Full text of "The Madras Christian instructor and missionary record"

HANDBOL'iND
AT THE

UNIVERSITY OF
TORONTO PRESS

THE

MADRAS CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTOR

MISSIONARY RECORD.

CONDUCTED SY

SEVERAL MINISTERS

OF DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS
IN MADRAS.

Yol, III.

January December,

MADRAS:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY P. K. HUNT,
AMERICAN MISSION PRESS, POPHAM HOUSE.

BSJIOIBS

To Vol. III. of Christian Instructor.

Page.

American Board, Summary, 491

Armenians in Constantinople, 607
Abraham Rettie,.Account of, 594
Augsburg Confession, His. of, 449,512

Bangalore, Missionary Services at, 99
Bangkok, Success among the Ka-
rens and Talings, 551
Baptisms of converted Jews, 61
at Nassik, Chicacole, Cud-

dapah and Porbandor, 61
of a MohammedanMunshi, 118

in Free Church, Madras,

at St. Andrew's, Bombay,

of a Sick Female,

of an Educated Native,

at Calcutta,

of a Mohammedan,

of Five Native Converts,

at the Union Chapel,

by Rev. Dr. Duff,

120
183
233
305
364
365
365
489
490
-at Agra, Rajkote, &c. 548,54.9

of Natives at Ahmednug-

gur, Gangri, Calcutta, &c. 550

do. of a Brahmin, 552

atNasik,Ahmednuggur,&c.674

Bishop of Calcutta, - 368

-of Ceylon, 369,554

Blow, a Pointed,
Bombay, Discussions in,

54
British and Foreign Bible Society, 554

.Society for the Jews, 554

Bowie, Rev. M., Remarks on the

Moravian Church, 437

Burmah, 672

Caste, Prejudices of, 673

Campbell, Rev. C.,On the Spiritual

State of the Heathen, 1

Ceylon Government and Idolatry, 367

-Policy of,

553

China, Christianity tolerated in, 664
Semi-Annual Letter from, 58,294

-Christianity in, 433

Straits, and, 598,732

Christianity, Attacks on, 668

Christ, Public Profession of, 724

Page.
Church Mis. Society, Anniversary, 491

An. Meeting, of Calcutta, 118

Clarke, Augustus J., happy death, 529
Conversions at Cuddapah, Calcut-
ta, Benares, &c. 238,241

. from the RomanChurch, 553

Convert, The wife of a Christian,

j oining her husband, 117
restored, 432

in Free Church Calcutta, 432
Correspondence, Dr. H. Gundert, 225

Reply to Inquirer, 279,421

Letter from H.W.F. 533

Correspondent, A Thought by, 723
Crisp, Rev. E., Form of Godliness, 493
. Theological Work, 721

D'Aubigne, Merle, Address of, 599

Dharma Sabha, and Rail-roads, 672

Draft Act, by J. H. 389

Draft Act, Hindu Memorials &c. 469

Education, New Scheme of, 639

Free Church Mission, Madras, Ex. J21
Bombay, Annual Meeting, 58

. Calcutta, Examination, 116
ApplicationfromConverts, 30G

Application for Funds, 672

Free Church of Scotland, 545,671
Fjellstett, Early years of, 587,656

George III., Anecdote of, 112

Germany,The NewCatholicsof, 487,670
Gundert, Dr. H., Reply to, 286

XX.

Hay, Rev. J., On the Translation
of Important Scripture Terms, 81

Hamilton, Rev. R. K. State of the
Armenian Church, 613

Howard, the Philanthropist, 542

India, On Missionary Success in, 164
Infidel, The End of an, 544

Jamieson, Mrs. Notice of, 704

Jewish Mission,Church of Scotland, 306'

INDEX.

Page.

672
369

Jews, The,

Judson, Dr., Departure of,

Lebanon,

Letter from Cape Town,

from Siam, 298, 729

Lewis, Rev. E., On the World's

Conversion,
Lex Loci, on the,
London Missionary Society,
Luther, Writings of, by Stowc.

BK,

Madagascar,

608
46,731

ir *T;^A

171,433
609
34

540

iVleHlU.^OJ3l,<*,

Madras Government on Education, M4
Madras Auxiliary Bible Society,

Tract and Book Society,

Auxiliary L. M. S.
Margaret, the Martyr of the Sea,
Maisey, S. J. Notice of,
Meeting, A Public, in Tamil,
Mcriah Sacrifices,
Mesmerism,

Missionary's Sick Room,
Mississipi, Valley of the,

12-J
177
179
4
712

2<K

544

521

Page.

Perkins, Account of Old Simeon, 596
Poetry, The Invocation,

The Sea of Galilee,

On the Death of a Missionary, 572
I know thou hast gone,
.The Invocation,
v^ery, Spirit of,
Porter, Rev. E., On the advantages

of Modem Christians, 309,196

Press, Spirit of the Native,
Puscyisin, Protest against,

Xt.

Religion in Germany,
Review, History of thcReformation.
byD'Aubigne, "

609

Nagpur, Brahmins at,

Native Education Society,

Nestorian Church, deliverance of, 362

666
122

New Year,

Neyoor Schools,

Notice of D' Aubigne, Vatha Vella-
cum, and Walther's Church His-
tory,

Obituary Rev. Josiah Pratt,
1_ Koilas Chunder, and

Dhannu,
. Rev. George Hole, Rev.

H. Fisher, and Mahcn-

dra Lai Basak,

-Stuart on the Apocalypse, 716
-Duelling Spiritually con-
sidered,

-Report of the Madras Dis-
trict Committee of L.M.S. 31
Report of the German Mission, 545
Rice,llev. B.,On Education, 373,o01 ,507
Roberts, Rev. Joseph, On the Iden-

tity of Popery and Paganism, 125,18,
Romanism, France, Switzerland, .Ud

In France of late years, 4'24

.And Protestantism, 302

In Germany,

1C8

Rome, Mes Adieux a,
S.

243

307
Rev.J.Mack,Rev.Chris-

tiau Essig, and Rev. J.

Burford, M. A. 369,371
Rev. G. Piekance, Rev.

Mr. Stolzenberg, Rev.

Mr. Wyman, and Mrs.

Bilderbeck, 43
Rev. W. Yates, i>. D.,

and Rev. R. Carver,

Sabbath,Observance of, at Bombay, 609
956 School Examinations, 59,116,121,432
School, New Native,
Science and the Bible agreed, 421
Scotland, Free Church of, 545,6 < 1

366
62
396
175
701

418
67

5a5

Mr. Bartels, 611

. Mrs. Jamieson, Mrs.
Evans,Mr. James Craig,
Mrs. Bradley, Rev. L. S.
Schultze,Mrs. Jones, &
Mrs. Fox, 675,676,732

Sermons, Doctrinal and Practical,

by the Rev. H. Harley,
Shripat Seshadri,'
Social Excellence, by E s,
Society, Christian Knowledge,
Summons, Awful,

Telegraph, Electro Magnetic,
Time, An Inch of,
Tract and Book Society, Calcutta,
Tract and Book Society, Bombay, 1

V.
Vepery Grammar School,

W.
Ward, Rev. F. D. W., An Appeal, 24a

Madras, as Mis. Field,

Wesleyan M issionary Society,

Anniversaryof the,Maaras,4o 1

. ,

Ordination, By the Bishop of Ma-
dras,

- at Mirzapur,

of Rev. J. W. Taylor, 674

Overland Athcna-uui,

Wesleyan Church, Re-opening of, iW>
Whitefield, Preaching of, 626,6f

Winslow,Rev.M.OnTamilMissions, oa<

2 Yates, Dr. Testimony to,

C62

MADRAS CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTOR

AND

MISSIONARY RECORD.

Vol. III. JANUARY, 1845. No. 1.

INTRODUCTION.

WE commence, as previously intimated, with the New Year, a
new volume ; for the convenience of having the year of our Jour-
nal correspond with the civil year. Our subscribers and friends
will, on this account, kindly excuse the irregularity of making the
last volume to consist of only seven numbers ; and especially as
it was put at five Rupees, which is a little less than the due pro-
portion. A title-page for the two volumes separately", and an In-
dex for both together, were circulated with the last number ; and
those who have the two volumes can bind them if they choose
under one cover. This will be more convenient for reference,
and as the book without the Hindu Idols will contain a little less
than 1100 pages, it will not be very unwieldy. We mention this
because it is a part of our object to have our productions how-
ever unimportant they may appear preserved for future reading.
Every thing of a statistical nature in reference to India, every
thing that may illustrate its past history or present condition ; and
all that may throw light on the missionary enterprise, especially as
conducted in this world of souls "bound by Satan, lo ! these many
years," may be of use hereafter, when the state of the country
shall have been changed.

We wish this to be considered in estimating the value of the
Journal, or it may be thought that those who take in a religious
newspaper may well do without it. The newspaper has its ap-
propriate sphere and, as far as news is concerned, may answer
the purpose better than such a Magazine but it cannot give
No. 1. A

2 INTRODUCTION. Januarf

place usually to the longer and more elaborate articles, nor allow
the arrangement of others, however valuable, so as to be easy of
reference at the time, much less preserve them for future years.
If the Magazine is in any measure a mirror of passing religious
events, and reflects with any vividness and freshness the lights and
shades of missionary enterprises in India, and Daguerre'otype like,
fixes their shapes upon its pages so as to retain them as in framed
pictures for the contemplation of after-comers, it deserves support.
If it has not done this, it may, and will, when our friends in differ-
ent parts of the country give us, now and then, a leaf from their
sketch-books, and such pencilings by the way as they can make
without interfering with their more appropriate duties. The com-
mand is to sow beside all waters, and we are convinced that there
are many who could write to good purpose, especially of what comes
under their own notice arid results from their own experience,
and could do so at odd hours, who yet excuse themselves for want
of tact or talent, or perhaps of time.

It is sometimes a subject of complaint, by missionaries and
others, that the mind runs out in India. If it be so, and there
may be some foundation for the complaint, it is owing perhaps as
much to not giving it proper exercise and discipline as to any
other cause. Making allowance for the effects of climate, which
if it debilitates the body may often from sympathy also enervate
the intellect, we think that the want of sustained and increased
mental energy is principally owing to deficiency in healthful ex-
citement and employment for the ivhole mind. At some stations,
while the occupants do not come into contact with others of
much intellectual wealth, the duties of their calling, or in some
instances perhaps mistaken ideas of the manner in which time
should invariably be spent, if not even a degree of indolence, pre-
vent them from fully obeying the injunction, "Give attendance to
reading." They allow their minds, it may be unnecessarily, to
rust, by not pursuing a proper range of thorough study, in hours or
moments which might be secured now and then for more varied
reading, which would often be but a relaxation while an improve-
ment of the mind. We think this is a mistake of some, though
often made with the best intention, that of giving more time
to Scripture studies ; for, though they may thus give to their

INTRODUCTION. 3

Bible more time, they may not bring to it so much penetrating
thought and concentrated feeling. We think some such would
lose nothing by helping us now and then to a well digested paper,
which would require them to extend a little their thoughts and
reading, and revive perhaps some of their earlier or later studies.
We therefore invite our missionary brethren and other friends,
lay and clerical, favourable to our object, to lend their aid, and to
send us contributions for the Journal.

Sterling contributions to its pages are most needed, and to the
production of these we 'urge our well-wishers, that the Journal
may be more what we wish it to be ; but the contribution of
sterling money, by an increase of subscribers, is also very impor-
tant. We feel the less delicacy in urging this, because all the
profits go to the Madras Tract and Book Society. After sub-
scriptions are obtained sufficient to meet the actual expense of
the work, every additional subscriber may consider himself as giv-
ing his entire subscription to that Society, while he receives the
numbers of the Magazine, in this sense, gratuitously. We are
now arrived at that point.

The present list of subscribers, without the extra expense of the
Lithographic plates, would give something more than two hundred
rupees annually to the Society. With that expense we have
paid to it one hundred, which will be increased if most of the
arrears of subscriptions are paid in; and we invite each one in
arrears to do his part. It may therefore be borne in mind that
those who now subscribe to the Journal are in effect adding the
amount of their subscriptions to the funds of a very valuable and
most useful institution.

Will not our friends then take some pains to add to the num-
ber of subscribers, especially at the out-stations, where by combin-
ing together, so that several may receive their numbers in one
parcel, the expense of postage will be much lessened. At banghy
stations it may be made very light.

We shall be glad if any friend at a mofussil station will consent
to act as agent and receive the work by banghy for distribution.

We hope that a review of our course thus far will prove that,
whatever defects there may be in conducting the work, the princi-
ples on which it was commenced have been steadily kept in view.

4 INTRODUCTION. January

We have not intentionally deviated, either to the right hand or
to the left, from that straight path on which we first entered nar-
row though it be but "avoiding as far as possible all controver-
sy on those topics on which Protestant Christians may consistent-
ly and conscientiously disagree," we have endeavoured "to vin-
dicate the principles to preserve the unity and to promote the in-
terests of that one true and Catholic church, which though con-
sisting of different members, and distinguished by different names,
is yet one body in Christ." We think this course . necessary so
long as we receive support on the faith of our prospectus. We
think it also suited to the present state of the church in India.
While at home by the open and organized invasion of Romanism,
the scarcely less systematized though more secret encroachments
of Tractarianism, and the guerilla attacks on every side of social-
ism, chartism, and other varied forms of infidelity and error the
church of true believers is so pressed from without as to feel the
need of union within the scattered band in India being in the
midst of the heathen, and still but small should feel the necessity
of union, if not to existence, yet to enlargement, as still more
urgent. There is also less apology for divisions. Of what prac-
tical importance, in this country, are many of the questions
which agitate the church at home ? Christians here cannot
afford the time, and thought, and feeling, expended there in
guarding the different enclosures, or extending the different
boundaries of each denomination. They have other things of
more moment to occupy them. They are doing a great work
and cannot come down. The collisions of different sects
in. Christendom, which at least produce activity and vigilance,
and prevent stagnation, would here serve little purpose except to
divert the efforts of the church from their proper object.

While the whole body of Protestant Christians in India is only
a handful amidst the mass of the Heathen and Mussulman popu-
lation, and but small in comparison even with the Roman Catho-
lics, as their great desire certainly should be to extend pure
Christianity, they should, so far as may be in their power, pre-
sent those great leading doctrines and precepts in which all true
Christians are agreed, and to these rather than to any peculiar de-
npminational dogmas give their united testimony as witnesses

INTRODUCTION. 5'

for Christ. Here, if any where, union is strength and division is
weakness.

As expressing our views on the general subject of Christian
union better than we can ourselves, we may be allowed to quote
the language of a worthy member of the Church of England,
as given in the preface of "Leighton on St. Peter."

"I am glad," says he, "that Christianity begins to be so well
understood and taught by so many men of parts and learning in
all sects, the fruits of which appear in a candour and charity un-
known to all ages of the church, except the primitive, I had
almost said the apostolic age. Does not this give you a prospect,
though perhaps still very distant, of the completion of the famous
prophecy that speaks of the lion and the lamb lying down together
in the kingdom of the Messiah ? Lions there have been hitherto
in all churches, but too many fierce, greedy, and blood-thirsty
lions, though often disguised like lambs; and some lambs there
have been simple enough to think it expedient for the flock to
assume the habit and terror of lions; but I hope they now begin
to undeceive themselves, and to consider Christianity v as intending
to bring back the world to that state of innocence which it enjoy-
ed before the fall, when in one and the same paradise, to use the
words of Milton,

Frisking played

All beasts of the earth, since wild, and of all chase,
In wood or wilderness, forest or den.
Sporting the lion ramp'd, and in his paw
Dandled the kid.

"To attain this happy state all Christians should unite their en-
deavours, and, instead of looking out for and insisting upon
points of difference and distinction, seek for those only in which
they do or may agree. They may at least sow the seeds of peace
and unity, though they should not live to reap the fruits of it in
this world. 'Blessed are the peace-makers,' says the Prince of
Peace, 'for they shall be called the children of God.' An ap-
pellation infinitely more honourable than that of pastor, bishop,
archbishop, patriarch, cardinal or pope, attended with a recom-

Q INTRODUCTION. January

pence infinitely surpassing the richest revenues of the highest
ecclesiastical dignity."

These remarks, though made a century ago, are as rich, nay as
fresh, and as much deserving of attention now, as when they
were first made.

The prayer of our Saviour was, "That they all may be one, as
thou Father art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in
us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." Is not this
union then of all the living members of Christ's body, who hold
the head, essential to the world's conversion ; and among the
hiriderances to the progress of the Gospel in India is not a di-
vided Christianity one of the greatest? Whether we regard the
weakened testimony of the church its contradictory witness for
Christ when thus divided or the obstacles which division presents
to the influences of that Spirit who flies from strife, we must
consider that real Christian union, without compromise of the
truth, is a blessing greatly to be desired for the prosperity of the
church in India ; and we think that all who desire this may,
among other means of securing the end, unite with us. We do
not see that any need object to our principles, or even the course
we have pursued, for we would gladly receive as coadjutors in
our work every denomination of evangelical Christians ; and our
pages are always open to all true followers of our Divine Master.

We are thankful for the degree of patronage granted to us,
and for any evidence that our labours are acceptable. We hope
they may, by aid from others, be increasingly useful. We com-
mence a new year with new courage and hopes ; but in looking
through it we have varied forebodings. We must anticipate the
grievous as well as the joyous. To some of us, or to some of
our readers, it may close the drama of earthly existence. For
what is our life ? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little
while and then vanisheth away

" Like airy bubbles, lo ! we rise,
And dance upon life's stream ;
Till, soon the air that caused, destroys
The attenuated frame.
Down the swift stream we glide apace,
And curry death within ;
Then break, and scarcely leave a trace,
To show that we have been."

INTRODUCTION. 7

Are we then prepared, or are we diligently preparing, to go
hence and, be here no more?

A mistake on this point may be irreparable and fatal to our
everlasting peace. Should the voice of warning sound in the ears
of any one : "This year thou shalt die," would he be enabled to
say, "Oh death, where is thy sting ? oh grave, where is thy
victory?''

If not called hence, many of us may, no doubt, this year meet
with varied trials; for "this is not your rest, it is polluted." Are
we prepared to meet them with Christian resignation, glorying in
tribulation also, knowing that "tribulation worketh patience, and
patience experience, and experience hope?" Can we leave all
future wants quietly with the Lord, and "be careful for nothing;
but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
make our requests known unto God;" and desiring only to fill
up our days, whether more or fewer, whether bright or cloudy, with
usefulness and duty? Then may we say, "It is well with us."

To the church, there is much, no doubt, both of good and evil
to be anticipated the coming year. Her warfare is jiot yet ac-
complished. On the contrary the din of battle is sounding on
every side the enemy is corning in like a flood, but "the Lord
shall lift up a standard against him." Many shall this year
leave the camp of the great adversary and submit themselves to
Christ. Even in India we may hope to see trophies of con-
quering grace, in many places where Satan's seat is. We know
not what may be the relative strength of the two parties in the
conflict between sin and holiness, at the end of this year, com-
pared with what it now is ; but we know which shall finally pre-
vail, and may be assured that however adverse many present
events may seem, they are all preparing for, and urging on, the
final consummation, when "the kingdoms of this world shall
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ;" and that
it is an unspeakable privilege for any one to be a soldier of the
Lord Jesus in this warfare, and to "endure hardness" for his
' sake to suffer that he may also reign with Him.

As to the world at large, we enter not into its politics; but
though it is a time of general peace, and though from year to year
the position of the different nations may seem to change but little,

8 INTRODUCTION. January

there is in the present cessation from war, other signs than those
which go before the continued prevalence of universal peace.
The nations of the earth are not beating "their swords into
ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." On the
contrary, they are perfecting the means of mutual destruction al-
most as rapidly as they are improving those for mutual and in-
ter-communication ; and though the latter may serve for a time to
keep the use of the former in check, it is evident, from the spirit
which is abroad a spirit of insubordination, and licentiousness,
and restlessness in the up-heaving masses of all the lower strata
of human society that the silence now on earth is as but "for the
space of half an hour ;" and, like the lull of nature before a storm,
will ere long be followed "by voices, and thunderings, and light-
nings and an earthquake." But, though the tempest rage, and
nature be convulsed, we may have confidence that after the
storm which will only purify the atmosphere there will be the
clear shining of the sun ; and while the very elements of society
may be thrown into the wildest confusion, the Divine Spirit will
brood over the chaos, as at the first, and bring forth new crea-
tions of order, in primeval beauty. He will "bring light out of
darkness and good out of evil." "Surely the wrath of man
shall praise Thee, and the remainder of wrath thou wilt res-
train."

After the above was in type, we read the strictures of the Madras
'Record' on our last number. We thank the editor for his good in-
tentions and wishes as to our improvement, and we hope that his
hint to our coadjutors, and others who might be so, will not be
lost.

We are convinced that effectual aid might be rendered us by
many, without interfering with more appropriate duties, and we
hope that the "open rebuke" of our well-wisher may have the
effect to excite some to exertion.

At the same time we must say that we think the editor in ex-
pecting much more from us than we accomplish, overrates our number
and abilty, and also judges us by a wrong standard. In regard
to the latter for we will not discuss the former we must request to
be tried by a comparison of our doings with our professions. We
have not promised to fill up the Journal wholly, or principally, with

l ** s - INTRODUCTION. 9

original matter ; and it answers our own expectations at least, when
one half or more is original.

It is our candid opinion that some others write with more taste,
and elegance, and power than we do ; and if we bring forward their
productions, usually from quarters not accessible to our readers, we
think that by giving them a place in our pages, we confer a favour
rather than appropriate a benefit.

As to the details of missionary labours, we much wish that our
friends, whether at the Presidency or at country-stations, would furnish
us with such notices of their labours whether encouraging or dis-
couraging as would stimulate the exertions or excite the sympathies
of our readers. Many occurrences of interest are now doubtless pass-
ed over, which, if properly reported might do much good. We are
aware that there is a difference of opinion as to the expediency of
giving notoriety at once to events, which, however interesting to the
individuals concerned may not prove of as much general importance
as was expected; and that some are afraid of the effect upon those
who appear to be true converts of bringing them too soon into public
notice. We think, while such considerations deserve regard, there is
sometimes a false delicacy on this point, which may well be laid aside
to secure more generally the prayers and sympathies of Christians.
The Instructor however is only in part a Missionary^ Record, and
cannot enter into the various particulars of each mission as may a
publication devoted to the concerns of a single denomination. We
shall be thankful for aid to improve in these as also in other respects,
and would only remind our friends that the publication was from the
beginning intended to be, not like a well fed by two or three springs
in one place, but rather like a larger reservoir, into which might be
received from different quarters, and from which might be distributed
abroad, the contributions not only of missionaries, but of any friends
of religious education, and Christian literature, whether flowing in
like little rills, or as the tribute of more gushing fountains.

WB add a second postscript to express our obligations to the editor of the
Athenaeum, for his favourable notice of the number of the journal above re-
ferred to ; and the rather as he has always generously encouraged us in our
work. To the local prints, generally, we are indebted; and return their
conductors our thanks.

Firmly believing that a Christian Press is an important instrument for
aiding in the regeneration of India, we intend to continue our labours so long
as the public will support us, and we ask the countenance and co-operation
of all the journals at Madras friendly to our object.
No. 1. u

]0 ON THE SPIRITUAL STATE January

ON THE SPIRITUAL STATE OF THE HEATHEN.

BY THE REV. C. CAMPBELL.

IT cannot be denied that the command of the Saviour to go into
all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, is a sufficient
warrant for the church to engage in the great work of missions ;
and that the authoritative injunction of our Lord ought to be re-
garded by all his true disciples as a reason strong enough to in-
duce them to put forth all their energies in the cause. And yet
it is an obvious fact, that the zeal of Christians in the work is
greatly affected by the views which they happen to entertain re-
garding the state of those who are without the Gospel, and the de-
gree of success which we are warranted to expect will attend our
missionary efforts.

While it is admitted, therefore, by the friends of this good cause,
that the simple command of Christ ought to be sufficient to lead to
the most strenuous endeavours to spread the knowledge of salva-
tion among all nations, they have very properly been in the habit
of stirring up each other to exertion and prayer, by a consideration
of the awfully degraded state of the heathen, the present miseries
entailed by their superstitions and immoralities, and, above all, of
then* alienation from God and the fearful nature of that doom
which awaits them beyond the grave. These considerations are
usually presented in connection with the precious promises of God's
word, in reference to the future glory of the church, and the suc-
cess which is to attend the preaching of the Gospel in all nations,
when incense and a pure offering shall be offered to Jehovah from
the rising to the setting of the sun. And it cannot be doubted
that a view of the present wretchedness and hopelessness of those
who are now in darkness, in connection with the bright and
cheering prospects held forth to us in the word of God, gives
great strength to the motive arising from the Divine command ;
and that the more we know of the condition of the heathen, and
especially of their spiritual destitution, and the stronger our faith

1845 OF THE HEATHEN. 1 1

is in the predictions regarding their conversion to the service of
the true God, the more diligent we shall be in our labours, and
the more earnest in our prayers for that blessing through which
alone they can be made successful. With this view I submit the
following remarks on the spiritual state of the heathen.

A difference of opinion exists among Christians on the ques-
tion, whether or not we have reason to believe that any of the
heathen (that is heathen who have arrived at the years of dis-
cretion and who are possessed of a sane mind) will be saved
without the knowledge of the Gospel. It is agreed by all that
if any of them be saved, it will be through the merits of Christ,
and not on account of any good in themselves. But it is sup-
posed by some, that in order to become partakers of the bless-
ings of the salvation* of Christ, it may not be necessary in all
cases to have the knowledge of Christ ; that it may be enough
that sinners make a proper use of the light of nature and con-
science, to render them fit objects of the grace of the Gospel,
though from the circumstances in which they are placed they
may be ignorant of that Gospel. It is granted that of those who
hear the Gospel none can be saved but those who cordially em-
brace it. Regarding all to whom the message of mercy has
been addressed, it is said : 'He that believeth, and is baptized,
shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned.' But
it is thought that this does not hinder that some, who have never
heard/ and therefore have never been guilty of rejecting the
Gospel, should be partakers of its blessings, if they have sincerely
served God according to the light which they have enjoyed.
It is generally admitted, that many (perhaps all) that die in
infancy, will be saved through Christ, though incapable of know-
ing him or exercising faith in him. And if they may thus be
saved, it is argued, why may we not suppose, that mercy will be
extended in a similar way to some who have never been told
that Christ died for sinners? They may have sought God sin-
cerely, and served him uprightly though imperfectly, and there-
fore he who delighteth in mercy, and who willeth not the death
of sinners, may save them through his Son, though they have
not known him.

There is certainly something very plausible in this reasoning,

12 ON THE SPIRITUAL STATE January

and it is likely to be regarded as the most charitable view of the
question. But, with much respect for the judgment of many
who hold this view, I may be allowed to state it as my humble
opinion that the Scriptures lead us to a different conclusion.
They seem to me to teach the awful truth, that att who are
ignorant of the Gospel, are without Christ and without hope in
the world. It cannot be denied that if any one were to act
fully up to the light which he possesses, he would be saved ; as
no one will ever be condemned for the want of that, knowledge
which he had no means of obtaining. But the Scriptures seem
to intimate that no one without the knowledge of Christ, ever
does act up to the light he possesses. It seems to me to be
intimated that all might and ought to know much about God,
and their duty to Him and one another, buj that they have des-
pised and acted contrary to this knowledge, and that therefore
every mouth is stopped and all the world is become guilty before
God. It seems further evident, that if any, who have thus in-
curred the divine displeasure, desire salvation, they must call
on the name of the Lord Jesus. But 'how,' it is asked by the
Apostle, 'shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed ?
and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard ?
and how shall they hear without a preacher?' Rom. x. 14.
And hence is inferred by him the blessedness of those who hear
the Gospel ; because it seems evidently implied that those who
are not favoured with the hearing of it, are left to perish in
their sins.

But even should we admit the abstract possibility of some of
the heathen being saved through Christ without the knowledge of
Him as a Saviour, yet we should be able to derive very little
consolation from the admission in contemplating their actual
state. We might fancy that this theory enabled us to solve some
of the difficulties connected with God's dealings with respect to
the heathen. But, alas ! our mere abstract theory would afford
us very little comfort when viewing the people as they really are.
Let it be granted that some may be saved though ignorant of
Christ ; thequestion arises, is it likely that many are actually saved
in this way ? Surely to this question we are compelled to give
an answer in the negative. We are driven to such a conclusion

!84& - REVIEW. 17

doms of our Lord and of his Chris).' May the Lord have res-
pect unto his covenant of love, and hasten that joyful and happy
day!

MYSORE, )

27th November, 1814. >

REVIEW.

History of the Great Reformation of the Sixteenth Cculnrr, in
Germany, Switzerland, &e,

BY J. H. MERLE D*AUBIGNE.

American Edition Nineteenth Thousand.

THIS is, by general acclamation, a remarkable book. Though it
is but a few years since the first two volumes were 'issued, and
as yet only the third, which does not bring us to the death of
Luther, and little more than introduces Calvin upon the stage, is
completed, it has attained a celebrity enjoyed by few similar pro-
ductions, in a long course of years. Protestants of nearly all
classes have hailed it with enthusiasm, while Romanists, with still
greater unanimity, have spumed it with anathemas. The Pope
has put it under a ban, and proscribed it in the same list with
the Holy Scriptures. The secret of its power and success seems
to lie very much in its graphic and vivid delineations of the
principal actors, and scenes of that great moral arid religious
revolution commonly called the Reformation. This has been
written upon, and written about, for three centuries has been
treated historically, poetically, and philosophically, has been the
theme of more declamation than almost any other event, and
jet neither the characters acting in the great drama, nor the
rationale of the scenes, nor even the wonder-working hand of
God in all, and above all, has heretofore been so vividly and
distinctly traced, as in these volumes.
No. 1. '

18 REVIEW. JamM ^

They doubtless have their defects, and to an English reader
labour under the great disadvantage of presenting the German
materials through a double translation being first rendered into
French, in which the author wrote, and then translated into
English. Much of the spirit of the original must of course
have evaporated in this process, and especially of Luther's writ-
ings, whose German style seems to have been as peculiar as he
was himself; and to have had not only a strength, but a raciness,
beauty, and even elegance, seldom surpassed. His eloquence is
described as wonderful, and often irresistible.

The facts presented in the work appear to have been drawn
from the most authentic sources, and although D'Aubigne has evi-
dently a very fertile imagination, and may in some instances have
been a little fanciful in his speculations, there is no reason to sus-
pect any thing like an improper colouring of the images employ-
ed, which are brought before the mind in such rich array arid
with a power of moral painting so great, that they seem more like
the pictures of romance than those of real history.

We propose in a few consecutive numbers of the Instructor to take
a brief view of the more important portions of this valuable work,
and to transfer some of its picturesque descriptions to our pages.

The history of the Reformation is a history of the revival of
primitive Christianity. It is distinct from the continued history
of Protestantism, being a review of one of the greatest revolutions
in human affairs, regenerative and restorative of what had been
corrupted or destroyed by the church, and cortservative of the lit-
tle life that remained and was ready to die. In this respect it
emanated from God himself, while in the further progress of Pro-
testantism, the mingling of man's devices producing sectarian
divisions is more manifest. The Reformation was the pouring
forth afresh of that life which Christianity had brought into the
world. It was the triumph of that noblest of doctrines, justifica-
tion by faith.

Our author, after noticing the introduction of Christianity
'the greatest event in the annals of all time for which the
former ages had been a preparation, and from which the latter
unroll,* describes briefly the rise of papacy. This is traced to
the political domination of Rome as a metropolitan city.

>< REVIEW. 19

'The first pastors or bishops of Rome employed themselves in the
beginning in converting to the faith of Christ the towns and villages
that surrounded the city. The necessity which the bishops and
pastors felt of referring in cases of difficulty to an enlightened guide,
and the gratitude which they owed to the metropolitan church,
led them to maintain an intimate union with her. As is generally
the consequence in such circumstances, this reasonable union soon
degenerated into dependence. The bishops of Rome regarded as
a right the superiority which the neighbouring churches had volun-
tarily yielded. The encroachments of power form a large portion
of all history : the resistance of those whose rights are invaded forms
the other part : and the ecclesiastical power could not escape that
intoxication which leads those who are lifted up to seek to raise
themselves still higher. It felt all the influence of this general
weakness of human nature.

'Nevertheless the supremacy of the Roman bishop was at first limit-
ed* to the overlooking of the churches, in the territory lawfully sub-
ject to the prefect of Rome. But the rank which this imperial city
held in the world offered to the ambition of its first pastors a prospect
of wider sway. The consideration which the different Christian
bishops enjoyed in the second century was in proportion to the rank
of the city over which they presided. Rome was the greatest, the
richest, and the most powerful city in the world. It was the seat of
empire, the mother of nations. "All the inhabitants of the earth are
hers"f said Julian, and Claudian declares her to be "the foundation
oflaws."{

'If Rome be the Queen of cities, why should not her pastor be the
King of Bishops ? Why should not the Roman church be the
mother of Christendom ? Why should not all nations be her children,
and her authority be the universal law ? It was natural to the heart
of man to reason thus. Ambitious Rome did so.

'The doctrine of "the Church," and of "the necessity for its visible
unity," which had gained footing as early as the third century,
favoured the pretensions of Rome. The great bond, which originally
bound together the members of the church, was a living faith in the
heart, by which all were joined to Christ as their one Head. But
various causes ere long conspired to originate and develop the
idea of a necessity for some exterior fellowship. Men, accustomed

* Suburbicaria loca. See the sixth canon of the Council of Nice, cited by Rufimis ai
follows: Et nt apud Alexandriam et in urbe Roma vetnsta consuetudo servetnr nt vel ille
./Egypt! vel hie suburbicarianna ecclesiarum sollicitudinem gerat, &c. Hint. Kccles.

t Julian Orat. I.

$ Claud, iu Paueg. Stilic. lib. 3.

20 REVIEW. January

to the associations and political forms of an earthly country, carried
their views and habits of mind into the spiritual and everlasting
kingdom of Jesus Christ. Persecution powerless to destroy, or even
to shake the new community, compressed it into the form of a more
compacted body. To the errors that arose in the school of deism,
or in the various sects, was opposed the truth "one and universal"
received from the Apostle and preserved in the church. All this
was well, so long as the invisible and spiritual church was identical
with the visible and outward community. But soon a great dis-
tinction appeared : the form and the vital principle parted asunder.
The semblance of identical and external organization was gradually
substituted in place of the internal and spiritual unity which is the
very essence of a religion proceeding from God. Men suffered the
precious perfume of faith to escape while they bowed themselves
before the empty vase that had held it. Faith in the heart no longer
knit together in one the members of the church. Then it was that
other ties were sought ; and Christians were united by means of
bishops, archbishops, popes, mitres, ceremonies, and canons. The
Living Church retiring by degrees to the lonely sanctuary of a
lew solitary souls, an exterior church was substituted in place of
it, and installed in all its forms as of divine institution. Salvation no
longer flowing forth from that word which was now hidden it
began to be affirmed that it was conveyed by means of certain
invented forms, and that none could obtain it without resorting to
such means ! No one, it was said, can by his faith attain to ever-
lasting life : Christ communicated to the Apostles, and the Apostles
to the Bishops, the unction of the Holy Spirit ; and this Spirit is found
only in this order of communication. In the beginning of the Gospel,
whosoever had received the spirit of Jesus Christ was esteemed a
member of the church : now the order was inverted ; and no one,
unless a member of the church, Avas counted to have received the
spirit of Jesus Christ.

'As soon as the notion of a supposed necessity for a visible unity*
of the church had taken root, another error began to spread :
namely, that it was needful that there should be some outward re-

* From the preTious reflections it is clear that Hie author does not disparage that Unity
which is the manifested result of the partaking of the life of the Head by the members ; but
only that lifeless font of unity which man has devised in place of it. We learn from John
e true and real One-ness of BEMKVKHS was to be manifested, so that

x\ii. 2123, that i\
the world might bel
things which divide,
among such things n

eVe that the Father had sent Jesus. Hence we may conclude that the
nstead of gathering, the 'little flook' are contrary to his mind: and
ust be classed not alone the carnality of names, (1 Cor. iii. 4,) but

every commandment or requirement of men that excludes the very weakest whom Cud ha*
received. (Rom xiv 1 3; Acts xi. 17, compare Acts ii. 44, &c.) Tranxlatur.

1845.

REVIEW. 21

presentative of that unity. Though no trace of any primacy of St.
Peter above the rest of the Apostles appears in the Gospels ; although
the idea of a primacy is at variance with the mutual relations of the
disciples as "brethren," and even with the spirit of the dispensation
which requires all the children of the Father to minister one to
another,* (1 Pet. iv. 10,) acknowledging but one Master and Head;
and though the Lord Jesus had rebuked his disciples whenever their
carnal hearts conceived desires of pre-eminence ; a Primacy of St.
Peter was invented, and supported by misinterpreted texts, and men
proceeded to acknowledge in that Apostle, and in his pretended
successor, the visible representative of visible unity and head of the
whole Church !'

The formation of Patriarchates in the church, of which Rome
was one, increased the direct spiritual power of Rome, and this
derived further strength from being courted by kings and princes,
whose thrones were then tottering. An edict of Theodosius II.
and of Valentinian III., proclaimed the Bishop of Rome 'ruler of
the whole church.' Justinian issued a similar decree.

The hosts of rude invaders of the west from the forests of the
north, becoming converts to Christianity, but in a still half hea-
then half savage state, and feeling the need of external pomp in
religion, prostrated themselves at the feet of the chief priest of
Rome, and proved the most effectual promoters of papal power.

The temporal power of Rome, which rose amidst the conten-
tions between the east and west the Bishops of Rome resisting
the Greek emperors, their lawful sovereigns, and courting the fa-
vour of the rising Franks was acknowledged and guaranteed
by their king Pepin. This usurper, being entreated to defend
Rome against the Arabs and Lombards, demanded as a condi-
tion, his confirmation to the throne of France, arid in return
granted a declaration in defence of the 'Republic of God.'
Having wrested from the hands of the Lombards their conquests,
instead of restoring them to the emperor, he laid the keys of the
conquered cities on the altar of St. Peter. When afterwards
Charlemagne, the son of Pepin, appeared before the Pope as
master of all the nations composing the western empire, Leo
in the year 800, on Christmas-day, placed on his brow the Roman

* See the Council of Chalcedon, Canons 8 and 18, <> efcjcoyoj j/y

j^ REVIEW. January

crown; thus conferring the rank of emperor on him who
already had the power. From this time the Pope was con-
nected with the Franks, and under the feeble successors of Char-
lemagne he had opportunity to make himself independent. It
was reserved for Hildebrand, under the title of Gregory VII., to
complete the temporal aggrandizement of the church, and to place
the Pope who had been from the beginning subordinate first to
the Roman emperors, then to the Prankish princes, and lastly to
the emperors of Germany in the attitude of an equal to these
princes, and in some respects as their master. Ordering and en-
forcing the celebacy of the clergy in all parts of Christendom,
and rupturing the ties that united them to the royal authority,
he bound them to the pontifical throne. He then undertook
to restrain by a powerful hand, priests, princes, and people ;
and to make the Pope a universal monarch. This was even-
tually effected, and kings trembled before the thunders of the
New Jupiter of Rome.

Woe to all who should resist. Their subjects were released from
their oaths of allegiance, their whole country was placed under an
interdict ; public worship ceased, the churches were closed, the
bells remained mute, the sacraments were no longer administered,
and the dead no longer honourably interred. The Pope con-
sequently ruled kings and emperors.

Thus every thing was changed in the church. It was at first
a society of brethren ; and now in their midst is erected an
absolute monarchy.

With this change in its external form, was another in its inter-
nal doctrine. Its leading idea in the beginning was and ever
should have been, salvation by grace through faith. It presup-
posed alienation from God, and that reconciliation must be the
work of his Spirit, producing faith in Christ ; and that this faith
alone could justify, and alone produce good works. But the
entire depravity of the heart had been denied faith was con-
sidered as an act of the understanding merely submitting to com-
manding evidence and works, which were necessary to help out
such faith, were deemed meritorious, and their goodness was
placed in the mere external act. The more of such works the
greater their reputed sanctity ; heaven was to be gained by

18W- REVIEW.

legal observances and penance, and it was even thought that
many made attainments in holiness beyond what was required of
them.

Works of penance, substituted for the salvation of God, were
multiplied in the church. In the llth century voluntary flagella-
tions were added. 'Nobles and peasants, old and young, even
children of five years old, went in pairs through the villages,. the
towns, and the cities by hundreds, thousands, and tens of thou-
sands, without any other covering than a cloth tied round the
middle, and visiting the churches in procession, in the very depth
of winter. Armed with scourges they lashed themselves without
pity, and the streets resounded with cries and groans, which drew
forth tears of compassion from all who heard them.'

It was this system of penance which led to the sale of indul-
gences. The priests said, 'Oh penitents, you are unable to per-
form the penances we have imposed upon you. Well then, we
the priests of God, and your pastors, will take upon ourselves
this heavy burden. Who can fast better than we ? Who can
better kneel and recite psalms than ourselves ?' But as the
labourer is worthy of his hire, they required that suitable payment
should be made.

The Pope discovered the advantages which he might derive
from the sale of indulgences. It was an easy method of filling
his coffers, and meeting his increasing want of money. A bull
of Clement VII. in the 13th century, declared the new doctrine
an article of faith. Christ was affirmed to have done much more
than was required to reconcile God to man. He had formed a
treasury, which even eternity could not exhaust. The superero-
gatory merit of the saints went further to enrich this treasury.
It was confided to the Pope, as vicar of Christ upon the earth.

To meet the case of those on whom penance was imposed,
and who should die before it had been undergone, or indulgence
obtained, the Pope, by a bull, added purgatory to his domain.
To deliver souls from this also, indulgences were sold. A scale
of taxes on indulgences was published, of which more than forty
editions are extant. Incest was to cost, if not detected, five
groschen. If known or flagrant, six. A certain price was af-
fixed to the crime of murder, another to infanticide, adultery,

<24j REVIEW. January

perjury, burglary, &c. Boniface VIII. published a bull in 1300,
by which a plenary indulgence was granted to all who should
make a pilgrimage to Rome, the season for which was once
in a hundred years. Subsequently 50 years were fixed, then 33,
and at last 25. It was computed that 200,000 visited Rome in
one month, carrying rich offerings. For the greater convenience
of the purchasers, the privileges of the jubilee and the sale of
indulgences were transferred to the market places of the different
nations of Christendom.

'The people of Christendom, and under that designation almost all
the nations of Europe might be comprised, no longer looked to a
living and holy God for the free gift of eternal life. They therefore
naturally had recourse to all the devices of a superstitious, fearful, and
alarmed imagination. Heaven was peopled with saints and mediators,
whose office it was to solicit God's mercy. All lands were filled
with the works of piety, of mortification, of penance and observances,
by which it was to be procured. Take the description of the state"
of religion at this period given by one who was for a long while a
monk, and in after life a fellow-lab ourer with Luther, Myconius.

' "The sufferings and merits of Christ were looked upon (says he,)
as an empty tale, or as the fictions of Homer. There was no longer
any thought of that faith by which we are made partakers of the
Saviour's righteousness, and the inheritance of eternal life. Christ
was regarded as a stern judgc$ prepared to condemn all who should
not have recourse to the intercession of saints or to the Pope's
indulgences. Other intercessors were substituted in his stead ; first
the Virgin Mary, like the heathen Diana ; and men the saints, whose
numbers were continually augmented by the Popes. These ' inter-
cessors refused their mediation unless the party was in good repute
with the monastic orders which they had founded. To be so, it was
necessary not only to do what God had commanded in his word,
but also to perform a number of works invented by the monks and
the priests, and which brought them in large sums of money. Such
were Ave Marias, the prayers of St. Ursula, and of St. Bridget. It
was necessary to chaunt and cry day and night. There were as many
different pilgrimages as there were mountains, forests, and vallies.
But with money these penances might be compounded for. The
people therefore brought to the convents and to the priests money,
and every thing they possessed that was of any value fowls, ducks,
eggs, wax, straw, butter, and cheese. Then the chauntings resound-
ed, the bells rang, the odour of incense filled the sanctuary, the sacri-
fices offered up, the tables groaned, the glasses circulated, and these

!815 - REVIEW. 25

pious orgies were terminated by masses. The bishops no longer
appeared in the pulpits, but they consecrated priests, monks, churches,
chapels, images, books, and burial places, and all these brought a
large revenue. Bones, arms, feet were preserved in boies of silver
or gold ; they gave them to the faithful to kiss during mass, and this
increased their gains.

'"All maintained that the Pope being in the place of God (2
Thessal. ii. 4,) could not err ; and there were none to contradict
them."*

'At the church of All Saint's, at Wittemberg, was shewn a frag-
ment of Noah's ark ; some soot from the furnace of the three chil-
dren ; a piece of wood from the crib of the infant Jesus ; some hair of
the beard of the great St. Christopher ; and nineteen thousand other
relics, more or less precious. At Schaffhausen was shewn the breath
of St. Joseph, that Nicodemus received on his glove. In Wur-
temburg might be seen a seller of indulgences disposing of his mer-
chandize with his head adorned with a feather plucked from the
wing of the Archangel MichaeLf But there was no need to seek so
far for these precious treasures. Those \vhofarmed the relics overran
the country. They bore them about in the rural districts, (as has
since been done with the Holy Scriptures ;) and carried them into the
houses of the faithful, to spare them the cost and trouble of the pil-
grimage. They were exhibited with pomp in the churches. These
wandering hawkers paid a certain sum to the proprietors of the relics,
with a per centage on their profits. The kingdom of heaven had
disappeared ; and men had opened in its place on earth, a market of
abominations.'

The state of morals too had every where become most appal-
ling.

'And what a spectacle was presented by the Pontifical Throne in
the generation immediately preceding the Reformation ! Rome, it
must be acknowledged, has seldom been witness to so much infamy.

'Rodrigo Borgia, after living in illicit intercourse with a Roman
lady, had continued a similar connection with one of her daughters,
by name Rosa Vanozza, by whom he had had five children. He
was living at Rome with Vanozza and other abandoned women,
as cardinal, and archbishop, visiting the churches and hospitals,
when the death of Innocent VIII. created a vacancy in the Ponti-
fical chair. He succeeded in obtaining it by bribing each of the

* Myconins' History of the Reformation; and Scckcndorfs History of Luthcranism.
t Mul I cr Reliquien, vol. iii. p. 22.

No. 1. D

26 REVIEW. January

cardinals at a stipulated price. Four mules, laden \vitli silver, were
publicly driven into the palace of Sforza, the most influential of the
cardinals. Borgia became Pope under the name of Alexander VI.
and rejoiced in the attainment of the pinnacle of pleasures.

