there was commenced a specific course of public Lectures. In this course the object to be accomplished, if possible, was twofold : — First, to deduce from the Bible, by an application of the established rules of criticism, the system of doctrines and duties therein propounded as the standard of faith and the guide of practice ; and secondly, to obviate, as far as practicable, the prodigious mass of objections that arose from ditferent passages scattered up and down the sacred pages. The former object might have been accomplished most du-ectly by following an arrangement similar to that adopted and almost conse- crated by most of our leading confessions of faith and systems of divinity in Europe. Such a plan, however, would not have answered so well the latter purpose, as it would have excluded the consideration of a multitude of those very passages most frequently objected to by the unbeliever and the scotfer.

But why not, it may be said, take up aU such passages separately ? Let any enlightened believer try to satisfy his own mind by so doing ! And if he cannot, how is he to remove the scruples and objections of the unbeliever ? The trath is, that the very som'ce of the difficulties often consists in perversely resolving to view certain parts of the Bible as detached and isolated from all other parts, — that the very source of weak- ness and unsatisfactoriness in many of the answers given to objectors, consists in the attempt to vindicate such parts on their own independent merits. Look at the husbandman scattering his seeds in the cold earth : view the fact of these seeds mouldering into conniption wholly apart from any consideration of the expected treasures of harvest ; and would you not reckon the act of sowing a prognostic of consummate folly ? So in the Bible, an incident or a doctrine, a character or a fact, an ordinance or a prediction, when separated from its proper connection with what precedes and follows it, not in the same chapter merely, but in other books, may often be held iqi to ridicule and to scorn. And he who is unwary enough to allow himself to be entrajiped in the snare of supposing that he is bound

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to vindicate every part on its own separate footing, may institute a defence which, like an unsuccessful sally from a garrison, can only tend to weaken his own cause, and expose his stronghold to more vigorous onsets from a watchful foe.

Again, by viewing some of the difficult passages separately — more par- ticularly in the Old Testament, — their true scope not being discerned, they are often taxed with imaginary meanings, and then scouted as foolish, or frivolous, or worse. To recur to our former example : — If, in witnessing the cheerfulness of countenance and vigour of limb displayed by the hus- bandman in his labours in spring, we should assert that the promotion of health was his immediate and sole end, and salutary exercise in this par- ticular mode, his chosen means for securing it ; or, if we should allege an end wholly fictitious, and maintain that he prepared the soil, and deposited the seed exclusively for the pleasure of tracing a subsequent process of decay : — in either case, we might display what we mistook for excellent wit in heaping charges of folly or extravagance upon the man ; when, in the view of intelligent beings, we might all the while be only making an ostentatious parade of our own folly and ignorance. How fitly does this represent the treatment which certain portions of the Word of God have experienced at the hands of thoughtless, ignorant, unreasonable men. How- have they, times and ways without number, by seizing on isolated passages, formed the most meagre and inadequate conceptions ; as well as feigned the most false construction of ends, purposes, and motives ! How- often have they then turned round, and charged the Bible with absurdity or injustice ; which the Bible itself, if duly examined, woidd be found most loudly and unsparingly to condemn !

Now, if the source of the error has been the severing of passages from the main body of Revelation, and gazing at them, like bleak and solitary crags rent and hurled from their proper position and connection with the surrounding landscape, the real source of ^-indication must be in the re- storing of these to their appropriate place, and in the v-iew-ing of them in their appropriate bearing and relation to the whole’ of the spiritual scenery. In other words, in soh-ing the difficulties of particular passages, it ought ever to be remembered and counted on, that the Bible is the "Word of Him “ to whom are known all his works from the beginning of the world that the whole exhibits one gi-and and comprehensive scheme, consisting of a multitude of parts, which embrace every diversity of topic, and every variety of event, along the whole extended tract of time. It will then be found that that, — w-hich, w-hen separately contemplated, might be easily exposed to many a hostile charge, — may, when exhibited in its natural dependence, with light radiated upon it from a hundred points, contiguous and remote, become a theme of positive admiration and praise.

Now-, the leading principle and topic of this all-embracing scheme, is the work of redemption. But the nature of this work, both as regards its design, and the agency for its accomplishment, has not been announced in a series of abstract propositions, or categorical aphorisms ? No. Its announcement has been in the fora of an historical nai-rative. Hence,

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though the Bible consists of a collection of books, the greater part of these are not to be viewed as separate or independent treatises. For one prin- cipal end pervades the whole ; — even the work of redemption through Jesus Christ, the Lord from heaven. That this is the main scope of the Bible, we need not stop here to prove. In this, both the Old and New Testaments perfectly concur. The Law'and the Prophets form one conti- nued prophecy of the contents of the New ; and the Gospels and Epistles one continued commentary on the contents of the Old — the substance of both being Christ.

But how does this, it may be asked, appear, seeing that no direct or literal mention has been made of Christ, particularly in the law and historical writings ? It appears in a way the most intelligible. Let it be remembered that aU the works of God are progressive. Creation itself, though instanta- neous in the separate individual acts, was yet gradual as a series of results. And every vital form, whether in the domain of animal or of vegetable life, has its embryo state, and almost imperceptible progi’ess towards maturity. In like manner, agreeable to the analogy which pervades all the works of the Almighty, the great plan of redemption was to be gi’adually developed through a long succession of ages — to receive periodical accessions from accredited messengers — to brighten into noonday glory when the promised seed appeared — and, unlike the work of material creation, still destined to roll on, unfolding new fruitage for ever and ever. This plan of redeeming love was the great purpose which God purposed from eternity. And if so, could He be ignorant of its details ? Impossible. To the eye of Omniscience the whole world appeared stretched out in prospective, with an accuracy in- finitely greater than that with which the past can appear to us in retrospect. If, then, we can describe the past ; with how much greater precision could God delineate the future ! Let this be denied, and we reduce divinity to the level of frail humanity. If we can use words as signs of ideas which have already arisen in the mind, much more can God employ symbols to denote ideas, plans, and pui-poses, hereafter to be unfolded. If we can construct fables, allegories, and parables, for the portraiture of past ac- tions or events, or instructions already delivered, much more can God, in condescension to our weakness, adopt similar and more perfect modes for setting forth actions, events, and instructions to be hereafter more fully made known : — Hence, to His all-comprehending mind, the future must stand more clearly disclosed than the past does to ours.

Now, as the scheme was not to be revealed at once, in what way could it best be intimated without a premature disclosure of the whole ? No method can appear more exquisitely adapted to thejpurpose than the em- ployment of a language of expressive sjTnbols aptly chosen — a language correctly representing what was afterwards to appear without a covering. As a simple illustration of what is meant by emblematical language, taken from ordinary human records, let us refer to a well-known circumstance related concerning the followers of a certain unfortunate monarch in his exile. It is said that these had seals engraven with the device of “ an oak cut down, yet encircled with its ivy,” — bearing the appropriate in-

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scription, “ I cling to the fallen.” Here it is undoubted that the emblem represents wliat is naturally and literally true, — viz., that ivy does cling to its mother-tree though fallen. And to persons ignorant of the history, this is all the meaning which it might convey. But who, that knew the circumstances, would for a moment believe that this was the primary truth thereby intended ? Who could for a moment doubt, that there was a tacit but direct ?'eference to another somewhat analogous truth, which was really the principal one 2

In like manner, from actual existences, natural, ceremonial, or historic, God, in His wisdom, did choose emblems, apt and multiform, to represent other realities. These uncpiestionably expressed what was literally and absolutely true. Yet, did they envelope some higher truth — even as the body forms only the vehicle of the soul or spirit. The natm-al literal sense was true ; but it was by no means the principal sense, in the view of Him who selected the event or image. The fact, or the incident, or the action chosen, was historically true ; but often in itself unim- portant, and in its nature generally transitory’. It was the ulterior object tj-pified that formed the ti’uth which endureth for ever. From almost every object and event, beginning with the transactions in Para- dise— descending through the eventful liistory of the patriarchs — the Mosaic ritual — the wanderings and journeyings of the Israelites — the vic- tories and defeats of their kings — the establishment and oveidhrow of their kingdom,- — there has been framed a language of sensible signs — an emblematic or parabolic language, shadowing forth great and substan- tial truths. And thus it is that all historic characters, events, and cir- cumstances, so studiously recorded in the Old Testament — down even to the minutest items of the drapery of the tabernacle, or of the varied ornaments of the temple, — are at once rescued from meanness and obscu- rity, and raised to honour and dignity by being the symbols divinely chosen for convepng intimations of truths deeply interesting to the whole race of man. These symbols or devices, which resemble Solomon’s “ net-work of silver, enclosing apples of gold,” were constantly accumulat- ing till they had embraced the whole of the history of God’s peculiar people throughout its apparently most insignificant details, and had con- verted the whole of the visible works of the Almighty into one vast maga- zine of expressive emblems for pourtraying those glorious truths which were %’isibly to shine forth, in the life, sufferings, and triumphs of the long- expected Alessiah. So that the whole of the Old Testament becomes one great and comprehensive system of rough draughts or outlines, — and the New, one perpetual system of admirable corresjjondencies in the form of finished pictures. Or, to adopt the striking figure employed by a great living Di\’ine, the one resembles the ten-estrial sphere, with its heights and depths and rugged eminences ; the other, a resplendent concave let down from heaven’s canopy, with singular adaptations in the shape of hollows and prominences, which fit in and fill up the varied surface of earth — reducing the whole into one vast plain, bathed in floods of celestial light.

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Hence, we may remark in passing, the fell and deadly mischief which may eventually he inflicted on Divine truth by the sacred oracles being riven asunder, and exclusitdy presented in loose, isolated, unconnected fragments, to the minds of youth, in any system, whether private or national. It cannot he too often repeated, and in op2)osing infidels, our sole vantage-ground often consists in being able to repeat, that the Bible is a comprehensive whole, — and that the scheme of redemjjtion, in its j)reparation and completion, is the connecting chain which exhibits all the jsarts in their just i)i'oj)ortion, and mutual relations, and combined sig- nificancy. Break the system into pieces ; present it in dislocated extracts, denuded of its harmonizing clew ; — and it will require only the rack of in- fidel ingenuity to make some portions appear wlioUy unworthy or frivolous, and others sterile or strangely incongruous, — a collection of dry accounts and enigmatic oracles — a congeries of frigid rites and unintelligible forms — a mass of trivial littlenesses or senile dotages — an assemblage of cruel com- mands and harsh prohibitions ! But let the Bible be presented as a whole ; let it be viewed as the great historic chart of heaven ; — gradually disclos- ing, and finally sealing the great salvation accomplished through the incarnation and death of that glorious jjersonage of whom, in glowing anticipation, Moses and all the jirophets downwards wrote ; and concerning whom, after his appearance, in as glowing retrospect. Evangelists and Apostles spoke, and wrote, and preached to the ends of the earth ; — then, in defiance of all the legions of infidelity, may the jirecious volume be raised aloft on the Christian standard in fore-front of the battle, enshrined in a light and glory all its own.

It cannot be denied, that in an extract, however short and unconnected, yea, even in a single sentence, there may be a seed of life, wliich, if im- planted in an open, candid, and ingenuous soul, may grow up into fruit- fulness. But the overwhelming majority of mankind are not of this description ; and it is to the state and wants of the majority, that general plans and systems must always be adapted. Besides, even in the former case, there would be a sad defalcation in the means of enjoyment and progressive advancement.

It is true that when one is parched with thirst, his immediate craving and necessary want may be satisfied by the supjjly of a cup of water from the running brook. But it is not less true, that could we conduct him along its banks, and elevate him to some commanding eminence, whence issues a little spring, that flows into a rill, — and increases into a rivulet, — and swells into a mighty stream — fertilizing many a fair province in its passage to the ocean ; — it is not less true, that to the mere satisfying of the demands of nature, there would now be superadded a new charm— a new species of intellectnal enjojunent in the view of such wide and varied magnificence of jn’ospect. In like manner, it is true that, if the thirst- ings of a soul spii’itually parched, be quenched by a single draught of the water of life which maketh glad the city of our God, all that is absolutely necessary has been accomplished. But, could we ascend to the first spring of promise in Paradise — to the fountainhead of the whole vast scries of

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announcements of a Saviour and the great salvation — emitting its almost undistinguished riU, which gradually enlarges as it advances— gathering strength, and fulness, and beauty, as it glides down through successive periods of time — cheering many a baiTen sand with verdure, and many a desert waste with luxuriance, in its onward progress to the ocean of eternity ; — Oh, what soul would not be elated with feelings of new and unwonted enjoyment in the view of a scene so boundless and sublime !

In order, therefore, critically to unfold the leading doctrines and pre- cepts of the Bible ; and at the same time review aU the passages that had been repeatedly made the ground of objections ; — it was resolved at once to take the Bible itself as the sole book. It was resolved to begin with the account of the creation and the fall ; and thence to trace the rise, progress, and consummation of the work of redemption after the order of develope- raent, and agreeably to the method of instruction adopted by the Spirit of Grod himself. It was resolved to consider aU the institutions, incidents, and events, which had occasioned difficulties and doubts ; and to contem- plate these chiefly in the light so largely reflected on them all by their connection, immediate or accessory, with the gradually expanding scheme of redemption. It was resolved to intersperse the whole with such prac- tical exhortations and appeals, as might be naturally suggested by the subjects discussed.

3. For those who were, in whole or in part, unbelievers in the divine origin of Christianity, there was commenced a new series of public addresses and discussions on the subject of the e\'idences.

Here we cannot but specially refer to one very noticeable effect which had been produced by the prelections and discussions in which we were so long engaged ; and that was, the general, if not universal, suppression of avovcd Atheism. The sheer foUy and staring irrationality of any scheme or modification of Atheism, had become so palpably obtrusive, tliat, whatever some might “ think in their heart,” no one now would venture to rise up in the presence of his fellows, and with his lips declare, “ there is no God.” If any one could muster so much of bad bravery as to give utterance to the daring expression, he was sure of being shouted down, by acclamation, as “ a fool.” Who will say that this itself was not a most desirable re- sult ? If no higher end had been attained, who could say that our labours had been all in vain I But God, in the riches of His grace, had been pleased to crown our most unworthy exertions with the nobler first-fruits of a coming harvest. Some had already heard and obeyed the voice of Christ, and actually entered his fold ; others were preparing to follow ; numbers were persuaded that it was really a voice from heaven, which spoke to them in the Bible, though they were yet undetermined as to its precise import ; and even in the ranks of Infidelity there was no cham- pion bold enough to head the most anti-human of all heresies, — that which denies the being of a God. Accordingly, when the n«ir or second course of lectures on religious e\-idence was commenced, it was not found necessary to advert to the proofs of the being and attributes of God at all. Every one pro- fessing to believe in the existence of a great First Cause, unbounded in

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power, wisdom, and goodness, we were enabled at once to begin with tlie evidence of revealed religion. The subject of the verj' first night’s address was, “ the possibility, probability, and desirableness of a revelation from God to man.”