'The very day of his coronation he created his son Ca3sar, a fero-
cious and dissolute youth, archbishop of Valencia and bishop of
Pampeluna. He next proceeded to celebrate in the Vatican the
nuptials of his daughter Lucrezia, by festivities, at which his mistress
Julia Bella was present, and which were enlivened by farces and
indecent songs. "Most of the ecclesiastics," says an historian,* "had
their mistresses, and all the convents of the capital were houses of ill
fame." Caesar Borgia espoused the cause of the Guelphs, and when by
their assistance he had annihilated the power of the Ghibelines, he
turned upon the Guelphs, and crushed them in their turn. But he would
allow none to share in the spoils of his atrocities. In the year 1497,
Alexander conferred upon his eldest son the duchy of Benevento. The
Duke suddenly disappeared. That night a faggot-dealer on the banks
of the Tiber saw some persons throw a corpse into the river; but he
said nothing of it, for such things were common. The Duke's body
was found. His brother Caesar had been the instigator of the mur-
der.f He did not stop there. His brother-in-law stood in the way
of his ambition. One day Caesar caused him to be stabbed on the
staircase of the Pope's palace, and he was carried covered with blood
to his own apartments. His wife and sister never left him. Dread-
ing lest Caesar should employ poison, they were accustomed to pre-
pare his meals with their own hands. Alexander placed guards be-
fore his door, but Caesar ridiculed these precautions, and on one
occasion when the Pope visited him dropped the remark, "What can-
not be done at dinner may be at supper" Accordingly, he one day
gained admittance to the chamber of the wounded man, turned out
his wife and sister, and called Michilotto, the executioner of his hor-
rors, and the only man in whom he placed any confidence, command-
ed him to strangle his victim before his eyes.

'Alexander had a favourite named Peroto, whose preferment offend-
ed the young Duke. Caesar rushed upon him, Peroto sought refuge
under the Papal mantle, clasping the Pontiff in his arms ; Cassar
stabbed him, and the blood of the victim spirted in the Pontiff's face.
"The Pope," adds a contemporary and witness of these atrocities,
"loves the Duke his son, and lives in great fear of him."

* Infcssnra.

t Ama?.7,o il fratcllo ducha di Gandia c lo f.< Vmtar ncl Tcvcrc. (M. S. C. of Capello,
ambassador at Rome iu 1500 extracted bv Rantke.)

REVIEW. 27

'Cassar was one of the handsomest and most powerful men of his age.
Six wild bulls fell beneath his hand in single combat. Nightly assas.-
sinations took place in the streets of Rome. Poison often destroyed
those whom the dagger could not reach. Every one feared to move
or breathe lest he should be the next victim. Caesar Borgia was the
hero of crime. The spot on earth where all iniquity met and overflow-
ed was the Pontiff's seat. When man has given himself over to the
power of evil, the higher his pretensions before God, the lower he. is
seen to sink in the depths of hell. The dissolute entertainments given
by the Pope and his son Caesar and his daughter Lucrezia, are such
as can neither be described nor thought of. The most impure groves
of ancient worship saw not the like. Historians have accused Alex-
ander and Lucrezia of incest, but the charge is not sufficiently estar
blished. The Pope, in order to rid himself of a wealthy Cardinal,
had prepared poison in a small box of sweetmeats, which was to be
placed on the table after a sumptuous feast: the Cardinal, receiving
a hint of the design, gained over the attendant, and the poisoned box
was placed before Alexander. He ate of it and perished. The
whole city came together, and could hardly satiate themselves with
the sight of this dead viper.*

'Such was the man who filled the pontifical throne at the com-
mencement of the age of Reformation.'

The need of a reformation was long felt, and attempted in
different forms.

First temporal princes resisted Rome. Thus did the Emperor
Henry IV. ; who after a long and fruitless struggle 'wTas obliged
to pass three days and nights in the trenches of that Italian
fortress, exposed to the winters cold, stripped of his imperial
robes, barefoot, in a scanty woollen garment, imploring with tears
and cries the pity of Hildebrand, before whom he kneeled ;' and
who at the end of that time so far relaxed his papal inflexibility,
as to pardon the suppliant.

Then men of education and genius arose to protest against
Roman corruption. Learning awoke in Italy. Dante, the father
of Italian poetry, boldly placed in his Hell the most powerful of
the Popes. Petrarch called for the re-establishment of the
primitive order of the church. A legion of poets, learned men,
and philosophers made various efforts to effect a reformation j

* Gordon, Tommasi, Infessura, Guicciardim, Eccard, &c^

28 REVIEW. January

Lut in vain. Leo X. enlisted among tlie supporters and satellite?
of his court, literature, poetry, sciences, and the arts ; and these
came humbly kissing the feet of a power which they had in their
infancy thought to destroy.

'At last an agency which promised more ability to reform the
church came forward. This was the church itself. At the call for
Reformation, reiterated on all sides, and which had been heard for
ages past, that most imposing of ecclesiastical conclaves, the Council
of Constance, assembled. An immense number of cardinals, arch-
bishops, bishops, eighteen hundred doctors of divinity and priests :
the Emperor himself, with a retinue of a thousand persons ; the
Elector of Saxony, the Elector Palatine, the Duke of Bavaria and
Austria, and ambassadors from all nations, gave to this assembly an
air of authority, unprecedented in the history of Christianity. Above
the rest, we must mention the illustrious and immortal doctors of the
University of Paris, the Aillys, the Gersons, the Clemangnis, those
men of piety, learning and courage, who by their writings and elo-
quence communicated to the Council an energetic and salutary
direction. Every thing bowed before this assembly ; with one hand
it deposed three Popes at once, while with the other it delivered
John Huss to the flames. A commission was named, composed of
deputies from different nations, to propose a fundamental reform.
The Emperor Sigismund supported the proposition with the whole
weight of his power. The Council were unanimous. The cardi-
nals all took an oath that he among them who should be elected
Pope would not dissolve the assembly, nor leave Constance before
the desired reformation should be accomplished. Colonna was
chosen under the name of Martin V. The moment was come
which was to decide the Reform of the Church ; all the pre-
lates, the Emperor, the princes, and the representatives of dif-
ferent nations, awaited the result with intense desire. " The
Council is at an end" exclaimed Martin V. as soon as he had
placed the tiara on his brow. Sigismund and the clergy uttered a cry
of surprise, indignation, and grief; but that cry was lost upon the
winds. On the 16th of May, 1418, the Pope, arrayed in the pontifical
garments, mounted a mule richly caparisoned ; the Emperor was on
his right hand, the Elector of Brandenburgh on his left, each holding
the reins of his palfrey ; four counts supported over the Pope's head
a magnificent canopy ; several princes surrounded him bearing the
trappings ; and a mounted train of forty-thousand persons, says an
historian, composed of nobles, knights, and clergy of all ranks, joined
in the solemn procession outside the walls of Constance. Then

1845.

REVIEW. 29

indeed did ROME, in the person of her pontiff sitting on a mule,
inwardly deride the superstition that surrounded her ; then did she
give proof that to humble her a power must be exerted far different
from any thing that could be put in motion by emperors, or kings, or
bishops, or doctors of divinity, or all the learning of the age and of
the church.

'How could the Reformation proceed from the very thing to be
reformed ? How could the wound find in itself the element of its
cure ?'

But there was a power capable of regenerating the church, and
that power was now put forth. When the evil was at its height
and all human strength had failed, God interposed.

The way had been prepared slowly and from afar, and when He
wrought, He effected the greatest results, by the smallest means.
This is his usual course, both in the natural and moral world.

The church of Rome, though apparently united and strong,
had become divided and weak. The general councils had in
their fall introduced disunion into the camp. The defenders of
the hierarchy had been split into two parties, those contending
for an absolute, and those believing in a limited power of the
Pope. Faith in the infallibility of the Roman Pontilf had been,
rudely shaken. When the Bishop of Rome became immersed in
worldly politics, so that the princes of the earth could say he is
'become as one of us;' the bandage fell from their eyes. They
saw that the Pope was a man, and sometimes a very bad man.
The respectable Maximilian of Austria, grieved at hearing of the
treachery of Leo X., exclaimed, 'this Pope, like the rest, is in my
judgment a scoundrel. Henceforth I can say that in all my life
no Pope has kept his faith or word with me. I hope, if God is
willing, that this one will be the last of them.'

There were also seeds of truth mixed up witli the theology
of the day, which when watered, might vegetate, like the seeds of
grain sometimes taken from the mummies of Egypt. Our author
considers that valuable truth was wound up in the intricate
threads and filaments of the scholastic theology like the silk-
worm in its chrysallis, and thus preserved when it would have
been destroyed in a more naked state; and when an inquisitive
age had removed these coverings, one after another, truth es-

30 REVIKTV. ^W

caped from its concealment like the renovated insect in new youth
and beauty.

There were also propitious circumstances in the invention of
printing; the formation of new universities in many places
particularly that at Wittemberg ; the revival of letters, of science,
and of the arts ; and in the fact that the human mind, beginning
to understand, the principles of political liberty, and having
received a new impulse, was prepared to throw off its ecclesi-
astical shackles, and to seek religious liberty.

The general peace of Germany; the weakened power of its
central government represented by the emperor; and the in-
creased importance of the different electors, of whom, the most
powerful, Frederic of Saxony, who was the means of electing
the Emperor Charles V., favoured religious liberty prepared
that country especially for the happy change that awaited it.
Other circumstances conspired to the same result.

'Germany was weary of what the Romans contemptuously termed
"the patience of the Germans." The latter had, in truth, manifested
much patience ever since the time of Louis of Bavaria. From that
period the emperors had laid down their arms, and the ascendancy of
the tiara over the crown of the Caesars was acknowledged. But the
battle had only changed its field. It was to be fought on lower
ground. The same contests, of which emperors and popes had set
the example, were quickly renewed in miniature, in all the towns of
Germany, between bishops and magistrates. The commonalty had
caught up the sword dropped by the chiefs of the empire. As early
as 1329, the citizens of Frankfort on the Oder had resisted with in-
trepidity their ecclesiastical superiors. Excommunicated for their
fidelity to the Margrave Louis, they had remained twenty-eight years
without masses, baptisms, marriage, or funeral rites. And afterwards,
when the monks and priests re-appeared, they had openly ridiculed
their return as a farce. Deplorable irreverence, doubtless ; but of
which the clergy themselves were the cause. At the epoch of the
Reformation, the animosity between the magistrates and the ecclesi-
astics had increased. Every hour the privileges and temporal posses-
sions of the clergy gave rise to collision. If the magistrates refused
to give way, the bishops and priests imprudently had recourse to the
extreme means at their disposal. Sometimes the Pope interfered ;
and it was to give an example of the most revolting partiality, or
to endure the humiliating necessity of leaving the triumph in the
hands of the commons, obstinately resolved to maintain their right.

"43. REVIEW. 31

These continual conflicts had filled the cities with hatred and con-
tempt of the Pope, and the bishops, and the priests.

'But not only among the burgomasters, councillors, and town
clerks did Rome and the clergy find adversaries ; they had opponents
both above and below the middle classes of society. From the com-
mencement of the 16th century, the Imperial Diet displayed an in-
flexible firmness against the papal envoys. In May, 1510, the States
assembled at Augsburg handed to the Emperor a statement of ten
leading grievances against the Pope and clergy of Rome. About the
same time, there was a violent ferment among the populace. It
broke out in 1512 in the Rhenish provinces ; where the peasantry,
indignant at the weight of the yoke imposed by their ecclesiastical
sovereigns, formed among themselves the League of the Shoes.

'Thus, on all sides, from above and from beneath, was heard a low
murmur, the forerunner of the thunderbolt that was about to fall.
Germany appeared ripe for the work appointed for the 16th century.
Providence, in its slow course, had prepared all things ; and even the
passions which God condemns were to be turned by His power to the
fulfilment of his purposes.'

Germany, situated in the midst of the Christian nations, as
Judea was in the centre of the ancient world, was thus prepared ;
and there were preparations also in some parts of Switzerland.

'Switzerland was a wild tree, but one of generous nature, which
had been guarded in the depth of the valley, that it might one
day be grafted with a fruit of the highest value. Providence had
diffused among this recent people, principles of courage, indepen-
dence, and liberty, destined to manifest all their strength when the
signal of conflict with Rome should be given. The Pope had con-
ferred on the Swiss the title of protectors of the liberties of the
Church ; but it seems they had understood this honourable name in a
totally different sense from the Pontiff. If their soldiers guarded the
Pope in the neighbourhood of the Capitol, their citizens, in the bosom
of the Alps, carefully guarded their own religious liberties against the
invasion of the Pope and of the clergy. Ecclesiastics were forbidden
to have recourse to any foreign jurisdiction. The "lettre des pr tres"
was a bold protest of Swiss liberty against the corruptions and power
of the clergy. Zurich was especially distinguished by its courageous
opposition to the claims of Rome. Geneva, at the other extremity of
Switzerland, struggled against its bishops. Doubtless the love of
political independence may have made many of its citizens forget the
true liberty ; but God had decreed that this love of independence

32 REVIEW. January

should lead others to the reception of a doctrine which should truly
enfranchise the nation. These two leading cities distinguished them-
selves among all the rest in the great struggle we have undertaken to
describe.'

Other parts of the world gave little encouragement.

'England then gave little promise of all she has subsequently ac-
quired. Driven from the Continent where she had long obstinately
contended for the conquest of France, she began to turn her eyes
towards the ocean as to the empire which was designed to be the
true end of her victories, and of which the inheritance was reserved
for her. Twice converted to Christianity, first under the Britons,
then under the Anglo-Saxons, she paid devoutly the annual tribute of
St. Peter's pence. Yet was she reserved for a lofty destiny. Mis-
tress of the ocean, every where present through all parts of the earth,
she was ordained to be one day, with the people to whom she should
give birth, as the hand of God to scatter the seed of life in remotest
islands and on boundless continents. Already some circumstances
gave presage of her destinies. Great intellectual light had shone
in the British Isles, and some glimmerings of it still remained. A
crowd of foreigners, artists, merchants, workmen, from the Low
Countries, Germany, and other regions, thronged her harbours and
cities. The new religious opinions would therefore be easily and
quickly introduced. Finally, England had then an eccentric king,
who, endowed with some learning and considerable courage, was
continually changing his purposes and notions, and turning from one
side to another, according to the direction in which his violent pas-
sions impelled him. It was possible that one of the inconsistencies
of Henry VIII. might prove favourable to the Reformation.

'Scotland was then torn by factions. A king five years old, a
queen regent, ambitious nobles, an influential clergy, harassed this
courageous nation on all sides. It was however destined to hold a
distinguished place amongst the nations which should receive the
Reformation.

'The three northern kingdoms, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway,
were united under one government. These rude and warlike people
seemed likely to have little sympathy with the doctrine of love and
peace. Yet from the very energy of their character, they were per-
haps better disposed to receive the spirit of the evangelical doctrine
than the southern nations. But these descendants of warriors and
pirates brought perhaps too warlike a spirit to the support of the
Protestant cause ; in subsequent times they defended it heroically by
the sword.'

REVIEW. 33

The writings of Wickliff, sometimes called the morning star of
the Reformation, who had appeared in England in 1360, and
appealed from the Pope to the word of God, had reached Bohe-
mia and aroused Huss a century before Luther appeared.

'He seemed to enter more deeply than all who had gone before
him into the essence of Christian truth. He besought Christ to
grant him grace to glory only in his cross, and in the inestimable
humiliation of his sufferings. But he attacked rather the lives of the
-clergy than the errors of the church. And yet he was, if we may
be allowed the expression, the John the Baptist of the Reformation.
The flames of his martyrdom kindled a fire which shed an extensive
light in the midst of the general gloom, and was destined not to be
speedily extinguished.

'John Huss did more : prophetic words resounded from the depths
of his dungeon. He foresaw that a real reformation ef the church
was at hand. When driven from Prague, and compelled to wander
in the fields of Bohemia, where he was followed by an immense
crowd eager to catch his words, he exclaimed : "The wicked have
begun by laying treacherous snares for the goose.* But if even the
goose, which is only a domestic fowl, a tame creature, and unable to
rise high in the air, has yet broken their snares, other birds, whose
flight carries them boldly towards heaven, will break them with much
more power. Instead of a feeble goose, the truth will send forth
eagles and keen-eyed falcons."f The Reformers fulfilled this pre-
diction.

'And when the venerable priest was summoned, by order of Sigis-
mund, before the Council of Constance, and cast into prison, the
chapel of Bethlehem, where he had proclaimed the Gospel and the
future triumphs of Christ, employed his thoughts more than his own
defence. One night, the holy martyr thought he saw from the depths
of his dungeon the pictures of Christ, which he had had painted on
the walls of his oratory, effaced by the Pope and his bishops. This
dream distressed him. Next night he saw several painters engaged
in restoring the figures in greater numbers and more vivid colouring ;
and this work performed, the painters, surrounded by an immense
multitude, exclaimed : "Now let the popes and bishops come when
they will, they will never again be able to efface them." "And
many persons tb.ereu.pon rejoiced in Bethlehem, and I amongst them,"
adds Huss. "Think of your defence, rather than of your dreams," said
his faithful friend, the Chevalier de Chlum, to whom he had imparted

* The word Huss in Bohemian signifying goose,
t Kpist. J..Huss tempore anathemati? ssripts.

34 WRITINGS OK January

his dream. "I am no dreamer," replied Huss ; "but I hold it certain,
that the image of Christ will never be effaced. They desired to des-
troy it but it will be imprinted anew on the hearts of men by much
better preachers than myself. The nation that loves Christ will
rejoice at this. And I, awaking from the dead, and rising as it were
from the grave, shall leap for joy."*

'A century elapsed ; and the Gospel torch, rekindled by the Re-
formers, did in truth enlighten many nations, who rejoiced in its
beams.'

When God had duly prepared all in his Providence, He
brought forth the agents whom He had chosen, and effected the
glorious Reformation.

(To be continued.)

WRITINGS OF MARTIN LUTHER.

BY C. E. STOWE, D. D,

LUTHER has left more of his impress on the German nation,
than any other one man has left on any nation. Hear a
literary gentleman, Protestant or Catholic, at this day talk of
Luther in his own land ; and so intense and glowing is the
enthusiasm with which they mention his name, and so fresh
and hearty the feeling they manifest, that you would think
they must have seen him and talked with him but yesterday.
Any one who has visited France, cannot fail to see at once
the pride and home-feeling with which the memory of Napoleon
is cherished by the French. A man will say to you, 'Here
I saw the Emperor,' as if he had stood on the spot but a
few minutes before. So every spot where Luther stood, which
can be identified, is still cherished by the Germans ; and when
they tell you that Luther stood here, though it were three cen-
turies ago, they speak with such fondness of feeling and an eye
so glistening, that you almost start as if the Reformer were ac-
tually there now. Riding once from Potzdam to Halle, I stop-

* Hu;-s, opp sub tempus coucilii si'riptx.

MARTIN LUTHER. 35

ped for a few moments at a small hamlet by the roadside, and
inquired of a peasant there the name of the place. 'Luther's
Brunnen' [Luther's Well,] replied he promptly and with a
brightening eye. 'Why has it that name ?' continued I. With
a face full of feeling and eyes glowing with pride, he answered,
'Luther once drank here,' This is but a specimen of what you
meet everywhere in Germany. The cause of this national en-
thusiasm we trust the reader will be at no loss to discover, if 'he
follow us patiently through the developments of this article.

On the most superficial glance at the writings of Luther, we
are struck with astonishment at their number and variety, as
well as theif eloquence and power. Almost all subjects are
embraced in them theology, history, politics, education, litera-
ture, fables, poetry, music ; he seems in all nearly equally at
home ; and on every topic his views are original, and sketched
with a masterly hand. He led a life of almost as great public
activity as Napoleon ; his public influence, cares, and responsi-
bilities were little, if any, less than those of the great emperor ;
and he had no facilities, such as Napoleon had, for commanding
the services of others. His correspondence alone seems enough
to take more than the entire time of one strong man. In June,
1529, writing to one of his friends, he says: 'The letters pour
in upon me every day up to my neck ; my table, benches, stools,
writing-desk, window-seats, trunks, the floor itself is covered
with them.'

From 1517 to 1526, the first ten years of the Reformation, the
number of his publications was three hundred; from 1527 to
1536, the second decade, the number was 232; and from 1537
to 1546, the year of his death, the number was 183. His first
book was publjshed in November, 1517, and he died in Feb-
ruary, 1546, an interval of twenty-nine years and four months.
In this time he published seven, hundred and fifteen volumes, an
average of more than twenty-five a year, or one a fortnight for
every fortnight of his public life. He did not go through the
manual labour of all this writing, it is true, for many of his pub-
lished works were taken down from his lips by his friends ; and
it is also true, that several of the volumes were small enough in
size to be denominated pamphlets; but many of them, also, are

36 WRITINGS OF January

large and elaborate treatises. In the circumstances in which he
wrote, his translation of the Bible alone would have been a
gigantic task, even if he had had his lifetime to devote to it.

He continued his labours to the very last. The six weeks
immediately preceding his death, he issued thirty-one publica-
tions from the press, an average of more than five a week. He
did not enjoy uninterrupted health, nor was he free from the
family cares and accidents which interrupt the labours of other
men. For example, in one letter he says, 'My home 1 has be-
come a hospital; Hannah is dangerously sick, Katey is near
her confinement, and little Johnny is teething very hard.' In
another, 'The plague has broken out here ; Sebald's wife is
dead, and I have taken their four children into my house/
Again : 'I am without help, for the kitchen-girl was so full of
all mischief, that I was obliged to send her away.' His own
health often broke down under his labours. Says he in one let-
ter, 'I have such constant pains in my head I can neither read
nor write.' In another, 'I have taken such a cold that I can-
not speak a loud word; I can do nothing but cough.' In ano-
ther, 'I am suffering with dizziness and pains in my head and
breast, and a constant cough. My brain is often worn out.'
Nor was he at ease in his circumstances, and able always to
command the help which his family needed. His salary was
small, he derived no income from his books, and he was often
himself the nurse of his wife and children. All the family cares,
anxieties, and hinderances to study, which come upon our
poorest ministers in these days, Luther felt to the utmost, as any
one may see who peruses his voluminous correspondence. It
was not, then, because he was well taken care of, and had little
to do for himself and family, that he found time to do so much
for the public. No wonder he sometimes in his old age uttered
such complaints as the following, which are found in a letter to
a friend : 'Old, worn-out, weary, spiritless, and now blind of
one eye, I long for a little rest and quiet and yet I must still
write, and preach, and work, and endure, as if I had never
written, or preached, or worked, or endured. I am weary of
the world, and it is time the world were weary of me. The
parting will be easy, like that of a traveller leaving his inn, I

1845 MARTIN LUTHER. 37

pray only that God may be kind to me in my last hour.' 'If
the great pains and labour I undergo were not endured for the
sake of him who died for me, all the money the world can offer
were not enough to induce me to write a single book or trans-
late the Bible. I desire not to be rewarded by the world for
my work ; the world is too, too poor and mean to give me satis-
faction. This world by itself, what is it ? The decalogue revers-
ed, a witch's prayer, the devil's picture.' The above extracts
are not selected, they are just taken at hazard from Luther's let-
ters ; a hundred others of similar import may there be found ; and
the object of quoting these is simply to show, that when God
called Luther to the mighty work which he accomplished, he did
not give him leisure for it by exempting him from the little every-
day ills and vexations of life. Had he not learned to bear these
magnanimously and cheerfully, and to perform every little duty in
its place as well as every great one, he could never have been
God's instrument to accomplish the Reformation. With all his
public labours and responsibilities, Luther as a neighbour was uni-
formly pleasant and accommodating ; as a companion and friend,
cheerful, generous, and lively ; as a husband and father, affection-
ate, provident, and faithful.

The writings of Luther, as is well known and has been often
repeated, have created the language and literature of modern
Germany. Considering the circumstances in which he was plac-
ed and the object which he had in view, though we may, justly
find fault with many paragraphs he has written, yet taking his
treatises as a whole, few of them have ever been surpassed, and
some of them have never been equalled. Luther was the author
of modern church-music and psalmody as distinguished from the
ancient chants. He was the first to appreciate the essential im-
portance of an extended and well-sustained system of common
school education for the instruction of all the people ; and his
eloquent and thrilling appeals to the German nation on this sub-
ject, find nothing to excel them among the educators of modern
times. As a whole, his sermons, his commentaries, his popular
addresses, his controversial treatises, his hymns, his music, his
fables, his letters, are all of a high order of excellence.

The German style of Luther is wonderfully idiomatic, pointed,

38 WRITINGS OF Jamuu?

piercing, and full of speaking pictures. There is no mark of
labour in it ; it is visibly a mighty mind and a great heart overflow-
ing like Niagara. His sentences are like full charges of cannister
shot: they hit in all directions, they hit every where, and they hit
all the time. It is in his native German, the German of his own
creation, that his full power is seen, and never out of it.

As a revolutionary orator, Luther was irresistible. So much
coolness and so much fire, so much self-possession and so much
excitability, so much logical power and so much exuberance of
fancy, so much good sense and such ready wit, with such ad-
vantages of person and voice, have seldom, if ever, been found
united in one individual. Conceive of the steady, flaming, religi-
ous fervour of George Whitefield, united with the perspicuity to
seize, and the genius to reproduce, every phase and fleeting form
of human character, the skill to touch, by the right word and
the right metaphor, in exactly the right place, every chord of po-
pular emotion, which characterize Shakspeare; all this set off
by a muscular frame of fine proportion and manly strength, a
fair, glowing face, which portrayed every sentiment before it was
uttered, a large, clear blue eye, that radiated his very soul (and
such a soul,) a voice powerful as thunder and musical as an
organ and you have some idea of what Luther was as a public
speaker. Such was the power and flexibility of his voice, that
even in his old age, he sang the alto to the delight of all who
heard him.

In the revival of the papal controversy at the present day, in
the revival of the domineering and blasphemous claims of the mo-
ther of harlots and abominations of the earth, no treatises can be
found better adapted to meet the exigencies of the times, to repel
and annihilate the groundless and arrogant pretensions of high
church bigotry, than the writings of Luther. But as our estimate
of Luther may easily be set. down as extravagant and exaggerat-
ed, as braggart Popery and puling Puseyism are now equally
interested to depreciate him; and as some so-called Protestant
writers, such as Hallam, who knew nothing of him, have spoken
meanly concerning him, it may be well here to confirm our
own views by introducing the testimony of Roman Catholic
writers of the highest standing, the declared foes of the Refor-

1845 MARTIN LUTHER. 39

mation, but yet men who had made themselves acquainted
with Luther and his writings, and were capable of appreciating
them. We will select two Catholic writers of a past age,
and two of our own time. Of the former, that violent enemy
of Protestantism, the French Jesuit Maimbourg (born 1610),
and the ecclesiastical historian Varillas (born 1624) ; and of
the latter, Frederick von Schlegal, Professor in the University
of Vienna, and at present one of the leading literary men in
Germany ; and J. M. V. Audin, an able, active, and most
zealous papal ecclesiastic, now living in France, shall be my
authorities. All these writers speak in terms of strongest repre-
hension of Luther, as the author of the Reformation, all eulogize
the papal church as the only true church of God on earth, all
lament the influence of Luther as the sorest calamity that ever
befell it ; but they know something of the man, and attempt to
show what he was.

Says Maimbourg : 'He possessed a quick and penetrating genius,
he was indefatigable in his studies, and frequently so absorbed in
them as to abstain from meat whole days together. He acquired
great knowledge of the languages and the fathers. He was re-
markably strong and healthy, and of a sanguine bilious tempera-
ment. His eyes were piercing and full of fire. His voice sweet
and vehement, when once fairly raised. He had a stern counte-
nance; and though most intrepid and high-spirited, he could as-
sume the appearance of modesty arid humility whenever he pleas-
ed, which, however, was not very often the case.' 'He was
always reckoned to live sufficiently blameless while he remained
in the monastery, and till he absolutely ruined all his good quali-
ties by his heresies.' Maimbourg, Hist, du Lutheramsme, Paris,
1680.

'This Augustine monk,' says Varillas, 'united in his single
person all the good and all the bad qualities of the heresiarchs
of his time. To the robustness, health, and industry of a Ger-
man, nature here seems to have added the spirit and vivacity of
an Italian. Nobody exceeded him in philosophy and scholastic
theology, nobody equalled him in the art of speaking. He was a
most perfect master of eloquence. He had completely discover-
ed where lay the strength or the weakness of the human mind ;

40 WRITINGS OF January

and accordingly he knew how to render his attacks successful.
However various or discordant might be the passions of his audi-
ence, he could manage them to his own purpose ; for he perfectly
saw the ground on which he stood ; and even if the subject were
too difficult for much argument, he carried his point by popular
illustration and the use of figures. In ordinary conversation, he
displayed the same power over the affections, which he had so
often demonstrated in the professor's chair and in the pulpit.

'No man, either of his own time or since, spoke or wrote the
German language or understood its niceties better than Luther.
Often, when he had made his first impression by bold strokes of
eloquence, or by a bewitching pleasantry of conversation, he com-
pleted his triumphs by the elegance of his German style.' VarU-
las Hist, des Revolutions arrivees en Europe en Matiere de Religion,
Paris, 1686-'89.

F. von Schlegel : 'There was one instrument by which the
influx of barbarism was opposed, and one treasure which made
up for what had been lost ; I mean the German (Luther's) trans-
lation of the Bible. It is well known to you that all true philolo-
gists regard this as the standard and model of classical expression
in the High German language ; and that not only Klopstock, but
other writers of high rank, have fashioned their style, and selected
their phrases according to this version.

'We owe to him (Luther) the highest gratitude for placing
in our hands this most noble and manly model of German ex-
pressions. Even in his own writings, he displays a most original
eloquence, surpassed by few names that occur in the whole history
of literature. He had, indeed, all those properties which render
a man fit to be a revolutionary orator. This revolutionary elo-
quence is manifest, not only in his half political and business
writings, such as the Address to the Nobility of the German Nation,
but in all the works which he has left behind him. In almost the
whole of them we perceive the marks of mighty internal conflict.
Two worlds appear to be contending for mastery over the mighty
soul of this man so favoured by God and nature.

'As to the intellectual power and greatness of Luther, ab-
stracted from all consideration of the uses to which he applied
them, I think there are few even of his own disciples, who appre-

' M5 - MARTIN LUTHER. 41

ciate him highly enough. His coadjutors were mostly mere
scholars, indolent and enlightened men of the common order.
It was upon him and his soul that the fate of Europe depended.
He was the man of his age and his nation.' SchlegePs History
of Literature.

J. M. V. Audin : 'The poetic soul finds in this translation
(Luther's Bible) evidences of genius, and expressions as natu-
ral, beautiful, arid melodious, as in the original languages.
Luther's translation sometimes renders the primitive phrases with
touching simplicity, invests itself with sublimity and magnificence,
and receives all the modifications which he wishes to impart to it.
It is simple in the recital of the patriarchs, glowing in the pre-
dictions of the prophets, familiar in the Gospels, and colloquial
in the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Paul. The imagery of the
original is rendered with undeviating fidelity ; the translation
occasionally approaches the text. Add to this the odour of anti-
quity which the dialect used by Luther exhaled, and which is as
pleasing as the peculiar tint that is found in the engravings of the
old German masters. We must not, then, be astcmished at the
enthusiasm which Saxony felt at the appearance of Luther's
version. Both Catholics and Protestants regarded it as an honour
done to their ancient idiom.'

'Luther holds a high and glorious place in German Literature.'
'He became neither vain nor rich by his writings.' 'Luther was
the great preacher of the Reformation. He possessed almost all
the qualities of an orator ; an exhaustless store of thought, an
imagination as ready to receive as to convey its impressions, and
an inconceivable fluency and suppleness of style. His voice was
clear and sonorous, his eye beamed with fire, his head was of the
antique cast, his hands were beautiful, and his gesture graceful
and abounding.' 'He was at once Rabelais and Fontaine
with the droll humour of the one and the polished elegance of the
other.'

'When he has to judge a prevaricating majesty, at least in
his eyes, then his eloquence is splendid. We may apply to him,
as Addison has done to Milton, the words of the poet : "Cedite
Graii." Then is enacted a drama in which the Christian believes
he is a spectator of the judgment of the dead. There is the judge
No. 1. F

42 WRITINGS OF MARTIN LUTHER. Jaflnarr

with the fiery eye, holding the Bible with one hand, and in the
other the pen which is to record the sentence. The crowned
culprit appears in all the pomp of his royal insignia, of which
Luther strips him one by one; first taking the crown, then the
robe, then the sceptre, and at length the sword of justice. Of the
monarch nothing now remains but a body of clay, which has sin-
ned, and all whose iniquities, even to the most secret thoughts,
Luther holds tip to the public view. The earthly monarch con-
ceals his face, but he is forced to drink the chalice even to the
dregs. He cries out for mercy, but Luther stirs the wormwood.
He is forced to dissolve the delusion, otherwise you would be fas-
cinated.' 'Never before was the human mind more prolific.'

'Luther wrote always under the influence of excited feeling,
and he consequently gave to his writings the fire and vigour of his
own thoughts. He had no anxiety or care for human eyes; he
had not to rub his forehead to conjure up ideas, or give his
brain repose. His pen could hardly follow the torrent of his
ideas. In his manuscripts we nowhere discover the traces of
irritation, no embarrassment or erasures, no ill applied epithet, or
unmanageable expression ; and by the correctness of his writing
we might imagine he was the copyist rather than the writer of
the work.'

'The hymns which he translated from Latin into German may
be unreservedly praised, as also those which he composed for the
members of his own communion. He did not travestie the
sacred word, nor set his anger to music. He is grave, simple,
solemn, and grand ; and endeavours to reproduce the Latin image
without burying it under capricious ornament. This collection
had prodigious success ; the Latin hymns ceased all at once, and
in the divine service nothing else was heard but the harmonious
stanzas of the Reformer ; for Luther was at once the poet and
the musician of a great number of his hymns.'

'In several chapters of this work we have considered the
writings of the Reformer in a literary point of view. We can-
not forget that of which Germany is so justly proud, the Ger-
man Bible, the noblest monument he raised to the glory of his
country.' Audits Life oj Luther.

From the tone of the above extract^ one might think that we

MARGARET, THE MARTYR, &C. 43

had been quoting from some of Luther's most extravagant eulo-
gists ; but read the works from which the extracts are taken, and
you will find that all this eulogy was by a mere sense of justice
forced from those who show themselves to be, with the exception
perhaps of Schlegel, his bitterest enemies. I need scarcely re-
mind my readers how nobly those bold and full-hearted testimo-
nials from stubborn theological foes contrast with the stupid and
senseless paragraphs which have been written respecting Luther
by the Englishman Hallam, in his History of Literature. Hallam
knows nothing about Luther ; he himself confesses his inability to
read him in his native German, and this alone renders him inca-
pable of judging intelligently respecting his merits as a writer ;
and knowing nothing, it would have been honourable in him to
say nothing, at least to say nothing disparagingly? And by the
way, it seems to us that writing a history of European Literature
without a knowledge of German, is much like writing a history of
metals without knowing any thing of iron and steel.

Such being the acknowledged power and copiousness of Lu-
ther as a writer, the effect which he produced on v the language
and literature of his countrymen is not difficult to be accounted
for. When he commenced his career, the Upper German or
Suabian dialect was the language of the court, of books, and of
polite society, and seemed likely to remain so ; but writing always
in his own rude dialect, the High German, and thus polishing
and enriching it, the unparalleled popularity of his works entirely
displaced the Suabian dialect, and his own became and has ever
since remained the language of literature and general intercourse
among educated men, and is that which is now understood uni-
versally to be meant when THE GERMAN is spoken of. His
translation of the Bible is still as much the standard of purity for
that language as Homer is for the Greek. Biblical Repository.

MARGARET, THE MARTYR OP THE SEA.
A TALE OF SCOTLAND'S COVENANT.

THE blood of Scotland's noblest sons and fairest daughters was now shed
freely for the truth, dearer than life to all the good and brave.

Claverhouse and his troop, like bloodhounds, were tracking to their moun-

44 MARGARET, THE MARTYR

tain hiding places the pious covenanters, dragging them to the fiery stake,
or, more mercifully blowing out their brains as they kneeled in prayer for
their persecutors and murderers. John Brown of Priesthill, had just been
slain ; a man of whom the world was not worthy and whose wife was worthy
of such a man. As he took leave of her with one infant in her arms arid
another clinging to her knee, he said,

'Now, ISABEL, the day is come that I told you would come when I first
asked you to be my wedded wife. Are you willing that I should die ?'

'Indeed, JOHN,' said she with a clear voice, 'I am ready ; be thou faith-
ful unto death.'

'That is all I desire,' said he, and he had scarcely kissed his Isabel and
their six children, when Claverhouse shot him through the head. As he
sunk down, the widow caught her dead husband, and holding his shattered
head in her lap, wound it up with a handkerchief ; and as the sobbing
orphans gathered around the warm corpse in their agony of grief, the monster
Claverhouse tauntingly said to her,

'What thinkest thou of thy husband now, woman ?'

'I aye thought much of him,' said the heroic Isabel, 'and now MOKE

THAN EVER ?'

Those were the times of which we are writing, and we have mentioned the
story of John Brown and his Isabel as another example of the spirit that
triumphed in the bosom of Margaret, the Martyr of the Sea.

Gilbert Wilson was a farmer in the parish of Penningham, under the
Laird of Castlestewart Wilson and his wife had both broken away from
the Covenant, and yielding to the love of life and of their three children,
had conformed to the laws of the Prelacy, which their brethren were resist-
ing unto blood. But the craven parents could not prevail with their
children to follow them in the'apostacy. Their eldest daughter Margaret,
now in the bloom of eighteen, had drank deep of the spirit of the times,
and firm in her adherence to the supremacy of the Saviour, she had instilled
the same holy principles into the hearts of her brother Thomas, but two
years younger, and Agnes a sweet sister now of thirteen. These tender
youth were compelled to fly for their lives, and hide like hunted birds, in
the wild moors of Galloway. The same cruel laws that made their
adherence to the Covenant a crime punished with death, forbade the parents
under the same penalty, to give them food or shelter, but the God whose
ministers are the ravens, and who has said when thy father and mother
forsake thee, I will take thee up, supplied their wants in the wilderness and
shielded them in the hour of danger. Margaret had a heart that never
quailed, and for years she had calmly waited for such times as these. She
was not to falter now. Her brother and the fair Agnes clung to her and
drew strength from the quiet cheerfulness with which she met the trials of
those days and nights of gloom, and their voices mingled sweetly as they
sang the songs of Zion in their drear hiding place.

At last the two sisters ventured to quit their desert solitude, and for a short

1B45 - OF THE SEA. 45

time they found a home in the house of an aged and pious widow, Mrs.
M'Laughlan. Here they were discovered, and Margaret and Agnes with
their kind protector, the widow, were dragged to prison. When they were
brought out to trial, nothing could be urged against them, and the thirst of
the persecutors for virgin blood would have been disappointed, had they not
been asked to take the oath of abjuration, which they steadfastly refused, and
so they were condemned to die. According to Hetherington, who refers to
Woodrow as his authority, and in whose words we give the remainder of .this
tale, the specific terms of the sentence were, that they should be tied to
stakes fixed within the flood-mark in the water of Blednock, where it meets
the sea, and there be drowned by the tide. From this dreadful doom the
entreaties of the distracted father prevailed so far as to rescue the innocent
girl of thirteen, yet only by the payment of one hundred pounds sterling to
the merciless and mercenary murderers. But nothing could avail to save
the lives of the yottng woman and her widowed friend.

The day of execution came, the llth of May, 1685, bright, it may be,
with the fresh smiles of the reviving year, but dark and terrible to many a
sympathizing heart. Windram and his troop guarded the victims to the
place of doom, accompanied by a crowd of people, filled with fear and
wonder, and still doubting whether the horrid deed would be done. The
stakes were driven deep into the oozy sand. That to which the aged widow
was tied was placed farthest in, that she might perish first. The tide began
to flow, the water rose around them, the hoarse rough billows came
advancing on, swelling and mounting inch by inch, over limb, and breast,
and neck, and lip, of the pious and venerable matron, while her young
companion in martyrdom, still in shallower water, gazed on the awful scene,
and knew that in a few minutes more her sufferings would be the same. At
this dreadful moment some heartless ruffian asked Margaret Wilson what
she thought now of her fellow-martyr in her dying agonies ? Calmly she
answered,

'What do I see but Christ, in one of his members, wrestling there ?
Think you that we are the sufferers? No, it is Christ in us ; for he sends
none a warfare on their own charges.'

But the water now began to swell cold and deadly round and over her
own bosom ; and that her last breath might be expended in the worship of
God, she sung the 25th Psalm, repeated a portion of the 8th chapter of the
Epistle to the Romans, and prayed till her voice was lost amid the rising
waves. Before life was quite extinct the torturers cut the cords that bound
her to the stake, dragged her out, waited till she was restored to conscious-
ness, and then asked her if she would pray for the king. She answered,

'I wish the salvation of all men, and the damnation of none.'

'Dear Margaret," 1 exclaimed one of the spectators, in accents of love and
sorrow, 'Say God save the king ! say God save the king!'

With the steady composure of one for whom life had few attractions and
death no terrors, she replied, 'God save him, if he will, for it is his

46 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. January

salvation I desire/ Her relatives and friends immediately cried aloud to
the officer, 'Oh, Sir, she has said it, she has said it ! ' The ruthless monster,
reluctant thus to lose his victim, required her to answer the abjuration
oath. In the same firm tone she answered,
'I will not ; I am one of Christ's children ; let me go !'
By his command she was again plunged into the heaving waters, and, after
a brief struggle, the spirit of this virgin martyr entered into the rest and
peace of everlasting happiness.

Sweet was the memory of Margaret in the hearts of those who knew and
loved her, and there was love that the historian knew nought of, and we have
not ventured to take liberties with the record he has left us. The spirit of
Margaret is what we love and would hold up to the imitation of the world.

IRKN^EUS.

lintcUiflfiur.

THIRD LETTER FROM CAPE TOWN.

MY DEAR FRIEND It is very long since T wrote to you last. My
letter I see is dated as far back as June. In the mean time we have
had our winter, and spring is now far advanced. It seems, however,
a sort of misnomer to call it winter. The trees indeed are leafless,
and the rainy days which occasionally occur have a cold and winiry-
fed. On the tops of the highest mountains too, towards the interior,
the snow appears and continues two or three days at a time ; but in
the month of July, when the coldest weather occurs, my thermometer
never fell below 52 the average temperature at 9 A. M. in a room
without a fire for the month was 55. Winter at the Cape greatly re-
sembles October weather in England. The trees and hedges how-
ever were, as I said, in the months of July and August, quite leafless.
Early in September the buds appear large and bursting, and by the
middle of the month the trees in the neighbourhood of Cape Town
and Wynburgh are covered with the finest foliage. It was 13
years since I had, seen any thing like a general spring, and the effect
was exhilirating and grateful. The usual complaint against the
climate on the part of invalids, is that changes in the temperature are
sudden and great compared with India there is no doubt some
ground fur the complaint but on the whole I think there is a pretty

THIRD LETTER FROM CAPE TOWN. 47

general agreement, that the climate is pleasant and salubrious beyond
what is to be met with in almost any other quarter of the world. The
air is remarkably pure, so pure that the stars have been visible at
midday, so report says, but I have never seen them, and the water,
especially from Table Mountain, so limpid as to attract your notice in
the tumbler. A former king of Denmark used to instruct his ships to
call at the Cape, that he might be supplied with water for the use of
his table, from Table Mountain.

At the conclusion of my last letter I promised to return to the
subject of education. I stated that the annual grant by the Colo-
nial Government for education amounted to 6,500, a sum consi-
derably greater than is allowed by the Madras Government for
the same purpose ; and yet that the Revenue of this whole colony
is not equal to that of some single collectorate of the Madras
Presidency ; and I alleged that the contrast with Madras would
be still more disadvantageous to the latter, if we look at the
manner in which these funds are expended, and contrast the
amount of good done in the one case with the amount of good done
in the other. The educational grant by the Cape Government for
the year 1844 is 7,000. This goes to support 25 free schools in
the colony, attended by 1851 pupils, and to aid 25 missionary schools
attended by 3,741 pupils. I must however guard against a prejudice
which the name of free school is apt to excite, as if they were charity
schools intended for the poorer classes, and attended only or chiefly
by those who are unable to pay for their own education. On the
contrary they are open for all and attended by all, and are free just
in the same sense that the church is free. The Dutch reformed
church is the established religion of the colony. Government pays
the salaries of its ministers, allowing them 200 per annum and a
house, and all of course have a right to attend their ministrations.
So Government charges itself with the education of the colony.
It pays the salaries of the teachers, and provides school accommo-
dation, and does this on a scale of liberality that is highly creditable.
The superintendent of education has a salary of 500 per annum, and
his travelling expenses allowed him. The salaries of teachers of the
first class are 150 and 200 per annum, with an allowance for
house-rent, and when it may be necessary, an allowance also for
an assistant, which with fees (for they are allowed fees from their
more advanced pupils) private teaching and profits from boarders,
renders their situation in point of emolument superior to most of
the clergy. The teachers consequently are first rate men both as
teachers and accomplished scholars. Several of them preachers of
the Church of Scotland and graduates of our universities. The

48 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. January

schools therefore are free and open to all comers, and are imparting,
instruction in all the branches of an English education, classical
and commercial, to 1851 pupils. The aid granted to missionary
institutions is a most important means of extending the influence
of the Government grant for the education of the people. It is
granted on the condition of its being wholly expended in support-
ing a teacher or teachers in connection with the missionary institu-
tion, availing itself of the grant. The missionaries engage the teacher,
direct and superintend the school, and arc exposed to no interference
in consequence of the grant Government only stipulates -that the
school shall be free, open to all, that the religious instruction commu-
nicated shall be from the Bible and the Bible alone, not from
the Catechism or symbolical books of any denomination of Chris-
tians, and that the superintendent general of education shall have
free access to inspect the school. The schools thus united are at-
tended, as I said, by no fewer than 3,741 pupils. The great mass
of those are coloured children, Hottentots and Caffers, and are ac-
quiring in these schools not only a knowledge of letters, so as that
they shall be able to read and write and cypher, but a knowledge of
the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, a knowledge of what they should
believe concerning God and of the duty which God requires of them.
I cannot but think that this portion of the Government grant is safely
and wisely and most economically bestowed. Government is thus
extending a friendly hand to the lowest of its subjects rescuing
multitudes of them from the evils of idleness and ignorance, and con-
sequently from misery and vice. I have alluded to the manner in
which the religious question has been treated by the Cape Govern-
ment we know how it has been treated in India and what perplexi-
ties it has occasioned there. The circumstances of the low countries
are no doubt very different, but still not so different as to occasion
such a totally different course. It seems never to have occurred to
the Cape Government that it was its duty to exclude the Bible from
its schools, to gag the mouths of its teachers on the subject of the
Gospel, to separate secular from religious knowledge in the education
of its youth, to look with suspicion and distrust upon education
when in the hands of religious men, and that the only men who
could be safely entrusted with the concoction and execution of its
plans in this department, are men of low and infidel sentiments. On
the contrary, I have before me the paper which forms the basis of
the system of education now in operation. It is an interesting docu-
ment, both on account of its intrinsic excellence and the name of the
distinguished author by whom it was penned. It was drawn up by
Sir John Herschell some years ago, during his residence at the Cape,

1845.

NEYOOR SCHOOLS. 49

and states that as one of the 'four objects which are to be attained
by the educational institutions of ANY country,' viz.

To form good citizens and men by instructing them in the relations
of social and civil life; and to Jit them for a higher state of existence
by teaching them those which connect them with theu- Maker and Redeemer.

Such are the views of Sir John Herschell, as to what should consti-
tute the object and aim of the educational institutions of 'any coun-
try.' Such is the object of the system of education established' at
the Cape, approved of by Her Majesty's Government, supported by a
grant of 7,000 per annum out of the funds of the Colonial Go. 3^}
vemment, and now in operation among the youth of the colony, g^
drawn from the families of Dutch and English Hottentots and
Malays, Caffers, Bechuanas, Corranua and Bushmen. All are being
instructed in their relations which connect them with their Ma-
ker and Redeemer, and all those duties which will qualify them
for usefulness in this world and for a higher state of existence in the
next. Now contrast this with what is doing in the same department
in Madras. Contrast the revenues of the Cape Colony with the
revenue of the Madras Presidency. Contrast the educational fund
there with the educational fund here. Contrast the number and
quality of the Government teachers there with the number and
quality of the Government teachers here. Contrast the number of
pupils there with the number of pupils here and above all, looking
at the acknowledged end and aim of all education, contrast the kind
of education patronized and encouraged there, with the kind of
education patronized and encouraged here, as calculated to effect this
end ; and is not the contrast little creditable to the wisdom and bene-
volence not to say piety of our eastern rulers ?

NEYOOR SCHOOLS.

WE make the following extract from a letter dated Neyoor, De-
cember 4th, 1844, as it gives pleasing information of the progress
of Christianity in that part of India.

'I take the opportunity of enclosing a short report of our schools
drawn up for the information of subscribers in England. We have
no reason to regret the exertions we have made, and are still making
in the cause of Native education. Without this branch of our work,
preaching would not be practicable in many places; and when the
mission was re-commenced at the end of 1817, we found very few
of the higher castes able to read, and none of the lower classes, except
No. 1. G

50 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. January

a small number, who had been taught in our predecessors' schools.
Now books are in demand, and the missionaries and Native readers
have as much as they can do in preaching at our regular places of
worship and school-rooms. The Romanist fishermen on the coast are
beginning to come over to us, several hundred have given up their
idols, and attend at our places of worship. Several new chapels are
required, and though the opposition is great, we have hitherto been
able to keep the people under instruction. They are in the greatest
ignorance, but seem willing to be taught The Arasers, or chiefmen,
however stand aloof, and side with the priests ; and both parties have
oppressed the people so much, that they are evidently losing the in-
fluence they once possessed and exercised for their own advantage
only, and to the maintenance of the grossest superstition. The
establishment of a school at one of the villages, has led the adult po-
pulation to listen to instruction, and to attend public worship.'

N. B. We shall be happy to forward any subscriptions sent to us,
for helping our friends in their interesting labours. EDS. M. C. I.

REPORT OF THE NEYOOR MISSION SCHOOLS, JULY, 1844.

HOME SCHOOLS.

By means of the village schools of this station, much useful instruc-
tion is afforded to numbers in our neighbourhood, but the Home
Schools, which have for several years been supported by friends in
Great Britain, form a most valuable branch of the mission, and the
only one likely to be followed by extensive and permanent benefit
to the rising generation. There are 86 girls and 84 boys instructed in
the Neyoor Home Schools ; the monthly expense for food, clothing,
&c. is reduced to Rs. 1 j each.

CARLTON SCHOOL.

This was the first girls' school established in the Neyoor district.
There are 55 children under instruction at present ; 14 have return-
ed to their parents during the year.

Since the commencement of the school, 51 have been married
from the institution ; 25 of these are now engaged in teaching in the
villages, and more will be so employed when the subscriptions for
promoting female education may admit of it.

Elizabeth Fletcher has been for some time usefully engaged in
teaching a school at Daveyodu. Several of her scholars are making
an encouraging progress. Her husband is the boys' school teacher
of the same village.

Calherin* Darracot has a promising day-school in the Neyoor vil-
lage. Her husband is a reader.

NEYOOR SCHOOLS. 51

Tarsko Selo is diligent in conducting the female school at Etavilly,
belonging to Bona Chapel She is a widow ; her husband, who was
a pious young man and a deacon in the congregation, having been
suddenly removed by cholera, about five years since.

Fanny Smith, a sister of Tarsko Selo, is married to a reader, and
instructs a girls' school at her native village, Odiarvilly, with an en-
couraging prospect of usefulness.

Emma Fletcher has been engaged for some time in teaching a
girls' school near Vadakancary. She is very diligent in her duties.
Her husband is an assistant reader. A young sister of the female
teacher is named Dorcas, Mrs. Wm. Fletcher's scholar ; both were
supported by the subscriptions received from that lady. Dorcas is
likewise married, and now resides in the western district. She and
her sister had been many years in Carlton School, and as is usual in
this country, were considered as orphans, having lost their mother
when very young.

Eliza Khamn has a good school at Knitt Chapel, Saynamvilly.
Her husband is one of the teachers in the boys' school at that inter-
esting village.

Mary Ellis resides in the village at Neyoor, where she has a class
of adult females under her charge, and is very devoted to her work ;
she is married to a bookbinder.

[Of 14 children subscribed for under particular names it is said, these
have all made considerable progress in Tamil reading, writing, and
arithmetic, as well as in sewing, knitting, spinning, and general do-
mestic duties.]

William Fletcher's Native reader, and his wife, the Tavistock
Ladies' Society's teacher, are active in the superintendence and in-
struction of the children. They were both taught in the Home
Schools. The reader preaches on the Sabbath at Neyoor, or in one
of the adjoining congregations.

LETITIA BONA JULIA KNILI/S SCHOOLS

Contain 10 scholars each ; some of them are very interesting chil-
dren, and afford us much encouragement in our attempts to improve
and raise the female character in this station.

A little girl received the name of Eliza Union, at the commence-
ment of the present half year.

Mary Jinn Ely was lately married to the assistant teacher of Nada-
tary, and has commenced a female school at that place, where she
has a very interesting sphere of labour. During the past half year
another of the scholars, Mary Clapham, was married, and is about
to commence a school, in the village where she resides, near Dave-

52 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. Januarf

yodu. She is a very hopeful character. Her father has long been a
reader in the mission.

Muttaye and Santhaye were likewise recently married ; they gave
pleasing indication of pious feeling while at school. The latter is an
orphan ; the family were formerly redeemed from slavery, and reside
in the Nagercoil district.

BOYS' SCHOOLS.

The principal object aimed at in these schools is to give the boys
a Tamil education ; but a few are taught English. We hope to
qualify some to become teachers in the villages ; others are 'learning
different trades, in order that they may be able to assist in erecting
our school-rooms and places of worship. We formerly depended on
heathen workmen, who greatly delayed and impeded the buildings.
We expect to become independent of them, ere long, by raising up a
class of Christian artizans in the country.

There are 10 boys in each of the following schools :

1. Temperance School. The number admitted to this school from
its commencement is 21. Four have left the station and are gone
to Colombo, expecting to be employed there. They had received
a plain but useful education in their own language. We have
reason to hope that some of them will continue to improve by read-
ing and attendance on the means of Christian instruction.

Three youths of promising talents and piety, viz. Vadacun, Poru-
theudian, and Masalamany, have been transferred from this school to
the Seminary at Nagercoil, where they will have greater facilities for
general improvement. Nanaperagasam is learning to be a carpenter
and has already made good progress in the business. One of the
earlier scholars was recently removed by death. He had previously
left the school to assist his aged father. His conduct at home is well
spoken of.

2. Villamarina School. Five boys belonging to this school, who
had made good progress in Tamil reading, writing, and arithmetic,
and in scriptural knowledge, have left the institution for different em-
ployments. Aramanaigham, who is of promising talents and charac-
ter, has been removed to the Seminary at Nagercoil. Vadamonicam
and Philip are learning to be carpenters.

3. Tandarage School. Yasuadean has been placed in the Semi-
nary at Nagercoil ; a very favourable report is given of his disposition
and abilities. Yasuademy is employed in the Printing Office; two
have left the country to seek employment We hope that the seeds
of improvement sown in their minds will hereafter produce much
fruit. Those who remain under instruction are promising boys.

184 - r>> NEYOOR SCHOOLS. 53

4. Holy Wood School. Four of the former scholars have left, after
making some progress in the rudiments of a Tamil education.
Vadamonikom is placed in the Nagercoil Seminary, and is getting on
well. It is uncertain where and how the other three are at present
employed, but it is probable that we shall have some report to make
of them hereafter.

5. Sidmouth School. Five boys formerly taught here have left the
school. One of them is learning to be a mason. One returned to Tin-
nevelly to his relations ; three have left for different parts of the country
to seek for employment, having previously made a degree of progress
that was encouraging. They were able to read the Scriptures well,
had acquired a knowledge of the common rules of Arithmetic, and
had committed many passages of Scripture and the Catechisms to
memory.

6. Joseph Ferguson's School. This was at the commencement an
infant school, and most of the scholars are still young, but very promis-
ing. There are 15 in the school at present. We hope we shall be
able to give an encouraging account of their future progress, some of
them reside in the mission village, and appear far more civilized
than those who come to us at the same age from any distance. It is
seldom the Natives will part with their children so young. Joseph
Rider, John Reynolds, and John Hunt, recently subscribed for, are
learning in this school.

7. Hoxton Orphan School. Though the subscription has been les-
sened, it was found impossible to dismiss any of the orphan children.
From the commencement of the school, six have been employed in
different places ; one is gone with a relation to Bombay, and is
well provided for ; one is learning the business of a tailor.

8. Ebenezer School. Ten boys have left the school for different
situations ; two are translators, and are improving in a knowledge of the
English language ; one is learning to be a carpenter, and another the
Printing business. They give satisfaction by their steadiness, dili-
gence, and general good conduct, and are likely to become very
useful in the mission.

Some of the present scholars in all the schools have been several
years under instruction, and have made considerable improvement.
As many of them are likely to become teachers in the villages, the
blessings of instruction will extend in this heathen land from year to
year, if we continue to 'labour and faint not.'

VILLAGE DAY SCHOOLS.

Day schools for boys have been in operation from the commence-
ment of the station in 1827, at most of the villages connected with

54 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. January

the mission. The children receive instruction in reading, writing,
and arithmetic, and commit to memory Watts' and Brown's Cate-
chisms, and select passages of the Tamil Scriptures. Some of these
schools contain 50, 30, and others 20 children. The daily attendance
of the elder boys varies according to the seasons of the year, and
other circumstances. A few of the parents are beginning to appre-
ciate the value of instruction, and send their children to school regu-
larly ; many of the boys, however, require to be constantly called
upon by the schoolmaster to attend. At the appearance of the
small pox, measles, and other infectious diseases, a school is instantly
deserted, until the alarm subsides. Under these circumstances the
improvement of the children is slower than we could wish, and the
pay of the teacher smaller than it ought to be ; still great good has
been effected, and it is certain that the youth in our villages would
be entirely abandoned to heathenism, were it not for the mission day
schools. The examination of the children by the missionary, rea-
ders, and inspectors, affords opportunities of addressing the heathen
on the facts and doctrines of Christianity. There are about 1500
boys taught in the village schools.

The day schools for girls were commenced about three years
since ; they contain 300 children. In some instances, the female
teachers assist in instructing the women of the congregation in the
Catechisms and Scriptures which they are expected to commit to me-
mory. This enables the reader to devote more of his time to the
heathen.

DISCUSSIONS IN BOMBAY.

OUR readers are probably aware that for some time past a learned
Shastri in Bombay has been giving lectures to Hindus on the com-
parative merits of Hinduism and Christianity. We perceive from the
Native papers that these lectures are exciting great attention among
the Native community. It is indeed a favourable sign that Hindus are
disposed to discuss the subject at all, as we may hope that by this
means new thought and inquiry will be excited among them. Hitherto
they have appeared to prefer the deepest darkness and the profound-
est apathy to any discussion which might bring to light the absurdi-
ties of their long cherished superstitions. They have probably dis-
covered that this system will not answer for the present exigency,
and they now feel it important to come forward and support the cause
of Hinduism with the best arguments they can produce.

That this discussion is calculated to lead some among the Hindus
to think for themselves, we infer from the fact that some of the argu-

1845> DISCUSSIONS IN BOMBAY. 55

ments advanced in these lectures, in support of the absurd stories of
the Hindu books, and some objections brought against Christianity,
are declared by some Native writers to be unsatisfactory. A writer
in the Prubhakur, of the 27th October, speaking of the lectures above
referred to, makes the following remarks :

'Krishna Shastri (the Hindu Lecturer) in defending the practice
of idolatry, maintained that all men are idolators, inasmuch as God is
omnipresent or all-pervading; but he failed to establish his point.
For afterwards while speaking further on this subject, he remarked,
that although God was all-pervading, still he remained uncontami-
nated by the presence of matter, and that faith makes the God ; in
other words on whatever object faith is fixed, that becomes God, and
when any one addresses a prayer to God he immediately enters into
the image. But we think that inasmuch as Christians do not worship
idols and indeed have no faith in idols, they cannot be called idola-
tors, and the Shastri is certainly guilty of inconsistency in maintain-
ing them to be so. The Shastri then began to recount the adven-
tures of the god Krishna, it being his object to show the futility of
the objections which Christians make to Krishna's divinity on the
ground of the sins which he committed. But in regard to this, the
Shastri did not give any satisfactory answer. ' He remarked that it
was not proper to attribute theft, &c. to Krishna, inasmuch as living,
stealing milk and curds in the house to eat, and breaking dishes and
earthen vessels, are all the proper characteristics* (dhanma) of chil-
dren, and inasmuch as God became incarnate in the form of a child,
he must of necessity act like a child, exhibiting the characteristics of
a child. To remove from Krishna the charge of adultery, he main-
tained that no man is responsible for any sins he may commit before
the performance of the ceremony of moonja ; (or investiture with the
sacred thread) that men before this ceremony and women before
marriage, were at liberty to do any thing they pleased without being
at all chargeable for the guilt of their conductf

'Besides, he said that it was no where asserted in the Hindu Shas-
tras that Krishna was guilty of adultery. The cow-herdesses with
whom he had illicit intercourse, were all young virgins, and in conse-
quence of their worship of the female deities, Krishna was given to
them for a husband. The only reason indeed for not regarding
children as responsible for their wicked conduct before the perform-
ance of the ceremony of moonja, is this, that that is the period of

* We have no English word to express exactly the Hindu idea of the word dhurmit. It
means properly duty, but this word would be too strong to express the idea of the Shastri.

t Mark the looseness of Hindu morality. Pome Hindus even have to disown it although
supported by the example of Kri&hna himself.

56 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. January

childhood and sins are then committed through ignorance ; falsehoods
too are often uttered, but no great injury can possibly result from
them. But this argument will not apply to the charge of adultery,
for mere children never feel the incitements of lust. Besides, the
Shastri in arguing that women are not chargeable with the guilt of
any lewd practices before marriage, drew an illustration from the
foolish practice of early marriages now so prevalent among the Hin-
dus. But this is not a universal practice, and therefore not a proper
argument; for in former ages early marriages were not common
among Hindus ; on the contrary females after arriving at. years of
discretion were accustomed to marry whom they chose, and this
custom still continues to prevail in the Kshetriya caste. In such cases
would not a female be guilty of wickedness in following lewd prac-
tices before marriage ?* We think that reflecting men will not be
satisfied with these arguments of the Shastr). Besides, I would
ask, were the cow-herdesses with whom Krishna danced in the
circular dance, all virgins? Was Radha his favourite mistress a
virgin ?'

Such is the language of the writer in the Prubhakur which we have
given to show that all Hindus do not join with the Shastri in the
arguments with which he attempts to support the character of Krishna.
We should like much to see how the writer in the Prubhakur would
attempt to remove the blots on Krishna's character.

The Editor of the Dnyansindhoo, full of anxiety for the cause of
Hinduism, expressed his great sorrow on account of the objections
made in the Prubhakur to the arguments adduced by the Shastri ; for
says he, 'if our people really desire to see any good results from these
lectures in establishing Hinduism, then they should not be seeking to
find fault with them, but on the contrary they should endeavour to
afford their assistance as far as God gives them ability to do so. It
must not be supposed that the great body of Hindus have lost their
confidence in Hinduism, and that the object of these lectures is to
remove their doubts ; for on the contrary they who are best acquaint-
ed with the Hindu religion have no doubt whatever in regard to it,
but the object is entirely different'

What this object is, the Dnyansindhoo does not tell us, but leads us
to infer from his repeated asseveration to the contrary, that there is
great Year in the minds of some of the leaders of Hinduism that many

* The writer might have asked farther whether Hindu parents do not punish their daugh-
ters before marriage, although it takes place now so young, when they think they do wrong ?
Do they not punish their sous too before moonja, when they are guilty of such conduct as
Krishna was?

1845 - DISCUSSIONS IN BOMBAY. 57

are just ready to depart from the faith. We are disposed to think that
these lectures, if not directly, at least indirectly will tend rather to
hasten such a result than otherwise, inasmuch as many will be led to
see that if no better arguments can be adduced in support of Hinduism
than those brought forward by Krishna Shastri, and if its morality is
no better than he represents it, the system is certainly deserving of
but little confidence.

The principal objections made by the lecturer to Christianity and
the Christian Scriptures are as follows, Jesus Christ drove the sellers
of doves out of the temple, an act very unbecoming a good man. The
account of the star which appeared in the east and came and stood
over where Jesus was, is absurd, inasmuch as it must have produced
great derangement in the solar system to have come down upon the
earth as represented, and therefore it must be false. God is represent-
ed as requiring six days to make the world, an idea inconsistent with
his omnipotence.

Noah's ark could never have contained all the animals which are
represented as having entered into it. Christians believe that Christ
the Son of God is the only sacrifice for the sins of the world, but
Noah and others perfoimed animal sacrifices.

Again, we ought not to hope for salvation through the sufferings of
another without any efforts or sufferings on our own part, and there-
fore the Christian system is unworthy of credit. A comparison is
also made between the miracles of Krishna and those of Jesus Christ,
and those of Krishna are declared to be the greatest. But we have
no room in our present number for any more minute notice of this
comparison. Dnyanodaya, November, 1844.

AN INCH OF TIME 'Millions of money for an inch of time," cried

Elizabeth, the gifted, but vain and ambitious Queen of England, on her
dying bed. Unhappy woman ! reclining upon a royal couch, with ten
thousand dresses in her wardrobe,- a kingdom upon which the 'sun never
sets,' at her feet, all are now valueless, and she shrieks in anguish, and
shrieks in vain, for a single 'inch of time.' She had enjoyed three-score
and ten years. Like too many among us, she had so devoted them to
wealth, to pleasure, to pride and ambition, that her whole preparation for
eternity, was crowded into her final moments; and hence she, who had
wasted more than half a century, would now barter millions for an 'inch of
time. 1

A POINTED BLOW. An invalid sent for a physician, the late Dr. Wheel-
man, and after detaining him for some time with a description of his pains,
aches, &c., he thus summed up: 'Now, Doctor, you have humbugged me
long enough with your good-for-nothing pills and worthless syrups ; they don't
touch the real difficulty. I wish you to strike the cause of my ailment, if it
No. 1. H

58 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. Jana*T

is in your power to reach it.' 'It shall be done,' said the Doctor, at the
same time lifting his cane, and demolishing a decanter of gin that stood
upon the sideboard!

CHINA A semi-annual letter frbm the American Missionaries in Macao,

dated July 10, 1844 has the following passage.

'In our last, notice was taken of a general meeting held at Hongkong to take
into consideration a new version of the Scriptures. It is a pleasure to learn
that the proceedings of that meeting have been approved by the committee of
the British and Foreign Bible Society, and by the directors of the London
Missionary Society, who have both agreed to give the new version their sup-
port as soon as it is completed and presented to them, with the approbation of
all concerned in the revision. The directors of the American Bible Society
have also come to a similar resolution. Owing however to various hinderances
in the labours of those to whom some parts of the work were given, arising
chiefly from the changes in their residences and their unsettled position, less
progress has been made in the revision than was expected, and the probable
time when the New Testament will be ready to submit to those Societies can-
not be specified. It is to be hoped that this work will be hastened to its
completion, that the Chinese may soon be furnished with a pure, idiomatic,
and complete version of the Oracles of God.'

From the same letter we add also the following Obituary Notice of Mrs.
Ball.

'Amid general good health, we have been called to monrn the death of Mrs.
Ball, wife of Rev. D. Ball, M. D., who departed to her rest on the 6th of June
last. Mrs. Ball had occasionally been afflicted with ill health, and occasionally
entirely laid aside. Before her last sickness, she expressed her apprehensions
as to its result, and put her household in order ; soon before her departure,
she conversed upon such points ss she wished to give her views. But her
greatest work was not her last, and in meeting death, she met a friend; her
long continued ill health had led herself and her friends to look to some one of
the repeated attacks of sickness as her last, so that it was as if we had long
seen her walking the banks of the river of death, and finding a narrow place
stepped over out of our sight, gone but not lost. Her affections were in the
work of missions, and she wished never to entertain the idea of returning to
her native land. She left four children, two of whom came with her from the
United States, who will all remain with their father. It was a source of gra-
tification to Mrs. Ball, a few days before her death, to see her eldest daughter
come forward and join herself publicly to the people of God.'

THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AUXILIARY MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE
FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, BOMBAY. On Tuesday evening, at the Ameri-
can Mission Chapel, a large meeting assembled to hear the proceedings of this
Mission for the last year. The long tried friend of missions, Richard Townsend
Webb, Esq. was in the Chair, and after prayer by the Rev. Mr. Hislop, the
chairman addressed the meeting, and then called upon the Secretary to read
the report. During the year the mission have admitted into the church a
woman and child. In the institution there are Hindus, seventy-two; Chris-

184S - SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS. 59

tians, fifty; Israelites, thirt y ; and Mahomedans, seven. A very interesting ac-
count was given of the large attendance of the Israelites, and three more ad-
vanced than the rest, who were mentioned in the last report, are looked upoa
by the missionaries with deep interest.

At the schools, which consist of six Mahratta and two Goozerattee schools,
there are six hundred boys who attend. Besides there are schools in the
compounds of the two missionaries. Of female pupils there are Hindus
two hundred and eight, and Israelites seventy ; an interesting case of a girl
named Mina, aged thirteen, now living in Mr. Mitchell's house, was referred
to, she had been betrothed to a man who required her to worship the Idol,
which she refused.

We were glad to see a good attendance, and particularly glad to witness
the Catholic spirit which pervaded the meeting. Other brethren came for-
ward to assist the brethren of the Free Church. The beloved pastor of
Trinity Chapel, the brethren of the American Church, as well as German
missionaries, showed their interest in the proceedings. Oh for that day to
come when not only a few sections of Christ's church shall assemble toge-
ther, but when the whole church shall meet with ready mind and willing
heart to celebrate the praises of the Lord. Bombay Witness.

SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS.

THE Madras Male and Female Orphan Asylums and Free Day School for Boys
were examined November 19, 1844, in the presence of the Bishop of Madras
and other gentlemen ; the Bishop taking part in the examination. The following
is his Lordship's testimony to the state of the schools. v

' Having been present, and having taken a large share in the recent exami-
nation of the Madras Male and Female Orphan Asylums in Black Town, I have
much pleasure in now repeating that great satisfaction experienced by me at
their proficiency in sound scriptural knowledge as well as in other branches of
useful learning, which I expressed at the time by word of mouth.

' It is my fervent prayer that God will continue to bless this excellent
institution, and that very many children, who would otherwise be left in ig-
norance and vice, may through its instrumentality be made wise unto Salvation.
The system of education adopted in the schools and faithfully acted upon
by those to whose care the children are committed, appears to me very well
calculated, under Divine blessing, to secure this great object of their friends
and patrons.'

CENTRAL SCHOOL. The examination of the Madras Central (Native Female)
School took place on the 16th instant, commencing at noon. There were
fully 90 girls present, varying in age from 4 to 13 years: about 10 were
Protestants, 30 or 40 Roman Catholics, and the rest Heathens. The very
appearance of these children was highly interesting, intelligence beamed
in their faces, and decorum not to say grace marked their whole demeanor :
but their actual acquirements were really surprising ; the first class consisting
of 15 girls evinced a complete knowledge of the creation, fall, and redemption
of man ; and all, from first to last, answered with great readiness the questions
put to them on these points by Mr. Elouis, the Secretary ; they also passed
a very good examination in the geography and statistics of the Holy Land,

60 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. January

as described in tlio Pentateuch ; Mr. Symonds declaring; that tlic knowledge
here shown by them would he creditable to maturer minds of either sex.

The other classes were also examined, and acquitted themselves with equal
success in replying to questions from Watts' Catechism and the Scripture
Reader.

All the examinations were in Tamil. Upon the table were specimens of
needlework and handicraft useful for females to acquire, and these were made
by girls of the lower as well as higher classes. Madras Christian Herald.

BISHOP CORRIE'S GRAMMAR SCHOOL. The semi-annual examination of this
excellent institution took place on Wednesday evening, the 18th instant. Not
only the threatening appearance of the weather but the actual fall of copious
showers prevented a large attendance, though we are told that it was res-
pectable.

The Rev. Messrs. Symonds, Cotterill, Tucker, and Mr. Riggs successively
took part in the examination. The lower classes particularly evinced a very
pleasing progress in scriptural knowledge, their answers to the various
questions put to them were prompt and satisfactory. The scholars in general
evinced a creditable degree of knowledge in Mensuration and Mechanics,
and by their ready answers, elucidated the laws of gravity and motion, and
worked several problems in Mensuration, and further gave satisfactory geo-
graphical answers respecting Hindustan. Four boys in the first class read
Latin with fluency. For want of time, the Telugu and other languages
were not gone into. J. F. Thomas, Esq. distributed reward Books to a num-
ber of scholars called out by Mr. Symonds, and the whole concluded with
singing and the Apostolic Benediction.

ST. ANDREW'S PAROCHIAL SCHOOL. The public yearly examination of this
valuable school, designed to give children and youth of both sexes, not only
a good common education, but, to those capable of it, instruction in some of
the higher branches of classical study, was held on the evening of the 20th
instanf ; the Most Nolle the Marquis of Tweeddale accompanied by the
Marchioness presiding.

The Lord Bishop of Madras was also present, and kindly assisted in the ex-
amination, which was conducted by Mr. Daniel, the able Principal of the
School, and the Rev. Messrs. Hamilton, Symonds and Ward. In the Assem-
bly's Catechism, Scripture History, Epistle to the Romans, Evidences of
Christianity, History of Egypt, Greek of the New Testament, and Latin of
Cicero ; as also in reading, with definition of the words declamation of two
or three lads, and short essays of several on allotted themes (bringing into
use several words named by the teacher at the time of writing), the children
and youth acquitted themselves in such a manner as to call forth the decided
approbation both of the Most Noble the Governor, and the Lord Bishop, and
to gratify a large and attentive audience.

The school appears to be in a very efficient and prosperous state.

MILITARY MALE ORPHAN ASYLUM. The annual examination of this im-
portant institution,, which took place on the 16th ultimo, in the presence of
the Most Noble the Governor, the Judges of the Supreme Court, several of
the Clergy and other Gentlemen, appears to have been very satisfactory, and to
have elicited a marked commendation, by the Marquis, of the head School-
mast er, Mr. Thomson.

1845. BAPTISM OF CONVERTED JEWS, &C. 6F

BAPTISM OF CONVERTED JEWS AT THE FREE SCOTCH CHURCH,
CALCUTTA.

IT is with great pleasure that we record the fact (one of the most remarkable
certainly in our recollection,) of the avwwal of faith in Christ by five Jews, not
all members of one family, but members of three several families, who by
different means have been led contemporaneously, and in a body, to seek ad-
mission into the visible church of Christ by the public reception of baptism.
These five individuals, three men and two women, after careful examina-
tion and inquiries, were baptized by the Rev. Dr. Duff, of the Free Scotch
Church, on Sunday evening last, the 8th instant, in the presence of a large
congregation. The whole service was ojie of extreme interest. It commenc-
ed after the sermon by an address from Dr. Duff, who briefly, but graphi-
cally traced the Scripture History of the Jewish nation up to the present
time, and then alluded to the recent efforts made by the Christian church for
the conversion of this dispersed people ; confining himself to the view of their
condition and prospects, presented by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans ;
he enforced the duty of seeking their recovery to the favour of Cod. He men-
tioned that it was computed that within the last 30 years no less than four
thousand of the remnant according to the election of grace, had been brought
through the instrumentality of different Christian societies into the fold of
Christ, and that of this number no less than 80 had become ministers of the
Gospel.

He further stated, that a female member of the congregation, the wife
of one of the missionaries, from her knowledge of Hindustani, had been the
medium of much communication with the two females ; he added that one of
the men was accompanied at first by his two children, but that a mob of the
unbelieving Jews, has since assaulted him, and taken away one of them, for
whose recovery, however, a Habeas Corpus had already been obtained from
the Supreme Court ; but the other child was present, and after the baptism
of the adults, was dedicated by the parent to the Lord in that ordinance.

It is satisfactory, that amid all the excitement which this event has occa-
sioned among the Jews, no charges whatever, tending to cast 'doubt on the
character or motives of the converts have been uttered. Calcutta Christian
Advocate, December 14.

BAPTISM AT NASSIK. We are glad to learn that the Rev. J. P. Farrar
admitted to the church an old Maratha, of the name of Baloo, on Sunday,
the 1st December, who had gained his livelihood as a religious mendicant.

BAPTISMS AT CHICACOLE AND CUDDAPAH. The Alhenaum of November
30, states, that four adult Native females and three children were baptized,
a few days previous, at Chicacole, by the Rev. Mr. Gordon. Also the same
Journal of November 14, mentions the baptism of a Native merchant of
Cherlopilly, an out-station of the Cuddapah mission, and with him a Native of
Cuddapah at the same time and place.

BAPTISM AT PORBANDAR. The Rev. Mr. Montgomery, in a letter published
in the Oriental Christian Spectator for December, written from Porbandar
where it seems there is great opposition to the truth, so that the missionaries
are not able to obtain a site for mission premises, or allowed to convert a

(32 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. January

small house, which they had purchased, into a school-room and church
reports a second adult baptism, the first having been about a year ago. His
language is On the Lord's day, 27th of last month, we administered the ordi-
nance of baptism to a Hindu, of the Bhil caste, named Bhagawanji, and to
Devraj, his infant son ; having been previously fully satisfied, in the judgment
of charity, of the genuine faith, and conversion to God, of the former.

SHRIPAT SHESHADRI Shripat Sheshadri,thelittle Brahmanical boy to whose
case we have made such frequent reference, is still at Benares. Those who wish
to see him restored to his brother, with whom he desired to live as a Christian,
report that his view's and desires are still unchanged. He was taken from
Benares to Chitrakot, they say, on a visit to Vinayak Rao, the nephew of Baji
Rao the Peshwa. At that gentleman's suggestion, little Shripat was, in the
presence of some hundreds of Brahmans, requested to state what his wishes
were. 'To go and live with my brother' is said to have been his simple and
straightforward reply. The object which the father had in visiting the ex-
Prince was thus defeated. Instead of securing in him one to espouse his cause
and promote his designs, he was met with the strongest remonstrances against
the course he was pursuing, and recommended, under a threat, to restore the
boy to his brother safe and sound as he received him from the Court.

The party who wished to restore Shripat to caste, profess now to have aban-
doned their original object. They are willing to 'join their hands' before
their brethren, the 'terrestrial gods, 1 and say, 'Errammus.' 1 But further
they will not go. Cowdung (et cetera horrenda) they will neither eat nor
drink. Those 'gods,' on the other hand, will not be appeased by any thing
short of this humiliation. 'Ye shall certainly drink,' is their stern demand.
And, in connexion with this, there is another perhaps stronger, if not sterner
still. 'We have incurred an immense expense through your rebellious course
in reference to this outcast : ye shall certainly disburse.' We believe that the
disbursing would not be felt so dreadful to the party concerned as the drink-
ing. But they are both very hard ; and time alone can show whether they
will yield to the multitude,- or boldly secede, and form a caste of their own.
Oriental Christian Spectator.

bftuarj.

DEATH OF REV. JOSIAH PRATT. As these lines are going to the press, the
tomb is closing over the remains of one of the eminent men of the last gene-
ration. The Rev. Josiah Pratt, the friend of Cecil, of Venn, of Scott, and of
Simeon, is this morning laid or rather that visible form which our eyes have
known, is laid at the foot of that pulpit from which, for the last twenty
years of his life, he has declared, most fully, most plainly, and most efficiently,
the truths of the everlasting Gospel.

In him we lose one of the few remaining ties which connect us with the last
generation, and which seemed by the traditional recollections they handed
down, to carry us even back to the days of Newton and Romaine, of Cadogan
and of Conyers. The active and public portion of Mr. Pratfs life reached
from the opening of the present century, when Mr. Newton was just retiring
to his rest, down to within the lust year or t\vo, in which increasing infirmities

DURGA. XXV

Plate 6.

THIS goddess is the principal wife of Siva, and is, in this part of
India more commonly known as Parvuti. She is supposed to be
an incarnation of the Great Satti, from whom Siva sprung, and is
thus his mother. She was first incarnate as the daughter of Dukshu
(Takkun), a giant, but though married to Siva she was liable
to evil, being of mortalbirth. To avoid this and to leave her father
who had offended her by speaking against Siva, she became the
daughter of Mount Himylaya, and performing penance obtained a
second union with the great god. This event is thus related in the
Scanda Purana :

'Parvuti, to remove the evils entailed upon her as the daughter
of Dukshu, one of the beloved children of the lotus-seated Bramha,
left Siva, became the daughter of Himylaya, and performed various
austerities. At this time Sooren, with many Asoorer, arrived on the
earth, and by the gifts of Siva subdued all the gods. Surrounded by
his armies, he lived in a town called Myandherum, which was made
by the celestial carpenter in the midst of the sea. \

'At this time the great Siva was in mount Koilasu, engaged in
teaching the four sages, the fourth or highest part of wisdom.

'Sooren and his people took some of the gods captive, treated
them severely, and put them in prison ; but Indru and others, con-
cealing themselves, informed Bramha that Siva was engaged in
contemplation and begged his assistance.

'The father of men, meditating on the means to be used to arouse
Siva from his contemplation, sent for Munmuthen, (Kundurpu,) and
addressed him thus :

' "Hear me Munmuthen ; that the Ganges-crowned Siva may be
united to his goddess Parvuti again, go and discharge your arrows
at him, and, according to our prayer, terminate his contemplation."

'Though Munmuthen, being flattered by all the gods, had in his
pride declared, that he could conquer the mind of the great Siva
himself, he was distressed at this command, and hesitated ; but on
Bramha's threatening to curse him, he said ; "Hear me, oh Bramha, it
will be far better for me to go and discharge my arrows at Siva, than
to perish by your curse ; do not be offended, I will go to-day."

'He went, and choosing a time when Parvuti, who had come to
wait upon Siva that he might pursue his devotions uninterruptedly,
was offering some flowers and a necklace to the god, he let fly one

HINDU IDOLS.

of his flowery arrows. "The god, smitten with love, awoke as from
a dream, and wondering who had thus disturbed him, looked towards
the south, when fire from the eye in the centre of his forehead fell
on Munmuthen, and burnt him to ashes."

'By dint of austerities, however, and by the intercession of Bramha
and the other gods, Parvuti prevailed over the mind of Siva ; and
a day being fixed on for their marriage, they proceeded to mount
Imyum with their attendants.

'As the inhabitants of all worlds crowded on mount Imyum, the
north part of the earth became depressed, and the south elevated;
consequently the divine Siva directed the sage Agustyu to go and
reside on mount Potheym, and thus the earth became level; after
which he placed the goddess Parvuti by his side. He also raised
Munmuthen to life, to be invisible, however, to all but his wife Rutee.
Then the god left mount Imyum, and arriving at mount Koilasu, he
dwelt there with his goddess Parvuti, and bestowed happiness and
enjoyment on all living beings.'

The principal festival to this goddess as celebrated in Bengal, is
thus related by the Rev. A. F. Lacroix, of Calcutta :

'The Durga Pujd is celebrated in honour of the great goddess
Bhagabatl the wife of Siva, who is called Durga on account of her
having destroyed a terrible giant of that name, who had subdued the
three worlds, and compelled the very gods to worship him. She
also destroyed another famous giant named Mahisha, who likewise
had overcome the gods in war, and reduced them to such a state of
indigence that they were wandering about the earth like common
beggars. The wars and exploits of this goddess are described at
length in a book called Chandi, which is ir^great repute among the
Natives, and read by them more perhaps than any other of their
writings.

'The Durga festival, which was instituted by king Surat, was origi-
nally held in the spring ; but Rama, having in the Treta Yug cele-
brated it in autumn, it has ever since continued to be kept at the lat-
ter season of the year.

'The image of the goddess is usually made of clay, in the shape of
a female with ten arms. In one of her right hands is a spear with
which she is piercing the giant Mahisha ; with one of the left, she
holds the tail of a serpent and the hair of the giant, whose breast the
serpent is biting. Her other hands are all filled with various imple-
ments of war. Against her right leg, leans a lion ; and against her
left the above giant. Her sons, Kartikeya and Ganesa, with several
goddesses, are often placed by the side of the image.'
(To be continued. )

DOORGA

MADRAS CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTOR

AND

MISSIONARY RECORD.

Vol. III. FEBRUARY, 1845. No. 2.

The Preaching of the Gospel the means of the World's Conversion,

Substance of an Address delivered at Davidson Street Chapel, at the
Montldy Missionary Prayer Meeting, November 4, 1844.

BY REV. E. LEWIS.

IN all human undertakings where the attainment of a specific
object is proposed, it is of the first importance to ascertain what
are the means best adapted to secure that object; or, whether
the same means which have been employed in securing a similar
object, may not be confidently resorted to in the present instance ;
or, whether the means which are known to have proved suc-
cessful in securing a desired object to a certain extent, may not,
if multiplied and employed judiciously, prove equally success-
ful in the attainment of the same object on a larger scale. If
any misgivings with regard to the efficacy of the means em-
ployed should arise in the mind of the undertaker, all his pro-
ceedings will be marked with vacillation, doubt, and dissatisfac-
tion to himself; but if from experience he is well convinced that
the plan he is pursuing is the right one, and the only one calcu-
lated to effect his purpose, his conduct will evince such decision
and steadiness, as will not admit of a moment's hesitation in
acting upon it.

As in temporal, so also in spiritual matters. Certainty, with
No. 2. i

(36 PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL February

regard to the propriety and efficacy of the means employed to
secure a certain object, is as necessary to diligence and. persever-
ance in the one case, as in the other. 'He that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.'

A formal consideration of the subject which I have already an-
nounced, viz. 'The Preaching of the Gospel the means of the
world's conversion,' might be thought by some persons present to
be uncalled for, as the Scriptures are sufficiently clear and speci-
fic on this head, arid as the greater part of Christian frie.nds now
present, if not all, are already convinced of its orthodoxy. To
this I reply, that there are many professing Christians in this
country, and not a few in this city, whose views on this subject I
conceive to be not only unscriptural, but highly detrimental to
the cause whose interest we have this evening met to plead at
the throne of grace. With persons of this class some of us have
come into contact, and may still come : hence it is advisable to
be able to give them a reason for the hope that is in us, regard-
ing the divine appointment and efficacy of Gospel truth as the
means, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, of the world's moral re-
novation ; and at the same time to fortify our own minds against
the entrance of such doctrines and opinions as tend to render us
indifferent in the sacred cause of truth, and to dry up in our
bosoms those sources of Christian liberality, which have hitherto
contributed to the support and encouragement of missionary
operations, in this, as well as in other heathen lands.

My object this evening is not so much to assail the tenets of
others, as to attempt to confirm the belief of those who hold as
scriptural the subject which has been announced for this evening's
consideration. If from what shall be advanced, inferences can
be legitimately drawn which may be at variance with certain re-
ceived opinions regarding the means which God has appointed
for the world's conversion, let those inferences be drawn by those
who feel disposed; only let those opinioits themselves be brought
to the test of truth, 'to the law and to the testimony.'

I proceed to show briefly by a few arguments that the Spirit of
God is the agent ; the Church of God the instrumentality ; and
the Word of God the means, by which the conversion of the
world will be effected, and the predicted and long expected glory

l845 - MEANS OF THE WORLD'S CONVERSION. 67

of the latter day will be secured. In support of this I- shall ad-
duce as an argument in the first place

I. The nature and perpetuity of the Christian dispensation.

The former, or Mosaic dispensation, was intended chiefly as a
'shadow of good things to come.' Though eminently adapted
to the then existing state of the world, inasmuch as it proclaimed
the existence and illustrated the perfections of the one living and
true God, and promised a Saviour in whom 'all the nations of
the earth should be blessed,' yet all its constituent parts and
every thing relating to it were objects of sense, and calculated to
excite the attention not only of the Israelites, but also of the
surrounding nations. The Mosaic dispensation however was in-
tended only as a temporary provision ; permanency was not de-
signed, even at its first formation, to be its characteristic. Its
object was to introduce, and 'prepare the way' for a superior
dispensation which was to supersede it. He who first established
it, partly as a witness for himself to the idolatrous world, did by
his own prerogative, abolish it by the 'bringing in of a better
hope.' 'Finding fault with,' or perceiving the defectiveness of the
first covenant or dispensation to accomplish the purposes of His
grace and mercy towards a sinful world, 'he taketh away the first
that he may establish the second.'

Now with regard to the nature of this second covenant or dis-
pensation, we are taught by our Lord to regard it in some res-
pects as the very opposite of the Jewish economy. Whilst that
for instance was introduced under circumstances of the greatest
excitement and terror, the lightning and thunder, the fire and
smoke, on Mount Sinai, and the voice of the trumpet waxing
louder and louder, which made the stoutest heart to tremble, and
even the mediator of it himself to exclaim 'I exceedingly fear and
quake,' of this it is said 'the kingdom of God cometh not with
observation,' or outward display; whilst that had reference to
divers washings and purifications of the body, this is designed for
the cleansing of the heart, and the purification of the conscience ;
and whilst that was designed to serve only till 'the fulness of the
time was come,' this is intended as the dispensation 'under which

68 PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL Frbrnair

all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in Him' who is the
promised seed of Abraham.

As this dispensation was intended to produce results more
spiritual in their nature than those of the former, its great and
glorious founder has placed it under the superintendence and
agency of the Holy Spirit. It is emphatically called the 'dis-
pensation of the Spirit.' Its agent, its subjects, its influences,
its immediate blessings, its direct results, and its chief enjoyments,
hopes, and anticipations are all spiritual. We know of no higher
or more glorious object which can be secured to mankind in
the present world, than that which the Gospel proposes, and
which in myriads of instances it has effected. That God should
require his creatures to be like himself, is the highest and
greatest requirement which he can make regarding them. This
He makes in the Gospel; 'be ye holy for I am holy saith the
Lord.' To assimilate sinful man to his Maker, 'in righteousness
and true holiness,' being then the grand design of the Gospel,
it follows that the Gospel, as a dispensation, is in every respect
fitted to answer the highest purposes of divine grace and mercy
in reference to our apostate world.

That the Gospel is not only fitted, but also designed to bless
the whole world, and in the hand of the Holy Spirit to be the
means of regenerating and renewing the human family, is clearly
shown by our Lord in one of his discourses to his disciples.
'It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away the
Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send
him unto you, and when he is come he will reprove (or con-
vince) the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.'
'When he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all
truth, for he shall not speak of himself, he shall glorify me, for
he shall take of mine and show it unto you.' Here we perceive
that the present dispensation, being that of the Spirit, is entirely
a moral dispensation, inasmuch as the peculiar work of the Spirit
is to convince, &.c. The sphere for the gracious exertion of his
moral influence is not confined to any particular country or
people, but it includes the entire globe, men of all nations and
languages, for he shall convince the world of sin. The means
which he employs to produce this conviction is the truth, 'the

18 ^ fl - MEANS OF THE WORLD'S CONVERSION. G9

truth as it is in Jesus.' He sets the highest value on the work
of Christ, his obedience unto death, and his vicarious sacrifice;
and he is pledged by means of these mighty and glorious truths
to bring the world to repentance, to restore it to a state of holi-
ness, and to prepare it for the scrutiny and impartial awards of
the final judgment. Here then is the spiritual agent of the Chris-
tian dispensation, together with the spiritual results which ' he
produces; but what is the instrumentality which he employs for
the purpose of producing this moral renovation throughout the
world? In the passage we have just read, it is stated no less than
four times that his disciples are to form that instrumentality. It
is to them that his power and guidance are promised, and on
them his sacred influences are to rest. They were to be witness-
es for Christ 'among all nations;' their feet were to carry the
'good tidings of great joy to all people,' and their lips were to
declare the unsearchable riches of Christ to all who are spiritual-
ly blind, and naked, and miserable.

But it might be objected that the promised influences of the
Spirit to reprove or convince the world of sin, vwas designed
chiefly for the Apostolic times, or, to say the most, for the early
ages of Christianity, and that it was not intended to apply to all
times. So far however is this from being the case, that the very op-
posite is expressly stated by our Lord. 'And I will pray the Fa-
ther and he shall send you another Comforter, that lie may abide
with you for ever. 1 Now this promise of the perpetually abiding
presence of the Spirit was made either to the eleven disciples, and
that to the exclusion of all their cotemporaries ; or it was made
to all Christ's disciples throughout all ages of the church. That
the former is not the case, is evident from the history of the New
Testament, where we read of a Stephen, a Philip, a Barnabas,
and of many others, who, though not numbered among the
twelve disciples, were nevertheless 'full of the Holy Ghost;' and
that the latter is the true meaning and real extent of the promise,
is sufficiently manifest from the conversion and sanctification of
all true Christians from the Apostolic age down to the present,
inasmuch as this transformation of the heart and will is the pecu-
liar work of the Spirit of God. You will further bear in mind
that the promise regarding the descent of the Holy Spirit was to

70 PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL Fd.nmy

be fulfilled immediately after the ascension and glorification of
the Redeemer, and that the only circumstance which prevented
the Spirit from descending sooner than he did, was, as stated by
the Evangelist John, that 'Jesus was not as yet glorified.' More-
over 'it is expedient for you' said the Saviour 'that I go away, for
if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you.' It ap-
pears that it was an arrangement in the plan of redemption, that
each of the persons in the Trinity should perform his appropri-
ate work ; the Father in sending his Son ; the Son ia making
atonement ; and the Spirit in applying to the hearts and con-
sciences of men the blessings flowing from that atonement. The
Father, if we may so speak, had performed his part in sending
his Son; the Son also performed his in becoming incarnate,
and in dying 'the just for the unjust,' when on the cross he ex-
claimed 'it is finished;' and the Holy Spirit, from the period of
his first descent upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, to
the present, has been performing his glorious part in the work of
human redemption.