Another very natural and -s-isible effect was, the ejcceedingly subdued tone assumed by those who still gloried in unbelief. When we first began. In- fidelity, like a young wai-rior, had, as yet, been only a learner in the art of war. It had but newly emerged from the discipline of its military col- lege ; it had not entered the field of actual strife ; it had not measured strength with any foeman. Flushed with hope, and buoyant with confi- dence, it fondly hoped that the whole world was open before it ; and that it had nought to do but to go forth “ conquering and to conquer.” The very imagination of defeat had not, even as a shadow, crossed its path. The first onset was, accordingly, fierce and vehement. And though again and again arrested, if not repulsed, in its headlong career, it was long ere it could brook the humbling confession of rout and discomfiture. When, however, we commenced the second time, the state of things was greatly changed. Infidelity had thrown down the gauntlet of defiance ; the chal- lenge was received, and warmly responded to, by Truth. In the conflict. Infidelity was laid prostrate ; Truth, in its omnipotence, prevailed. StiU, though Infidelity was stripped of much of its glory and renown, and greatly shattered in its strength, by the loss of some of its standard-bearers, and the oscitancy or paralysis of others, it was by no means captive or dead. It stUl lived, and fain would renew the combat ; but no longer stalked abroad so fearlessly in the face of day, with head erect, and haughty mien, vauntingly defying the armies of the faithful. Abroad, it put on airs of moderation, or blandishment, or complaisance, or charity ; in pri- vate, it clothed itself in rancour, and venom, and deadly hate. It preferred a cowardly stiletto warfare to a manly encounter in the open field.

To this decided change in the external aspect of things, the Editor of the Enquirer thus distinctly pointed, in his Journal, about the end of 1832 : “ WTe are surprised to find that the Champions of Infidelity are no longer to be seen in the field of battle. What can be their reasons ? Are they defeated ? If so, we caU upon them, as honest men, to come forward and make this declaration, and embrace Christianity. Are they only silenced, and not convinced ! We invite them, as inquirers after truth, to the Lec- tures of Mr D., whose avowed object is to explain that system. If, after being defeated, they shall not embrace Christianity, or being unsettled, will not inquire, we weep over their case, we pity them from our heart. The happiness we enjoy at present, makes us the more solicitous about theiis. Our happiness will be increased tenfold, if we can recall to the temple of truth those who have gone astray. We ourselves wandered with them in that dark wilderness not long ago ; and the ease of mind which we now possess, compared to that which is recently past, gpves us a lively sketch of the misery of theirs. But they do not understand us when we say, we are happy through the grace of God. This, to them, is mysterious lan- guage. We shall not, therefore, address them on this groimd ; we will do

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it on their own. Wliy do tliey not inquire about tlie evidences of Chris- tianity ? &.C., &C., &.C. We have embraced Christianity. They know how long we withstood its approach ; and now that we have changed our sentiments, they must ascribe tliis change either to foul dishonesty or to a con\'iction of the truth of Christianity. In conclusion, we tell them again, that they are in the most tremendous danger. And if they do not feel this, we beg all Christians to pray for them.”

This shyness on the part of unbelievers, to come forward as heretofore, and boldly confront the advocates of truth, rendered it necessary to resort to an expedient to draw them forth, so as to be fairly within the reach of wholesome influences. The expedient consisted simply in this ; — instead of any longer Lecturing in the first instance, ex cathedra, I was to take my station among the body of Unbelievers. They and I were to select, each, a chairman, as our representatives ; whose office and duty it should be to preside and arbitrate between the opposing parties. The subject for dis- cussion was to be duly announced, a week beforehand, so that all con- cerned might have ample time to prepare themselves for the debate. On the appointed evening, it was my province, statedly, to open the discussion in a short address ; — any one present being at liberty to reply ; and so on alternately, till the Presidents might decide that the subject had been exhausted.

In consequence of this arrangement, a revived freshness of interest was thrown around the subject of the Christian Evidences ; and many were encouraged to come forward, and calmly, and temperately, discuss the momentous questions at issue. After a few months, some of the lead- ing oppositionists finding all their arguments refuted, and themselves silenced, began gradually to withdraw from the public meeting. To avoid what they unhappily reckoned the disgrace of personal defeat, instead of the glory of renouncing detected error, they chose rather to attack the Evidences and Doctrines of Christianity, anonymously, through the medium of the Native Newspapers. This change of tactics on their part, immediately led to the adoption of a counteractive expedient on ours. In whatever newspaper any hostile article, worthy of being noticed, appeared, we instantly sent an advertisement to be inserted in the next number ; — setting forth, that on a specified evening, we would, in the Public Lecture Room, make that article our text ; lay bare its fal- lacies, and vindicate the opposing truth ; at the same time, challenging the anonymous writer, or any of his friends, openly to come forward and manfully defend their opinions, or be for ever branded as “ cowardly assassins” of the souls of their countrymen.

This new method of procedure gave a prodigious and unexpected stimulus to a cause, the public interest in which, from its very nature, had begun somewhat to languish. Curiosity was roused to the quick. No one knew beforehand whether the anonjuious writer, galled at the challenges and the alternative therein presented, might not be provoked to appear with- out a mask, and in person boldly assume the responsibility of maintaining his own sentiments. At all events, it was believed, that one or other whose

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opinions were represented in the published articles, would be roused to act on the defensive. In this way, week after week, the Lecture Hall was more than crowded ; and much of the seed of precious truth was scat- tered in a soil which the very deterrainedness of opposition had unwittingly and unwillingly prepared.

In the month of May or June of the next year, a new English service was commenced, on the Sunday evenings, in the Bungalau Chapel which had been erected, chiefly for preaching in the vernacular language.

These various operations, ^vith many others, were all interrupted for two months, towards the end of 1833, in consequence of severe illness, wliich brought me to the very brink of the grave. About the beginning of 1834, they were all again resumed, with certam modifications and additions.

Finding that many who believed the Bible to be from God, were threatening finally to cast anchor in the haven of Socinianism, we then resolved to commence a separate weekly course of Lectures, specifically devoted to the Socinian Controversy. These were attended by consider- able numbers.

Finding, also, that the gi-and magazine, whence were derived by far the most plausible and subtile objections, continued still to be a system of false blaspheming metaphj'sics, we also resolved to open a public class for the study of ^Mental Philosophy. To prevent as much as possible all idle and unprofitable discussions, on a theme of such lawless uncertainty, by at once presenting something tangible and solid to the mind, it was agreed that a text-book should be adopted ; and that all who wished to be present should furnish them.selves with a copy. That which most readily otfei’ed itself to us, was the new edition in an 8vo. volume, of the late Dr T. Brown’s Lectures, with a prefixed Memoir by Dr Welsh. This class was attended by ui^wards of thirty ; who vigorously started, with the determination to examine the foundations, and canvass the Baconian principles of Mental and Moral Science.

Early in April, all these and other operations were a second time arrested by severe illness. In June they were aU, once more, amid many infir- mities, recommenced. About the beginning of July, however, they were again suspended, for the third and last time ; and that too, at the very moment when they seemed to bud most luxuriantly with promise. Tlie lecturer was then seized with a malady which in two days left medical advisers no alternative but to detennine to hurry him on board the very first ship which sailed for England, as the only expedient that held out the remotest prospect of preserving hfe. Mysteriously severed from a field which it was his own resolution never to abandon, and at a season when the crisis for reaping a more extensive harvest -was hastening apace, he found himself, before the end of July, afloat at the mouth of the Ganges, — as shattered a wreck as was ever saved from final destruction, after, being so violently stranded on an Indian shore. Through the un- searchable riches of the Divine mercy, towards one whose secret con- sciousness testifies that he is one of the least worthy ; yea, one of the “ less than the least of all saints,” health and strength have been gradu-

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ally restored. And now, as a living monument of Clod’s marvellous grace and long-suflFering patience, he is about to set forth once more to proclaim Jehovah’s loving-kindnesses towards the unhappy sons of India.

From the extent and variety of incidents and topics introduced into the preceding narrative, the number of inferences and reflections that natur- ally arise cannot well be estimated. A tithe of them it is impossible even cursorily to notice. We must, therefore, be content with selecting two or three from the superahounding mass.

I. In w’hat has been advanced, we find a practical illustration of the design, use, and value of the external evidences of Christianity, in conduct- ing certain departments of missionary labour, or that great work which aims at the evangelization of the world.

The two leading branches of external evidence are prophecy a.ud miracles. The design of these we may learn, not from mere human authority, iut/rom the infallible IFojvf of God.

Jehovah Himself appeals to the evidence of prophecy, as supplying incontestable proof of His Divine presence, and, by consequence. His Supreme Divinity, as contradistinguished from idols and the oracles of the heathen. “ Eemember,” says He, by the mouth of His servant, “ the former things of old ; for I am God, and there is none else : I am God, and there is none like ile ; declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.” Again, “ Produce your cause, saith Jehovah : let them bring forth, and show us what will happen. Show us things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods. Behold, ye are of nothing.” How often in the Old Testament is the verification of prophecy by the event, referred to as a proof that Jehovah had verily spoken by the mouth of his servants ? In the New, Jesus Christ distinctly appealed to the ancient prophecies in proof of His own Messiahship. “ To Him bear all the prophets witness.” The fulfilment of His own predictions confirmed the faith of His disciples. — Jolm, chap. ii. 22, &c.

As to the Divine intent of miracles, what means the complaint of Moses, when appointed God’s ambassador to the house of Israel ? And what are we to infer from the mode in which the burden of the complaint was in- stantaneously removed by God himself ? This subject is recorded at large in Exodus, chap. iv. Here Moses, by his profound knowledge of human nature, distinctly anticipated the case of individuals challenging him to produce the credentials which might attest the Divine origin of the mes- sage he was commissioned to deliver. Did God treat the anticipation as foolish or unreasonable ? By no means : He at once supplied His servant with credentials of his authority. He put into his hand a “ rod,” by which he was to work “ signs and wonders ” in the sight of the people — “ signs and wonders ” which would extort the confession that the finger of God was there. Jesus Himself appealed to His miracles as an attests-

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tion of His Divine mission. John the Baptist sent his disciples to in- quire, “ Art thou He that should come, or do Ave look for another ? And in the same hour He cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and to many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering them, said. Go your way, and teU John what things ye have seen and heard ; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up ; and blessed is he whosoever shall not he offended in me.” To His miracles He appealed, as leaving His enemies without excuse : “ The works wliich my Father hath given me to do, they bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.” To His own disciples His appeal was — “ Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works’ sake.” And the Evangelists assure us that, in consequence of the miracles, many did believe and glorify God. After witnessing the performance of some of them, the natural exclamation was — “ We have seen strange things to-day” — “ A great Prophet is risen amongst us ” — “ God hath visited His people.”

“ Many,” says John, “ believed in His name when they saw the miracles which he did.” “ Rabbi,” confessed Nicodemus, “ we know that thou art a Teacher sent from God ; for no man can do those miracles which thou doest, except God be with him.” And how often, throughout the Acts and the Epistles, do Ave find the apostles, Avith the utmost boldness and assurance, appealing to “ the signs and Avonders ” which they every where performed in the name of Jesus, as demonstrative evidence that God was with them, and that they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost ?

From aU these, and other similar passages of Scripture, what do we learn ? Is it not that prophecies and miracles were designed by God Him- self as yisible incontestable proofs of His OAvn uncontrolled supremacy — as infallible credentials of His own accredited messengers — as indis- putable seals and signatures to attest and authenticate the truth of His own reyelation ? Are not these grand, solemn, and magnificent pur- poses ? Are not the means and the end alike worthy of Him who is the greatest, the wisest, and the best of Beings ? And such being the diyinely instituted design of the evidences arising from miracles and prophecies, how can they be disparaged in the slightest degree, without casting contempt on the express declarations and revealed purposes of God Himself 2

But it has been thought by some that, though such evidences were deemed indispensable towards authenticating a message from heaven at the time of its original promulgation, they are no longer necessary. Such persons it might be enough to address as follows : — Has God ever done any thing in vain 2 Never. But did He not in ancient times actually supply external evidences, to attest the truth of His own revelation 2 Undoubtedly. And why so 2 Assuredly because He who well knew the nature of man, must have regarded these as not only suitable to his mental constitution, but somehoAv necessary to meet his reasonable wants. Has, then, the nature of man undergone any decided alteration since the

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days of propliets and apostles ? None whatever. In every e.ssential feature it is now what it has ever been since the day that Adam fell. From all this, what must be the ine^■itable inference ? Is it not that those characteristics of human nature which, in the eye of Omniscience, appeared to demand the exhibition of external evidences in the times of old, must e<iuaUy demand the same still ; seeing that that nature has ever since continued without any radical modification or cliange !

Lea\ing, however, such an abstract line of argument, we would at once put it to the persons in view — Supposing ye were situated as it was my lot once to be, how would you have acted ? Before me were numbers of unbelievers. Most gladly would I have preached unto them, without a moment’s delay, the unsearchable riches of Christ ; but they would not allow me. They would not listen to such preaching. “ Prove to us,” said they, “ that Christianity is from God ; and we will then, but not till then, reckon it worth our while to examine into its contents.” What was I, in such peculiar circumstances, to do ? ilust I tell them that, in former times, abimdant proofs were furnished of the Di\Tne origin of Chris- tianity, but that these were no longer necessary ? If I had spoken in this way, how would they have raised the shout of derision and scorn ! — How would they have gone away with the undoubting impression that Chris- tianity was an imposture, and myself either the wilful abettor, or the deluded dupe of the imposition ? Here then, if ever, was a case in wliich the exhibition of evidences would prove as advantageous, and was as im- peratively demanded, as in the days of prophets and apostles. Again, I ask. How was I to proceed ? I was not commissioned to utter prophecies, nor empowered to work miracles. Had Pro^ndence then left me without remedy, and the cause of Heaven without means of defence ? No : blessed be God’s holy name. He had put within my reach means ample and abundant to demonstrate to the full satisfaction of all candid and un- prejudiced minds, that prophecies had been verily delivered and fulfilled ; and miracles the most stupendous verily wrought. And must I rob the cause of the Redeemer of one of its triumphs, by sullenly refusing to employ these means ? If I did, I should have been guilty of the worst species of sacrilege — a sacrilege which would have shorn the Gosjiel of its glory, and immortal souls of their eternal heritage ! But I had not so learned Christ. I cheerfully undertook to unfold the external evidences of Christianity : and what was the result ? It was, first, that not a few were led to forsake the ranks of infidelity, and publicly avow their belief in the Bible, as an authentic revelation from God. It was, secondly, that some of these, — having had their attention thoroughly roused, and their minds solemnized by the resistless proofs of Divine interposition pre- sented to their understanding, — were thence led diligently to inquire into the contents of the Sacred Volume ; and, in prosecuting this inquiry, had their souls awakened, and converted to the Saviour !

From all this ought we not to learn highly to appreciate the di>inely intended design of the external evidences, as attestations of the supreme authority of a professed revelation from heaven ; and highly to appreciate

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their use aud ralae as di\’inely appointed means not 0/ conversion but toicards conversion ?