Now as the bodily absence of Christ from earth is 'expedient'
for the abiding presence of the Spirit with the church, the return
of the Saviour to earth, to dwell in his bodily form among men,
would necessarily imply two things ; first, the suspension or with-
drawment of the influences of the Spirit from the church, which
would be the non-performance of the promise 'that he may abide
with you for ever? and secondly, that the work of Christ on earth,
which the Father gave him to do, is not as yet accomplished,
which would be a contradiction of the express declaration of our
Lord 'I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.'

From the foregoing remarks, illustrative of the spirituality and
perpetuity of the Gospel dispensation, it appears evident, that
the world, including all future generations, is to be convinced of
sin and converted to Cod, by the agency of the Holy Spirit,
through the instrumentality of the church, and by means of the
word of eternal truth.

II. A second argument in support of the above proposition

may be drawn from the instructions of our Lord to his disciples.

When the period had arrived that He should leave this world,

lt!45 - MEANS OF THE WORLD'S CONVERSION. 71

he gave his disciples full instructions as to their future mode of
proceeding in promoting the interest of his kingdom in the
world. Their views, at one time, of the nature of his kingdom,
and of the means of establishing it, were nearly akin to the
views of some professing Christians in the present day. Peter,
for instance, imagining that his Master's cause required, or at
least admitted, the use of warlike instruments, employed the
sword in defending his Master's person, when attacked by Judas
and his associates in crime. This act of rashness as well as of ig-
norance, our Lord severely rebuked. 'Put up thy sword into its
place, for all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword.'
'Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray unto my Father, and he
shall instantly give me more than twelve legions of angels ?' As if
he had said, 'When my cause requires protection from above, it
will be afforded in a manner more consistent with my character,
as "meek and lowly of heart," with my office, as the "Prince of
Peace," and with my kingdom, which is "righteousness and joy
in the Holy Ghost," than that which thou art now employing;
"for the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives but to
save them." '

A few hours after the circumstance now mentioned had oc-
curred, our Lord again takes occasion to explain the nature of
his kingdom, and indirectly to point out the means he wished
to have employed in spreading it throughout the world. 'If my
kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight ; but
now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto
Him, art thou a king then ? Jesus answered, thou sayest that
I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came
I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every
one that is of the truth heareth my voice.' Hence it appears
that the kingdom of Christ is not of the same nature as earthly
kingdoms, nor is it established by the same means, or for the
same objects as they are. His kingdom is the kingdom of truth,
and his dominion is over the heart, subduing its evil passions
and corrupt desires. The power also which he puts forth in
subduing his enemies and in making them the subjects of his
own kingdom, is altogether a moral power, the power of truth.
This is the only kind of power that Christ has ever used in his

72 PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL Jebiuaiy

kingdom, and none of his followers have any right to use any
other, and none of those that have drunk deeply of his peaceful
and benevolent spirit will employ any other, for 'every one that
is of the truth, says the Saviour, heareth my voice ;' every one
that belongs to my kingdom, the kingdom of truth, will obey my
commands, will copy my example, in bearing 'witness unto the
truth,' as the only means of supporting my authority as king in
Zion. Agreeably to this we are taught by our Lord to pray
after this manner, 'Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.' The comparison
which is expressed in the phrase 'as it is in Heaven,' may be con-
sidered as conveying a double meaning ; thus, may Thy name be
hallowed, may Thy kingdom come, and may Thy will be done
on earth, to the same extent, and by the same means, as in heaven.
The hallowing of God's name, the increase of his kingdom, (or
of the subjects of it from among men), and the doing of his
will in heaven, are all the results of power, not physical, but
moral, the results, not of judgment and terror, but of the in-
fluence of divine love, and of the force of moral truth upon the
mind : and the import of the prayer is, that these glorious results
may be produced upon earth, to the same extent and by the same
means as they are in heaven. If so, the preaching of the
Gospel, the exhibition of divine love, and the presentation of
sacred truth to the minds of men, must, under the blessing of
the Holy Spirit, be the only means of Christianizing and reno-
vating the world, of converting the moral wilderness into a
garden of the Lord.

Of similar import is another prayer which our Lord taught his
disciples to present to the throne of grace on behalf of the world's
salvation. It refers especially to the kind of instrumentality by
which that glorious object will be attained. 'The harvest truly is
great, but the labourers are few : pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.'
This harvest is the harvest of immortal souls ; the greatness of the
harvest comprises men of all ages, and throughout the world ; and
for the entire gathering in of this harvest, the Lord, or owner of it,
employs labourers, whom he sends forth for that special purpose.

It follows then that as long as there are immortal souls to be

184S - MEANS OF THE WORLD'S CONVERSION. 73

gathered into the church of Christ upon earth, the servants of the
Redeemer must labour for their conversion, they must preach the
Gospel, exhort sinners to repentance, and direct them to 'the
Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.' If any
other means than the preaching of the Gospel was ever intended
by the Saviour to be employed for the conversion of the world,
he would assuredly have given some intimation of the same to
his disciples when he was about to part from them. But he
gave none. His last commission to them was, 'Go ye into all the
world and preach the Gospel to every creature.' This injunction
he repeats in another form. 'Thus it is written, and thus it be-
hoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead, and that repent-
ance and remission of sins should be preached in his name
among all nations.' And whilst in the prosecution of this their
important duty, they would meet with peculiar difficulties and dan-
gers, the Saviour fortifies their minds by promising them the aid
of Omnipotence. 'AH power is given to me in heaven and in
earth and lo ! I am with you always, even to the end of the world.'
He thus made the most ample provision for the conversion of the
world, by entrusting to his disciples, to the end of time, the duty
as well as privilege, of proclaiming the Gospel to all mankind.

In accordance with this last injunction of their Lord, the apos-
tles, eventually overcoming all their national scruples and preju-
dices, passed over the confines of their own land, penetrated the
adjacent countries, and proclaimed to the surrounding nations
the doctrine of salvation through the death of Christ. Whilst
they were thus actually carrying their message through the world,
the Saviour deemed it expedient, as the subject was of paramount
importance, to remind his church of his last injunction to her
whilst on earth. He appeared to his beloved apostle John (the
last of the noble band of missionaries whom he first sent forth to
preach the Gospel) and through him announced, 'the Spirit and
the Bride say come, and let him that is athirst come, and whoso-
ever will let him come, and take the water of life freely.' This
is the winding up of the Saviour's commands and directions
respecting the universal diffusion of his Gospel. Every human
being that hears the call of mercy, is bound to repeat it to others,
till it be heard in every language, by every one who 'hath an ear

No. ?. K

74 PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL February

to hear,' arid till all who hear it obey it, and come to Christ the
Saviour of all the ends of the earth.

In the character and devoted labours of the apostle Paul, we
have a practical illustration afforded us of what the Saviour re-
quires his people to do in the great work of preaching the Gos-
pel to all nations. Though he knew that bonds and imprison-
ments every where awaited him, yet said he 'none of these things
move me, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the mi-
nistry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the Gos-
pel of the grace of God.' The cross of Christ was to him every
thing, and to the preaching of the cross it was that he looked, as
the means, for the world's renovation. 'I am not ashamed of the
Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth.' Paul regarded the preaching of the
Gospel not as one out of many means by which the power of
God is displayed in the salvation of sinners, but as the means,
the only means whereby his grace was exerted in the salvation of
those who believe. Unlike many professing Christians in our
day, who regard the preaching of the Gospel in no other light
than as a 'temporary expedient for the conversion of only a com-
paratively small portion of mankind,' Paul knew of no other
means by which to effect the conversion of the entire human race.
'Whom we preach, said the apostle, warning every man, and
teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man
perfect in Christ Jesus ; whereunto I also labour, striving accord-
ing to his working which worketh in me mightily.' The preach-
ing of Christ then is the divinely appointed means of answering
the most enlarged expectations of the suffering Messiah, viz. to
'present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.' Suppose for a mo-
ment that the Gospel dispensation with its present appointed
ordinances and influences, were superseded by some other dis-
pensation (of whatever nature it may be) could that dispensa-
tion, we ask, effect more than the Gospel is designed to produce,
viz. 'to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus ?' 'I trow not /'

Moreover in his Epistle to the Romans, the apostle makes
frequent mention of the calling of the Gentiles to the participa-
tion of the blessings of the Gospel. But this he very naturally
considers as the effect of their hearing the Gospel. His language

11145 MEANS OF THE WORLD'S CONVERSION. 75

is 'whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved j
how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed,
and how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard ;
and how shall they hear without a preacher ?' If men are to be
saved, they must be saved through Christ, if through him, it is by
believing on him; but believing, or faith, cometh by the word,
or testimony, of God, that testimony must be proclaimed by the
living voice, or in other words, by the public preaching of the
Gospel.

III. In support of the views we have already expressed, we
derive a third argument from the prophecies of the Old Testament,
relating to the future glory of the church. As the prophets
of old were raised up especially to foretel future events, we may
naturally look to them for some important disclosures of the
future renown of the Messiah's kingdom. Accordingly we
find that they 'testified of the sufferings of Christ and of the
glory which should follow' them. During the latter days, or the
Christian dispensation, the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit is spoken
of as producing the most important and glorious results. If it
be asked by what agency the ancient people of God are to be
converted and restored to the favour of the Most High, the
answer is, 'Neither will I hide my face any more from them, for I
will pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel saith the Lord
God.' The spiritual desolation of this once highly favoured
people, we are informed by Isaiah, will last, till the Spirit be pour-
ed from on high, 'then shall the wilderness be a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field be esteemed for a forest.' But not only
the Jews, the Gentiles also, are to be blessed with his sacred
influences. 'For it shall come to pass in the last days, saith the
Lord God, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." 1 The
language of the prophet comprehends all, 'For there is no differ-
ence between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over
all, is rich unto all that call upon him.'

So far it is evident from prophecy that the most glorious results
which shall characterize the latter days are to be produced by the
Spirit of God. No less clear is the voice of prophecy regarding
the means and instrumentality by which the future enlargement of

76 PRKAC HING OF THE GOSPEL February

the church will be effected. 'And it shall come to pass in the
last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be establish-
ed in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the
hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall
go and say, come ye arid let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of
his ways and we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go
forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.' 'And
He shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people,
and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their
spears into pruning-hooks ; nation shall not lift up sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war any more.' Here the great-
est prominence is given to the house of the Lord which shall be
called a house of prayer for all people.' In allusion to the tem-
ple which was built upon Mount Zion, the mountain (figuratively
speaking) upon which this house is built, shall be elevated above
all other mountains; or (dropping the figure) the church of God
will attract the chief attention of all nations ; and, influenced by
the cordial invitation 'come let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord,'&,c. all nations shall throng into it, that they may be taught
in his ways and that they may walk in his paths. His ways are
ways of pleasantness and all his paths are paths of peace, conse-
quently the result of the Divine teaching upon all nations shall be,
the entire renunciation of war, the cultivation of peace, and the
recognition of the Divine authority as universal and supreme.

Here then is a series of predictions importing that during the
last days spiritual transformations of the most glorious and com-
prehensive nature shall result from the impartation of the Holy
Spirit. From the day of Pentecost down to the present, the
Spirit has effected these transformations chiefly through the
preaching of the Gospel. Even on that memorable day the
'signs and wonders' which attended his effusion only prepared the
way for the pungent address of the apostle Peter. It was 'when
they heard this' that the arrows of the Lord took effect in three
thousand hearts. Miraculous phenomena may be employed to
engage the requisite attention for a messenger from God ; to at-
test the divinity of his message ; to disarm unbelief; and to en-
list the judgment on the side of truth ; but when the heart is to be

lil45 - MEANS OF THE WORLD'S CONVERSION. 77

pierced and subdued, the message itself is the 'sword of the
Spirit.' Whence we may infer that in all subsequent times,
whatever miraculous means may be subordinately employed, his
renewing and sanctifying influences will be exerted principally
through the truth of the Gospel. And as the church has not yet
witnessed any thing answering to the fulfilment of these predic-
tions, we are to conclude that, great as the triumphs of the Gos-
pel have at times been, a period is drawing nigh when we shall
see far 'greater things than these.' So that any views which cast
a dark shade on that happy prospect, or which transfer the honour
of effecting them to any other department of the divine govern-
ment, must be regarded as disparaging to the dispensation of the
Spirit, and to the divine appointment of the diffusion of the Gos-
pel, as the direct medium of his influence.

To the views which we have now advocated, it may be object-
ed, that previous to the universal diffusion, and consequent uni-
versal reception, of the Gospel, a series of divine judgments will
be inflicted upon the unbelieving nations of the earth, and that
to these preternatural events will be rightly attributed the perma-
nent good of the church, and the universal spread of pure reli-
gion in the world. That the unfulfilled predictions of Scripture
lead us to expect the judgments of the Lord upon the wicked,
we readily admit ; but at the same time we deny that these judg-
ments are to supersede the preaching of the Gospel, as the means
of the world's conversion. Providential occurrences, we allow,
have the power of arresting the attention of the thoughtless, and
of striking terror into the hearts of the ungodly, but they have
no moral adaptation ivhatever to convert sinners from the love of
sin and impart to them a desire and love for holiness. They may
prepare the way for the wider diffusion of the Gospel, but they
are void of power to convey the blessings of that Gospel to the
hearts and consciences of men. The most stupendous events of
Providence therefore must be regarded, even when they are ac-
companied with the greatest results, as only secondary and subor-
dinate to the sacred influences of the Spirit, exerted through the
medium of divine truth.

Be it further observed that the judgments which, according to
the predictions of the Apostle John, are yet to visit the earth,

78 PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL February

form no exception whatever to the uniformity of divine procedure :
for in what age of the world we ask, was the progress of religion
unattended by such visitations? When f all flesh had corrupted
its way on the earth,' the entire destruction, with the exception of
one family, of the whole human race became necessary to the
restoration of morality and the worship of the true God. The
redemption of Israel from the land of bondage was preceded,
among other judgments, by the death of the first born both among
man and beast, throughout the whole land of Egypt. The Israel-
ites gained possession of the promised land, where the worship of
the true God was to be preserved, at the expense of the lives of
tens of thousands of the aboriginal inhabitants. The restoration
of the same people from their captivity in Babylon, was brought
about by the shaking and convulsion of nearly the whole of the
kingdoms of Central Asia. To afford facilities for the early
spread of Christianity, the bloody conquests of Alexander were
wisely permitted by an All-ruling Providence. To remove the
barriers which the Roman empire presented to the entrance of
the Gospel into the various countries of Europe, that empire was
demolished by the northern invasion, in which tens of thousands
of human beings sacrificed their lives. Britain is a land of Bibles
and of pure Gospel ordinances ; but to give the people of Eng-
land and Scotland the privilege of reading that Bible for them-
selves, and of worshipping God according to the dictates of their
own conscience, I shall not attempt to enumerate the persecu-
tions, and martyrdoms endured, or the civil wars, by which they
were secured to them. All these judgments and calamities, from
the deluvian age to the present, which proved the annihilation of
many kingdoms and empires, are acknowledged by all to be the
arrangements of Divine Providence for the accomplishment of
God's purposes of mercy towards mankind. And what, we ask,
are the judgments which are to come, but the arrangements of
the same wise Providence, which uniformly facilitates the pro-
gress of divine truth. The subversion of the Mohammedan em-
pire ; the destruction of 'the man of sin,' whether he appears in
Papal, Infidel, or Mohammedan costume, will, it is true, accord-
ing to the book of the Revelations, be attended with great wrath
from the Throne of God, and the pouring out of the vials of his

18i5 ' MEANS OF THE WORLD'S CONVERSION. 79

indignation. Still, all this, we maintain, will but constitute a part
of that Divine Providence which has hitherto invariably befriend-
ed and aided the progress of pure Christianity in the world.

Divine Providence, I say, all the mysterious arrangements of
which have been transferred into the hands of the Redeemer,
'who is head over all things to his church,' and to whom all power
is committed in heaven and in earth. The angels in heaven
therefore are his agents in Providence, whether it be in inflicting
judgments upon the wicked, or affording protection to the righte-
ous. Accordingly it is expressly stated, that the last and fearful
plagues recorded in the closing chapters of the Revelation, will
be inflicted upon the enemies of the Gospel, instrumentally by
these heavenly messengers themselves. 'And I heard a great voice
out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and
pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.' The con-
clusion then appears unavoidable, that these judgments will not be
inflicted, as is too often asserted, upon the wicked inhabitants of
the earth by Jesus Christ in propria persona, but by other beings,
through his authority and by his command. His present abode
(we speak of him not as God but as 'the man Christ Jesus,') is
at the right hand of the Father, and there he will* continue to
dwell until all these predictions shall have been completely fulfilled.
Such indeed is the language of the Apostle Peter, 'whom the
heaven must receive! until the times of restitution of all things,

* This sentiment is very strongly expressed by the Apostle Paul in Hcb. x. 12, 13, 'But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God ;
from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool,' or, till his enemies have
been placed (perfect tense, to express both certainty and entireness) a footstool of his feet.
Here the Messiah is represented as having finished all that he had to perform in person, upon
earth; and as a reward of the same, seated on his throne, as King in Zion, on which he is
quietly waiting, till, in due time, all who are opposed to his character, doctrines, and to the
principles as well as the administration of his government shall have been subjugated and
humbled. The Saviour's appearance then on earth in propria persona, previous to the entire
subjugation of his enemies, cannot, as a doctrine, be admitted, unless this portion of holy
writ be pronounced either as spurious, or as intended to convey a meaning the very opposite of
its literal import.

f The particle a X'P*' when it denotes time, frequently means during, with which the
comment now made on Acts iii. 21, fully agrees, i. c. 'during the times of the restitution of
all things,' or, during the period that it will require for the restoring of all things. It pen-
erally however means, till, until, and, as far as I am able to discover, when used in connection
wi(h verbs either in the indicative or subjunctive mood, conveys this idea, that the subject
under consideration will continue unaltered till the end, and not the commencement, of the

80 PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL, &C. February

which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets
since the world began.' God has said by his prophets that 'the
whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord,' that
all nations shall call the Redeemer blessed and shall be blessed
in him, and that all shall know the Lord from the least unto the
greatest. But the heaven must receive, or retain, the person of
Christ till the period arrives that these predictions, and all others
of the same import uttered by the prophets 'since^'the world
began' shaM have been fully accomplished, or, until the restitution,
or restoration, of all things in the moral government of God
upon earth, to their proper state, shall have been effected.

The conclusion then of the whole matter is this, that the pre-
sent dispensation of the Spirit will continue unaltered in its ope-
ration, till all the nations of the earth shall have been blessed
with its sacred influences, or in other words, till the day of final
judgment : that the world is to be converted and saved by the
renewing and sanctifying influences of the Spirit of God accom-
panying, as he has hitherto done, the preaching of the Gospel
to the hearts and consciences of men : and that the Christian
church is the appointed instrumentality for effecting these glo-
rious objects. Such being the case, the salvation of the world,
instrumentally considered, is entrusted by the Lord Jesus, to the
prayers and zealous exertions of his disciples. Upon us, as
the professed followers of the Redeemer, devolves the duty
of making known the Gospel to all to whom we can gain
access, and over whom we have any influence. Shall we, my
brethren and Christian friends, prove unfaithful to the trust
reposed in us by that blessed Redeemer, who has bought us with

time appointed for the occurrence of another event, when the verb is in the future tense ; and
that the subject treated of had continued unchanged, till another event, which was to succeed
it, actually tookplace, when the verb is used in the past tense. Of both these, the following are
examples, Matt. xxi. 24, 'Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,' or, have been fulfilled.
(The aorist subjunctive, denoting uncertainty, as to when the period will arrive, and express-
ing past time, to signify the completion of the event predicted) the times here mentioned are
now gradually being fulfilled. Acts vii. 18, 'Till another king arose,' t. e. had actually arisen,
and exercised sovereign power. Eph. iv. 13, 'Till we all come (shall have come) in the unity
of the faith unto a perfect man.* Rev. ii. 25, 'Hold fast till I come,' or shall have arrived,
or shall be present (with you,) which is the true meaning of the verb n Kca ' Rev. vii. 3, 'Till
we have sealed, 1 or shall have sealed. Kev. xx. 3, 'Till the thousand years shall be fulfilled.'
or shall have elapsed. So also the passage under consideration, 'until the times of restitution
of all things,' or, until the times (come, when) all things shall have been restored.

1845 - SUGGESTIONS.

his precious blood ? Shall we withhold from the millions of this
land, that Gospel which alone is able to enlighten, renovate, and
save them ? Let us strive, by the grace of God, to realize the
truth of the Scripture declaration that the Gospel of Christ is the
means, and his disciples the instrumentality, of saving a lost world.
We need but the fulfilment of prophecy, the out-pouring of the
Spirit of God upon all flesh, and we shall speedily witness the
conversion of the whole world to the faith and love of the
Redeemer. The same divine influence which, when resting upon
the heart of an individual Christian, is sufficiently efficacious to
renew and sanctify it, is fully adequate, when poured out upon
'all flesh,' to renovate and prepare for glory every son and
daughter of Adam. For such an out-pouring of the Spirit, let
your earnest and fervent prayers daily ascend to the Throne of
Grace ; and let these be accompanied by your own individual
and strenuous exertions for the salvation of your fellow-creatures,
and the Holy Spirit, according to his usual mode of operation,
and according to the divine promise 'your labours shall not be
in vain in the Lord, 1 will render them efficacious iri the conver-
sion of sinners.

May God be merciful unto you, and bless you, and cause his
face to shine upon you, that through you, his way may be
known upon earth, and his saving health among all nations.
Amen.

Suggestions regarding the Translation of Important Scripture Terms
into the Telugu Language.

BY THE REV. J. HAY, M. A.
JEHOVAH, GOD, LORD.

THE term Jehovah has already been extensively adopted in the
Telugu language, and there seems to be no good reason why it
should not be retained. Several translations of it have been

No. 2. L

SUGGESTIONS.

proposed; such as, ^cs5bo^b^)!3\3 (swayambhuvudu) ;
&>&t(parames'warudu) ; (J^^iD (prabhuvu) ; & (karta). Of
these translations the first has this to recommend it, that it ex-
presses self-existence, and might, therefore, be used as a theo-
logical term ; but it has not in it the simplicity of the scriptural
Jehovah, and moreover it is at present appropriated to S'iva. Pa-
rames'wara also an appellation of S'iva signifies the supreme ruler,
and therefore is not, etymologically, an adequate rendering of
Jehovah. Karta, Creator, Maker, Lord, has often been used,
but it is suggested that prabhuvu, a word in very common use,

most nearly corresponds to both the Hebrew mn> (o? Jehovah)

T ;

and the Greek xvpioq. Each of these terms are derivates of the
simple verb of existence, and denote BEING simply but pre-emi-
nently. The fact that prabhuvu is in common use and applied to
men, can be no more a reason for rejecting it than xvpio$
which was similarly used among the Greeks.

"&%>)&> (De'vudu) from de'va of the same origin with Dcus
and 0eo is undoubtedly the proper word for God, though
$f X'sroSo^, Bhagavantudu, might perhaps be regarded as a pro-
per translation of D'nVtt Elohim from n^? eloh, while %~a*&$
tx>$o, para' tparudu, the most excellent, will be found to be a very
convenient epithet.

JESUS CHRIST.

It seems preferable to leave these two terms untranslated oi>&>
Vjj^, though w$v 2o<&> (abhishiktudu) accurately corresponds
to the latter. Considerable variety has prevailed in regard to
the term Christian. Some have used (J^Jkexr, literally Chrises;
others (J^J&>w2&, one belonging to Christ; while others have
changed the term to (I^Jkct&jifc (krisliyudu). In this district
<jg) j3:)i3b (hraislavudu) a follower of Christ, is used formed
after the analogy of Vaishnava, S'aiva, &c.

HOLY SPIRIT.

For this 'Wj| (sada'lma) has been proposed and adopted
by some : but ?s& &> 7 5^ (paris'uddha'tma) seems to be the fittest

SUGGESTIONS. Qj

term : 1st, because paris'uddha is etymologically equivalent fo
ay/o? ; 2d, paris'itddha is the best word for saint holy one and
therefore the most fitting epithet for Him who is the author of
their holiness ; 3d, it is already in general use.

THE WORD.

syg'gsfco (va'kyamu) has been already used in the translation
of John, and seems to be the fittest term to represent the Aoyo?.
Its being a neuter noun may by some be regarded as an objec-
tion ; but the inconvenience is no greater than in our own
language, where 'the word,' is also without gender. It seems,
therefore, a pity that the translators should have adopted the
clumsy term 53-"S'g5&>~& -sr>&> } JJ e who is named the ivord. It
prevents the naturalization of the term and weakens its force.

HEAVEN.

The word ~^"<.o (moksham) liberation, has been extensively
adopted to denote heaven and also salvation. It must be allowed
however to be a very improper word, inasmuch as, while it con-
veys no idea whatever of place, it expresses, not the salvation of
man as man, but his escape from all the conditions of humanity
and life, and his absorption into the Divine Spirit, where all con-
sciousness of individualized existence is lost. tfer*o (paralo-
kam) is also used, but lies open to two objections : 1st, It is too
long : 2d, it often means simply the other world, including both
the place of bliss and that of misery. $$ * (swarga) is impro-
per, as denoting the sensual heaven oflndra. eST^o (akas'am)
is the sky, the etherial regions.

fctfo (divam) is the only word which properly answers to
our word heaven, ccelum. In its etymology it is cognate with
de'va, God, and signifies the shiny region or the abode of the
gods. Both are said to be derived from the verb de'va, to shine,
or to sport, in the latter signification; but I am unable to see
why the former may not rather have been the original meaning
of the two. This word also affords many useful and conveni-
ent formatives.

SIN.

(pa'pam) is already the generic name of moral evil.

84 SUGGESTIONS. February

but it will be found necessary in dealing with the consciences
of Natives, to make use of a variety of terms, in order to convey
to them any idea of the wickedness of sin, such as :

&>-u^Ks- (durma'rgata) or ^*^- (daitsht'yam) wicked-
ness; 33^;&o (atikramam) transgression; ~^tfo (ne'ram) a
crime; &*> ~cr>o (apara'dham) a trespass or criminal action
the ground of guiltiness ; ts^s&o (akramam) iniquity; i^S^s^o
(dro'ham) rebellion and the like. Without this, such are the
silly trifles to which the term sin is applied, that it is not possible
to bring it home to the conscience as really a serious evil. This
is one of the chief means by which the devil has so effectually
succeeded in ruining the consciences of the poor Hindus.
When such things as unwittingly treading an ant to death, or
touching a Brahman after he has performed his silly ablutions,
are held up as sins needing expiation, the conscience so fre-
quently and necessarily outraged, soon ceases to protest against
all that is merely denominated sinful.

SALVATION.

#(2xC9 (rakshan'a) is the proper rendering ofor&Ttipta, preserva-
tion, though of course it cannot convey any idea of what we
mean by salvation. This belongs to the Gospel, and in vain
shall we search for a word to express it among unevangelised
nations. The essential part of the idea preservation or deliver-
ance is all that the word conveys; and the evil from which, the
good to which, and the means by which, must be otherwise
learned. It remains then for custom not theologians or philo-
logists to say whether or not any one word shall be appropriated
to express all this.

GRACE.

A certain clergyman once objected to the Mahrathi Scriptures
on the ground among others of the same sort that the word
used for grace did not convey the idea of 'a favourable influence
of God upon the human mind;' but it may well be questioned
whether Demosthenes or Xenophon would have learned much
as to the particular blessings which flow from Christ to believers,
from merely hearing of the x a P'^> of God - ^ && &* (awtgra-

uu.v

SUGGESTIONS. 85

ham) in llic sense assigned to it by Dr. H. Wilson, expresses all
(hat is essential in the meaning. ^) >, ^cs6, ^^"S^tf o express
mercy, favour, kindness.

GUILT.

When used in the sense of crime, offence, *$ -& TP $o (apara'd-
ham) seems to be the nearest equivalent. But when it expresses
the state of a man justly charged with a crime v-no^iKos
'under sentence,' we may use e^^^o (apara'dhitam) crimi-
nated, condemned. $3x s5-*s-o (s'iksha'rham) deserving of pun-
ishment, may also be used thus :

^S^lxgtftfg e^^sSw^w^TP^^cecoo^e The whole
world is guilty before God. esctfbtfs&Swsrws- ISctfo-^cSb, O r
sfctfrasSMtfSbsrff^l C^-RT^^C He is guilty of death. Such phra-
ses as, He is guilty of murder, cannot be literally rendered. We
must say tftfsS^g'^R) et>-o*$ jbc&'Rr^8fc He is guilty having
committed murder.

ATONEMENT.

^rj c*6 ^ j c (pra'yaschittam) is the proper worcTto denote ex-
piation, though it is not very generally understood. In passages
where atonement in its literal meaning, the effect of expiation, is
more- particularly intended, tf tfr* TJT a' o (sama'dha'nam) peace,
reconciliation is the proper term, and 3 &r-i?* $$&>& (sama'dha 1 -
naparatsu) the verb reconcile.

PARDON.

This word is properly rendered by x^o (kshamam), and the
verb &.oo-i5b (kshamintsu). Other words have been used, such
as sSoS^o-db (mannintsu) , but this more frequently denotes respect
or obedience. &.^X$ > a corrupted form of <&s&o is in very
common use. ?o Sr o iSb (sahintsu) rather expresses excuse. "^ 3
>~5*rn3'?$o (pa'pavimochanam) deliverance from sin, is an excel-
lent word, but includes more than simple pardon.

RIGHTEOUSNESS.

This is generally rendered by > (ni'ti) which probably ex-
presses pretty well the meaning of biKaicovwri ; but it is more dif-

86 SUGGESTIONS. February

ficult to find a suitable equivalent to the verb Stxoitoa. In a late
edition of part of the New Testament it is rendered by >-jr&
&>\k>, to decide righteously. The only way in which at present
the defect of the language can be remedied is by explaining the
term just as in the English language we translate <o<w, to
count, deem or reckon worthy, or to treat as worthy. So S/x/oo>
to justify may be rendered fc>s&oo!0-7V>S3o-&>k> O r 5ifc^ to

deem or judge one as righteous, or to treat as such. Justice is
-sr^csbo (nya'yain.)

HOLINESS.

This is well rendered by 68%S^p or ^S^^o (pars'ud-
dhatwam or pavitratwam. ) Sanctification will then be 30 $5 a
(paris'uddhi;) and sanctify *)&36<Sc6a>' : i<&k>. Saint ^ S ^> Rfe 5o .

CONDEMN.

This has sometimes been rendered, (as in Mark xvi. 16,) by
fcsa goft^cvoo-i^, ( a'jnakunirnayntsu) but few Telugu people
(none in the proper Telugu country) understand the expression
in that sense. The usual expression is ^<S\^o-i5b (s'ikshavid-
hintsu) with the objective of the person condemned.

REGENERATION.

The literal equivalent of this term is %)3?^ (punarjanmam; )
the verb regenerate, punarjamnintsu, and the participle regenerated
t&tftj^&o (punarjanmitam.) The objection which has some-
times been made to the use of this word, that it conveys to a Hin-
du the idea of transmigration, or a second birth of the soul in
another body, must disappear when we reflect that no term, free
from that objection, can be used to convey the Bible idea ; and the
word in question is a literal rendering of that used by our Lord,
when a master in Israel stumbled at his words.

GOSPEL.

For this ^>S."^^.o ( sums' esham) has been extensively adopted
though on what account I have not been able to discover.

REVIEW. 87

1845.

The Bellary brethren have adopted
vartama'nam) which is a literal translation, but exceedingly incon-
venient from its length, and the difficulty of forming easy deriva-
tives. ^wOS'o (suva'chikam) seems in every respect preferable ;
and then suva'chakudu is a euphonious, regular, and classical
term for evangelist.

FAITH.

The reason for which a writer in the Calcutta Christian Ob-
server for October supposes S-^S^ (vis'wa'sam) a perfect sy-
nonyme of the Telugu $ ^ & (nammika) to be 'too weak and
indeterminate' to express justifying faith, is the very reason for
which, in our humble opinion, it ought to be used in preference
to every other word. 'It signifies,' he says, 'simple assent, be-
lief in, credit given to a thing or person, trust as in a person's ho-
nesty and fidelity.' Then it is just the word we want. When we
speak of 'Christian faith, that which justifies,' let us have nothing
to do with words such as ?"_f (bhakti) which denote 'religi-
ous faith,' 'religious attachment of mind specifically, or a firm
unshaken devotion of the soul to the object of worship.' Let us
beware of substituting devout feelings for faith sanctification for
justification.

REVIEW.

History of the lireat Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, in
Germany, Switzerland, &c,

BY J. H. MERLE o'AUBIGNE.

American Edition Nineteenth Thousand.
( Continued.)

OF the human agents employed in promoting the Reformation,
we have noticed Frederic, Elector of Saxony, commonly called
the Wise

88 REVIEW. February

'Frederic was precisely the prince that was needed for the cradle of
the Reformation. Too much weakness on the part of those friendly
to the work might have allowed it to be crushed. Too much haste
would have caused too early an explosion of the storm that from
its origin gathered against it. Frederic was moderate, but firm ;
he possessed that Christian grace which God has in all times required
from his worshippers ; he waited for God. He put in practice the
wise counsel of Gamaliel "If this work be of man it will come
to nought ; if it be of God we cannot overthrow it" "Things are
come to such a pass," said the prince to one of the most enlightened
men of his time, Spengler of Nuremberg, "that men can do no
more : God alone can effect any thing ; therefore we must leave
to his power those great events which are too hard for us." We
may well admire the wisdom of Providence in the choice of such
a prince to guard the small beginnings of its work."

'Maximilian I., who wore the imperial crown from 1493 to 1519,
may be reckoned among those who contributed to prepare the way
of the Reformation. He afforded to the other princes the example
of enthusiasm for literature and science. He was less attached than
any other to the Popes, and had even thoughts of seizing on the
Papacy. No one can say what it might have become in his hands ;
but we may be allowed to imagine from this circumstance, that
a rival power to the Pope, such as the Reformation, would not have
reckoned the Emperor of Germany among its fiercest opponents.

'But it was reserved to men of lower station than these princes
or bishops to become the chief instruments of God's providence
in the work of preparation. It was the scholars and the learned,
then termed humanists, who exercised the greatest influence on their
age.'

Of the humanists one of the most prominent, in preparing the
way for the revival of truth, was Reuchlin, who translated and ex-
pounded the penitential Psalms revised the Vulgate and espe-
cially distinguished himself by the publication of the first Hebrew
Grammar; thus giving the Germans a key to the Jewish Scrip-
tures.

'In order that the truth might triumph, it was necessary that the

arms that were to achieve the victory should be taken from the

arsenal in which for ages they had lain hidden. These weapons

"were the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. It was

necessary to revive in Christendom the love and study of the sacred

lf ' 4r > REVIEW. 89

Greek and Hebrew texts. The man chosen by God for this work
was John Reuchlin.

'A very sweet toned child's voice had been noticed in the choir of
the church of Pforzheim. It attracted the attention of the Margrave
of Baden. It proved to be that of John Reuchlin, a young boy, of
pleasing manners and of a sprightly disposition, the son of an honest
citizen of the place. The Margrave treated him with great favour,
and made choice of him in 1473 to accompany his son Frederic to
the University of Paris.

'The son of the bailiff of Pforzheim in transports of joy arrived in
company with the prince at this most celebrated school of the West.
He there found the Spartan Hermonymos, and John Weissel, sur-
named the I^ight of tlie World, and he had now an opportunity of
studying, under the most able masters, the Greek and Hebrew, of
which there was at that time no professor in Germany, and which he
himself was destined one day to restore in the land of the Reforma-
tion. The young and indigent German transcribed for rich students
the verses of Homer, and the orations of Isocrates, and thus earned
the means of prosecuting his studies, and purchasing books.

'But he heard other things from Weissel which made a powerful
impression on his mind. "The Popes may be deceived," said Weis-
sel. "All satisfaction made by men is blasphemy against Christ, who
has completely reconciled and justified mankind. To God alone
belongs the power of giving complete absolution. It is not neces-
sary to confess our sins to the priests. There is no purgatory, unless
it be God himself, who is a consuming fire, and purifies from all
pollution."

'When Reuchlin was hardly twenty, he taught philosophy and
Greek and Latin at Bale, and it was then accounted almost a miracle
that a German should speak Greek.

'The partisans of Rome began to be uneasy when they saw men
of independent character searching into these ancient treasures.
"The Romans make a wry face," said Reuchlin, "and clamourously
assert that all such literary labours are contrary to Roman piety,
since the Greeks are schismatics. Oh ! what pains and patience are
needed to restore wisdom and learning to Germany !" *

'But it was not alone by his writings, but also by his life, that
Reuchlin sought to promote the cause of truth. He had great influ-
ence over the minds of youth, and who can estimate how much the
reformation owes to him on that account ? We will mention but one
example. A young man, a cousin of his, the son of an artizan,
famous as a manufacturer of arms, whose name was Schwarzerd,
No. 2. M

9(J REVIEW. February

came to lodge with his sister Elizabeth, for the purpose of studying
under his direction. Reuchlin, delighted with the talents and dili-
gence of his young pupil, adopted him, and spared neither advice,
presents of books, example, nor any thing else that was likely to
make his relation useful to the Church and to his country. He rejoic-
ed in seeing his work prosper in his hands ; and thinking his German
name Schwarzerd too harsh, he translated it into Greek, according to
the custom of the time, and called the young student Mdanct1ion~
This was the illustrious friend of Luther.

Of Melancthon we shall frequently have occasion to speak
hereafter

'The union of letters with the faith is an important feature of the
Reformation, and serves to distinguish it both from the establishment
of Christianity, and from the revival in religion taking place in our
own days. The Christians, in the Apostles' time, had against them
the intellectual cultivation of the age ; and, with some exceptions,
it is the same at this day. But the majority of men of letters were
ranged on the side of the Reformers. Even general opinion was
favourable to them. The work gained in extension : perhaps it lost
in depth !'

Another name much connected with the Reformation is that
of Erasmus, one of the greatest geniuses of the age- He was
born when Reuchlin was about 12 years old the son of a man
full of vivacity and wit, named Gerard, a native of Goudu, in the
Low Countries, who had formed an attachment to the daughter
of a physician, of which this son was the fruit r though they were
never married. The father afterward took priest's orders at
Rome, but Margaret the mother devoted herself to the education
of the child, who early gave signs of much promise.

'He was not yet thirteen, when his master, Sinthemius of Deventer,
embracing him one day in great joy, exclaimed: "That child will
attain the highest summits of learning." '

About this time both his father and mother died.
'Erasmus* alone in the world, felt the strongest aversion to the mo-
nastic life, which his tutors would have compelled him to embrace

* He was named Gerhard after his father. He translated this Dutch name into Latin (De-
iderius,> and into Greek ( Kiasmui )

REVIEW. 91

At last, a friend persuaded him to enter himself in a convent of regu-
lar canons ; which might be done without taking orders. Soon after,
we find him at the court of the Archbishop of Cambray ; and, a little
later, at the University of Paris. There he pursued his studies in
the greatest poverty, but with the most indefatigable perseverance.
Whenever he coald obtain any money, he employed it in the pur-
chase of Greek authors, and then, of clothes. Often the poor Hol-
Jander solicited in vain the generosity of his protectors: hence; in
after life, it was his greatest satisfaction to contribute to the support
of young and poor students. Devoted incessantly to the investigation
of truth and learning, he yet shrank from the study of theology, from
a fear lest he should discover therein any error, and so be denounced
as an heretic.

'The habits of application which he formed, at this period, continu-
ed to distinguish him through life. Even in his journeys, which were
generally on horseback, he was not idle. He was accustomed to
compose on the high road, or travelling across the country, and, on
arriving at an inn, to note down his thoughts. It is in this way that
he composed his celebrated "Praise of Felly" during a journey from
Italy to England.

'Erasmus very early acquired a high reputation among scholars. * * *
'What was his influence on the Reformation ? v

'It has been too much exalted by some, and too much depreciated
by others, Erasmus never was, and never cotild have become, a
Reformer ; but he prepared the way for others. Not only did he in
his time diffuse a love of learning and a spirit of inquiry and discus-
sion which led much farther than he himself would follow, but, in
addition to this, he was able, sheltered by the protection of great
prelates and powerful princes, to unveil and combat the vices of the
church by the most pungent satires.

'He did more ; not satisfied with attacking abuses, Erasmus labour-
ed to recal divines from the scholastic theology to the study of the
Holy Scriptures. "The highest use of the revival of philosophy,"
said he, "will be to discover in the Bible the simple and pure Chris-
tianity." A noble saying ! and would to God that the organs of the
philosophy of our days understood as well their proper duty. "I am
firmly resolved," said he again, "to die in the study of the Scripture.
In that is my joy and my peace."* "The sum of all Christian philo-
sophy," says he in another place, "is reduced to this : to place all
our hope in God, who, without our deserts, by grace, gives us all
things by Jesus Christ ; to know that we are redeemed by the death

* Ad Surra-Unlit.

92 REVIEW. February

of his Son ; to die to the lusts of the world ; and to walk conformably
to his doctrine and example ; not merely without doing wrong to any,
but doing good to all; to bear with patience our trial in the hope of
a future recompence ; and finally to ascribe no honour to ourselves
on the score of our virtues, but to render praise to God for all our
strength and works. And it is with this that man must be imbued
until it becomes to him a second nature."*

'But Erasmus was not content with making so open a confession of
the evangelic doctrine; his labours did more than his words. Above
all he rendered a most important service to the truth by publishing
his New Testament ; the first, and for a long time, the only critical
edition. It appeared at Bale in 1516, the year previous to the usual
date of the Reformation. He accompanied it with a Latin transla-
tion, wherein he boldly corrected the Vulgate, and with notes, defend-
ing his corrections. Thus Erasmus did that for the New Testament
which Reuchlin had done for the Old.

'Divines and learned men might thus read the word of God in the
original language ; and at a later period they were enabled to recog-
nise the purity of the doctrine of the Reformers. "Would to God,"
said Erasmus, in sending forth this work, "would to God it might
bear as much fruit for Christianity as it has cost me labour and appli-
cation." His wish was realized. In vain did the monks clamour
against it. "He pretends to correct the Holy Ghost!" said they.
The New Testament of Erasmus shed a brilliant light. This great
man also diffused a taste for the word of God by his paraphrases of
the Epistle to the Romans. The effect of his studies went beyond
his own intentions : Reuchlin and Erasmus gave the Scriptures to
the learned ; Luther, to tlie people.'

It is evident that in various ways, and far beyond his own
intentions, Erasmus helped on the Reformation. He pointed
out the way to others in which he did not himself dare to walk.

'The very causes that made him a fit instrument to prepare this
great work, disqualified him for accomplishing it. "Erasmus knows
very well how to expose error," said Luther, "but he does not know
how to teach the truth." The Gospel of Christ was not the fire that
kindled and sustained his life, the centre around which his activity
revolved. In him Christianity was second to learning. He was too
much influenced by vanity to acquire a decided influence over his
contemporaries. He carefully weighed the effect that each step

Ad Job. Slechtam, 1519. Haec suntaniniisliominuiniuoulcanda, sic, nt velut in naturam
traiiscant. (Er. Kpp. i. p. 680.)

REVIEW. 93

might have upon his own reputation. There was nothing that he
liked better to talk about than himself and his own glory. * * *
' "A disadvantageous peace," said Erasmus, "is better than the most
just war."* He thought, (and how many Erasmuses have lived
since that time, and are still living) he thought that a Reformation
which should shake the church would risk the overturning of it ; he
foresaw with terror passions excited, evil mingling every where with
the little good that might be done ; existing institutions destroyed
without others being substituted in their stead, and the vessel of the
church, letting in water on every side, engulphed at last in the raging
billows. "They who let in the ocean to new beds," said he, "are
often deceived in the result of their toil: for the mighty element once
admitted, stops not where they would have it stayed, but overflows
where it will, spreading devastation around." 'f

Our author well remarks on the views taken by Erasmus
'Is there not, a marked difference between the agitation which
arises from human passions, and that which is wrought by the Spirit
of God? The former loosens the bonds of society, but the latter
strengthens them. How erroneous was it to suppose, with Eras-
mus, that in the state in which Christianity then was, with that
mixture of opposing elements, of truth and error, of life and death,
a violent convulsion could possibly be avoided. Close if you can,
the crater of Vesuvius when the contending elements are already
agitating its bosom ! The middle ages had witnessed more than
one violent commotion, with an atmosphere less stormy than that
existing at the time of the Reformation. We must not at such a
moment think of arresting and repressing, but rather of directing
and guiding.

'If the Reformation had not broke forth, who can estimate the ruin
that would have ensued ? Society a prey to a thousand destructive
elements, without any regenerating or preserving principles, would
have been frightfully subverted. Certainly, a Reformation such as
Erasmus contemplated, and such as many moderate but timid men of
our times still dream of, would have overturned Christian society.
The people, deprived of the light and piety which a true Reforma-
tion brought down even to the lowest ranks, abandoned to violent
passion and a restless spirit of revolt, would have burst the chain like
an enraged animal roused by provocation to uncontrollable fury.

* 'Malo hunc, quails qualis est, rcrura humanarum statum quam novos excitari tumultus,'
said Krasmus.

f i-eiucl admissuni non ca ferlur, qua ile'Unarat admissor. (Krasni, Epp. i. i>. 953.)

\)\ REVIEW. Felmmjr

'The Reformation was nothing less than the coming in of the Spirit
of God among men, a regulating principle, placed by God upon the
earth. It might, it is true, move the elements of ferment which are
hidden in the human heart, but God triumphed over all. The evan-
gelical doctrine, the truth of God, penetrating among the mass of
the people, destroyed what was destined to be destroyed, but every
where strengthened what was to be maintained. The effect of the
Reformation was to build up. Only prejudice could say that it
lowered. And it has been justly observed that the ploughshare might
as well be accused of injuring the earth it breaks up only to prepare
it for fruitfulness. * * *

'Erasmus was deficient in courage. But courage is as necessary to
effect a reformation as to capture a city. There was much timidity
in his character. From his youth he trembled at the mention of
death. He took the most extraordinary care of his health. He would
avoid, at any sacrifice, a place where contagion prevailed. His relish
for the comforts of life surpassed even his vanity, and this was his
reason for declining more than one brilliant offer. * * *

'Erasmus, by his writings and discourses, had, more than any other
person, hastened the Reformation ; and yet he trembled when he saw
the tempest he had raised approaching. He would have given every
thing to restore the former calm even with its heavy vapours. But it
was too late, the dam was broken down. It was no longer possible
to stay the violence of the torrent that was at once to cleanse, and
fertilize the world. Erasmus was powerful, so long as he was an in-
strument in God's hands. When he ceased to be that he was
nothing. *

'The Duke George of Saxony, the mortal enemy of Luther, having
received an equivocal answer to^ a question he had addressed to
Erasmus, exclaimed aloud, "My dear Erasmus, wash me the robe, if
you can, without wetting it." Secundus Curio, in one of his works,
depicts two heavens, the Papal and the Christian. He found Eras-
mus in neither ; but perceived him incessantly wheeling in never
ending eddies between both.