As this latter point has been gravely questioned in quarters whence different views might have been expected to emanate, I must be excused for pressing it on the serious attention of the reader. Of the means dirinely instituted for bringing sinners under the power of the truth as it is in Jesus, some are proximate, others remote ; some direct, others indirect ; some mediate, others immediate ; some preparatory, others ultimate. Each order of means has its own place, its own specific value in the economy of Proridence and Grace. Each, therefore, ought to be prized and honom’ed in the proportion designed by God him- self, the Author, Administrator, and Sanctifier of them aU. If, then, it be conceded that the reading, teaching, or preaching of the Word is the proximate, immediate, direct, or ultimate means of conversion, what are we to say of the eridences appointed by God Himself to attest the tnith, and bespeak attention to the Word read, taught, or preached ? As means of conversion, these may be termed remote, mediate, indirect, or prepara- tory ; but are they on that account to be sUghted, if then- legitimate tendency is to lead to the use of those means which are proximate, immediate, direct, or ultimate ? Granting that the expression, “ means of conversion,” is more strictly applicable to the latter than to the former ; and granting that the evidences have not inherently in them a moral or spuitual efficacy fitted to produce a dhect moral or spuitual impression, may we not, in sober seriousness, thus make our appeal on their behalf? — If we have found, beyond all debate, that these are expressly designed by God and are in their very nature peculiarly adapted to create a salutary im- pression of the Divine authority of Scripture — if we have found such im- pression, when actually produced, eminently calculated to awaken lively reflection — to excite and stimulate a spirit of inquiry — to call forth the most intense and determined scrutiny — to rouse and concentrate man’s most active energies in seriously examining into the contents of that Revelation which unfolds the occasion, origin, and completion of the scheme of redemjfiion ; or in candidly hstening to the “ glad tidings,” when powerfully proclaimed by the living voice ; — if we have found such serious examination, and such candid hearing, by bringing the soul into immediate juxtaposition with the converting “Word of Life” ultimately issue, through God’s blessing, in saring evangelical conversion if we have found all this, not as the result of theory, but of firing actual experience, how dare we, without impeaching the Divine ufisdom, and belying the testimony of sense, accede to the anti-Christian dogma, of late so strangely propoimded,* that the external evidences have done and can do little or nothing,

* It is humiliating to think that any one who has been solemnly set apart for the ministry and defence of the Gospel, should be so left to himself, as to write in such disparaging terms of the Christian evidences — yea, and to indulge in the offensive style of an ill-suppressed sneer respecting them, as“owr boasted evidences “—just as if they were mere unwarranted human devices, manipulated in the intellectual laboratory of a Paley or a Chalmers. Our boasted evidences ! In what sense can they be so designated ? In none other than the blessed Gospel of our salvation can be styled, our boast d Gospel I But away witli a mode of cxpres-

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eren as a Mean toicards conrersion? How dare we assume, for the past, wittiout running counter to the history of Providence and of (irace, that these evidences. Divinely ordained, have done little or nothing ? How dare we infer, for the future, without the most boundless jiresumi)tion, that they will do little or nothing, even as a mean towards ultimate saving conversion I

II. From the preceding narrative, it distinctly a]>pears that there are cases in which the greatest accumulation of e^•idence may fail in jiroduc- ing a practical conviction either of the being of a Iwly God, or of the Divine origin of Christianity.

Some there were of the number of inquirers who, at last, freely ad- mitted the force of the evidence which proved the existence of a Great First Cause. But when pressed with sometliing more specific, such as the decisiveness of the evidence in favour of his moral attributes, they pro- fessed to doubt. Probably the existence of a First Cause was, in their case, conceded, not so much in deference to the merit of testimony, as in order to fill up the cheerless vacuity in the soul, — to fumisli some object to that religious instinct which no sophistry has ever wholly eradicated, — and to present a shield for the scorn and reproach of uni- versal man. These, by their conduct, proved that they would rather there had been no God at all. But if the existence of a First Cause must be allowed, they seemed resolved that it should be as vague, undefined, and non-interfering an abstraction as possible.

In like manner, many wbo believed in a God of infinite perfections, pro- fessed to doubt or deny the conclusiveness of the Christian evidence. And what appeared more noticeable was, that the hostility of some became more potent, and that they gradually shrunk back altogether, just in pro- portion as additional light streamed around the subject of inquiry. Again, many who believed in the Di\ine authority of the Bible professed to be dissatisfied with the legitimacy of any interpretation which might estab- lish that most obnoxious of all tenets to the natural man — -the Diriuity and incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In all this there was nothing new. In circumstances infinitely more ad- vantageous the same phasis of character had been manifested. How many, who listened to the prophecies, and witnessed the miracles, and heard the discourses of our Sarioxir, remained indifferent, or unbelieving, or posi-

sion which outrages all Christian feeling. The truth is, that in strict propriety of speech, nei- ther “ the Gospel ” nor “ the evidences " of the Gospel, can be called OCRs, as to their origin or design. Both become ours, by the special favour of God’s grace. A particular manner of proclaiming or enforcing the Gospel message may be ours ; and one may be more signally favoured than another in the gift of preaching : but the Gospel preached is not ours — it is God’s— God’s own infinitely wise and gracious scheme of redeeming lost sinners. So, in the case of the evidences. The particular manner of representing these may be ours. As in preaching, so here. One man— a Paley or a Chalmers — may accomplish the end with a hap- pier effect than another ; but the evidences propounded are not ours — they are God’s— God’s own peculiarly chosen and appointed attestations of a Divine commission. So that, instead of

our boasted evidences,” we should be bound to substitute “ God’s boasted evidences ” — and see whether we do not approximate the very verge of blasphemy !

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lively inimical 1 The fact is, that in all these cases, and in all alike, there was something more than mere simple ignorance to he removed. In all, and in all alike, worldly interest, pride, prejudice, and vicious propensi- ties, beclouded the intellect, hardened the heart, carnalized the affections, and seared the conscience to such an extent, that the natural tendencies ot evidence, and the legitimate influences of truth, were wholly arrested or paralysed into utter impotency. Never were the words of Atterbury more truly verified : — “ It is not,” says he, “ for want of strength that the ordi- nary ways of proof are rejected, but for want of sincerity in the minds of those to whom they are proposed. And the same want of sincerity, the same aversion from goodness, will be equally a reason for rejecting any proof whatever. To those who are resolved not to be convinced, all motives, all arguments are equal. He that shuts his eyes against a small glimmering, on purpose to avoid the sight of somewhat that displeases him, would, for the same reason, shut them against the sun.”

In fine, the great objection to Christianity and to the God of Christianity is their holiness. The great objector is sin — sin, in one or other of its hydra- headed forms. Those who obstinately persist in wishing that the religion of the Bible were not true, or that the Jehovah of the Bible had no exist- ence, u'Ul not perceive the force of any amount of evidence adduced in proof of the reality of either. Only let us convince the most debased scep- tic of sin in the scriptural sense ; and, when made to cry out of the depths for deliverance, only let his soul be brought in contact with the Gospel catho- licon, by which the guilt of transgression is expiated, and the nature of man so transformed as to delight in the beauties of holiness, and we shall be saved the trouble of answering the objections, or of supplying arguments to prove the being of a holy God, or the Divine origin of a holy religion.

The great objection to the Divine Author and Finisher of our faith is, his ineffable humility. The great objector is sin — sin, chiefly in the form of its eldest or first-born, pride. Only let the haughtiest Rationalist be con- vinced of sin in the scriptural sense ; and, when smarting under the scor- pion-sting of an upbraiding conscience, only let the eye of faith be turned to Immanuel’s cross, where Infinite Reason itself is seen to be glorified in the wondrous expedient whereby God can be just and yet the Justifier of the ungodly, — and we shall be saved the trouble of satisfying his scruples, or applying the canons of an elaborate criticism to demonstrate our blessed Lord’s Divinity. He whose soul has been truly awakened to a sense of the infinite malignity, guilt, and danger of sin, would no more dream of cleaving to the god of Deism, or the saviour of Sociniauism, in preference to the Al- mighty Redeemer of catholic Christianity, — no more than the drowning man would, of clinging to the frailest broken reed, in prefei’ence to the life-boat which had already saved its thousands, and could save thousands more, from a rvatery grave.

It is delightful to be assured that thei’e is an inexpugnable magazine of evidence always at our command, — evidence, whose ample sufficiency must leave all men without excuse, and convict them of folly and criminality in their continued unbelief. But it were well for the propagator of Christianity

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tthencTer he can possihty obtain a hearing, whether in the case of an indi- vidual or an audience, to overleap the rampant barrier assailable by the artillery of evidence altogether ; and at once attack, by broad and down- right statements of Gospel truth, the citadel of sin in the heart. If he suc- ceed in canying that stronghold, and effect the lodgment of an awakening con^^ction of “ sin, and righteousness, and judgment,” then he may return and find the outworks of unbelief surrendered or fallen without the play of a single weapon from the armoury of evidence.

III. From the preceding narrative we may learn the inefiiciency of ac- knowledged e\-idence in producing correspondent changes in the outward life andjconduct.

If, on the ground of evidence which could not be gainsayed, many pro- fessed to believe in the being of a God, boundless in power, wisdom, and goodness, what ought to be the natural practical effect of such belief? Ought it not to be an endeavour to render to Him the homage of devout adoration, and loyal conformity to His infinitely wise and beneficent char- acter ? Yet, among the entire class of Deists, we knew not one on whom his evidential faith seemed to exert any practical influence. In fact, they perfectly realized Fuller’s description of learned unbelievers in the West, — “ They were Deists in theory. Pagans in inclination, and Atheists in practice.” As regards Theism, — the only consistent Theists in the world are the followers of Jesus.

Again, if, on the gi'ound of evidence that could not be gainsaj'ed, many professed to believe in the Di\'ine authority of the Bible, ought they not to submit, with childlike docility, to the expressly revealed will of the Great Creator ? And yet, with the profession of an evidential faith in Christianity on their lips, they laboured to explain away every thing which was repugnant to their antecedent wishes. They laboured to reduce the magnificence of the Divine economy within the narrow span of their little conception ; in- stead of scaling the heavens by the ladder of Revelation, and dilating their souls by habitual converse with infinite magnitudes. Instead of those de- votions of gratitude and love,^ — the full affluence of which constitutes the riches of a heavenly inheritance, and the refreshment of an everlasting salvation, — they practically lived without a temple, — without an altar, — without any devout adoration, or gi-ateful offering of prayer or praise.

lA’’. From the preceding narrative we may learn the utter powerlessness of all mere evidence, and all mere knowledge, in operating that internal change which is implied in conversion, or the vital experimental reception of the Gospel message.

Some there were who not only believed in the being of an all-perfect God, and the celestial origin of the Christian Revelation, but who intel- lectually understood and professed to embrace those views ofDi^•ine truth which the holy Catholic Church has upheld in every age. And yet, these were individuals who gave no manifestation of the influence of real per- sonal religion. These were mentific Christians, in the same way as they

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were scientific geographers or scientific astronomers. They could do in reference to Christianity what they could in reference to human science. They could demonstrate the truth of its evidence ; they could follow the reasonings of Leslie, or Paley, or Chalmers, and prove the validity of their conclusions ; they could rehearse systematically the contents of the Bible, and point out the reciprocal hearings of its ditferent parts ; they could solve difficulties and remove objections. In a word, Christianity in its evidences and contents, they knew theoretically as a science. But Chris- tianity is more than a science, — it is a healing and remedial process ; and as such it was not known, because its vivifying and transforming power was not experienced. What do facts like these prove 2 Surely that something more than mere evidence or mere knowledge is necessary to a saving efficacious reception of the Gospel, — as the divinely appointed method of justifying and sanctifying the guilty and unclean. And what is that in- dispensable something ? In the face of those charges of fanaticism of which the world is so lavishly prodigal, we solemnly declare our conviction, that that without which neither evidence, nor even the preaching of the word, can savingly profit, is the infiuence of God’s Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit ordinarily works through the instrumentality of means. Wilfully to neglect these, were wilfully to dispense with the proffered blessing. To rest satisfied with the use of these, were to sink into the dotage of preferring the means as more excellent than the end, — as if the sinner were to reckon the task of excavating rubbish a nobler inheritance than the actual possession of the golden treasures. Oh let us, in the use of all our means, look upward to the Holy Spirit — whose Divine irradia- tions alone can illumine our darkness, whose Divine insjjiration alone can breathe into our deadness the breath of new life — whose Divine touch alone can enkindle our coldness into a flame, can sanctify all our know- ledge,— rendering it introductive of faith and love, and all those spiritual graces which bud and blossom in time, and ripen into fruit of glory through eternity !

V. From the preceding narrative, we may distinctly learn the natural order and relative connection of all the different branches of evidence.

The historical and miraculous evidence comes first in argumentative order. It has been called external ; because, as has been remarked, it is external to the Gospel message itself. It admits of being primarily ex- amined altogether apart from the system of doctrines which it accredits. To it, therefore, we appeal in the case of unbelievers, who neither know nor care any thing about the subject-matter of the Bible, and who boldly demand of us to prove to them that it contains a Divine Revelation. Proceeding on principles to which they themselves give their assent, we may extort from every candid mind the conviction that God has, in very deed, revealed Himself to man.

This conviction may again be corroborated by multifarious evidence, which has been termed internal, inasmuch as it implies a measure of ac- quaintance, more or less enlarged, with the style, structure, and contents

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of the volume of Revelation. Thus, the language, .style, and manner of writing used in the books of the Old and New Testaments, may be ad- mitted as proof of their genuineness ; and the very great number of j.-ar- ticular circumstances of time, and place, and persons, together with the correspondences between Scripture statements and the natural and civil history of the East, become arguments in favour of both their genuineness and authenticity. Again, the system of moral government which the Bible exhibits ; the unity of the design and general harmony of all its varied contents ; the sublime and majestic simplicity of its diction ; the unrivalled excellence of its morality ; the intuitive knowledge which it di.splays of the most hidden secrets of the human heart ; the unparalleled moral char- acter of the founder of Christianity ; the.perfect coincidence of the scheme of redemption with the known attributes of God, and the actual condition of man ; — these, and many other kindred topics, have often been largely shdwn to furnish the strongest indications of the Divine origin and autho- rity of the volume that is characterised by them.

Now, what is the legitimate effect of all these different branches of ca- dence ? It is to produce an overwhelming impression of the Divine autho- rity of the Bible, and an irrepressible desire to master its contents. Ac- cordingly, by the force and amount of all this rational evidence, whether external or internal, many were led to give earnest heed to the reading and hearing of the Word of God. Still, for some time, there was no such intimate contact of the mind and the heart of any one, as to leave a gra- cious impression. At length, however, — to adopt and accommodate the noble language of Baxter, — in the hearing and reading of the Bible, the Spirit of God was graciously pleased so to concur in the case of a few, as that the will itself seemed to be touched with a “ gust and savour of the goodness contained in the doctrine, and at the same time the understand- ing, with an internal irradiation, which bred such a certain apprehension of the verity of it, as nature gives men of natural principles.” Now, this internal knowledge, arising from the felt suitableness of “ the truth and goodness of the Gospel to their now quickened, illuminated, and sanctified souls,” was only another name for the “ experimental evidence ” of the truth of Christianity. It was the result of that self-witnessing, self-evi- dencing light which, by the special operation of God’s Spirit, is, as it were, struck out of the Word itself, and made to lighten on the soul in a flash of conviction so Auvid, as almost to extinguish the tiny lustre of all reason- ings from external evidence. And thus was realized, in its significancy, the meaning of the beloved disciple, when he says, “ He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself.”