'Such was Erasmus. He wanted that "liberty of heart" which
makes truly free. How different would he have been, if he had
given up himself to devote his soul to truth. But after trying to work
some reforms, with the approbation of the heads of the church,
after having, for the sake of Rome, abandoned the Reformation,
when he saw that the two could not walk together, he lost all his
influence with either.'

It was not among the princes and the learned only that signs

nt45 - REVIEW. 95

of life became manifest. Nobles, knights, and warriors, many
of the most illustrious sons of Germany, formed a close alliance
with literary men, and, inflamed with zeal, made efforts to deliver
their dependants from the yoke of Rome.

'Various causes would contribute to make friends to the Reforma-
tion among the nobles. Some, having frequented the Universities,
had there received into their bosoms that fire with which the learned
were animated. Others, educated in noble sentiments, had hearts
open to the elevating doctrines of the Gospel. Many found in the
Reformation a vague and chivalrous something to charm and capti-
vate them. Others, it must be owned, were influenced by ill-will to
the clergy, who had helped, under the rule of Maximilian, to deprive
them of their ancient independence, and reduce them to submission
to their princes. Full of enthusiasm, they deemed the Reformation
the prelude of a great political renovation; they hoped to behold the
Empire emerge from the crisis with a splendour altogether unpre-
cedented, and a better and more glorious state of tilings established
in the world as much by the sword of chivalry as by the word of
God.*

'Ulric de Hutten, suniamed the Demosthenes of Germany from his
philippics against the Papacy, fonns, as it were, the link which then
held united the knights and the men of letters. He was no less dis-
tinguished by his writings than by his military exploits. Descended
from an ancient family of Franconia, he was sent, when eleven years
old, to the convent of Fulda, to become in due time a monk. But
Ulric, who felt no inclination for that vocation, fled from the convent
in his sixteenth year, and repaired to the University of Cologne,
where he devoted himself to the study of languages and poetry. At
a later period he led a wandering life, was present in 1513 at the
siege of Padua, in the capacity of a common soldier, saw Rome and
all her abominations, and there sharpened the darts which he after-
wards hurled against her.

'On his return to Germany, Hutten composed against Rome a writ-
ing entitled The Roman Trinity. He there strips bare the disorders
of that court, and shows the necessity of putting a forcible stop to
its oppressions. "There are three things," says a traveller named
Vadiscus, introduced in this tract, "which we commonly bring away
with us from Rome, a bad conscience, a vitiated stomach, and an
, empty purse. There are three things which Rome does not believe

* Animus ingens et ferox, viribus pollens. Nam si consilia et conatus Huttcui uon dcfc-
cisscnt, quasi ncrvi copiarum, atque potcntia-, jam mutatio omnium rcrum cxtitisict, ct
quasi orbis status publici fuissct converse. Corner, Vita JMelancthvis.

96 REVIEW. February

in : the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, and hell.
There are three things which Rome trades in : the grace of Christ,
the dignities of the church, and women." The last writing obliged
Hutten to quit the court of the Archbishop of Mentz, where he was
residing when he composed it. * * *

'Hutten sought refuge in the Castle of Ebemburg, where Francis
of Sickengen offered an asylum to all who were persecuted by the
Ultramontanus. It was there that his zeal, panting for the en-
franchisement of his nation, dictated those remarkable letters ad-
dressed to Charles V., Frederic the elector of Saxony, Albert
archbishop of Mentz, and the princes and nobility, which place him
in the first rank of orators. There he composed all those writings,
destined to be read and comprehended by the common people, which
spread throughout the German population a horror of Rome and a
love of liberty. Devoted to the cause of the Reformer, his design
was to lead the nobles to take up arms in favour of the Gospel, and
to rush sword in hand on that Rome which Luther aimed to destroy
only by the word and invincible power of the truth.

'Chivalry had for a long time prided itself in despising learning.
The period we are retracing presents a new spectacle. Under the
ponderous cuirasses of Sickingen and Hutten, we perceive that new
movement of the general intelligence then every where beginning to
make itself felt. The Reformation gave to the world as its first fruits,
warriors who were friends of the arts and of peace.

'Hutten, during his residence at the castle of Sickingen, after
his return from Brussels, encouraged the brave knight to study the
evangelic doctrine, and explained to him the main truths on which
it is based. "And is there any man," exclaimed Sickingen in
astonishment, "that dares seek to overturn such a doctrine! Who
dares to attempt it ?" *

'Soon after, Sickingen, wishing to help the cause of truth in his
own fashion, declared war against the Archbishop of Treves, "to open
a door," as he said, "for the Gospel." It was in vain that Luther,
who had then appeared, dissuaded him from it ; he attacked Treves
with five thousand horse and a thousand foot. The courageous Arch-
bishop assisted by the Palatine and the Landgrave of Hesse, com-
pelled him to retreat. In the spring following, the allies besieged him
in his castle of Landstein. After a bloody assault, Sickingen was
obliged to retire : he was mortally wounded. The three princes pene-
trated into the fortress, and passing through its apartments, found the
lion-hearted knight in a vault, stretched on his death-bed. He put
forth his hand to the Palatine, without seeming to notice the princes
who accompanied him. But they overwhelmed him with questions

1 * M - REVIEW. 97

and reproaches. "Leave me in quiet," said he, "for I must now pre-
pare to answer to a greater Lord than ye." When Luther heard of
liis death, he exclaimed, "The Lord is just but wonderful! It is not
by the sword that he will have his Gospel propagated." '

Upon this unhappy event D'Aubigne well remarks
'Such was the melancholy end of a warrior who, as Emperor, or as
an Elector, might perhaps have raised Germany to a high degree
of glory, but who, confined within a narrow circle, expended use-
lessly the great powers with which he was gifted. It was not in the
tumultuous minds of these warriors that divine truth came to fix her
abode. It was not by their arms that the truth was to prevail ;
and God by bringing to nought the mad projects of Sickingen, con-
firmed anew the testimony of St. Paul, "The weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God." '

Various agents in various departments had thus effected, and
were effecting a great preparatory work. Old institutions were
tottering or had been overturned, a new 'order of things' was
extensively introduced. New ideas had been scattered abroad
with the rapidity and diffusiveness of light. The sleep of ages
had been broken. The mind of man was awakened, the art of
printing had given wings to the written word and it was carried
like certain seeds conveyed by the wind to the most distant
regions. It began to germinate. The face of society was
changing; and yet it was in such a transition state, that no
human wisdom could foresee what shape it would assume.

To bring the forming and as yet discordant elements into
harmony, some master mind was needed to shape the yielding
mould of society some plastic hand ; and where was it to be
found ?

'Who had more wisdom than Frederic ? Who had more learning
than Reuchlin? Who had more talent than Erasmus? Who had
more wit and energy than Hutten ? Who had more courage than
Sickingen? And yet it was neither Frederic, nor Reuchlin, nor
Erasmus, nor Hutten, nor Sickingen. Learned men, princes, warri-
ors, the church itself, all had undermined some of the old founda-
tions ; but there they had stopped : and no where was seen the hand
of power that was to be God's instrument.

'The world was in expectation. Luther appeared.'

(To be continued. )
No. 2. N

98 VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

You have only to east your eye upon the map, and trace the boundaries
of the valley of the Missrssippi, and you will see that it contains as many
square miles as continental Europe ; and if peopled as densely as some of
the countries in the old world, would sustain a population as estimated by
an intelligent writer, of five hundred millions of human beings. It possesses-
every variety of climate, and in richness of soil and extent of tillable land,
is not surpassed. It is peculiarly a commercial country, and its navigable
rivers afford every facility that is requisite to- transact a foreign or domestic
commerce. To show to you what the Mississippi Valley is, just step on
board the steamer Missouri, that has just got up steam for New Orleans,
laden with lead, cattle, corn, wheat, flour, tobacco, hemp, butter, lard, bees'
wax, cabbage, potatoes, onions, eggs, chickens, and every other thing that
was in Noah's ark, and in four days you will have travelled eleven hundred
miles, through every kind of climate, to the land of the orange grove and
sugar plantation, and find yourself in the Crescent city. If you are on an
exploring expedition, you will have the curiosity to take a trip of twelve or
fifteen hundred miles up the Red River, to see the big raft and the cotton
plantations. If you had a desire to return, you would hardly brook the
pleasure of running three hundred miles up the Yazoo, and two or three
hundred up the Big Black, to look at the lands of the 'repudiators,' and
calculate how large a steamboat-load of cotton it will take to pay up their
debts. After you get on the Mississippi again, you would hardly think of
overlooking the little Arkansas river ; and after journeying upon it for 10 or
12 days, you would find you had travelled about two thousand miles, and
seen much land that is yet to be possessed. Divers and sundry other little
streams would be passed until you entered the Ohio, and then you run up
that beautiful stream to Pittsburgh, one thousand miles, and two thousand
from New Orleans. On the route you would see Louisville, Cincinnati,
Wheeling and Pittsburgh, and the finest farms and most luxuriant crops,
and the largest herds of cattle and the most healthy people, and the 'broad
horns' or flat boats, bearing the products of this fertile region to New Or-
leans. In descending the Ohio, you would look at the Kentucky river, ami
then passing Nashville on the Cumberland, you would run about four hun-
dred miles, and then ascend the Tennessee river about six or seven hundred
miles to see the noble cotton lands of that noble State. After getting back
to St. Louis, you would probably have a desire to see the Missouri and
its tributaries. After due preparation for the voyage, and a rapid run of
two weeks or more, you would be put on shore at the Great Falls, in tho
country of the Blackfoot Indians, about 3900 miles above St. Louis, and
5000 from New Orleans ! On your return to see the tributaries of the
Missouri, it will be only necessary to make the pleasure trip of 1100 miles

ms - MISSIONARY SERVICES AT BANGALORE. 99

tip the Yellowstone, of 1GOO up the Plattc, of 1200 up the Kansas, to say
nothing of 200 or 300 up the Osagc, o.nd innumerable other streams, and so
you will be back to St. Louis, and 1200 miles from New Orleans. And
then to finish, just get on board a good steamboat at St. Louis, and in six or
eight days you will beat the Falls of St. Anthony, 1300 miles up the Mis-
sissippi, or 2500 miles from N. Orleans ; if not satisfied, just walk round the
Falls, and, taking another boat, ascend about 1000 miles further. You will
then be out of the pale of civilization. As you return, you can round .to,
at the mouth of the Illinois river, and ascend that beautiful little rivulet
for about two hundred miles. This, in the language of another, is a
tolerably accurate idea of what the Mississippi Valley is ; and by putting
the distances together, you will find that you have travelled very comfortably
by steamboat sixteen thousand miles, and, in going and returning, double
that distance. "Should curiosity lead you to investigate, you will find that in
the Mississippi and its tributaries, the Mississippi Valley possesses a steam-
boat navigation of from twenty-five to thirty thousand miles. Such is a
brief but true geographical glance at the valley. To the mind of an Atlantic
or European reader, it may appear more of a 'fancy sketch' than a true
description. Let them not suppose that truth is violated because our rivers
are large ^ we did not make them, and are not responsible for that. We
have, however, plenty of such little streams as the Hudson, the Delaware,
the Potomac, the Santce, the Thames, the Severn, the Mercey, the Hum-
tier; but we do not dignify them with the name of rivers 4 we call them
creeks or bayous. With us, it takes a river to make a river Emancipator.

Melifitous tntcUtflcucc,

MISSIONARY SERVICES AT BANGALORE.

THE ANNUAL SERMON on behalf of the London Missionary Society
was preached at the Mission Chapel, Bangalore, to a numerous con-
gregation, on Lord's-day evening, December 22d, 1844, by the Rev.
C. CAMPBELL, B. A., of Mysore. The preacher took for his text
Isaiah Ixi. 11, '.For as the earth Iringeth forth her bud, and as the
garden causeth the things that are soicn in it to spring forth ; so the
Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth Iff ore all
the nations,' from which an appropriate discourse was delivered, of
which the following is an outline :

|00 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

In the present state of the church and the world there is mm !r
both to humble and grieve the true Christian. In the church there
are multitudes who have only 'a name to live' whilst 'they are' spiri-
tually 'dead ;' and those who are truly alive unto God are marked by
imperfection, both in their own character, and in their efforts to
promote the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom. The world pre-
sents a scene more dark and melancholy still. Millions, to whom the
gospel has been preached, 'reject the counsel of God against them-
selves,' and millions more, who have never heard it, are living and
dying 'without God,' and 'without hope.'

Nor is our grief, arising from the contemplation of such a state ot
things, removed by a consideration of what has already been done
in the mission field. We are grateful for the measure of success--
which God has been pleased to grant, but, at the same time, must
acknowledge that the flock of Christ is yet 'a little one,' and that
the majority of our race are still living in gross spiritual darkness.

Is it to be always thus ? Until the coming of Christ are we to
expect only a few, here and there, to be gathered into his fold ?
Even were this the case Ike Divine goodness is not to be called in
question. He that gave his Son to die for a guilty world must be
acknowledged to be a God of love and mercy, whatever mysteries
may be connected with his providential dealings. And, whatever
be the result of our labours in the cause of Christ, our duty is plain
so long as the command remains unrepealed, 'Go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature.'

It is not the will of God, however, that we should rest satisfied
with a small measure of success. A glorious harvest is yet to be
reaped, of which the first fruits only have as yet been received.
'For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth
the things that are sown in it to spring forth ; so the Lord God will
cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.'

This is to be the result of the gradual diffusion of that gospel
which was first spoken by the Lord, and has been confirmed to us by
them that heard him. In the first verse of this chapter (Isaiah Ix. ],)
the Redeemer himself is represented as declaring his mission, and
making known the nature of his gospel ; and in the following verses
the growing happiness and glory of his church are figuratively set
forth, in language referring not only to the literal Israel but to all
who are the seed of Abraham by faith in Christ Jesus.

The text refers to that happy period when the Redeemer's kingdom
shall be co-extensive with the world. That will be a lime of righte-
ousness wars, oppression, and cruelty, will cease. The idols be
utterly abolished. 'The wickedness of the wicked come to an end.'

1!M ' r> MISSIONARY SERVICES AT BANGALORE. 101

And 'righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost' every where
prevail. It will also be a lime of praise to the God of salvation for
subduing his enemies blessing his people and causing his truth to
triumph. This state of things will be universal. 'For the Lord God
will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth,' not in a few
places merely, but 'before all the nations.

The manner in which this will be accomplished is described. l Jls
the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things
that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righte-
ousness and praise to spring forth.' The analogy holds good in seve-
ral respects, and especially in the three following :

1. In both cases human labour is employed. For in the cultivation of
the earth the ground must be prepared, and the seed must be sown by
human hands, and watered and tended with much care by him who
would reap the fruit. In the field of the world, God has appointed
the ministers of the Gospel to labour ; not that he needs their help ;
but it has pleased him to employ them as instruments ; and their
weakness makes it the more apparent that the excellency of the
power is all his own. The holy lives of his own people are em-
ployed by God as another instrumentality. They are a seed sown
by him in the earth, by which he brings glory to his own name.
Yea, he makes all events subservient to his own cause. Even the
wrath of man is made to praise him, and the remainder thereof he
restrains.

2. In both cases it is necessary to exercise long patience in waiting for
the fruit. We are taught by a variety of figures in the Scriptures
that the kingdom of Christ is gradual in its progress ; and the facts
of the case have hitherto been in exact correspondence with the re-
presentations given. Therefore although it be still the day of small
things there is no reason to despond.

3. In both cases the blessing of God is absolutely necessary in order to
the production of fruit. 'Paul may plant, and Apollos may water, but
God must give the increase.' It is 'the Lord God? alone that can
'cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.'
How important then to be earnest and importunate in soliciting His
blessing !

Let all the church unite in the prayer of faith, that God may pour
out his Spirit, and manifest his power to save. And let professing
Christians beware lest they should in any way hinder the progress
of this work. When they bring forth much fruit the Lord is glorifi-
ed ; but when, on the contrary, they act inconsistently, the name of
Christ is dishonoured, and his work impeded.

102 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. February

The ANNUAL MEETING was held on Monday evening, December
23d. The attendance was good, although not so numerous as on the
preceding evening. A hymn having been given out, and prayer
offered by the Rev. B. RICE, the chair was taken by the Rev. E.
CRISP, who observed that we had lately had some proceedings con-
nected with the Jubilee of the Society. Tftat was a special occa-
sion. But our zeal is not to be estimated so much by what we do
under the influence of temporary excitement, which may produce an
occasional splendid effort, as by the degree of our regular and con-
tinued co-operation in the great work. The present meeting is
connected with the general proceedings of the society. We come
together now as the professed and steady friends of the cause of
missions, or neglect to support them.

In advocating this cause we should take high ground. As Chris-
tians, and when pleading for Christianity in general, we should do
this, taking it for granted that men know and feel that they ought to
obey the truth ; and so with missions. We should not speak and act
as if we thought they needed an apology, but always represent them
as an essential part of Christianity, which no consistent believer can
disregard, and that if any apology is due, it is from those who oppose
Christian missions.

Our meeting together, with these views, and in this manner, is
calculated to correct many of our misapprehensions, and to enlarge
our minds. Even reading the report of the London Missionary So-
ciety alone, which shows what is going on in many parts of the world,'
does this in a measure ; but taking a wider range and surveying what
is done by all the various societies does it still more effectually. It is
with Christians as with mariners. They have to take their 'Lunars' and
their 'Azimuths,' and thus to correct their calculations, and check their
chronometers ; and we have need to check and to correct our obser-
vations, by some process differing from our every day estimate of
things. From the want of this, some who are in difficult and trying
situations are apt to think it is as dark in all the rest of the world, or
the church ; as it is around them, and need to make a more favourable
estimate, by considering the state of the great whole. Others who
are in brighter scenes may fancy that it is as bright every where else
as it is with them, and, by a similar process, they may see the shade
of the picture.

The effect of such meetings when properly conducted, and pervad
ed by a proper spirit, is exceedingly profitable. A missionary meet-
ing which is not conducive to the spiritual improvement of those
who attend it, is worthless. It should make us prize more highly
the salvation of the Gospel, and increase our enjoyment of personal

1045 MISSIONARY SERVICES AT BANGALORE. J 03

religion. We shall find that while trying to arouse others we our-
selves are more awakened, and while endeavouring to instruct and
edify them we are ourselves edified.

The report, of which the following is an epitome, was read by the
Rev. J. SEWELL.

CANARESE DEPARTMENT. Under the superintendence of the Rev.
B. Rice, and Rev. J. Sewell. 1. Preaching to the Heallien. Numer-
ous congregations are frequently collected in the streets to hear the
words of eternal life. Occasionally much enmity to the truth is
manifested, but sometimes the people listen with apparent interest
and there appear to be a few in whose minds a conflict is going on
relative to the claims of Christianity on the one hand, and of the
world on the other many, alas ! seem to have decided the contro-
versy within, and have settled down into a hardened state of mind
against the gospel, which thus appears likely to prove to them 'the
savour of death unto death.'

2. Itineracies. This important branch of missionary labour has
been attended to, as far as circumstances would permit. Three mis-
sion tours have been made during the year, the results of which were
such as greatly to encourage the missionaries. They were gratified
to find that the effects of former visits, though a considerable period
had elapsed, were still visible. Many had evidently read the books
that were given to them with care and attention. A conviction of.
the absurdity of Hinduism and the superior claims of Christianity
was observed to prevail. And some were met with who appeared
to be 'not far from the kingdom of God.'

3. Distribution of Scriptures and Tracts. 2443 tracts, 858 school
books, and 394 portions of the Scriptures have been put into circu-
lation during the period embraced in the present report. It is not
known that any have been destroyed or abused, and it is known that
many have been carefully read.

4. Schools. There are two boarding schools, one for boys, and the
other for girls. The former contains 13 children, and the latter 9.
They are all making steady, and some of them very gratifying pro-
gress. Several possess a good measure of scriptural knowledge,
and pleasing dispositions of mind. There arc nine day schools, viz.
six for boys, and three for girls, containing 228 boys and 65 girls.
The girls both in the boarding and day schools are under the care of
Mrs. Rice. Those in the day schools arc nearly all of them child
ren of caste parents, and some of them are the children of Brahmans.
These schools afford considerable encouragement. Much scriptural
knowledge is possessed by the scholars, and several show that their

104 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. February

minds are in some degree impressed with the truth and importance
of what they leam.

5. Church and Congregation. There have been two additions
during the year. The present number of communicants is 13. A
woman who was a candidate for baptism, but whose case had been
deferred on account of her previous doubtful character, died lately
when on a visit to some of her heathen relatives near Colar. She
appears to have died refusing to call on Rama, which she was urged
to do by her friends, and declaring her faith in Jesus Christ. The
congregation regularly assembles for divine worship at the Chapel
in the Pettah every Sabbath morning. The average attendance (in-
cluding the boarding school children) is about 40. In addition to
these there is an average attendance of from 20 to 30 of the heathen.

6. Preparation of Books. An Epitome of Old Testament History
in Scripture language, pp. 732, has been completed, and carried
through the press, by Mr. Rice. A similar work on the New Testa-
ment is in course of publication by Mr. Sewell. A Canarese Hymn
Book, containing 72 Hymns, including 17 taken from the Hymn Book
of the German brethren, has also been prepared and published by
Mr. Rice, with the assistance of Mr. Campbell, of Mysore. Both the
missionaries have given a considerable portion of their time and at-
tention, in connexion with other missionary brethren, to several mat-
ters preparatory to a revised translation of the Scriptures in the Cana-
rese language. They have also been engaged in preparing and de-
livering a course of Lectures each, the one on General, and the other
on Church History, to such of the students in the Theological Semi-
nary as understand Canarese.

The missionaries regret that looking at their work in general they
are yet constrained to speak of the trials rather than of the triumphs
of our faith. They think that they discover signs of the declining
strength of the enemy, yet past experience has taught them that they
cannot calculate with certainty on such appearances as to any imme-
diate favourable result. They desire to labour on in the spirit of faith,
prayer, and patient perseverance, knowing that in the history of the
church the darkest times have often been the harbingers of the re-
newed shining forth of the Sun of Righteousness, and feeling assured
that 'in due season they shall reap if they faint not.'

TAMIL DEPARTMENT. Superintended by the Rev. E. Crisp. The
attendance at the service on Sabbath mornings is generally good.
There have been several additions to the communicants who usually
number about 40. Some of these additions are from students who
have come to the Seminary from other missions where they, with

1845.

MISSIONARY SERVICES AT BANGALORE. 105

their wives, were previously members of the church. But in addition
to these some, who before had been Roman Catholics, have been
baptized and received into the congregation. Two of them were
cases of considerable interest. Though there has been occasion for
rebuke in reference to some members of the church, and in one in-
stance for temporary suspension from communion, there has not been
any necessity for the exercise of more severe discipline.

The Native Day Schools are three in number, and the average at-
tendance about 100 children. They are under schoolmasters who
are professed Christians, and each school is likewise under the res-
ponsible charge of one of the students in the seminary, besides
being regularly examined by the missionary.

The female boarding school under the care of Mrs. Crisp, assisted
by Miss Macklin, has during the year increased to 21, and the general
conduct and spirit of the children afford much encouragement. Three
have been baptized. One child who was baptized in 1843, at her
own desire, has been drawn away by her mother, and painful doubt
is experienced respecting her. It is cause for thankfulness that so
many of the others are apparently under the influence of the truth
and grace of God.

The infant school is in an encouraging state. The present attend-
ance is good, although it has fluctuated during the year. It enjoys
the regular visits and attention of Miss Macklin.

The English Church is under the pastoral care of Mr. Crisp, who
is occasionally assisted by Messrs. Rice and Sewell. The grace of
God in its freeness and power has been displayed in making some
who were servants of corruption the free and happy disciples of Jesus.
Some who had wandered have been restored, but several painful
cases of inconsistency have occurred, nearly all of which are to be
traced to the use of intoxicating liquors. There is a Sunday school
containing about 40 children, and there are also male and female
Bible classes.

THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. Under the care of the Rev. E.
Crisp. In this institution there are at present 17 students. The
general course of instruction announced in former years has been
continued, with some additions. It is hoped that besides enjoying
these additional advantages the students have grown in holiness and
spiritual fitness for their work. At the annual examination they so
acquitted themselves as to receive the expressed approbation of the
brethren by whom their attainments were tested.

At the conclusion of the Report, the meeting was addressed by the
Rev. J. GARRETT, on the following subject:

]Q6 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. Ternary

I. 'That a personal experience of the power of the Gospel, and a
growing acquaintance with the excellence of its blessings, not only
lay us under the strongest obligations to make that salvation known
to others, but will prompt an earnest desire to labour, that they may
be brought to participate fully in the same privileges, in which we
ourselves rejoice.'

Mr. Garrett commenced by remarking that, the first effect of the
gospel, wherever it is believed with the heart unto righteousness, is
to awaken an earnest interest in the spiritual welfare of others. To
this we are constrained by the love of Christ for 'we thus judge that
if one died for all, then were all dead, and that they who live, should
not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him who died for them
and rose again.' Those who are, to some extent at least, sensible of
the ruin from which they have been rescued, will earnestly desire,
and labour that others may escape the condemnation from which they
have been delivered. Those to whom Christ has become precious,
will desire and labour, that others may taste of that preciousness also.
Those who have quieted all their alarms, and been freed from all
their anxieties by the sufficiency of the atonement, will be earnestly
desirous of making known a remedy so effectual to the millions who
are living 'without God, and without hope in the world.' Those who
have regard to the honour of the Saviour will desire and labour to
extend his kingdom till all the nations of the earth acknowledge his
authority till the mighty Spirit which Christ has purchased by his
obedience, shall have subdued every heart, and established his em-
pire of righteousness over a renovated world.

The speaker then adverted to the extent and importance of the
object thus contemplated, and the various difficulties with which
those who seek to promote it have to contend, and said that they
were only encouraged to look forward to final success by the cheer-
ing recollection that their success was of GOD. They could rely
with confidence on the sure word of prophecy, and the faithful pro-
mises of JEHOVAH. They found that all the predictions respecting
Babylon, Nineveh, and Tyre, had been accomplished. Those which
related to the Jews as a nation had also been literally fulfilled. Now
if God had thus carried out his threatenings, would he not also
accomplish his promises ? The predictions respecting the humiliation
and death of the Son of God had all received their fulfilment, and
should not those which relate to his exaltation and glory ? Yes ! 'The
glory of the LORD should be revealed, and all flesh should see it
together, for the mouth of the LORD had spoken it.'

We might have to wait for our final success, but it had been pro-
mised by him who never spoke in vain, and we might look forward

la4 -'- MISSIONARY SERVICES AT BANGALORE. 107

to the time when the song of rejoicing would resound, loud as
the thunder, but sweet as the music of heaven, ascribing 'glory, and
honour, and power, and blessing, to God, and to his Christ for ever.

The Rev. A. LEITCH, of Madras, then spoke on the following
topic :

II. That while we mourn over the violent opposition to the gospel,
manifested by some portions of the Native community, as fearfully
enhancing their guilt, we regard it as an indication that the apathy
of ages has been disturbed, and that divine truth has penetrated more
deeply into the public mind, and has more decidedly resisted the
corruptions of idolatry, than at any former period with which we are
acquainted.' ,

Mr. Leitch related some facts which had come under his own
observation at Madras and Conjeveram, tending to show the deeply
rooted enmity which many of the people bear against the gospel
and those who promulgate it he adverted to the violent opposition
encountered by himself and other missionaries and contended that
the present aspect of the mission field in India is dark. We are not
however to despond, but to labour on in faith, cherishing unshaken
confidence in the promises of him who cannot lie, and remembering
how frequently in the experience of God's people, and the history of
the church, times of deepest darkness immediately precede those of
the greatest brightness, and most abundant blessing.

(We regret that not having received the notes of Mr. Leitch's
speech as was expected, we are unable to report his address more
fully.)

The third subject brought before the meeting was,

III. 'That as a dependance upon even divinely appointed agency
is a grievous dishonour to Him who alone "giveth the increase," it is
indispensably necessary that we habitually call upon the Holy Spirit,
the Lord and giver of life, for an abundant pouring down of his
blessing upon all whose salvation or improvement we seek to pro-
mote.'

On which the Rev. T. HASWELL spoke nearly as follows:

The previous speaker has been calling upon this congregation to
sympathize with the missionaries, and the missionary cause, in the
present discouraging circumstances under which they, the mission-
aries, are labouring in this country. This call cannot be better
responded to than by carrying out the sentiments contained in the
paper with which I have been furnished, and in doing this we shall
find that whilst we are seeking the spiritual good of others, we are

108 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. FeLniary

promoting our own good, for 'He that waterelh shall be watered also
himself,' and, 'There is that scattereth and yet increaseth.' The
chairman, at the commencement of the meeting, said that, 'that mis-
sionary meeting is worthless in which the spiritual good of those as-
sembled is not promoted.' In this sentiment I most cordially unite,
for the cause in which we are engaged is a spiritual and a holy cause,
and it must promote our personal spirituality and holiness in order to
reach the state of those around us. In the paper which I hold in my
hand there are some important particulars to which we may with
profit direct our attention.

First. It acknowledges that the Lord the Spirit is the sole Author
of every spiritual blessing.

A reference to the history of the church of Christ is sufficient to
prove the correctness of this view. All the means which God has
used for the promotion of his work are such as show that the instru-
ments which he employs are in themselves powerless, but that he,
the Lord the Spirit is the source and spring of all spiritual prosperity,
and the means by which he often promotes the good of his people are
those which are contrary to the devices and plans of human inven-
tion. For instance, when he brought his people out of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage, he led them to the border of the Red Sea,
and when they stood at the brink of the water they were command-
ed to 'go forward.' Human reason would have argued the rashness
and folly of taking such a step, the very first effect of which was like-
ly to be to plunge themselves into death, but it was sufficient for them
that God had given the command, and when they obeyed his voice
he himself divided even the sea for them, so that they passed over on
dry ground and escaped from their enemies. And so we in our day,
as engaged in his work, and as having the love of souls at heart ;
'Onward !' is our motto whatever may be the opposition that meets us
in our way, looking to God alone as the Author of success.

Secondly. We leam from this paper, that we must seek the power
and grace of the Holy Spirit, by prayer. Great encouragement is
given us in the word of God to engage in this duty. We know (hat
if we ask of God we not only may but we slutll receive, 'for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it.' He hath said, 'ask of me and I shall
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts
of the earth for thy possession.' But in order to ask aright we must
watch over the dispositions of our hearts, for unless we do so we may
ask amiss, and thus fail to receive ; and one very important disposition
in seeking the help of the Spirit is, gratitude for the mercies already
received. Comparatively speaking there is much in this country to
discourage the man of God, whilst sowing the seed of eternal life,

1845> MISSIONARY SERVICES AT BANGALORE. 1Q9

that is, compared with other countries where that word is more readily
received and brings forth earlier fruit ; yet there is also much cause
for thankfulness and gratitude to God. In the report read at the
commencement of the meeting, mention is made of a heathen
woman who died near Colar, refusing to call upon heathen gods in
the hour of death, and saying that none but Jesus Christ could
save her. Here is a cause for gratitude, for we will hope that Jesus
Christ did save her and that she is now with the redeemed of the
Lord. Mention is also made in the same report of a person at
Ossoor who, during the missionary's sojourn there, was anxious in his
inquiries about the truth. For this also we would give thanks, hoping
that those inquiries were followed with true conviction. And in
cases like this there is more than appears on the mere surface. I
have myself seen whilst preaching to the heathen, the workings of
the native mind under the force of truth. I have marked in their
features that though they endeavoured to disguise their feelings, yet
when they have been reasoned with 'of righteousness, temperance,
and judgment to come,' they have given evidence that their con-
science within them taught them that what we told them was true.
And the very opposition to which reference has been made is a
cause for encouragement and perseverance in this work. 'Why do
the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing ? Why do the
kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel
together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us
break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us ?' The
reason is this, they no longer regard Christianity as an idle fable,
they no longer view it as powerless in its effects. Formerly they
might have said, 'let it alone it will expend itself, our mountain
stands too strongly to be moved by it,' but now they have seen that
there is power in it, they have felt the conviction of its truth, their
mountain has begun to shake, and they tremble for its stability and
therefore strive to oppose the truth. But their efforts are vain.
Truth is mighty and must prevail, and from this measure of convic-
tion wrought in the native mind, we ought to take courage and to
go forward more and more earnestly seeking the help of the Holy
Spirit. But we are here taught

Thirdly, that we must habitually call upon God for this help.

This is especially the duty of the people of God, and surely if we
feel the greatness of the love of God to us, and know the riches of
his grace, it will not merely be a matter of duty but our joy and
delight to engage in this exercise. We must then cultivate the habit
of prayer, and our prayers for the blessing of God upon the mis-
sionary cause are not to be offered merely at a missionary meeting or

1 10 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

Fuliruarv

when we assemble together in public, it must be the burden upon
our hearts, the desire of our minds, our constant request at the throne
of grace, that 'the kingdoms of this world may become the kingdoms
of our God and of his Christ. And if we pray in faith and pray
unitedly we shall have success in this country also, this wilderness
will become the garden of the Lord 'and will blossom as the rose,'
and we shall have prosperity in our own souls for the dew of heaven
will descend upon us.

The Rev. D. SANDERSON remarked, that being called, unexpect-
edly, to occupy the position of another speaker, he could not be ex-
pected to say much (especially at that late hour,) although the subject
given to him was one on which much might be said with advantage.

He felt a still greater difficulty in the subject being in almost
direct opposition to the gloomy language of the report, and the
remarks of a preceding speaker. It was this :

IV. 'That looking upon the measure of the heavenly blessing we
have been permitted already to receive in this country; and regard-
ing the larger amount of good, which, through the divine mercy, has
been realized in many other parts of the world, we give most earnest
and hearty thanks to our glorious Lord and leader, who is thus ful-
filling his great promise to those who go to "disciple all nations,"
"Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." '

He could not regard the opposition of the heathen to the gospel,
upon which so much had been said, and from which such discourag-
ing inferences had been drawn, otherwise than as a satisfactory
proof of the 'heavenly blessing,' and a cause of earnest and lively
gratitude. Missionaries had long and justly bewailed the apathy of
the Natives of India as one of the greatest obstacles to the progress of
Christianity ; but it was now disturbed. By the blessing of God with
the word preached, conversions had taken place in Bengal, Madras,
Bombay, Mangalore, and various parts of India. In Tinnevelly, the
South, and Ceylon, where more labour had been bestowed, the success
was proportionate. And although the excitement and rage of the
heathen prevailed for a time, causing the desertion of our schools,
and apparently injuring the work, they quickly subsided, not only
without much permanent evil, but with great ultimate good. Apathy
was disturbed, and attention roused. On this ground we should give
'most earnest and hearty thanks to our glorious Lord and leader ;' for
in every extensive revival of religion the Spirit accompanying the
word, had roused apathy into violent opposition, which was followed
by large success.

He also observed that though in Madras (as Mr. Leitch had shown)

1845 - MISSIONARY SERVICES AT BANGALORE. \ \ \

the opposition was violent and long continued, in other places it was
not so there was full liberty. With regard to Bangalore, a mission-
ary can go into any part of the extensive Pettah, sure of having a
good congregation, generally very attentive, and very rarely, if
ever, showing violent opposition ; and many inquire with every ap-
pearance of sincerity to obtain a better acquaintance with the word
of God. The demand for Tracts and Scriptures is often greater than
can be supplied.

He called particular attention to the seminary under the care of
Mr. Crisp. Many present at that meeting were present at the exami-
nation of the students (during the preceding week) in theology and
general knowledge. It was certainly a cause of gratitude 'to our
glorious Lord and leader,' that 17 young men, converted and living
in the enjoyment and practice of religion, were here receiving an
efficient training for their work, as ministers of the word of life
to their fellow-countrymen. This in itself was a most satisfactory
proof of the 'heavenly blessing,' and demanded the liveliest gratitude.

The subject referred to 'the larger amount of good, which, through
the divine mercy, has been realized in many other parts of the world.'
In proof of this he briefly remarked that Spain perhaps the most
inaccessible country in the world to missionary effort had been
visited with the word of God. Missionaries had sought in vain to
establish themselves in that country, and had been banished. But
God had raised up and qualified an instrument of good to Spain,
in George Borrow, who went to that country as an agent of the Bible
Society. Endued with peculiar ability for acquiring language a
courage which no danger or trial could subdue ; and a steadiness of
purpose not to be resisted by any obstacle, he was enabled to pursue
the work of translation, and to distribute widely, an immense number
of copies of the New Testament ; and the four Gospels. The seed
was thus sown, and 'as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the
garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth ; so the
Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before
this nation.' Isa. Ixi. 11.

He dwelt upon the large measure of heavenly blessing which has
been realized in Africa, by which the most degraded of the human
race have been exalted to the privilege of the sons of God. Mr.
Moffat, whose 'missionary labours and scenes in South Africa,' has
thrown so much light on the condition of the people, and the work of
missions amongst them, laboured for ten years in circumstances
more disheartening than that of missionaries in India. Yet he and
his colleagues continued to sow the incorruptible seed with many
tears and prayers ; which, when the heavenly blessing was realized,

112 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. February

brought forth good fruit in abundance. And there are many others
in Africa, equal in labours and success, an account of which,
if published, would show the amount of divine blessing to be large
indeed.

He also adverted to the South Sea Islands where the heavenly bless-
ing had been so abundantly realized after many years of darkness and
discouragement. Many had left the work there ; and even Williams
whose labours were so eminently blessed of God, after some years of
fruitless labour, had requested to be sent to some other part of the
world. The thousands there who have been turned from idols to
serve the living God the churches established, and walking in the
fear of God show the measure of the divine blessing now realized.

These were but three instances out of many that might be select-
ed, but abundantly sufficient to show that 'our glorious Lord and
leader is fulfilling his great promise to those who go to "disciple all
nations." "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." '
For this blessing it was our duty to give 'most earnest and hearty
thanks,' and to manifest the sincerity of our gratitude by

1. Identifying ourselves with missionary efforts.

2. Contributing cheerfully of our substance to their support and
extension.

3. By fervent and constant prayer.

'Praise God from whom all blessings flow,' having been sung, and
the benediction pronounced, the meeting separated.

Deep interest was manifested throughout, and it is hoped that both
the sermon and meeting were the means of stimulating the zeal of
those present in the cause of missions.

ANECDOTE OF GEORGE III.

IT is related of George III. that when hunting near Windsor, once, with
his characteristic tenderness of feeling, he relinquished the enjoyment of the
chase, out of compassion to his exhausted horse, and gently riding nlong
through an avenue of the forest, was led by the cry of distress to an open
space, where, under a branching oak, on a little pallet of straw, lay a dying
gipsy woman. Dismounting and hastening to the spot, his majesty anxious-
ly inquired of a girl who was weeping over the sufferer: ' What, my dear
child, can be done for you ?' 'Oh, sir, my dying mother wanted a religious
person to teach her, and to pray with her before she died ! I ran all the
way, before it was light this morning, to Windsor, and asked for a minister,
but no one could I find to come and pray with my dear mother.' 1 The dying
woman's agitated countenance bore witness that she understood and flt the

U4& - THE NEW YEAR. 113

cruel disappointment. The king, O lovely lesson for kings! exclaimed,
'I am a minister, and God has sent me to instruct and comfort your
mother.' Then seating himself on a pack he took the hand of the gipsy
woman, showed the nature and demerit of sin, and pointed her to Jesus, the
one all-sufficient Saviour. His words appeared to sink deep into her heart ;
her eyes brightened up ; she smiled ; and while an expression of peace stole
over her pallid features, her spirit fled away to bear a precious testimony
before the King of kings of that minister's faithfulness to his awful charge.
When the party, who had missed their sovereign, and were anxiously search-
ing the wood for him, rode up, they found him seated by the corpse, speak-
ing comfort to the weeping children. The sequel is not less beautiful. I
quote the words of the narrative. He now rose up, put some gold into the
hands of the afflicted girls, promised them his protection, and bade them to
look to heaven. He then wiped the tears from his eyes and mounted his
horse. His attendants greatly affected, stood in silent admiration. Lord
L. was going to speak : but his Majesty, turning to the gipsies and point-
ing to the breathless corpse and the weeping girls, said with strong emotion :
'Who, my Lord; who thinkest thou, was neighbour unto these?' Char-
lotte Elizabeth.

THE NKW YEAR. The Oriental Christian Spectator commences the
New Year with the following remarks, among others, on the religi-
ous state of the world.

The 'Established Church of Scotland' has filled most of her vacan-
cies. But in Edinburgh, Perth, and other towns, several of the
churches which she claims are now shut up. Her last General
Assembly presented two distinct parties ; and that which embraces
her best ministers, made its power decidedly apparent. While the
present laws of that church grant no prerogative to the people, it
does so largely to the Presbytery, and the Superior Courts ; and,
although the exercise of it is under the review and control of the
Court of Session, it is likely to be left undisturbed from that quarter
for some years to come. The favour of the government, and the
general desire of conciliating the people, may enable those who are
most friendly to non-intrusion, in some measure to carry out their
views. And, where they so prevail as to secure an evangelical,
instead of an unevangelical, ministry, we have abundant cause
of congratulation and rejoicing.

The 'Free Church of Scotland' has surmounted most of its 'trou-
bles.' Almost all the 'lords of the soil' have abandoned their extreme
opposition to her, and granted her a local habitation on their domains.
She has, therefore, erected her tabernacles in most of the parishes of
Scotland, and appears to be daily adding to their number. While
No. 2. P

114 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. February

'upwards of 460 ministers, with congregations, left the Establishment,
and about 140 more have since been ordained over new congrega-
tions, there remain no fewer than 219 congregations for which it is
the duty of the Free Church to provide the means of grace by the
supply of ministers or probationers.' Besides these congregations
there is 'a large additional number for which catechists may in the
meantime suffice.' There thus appear to be about 819 congrega-
tions, in connexion with the Free Church, so large as to demand a
regular ministry. What the precise extent of the 'large additional
number' of smaller congregations may be, we cannot tell. But, be
it what it may, the assemblies of the Free Church already approach
the number of the parishes of Scotland. As far, therefore, as mere
preaching is concerned, the 'disruption' has nearly doubled the extent
to which the Church of Scotland of 1842 carried it. In all this we
believe that 'Christ is,' more than ever, 'preached ;' and therein we
'do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.'

While the establishment is keeping up all her schools and colleges,
the 'Free Church' is planting hundreds of new schools throughout
the country, and rearing a great institution, and a magnificent build-
ing, in the capital. For the erection of the latter, ten gentlemen
have already subscribed 1000 each ; and of the people of Scotland,
in general, who have already subscribed more than 50,000 for
school-rooms, it is expected that the College will not require to make
any further demand. Theological and Ethical classes are already
organized under Chalmers, Welsh, and others ; and, in proportion to
the great call for ministers, is the large attendance of students.
While, therefore, we rejoice in the increase of preaching, we have
little less reason to rejoice in the increase of Christian education.*

In the Church of England, it is generally feared, there is an in-
creasing number of ministers, if not members, that tend, and fain
would turn, to Rome. Members of the universities are becoming
more bold in expressing the Romanism of their sentiments, and defy
their opponents to expel an avowed Romanist from a Protestant
University. Dr. Pusey, silenced in the diocese of the Bishop of
Oxford, preaches freely in that of His Lordship of Exeter. Sound
evangelical ministers are obliged to declare themselves no longer
connected with the Establishment, and are thus, by individual seces-
sions, forming a 'Free Episcopal Church.' Good men, still within
the Establishment, look on with sorrow and amazement, and ask

Ai an example of the great importance which Scotchmen attach to the principles in-
Tolved in the 'disruption,' it may be observed, that it has reached and divide! the Synod*
of Canada and Nova Scotia, and, travelling to the Cape of Good Hope, has split in twain
ihc ingle Scotch Church existing in that Colony.

THE NEW YEAR. 1 15

what will be the end of these things. They believe that, remaining
where they are, they are holding the position their Master has
assigned them as witnesses in the church, that they will be blessed
in their own individual spheres, and, in all probability, be made the
means of saving the whole from destruction. The latest intelligence
that has reached us, confirms their hopes. The Puseyite party has
been signally defeated at Oxford ; and, what is of unspeakably more
importance, several of the party are going over bodily to Rome. The
less conscientious Puseyites alone remain to attempt the thorough
Romanizing of the church. May the Great Head of the church
direct and prosper his servants in this matter.

Romanism is making vast exertions both at home and abroad.
Her apparatus of men and means is wonderful. With mingled
boldness and blandness she seeks and obtains favour with kings and
governments, and takes her seat in the high places of the earth.
She is coming over men as though they were half asleep. She
seems to enchant them and rob them of their memory and reason.
She gently whispers that she is holy and devout, compassionate
and kind, the only true friend and promoter of peace and unity :
she whispers this, and is actually believed. Fain would she, by her
threats from one quarter, and her blandishments from another, win
the pinnacle of power in England and the world ; and, perhaps,
that position is decreed her 'for an hour.' The space, however short,
will be sufficient to reveal her true character, and then even ungodly
men will hate her, and seek her desolation and destruction. In the
United States of America, it would seem that men are more alive to
her real character: they will not let her dictate. It may be that
that land, which was a refuge from the English Romanism of the
17th century, may become again an asylum to the persecuted
Protestants of Britain.

God is, in the mean time, raising up out of Romanism witnesses
against her. He is doing so particularly in Ireland and in France.
The voice 'Come out of her, my people,' is not lifted up in
vain. To the eye of sense they may appear to be coming out to
their own destruction ; but they are, in fact, only withdrawing from
the tents of devoted men. Ceasing to 'partake' of their 'sins,' they
may indeed have 'a time of trouble ;' but they shall be 'delivered
out of it' they shall not receive of their 'plagues.'

Mohammedanism is bowing low in the dust. Its 'Emperors' and
'Ameers' are alike humbled. Its Supreme Ruler is dictated to by
surrounding princes, and changes the laws of his empire at their
bidding. Our danger is no longer from a distant enemy : it is from
one at home, insinuating itself into the very bosom of the nation.

116 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. FeWuarj

Heathenism, especially in India and China, has sustained a great
shock, and is undergoing a gradual degradation. May He who
smites, smite to heal ; and, 'dashing the nations in pieces,' may he
gather the fragments together to mould them by a divine process, and
after a heavenly form.