It hence appears, how perfectly the different kinds of eHdence harmo- nize in their tendency' and design. Still, they' are so essentially distinct in character, that they may exist either united or apart. When they do happily coexist in the same individual mind, the jnan of God may be said to be perfect, — thoroughly furnished in all the evidences of his faith ; and able to give ewry one a reason for the hope that is in him. When they do exist apart, it is of vastly more importance that a man should possess the

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“ experimental ” than either the external or internal, or both together. Both the latter are invaluable, when viewed as means divinely ordained, or providentially sanctioned, toirards ultimate conversion ; but they do tiot necessarily lead to, far less, necessarily imply, conversion. The former, or ex- perimental, cannot, in strict propriety of language, be understood, — that is, in reference to a particular individual, cannot be said to exist at all, — un- less he possesses that spiritual light and discernment which imply, that he is “ born again,” and is a new creature in Christ Jesus.

Suppose a Jew situate in the remotest extremity of Palestine. He has heard of the temple of the Lord at Jeinsalem ; but having never accom- panied his brethren to share in the celebration of any of the anniversary solemnities conducted with such pomp and splendour in that sacred edifice, he chooses to shield his negligence by sceptically pretending to doubt or deny its Divine origin and design. Overborne at length by the mass of historic testimony, and the reports of credible eye-witnesses, he is dnven from a scepticism which could no longer coexist with a belief in his men- tal sanity. He now feels himself constrained, in consistency with his acknowledged change of sentiment, to take a joumey to Jerusalem. He reaches the precincts of the temple. How has he been brought thither ? It is by the force of external eridence.

He now surveys, with his own eyes, the gorgeous pile. Glorious with- out, he finds it all glorious within, — enriched and embellished with an infi- nite variety of the useful and the ornamental, — and yet every variety con- tributing to compose the one great and harmonious whole. "When he w’ell notes with what inimitable skill all the materials have been selected and combined ; all the parts proportioned and adapted to their alleged uses ; all the appurtenances regulated and conformed to their professed design, the uses and the design being worthy of infinite purity' and infinite love ; — and when he finds all, and all alike, both means and end, more than corresponding with his most dilated conceptions of the majesty and the goodness of the God of Israel, — how can he help exclaiming, surely this is none other than the House of God ! "Whence this confession ? It is from the force of internal evidence.

Once more : while our traveller is gazing, in rapt admiration and delight, at the venerable and hallowed forms around him, the Shekiuah or cloud of gloiy — the dazzling and overawing symbol of .Tehovah’s immediate presence — suddenly descends and fills the temple. Does he now recpiire any process of historic proof, any testimony of eye-witnesses, any com- parison of discovered coincidence between the Divine character and the temple rites and furniture, to assure his own mind that God is peculiarly present there i Mo. He at once exclaims. Heretofore I have heard by the hearing of the ear, and have concluded from the apprehensions of my understanding ; but now mine eyes have seen, — they have seen the glory of the King in his holy sanctuary ! Whence these emphatic words ? They are the spontaneous utterance of exjyerimental evidence.

In all this there is a beautifully' connected series of evidences — each pi'eceding step of which naturally leading to that which follows. Still,

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tbe order of tlie series might be reversed. Had our Jewish sceptic, with- out any reference to external or internal testimony, been at once trans- l>orted to the tabernacles of Zion, at the very hour when Jehovah shone forth from between the cherubims, who can doubt that the fullest impres- sion of His sacred presence, and the iiniolable sanctity of His temple, would be produced by such sensible manifestation of His transcendent glory ? In like manner, in the evidences of Christianity, there is a beautifully con- nected series. Still, if, in the absence of external and internal proofs, the mind of the greatest infidel could be at once introduced into the temple of truth, as delineated in the Bible ; and were the Holy Spirit to shine forth through the medium of the Word, from the height and eminence of His royal pa^'ilion, — who can doubt that the soul would be instantly penetrated with a sense of the presence of Di%’inity in His holy oracle, and receive the full impression of that divine knowledge which maketh men wse unto salvation ?

The whole of tliis subject cannot be better concluded, than by a quota- tion from an eminent living Non-conformist divine (Dr ilorison of Lon- don). Referring to the case of one who, though a total stranger to the question of e^^dence in general, and, in the absence of all acute and spe- culative knowledge, believes in Christ as freely presented in the Gospel, he proceeds to remark, that the evidence which such an indiWdual will attain of the truth of Christianity, will be very distinct from every other species of e\'idence. “ Other branches of evidence have their existence irrespec- tive of a recipient ; but this depends on the very act of reception, and, previous to that important act, can have no existence. Other branches of evidence are so many arguments, to show the wisdom of embracing, and the folly of rejecting, the Christian faith. But this is that last, that crowning evidence, which, in the order of nature, succeeds all other evi- dences ; which is not so much an argument for the reception of the Gos- pel, as a declaration that it has been received ; that an experiment has been made, and that Christianity is all that to the Divine character, and aU that with respect to the condition, character, and happiness of man, which it professes to be. When the Gospel thus comes into actual con- tact with the soul of man, when it is received in the spirit of love, it shines into the heart in the full blaze of its own e\-idence, and gives forth, on the convictions of the mind, the most satisfying proof that its origin is of God. Thus it is, that the faith of the genuine Christian does not rest exclusively, or even mainly, on the general evidences of the Gospel, however striking ; but on the power of God, confirming its genuineness, by its mighty workings in his own heart. The conA-iction which he thus reaches, is less the result of speculation than of feeling” (or rather, conscious- ness) ; “ for, as no reasonings in the world could be so powerful to comince him of the existence of the sun, as his own perceptions of the light and heat of that glorious luminary ; so, no argument in defence of the Gospel can be so -sivid or permanent in its impression, as the consciousness of God’s own manifestation to the soul ; a manifestation which never fails

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to impress the convictioji, that the Gospel is alone the power of God, and the wisdom of God, to every one that believeth.”

VI. From the preceding nan-ative, we may learn the totally different aspect under which the Bible appears to the same mind, when seen merely by the light of the natural understanding, and when seen in the light of an understanding illuminated by the Spirit of God.

No subject called forth more frequent expressions of grateful surprise from some of those who, through grace, had been brought to believe, than this. Though many difficulties had been solved, and many objections had been removed, by the application of sound knowledge and exegetic criticism, yet up to the period of their conversion, much, very much, of the Bible appeared dark, unmeaning, or involved in inextricable confusion. But after their hearts became savingly impressed, the very passages to which some of these epithets had been most lavishly applied, appeared most luminous, and fraught with divine sense and hai’mony. So literally was the apostolic .saying verified, — “ that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

To the men of the world, such language sounds little better than mys- tical jargon. But it expresses a simple literal fact. Let an individual when a youthful tjTO, and afterwards when he has scaled the heights of science, survey a museum of natural history. Will not the eye of the philosopher read an almost infinite variety of meanings in every object — meanings that were wholly undiscerned by the eye of the child ? And yet, in both cases, is not the outward natural light the same ? Is not the image of all things on the optical retina the same too ? True ; but in the latter case, there is now superadded the interior light of cultivated reason and enlarged knowledge ; and this makes all the difference. For it is in the blaze of the superadded light that the visual organ reveals so many new wonders to the same spectator-mind.