The cause of missions has prospered during the last year. The
London, Baptist and Wesleyan, Missionary Societies are maintain-
ing the eminence they had gained. The Church of England Mission-
ary Society has emerged from its difficulties to pursue the greatness
of its way. The Established Church of Scotland's Missions are well
supplied with funds, and are now being furnished with agents ; and
the Free Church of Scotland's Missions, both among Jews and Gen-
tiles, are increased in number, and do not fail to receive correspond-
ingly increased support. May the Lord increase his faithful labourers
more and more, them and their spiritual children. May He heal
their divisions. May He fill them with love and peace, zeal and
energy. May He fulfil in them, and by them, all the good pleasure
of his goodness, and the work of faith with power. 'May He
subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.' 'God
is gone up with a shout, Jehovah with the sound of a trumpet. God
reigneth over the nations. God sitteth on the throne of his holi-
ness.' N.

THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CALCUTTA RELIGIOUS TRACT AND
JiooK SOCIETY was held at the Town Hall, on Friday the 3d instant. The
Hon'ble F. Millett, Esq. presided. The meeting was opened with praj'er
by the Rev. W. Morton.

The report read by the Secretary, Rev. T. Smith, adverted chiefly to the
subject of printing, issues, success and funds.

Several of the most useful tracts of the Society had undergone revision,
large editions had been published. Nine new tracts had been published.
The issues of the year had been upwards of 300,000. Instances of useful-
ness had occurred from the distribution of the Society's publications. The
funds were like those of almost every similar institution (this year,) inade-
quate to sustain the Society in its operations.

This does not arise from any falling off of subscriptions and donations, but
to the increased and increasing fields of labour opening to the Society Cal-
cutta Christian Advocate.

THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL EXAMINATION OF THE PUPILS OF THE FREE
CHURCH INSTITUTION, was held at the Town Hall, on the 27th of December,
J. A. F. Hawkins, Esq. presided.

The Institution has, since the secession of the missionary body from the
Church of Scotland, removed into the heart of the native town. This has
increased the number of pupils : the present daily average attendance is

1!m CHRISTIAN CONVERT. ] 17

upwards of a thousand. The examination, as on former occasions, was gra-
tifying in the highest degree, at once a proof of the diligence of the teachers
and the taught.

The range of subjects brought under the attention, and forming the basis
of the labours of the students, especially in the upper classes and college
department, comprehends as much, if not more, than is usually comprised
in the course expected to be attended by the alumni of our Universities
in Britain. The manner in which the students have acquitted themselves
on this and similar occasions, proves that those subjects have not been made
the material for a showy exhibition, but have, through careful study, furnish-
ed the foundation of enlarged knowledge and solid mental improvement.
That young men with such an education, and thoroughly imbued with
Christian principles, though not themselves Christians, should exert a large
amount of salutary influence upon the minds of their countrymen, none can
doubt. It were as well to doubt the purifying and preserving influence
of salt or the refreshing and life-giving tendency of light. Added to
this, is the fact, cheering indeed to the Christian, that some have been
lead by the teachings of the Spirit of God to give themselves up to the
Saviour, in a new and well ordered covenant. This is the chief and grand
object of this and every similar institution, and much as we may be cheered
by the secondary or secular benefits conferred, it is to the conversion and
salvation of the pupils that all our wishes and prayers and labours tend, and
in this we chiefly and most sincerely rejoice Ibid.

THE WIFE OF A CHRISTIAN CONVERT JOINING HER HUSBAND Our readers
will recollect that several months ago, we brought to the notice of the public
the many hardships which our young friend Kali Charan Banarji had to
suffer, in consequence of his becoming a Christian ; we are happy to state
that the wife and children of the convert, who were forcibly kept from
him, have now joined him. He was informed some time ago, that his
wife was willing and anxious to come to him, if she had an oppor-
tunity, and could escape from the thraldom in which she was kept. She
watched her opportunity, and on Monday last escaped from Kali's father's
house, and with her son, the elder of her two children, joined her husband:
her daughter also, who is an infant, was afterwards given up to her parents.
Thus, after every legal means (we use the term in its conventional, not
in its moral sense) had been tried and failed, and all hope of assistance from
man had been removed, the end desired has been brought about under the
good Providence of God, in a way which shows that natural affection is
more powerful than the restraints of caste or superstition.

The whole family are now living together in the Christian Institution,
Bhowanipore, and we are happy to learn that the female, although uneduca-
ted as are all Brahmanis, is a respectable intelligent person, and likelv, now
that she is separated from heathen influence, to make rapid progress in
Christian knowledge Ibid,

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. February

TlIE T\VKNTY-SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE FltlENDS OF THE EpISroi \ !

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, was held on Tuesday evening, December
10th, in the Town Hall. The Archdeacon Dealtry in the chair. The at-
tendance was encouraging. The number present was not indeed so large as
might have been hoped for, considering the importance of the labours of the
Society, and the large body of members of the Church of England in
Calcutta, to whom those labours should be an object of interest ; but it
was larger than in former years, and gives reason to hope that there is an
increase of missionary feeling amongst Episcopalians in the city. The re-
solutions were moved and seconded by the following individuals; the Hon'blf
F. Millett, Esq. and the Rev. W. O. Ruspini ; the Rev. J. Weithrecht (of
liurdwan), and the Rev. H. Hutton ; the Rev. C. J. Quartley and the Rev.
C. B. Leopolt (of Benares). The addresses were very appropriate and
striking. The two missionary brethren, Messrs. Weitbrecht and Leopolt,
who have lately returned from Europe, gave a most animating and encou-
raging account of the progress that is being made at home, and especially
on the continent of Europe, as regards an interest in mission work, and (as
will always be the case), in close connection with this, as regards true
and vital religion. The zeal of thousands seems to be awakened on the
subject of the heathen, and serious inquiries are being made on all sides,
first, 'what must we ourselves do to be saved?' and secondly, 'what can
we do for the salvation of the heathen ?'

The report, abstracts from which were read after the chairman's opening
speech, was of a very encouraging 'character. There are now twenty-seven
missionaries attached to this Presidency, besides two who are appointed
to the Simlah Mission, and the reports that have been furnished from the
different stations where missionary operations are being carried on, afford
solid ground for hope that an impression is being made upon the native
mind, deeper and more practical than has ever been the case before, and
that a spirit of inquiry is awakened amongst the people which will only be
satisfied by the Gospel of Christ Jesus. Ibid.

BAFTISM OF A MOHAMMADAN Muxsm AT AHMEDNUGGER On the 19th

of November a Moonshee named Nujoo-Khan was baptized at Ahmednug-
ger by the American Missionaries. He was brought here from Nassick by
{Jovernment to give testimony in a certain case, and while on his way he
was taken sick, and on arriving here was placed in the Civil Hospital. Af-
ter remaining there about a month he informed the Hospital Assistant of
the state of his mind, and requested him to call the missionaries. They
found him very weak, but he expressed a strong desire of professing his faith
in Christ before he died. lie told them that for six or eight years he had
been convinced of the truth of Christianity, but his heart remained unchang-
ed. He acknowledged that he had led a wicked life, and that his sins were
innumerable. He said that he had received Christian instruction from time

1845

BOMBAY TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY. 1 19

to time from different individuals, and he mentioned particularly the Rev.
Mr. Ramsay, formerly of the American Mission, Bombay, and Dr. Wilson,
both of whom manifested great concern for his salvation and instructed him
in Christian truth, but he had no desire then to forsake his sins aiid-lead a
Christian life. It appeared from what he said that, after coming to the
Hospital and finding that he could live but a short time, he felt the impor-
tance of fleeing to Christ for salvation. When the missionaries saw him, he
declared that the hope of salvation through Jesus the Redeemer filled him
with joy, that he was not afraid of death, but looked forward to it with
pleasure. He remarked that, whether he should live or die, he would
praise God for his mercy. He said he had no hopes of salvation on account,
of his "good works, for he had been a great sinner; but his hope was
entirely on the atonement of Jesus Christ. He said that he had no faith in
Mahomed, he was fully convinced that Mahomed was a false prophet and a
deceiver ; he believed the Christian Scriptures to be alone from God. In
view of his apparently clear views of -Christian truth, and the great uncer-
tainty of his life, he was baptized without waiting for further evidence that
he was a renewed man. To all appearance his mind continued in the same
state till the hour of his death, lie kept the New Testament constantly by
him, and read in it as he was able, and, when he died, lie had it upon his
breast. He was baptized on Tuesday (the 19th November), and died the
next Friday. In this short time no certain evidence could be obtained of
the state of his heart no other evidence than that derived from his own
professions. But the Lord knoweth them that are his. After his death
he was buried agreeably to his own particular directions in the American
Mission burial-ground Dnyanodaya. -

OuniNATiox AT MIRZAPUR, UPPER INDIA The Rev. Mr. Woollaston, for-
merly Principal of the Government College, Agra, was solemnly and pub-
licly set apart by ordination to the Christian ministry on Wednesday, 27th
of November, at the Mission Church. The service commenced by singing,
after which suitable portions of Scripture were read and prayer offered by
the Rev. J. Ullmann. The introductory discourse was delivered by the Rev.
R. C. Mather, A. M., from Ephesians iv. 11 14. Rev. J. II. Budden asked
the usual questions, and received Mr. Woollaston's confession of faith. The
ordination prayer also was offered by Mr. Budden. The Rev. W. Buyers
delivered the charge from 2 Tim. iii. 1 5, and Mr. Mather concluded with
prayer. Rev. Messrs. Wilson and Raj', of Allahabad, assisted in the ceremony.
The church was entirely filled, and the deepest attention and interest were
excited throughout the service, the first of the kind, we believe, in Upper
India, in connexion with the London Society's Mission Ibid.

BOMBAY TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY The I(>th anniversary of the Society
was held last Tuesday evening at the American Mission Chapel, and we
were sorry not to see a larger attendance. The more catholic a society is

120 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. Febritary

BO much the less support does it receive. Many members of the several
denominations supposing it quite enough to support their own church.
Alas ! that it should be so. Alas, that love does not take the place of
sectarianism. The Rev. George Cook opened the meeting with prayer.
Mr. Webb, catholic spirited Mr. Webb, was in the chair, he alluded to the
claims of this society for its catholicity, and for the evangelical doctrines
it sent forth. A note was read from the Archdeacon, stating his inability
to attend in consequence of having sprained his foot, and also a letter from
the Rev. Mr. Burgess, expressing his regret that sickness prevented his pre-
sence. We were glad to see the Rev. George Cook, of the Church of Scot-
land, and the Rev. George Candy, of the Church of England, in the Chapel,
it is a pleasant sight to see brethren uniting together in advancing the Re-
deemer's kingdom. We had, notwithstanding, rather a thin attendance,
ministers of the Churches of England, Scotland, America, and Free Church,
present. The Rev. R. Nesbit read the report which embraced the proceed-
ings of the Society for the last ten months. Of the publication of new
tracts, five Goozerattee ones were in circulation among the committee,
besides these, another tract had been accepted. In the press there were
Pilgrim's Progress, Fulfilment of Prophecy, and the Indian Pilgrim those
books are especially for Native Christians. A large expenditure on works
had been asked for from home. There had been 17,000 tracts in the Native
languages printed. The issues of tracts had been thirty thousand. The
distribution had been large, and English tracts had been given to Europeans
and others at the Jail, and Hospital Bombay Witness.

BAPTISMS Our friends, the missionaries of the Free Church of Scotland,
had the privilege of baptizing, on the last Sabbath of 1 844, the first Native
female in connexion with the mission. Her name is Aleemalammah. She
is the wife of Ramanjaloo, the Native convert who returned to the mission
a few months ago, after an absence, subsequently to his baptism, of two
years. The account of her awakening, under a sermon by one of the con-
verts, and of her baptism, as given in the Native Herald, is interesting ; but
has been too widely circulated to require being transferred to our pages.

The same is true of the baptism of Appasawmy, in the same mission, a
Naidoo youth of nineteen, on the first Sabbath of 1 845. He is the first fruit
of the Triplicane Branch School. About the beginning of April last year,
he came and asked one of the missionaries, after listening to a sermon in
the school-room, to baptize him. He seemed at the time to be deeply
pricked in his heart, and the question, 'what must I do to be saved?' was up-
permost in his thoughts. His relatives removed him from the school and pre-
vented his returning to it, in the excitement created by the baptism of Vis-
wanauthan. For some time his teacher, and the missionaries, lost sight of
him ; and he seems in obedience to his parents' authority to have conformed
to the rites of idolatry. When in this state, as he tells the missionaries, he
dreamed that he was in hell, and this led him to go to Mr. Whitcly, 1m

1845 EXAMINATION. 121

former teacher, with the old question, 'what shall I do. to be saved?' Mr.
Whitely directed him to the missionaries. He came on the 21st December,
and seemed to be truly in earnest. On the next Sabbath week he was
present at the baptism of Aleemalammah, and was much affected. He
however returned to his father's house; but, leaving a farewell letter for his
friends, came to the Mission House on the 31st December, to cast in his lot
with the other converts.

His father and brother-in-law, with other relatives, came in search of him
the next day ; and the two former held a long conversation with him, endea-
vouring in vain to shake his resolution the father intreating him to give
him a handful of sand, that is, to live with him till he should die and per-
form the necessary funeral rites. But he steadfastly resolved to follow
Christ, and was baptized, as before mentioned, on the first Sabbath of the
New Year. May the Lord add to the church daily of such as shall be saved.

EXAMINATION OF THE FREE CHURCH INSTITUTION. This leading edu-
cational Establishment for Natives on Christian principles, whose success in
its great object, the conversion of souls, prevents its increase in numbers,
was examined on the 7th ultimo; the Hon'ble Sir Edward Gambier presid-
ing, assisted by the Hon'ble Sir William W. Burton, and the Lord Bishop
of Madras. A very respectable assemblage of Europeans, East Indians,
and Natives were present.

The number of pupils in the English Department was stated to be 134;
in the Tamil, Telugu and Hindustani, 141 ; from the Triplicane Branch
School 1 1, studying English; making the number present 390 in all. At
a previous examination of Girls' Schools, 253 were collected, and in each
of the Branch Schools of Conjeveram and Chingleput, there are about 100
in attendance ; of whom in one 50 are studying Tamil.

The attendance at the examination last year was 544, most of whom were
reading English. The baptisms in course of the year had thus reduced the
number.

The examination was first in the vernacular languages, and was particular-
ly pleasing as being an indication of thorough attention to those dialects in
which, whatever may be the attainments of the youths subsequently, they
must ever principally operate on the Native community.

In English the two older classes were examined in the Acts of the Apos-
tles, particularly in the 13th chapter, and, to some extent, promiscuously in
other parts of Scripture. The monitors were examined on a portion of
Scripture selected by the Bishop, and in part by his Lordship himself; and
g'ave much satisfaction. A class in the Triplicane Branch were, questioned
on the 18th chapter of Acts, and questioned each other on various points.

The first three converts took, a brief survey of Ecclesiastical History to
the Reformation, and also of a portion of profane History, and were examin-
ed in Greek in Mark's Gospel.

Time did not allow of any examination in Geography or Mathematics.
No. 2. d

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. February

Interesting portions of Essays were read by the Converts, Visawanauthun,
Rajahffopaul, Vencataramiah and Etterajooloo, and by Hugh Maclean, an
East Indian lad. One of the Essays was criticised by Ramanjooloo, who
had no Essay prepared ; and, at different periods of the examination the
Converts with great promptness and cleverness showing not only much
command of English but a thorough acquaintance with the subject discussed

answered various questions put to them by Sir William Burton and others.

Both this Gentleman and Sir Edward, as had the Lord Bishop previously,
on leaving about the middle of the examination, expressed themselves
most highly gratified with what they had witnessed. May this truly excel-
lent school ever prosper under its indefatigable and able teachers.

NATIVE EDUCATION SOCIETV The Annual Examination of the Native
Education Society took place in presence of the Most Noble the Governor,
(the President), a respectable audience of ladies and gentlemen, and many
Natives, on the evening of the 22d ultimo. The number of students was
stated to be 88, of whom eight were in the first class, .16 in the second,
and the lower classes varying in numbers.

The first and second classes were examined together in the Pentateuch,
and in the Gospels, and gave good satisfaction; the first class also in Isaiah
and the History of England. The first three boys appeared well in Geome-
try and Algebra, as far they had gone, but they and the others were not so
well versed in the Elements of Astronomy. The lower classes were not ex-
amined. The Most Noble the Governor exhorted the lads to persevere in
their pursuits, and expressed himself gratified in witnessing the proceedings
of the evening.

MADRAS AUXILIARY BIBLE SOCIETY. The twenty-fourth anniversary of
this valuable institution was held on Monday evening, the 27th instant, in
Waddeirs Hall.

SIR WILLIAM W. BURTON, Puisne Justice, in the chair.

After prayer by the Rev. J. II. Gray, B. A. of the Church Mission Insti-
tution, and some very appropriate and impressive remarks from the Honorable
Chairman, the report was read by the Rev. M. Winslow, M. A., Secretary,
and the meeting addressed by Ministers of the Gospel of different denomi-
nations.

The Ren. H. Cotterill, M. A., Chaplain, expressed in few words his strong
attachment to the Society. He rejoiced that it was engaged in disseminat-
ing that book which his own church had described as containing all things
necessary to salvation.

The Rev. W. Tqylvr, Missionary of S. P. G. F. P. Society, had witnessed
the progress of the Society from its commencement. He fully approved its
principles, though he might sometimes take exception to the manner in
which it was conducted.

The Rev. J. Roberts, Wesleyan Minister, and chairman of the district, in

1845 - MADRAS AUXILIARY BIBLE SOCIETY. 123

a stirring speech eulogised the Bible as the blessed boon of heaven to man,
blessing him in his body and in his soul the magna charta of man, the
habeus corpus of God, sent to take lost men from the thraldom of Satan;
and as an oriental book peculiarly adapted to orientals. He spoke in
glowing terms of the Parent Society, to which a vote of thanks was embrac-
ed in the resolution which he moved.

The Rev. W. Porter, Independent Minister of Davidson Street Chapel,
followed Mr. Roberts in a similar strain, speaking more particularly of the
proceedings of the Parent Society and the richness of their fortieth report ;
also of the reasons for rejoicing over the Branch Associations, in connexion
with this Auxiliary, especially those in the Native churches.

As appeared in the report just read, more had been done by the Natives
of this country to obtain the Scriptures for themselves than ever before, and
we may dry our tears when we see thep beginning to come up heartily to
our aid.

The Rev. Mr. Grant, Missionary from the Established Church of
Scotland, made some interesting remarks, on the facilities row at command
for obtaining the Scriptures and giving them to others; as a copy of the
Bible may be had for a single Rupee, or in Scotland for less, which before
the invention of printing would have cost some thousands and the impor-
tance of putting the sacred volume into the hands of all able and willing to
read it, especially parents and teachers. In this country teachers must often
take the place of parents, and how important is the influence which they
thus exert. How vast the influence of mothers in whose place they stand.
They may be encouraged in their labours by the assurance that, if they seek
for the aids.of the Holy Spirit in earnest prayer, they shall not be denied;
for whatever else God may withhold, he has promised to give his Holy
Spirit to them that ask him.

The Rev. A. Leitch, Missionary of L. M. Society, made a very earnest
address on the importance of rightly estimating the progress of Christian
truth in this land. He did not doubt the facts stated in the Report, but his
brother missionaries were not so much inclined, in their communications,
to dwell on the darker as the brighter shades of the picture. But if it were
much darker than it is if the Scriptures were much more abused or neg-
lected than they are that would be no reason for less exertion, in supplying
them. Our obligations remain unaltered. We must act upon principle.
The seed is to be prepared, every possible effort made to break up the fallow
ground, and cast it in, and when the Spirit of God shall come down as the
rain, any amount of supply will be insufficient.

Mr. Leitch gave a touching account of a late visit made by him to
Tcrunamalie, where are four immense towers, more than 220 feet in height,
lighted up every evening, and a high peak of rock on which, once a year, a
flame is kindled which may be seen for forty or fifty miles round. To this
shrine the heathens flock in thousands from all parts of the country. He
conversed with the chief priest, and asked him to give some account of the

124 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. Feb 184

gods he worshipped, and of him to whom the place is sacred. The priest
was ashamed to go into any details of their character. Mr. Leitch then
asked if they could be the one true and Holy God, or if the mis-shapen
images in that place represented such a Being ; and he confessed they did
not. 'They are for the ignorant.' 'But will their ignorance be removed,
will it not be increased, by worshipping such abominations?' The priest was
silent, and receive^ a New Testament, promising to read it.

The Rev, F. D. W. Ward, M. A., of the American Mission, moved the
last resolution for the appointment of the officers and other members of the
committee, but made no remarks, except as expressive of the obligations of
the Society to the officers. The resolution was seconded without' comment
by A. F. Bruce, Esq., Post Master General, and after a Prayer offered by the
Rev. J. Tucker, u. D., the meeting separated.*

The occasion was one of much inftrestc-the Report being distinguishing
but full of encouragement to increased exertion and the speeches of mode-
rate length but generally very appropriate and impressive. The attendance
was more numerous than we recollect to have seen, on similar occasions in
Madras, and embraced many persons of rank and influence, as well as other
friends of the Bible and sincere followers of the Lord Jesus. May the sweet
savour and cheering influence of the meeting appear in increasing support
given to the Society through the year.

ECCLESIASTICAL MOVEMENTS.

THE Lord Bishop of Madras left the Presidency, for a visitation of the
Southern Stations, on the 9th ultimo.

The Venerable Henry Harper, .\. M., Archdeacon and Senior Presidency
Chaplain, arrived from (he PI ills on the loth ultimo.

Three Missionaries from the Established Church of Scotland, the Rev.
Messrs. Grant, Ogilvy, and Sherriff, arrived by the Steamer Bentinck, for
this Presidency.

MONTHLY PRAYER MEETING.

THE Address at the meeting, on the 6th ultimo, by the Rev. J. Roberts, we hope to give u.
our next. It will be found full of information on the points discussed.

The meeting on the third instant is to be at the Free Church Institution ; Address by the
Rev. H. M. Scuddei-.

* It may be mentioned that the Report stated that the entire Tamil Bible, in one volume,
with headings and references, is finished; and that a New Testament, in large type, with the
references, &c. of the English is ordered. The distributions of the year had been 23,527, of
which 1109 were in English, and these nearly all by sale. The receipts were Kg. 8174.
of which the subscriptions and donations were 5,329, about twice the amount of last year,
and the largest perhaps of any year of the Society, from its ordinary reiourcea.

j\ collection wad made at the meeting, amounting to Rs. 233-8-1.

DURGA. XXV11

(Continued.)

Plate 6.

THE attributes and history of this celebrated goddess may be ga-
thered, to some extent, from the derivation of the name she bears.
Hindu scholars however are not agreed as to which of the deriva-
tions assigned to this name the greatest value is to be fixed.

'Durga 1 according to some, comes from a Sanscrit word which
signifies, a thing that is difficult of approach, inaccessible, im-
permeable, unattainable. Accordingly, Droog is a hill fort. The
primitive word also denotes a narrow passage through a mountain,
or over a stream. It was hence employed as a descriptive epithet
of a celebrated Assur, (a gigantic -demon) because of his uncon-
querable power, and extraordinary exploits. This epithet, in its
feminine form, (Durga) was subsequently transferred to Parvuti, the
consort or Sacti of Siva, on account of her having discomfited in
war the giant Durga. This giant is said. to have terrified monarchs,
arrested the stars in their courses, usurped the government of the
elements, conquered the three worlds, and appropriated to himself
the honors due only to the gods. The accounts on record of
the contest between Parvuti and Durga are remarkable. The
giant marshalled in his service thirty thousand monsters of pro-
portions so great that they covered the earth ; with millions of
horses, fleet as the wind, and millions more of elephants, manned and
well appointed. Parvuti prepared to encounter this overwhelming
force by causing nine millions of super-human warriors, with ample
equipments to come from her own substance. With these she calmly
resisted her infuriate opponents, who assailed her in multitudes
numerous as rain-drops in tempest. Repelled and overpowered
again and again, the giant at length assumed the shape of an ele-
phant as large as a mountain, but so transcendent was the prowess of
Parvuti, that she bound his legs, and tore his flesh into pieces. The
giant then assumed the shape of a mighty Buffalo, but was again un-
successful. At length having re-assumed his natural form, he was,
after a doubtful and desperate struggle pierced through the breast by
one of the divine weapons of Parvuti, and expired. It was in honor
of this achievement that the gods agreed that she should be address-
ed by the name of the monster from whom she had delivered them.

2. The etymology of this name is by others given as coming
from the particle dur, i. e. difficult, troublesome, and gam, i. e. to

xxviii HINDU IDOLS.

be known, and would thus signify that the knowledge of the na-
ture and character of this goddess is to be obtained only by labo-
rious and severe austerities. Hindus are careful to teach that the
essence and attributes of their divinities are too refined and occult
for common apprehension ; and that even men of extraordinary men-
tal power, must release themselves from the illusions and bondage of
sense, in order to the proper conception of these unearthly realities. It
is with reference to Durga as such, that devotees consecrate them-
selves to ascetic abstinence and contemplations. To propitiate her
favour and secure her interposition, offerings of the most profuse and
costly description are made to her, especially at the Durga Pujd.
The worship of this goddess is of the most solemn and impressive
character. The ablution of the devotee is amongst its preparatory
rites. In the performance of his devotions he tortures his body into
a variety of postures, sprinkles the idol with sacred water, decorates
it with garlands, and ornaments of gold, and burns incense at its feet.
These devotions end with fn^L^rrKi&ti, the prostration of his per-
son, before the idol so that its eight principal parts may touch the
ground.

3. 'Durga* is also supposed to be derived from dur, bad, vile, ill ; and
gai, to sing, because the goddess so called is especially extolled in the
hymns and songs of the wicked. In the Durga Pujd, notwithstanding
the costliness of the sacrifices, and the solemn and painful nature of
the devotions that are paid to her, the most disgusting indecencies
are tolerated and encouraged. As Maka Devi, her worshippers are
Yonijas. So gross is the obscenity of the language and debauche-
ries of some of the rites of this festival, that there is little doubt that
the Phallic orgies were derived from them.

There is a great deal of confusion and repetition in the Mytholo-
gical writings of the Hindus, so much so, that it is difficult, and in some
cases impossible to distinguish the character they describe. In the
case before us, Durga in some of her aspects and attributes is the
same as Parvuti and Maha Devi. Faber* justly observes 'that the
obvious import of names, and the peculiar history of each most re-
markable descent, must be carefully noticed, or it will be impossible
to avoid falling into a variety of errors ; for we shall find that the same
person frequently recurs under different appellations, in the course
even of the same genealogy.' If this be true of the western mytho-
logies, much more so is it true of the mythologies of the east. Nothing
perplexes the student more than the historical indistinctness and
liberties against which this caution is intended to guard us.

* Dissertation on the Cabiri, vol. I. 33.

DURGA. XXIX

That the Phallic rites were derived from those of Durga as the
patroness of the licentious, is a generally received opinion, the follow-
ing citations will prove. 'Valent etiam apud Indos eadem mysteria
phallico, archica. Inter diluvium scilicet TO yoni, sive vulva, for-
mam navis Arghae fertur induisse. Lingam interea sive Phallo mali
officium sibi vindicante.' (Asiat. Res. vol. vi. p. 523.) 'Notandum
est Phallum Maha Devae qui O Siris, vel Noacus Solaris procul dubio
est sacrum imprimis haberi.' (Maur Ind. Anti. vol. ii. p. 158.)

In Durga are combined the characteristics of Minerva, Pallas, and
Juno. Minerva sprang from the brain of Jupiter, without a mother.
Durga was produced by a flame that issued from the mouth of the
gods. Pallas received her name because she killed the giant Pallas,
so Parvuti was called Durga because she overcame a giant of that
name. In the universality of her worship, and the nature of the sac-
rifices offered to her, she is evidently the same as Juno.* There is
more of originality and boldness about the character of Durga, than
in those of which she was the prototype. In war she was more ter-
rific and inexorable than Minerva. Her defeat of Mahaishi discovers
greater fortitude, and larger resources than we meet with in the over-
throw of Pallas: and in her manifestation as an object of worship
there is exacted more of acquiescence and homage, than the less
romantic and praeter-natural character of the Olympian deity would
demand.

The defeat of Mahaishi is an allegory of great interest. This
monster is a personification of vice, and Durga, as the power by
which he was opposed and overcome, is the personification of virtue.
The various incidents of the struggle which took place between
them, are descriptive of the action and re-action of good and evil in
the world.

Durga is also the Medea of the Colchians. There are several pas-
sages in the history of these goddesses which strikingly resemble
each other. By a slight change in the name Mdhd Devi, or as it is
written in Northern India, Mah-Dea, the appellation Medea is derived.

The following passage from Wilford on Egypt is instructive :
'Among the legends concerning the transformation of Devi, or
4>i/<r/s TroAu/uoppos, we find a wild astronomical tale in the Nasatya
Sanhita, or History of the Indian Castor and Pollux. In one of her
forms, it seems she appeared as Prabha, or light, and assumed the
shape of Aswini, or a mare, which is the first of the lunar mansions.
The Sun approached her in the form of a horse, and he no sooner

* 'The word Yoni, as it is usually pronounced, nearly resembles the name of the principal
Etruscan goddesa, Juno.' JVdfiird on Mount Caucasus.

XXX HINDU IDOLS.

had touched her nostrils with his than she conceived the twins who
were after their birth called Jlswini Cumara, or the two sons of AswinL
Being left by their parents who knew their destiny, they were adopted
by Brahma who intrusted them to the care of his son Daksha, and
under that sage preceptor they learned the whole Jlyurveda, or system
of medicine. In their early age they travelled over the world per-
forming wonderful cures on gods and men. At first they resided on
the Cula mountains near Colchi.' From this fable was taken the
symbolical Hippos and Hippo, of the Greeks.

MADRAS CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTOR

AND

MISSIONARY RECORD.

Vol. III. MARCH, 1845. No. 3.

The Identity of Popery and Paganism,

An Address delivered in tlie Scotch Church, January 6, 1845.

BY THE REV. JOSEPH ROBERTS,

Author of 'Oriental Illustrations of the Sacred Scriptures,' and Corresponding Member of the
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

I HAVE been encouraged to solicit your attention to the subject
for this evening, by the example of several missionaries now in
Calcutta, who have commenced to deliver a course of lectures on
'the Errors and Evils of Popery,' and considering the tendencies
of many divines, and others, as seen in what are called 'Tracta-
rian principles,' also the position of the Romish church in this
country it appears right to expose as much as possible that
fearful system. And here permit me to say that in addition to
the three topics selected for your consideration, there are numer-
ous others (of a kindred character, each of which is foreign to
Christianity; and therefore derived from heathenism, or some
other ALIEN source) such as the use of relics, of the rosary,
amulets, exorcisms, monasteries, hermits, pontiffs, processions,
celibacy, saints or demi-gods, their governing powers, their images,
sexes, symbols of distinction such as swords, clubs, the battle-
axe, or knife, or staff, or key, or spear, or lion, bull, or serpent,
or eagle, or ornaments ; also in the position of churches, and
their internal arrangements, the apotheosis, sacred-fountains,
rivers, holy water, incense, devoted flowers and shrubs, the ton-
No. 3. R

126 THE IDENTITY OF

March

sure, the 'sacring-bell,' the consecrated garments, and purgatory,
with other superstitious practices, all of which, we are prepared
to prove are of anti-christian origin ; in elucidation of which, we
crave your attention to the identity of Popery and Paganism ;

I. In Votive Offerings,

II. In Pilgrimages.

III. In Penances.

1. There is nothing in the Sacred Scriptures, (except that
which is entirely heathen,") which bears the least affinity to the
votive offerings of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Hindus and Pa-
pists of the present day. And in proof, we turn to some of the
resemblances/ as in 1 Sam. vi. 2, where it is recorded that ter-
rible plagues had come upon the pagans of Ashdod, Gath, and
Ekron, because of their detention of the ark of the Lord, and
therefore the Philistines called for the priests and diviners, ask-
ing what shall we do to the ark of the Lord ; and the answer was,
send 'five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to
the number of the lords of the Philistines,' and the order was to
'put the jewels of gold which ye return him for a trespass offering
in a coffer,' and in that way they despatched 'the mice of gold
and the images of the emerods;' clearly showing, that the valua-
ble articles thus sent, were representations, or images, of the
things, by which they had been afflicted, and that they hoped in
this way to remove their sorrows.

In accordance with this principle of devotion to the gods, in
presenting images, to propitiate or glorify them, was the prac-
tice of the Philistines in after years, for they put the armour of
Saul, the slain monarch of Israel, in the temple of the goddess
Ashtaroth ; reminding us of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Baby-
Ion, who placed the vessels of the sanctuary of Jehovah, in the
house of his god ; and of Titus, who sacked Jerusalem and car-
ried the golden candlestick, the table of shew-bread, and the silver
trumpet, and deposited them in the temple of the goddess of
Peace ; proving the exact conformity betwixt the heathen of Phi-
listia, of Greece, of Babylon, and Imperial Rome.

2. And what a striking analogy to this do we find amongst

51145 POPERY AND PAGANISM. 127

Uie Hindus ; for the wealth of many of the temples through vo-
tive offerings, is exceedingly great.* Costly donations are sent
to remove pestilence, or individual afflictions ; and others are to
deprecate what their prophets have foretold, but whether they re-
late to what is past or what is to come, the images like those of
their heathen brethren of Philistia are made to imitate the nature
or appearance of the disease. Thus for instance, a Tamil idola-
ter having a malady in the eye, has a representation made of that
organ, in silver or gold, and if possible studded with precious
stones, and sent as a votive offering to the god, and should he
recover he will give one still more valuable to evince his love.
But should the complaint be in the ear, the mouth, the nose, the
hands, the feet, he adopts a similar course to secure the same
end, and nothing will limit the amount of his gifts but the extent
of his resources. Sometimes however a figure of the ivholc per-
son, as in the case of infants, is made in the precious metals, and
piously despatched to the most famous idol, in humble hope of
the desired blessing.

It must not however be supposed that these \ offerings are
merely presented to ward off difficulties or to procure health :
for there is scarcely an affair of life which has not produced
such tangible signs of devotion to the gods. Has a king, or
nobleman, or a person of wealth been blessed in his progeny or
circumstances, he" presents gems to adorn his idol, and thus
secures benefit from the deity and applause from mankind. And
some give symbols of their occupations to secure prosperity in their
pursuits ; thus the merchant presents a pair of scales, or the
model of his ship ; the hunter sends a spear, the farmer a plough,
the carpenter a house, and the warrior a sword ; and though the
donors may at first meet with difficulties, they fear not they
shall at some time succeed.

At this day pagan mariners, when in bad weather, always
make vows, reminding us of their brethren of Joppa when Jonah
was cast into the sea. The captain declares he will give a model
of his bark in gold to the shrine, another promises he will roll

* Jewels to the amount of 10,000 Rupees were stolen last month (November, 1844) from i
temple near Poona.

128 THE IDENTITY OF March

his body round the temple, and a third that he will bestow lamps
and oil and fruits and flowers.

But vows are also sometimes made with respect to pilgrimages,
penances, and charities ; or should the individual live so many
years, he pledges himself to do some great thing for the gods,
not much fearing that they in view of the benefit, will grant him
his desire ; thus he drives a bargain with heaven, and receives as
he believes the invaluable boon of lengthened days; and truly it
may be said there is not one in a thousand who has not made, or
broken numerous engagements with the gods. The great object
therefore is to purchase a celestial favour by some marketable
commodity of earth, for they think such stipulations are accept-
able above.

Some also give their word, they will fast so many days in the
month or year, or that they will take food only once in 24 hours,
and this refers strictly to the image, before which they stand, and
in an audible voice make known their intentions. Like the
Nazarites, there are others who never shave or cut their hair
during the obligation, which may extend to the grave, making
themselves most hideous creatures by their matted locks and
clotted beards. And in the schools may be seen numerous
pupils who have to wear the sacred knot on their heads till they
have passed a certain age, to secure pleasure and avoid pain.

3. Turning to the idolaters of Greece and Rome we see there
is scarcely a single author from Herodotus down to the last
scribe who does riot record some solemn vows kept or broken
by sea or land. Here is the leader of a cohort promising, should
the gods grant him a victory, full devotion to their service, the
blood of hecatombs shall reek on the altars, he will travel in pil-
grimage, and costly gifts shall glitter on their shrines : and there,
is a faithful wife who hies with speed to register her vows for an
absent lord ; and yonder steps a mother, to pledge her subsidy for
a much loved son ; and there the hoary sovereign too feeble for
the war, goes to the temple to offer all he has for its glory ; and
there stands a poor afflicted creature who has in vain sought
relief from earthly hands to give her troth for all that heaven can
do, and here a despised and rejected one, kneels and craves the

1845 - POPERY AND PAGANISM. 129

maternal name : so that every thing which could please or agitate,
carried them with the full tide of sympathy to the feet of their
gods.

Go look at the gorgeous offerings in the temples of Delphi
and Esculapius ; study the history of those ages when piety was
measured by votive gifts, and you will see strange rivalries in
pecuniary zeal. Some of the original donaria may be found in
museums and collections of the curious, to commemorate sana-
tory blessings from the skies ; some inscribed the occurrence on
marble or brass, or sent figures of the eyes, feet, hands, or other
members which had been diseased as memorials of the cure. Pic-
tures also were given by grateful devotees, bringing to our recol-
lection the friend of Diagoras, who said to him 'you who think the
gods take no notice of human affairs, do not you see by these
pictures how many people for the sake of their vows have been
saved in storms at sea ?' 'Yes, replied Diagoras, I see how it is,
for those persons are never painted who happened to be drown-
ed.'* 'Some saved from shipwreck used to hang up their clothes
in the temple of Neptune with a sketch (tabula votiva) represent-
ing the circumstances of their danger and escape.f

'Here hung the vests, and tablets were engraved
Of sinking mariners from shipwreck saved.'

Soldiers when discharged from service used to suspend their arms
to Mars ; and Gladiators their swords to Hercules;}; and poets
on finishing their themes put up fillets of their hair to Apollo.

4. And now permit us to take you to Popery, where you will
find these insults to the true God in all their pristine energy,
impugning His sole and undivided government; reducing
him to a partnership with his creatures, in preventing evil and
imparting good. The apostates, by whom the system is upheld,
offer as many vows to the saints of both sexes, as did their pre-
decessors to their demi-gods; and precisely from the same view,
which was : Do this for me, and I will do that for thee. Parents,
monarchs, peasants, soldiers, sailors, and men of every degree,
pledge themselves in the same way as pagans did and still do; and

Cic. Nat. Deor. i. iii. 253, in Middleton. t Virg. JEn. 12. 7G8.

$ Herat. EI>. i. 7. 4. Stat. Silv. 4. 4. 92.

J30 TIIE IDENTITY OF Mar(h

as they seldom gave their troth to the Supreme Being ; so these
faithful scions make their vows not to the persons of the Trinity,
but to the Queen of heaven, or the celestial peers, considering
them as the conservators of life. And the fact of votive offerings
being made to deified, or if they please canonized men, is a most
glaring departure from every thing in the Scriptures, as we have
not in them a single instance amongst the people of God, of a
vow being made to any, but Jehovah. If we strictly investigate
the conduct of the apostles and primitive Christians as described
in the sacred volume, we shall find that though they were in
perils by sea, in dangers of the wilderness, in prisons, in deaths,
they never vowed, never promised gifts to departed patriarchs,
prophets, priests, or martyrs ; and consequently they were ex-
tremely remiss, or, they were not accustomed to such practices.
If therefore the pagans only had recourse to such a method of de-
positing treasure in the divine exchequer, if they only attempted
to carry on this traffic with the other world, then we fairly infer
the scheme has been taken from them ; or that the human mind
sometimes working in the same course, has in this instance pro-
duced kindred results. But let us go to history, the tell-tale of
the past; and Theodoret who was born as early as A. D. 386,
exultingly talks of the devotion of the people in their votive pre-
sentations to the churches of the martyrs, in token of blessings
received : some of them he says offer figures of eyes, of the feet,
of the hands, made of silver or gold, which the Lord accepts
though of small value, measuring the gifts by the faculty of the
giver. These are evident proofs he adds of so many distempers
being cured; they are monuments of the facts and proclaim the
power of the dead which demonstrates also, that they are of the
true God.* Polydore Vergil, who was born in Italy and died
at Urbino in 1555, was sent by Pope Alexander to England to
collect the Petcrpcnce, and this crafty nuncio received great
favour from Henry the VIII. Amongst other works he wrote
De Rerum Inventoribus, in which he tells us 'we now offer up
in our churches, little images of wax, and when any part of the
body is hurt, as the hand or foot, we immediately make a vow to

* Sermon VIII. de Martyrib, Middleton.

Iif45.

POPERY AND PAGANISM. 131

God, or one of his saints, to whom, on our recovery, we make
an offering of the hand or foot; arid Baronius who flourished
during the pontificate of Clement the VIII., and who succeeded
Philip de Neri after he had been canonized, says of the altar of
the new saint 'it shines with votive pictures and images the
proofs of as many miracles, receiving every day the lustre of
fresh offerings from those who have been favoured with the bene-
fits.' 'At Cologne in the Dom is an image of the Virgin in a
glass case, and underneath it is inscribed Consolatrix afflictorum,
and around, wax models of legs, arms, heads, tongues ! and young
children, to commemorate the cures of all the ills of life.* On
the walls of the church of Neustra Sennora del Pilar in Sara-
gossa, are placed representations of the feet, hands, arms, legs,
hearts, offered to the Virgin by the pious for their cures. f Nor
must we forget our acquaintance Senhor de N., who had a
son dreadfully afflicted with the opthalmia, and as the medical
men could not relieve him, the parents as a last resource, had an
image of his eyes made in silver, and sent with all speed to the
church of our lady in hope of a cure, but that nqt coming so
soon as expected, the distressed family went to the holy place,
but all in vain, the earthly vision had for ever gone, and they had
now only to lament their want of faith, or some sins which were
too great to be pardoned except at such a price. Who for a
moment can doubt the perfect identity of this part of the system
in the images of the emerods of Philistia, of those of Greece,
Rome and India ? Who can excuse, who can palliate this dia-
bolical imitation? none but those who are in league with the
enemy, who say tush at Jehovah, at heaven and at hell.

By votive offerings the churches of popery are possessed of
boundless treasure, of no use except to the invading foe, who
is thus enabled to satisfy his rapacity, and to send home trophies
to national renown. It was in this way Napoleon often supplied
the wants of his troops, and though those thus pillaged were of
the same creed as himself, he paused not to grasp with sacrile-
gious hands the property of the church, as it was deemed lawful
prey to the destinies of war. Hence they despoiled the chapel

* Tour on Continent, 1838, Christian Observer, January, 1840. f Picart. 1. 378.

THE IDENTITY OF

March

of Loretto, carrying off the divine image* and various treasures
amidst the execrations of the priests, and lamentations of the
people, giving a modern example of the old generals who robbed
temples to meet their necessities, or adorn the fanes of their
native land.

Will any man of common sense, or honesty demur as to the
exact similarity of these instances? Under both superstitions,
the votaries believe they receive benefits from beings whose
images they had seen ; before which they had bowed and prayed,
and having been the recipients of favour they were impelled to
offer these tokens of their love. And what, according to their
own views, would be more agreeable to the demi-god or translated
creature, than to adorn the idol or image with some spangling
toy ? For these decorations therefore they had a threefold
reason ; the principle of gratitude for mercies enjoyed ; the
opinion that these gifts were acceptable to their glorified pa-
trons; and the desire to spread the fame of their goodness, wis-
dom and power, through distant lands.

If idol or image worship had not been allowed, these shining
baubles would have been unnecessary; but having established
the former, they were obliged to have the latter, they were in a
dilemma of their own choosing, and therefore all the conse-
quences are on themselves. Talk not of reforming such adul-
terous connexions ; they have been consecrated by pontiffs,
priests and synods, and nothing but an excision of the crimes
can answer the end ; there can be no tampering with paganism,
no alliance betwixt Christ and Satan; they are for ever two; and
only audacious and profligate men will try to make them one.

From these crying evils we now turn, second, to the Pil-
grimages.

1. The great motive for Pilgrimages, in all superstitions, was to
have contact with an object, believed to be made holy through
the visit of a Divine Being ; or some other wonderful event, so
that the person thus coming, might receive into his own person a
portion of the heavenly virtue.

But where in holy writ do we find anything to countenance

* This was restored in 1802.

1845 - POPERY AND PAGANISM. 133

the idea, of matter having received and retained a part of the Al-
mighty, so as to be able by a kind of spiritual magnetism to affect
other objects ? Jehovah said to Moses 'put off thy shoes from
off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground ;'
but it cannot be supposed that any portion of the Eternal Being
was infused into that spot ; it was merely holy in a relative sense,
and when the Most High retired it was reduced to its former
condition ; and the only plea which Romanists can make for the
sanctity of their sacred places, is the retention of some fragment
of a departed saint, or of their having been the scene of some ex-
traordinary cure. Whether therefore we refer to the appearance
of the Lord in the garden of Eden, to Abraham, Isaac, or
Jacob, or in the, burning bush, and many other glorious and
benign displays of his majesty, we see no reason to conclude that
any degree of his purity had been left in the gross particles of
that vicinity. Then again when we look at the eternal Son of
God, who sojourned in this world, lived in Judea, who walked
over its paths, its gardens and fields ; whose sinless body and
spirit were engaged in pursuits of an infinite bearing ; who en-
shrined deity in humanity and put into exertion all the powers of
infinity, for our salvation ; who trampled on the combined efforts
of men and devils : we shall see, that in a philosophical or gospel
view tho'se localities in which he lived have no more of the
divine essence than earth's extended surface, or centre can
afford. And if we consent to the idea of imparted good, we
must also allow the same property to evil, and then what will
become of those places where Satan and wicked spirits have had
rule ? what shall we say of the cities and hamlets where Jesus
our Saviour lived and died, being now in the possession of the
Mussulmen, the descendants of the Selims, the Othmans and
Caliphs, who thus pollute the sacred soil.