In like manner, in the volume of revelation, the same individual may be brought, even suddenly, to perceive an inexhaustible variety of mean- ing, previously undiscemed. Yet, in both cases, the same form of words may be present to the outward eye ; the same amount of natural know- ledge stored up in the memory ; and the same general outlines of Biblical statement traced, so to speak, on the tablet of the understanding. Whence the difference ? It is the communicated illumination of the Spirit of God which manifests to the renewed soul so many new and precious dis- coveries. Without this divine light, the spiritual universe delineated in the Bible, can no more emit distinct intimations of its constitution, order, and harmony, to the mind of the greatest philosopher that ever lived, than the material universe can emit distinct intimations of its constituted order and harmony to the vision of the most ignorant child. Without this divine light, therefore, the man who may be a living, moving. Cyclo- paedia of natural knowledge, is no more qualified to dictate in spuitual things to the most illiterate saint, than the latter is enabled to prescribe

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to him in matters of recondite science. Without this di^dne light, he who would pretend to criticise and annihilate the redemptive scheme of Revelation, must commit an act of as egregious folly in the sight of all holy intelligences, as must the man, in the eye of the scientific world, who would pretend to examine and demolish the Newtonian system of astronomy, without ever ha\’ing solved one geometric problem, or per- formed one experiment on the physical properties of matter. Or, to vary our illustration — To an unspiritualised mind, numberless passages in the Bible appear like natural objects in the dark ; and to a mind illuminated by divine grace, like the same objects in the light of day.

VII. From this narrative, we may derive fresh illustration of the uni- versal identity of the soul of man ; and the universal adaptation of the Gospel remedy.

Under the separate and combined influences of climate, cultivation, government, and a thousand contingencies, the body of man may have assumed forms, apparently so dissimilar, as to furnish some plausible pre- text for the wild and unsubstantial reveries of those who have feigned, that difierent original stocks have been planted on different and distant shores ; and the mind of man, subjected to influences not less varied, may have exhibited aspects alike calculated to perplex, though not con- found, the sober inquirer after truth. But however complex the evidences that have been accumulated in proof of the physical identity of man in all regions of the globe, the power of speedily and totally assimilating the bodily frame in external appearance, has been found nowhere to exist. Not so in the world of spirit. Here the proof of universal identity is inseparable from the power which can assimilate all minds ; — and that power is Christianity, accompanied by the quickening energy of divine grace. What can be more dissimilar than the mind of a blinded^ Hindu idolater or atheist, and the mind of au enlightened British Christian ? — the former swoln with errors the most monstrous, or reduced many de- grees below the zero of ordinary unbelief ; the latter replenished with the most ennobling truths ! And yet have we not seen the former brought, by the medicative power of Christianity, into a state of perfect homoge- neousness with the latter, — and that, too, in all the most secret springs and depths of thought, and in aU the loftiest soarings of faith !

If farther evidence be wanted on this subject, it may be found in the following extract, — being the concluding of a very long letter received from one of our converts since my return to this country. It was written upwards of two years subsequeut to his baptism, — and thus proves that his spirit remained imchanged. It is not a translation from the verna- cular dialect of Bengal ; the writer had learned English, and here are the very words as they flowed direct from his own pen. It is dated from Futtehpore, beyond Allahabad, where he obtained the appointment of head master of a Christian English school. The conclusion is wriatim as follows ; —

. “ In conclusion, my dear Sir, I will try to acquaint you with the present

APPENDIX.

707

state of my mind. After I was separated from you in July 1S33, I was almost thrown alone into the world. Often I was tempted to be hope- less, and felt the need of your society. When I feel my lonesomeness, or want of a friend to open my heart to, I go to Him who is ever kind to me, and disclose my secrets. He is the only searcher of all those that are lost. He is the only friend of all the broken-hearted. He is the tme leader, who leads out of the world and temptation, particularly to the new and inexperienced. Jesus is sweet unto all those that call upon him in faith. Did He not promise that He shall be with me even unto the end of the world — then what fear ? ‘ Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning ? ’ Such are my expressions in the hour of temptation. Oh what a comfort to have Christ always, and have fellowship with Him ! Is it not a great blessing to have Christ, a friend, a companion, and a con- ductor in aU things. Then let these lines be my continual expression : —

‘ K on my face, for thy dear name,

Shame and reproaches be ;

AU hail reproach, and welcome shame.

If thou remember me.’

“ Oh what a great mistake of them that are stUl wandering, not know- ing where to harbour at ! Did not our Lord pronounce peace on all those that are his ? ‘ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give imto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you : Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.’ Is this peace pronounced not for all ? I say it is for aU, whoever he may be ; whatever nation or country he belongeth to ; so I am sure His peace resteth on me so long as I have suflicient faith, even unto the end of my life.

“ My dear Sii', I kept you longer than I should have done, but with a few more lines I will conclude. Although we are separated by sight, stiU our hearts are combined in the Lord. As for my part, I find that the hearts which are once in the fellowship of Jesus, cannot on any account be separated, neither by time nor by distance. We are merely separated by earthly boundaries ; but our Christian love grows stronger and stronger as the day of salvation approaches. Only a few thousand miles are between you and me ; but I have you always in my heart, and make mention of you in my prayers : you are scarcely gone out of my sight. But oh, remember me sometimes in your prayers. Pray not only for my sinful soul, that I may be kept faithful imto death, but also, and especially, for the souls of the poor heathens around me, that they may soon be freed fr-om the chain of Satan, and be blessed in the name of Jesus. Whether I live or die, let Christ be glorified by the ingathering of sinners to Him. I have many more trials and temptations yet to meet ; but oh, may I cut short all of them through Him who is ever gracious to me. Those days are gone by when we used to converse on religious topics ; more especially on Christ’s condescension to save poor sinners. But we have a sure hope, that they wiU be renewed in a better place, and at a better time ; when we come to dwell in the mansions of our Heavenly

708

APPENDIX.

Father. Oh may we soon come to that place, and greet each other with a brotherly embrace, — singing praises to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen. — Yours afFectionately,

“ Gopee nadth Nundy.”

These lines, in their touching simplicity, require no comment. It surely is not possible for any experienced Christian to peruse them, without being sensible that he is holding converse with a mind, not only generically, but specifically the same as his own, — that he is in union and communion with a perfectly congenial spirit, — a spirit new-moulded and fashioned after the similitude of Christ, — a spirit, whose heavenward breathings would, with taUsmanic effect, mark out its possessor from amidst the countless throng of his turbaned coxmtiymen, as belonging to the spiritual confederacy and brotherhood of the faithful.

We have already heard of the triumphs of the Cross in every quarter of the globe. And here is an additional voice from the very centre of SatanS dominions in the Eastern World, — annoimcing in accents that cannot be misunderstood, what Christianity can do for a poor idolater, who once supremely delighted in the brutal and bloody worship of Durga and Kali, — proclaiming with an authority which cannot be resisted, that the Gospel is verily the power of God, and the wisdom of God, unto salvation, to every one that believeth. Truly, Christianity is thus proved to be an ever germinant seed of undecaying vigour ; and, in its transform- ing influences, wholly independent of earthly change. It is the same in the temperate as in the torrid zone : the same in the torrid as in the frigid. It is not scorched by heat, nor benumbed by cold. Age does not diminish the freshness of its bloom : soil does not affect its nature : climate does not modify its peculiar properties. Amid the burning sands of Africa : amid the fi-ost-bound solitudes of Greenland : amid the wildernesses of America : amid the fertile plains of India : — it stiU shoots up and flour- ishes,— the same plant of renown, — the same ^ine of the Lord’s planting. And we live in the assured hope, that “ ofl kindreds, and tongues, and peoples, and nations,” will one day rend the heavens with songs of praise, when privileged to take shelter under its aU-covering shade, and

draw refreshing nourishment from its perennial fimits Amen ; yea, and

Amen.

THE END.

Edinburgh : Printed by J. Johnstone, High Street.

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