In holy Scripture we meet with nothing like the pilgrimages of
the Heathen, the Mohammedans, or the Papists ; and where an
opinion has been so much insisted on, and so zealously adopted
to secure earthly and heavenly blessings, we have a right to ask
for an example, and a reason from the only true rule of life ;
and if they fail to show one, we reject all others as the result of
merely human invention. Why do we not read in the Bible of
No. 3. s

THE IDENTITY OF

pilgrims travelling to Mount Sinai or to the Red Sea, where the
Lord 'look'd out from his pillar of glory' or the Jordan? or
the valley of Ajalon, or the ruins of Jericho ? Why not hear of
the disciples going to Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Calvary, the Tomb,
and Olivet ? Surely those who had such lively and correct impres-
sions would have done so, if they could have received any spiri-
tual advantage. The most wonderful disclosures on earth, of
the Divine benignity or power never induced any of the servants
of God to resort thither to imbibe a specific favour, and therefore
we doubt not as they were as sagacious as we ; and as willing to
derive any benefit from such a circumstance (had it existed)
they would have found it out, and in their love for posterity have
transmitted the account, that we also might participate in the
same provision. And if we do not find the origin and warrant of
these pious perigrinations in the oracles of truth, to whom and
to what are we to look ? Can we do otherwise than turn our atten-
tion to those superstitions where kindred customs prevail ? or
shall we again allow the boon of a fertile imagination to the
inventors in each community ? Whichever way we settle this part
of the controversy, the honour is unenviable, and the disgrace to
those who profess to worship the true God, only to be removed
by an entire abolition of those cruel additions to the duties and
sufferings of men.

2. The belief that particular places are essentially holy has
prevailed amongst the heathen of the most remote antiquity, as
well as those of the present day, and in the east ; it is this which
induces millions to go that they may extract a portion of the
good. Some of the favoured spots, are most attractive for their
romantic situation ; a deep dell scarcely to be reached without
danger, having crags to climb or descend, and then on the
arrival at the place there is some grotesque appearance, or pro-
found abyss, where the gods are said to hold their nocturnal
orgies, and whence have been heard the rush and roar of un-

O '

earthly sounds, filling the mind with conflicting feelings of subli-
mity and fear. In process of time, those immense chasms have
been penetrated by devout pilgrims, and such has been the
strength of their convictions, that these subterranean regions

i845 - POPERY AND PAGANISM. 135

were in the occupation of their deities, they have proclaimed the
necessity for mortals to evince their piety by bringing their skill
and power, to adorn the &ppstiiS;G)&,suttastallam, and thus secure
the protection of the celestial residents. The benevolence of
the opulent, and labours of the indigent have been excited, and
each seemed to emulate the other in overstrained exertions to
beautify the palace of heavenly beings.

But there is no spot of earth so sacred in the east as those
loftiest pinnacles of nature, the Himalaya Mountains; they tower
above the Cotapaxi of the Andes some thousands of feet,
and occupy the first place in oriental superstition. The pilgrim
who has climbed the steps of that great altar and temple of the
gods; who has tasted the sacred stream gushing from its side;
is considered most happy and holy, having imbibed purity from
its source, and henceforth is not to be profaned by unhallowed
duties or pursuits. There the supreme Siva and his consort,
and the attendant deities are believed occasionally to reside, en-
joying all the delightful revelries which human nature can ima-
gine, or desire. There it was also where the wars between the
giants and the gods were carried on in mighty strife ; from the
proud heights they hurled rocks and mountains, causing the
earth to tremble in the struggle ; till the supreme in his majesty
arose and swept them away in his wrath. And now whon
pilgrims and devotees and holy men expire, they are believed to
go to those sacred mountains, and mingle with the gods. In-
credible as it may appear, those wonderful elevations are some-
times seen at the distance of one hundred and fifty miles,* and
then it is the pilgrims throw themselves on the earth with rapture
and awe, at being permitted to gaze on the holiest spot of created
nature; and though for days after they may not gain another
view, they strain their eyes for the sight and often imagine they
distinguish them, and go on with increased ardour to the throne,
and dwelling place of the gods. Thousands never return to
relate their sufferings, or their joy; for either in ascending too
high, they perish in the snow, or die through exhaustion and
want; but they rejoice in their privations not doubting they shall

* Sir Alexander Burnes saw them at that dirtance. Vol. 1. 3.

13(3 THE IDENTITY OF

Marrh

be allowed to associate with the heavenly peers: for evincing
such devotion to their service. And who in those consecrated
heights can help being reminded of Parnassus, the Caucasus, the
Emodns and Taurus of mythologic story ?

But some places are made holy in other parts by the visits of
divine beings, or through some wonderful event, such as the con-
trolling of nature, or the apotheosis of a mortal ; or by some ex-
traordinary circumstance where heavenly interposition was seen ;
to the rescuing of a favourite of the skies; and only let any of
these reports gain publicity and credence, and then multitudes
will hie with the greatest alacrity to gain a blessing to their souls.
And who can be surprised that a mind impressed with the belief
that inanimate matter is impregnated with celestial virtue should
desire to visit such a scene?

Perhaps no idol is more sacred in the estimation of the votaries
than Juggernaut, or the Saga-Nathar, as he is called, i. e. the
great lord ; his fame has reached the most distant parts of the
east, and pilgrims may be seen journeying to his temple of
almost every colour and every tribe. Millions in their anguish
have gone thither to seek for consolation, when all other sources
have failed; and though thousands perished by the way, they cared
not as they believed their sufferings would entitle them to rest.
Those who had committed enormous crimes had that pilgrimage
prescribed as the remedy, and so sure as they accomplished it, they
had the reward. Some to make the merit greater, deprive them-
selves of necessaries on the way, and punish their bodies by fla-
gellations, or fix points in their sandals ; and the longer or more
difficult the journey, the greater the blessing. The sufferings
endured on such religious tours have been all that human nature
could sustain and live, and multitudes have sunk under the ac-
cumulated woe.

There is also the sacred Ganges which is believed to have its
source in the holy mountain. This is another object to which de-
voted pilgrims wend their way ; and at Hurdwar, in the province
of Delhi, tens of thousands of these deluded creatures have been
received in one year. They are seen coming from every point
of the compass towards the consecrated Gunga, and let them
only return to their homes with a little of its waters, or let their

1!U5 - POPERY AND PAGANISM. 137

bodies float on the wave, and they are alike deemed happy, for
they have secured a felicitous metempsychosis, or an eternal rest.

But some attain the blessings of such holy resorts by sending
a substitute, thus, should an opulent man be told he must go on
foot to the place, he may by a large offering to the gods have it
commuted by despatching a proxy, and then he will forward
splendid donations to the priests of the most famous temples and
shrines, in order that they may propitiate for his absence, and
secure the advantage of the journey. In nearly every town there
are those who go on such errands; and nothing is more alarming
to a family than to hear its head say, I will be a unGpSi, para-
theasy, a pilgrim. The pandaarums and fakirs seldom remain
long in one place, they are through life wanderers, and in the
evening when they reach a village they have only to present
themselves at any door, and tell their character to secure all they
require.

3. And when we look at the Mohammedans of Turkey, Egypt
or the farthest east, we see the same principle in operation, and
to secure similar things; for they believe heavenly virtues have
been imparted to certain objects which have only to be visited
and touched, to imbibe into their own persons some portion of
the divine balm. Amongst them no place is more sacred than
Mecca, and to its precincts pilgrims from all oriental countries
joyfully proceed. For those who are too remote to travel by
land, there are what are called the pilgrim ships, which regularly
sail from different parts of India, and though they have many
privileges from their sovereigns, the voyage up the Red Sea and
the presents they have to make sometimes amount to more than
70. But when they have seen and touched the sacred stone
brought by the angel Gabriel from heaven, and tasted and washed
at the well Zemzam, they believe themselves to be new creatures ;
and should they live to return home, are ever after addressed by
the title of Hadje, to denote they are holy, and have been to the
consecrated city. But if in addition they have visited Medina,
where some believe the bones of the Prophet repose (though
others say they are in heaven) they are still higher in public esti-
mation, and command universal regard ; thus any lebbi or priest

THE IDENTITY OF M reh

who can show a testimonial of having also been to the kaaba or
tomb, he need fear no enemy, dread no want, for all the resources
of the people are at his command, and he is little less than wor-
shipped whithersoever he goes.

But it must not be supposed that these are the only places
where the Mussulmen resort for such purposes, as they have the
tombs of numerous Santons scattered over the east, whither they
go to extract the divine essence, or to implore heavenly interfer-
ence to gain the remission of crime. Should the deceased not
have acquired great celebrity, there will be simply a lamp burning
in a box, and a few flowers scattered about the place ; but if he
have attained eminence in the pantheon, then a splendid mauso-
leum will be erected over his remains ; and there may be seen
sovereigns and peasants in solemn pilgrimage t and no greater
blessing is desired after death, than to be interred in the vicinity,
as the body it is then believed will be secure from all spiritual
adversaries.

Here then you have a view of what exists at this day, and when
you reflect on the superstition and zeal filling the minds of the
devotees, you will not be surprised at the efforts made to see such
glorious sights. The sufferings passed through on the journey to
Mecca, Medina, or the tombs, are of a fearful kind ; travelling
through arid wastes where there is not a green blade to cheer
the eye, or a drop of water to quench the thirst, we see an
endurance of misery, which no earthly blessings could compen-
sate, and scarcely ought of human enterprise inspire. In the
toilsome march of the caravans they cheer each other in prospect
of the termination, and though the wild Arab of the desert and
other marauders of the neighbouring wilderness may pounce on
them as their lawful prey, they are not deterred from their pur-
pose, as they value not life itself, so that they may secure the
sanctity of the devoted place. Who then I ask can help recog-
nising the identity of the motive which alike rules in the breast
of the Moslem or the Pagan ; they both go to absorb into their
own persons a portion of the celestial virtue, also to engage the
suffrages of the saint or demi-god, and to take donations as
tokens of obligations and joy.

And the admirable provision made for those who are unable,

UI4S - POPERY AND PAGANISM. 139

or unwilling to go on such holy expeditions amongst the Hin-
dus, is again found with the children of the Koran, for opulence
can make a purchase of merit by sending others with offerings
and prayers, an arrangement agreeable enough to those who
wish to glide into the blessings without the personal toil. Thus
from the grand seignior to the mufti, from the nobleman to the
philosopher, may be found those who assist others to perform
such pious duties for themselves ; and if they gain nothing else,
their names are lauded at home and abroad, by the devout
wanderer, at Mecca or the tombs.

4. The kindred spirit for pilgrimages does not appear to have
been equally rife, amongst the Greeks and Romans ; though they
also had their sacred spots whither men travelled for religious
purposes, by land and by sea ; thus the Taurus, the Parnassus,
Ossa and Pelion ; and the deep caverns where were heard fear-
ful yells and howls, echoing through the dark abyss as the priests
performed their mysteries. There were also celebrated temples
where the gods were believed to dwell ; and oracles as at
Dodona, Delphi, Trophonius and Delos, whither men went in
fulfilment of vows to gain instruction, to secure merit, and offer
prayers. At Enna there was an image of Ceres, to which (as
Tully informs us) the people greatly resorted from an idea that
they came to the goddess in person. The custom of the Athe-
nians going annually to the island of Delos, one of the Cyclades,
was most meritorious ; and arose from Theseus, who vowed to
Apollo if he and his companions should return in safety from
the Minotaur, they would annually make a solemn voyage to his
temple. The success was most complete, and the monster was
destroyed ; therefore a sacred ship was constructed in which the
pilgrims yearly redeemed their word to the Delian shores. The
vessel was used for that purpose through succeeding ages, and the
decayed planks had been so often replaced, it became a matter
of dispute whether it could be considered the same bark. The
beginning of the voyage was computed from the time the priest
began to adorn the stern with garlands ; and the people then
commenced to cleanse and lustrate their city. So hallowed, so
binding was this pious tour, malefactors could not be executed

140 THE IDENTITY OF

March

till the return of the expedition, and Socrates on this account had
his thirty days of melancholy reprieve. When the consecrated
party left their homes, they were crowned with garlands, and
preceded by men carrying axes, and were said to be ascending to
denote the dignity of their mission, but when they returned they
had descended. Immediately on their arrival the citizens went
forth to pay them the greatest respect, treating them as persons
highly imbued with the divine virtue, and therefore invested with
strong claims to their regards.*

5. And now we turn to the pilgrimages of Popery, which
were in some repute in the time of Constantine, but especially
from the close of the fourth centuryf to ask whether she does
not furnish the most glaring examples, as to the supposed sanc-
tity of certain gross portions of matter, and as to the motive
of visiting, in the pretended reward. It would have been a
terrible hiatus in the minds of the early converts from heathen-
ism, if they also had not some places redolent with holiness
whither they might go for the good of their souls. There-
fore to meet these morbid cravings and to carry out the princi-
ples introduced by image worship ; and the belief that a portion
of the divinity had been imparted to material nature, this part of
the old superstition was introduced into what is falsely called the
true faith. Hence wherever the Romanists established a church
they soon found some object filled with heavenly essence concen-
trated and conserved by a saint or angel, for the benefit of souls :
and the financial interests of the community. No place has at-
tracted so much attention amongst them, as Jerusalem and its vi-
cinity ; hence multitudes in all ages have been found at its shrines,
which have been enriched by the liberality of potentates, and made
popular by the visits of all classes and nations, to secure spiritual
and earthly blessings. Even the soil itself was considered so
efficacious, that portions of it were sent to all parts of Chris-
tendom to keep as a charm to ward off evil. Hesperius who
lived in the early age had his house dreadfully troubled with evil
spirits, and therefore sent for a priest who had the good fortune

* Hymno in Bi-lum. and Xenophon. Merorab lib ir. and HypjK'lyto : in Totter and others,
t Picart vol. I. 399.

1845 POPERY AND PAGANISM. 141

to eject the unwelcome guests. In the meantime, however, the
pious householder had received from a friend some holy earth,
brought from Jerusalem, to secure himself from those sprites of
darkness, but as his house was now free, the anxious inquiry was
what he should do with the precious deposit. Believing it might
be eminently useful for some other purpose, he therefore sent
for St. Austin and another bishop called Maximinus, who hap-
pened to be in the neighbourhood, to state to them his convic-
tion, that the sacred soil should be put in some place where an
oratory might be built over it for Christians to assemble in
Divine worship. The good prelates saw no particular objection
and therefore the project was soon accomplished and signally
honoured; for a poor boy afflicted with palsy having heard of
the affair, requested his parents to carry him to the chapel, when
glorious to relate, immediately on his arrival he was restored to
perfect health.* Have we not here an opinion in full accord-
ance with that of the pagan Naaman, who after he had been
cured of his disease, requested permission to take away two
mules' burden of earth, to make an altar in his own country
to the God of Israel ?f And think not my friends that the
popish notion is confined to any age or place, because we see
it exhibiting itself precisely in the same way in different times
and localities. Thus in Ireland, at this day, when the penitents
go to Downpatrick they procure a portion of the hallowed soil
from the grave of their national saint, and take it to some house
in town, where masses are said every day for a week, and
then they can with confidence start for the station of Struel.J

It was this vitiated piety which invested matter with a part
of Deity, that induced multitudes to go to 'the holy sepulchre,'
and Bethlehem and Calvary; it was this that set Europe in
a religious phrensy to extirpate the Saracens from Palestine;
this that inspired the martial spirit in the pontiff and the priest,
the prince and the peasant; and this that drained the blood
of millions, to reek before an offended God. The first council
of the Crusaders was held in the time of Martin the 2nd,
and attended by not less than four thousand ecclesiastics and

* De Civ. Dei. 6, in Middleton. f 2 Kings T. t Holy Welli 38.

No. 3. T

142 THE IDENTITY OF Marcfa

thirty thousand laymen. There in a large plain did Peter the
hermit harangue the mighty hosts on the wickedness of allow-
ing the infidels to possess the 'holy land,' and expatiated in
exciting language on the sufferings of the pilgrims from their
ruthless foes, so that the hearts of all present were fired for the
fight. Army after army went in fatal and rapid succession to
be mown down by the climate, or fatigue, or the scimitar of
the Moor. Peter himself in the first campaign took 300,000
undisciplined followers, and shortly after 700,000 went to the
same fields ; and though the majority of them fell, the emulation
was so great that the ranks were soon filled up ; for life in such
a case was in their estimation a sure token of the Divine care,
and death was the safe passport to eternal bliss.

But though Jerusalem was the great object of papal ambition,
though she strained her anxious eyes on that devoted city;
though she panted, and wept and bled and died to stretch her
crozier over the land ; she had other places replete with pious
interests to her deluded sons. There was Loretto, with all its
frippery and deception, which had at one rime 200,000 applicants
together, waiting for blessings of heaven and of earth. Sometimes
they formed processions around 'the palace of our lady' and the
more zealous devotees described the circuit on their knees, per-
forming it five or nine times as their case might require; reminding
us of the heathen pilgrims who still kneel round the temples, or
roll their persons on the ground till they have accomplished the
prescribed amount.

Then again there was the shrine of St. James or St. lago, at
Compostella in Spain, where the bones of the man who was on
the mount of transfiguration (if you can believe it) were kept
with holy care. Charlemagne, who was absorbed in the super-
stition of the day, caused the place to be made into a bishopric,
and there were pilgrims from all parts of Europe, for Rymer
tells us that in 1434 there were 2880 persons, and in 1435, 2900
poor wanderers who had come for the good of the body and the
soul. Such is the fame of lago ; it has reached the furthest east,
and anything which has touched his relics, or his tomb, is looked
on as the most costly gem.

Rome also was a place of glorious resort, and the priest's

1845 - POPERY AND PAGANISM. 143

oath of canonical obedience tended to spread its praise ; for he
declared, of 'the churches of the apostles I shall visit either by
myself or some sure messenger, except I obtain license to the
contrary : so God and these holy gospels help me.' To that city
Charlemagne directed his feet, as a penitent in order to gain the
promised blessing, and thither multitudes have gone to salute
Limina Apostolorum the thresholds of the apostles being the
steps of the high altar in St. Peter's church, which whosoever
shall kiss in a year of Jubilee shall have remission of his sins.
Great indulgences also were granted to those who visited the
precious relic at Veronica ; so that the metropolis of the papacy
held out great inducements to those who desired their transgres-
sions to be forgiven.

And there was the city of Canterbury which acquired great
celebrity by the martyrdom of Becket, so that 100,000 devotees
of all ranks might sometimes be numbered in that place who
humbly craved spiritual boons ; and so long as history and Chau-
cer's tales shall be known, will that imposture be recollected as
an illustration of priestly artifice, to attract pilgrims, and fill the
coffers of the church. And in every nation, where the Pontiff
holds sway, there is some local rendezvous for such as cannot,
either from poverty, sickness, or age, visit distant places ; so that
by going to them, or to seven churches, or by sending a proxy,
they may gain all the blessings of a personal tour. Before
they commenced their perigrinations, they were, as the pagans,
blessed in the church, and led out in procession, accompanied by
the cross and holy water to ensure a safe return ; and if they
lived to see that day, they were again, as their prototypes, wel-
comed by religious salutations. They were esteemed the favoured
of heaven, having walked over the footsteps of Jesus and wept
at the tomb, or tasted 'Siloa's brook which flowed fast by the
oracle of God ;' they were now safe for the future, and sat down
to enjoy the well-earned blessings of their spiritual toils.

Some of the holy wanderers are called palmers, who differ
from the pilgrims because the latter have a home whilst the
former have none ; the pilgrim travelled to a certain place, but
the palmer to any ; the one went at his own charge, the other
lived on alms ; the pilgrim might give up his profession, but the

144 THE IDENTITY OF

March

palmer not till he had obtained the palm, the victory over all his
enemies;* so that we have here again corresponding features with
the . pandarums and fakirs. Then in their equipment also there
were analogies not to be overlooked. The votary of popery had
a peculiar kind of staff, which had only one knob in the middle,
and not until it had been consecrated was it adequate for attack
and defence ; bringing to our view the staves of the heathen
pilgrims, which are called the 3? <y>eifii5l fftiu_i, orou mullu pirambu,
literally, the cane with one knot ;f and let the devotee have one
of these and he is free from fear; the sun cannot smite him by
day, nor the moon by night ; serpents and wild beasts will not
approach him, nor evil spirits go near him. There was also the
scrip and the scallop of the one, and the calabash and shell or
sea-cocoanut of the other, to receive alms and food ; each also
carrying a rosary to regulate his prayers, so that we have here
similarities which cannot fail to tell their own story.

And the sufferings endured on their journeys by those of the
Roman Catholic faith, were not inferior to the Mohammedans or
the Gentiles ; for whether they went to Jerusalem by sea or by
crossing the desert from Egypt, they had great privations.
Multitudes in perils of the wilderness, through losing their way,
or by fatigue, or a burning sun, or want of water, or through
diseases induced by hard living, were brought to the most de-
plorable condition. The evil treatment they received from the
Turks, and the impositions of those who lived on their credulity,
made them amongst the most pitiable of the fraternity in any
creed ; for the heathen meet with universal facility when they go
through inhabited regions, and on their arrival at the shrine have
every protection. Before the victims of the 'true faith'' could reach
Jerusalem, they were emaciated and pennyless; so that William
of Tyre tells us that scarcely one in a thousand could support
himself when he got to the holy place. See the misery therefore
accumulating at every step, and you gain a strong view of its
character. It was this that aroused the anchorite Peter, and set
Christendom on a blaze; this that gave a turn to the spirit of

* Popi*u Courant. Edit. 1679.

t Some are also valued for baring knots in uneven number*.

1843 - POPERY AND PAGANISM. 145

chivalry, which had been wasting itself in adventures with wild
beasts and tournaments; this that placed before them the high
prize of spiritual ambition, and called forth the brave of every
name.

There is also at this day the holy resort, Saint Patrick's Purga-
tory, in an island of Lough Dergh,* which lies about half a mile
from the shore, rising but little from the level of the lake, and
presenting a sterile appearance. It was believed the passage
into purgatory was there, so that any who felt anxious for a look,
or visit, might be indulged with that favour. There are several
buildings fitted up for worship, each being properly dedicated to
a powerful saint.

Inglis and another gentleman, who visited the sacred spot in
1834, say, there was a 'multitude of apparently the most devout
worshippers' they had ever beheld. All were kneeling except
the choir, and each seemed absorbed in his own devotions; the
only food allowed is bread, but the water by the priest's blessing
is believed to be as powerful as wine. While in the prison a
man with a switch keeps exercising his vocation, and x though there
be sundry shrugs and starts, there is no retaliation, as that would
mar the duty. Inglis says when he went the island was covered
with pilgrims, most of whom were in respectable apparel, and there
were 200 of them at one time, waiting to be ferried across. As
the priests had heard of his coming, they ordered the devotions to
be suspended, lest he with profane eye should obtrude, and with
wicked pen or tongue describe what he saw. He believes there
were at that time two thousand persons on the island, and during
one day he counted twelve boats, each containing upwards of
forty pilgrims, so that there would be more than five hundred;
and considering the ceremonies continue seventy-five days, if
half the number went across, there would be at least nineteen
thousand deluded creatures hasting to the shrine of Lough Dergh.
Many of the devotees had come from different parts of Cork,
Kerry and Waterford, and other remote districts, so that some
weeks would be employed which might have been taken up in
profitable labour, as in the month of July nearly all may get

* I principally follow an able pamphlet printed in Dublin, called the 'Holy Wells.'

146 THE IDENTITY OF POPERY, &C. March

something to do. On returning our friend joined a party of the
holy wanderers, amongst whom was a priest, who declared though
he had walked eighty miles to the place, he found himself much
better for the discipline, and that no person though sitting in wet
clothes, or on the damp ground, ever caught cold ; so that the earth
must contain a great deal of celestial virtue. Motherless wives
go to the holy island in Scariff Bay on the river Shannon, and
scenes of iniquity are there perpetrated too fearful to be repeated.
And the sufferings of some of these victims to popery are of no
common order. They have to describe large circuits on their
knees; the writhing postures, the intense agonies and the lacerated
parts of the votaries are most distressing to the spectator. The
path is often over sharp stones so that they do not proceed many
yards before the blood begins to flow, but this only increases
their merit, they are staining the ground to cleanse their souls ;
they are suffering on earth to rejoice in heaven.

And now I ask is there not a complete identity betwixt the
Pagan, the Mohammedan, Grecian and Popish pilgrims ? They
all go to an object which has received, and can impart some virtue
to the visitor ; they have all to endure toil and anguish, and yet as
in one case, so in the other, they may compromise by payment ;
by going to a nearer place or through sending a substitute to
some distant land ; then the peculiar staff and scrip and beads
alike arrest our attention, and though each may claim some
little originality, there is no doubt as to the heathen carrying off
the palm. We say therefore that the holy mother stands convicted
of gross and impious plagiarisms, and whatever reasons she may
assign, she has departed from the authority of the Scriptures, and
received into her pale for purposes conciliatory, and pecuniary,
practices which cut her off from all right and title to be called a
church of Christ. Let them not tell us about the wise men who
went to do homage to the infant Jesus. A star was sent to guide
them, they went to present gifts, and not to make an extract
from dead men's bones, or the gross particles of earthly matter ;
what analogy is there betwixt the one and the other ? the
drivellings of superstition ! When she must give some reason
for her conduct, she rushes to the Scriptures and tortures them
to approve of her transgressions, like the drowning man, she

1845 - REVIEW. 147

grasps the passing straw, to save her worthless life ; she begs, she
cants, or boasts her thundering Vatican ; but until she can prove
that the apostles and disciples went to imbibe holiness from the
localities of the cradle or the tomb, we reject her false preten-
sions and rest ourselves on the sole, the all-sufficient, the eternal
source of purity and salvation in Jesus Christ. Let the bones of
saints moulder into dust, let Carmel and Bethlehem and Calvary
reel in the ruin of an expiring world, let rocks and mountains
roll in dread confusion, let no spot of earth be distinguished as
the site of virtue or of vice, of fiendish malice or Jehovah's love ;
let all return to the chaos of primeval things : and we fear not,
our heart is strong, our eyes are bright ; Jesus the Saviour never

dies.

(To be continued.)

REVIEW.

History of the Great Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, in
Germany, Switzerland, &c,

BY J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNE.

American Edition Nineteenth Thousand.

(Continued.)

MARTIN LUTHER, the son of John Luther, or Liitter, and Mar-
garet Lindermann, was born at Eisleben, a small town in Upper
Saxony, on the 10th day of November, 1483. His father, a man
of upright character, open-hearted, and possessing a strength of
mind bordering on obstinacy, was by occupation a labourer in
the mines, and soon after Martin's birth removed to Mansfeld,
five leagues from Eisleben, to pursue this employment. His mo-
ther endeavoured to increase their limited resources by agricul-
tural employments.

'The early years of their abode at Mansfeld were full of difficulty
for the worthy John and his wife. They lived at first in extreme
poverty. "My parents," said the Reformer, "were very poor. My
father was a woodcutter, and my mother has often carried the wood

148 REVIEW. Mftrch

on her back, that she might earn wherewith to bring us children up.
They endured the hardest labour for our sakes." The example of
parents whom he reverenced, and the habits they trained him to,
very early accustomed Luther to toil and frugal fare. How often
may Martin, when a child, have accompanied his mother to the wood,
and made up and brought to her his little faggot.

'There are blessings promised to the labour of the righteous, and
John Luther experienced their reality. He gradually made his way,
and established at Mansfeld two small furnaces for iron. By the side
of these forges little Martin grew up, and it was with the earnings
of this industry that his father was afterwards able to place him at
school. "It was from a miner's fireside," says the worthy Mathesius,
"that one who was destined to recast vital Christianity was to go
forth : an expression of God's purpose, by his means, to cleanse the
sons of Levi, and refine them as gold in his furnace."* Respected
by all for his uprightness, irreproachable conduct, and good sense, he
was made one of the council of Mansfeld, the chief town of the
district so called. Circumstances of too pinching want might have
weighed down their child's spirit ; while comparatively easy circum-
stances would dilate his heart and raise his character.

'John took advantage of his new appointment, to court the society
he preferred. He paid great attention to the learned, and often
invited to his table the ecclesiastics and schoolmasters of the place.
His house afforded a sample of those social meetings of citizens that
did honour to Germany in the beginning of the 16th century. It was
a kind of mirror, to which came, and wherein were reflected, the
numerous subjects which successively took possession of the agitated
stage of the times. The child derived advantage from this. Doubt-
less the sight of these men, to whom so much respect was shown in
his father's house, excited in the heart of young Martin the ambitious
desire that he himself might one day be a schoolmaster or man of
learning.

'As soon as he was old enough to receive instruction, his parents
erideavoured to communicate to him the knowledge of God, to train
him in his fear, and form him to the practice of the Christian virtues.
They applied the utmost care to this earliest domestic education.!
But their solicitude was not confined to this instruction.

'His father, desiring to see him acquire the elements of that learn-
ing for which he had so much esteem, invoked upon him the blessing

* Drumb musste dieser geistliche Schmelzcr . . . (Mathesius, 1565, p. 3.)

t Ad agnitionem et timorem Dei domestica institutions diligenter adiuefece

runt. (Melancth. Vita Luth.)

ms - REVIEW. 149

of God, and sent him to school. Martin was then a little child. His
father and Nicholas Emler, a young man of Mansfeld, often carried
him in their arms to the house of George Emilius, and came again to
fetch him. Years afterwards, Emler married Luther's sister.'

From his earliest years, young Martin seems to have evinced
indications of a religious disposition, but they arose principally
from fear. The instruction pursued in those days, when truth
was inculcated with abundance of error, led the soul into bon-
dage, and it is remarked of Martin, that every time he heard the
name of Christ, he turned pale with terror. This servile fear is
certainly no part of true religion, and often may be a hindrance
to its proper reception, but in the case of the destined reformer
it ultimately gave place to right views of Christ as meek and
lowly of heart, which brought with them the greater joy, perhaps,
on account of the terror which had preceded them. The mar-
vellous stories to which he listened as a child, and which pro-
duced a deep impression on his mind, may also have had some
influence on his after belief, especially as to the visible agency of
evil spirits. In regard to his early education our author remarks

'John Luther, in conformity with his predilections, resolved to
make his son a scholar. That new world of light and science which
was everywhere producing vague excitement, reached even to the cot-
tage of the miner of Mansfeld, and excited the ambition of Martin's
father. The remarkable character, and persevering application of
his son, made John conceive the highest hopes of his success.
Therefore, when Martin was fourteen years of age, in 1497, his
father came to the resolution of parting from him, and sending him
to the school of the Franciscans at Magdebury. Margaret was
obliged to yield to this decision, and Martin made preparations for
leaving his paternal roof.

'Amongst the young people of Mansfeld, there was one named
John Reinecke, the son of a respectable burgher. Martin and John,
who had been school-fellows, in early childhood, had contracted
a friendship which lasted to the end of their lives. The two boys
set out together for Magdeburg. It was at that place, when sepa-
rated from their families, that they drew closer the bonds of their
friendship.

'Magdeburg was like a new world to Martin. In the midst of
numerous privations, (for he had hardly enough to subsist on,) he
observed and listened, Andreas Proles, a provincial of the Augustine
No. 3. u

f: i:\iti\v, ;iirc

order, was then preaching with great zeal the necessity of reforming.
Religion and the Church. Perhaps these discourses deposited in the
soul of the youth the earliest germ of the thoughts which a later
period unfolded.

'This was a severe apprenticeship for Luther. Cast upon the
world at fourteen, without friends or protectors, he trembled in the
presence of his masters, and in his play hours he and some children^
as poor as himself, with difficulty begged their bread,'

The difficulties encountered by their son at Magdeburg in-
duced the parents, at the end of a year, to remove him to Eisen-
ach in Thuringia, where was a school of much celebrity, and
where also they had some relations. Here he appears to have
obtained a good reputation for diligence and proficiency, and
a decided taste for learning and philosophical science. He con-
tinued in this school about four years, but seems to have been
exposed to similar privations as at Magdeburg.

'When the young scholar was pressed with hunger, he was obliged,,
as at Magdeburg, to go with his school-fellows and sing in the
streets to earn a morsel of bread. This custom of Luther's time
is still preserved in many towns in Germany. These young people's
voices sometimes form a most harmonious concert. Often the poor
modest boy, instead of bread, received nothing but harsh words.
More than once, overwhelmed with sorrow, he shed many tears
in secret ; he could not look to the future without trembling.

'One day, in particular, after having been repulsed from three
houses, he was about to return fasting to his lodging, when having
reached the Place St. George, he stood before the house of an honest
burgher, motionless, and lost in painful reflections. Must he, for
want of bread, give up his studies, and go to work with his father in
the mines of Mansfeld ? Suddenly a door opens, a woman appears
on the threshold : it is the wife of Conrad Cotta, a daughter of the
burgomaster of Eilfeld.* Her name was Ursula. The chronicles of
Eisenach call her "the pious Shunamitc," in remembrance of her who
so earnestly entreated the prophet Elijah to eat bread with her.
This Christian Shunamite had more than once remarked young
Martin in the assemblies of the faithful ; she had been affected by the
sweetness of his voice and his apparent devotion.f She had heard
the harsh word? with which the poor scholar had been repulsed.
She saw him overwhelmed with sorrow before her door; she came

Lingk's Rebcgesch Luth.

t Dicwcil, sie nmb seines J'ingon und herzlichcn Gebets \villen. (Mathesius, p. 3),

REVIEW. 151

to his assistance, beckoned him to enter, and supplied his urgent
wants.

'Conrad approved his wife's benevolence ; he even found so much
pleasure in the society of young Luther, that, a few days afterwards,
he took him to live in his house. From that moment he no longer
feared to be obliged to relinquish his studies. He was not to return
to Mansfeld, and bury the talent that God had committed to his trust!
God had opened the heart and the" doors of a Christian family at the
very moment when he did not know what would become of him.
This event disposed his soul to that confidence in God, which at
a later period the severest trials could not shake,

'In the house of Cotta, Luther lived a very different life from
that which he had hitherto done. He enjoyed a tranquil existence,
exempt from care and want ; his mind became more calm, his
disposition more cheerful, his heart more enlarged. His whole
nature was awakened by the sweet beams of charity, and began
to expand into life, joy, and happiness. His prayers were more
fervent ; his thirst for learning became more ardent ; and he made
rapid progress in his studies.

'To literature and science he united the study of the arts ; for the
arts also were then advancing in Germany. The men whom God
designs to influence their contemporaries, are themselves at first
influenced and led by the tendencies of the age in which they live.
Luther learned to play on the flute and on the lute. He often
accompanied his fine alto voice with the latter instrument, and thus
cheered his heart in his hours of sadness. He also took pleasure in
expressing by his melody his gratitude to his adoptive mother, who
was very fond of music. He himself loved this art even to his old
age, and composed the words and music of some of the most beau-
tiful German hymns.

'Happy times for the young man ! Lather always looked back
to them with emotion ! and a son of Conrad having gone many years
after to study at Wittemberg, when the poor scholar of Eisenach had
become the learned teacher of his age, he joyfully received him
at his table and under his roof. He wished to repay in part to the
son what he had received from the father and mother.

'It was when memory reverted to the Christian woman who had
supplied him with bread when every one else repulsed him, that he
uttered this memorable saying : "There is nothing sweeter than the
heart of a pious woman."

'But never did Luther feel ashamed of the time, when, pressed by
hunger, he sorrowfully begged the bread necessary for the support
of life and the continuance of his studies. So far from this, he

152 REVIEW. March

thought with gratitude on the extreme poverty of his youth. He
considered it as one of the means that God had made use of to make
him what he afterwards became, and he thanked him for it. The
condition of poor children who were obliged to lead the same kind
of life, touched him to the heart. "Do not despise," said he, "the
boys who try to earn their bread by chaunting before your door,
'bread for the love of God,' Panem propter Deum. I have done the
same. It is true that in later years my father maintained me at the
University of Erfurth, with much love and kindness, supporting me
by the sweat of his brow ; but at one time I was only a poor
mendicant. And now by means of my pen, I have succeeded so
well, that I would not change fortunes with the Grand Seignior
himself. I may say more ; if I were to be offered all the possessions
of the earth heaped one upon another, I would not take them in
exchange for what I possess. And yet I should never have known
what I do, if I had not been to school, and been taught to write."
Thus did this great man acknowledge that these humble beginnings
were the origin of his glory. He was not afraid of reminding his rea-
ders that that voice whose accents electrified the empire and the world,
had not very long before begged a morsel of bread in the streets of
a petty town. The Christian takes pleasure in such recollections,
because they remind him that it is in God alone that he is permitted
to glory.'

In the year 1501, when eighteen years of age, Martin Luther
proceeded to the University of Erfurth, an ancient city in Thu-
ringia, said to have been founded in the fifth century. Here
he pursued his studies with great ardour, and soon became one
of the most distinguished scholars at the University. He was
soon disgusted with the scholastic jargon which prevailed under
the name of philosophy, the absolute authority of Aristotle being
majestically maintained and gave himself, after perusing with
assiduity the Latin and Greek classical authors, to the study of
the fathers, and of the early ages of the church, 'The whole Uni-
versity,' says Melancthon, 'admired his genius.'

'But even at this early period the young man of eighteen did
not study merely with a view of cultivating his understanding ; there
was within him a serious thoughtfulness, a heart looking upwards,
which God gives to those whom he designs to make his most zealous
servants. Luther felt that he depended entirely upon God, a simple
and powerful conviction, which is at once a principle of deep humi-
lity and an incentive to great undertakings. He fervently invoked

184S - REVIEW. 153

the Divine blessing upon his labours. Every morning he began the
day with prayer ; then he went to church ; afterwards he commenced
his studies, and he never lost a moment in the course of the day.
"To pray well," he was wont to say, "was the better half of study."*
'The young student spent in the library of the university the
moments he could snatch from his academical labours. Books being
then scarce, it was in his eyes a great privilege to be able to profit
by the treasures of this vast collection. One day, (he had been
then two years at Erfurth, and was twenty years of age,) he was
opening the books in the library one after another in order to read
the names of the authors. One which he opened in its turn drew
his attention. He had not seen anything like it till that hour. He
reads the title-: it is a Bible ! a rare book, unknown at that time.f
His interest is strongly excited ; he is filled with astonishment at
finding more in this volume than those fragments of the gospels and
epistles which the church has selected to be read to the people in
their places of worship every Sunday in the year. Till then he had
thought that they were the whole word of God. And here are so
many pages, so many chapters, so many books, of which he had no
idea ! His heart beats as he holds in his hand all the Scripture
divinely inspired. With eagerness and indescribable feelings he
turns over these leaves of God's word. The first page that arrests
his attention, relates the history of Hannah and the young Samuel.
He reads, and can scarcely restrain his joyful emotion. This
child whom his parents lend to the Lord as long as he liveth ;
Hannah's song in which he declares that the Lord raiseth up the
poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to
set him among princes ; the young Samuel who grows up in the
temple before the Lord ; all this history, all this revelation which .he
has discovered, excites feelings till then unknown. He returns home
with a full heart. "Oh !" thought he, "if God would but give me such
a book for my own !"f Luther did not yet understand either Greek or
Hebrew. It is not probable that he should have studied those lan-
guages during the first two or three years of his residence in the univer-
sity. The Bible that had filled him with such transport was in Latin.
He soon returned to the library to find his treasure again. He read
and re-read, and then in his surprise and joy, he went back to read
again. The first gleams of a new truth then arose in his mind.

* Fleissig gebct, ist ubcr die Helfft studert. (Mathes. 3.)

\ Auff ein Zeyt, wci er die Bucher fein nacheinander besieht . . . kombt et uber die
lattinische Biblia. . . . (Mathes. 3.)

t Avide pcrcurrit, coepitque optare ut olim talem librum et ipse nancisci posset. (If.
Adami Vit. Luth, p. 103.)

154 REVIEW. Mlilv51

'Thus has God caused him to find his word ! He has now discover-
ed that book of which he is one day to give to his countrymen that
admirable translation in which the Germans for three centuries have
read the oracles of God. For the first time, perhaps, this precious
volume has been removed from the place that it occupied in the
library of Erfurth. This book, deposited, upon the unknown shelves
of a dark room, is soon to become the book of life to a whole nation.
The Reformation lay hid in that Bible.

'It was in this same year that Luther took his first academical
degree, that of a bachelor.

'The excessive labour he had undergone in preparing for his
examination, occasioned a dangerous illness. Death seemed at hand.
Serious reflections filled his mind. He thought his earthly career was
at an end. All were interested about the young man. "It was a
pity," thought they, "to see so many hopes so early extinguished."
Several friends came to visit him on his sick bed. Amongst them
was an old man, a venerable priest, who had observed with interest
the labours and academical life of the student of Mansfeld. Luther
could not conceal the thoughts that filled his mind. "Soon," said he,
"I shall be summoned hence." But the prophetic old man kindly
answered. "My dear bachelor, take courage ! you will not die this
time. Our God will yet make you his instrument in comforting many
others.* For God lays his cross upon those whom he loves, and
those who bear it patiently gain much wisdom." The words im-
pressed the sick youth. It was as he lay in the dust of death
that he heard the voice of a priest remind him that God, as Samuel's
mother had said, raiseth up the poor. The old man has poured
sweet consolation into his heart, and revived his spirits ; he will
never forget it. "This was the first prophecy the doctor ever heard,"
says Mathesius, the friend of Luther, who relates this circumstance,
"and he often recollected it" We may easily comprehend in what
sense Mathesius calls this speech a prophecy.

'When Luther was restored to health there was in him a some-
thing new. The Bible, his sickness, the words of the old priest,
seemed to have called him to a new vocation. There was, however,
as yet, no settled purpose in his mind. He resumed his studies. In
1505 he was made master of arts, or doctor in philosophy. The
university of Erfurth was then the most celebrated in all Germany.
The others were in comparison but inferior schools. The ceremony
was performed according to custom, with much pomp. A proces-

Deus tevirum faciet qui aliojmultos iterum consolabitur. (M. Adami Vit. Luth. p. 103.)

REVIEW. 155

sion with torches came to do honour to Luther.* The festival was
magnificent. There was general rejoicing. Luther, perhaps, en-
couraged by these honours, prepared to apply himself entirely to the
study of the law, agreeably to the wishes of his father.

'But God willed otherwise. Whilst Luther was engaged in various
studies, and beginning to teach natural philosophy and the ethics of
Aristotle, with other branches of philosophy, his conscience inces-
santly reminded him that religion was the one thing needful, and that
his first care should be the salvation of his soul. He had learned
God's hatred of sin; he remembered the penalties that his word
denounces against the sinner ; and he asked himself tremblingly, if
he was sure that he possessed the favour of God. His conscience
answered : No [ His character was prompt and decided ; he resolved
to do all that depended upon himself, to ensure a well-grounded hope
of immortality. Two events occurred, one after the other, to rouse
his soul and confirm his resolution.

'Amongst his college friends there was one, named Alexis, with
whom he was very intimate. One morning a report was spread in
Erfurth that Alexis had been assassinated. Luther hurried to the
spot and ascertained the truth of the report. This sudden loss of his
friend affected him, and the question which he asked himself: "What
would become of me, if / were thus suddenly called away ?" filled his
mind with the liveliest apprehension.f

'It was then the summer of 1505. Luther availed himself of the
leisure afforded him by the university vacation, to take a journey to
Mansfeld, to revisit the beloved abode of his infancy, and to see his
affectionate parents. Perhaps, also, he intended to open his heart to
his father, to sound him upon the plan that was forming in his mind,
and obtain his permission to engage in a different vocation. He
foresaw all the difficulties that awaited him. The idle life of the
greater part of the priests was particularly offensive to the active
miner of Mansfeld. The ecclesiastics were moreover little esteemed
in society : most of them possessed but a scanty revenue, and the
father, who had made many sacrifices to keep his son at the univer-
sity, and saw him lecturing publicly in his twentieth year, in a cele-
brated school, was not likely readily to renounce his proud hopes.

'We are not informed of what passed during Luther's abode at
Mansfeld. Perhaps the decided wish of his father made him fear to
open his mind to him. He again left his father's house for the halls
pf the academy. He was within a short distance of Erfurth when he
was overtaken by a violent storm. The thunder roared ; a thunder-

* L. Opp. W. xxii. p. 2229. f Interiiu sodalis sui contristatus. (Coclilteus p. 1.)

156 REVIEW. vrai<: ' n

bolt sunk into the ground by his side. Luther threw himself on
his knees. His hour is perhaps come. Death, judgment, eter-
nity, are before him in all their terrors, and speak with a voice
which he can no longer resist. "Encompassed with the anguish
and terror of death," as he himself says,* he makes a vow, if
God will deliver him from this danger, to forsake the world, and
devote himself to His service. Risen from the earth, having still
before his eyes that death that must one day overtake him, he
examines himself seriously, and inquires what he must do.f The
thoughts that formerly troubled him return with redoubled power.
He has endeavoured, it is true, to fulfil all his duties. But what is
the state of his soul ? Can he, with a polluted soul, appear before
the tribunal of so terrible a God ? He must become holy. He now
thirsts after holiness as he had thirsted after knowledge. But where
shall he find it ? How is it to be attained ? The university has fur-
nished him with the means of satisfying his first wish. Who will
assuage this anguish, this vehement desire that consumes him now ?
To what school of holiness can he direct his steps ? He will go into
a cloister ; the monastic life will ensure his salvation. How often
has he been told of its power to change the heart, to cleanse the
sinner, to make man perfect ! He will enter into a monastic order.
He will there become holy. He will thus ensure his eternal sal-
vation.:}:

'Such was the event that changed the vocation and the whole
destiny of Luther. The hand of God was in it. It was that power-
ful hand that cast to the ground the young master of arts, the aspir-
ant to the bar, the intended jurisconsult, to give an entirely new
direction to his after life. Rubianus, one of Luther's friends at the
university of Erfurth, wrote to him in later times : "Divine Provi-
dence foresaw what you would one day become, when, on your
return from your parents, the fire of heaven struck you to the ground,
like another Paul, near the city of Erfurth, and separating yon from
us, led you to enter the Augustine order." Thus, similar circum-
stances marked the conversion of two of the greatest instruments
chosen by Divine Providence to effect the two greatest revolutions
that have ever taken place upon the earth : Saint Paul and Luther.'

* Mil Erschrcc'iccn und Angst des Todcs umgeben. (L. Epp. ii. 101.)

t Cum esset in campo, fulminis ictu territus. (C'ochlaeus, 1.)

$ Occasio autcm fait ingredicndi illud vitas genus quod jnetati et studiis doctrmae de Deo
existimavit csse convcnu'iitius. (Mel. Vit. Luth.)

Some historians relate that Alexis was killed by the thunder-bolt that alarmed Luther;
but two contemporaries, JIathcsius and Solnccccr (in Orat. de Luth.) distinguish between
these two events ; we may even add to their testimony that of Melancthon, who says, 'Sodalem
ncscio quo casu iiitcrfcctum.' (Vita Luth.)

l845 - REVIEW. 157

It has been frequently stated, and is so in what is called the
Autobiography 6f Luther, that the Bible mentioned in these ex-
tracts was found in a monastery which he afterwards entered, but
aside from the authority of D'Aubigne, who appears to have in-
vestigated every point of this kind thoroughly, it seems more pro-
bable that, finding a Latin Bible in the library of the University,
he was by the study of it led to reject the vanities of the world,
and renounce the pursuit of its honours in the study of the law,
than that having made this choice he afterwards discovered the
Holy Scriptures. This is the more rational view, as though his
entering a convent showed that his mind was still in darkness, it
showed also under the circumstances that he was sincerely
seeking after light. He made a sacrifice which few could make,
in resolving to bury his eminent talents in a monastery. His
college friends were struck dumb with astonishment when at the
close of a simple but cheerful report to which he had invited
them, and which was enlivened by music as well as witty discourse,
he communicated to them, in the midst of their gaiety, his
resolution to give up the world and enter a cloister. After re-
covering from their first astonishment they remonstrate, but in
vain. His resolution is fixed, and that very night, dreading their
importunity, he quits his lodgings, and taking of his books only
Virgil and Ploatus (not yet having a Bible of h'is own), he went
alone, in the darkness of the night, to the convent of the her-
mits of St. Augustine. He asks admittance. The door opens and
closes again, and he is separated from his parents, his companions
in study, and from the world. He was then a little more than
twenty-one years of age.

'There was then in Luther little of that which made him in after
life the Reformer of the church. His entering into a convent is a
proof of this. It was an act in that spirit of a past age from which he
was to contribute to deliver the church. He who was about to
become the teacher of the world, was as yet only its servile imitator.
A new stone was added to the edifice of superstition, by the very
person who was shortly to overturn it. Luther was then looking for
salvation in himself, in works and observances ; he knew not that
salvation cometh of God only. He sought to establish his own
righteousness and his own glory, being ignorant of the righteousness
and glory of God. But what he was then ignorant of he soon
No. 3. w

158 REVIEW. M " rtfl

learned. It was in the cloister of Erfurth that the great change was
effected which substituted in his heart God and his wisdom for the
world and its traditions, and prepared the mighty revolution of which
he was the most illustrious instrument.

'The monks had received him joyfully. It was no small gratifica-
tion to their self-love to see the university forsaken, by one of its
most eminent scholars, for a house of their order. Nevertheless,
they treated him harshly, and imposed upon him the meanest offices.
They perhaps wished to humble the doctor of philosophy, and to teach
him that his learning did not raise him above his brethren ; and
thought, moreover, by this method, to prevent his devoting himself to
his studies, from which the convent would derive no advantage.
The former master of arts was obliged to perform the functions of
door-keeper, to open and shut the gates, to wind up the clock, to
sweep the church, to clean the rooms.* Then, when the poor monk,
who was at once porter, sexton, and servant of the cloister, had
finished his work : "Cum sacco per civitatem With your bag through
the town !" cried the brothers ; and, loaded with his bread-bag, he
was obliged to go through the streets of Erfurth, begging from house
to house, and perhaps at the doors of those very persons who had
been either his friends or his inferiors. But he bore it all. In-
clined, from his natural disposition, to devote himself heartily to what-
ever he undertook, it was with his whole soul that he had become
a monk. Besides, could he wish to spare the body ? to regard the
satisfying of the flesh ? Not thus could he acquire the humility, the
holiness, that he h"ad come to seek within the walls of a cloister ?

'The poor monk, overwhelmed with toil, eagerly availed himself
of every moment he could snatch from his degrading occupations.
He sought to retire apart from his companions, and give himself up to
his beloved studies. But the brethren soon perceived this, came
about him with murmurs, and forced him to leave his books : "Come,
come ! it is not by study, but by begging bread, corn, eggs, fish,
meat and money, that you can benefit the cloister."f And Luther
submitted, put his books, and resumed his bag. Far from repenting of
the yoke he had taken upon himself, he resolved to go through with
it. Then it was that the inflexible perseverance with which he ever
prosecuted the resolutions he had once formed began to develop itself.
His patient endurance of this rough usage gave a powerful energy to
his will. God was exercising him first with small trials, that he might
learn to stand firm in great ones. Besides, to be able to deliver

* Loca iinmmi'la purgare coactus fuit. (M. Adami Vit. Lutli. p. 103.)
t Sclnecccii Or.it, dc Luth.

1U45

REVIEW. 159

the age in which he lived from the miserable superstitions under
which it groaned, it was necessary that he should feel the weight
of them. To empty the cup, he must drink it to the very dregs.'

In the convent, Luther read the works of the fathers, especial-
ly of Augustine, and was much struck with the opinion of that
father on the corruption of man's will, and the grace of God.
He found here also a Bible, fastened by a chain, and this was his
most absorbing study. Sometimes he would meditate on a sin-
gle passage a whole day.

'It was apparently at this period, that he began to study the Scrip-
tures in the originals, and, by this means, to lay the foundation of the
most perfect and useful of his printed works, the translation of the
Bible. He made use of the Hebrew Lexicon, by Reuchlin, which
had just appeared. John Lange, a brother in the convent, who was
skilled in the Greek and Hebrew, and with whom he always main-
tained an intimate acquaintance, probably assisted him at the outset.
He also made much use of the learned comments of Nicholas Lyra,
who died in 1340. It was this circumstance that made Pflug (after-
wards Bishop of Naumburg) remark : "Si Lyra non lyrasset, Lutherus
non saliassd ; If Lyra had not played his lyre, Luther had never
danced."*

'The young monk applied himself to his studies with so much zeal,
that often, for two or three weeks together, he would omit the
prescribed prayers. But he was soon alarmed by the thought that he
had transgressed the rules of his order. Then he shut himself up
to redeem his negligence ; he set himself to repeat conscientiously
all his omitted prayers without thinking of his necessary food. On
one occasion he passed seven weeks almost without sleep.'

But it was in vain that he sought peace of conscience by absti-
nence and penance. He continued agitated and dejected, shun-
ning the trivial and dull discourse of the monks, and moved like
a spectre through the long corridors of the cloisters, with sighs
and groans. His bodily strength forsook him, and sometimes he
was motionless as if dead.

'One day, overcome with sadness, he shut himself in his cell, and
for several days and nights suffered no one to approach him. One of
his friends, Lucas Edemberger, uneasy about the unhappy monk,
and having some presentiment of his state, took with him some

* Qesch. d. deutsch. BibelUbersctzung.

160 REVIEW. ***

young boys, choral singers, and went and knocked at the door of his
cell. No one opened or answered. The good Edemberger, still
more alarmed, broke open the door, and discovered Luther stretched
on the floor in unconsciousness, and without any sign of life. His
friend tried in vain to recall his senses, but he continued motionless.
Then the young choristers began to sing a sweet hymn. Their clear
voices acted like a charm on the poor monk, to whom music had
always been a source of delight, and by slow degrees his strength and
consciousness returned.* But if for a few instants music could res-
tore to him a degree of serenity, another and more powerful remedy
was needed for the cure of his malady ; there was needed that sweet
and penetrating sound of the Gospel, which is the voice of God.
He felt this to be his want. Accordingly his sufferings and fears
impelled him to study with unwearied zeal the writings of the
Apostles and Prophets.f

It was when Luther was in this state of mind that Staupitz, the
vicar general of his order, visited the convent on his annual in-
spection. He was descended from a noble family, and his
youth had been distinguished by a taste for letters and a love of
virtue. He deeply lamented the corruption of morals, and the
error of doctrine, which then devastated the church. Frederick
had founded under his direction the University of Wittemberg,
and he was the first professor of divinity in that school which
was destined to enlighten the schools and churches of so many
nations.

Staupitz, on his visit, at once singled out Luther, and seemed
drawn towards him by a kind of presentiment of his singular
destiny. He approached him affectionately and in every way en-
deavoured to overcome his timidity.

'The heart of Luther, which had remained closed under harsh
treatment, at last opened and expanded to the sweet beams of
love. "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to
man." (Prov. xxvii. 9.) Staupitz's heart responded to that of Luther.
The Vicar-general understood him. The monk felt towards him a
confidence till then unknown. He opened to him the cause of his
sadness, he described the horrid thoughts that distressed him, and

Seckemt p. 53.

t Hoc stmliiim nt magU cxpeterct, illis suis doloribus et pavorilms movebatur. (Melanctb.
VitaLuth.)

> 845 - REVIEW. 161

hence ensued, in the cloister of Erfurth, conversations full of wisdom
and instruction.'

In the conversation which ensued, Staupitz quiets the distress-
ing fears of his young friend, by pointing him to Christ, in whom
is free and full salvation, and directing him not to distress him-
self with speculations, but to look to the wounds of Jesus ; in-
stead of torturing himself with his faults, to throw himself into
the arms of the Redeemer. In short he preached to him the
doctrine of justification by faith.

'But Luther could not find in himself the repentance he thought
necessary to his salvation ; he answered (and it is the usual answer
of distressed and timid minds,) "How can I dare believe in the
favour of God, so long as there is no real conversion ? I must be
changed before He can receive me."

'His venerable guide proves to him that there can be no real
conversion, so long as man fears God as a severe judge. "What will
you say then," cries Luther, "to so many consciences, to whom
are prescribed a thousand insupportable penances in order to gain
heaven ?" v .

'Then he hears this answer from the Vicar-general, or rather he
does not believe that it comes from a man ; it seems to him a voice
resounding from heaven.* "There is," said Staupitz, "no true repen-
tance but that which begins in the love of God and of righteousness.!
That which some fancy to be the end of repentance is only its
beginning. In order to be filled with the love of that which is good,
you must first be filled with the love of God. If you wish to be
really converted, do not follow these mortifications and penances.
Love him who has first loved you.

'Luther listens, and listens again. These consolations fill him with
a joy before unknown, and impart to him new light. "It is Jesus
Christ," thinks he in his heart ; "yes, it is Jesus Christ himself who
comforts me so wonderfully by these sweet and salutary words."|

'These words, indeed, penetrated the heart of the young monk like
a sharp arrow from the bow of a strong man. In order to repent-
ance, we must love God ! Guided by this new light, he consulted the

To velut c coelo sonantera acccpimus. (L. Kpp. i. 115, ad Staupilium, 30 Maii, 1518.)
f Pcenitentia vero non est, nisi quae ab aruore justitiae et Dei incipit, &c. (Ibid.)
t Memini inter jucundissimas et salutarcs fabulas tuas, quibus me solet Dominus Jesus
mirifice consolari. (Ibid.)

Haesit hoc verbum tuum hi me, sicut sagitta potentia acuta. (Ibid.)

Manh

Scriptures. He looked to all the passages which speak of repentance
and conversion. These words, so dreaded hitherto, (to use his own
expressions,) become to him an agreeable pastime and the sweetest
refreshment. All the passages of Scripture which once alarmed him,
seemed now to run to him from all sides, to smile, to spring up and
play around him.*

' "Before," he exclaims, "though I carefully dissembled with God
as to the state of my heart, and though I tried to express a love for
him, which was only a constraint and a mere fiction, there was no
word in the Scripture more bitter to me than that of repentance. But
now there is not one more sweet and pleasant to me.f Oh ! how
blessed arc all God's precepts, when we read them not in books
alone, but in the precious wounds of the Saviour.":):

'These words, which Luther heard with wonder and humility,
filled him with courage, and discovered to him in himself, powers
which he had not even suspected. The wisdom and prudence of an
enlightened friend gradually revealed the strong man to himself.
Staupitz did not stop there. He gave him valuable directions for
his studies. He advised him to derive henceforth all his divinity
from the Bible, laying aside the systems of the schools. "Let the
study of the Scriptures," said he, "be your favourite occupation."
Never was better advice, or better followed. But what especially
delighted Luther, was the present that Staupitz made him of a Bible.
At last he himself possessed that treasure which until that hour he
had been obliged to seek either in the library of the University, or at
the chain in the convent, or in the cell of a friend. From that time
he studied the Scriptures, and especially St. Paul's Epistles, with
increasing zeal. His only other reading was the works of St. Augus-
tine. Ah 1 that he read was powerfully impressed upon his mind.
His struggles had prepared him to understand the word. The soul
had been deeply ploughed ; the incorruptible seed took deep root.
When Staupitz left Erfurth, a new light had arisen upon Luther.

'Still the work was not finished. The Vicar-general had prepared
it. God reserved the completion of it for a more humble instrument.
The conscience of the young Augustine had not yet found repose.
His health at last sunk under the exertions and stretch of his mind.
He was attacked with a malady that brought him to the gates of the
grave. It was then the second year of his abode at the convent.

* Eccc jucumlissimum luilum ; vcrbfi nndiquc mihi colludcbant plancque huic seiiteiitise
arridcbiiut ct assultabant. (L. Epp. i. 115, ad Staupitium, 30 Alaii, 1518.)
t Nunc nihil dulcics aut gratius mihi sonat qnam pcenitcntia, &c. (Ibid.)
t Ita cnim dulcescunt prcepta Dei, quando mm in libris tantum. sed in vulneribus dul-
tissinu Salvatoris legciida intelliginius. (Ibid.)

"MS- REVIEW. 163

All his anguish and terrors returned in the prospect of death. His
own impurity and God's holiness again disturbed his mind. One day
when he was overwhelmed with despair, an old monk entered his
cell, and spoke kindly to him. Luther opened his heart to him, and
acquainted him with the fears that disquieted him. The respectable
old man was incapable of entering into all his doubts, as Staupitz
had done ; but he knew his Credo, and he had found there something
to comfort his own heart. He thought he would apply the same
remedy to the young brother. Calling his attention therefore to the
Apostle's creed, which Luther had learnt in his early childhood at the
school of Mansfeld, the old monk uttered in simplicity this article :
"./ believe in the forgiveness of sins" These simple words, ingenu-
ously recited by the pious brother at a critical moment, shed sweet
consolation in the mind of Luther. "I believe," repeated he to him-
self on his bed of suffering, "I believe the remission of sins." "Ah,"
said the monk, "you must not only believe that David's or Peter's
sins are forgiven :* the devils believe that. The commandment of
God is that we believe our oivn sins are forgiven." How sweet did
this commandment appear to poor Luther ! "Hear what St. Bernard
says in his discourse on the Annunciation," added the old brother.
"The testimony which the Holy Ghost applies to your heart is this :
'7% sins are forgiven thee.' "

'From that moment the light shone into the heart of the young
monk of Erfurth. The word of Grace was pronounced, and he
believed it. He renounced the thought of meriting salvation, and
trusted himself with confidence to God's grace in Christ Jesus. He
did not perceive the consequence of the principle he admitted ;
he was still sincerely attached to the Church : and yet he was
thenceforward independent of it ; for he had received salvation from
God himself; and Romish Catholicism was virtually extinct to him.
From that hour Luther went forward ; he sought in the writings
of the Apostles and Prophets for all that might strengthen the hope
which filled his heart. Every day he implored help from above, and
every day new light was imparted to his soul.

Thus the principal human agent in the Reformation was fully
prepared for the work assigned him, and \vas soon almost unin-
tentionally fully committed in the conflict of life and death, as to
himself; and emancipation, or continued slavery to the nations of
Christendom.

* Davidi aut Fctro .. .. Sed raandatum Dei cssc, ut singuli homines nobis rcraitti pccca-
ta crcdamus. (Mclanc. Vit. L.)

164 ON MISSIONARY SUCCESS

March

ON MISSIONARY SUCCESS IN INDIA.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE MADRAS CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTOR.

GENTLEMEN Within the past year, a number of articles under
the above title have appeared in the various periodicals of India ;
your own Journal in particular has contained some deeply interesting
ones. Those from the pen of the Rev. T. Cryer have especially
attracted my attention. I would state at the commencement of my
remarks, that controversy is no part of my object at this time. My
mind is in a state of inquiry, and I wish to see all the light possible
thrown on that interesting subject. From the manner in which
Mr. Cryer speaks, especially in his last article, I infer that he has in
store a large amount of facts and reasoning, which he has not yet
made public. There are some points in particular, in regard to which
I would like to hear what are his definite opinions points respecting
which, I freely confess, my mind labours a little when urged to
adopt his sentiments (which I understand to be : that the mis-
sionary in India should confine himself to the work of preaching the
Gospel, and that establishing and superintending schools should form
no part of his labours.)

It will be perceived by my queries, that I understand Mr. C. to
maintain that a principal cause of the want of success of Indian Mis-
sions is to be looked for in the fact that the missionaries have dis-
regarded the examples of the apostles, and by engaging in schools
and other irrelevant labours, have departed from the commandment
of the Saviour, 'Go preach the gospel.'

To bring out the facts and reasonings of Mr. Cryer in a shape to
suit the state of my own mind, I beg leave to propose the following
queries.

1. Whatever precise definition may be attached to the phrase,
preach the gospel, may it not be possible that a missionary, Mr.
Poor for example, in superintending schools actually imparted an
intellectual perception of a greater amount of Divine truth than he
would do had he no schools under his care ?

2. Should it or should it not be an object with the missionary to
raise up teachers among the people who may assist him, or take his
place when he is removed from his labours ?

3. In many parts of India a large proportion of the people are
unable to read, and consequently unable to make use of the written

Ie4a> IN INDIA. 166

Scriptures or other religious books. In view of this state of thingsj
may not the missionary well spend some time and money in estab-
lishing and superintending schools ; and will not his doing so not
only help to secure the confidence of the people but directly further
the great object for which he came among them ?

4. What are the facts, either in connection with Mr. C.'s own
mission or any other mission in India, which go to prove that mis-
sionaries devoted exclusively to preaching (in Mr. C.'s sense of the
word) have done more for India than those who have in part or
wholly laboured in connection with schools ?

5. What are the facts or the reasons which induce Mr. C. to advo-
cate a system in connection with the moral renovation of India dif-
ferent from what he would advocate in connection with England ?
(Mr. C. says he would advocate with all his strength the educational
system were he in England.)

6. What are the facts or principles that prove that the church can
long exist in purity when education is neglected ?

7. Supposing the Apostle Paul had been of a nation as much
superior in regard to education to those people among whom he
preached, as the Christians of Europe and America are to those to
whom they send missionaries, why may we not suppose he would
have laboured directly to promote education in the x midst of his
efforts to preach the gospel ?

8. Can we argue from the fact of many educated converts proving
unstable, inefficient, and false, that missionaries should not labour to
promote education?

9. Mr. Cryer (if I understand him) attributes the low state of the
Native church at Ceylon entirely to the fact that the missionaries
have adopted 'the educational system' for the preaching of the gospel.
What are the facts or principles which induce him to believe that
church would have been in a better state had the missionaries, with-
out establishing schools, applied themselves exclusively to preaching
the gospel ?

This inquiry seems to me to be fundamental to the subject. It
suggests to my mind a view of the subject which I have not yet
seen properly discussed, but which must be discussed before the
exclusive preaching system (as I choose to term it) can be adopted. To
make the main points appear distinctly, the question may be put
in a different form. If a convert who in childhood has enjoyed the
advantages of being trained in a Christian school prove weak, incon-
sistent, and perhaps false, what reason is there for believing that the
same individual would have turned out better had he grown up en-
tirely under the care of heathen parents and enjoyed, consequently,
No. 3. x

ON MISSIONARY SUCCESS Marcb

far more limited means for acquiring a knowledge of divine truth ?
It must be conceded that children in mission schools, besides the
ability to read, acquire a great amount of knowledge of the facts and
principles of Christianity, which will not and cannot be imparted in.
exercises commonly termed preaching. Is such knowledge of no
importance to the convert? Will he be likely to prove a better Chris-
tian without it than with it ? And is the knowledge of science
and history, with their enlarging and liberalizing influence, (such has
always been their supposed influence on the mind,) of no account ?
Is the convert better without it than with it ? If the convert from
Hinduism is better without similar knowledge, or rather it should be
said, if he will make a better Christian uneducated, then are not the
most enlightened Christian nations labouring under a great mistake
in expending so much on colleges and seminaries of learning ? The
mission at Ceylon, the report of which drew forth Mr. C.'s remarks,,
have raised up in their schools a large number of young men whom
they term Native preachers, catechists, assistants, teachers, &c.
Does Mr. C. think this result of schools of no account? What induces
him to think he could have secured a better result without schools?
In short, take the mission as it is ; allowing the Native church to be
corrupt, to possess only a small portion of genuine converts ; be it so,
that very few not in some way connected with the mission seek the
means of grace, yet what facts or principles go to prove that the
mission would have been in a better state or would have accom-
plished more good had the missionaries from the first adopted the
exclusive system of confining themselves to preaching the gospel?

10. What is the evidence that the primitive Christians possessed,.
as a body, a more deep, consistent, and abiding piety, than converts
from heathenism do at the present day ? Would it be inferred from
Paul's Epistles to the various churches, or from the apocalyptic letters
to the seven churches of Asia ?

In consideration of the above question, other inquiries suggest
themselves, such as : Is there reason to believe that the standard of
morality among heathen nations in tlie early days of the church was
higher than it is among those of the present day ? Is it not a fact
almost if not quite universal that the Christian characters of indivi-
duals and communities is stamped with peculiarities which partake
of the natural character before conversion? We know that 'God
is able to raise up children unto Abraham' even from stones of
the streets. Yet does he do it ? So he is able to transform at once
the most immoral and abandoned into a perfect saint? But does he
do it ? On the contrary is it not a fact that those who are accustomed
to the most sinful and immoral courses have the greatest difficulty m

IN INDIA.

maintaining a walk consistent with the pure principles of Christianity,
and are most liable to fall into sin and bring disgrace upon the
church ? Such being the case, as we believe the universal law in the
economy of divine grace, we are inclined to scrutinize somewhat
carefully (especially when important inferences are drawn from them,)
those accounts which so much exalt the piety of the primitive
Christians. In these remarks the principle that the example, instruc-
tions and the reproofs of extraordinary teachers will produce extra-
ordinary disciples, is by no means forgotten. It is difficult to con-
ceive how that the churches which enjoyed the labours of Peter
and John and Paul could be any thing but remarkable for deep piety
and a consistent walk. But the apostles could not spend long
portions of time with individual churches, they planted churches and
left the care of them to others. These ministers were doubtless
generally bright examples of piety and devotion, yet I would like to
see the evidence stated more clearly than has yet fallen under my
notice, that these primitive churches, say at the close of Paul's life,
were superior for purity of conduct to churches from heathenism
of the present -day.

This question and the subsequent queries are intended to have
a reference to the oft-repeated sentiment : 'If we would have Paul's
converts, we must follow in Paul's steps.' What evidence that Paul's
converts were very much superior to ours ? (See 1 Cor. v., vi. ;
Cfal. iii. 1 4 ; 2 Tim. iv. 16. In short see all of Paul's Epistles
and the letters to the seven churches of Asia.) It should not be
inferred from these remarks that the correctness or importance of
this sentiment is doubted. The character and example of Paul, of
the other apostles, and of the Saviour himself, cannot be too much
studied by the missionary, and I might say imitated when the
'circumstances are similar. This last remark leads to another query
respecting the great subject of want of missionary success in
India.

11. Does not the character of the age and the people furnish one
reason for the comparatively small success (perhaps the fact may be
doubted when ah 1 the circumstances are taken into consideration)
of Indian missions ?

NOTE. The age of the apostles was the initiatory state of the
Christian dispensation. The apostles possessed the power of working
miracles, and the influence of the Holy Spirit was given in abundant
measures. This appears to have been necessary in order to establish
the new religion on a firm basis. When India's day shall come (and
have we not reason to think it is near) may we not expect to see

168 MES ADIEUX A ROME. Msrch

scenes like that of the day of Pentecost take place in every part of
her vast plains ? 'It is not for us to know the time or the reasons
which the Father hath put in his own power.' To prevent the
sentiments of the above remarks from being misunderstood or per-
verted, I will close by saying, that while I do not expect India will
be converted till she has drunk the cup of indignation which has
been prepared on account of her deep and aggravated sins, till the
Lord's time shall have come, yet I do believe that the success and
reward of every missionary within her borders will be according to
his faithfulness in the work committed to him.

Yours, &c.
December, 1844. AN INQUIRER.

MES ADIEUX A ROME.

Lettre de V Mibe E. Bruiite, excure de La Chapdle ci M. Guyard
grandvicaire de V evique de Montauban, 1843.

THE pamphlet published under this title by Abbe Bruitte, is written
with the vivacity of a southern Frenchman, and the energy of a
free-man of Christ. It has already passed through several editions,
and owes its fame chiefly to the interesting biographical facts with
which it is interspersed. We extract them as giving a picture of
situations more or less new to the Evangelical Christians.

Edward Bruitte, bom at Nancy, 1799, in the bosom of the Roman
church, studied in Paris and Montauban till his 16th year. But as the
son of an old officer of the empire who talked to him more of glory
than of Virgil, he soon joined his father and served first as volun-
teer, then as subaltern under Louis XVIII. and Napoleon, respect-
ing the one and nearly adoring the other. He committed a grave
offence which had well nigh cost his life : his officer having slapped
him for preventing the duel of two soldiers, he returned the slap.
He was cashiered and threatened with capital punishment, but the
interference of the general, procured his liberation. This incident
sank deeply into his heart: the life of a soldier had quenched the
sparks of piety sown by a loving mother in his earliest years. The
grace of God kindled them again, and the day of his delivery he
vowed to devote himself to the ministry of the reformed church. But
on his return from the regiment, the priests brought him under their

1845.

MES ADIEUX A ROME. 169

yoke, his piety became fanaticism, he was assured that the devil had
disguised himself as an angel of light to deceive him, and decided
forthwith for the Roman Catholic priesthood. He entered the Semi-
nary of Agen, and studied there and at Montauban from his 20th to
his 27th year ; his first years were happy times. His faith embraced
both Christ and the Pope. All along he felt Christ to be his Re-
deemer who poured consolations into his soul, yet had he nearly an
equal regard for the Bishop of Rome. But in the latter period of his
studies the struggles recommenced. Philosophy forced him to reason
and passages from the Scriptures came to attack his passive obedience
to the Roman clergy. Christ and the Pope were wrestling within
him for the mastery. He unbosomed himself at last to his professor,
invoking his theological genius to separate the wrestlers and to decide
in favour of the truth. The answer given to him was his suspension
from the functions of a subdeacon : he was put to the door for eight
days, and had to undergo three weeks of penance, eating alone at the
foot of the table. Two priests and two charity sisters, whose devoted-
ness he admired, persuaded him that he was in the wrong, according-.
ly he did abjure his doubt in the assembly of the seminarists, and
again the Pope, enthroned in the place of God, silenced the still small
voice. Shortly after (1826) he entered into the ministry, determined
to devote himself to it with all his powers.

In his 15 years of ministry he passed through several phases before
he arrived at the full truth. The first was an enlightened Catholicism,
tempered by the liberties of the Gallic an church ; the other a mixed
papal system, placing some ceremonies in the stead of episcopal pre-
tensions, and seeking a Christ accessible in the sacraments. 'In my
despair,' he writes, 'I asked God for a collier's faith. I prayed by day,
prayed by night, to incline him towards me. Sometimes wishing to
obtain rest, I said to the waves of untruth, on which the Roman
church is floating, I am the deceived party ! O ye waves, each of
your drops reflects a side of the truth. But against my wish the
waves rolled on and behold there was only the image of a lie. I
added tears and austerities to my prayers, I cried in the desert of my
heart: the truth is in Rome! but the echo answered, no, it is a lie ! I
had a tender affection for Mary, erected altars to her, and adorned
them. 'O ! Queen of heaven, come thou to my support, my faith
expires :' but the echo answered : 'Mary is not the queen of heaven,
thy faith does not expire, it begins to take root in the truth. In this
unsupportable state a consumption began to bring me near the grave,
it was hailed by me as an antidote to the desires of the flesh, but
how was I to meet eternal judgment, loaded with mine own righteous-
ness. Oh, what is a repentance without Jesus ! But to this last

]70 MES ADIEUX A ROME. March

plank of salvation I was at last linked by the free and compassionate
mercy of my Saviour, and from that day I knew no heart more at
peace than mine. I am free and a Christian. Glory to Christ : he
has broken my chains.' The ministry which Mr. Bruitte exercised
for 13 years in four parishes of the dioceses of Agen and Montauban,
were highly honoured by men. His bishop spoke of him as 'the en-
tire and express stamp of the Gospel, a priest of exemplary and
always sacerdotal conduct ;' and for his devotedness in exposing his
life to save others, Louis Philippe in 1838 sent to him the decoration
of the Legion d' honneur.

In 1839, Mr. Bruitte left his parish to devote himself to the work of
public instruction, in order to provide the better for a poor mother
and sister : and when the latter was left destitute with two orphans,
he accepted again of a parish, La Chapelle, near Montauban, that he
might have a hospitable roof to offer to them. There he followed out
the light received with great but measured zeal, avoiding all useless
controversies, and preaching the truth by degrees as he discovered it.
'I made no mention of the Pope but declared the name of Christ.
The sun when he rises in his brightness says nothing to the clouds of
darkness he dispels.' His ministry seems to have been blessed to
many. The Maire of the place for instance certified afterwards that
their curate had conducted himself throughout, without the exception
of one day, as a true apostle. When the parishionery came to have
masses sung for their deceased relations, the abbe, convinced by
Scripture that there is no purgatory, simply begged them to leave off
that unnecessary custom. He spread the New Testament of de
Sacy's authorized version, but without the Old Testament, and did in
no way betray the unfair reasons for which other clergymen wished
to hide that treasure. He explained the second commandment faith-
fully without heeding the mutilation it experiences at the hands of
Rome, but did not remove the images of the saints. Once he un-
clothed a statue of Mary, but with the written permission of the
Vicar Apostolic. Yet does he confess to have pushed his conformity
too far, in still offering incense at the altars of the saints. He did not
speak against relics or indulgences. Once only when a neighbour-
ing Jesuite had enrolled some women of La Chapelle in the brother-
hood of the scapulary (a small piece of cloth worn for the sake of
the indulgences and privileges with which divers Popes have invest-
ed it), he preached against those bigots, angels in church, devils at
home. Above all he preached Christ as the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sins of the world, the redemption in him as complete, and
his intercession, his absolution as fully sufficient.

It does not seem that these proceedings awakened more than

184S - ON THE LEX LOCI. 171

vague suspicions against Mr. B. But then he refused to take his
fees from all and would not force his parish to contribute annually to
the episcopal treasury. These steps attracted public attention. Every
French curate receives from the state a salary of 800 francs, to which
the contributions of the parish may add COO more. But the chief
income is from the casualties, baptisms, marriages, burials, masses
of all kinds, etc. for which one pays by a tariff. A family is calcula-
ted to give annually 23 francs as fees ; in Mr. B.'s parish of 80 houses
they amounted to about 1800 francs. He felt that he must dispense
freely what he had received freely, and refused other payments than
such as proceeded from the good-will of the parishioners. And he
draws a touching picture of their forwardness to communicate, of
their intense anxiety to relieve the family of his sister. But the
neighbouring priests could not pardon him for having set an example
so injurious to their honour and interest. Lastly there came the
demand of the episcopal treasury for the yearly tax levied from each
parish. In 1842 the parish of La Chapelle refused to send it. The
curate was accused to have turned their heads and ordered to bring
them to a sense of their duty. The parish refused a second time :
whereupon Mr. Bruitte was interdicted from officiating as curate and
priest. In vain all petitions and testimonials, 'Mr. Bruitte^ must submit
to an expiation of his fault, and promise to exercise all his functions
the same way as the other priests. Mr. Bruitte deeply moved by the
attachment of the parishionery, tried to prevent a final rupture by
claiming only to be exempt from the duty of collecting the fees for
himself and the bishop, and to be permitted peaceably to pleach
Christ as the sole and all-sufficient foundation of the church. These
conditions not being acceded to, Mr. Bruitte had to leave La
Chapelle, and has come to Geneva to prepare himself in the theologi-
cal school for the Evangelical ministry. It is there that he wrote his
Adieux to Rome, dedicating his pages to his (now destitute) mother.

H. G.

ON THE LEX LOCI.

.THE special attention of our readers is requested to the draft of a new
law lately issued by the Governor General in Council, which is or-
dered to be re-considered at the first meeting of the Legislative
Council of India after the 18th of April next. As there are some
points in this law in which the Christians of India are deeply con-

172 N THE LEX LOCI. March

cerned, it behoves tliem to give an early and close consideration to
its various details, that their voice may be heard before the date
above specified.

In deliberating upon all such subjects as the present, our ideas
may be orderly arranged under the three following heads. The peo-
ple or classes of people for whom the law is made ; the courts that
are to apply the law ; and the provisions of the law.

I. The classes of people to whom this law is to be applicable.

Up to the present time the people of India have, as subject to the
laws of the East India Company, been arranged as Hindus, Moham-
medans, Portuguese, Dutch, English, &c. To Hindus, Hindu law ;
to Mohammedans, Mohammedan law ; to Portuguese, Portuguese
law; to English, English law, &c. has been administered. The
difficulties connected with such a mode of administering justice, are
referred to in the preamble of this act, and form one of the reasons
for this new enactment.

When this draft act becomes law, all the inhabitants of India will
be divided into three great classes, viz. ; 1, Hindus ; 2, Mohammedans ;
and 3, all persons included in neither of the above. This simplifi-
cation is calculated to confer many advantages upon this country.
And we call special attention to the fact that this proposed law is to
be applicable only to the last class. In note (9) the three classes are
distinctly specified, and it is added in the last paragraph of that note :
'This act, however, is intended for the last class only, and any provi-
sions affecting the other two, (viz. Hindus and Mohammedans) would
be out of place in it.'

Let it then be distinctly bome in mind that the Governor General
in Council is about to legislate not for the heathen aborigines of In-
dia, nor for their former conquerors, the followers of the false prophet,
but only for those who are strangers or aliens in this land, and for their
descendants from whatever country they may have come, or what-
ever religion they may profess.

And here the important question arises, in the event of a man
born of Heathen or Mohammedan parents, renouncing the religion
of his ancestors, to which of these three classes shall he belong ?
This is a matter on which the Act happily speaks in no ambiguous
terms ; for by Sections X., XI. and XII., it is abundantly obvious that
such an individual shall be recognised as belonging to the third class,
and be entitled to have the provisions of this Act administered in his
favour.

But there is a limitation and one of the greatest practical impor-
tance, to which we invite attention. Those whose rights are affected

ON THE LEX LOCI. 173

by this limitation ought to lift up their voices in strong remonstrance
against it. It is not very obvious, on a cursory perusal of the docu-
ment ; but a little consideration will make it abundantly plain. In
Section I. there is a clear distinction drawn between the territories
subject to the government of the East India Company and the
local jurisdiction of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Calcutta, Mad-
ras, and Bombay. And it is provided that this Act is not to be ap-
plicable to those of the third class who are resident within the local
jurisdiction of these Supreme Courts. Let it therefore be well un-
derstood, that after this Act shall have become law it will leave those
of us who are residing in Madras, in exactly the same position we
now occupy. If it be fraught with evils, they will not affect us.
If it be pregnant with blessings, we shall not taste them.

II. Which are the Courts that are to apply this law.

The Civil Courts of the East India Company ; and so far all is Well.
But by Section VIII. it is provided that a Court of Appeal shall at
some future unknown period be established ; and until such Court
be established, an appeal shall in every case in which this Act may
be applied, lie to Her Majesty's Supreme Courts.

The inconsistency of such arrangements is gross and glaring.
Her Majesty's Supreme Courts shall not apply this Act within their
local jurisdictions, but they shall have the power to review and
finally decide on the cases in which it may be applied by the Courts
of the East India Company !

III. The Provisions of this Draft Act.

These are to be found in the Substantive Law of England as it
existed previous to the thirteenth year of King Gyeorge the First. All
laws passed since then are not applicable to India, unless specially
provided that it should be so. Who in India knows what that law is ?
Our only solace is derived from the last paragraph of note (d). 'The
effect of this Act will not be to introduce any new system into the
Mofussil Courts, but merely to extend to all persons who are not
Hindus or Mohammedans, that system which is already adminis-
tered to British subjects.'

Now how does this bear upon the question of marriage? It is
clear that the law upon this subject is the same here that it was in
England previous to the 13th year of King George the First. If the
fact stated by the Friend of India be correct, which we have not the
means at present of verifying, that the 'New Marriage Act,' by which
alone Episcopal Ministers have any legal pretence to claim the sole
privilege of solemnizing marriages was passed in 1753, it follows that
No. 3. Y

174 ON THE LEX LOCI.

this 'New Marriage Act' is not applicable to India. It is therefore a
fair inference that marriages celebrated in India by dissenting min-
isters or civil officers are valid and legal.

Finally, by Sections X., XL and XII., it is provided that a convert
from Heathenism or Mohammedanism shall not by changing his reli-
gion forfeit his rights or property. This is well, were it not that con-
verts within the local jurisdiction of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts
in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, cannot claim the benefits of this
Act ; and further converts in the Mofussil to whom this act may be
applied by the Courts of the East India Company, may be summoned
by appeal before a Supreme Court, which does not apply this law
within its own jurisdiction, and from which consequently they have
little chance of receiving justice.

We sum up all our observations under the following heads.

1. This Act arranges all the Inhabitants of India under three
classes : 1, Hindus ; 2, Mohammedans ; 3, all who belong to neither
of these two classes.

2. This Act is to be applied to the latter class.

3. But it is not applicable to such persons in the 3d class who are
resident within the local jurisdiction of Her Majesty's Supreme
Courts.

4. By a fair inference it renders marriages celebrated by dis-
senting ministers legal.

5. It provides that a Heathen or Mohammedan changing his religi-
on shall not thereby forfeit his property.

6. But this is only applicable to converts residing without the local
jurisdiction of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts. And

7. Converts in the Mofussil after receiving justice from the Courts
of the East India Company, may have it denied them in the Supreme
Court to which they may in every case be summoned by appeal.

J845

CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY. 175

xntellignur.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
(COMMUNICATED.)

AT a general meeting of subscribing members of the Madras Diocesan
Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, on Ja-
nuary 29th, 1845, the report and accounts for the past year were pre-
sented, and the following resolutions unanimously adopted.

I. That the Report now read be adopted and printed for distribution
to the subscribing members and friends of the church, and of the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge ; and this meeting desire
to express their high gratification, and their thankfulness to God, for
the progressive extension of the influence and labour of this Society
in Southern India.

II. That this meeting desire especially to record their satisfaction
at the large distribution of the Holy Scriptures, of the Liturgy, and
of religious and school books, and also at the very great extension
of education, and particularly of female education, under the patron-
age of the Venerable Society.

III. That this meeting contemplate also with much gratification,
the proposed publication of a large edition of a revised version of the
entire book of Common Prayer in the Tamil language, and they trust
that an unexceptionable Telugu version of the Liturgy may, ere
long, be available for publication.

IV. That this meeting, while they express their best thanks to the
Select Committee for their past efforts in the promotion of Christian
Knowledge, beg to recommend a renewed appeal to the friends of
the church and of the Society, with a view not only to the mainte-
nance of the present educational establishment, but to the extension
of Christian education among the Natives, and especially the Native
females.

V. That the particular acknowledgments of the Diocesan Com-
mittee be conveyed to the Rev. Vincent Shortland, B. D., for his able
discharge of the Office of Secretary during the past year.

(Signed) H. HARPER,

Cluiirman.

]76 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. March

VI. That the thanks of the meeting be offered to the chairman.

The following brief extract from the Report exhibits the extent of
the operations of the Society in Southern India, in the year 1844.

In conclusion, the committee would thus recapitulate and sum up
the labours which, in the Providence of God, they have been permit-
ted to accomplish during the past year.

Grants to Seminaries, 1079 14 3

Do. for Boys' Schools, - - 2940 1.5 6

Do. for Girls' Schools, 2199 13 2

Do. for Churches and School Buildings, 36b7

Value of Books granted gratuitously to 231 Schools, containing

5735 Boys and 11 38 Girls, - - - - - - - 4339 6

Total Rupees 14,246 11 5

Number of Schools receiving grants in money or books,
Number of Children Boys, ------

Girls,

Total Boys and Girls under instruction,
( Holy Scriptures, ------

Books issued,-^ Liturgy, ------

( Other Books,

Total Books issued, -

The subscriptions, which were in 1842, only Rupees 620, and in
1843, Rupees 2335-8-0, amounted last year to Rupees 4404-5-8, viz,
for General purposes, Rupees 2357-5-8, and for the 'Native Educa-
tion Fund,' Rupees 2047.

The committee trust this summary, although far from complete,
will acquit them of unfaithfulness in the judgment of the friends
of the church and of the Society, in the stewardship committed to
them, and they would beg the earnest prayers of those who desire
the extension of the kingdom of Christ, that they may be increasingly
faithful, diligent, and successful in the present, and every succeeding
year.

They beg to tender their sincere thanks to those who have en-
trusted them with funds to carry on this great work, and they would
earnestly solicit a continuation of their kind contributions, especially
on behalf of the 'NATIVE EDUCATION FUND,' that they may be ena-
bled to proceed with zeal and confidence in the maintenance of
CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS and in the publication of the Holy Scripture*,
which are given by inspiration of God, and are able to make us wise
unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

MADRAS TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY. 177

MADRAS TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY.

THE twenty-sixth anniversary of this Institution was held agreeably
to appointment on the evening of the 5th ultimo, at the Davidson
Street Chapel. The attendance was unusually good.

The preliminary religious exercises were conducted by the Rev.
M. BOWIE, M. A., Senior Chaplain of the Scotch Church.

A. F. BRUCE, Esq. kindly presided, who upon taking the chair, made
a few appropriate remarks on the benefits that had resulted from the
efforts of this Society, and the claim it justly had upon the united
support of all those who desire to see truth advance among this
erring and morally debased people.

The Annual Report was then read by the Secretary, Rev. F. D. W.
WARD, M. A. The following are a few of its most important state-
ments :

1. Tracts printed since the last anniversary, 43 ; of which 21 are
original, and 22 re-prints. Books, 2; one original, and one a re-
print.

2. Whole number of tracts in the Native languages printed during
the year, 205,500 ; issued, 213,910; bound volumes, 2,361 ; school-
books, 4,131. Total number of tracts, bound volumes, and school-
books, 220,461.

3. Grants of tracts have been made to fifty-five persons, to one
missionary station, and to two associate Tract Societies.

4. Sets of the Society's publications have been presented to each
of the missionary stations in Southern India, and the consequence of
which has been a demand, not before existing, for large purchases of
books.

5. Replies to the annual 'Circular letter' have been received from
many missionaries, from which we learn that: (1) An increasing
demand for Christian tracts and books exists in all directions. (2)
Great general good and several instances of special spiritual benefit
have attended the publications sent forth (six instances are named
and detailed). (3) The text and school books of the Society are much
used by catechists and in schools. (4) The disposition to purchase
books is slowly on the advance.

6. A small balance remains in the treasury, but the continued pe-

178 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. March

cuniary contributions of friends are required to render the Society
increasingly useful.

The following Resolutions were then proposed and unanimously
adopted.

1st Resolution 'That the Report be adopted and printed, under the
direction of the committee, and that, in the opinion of this meeting,
it is the privilege and duty of all Christians to acquaint themselves,
as far as possible, with the transactions of this Society and kindred
institutions of Christian benevolence.' Moved by the Rev. J. BRAID-
WOOD, A. M., of the Free Church of Scotland, and seconded by the
Rev. W. PORTER, of the Independent Chapel.

2d Resolution 'That a review of the transactions of this Society
from its commencement, and especially during the past year of
its history, affords ample subjects for sincere gratitude to the
Author of all good, and that with devout thanksgiving for what
the Lord has, through its instrumentality, done for the souls of our
fellow-men, we will continue to it during the coming year our
pecuniary support and our prayers for that influence without which
all its labours will prove ineffectual.' Moved by the Rev. W.
GRANT, Missionary of the Church of Scotland, and seconded by
D. MACKENZIE, Esq.

3d Resolution 'That this Society aims not at the furtherance of
any one branch of the Protestant Church, but is intended for Chris-
tians of all Evangelical creeds. As such it is entitled to the prayers
and co-operation of all who love the truth as it is in Jesus.' Moved
by the Rev. J. H. GRAY, A. B., Missionary of the Church Missionary
Society, and seconded by the Rev. H. M. SCUDDER, of the American
Missionary Society.

Wi Resolution 'That the thanks of the meeting are due to the
gentlemen who conducted the affairs of the Society during the past
year, and that the following be the Office-bearers for the year to
come.' Moved by Colonel LA WE, of the Engineers, and seconded by
the Rev. A. LEITCH, of the London Missionary Society.

MESSRS. BAINBRIDGE AND Co., Treasurers.

REV. F. D. W. WARD, A. M., Secretary.

D. MACKENZIE, Esq., Assistant Secretary and Depositary.

REV. A. LEITCH, Editor oftJie Tamil Magazine.

1845 - LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 179

General Committee.

LIEUT. COL. R. ALEXANDER, REV. A. LEITCH,

REV. J. ANDERSON, REV. E. LEWIS,

REV. J. BRAIDWOOD, A. M. D. MACKENZIE, ESQ.

LIEUT. COL. C. A. BROWNE, Z. MACAULAT, Esq.

REV. R. CARVER, REV. J. OGILVIE, A. M.

MAJOR J. CRISP, REV. W. PORTER,

REV. J. H. ELOUIS, CAPT. M. J. ROWLANDSON,

REV. W. GRANT, REV. J. ROBERTS,

REV. R. D. GRIFFITH, REV. II. M. SCUDDER,

REV. R. K. HAMILTON, A. M. CAPT. W. G. WOODS,

REV. S. HA.RDEY, REV. F. D. W. WARD, A. M.

REV. R. JOHNSTON, REV. M. WINSLOW, A. M.

Sub- Committee of Revision.

REV. A. LEITCH, REV. S. HARDEY,

REV. E. LEWIS, REV. F. D. W. WARD, A. M.

REV. R. D. GRIFFITH, REV. M. WINSLOW, A. M.

Addresses, full of instruction and interest, were made by the Rev.
Messrs. Braidwood, Porter, Grant, Gray, and Col. Lawe,, which were
listened to with the attention and seriousness that they justly deserv-
ed. One of the newspapers of the day styled the meeting the 'most
numerously attended, and most interesting anniversary of the Society
that had yet been held in Madras.' The amount collected at the end
of the meeting doubled that of the last year.

MADRAS AUXILIARY (LONDON) MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

THE twenty-ninth anniversary meeting of this Society was held on
Wednesday, the 12th February, at Davidson's Street Chapel. Pre-
paratory sermons were preached on the Lord's day previous, in the
morning by the Rev. A. LEITCH, from Psalm ex. 1; in the evening by
the Rev. R. D. GRIFFITH, from Romans i. 14. The impression pro-
duced, we trust, will be long retained.

The public meeting was opened with singing, and prayer was of-
fered by the Rev. W. PORTER. The Rev. M. BOWIE, M. A., of the
Scotch Church, presided over the meeting. He prefaced the pro-
ceedings of the evening, with a very interesting account of the pro-
gress and present state of Missions in South Africa, from which colo-

180 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

March

ny he had recently returned. He adverted to the state of education
there, its extensive diffusion, its religious character, and its beneficial
results. He detailed the inconveniences and benefits which the
Emancipation Act of 1838 had produced. It was not without its
evils ; the slave-owners were suddenly deprived of the help which had
become absolutely necessary to comfort and respectability; they were
left without a servant to cook their food, to prune their vines, to tent
their cattle, to plough their fields, or to reap their harvest. But the
advantages of the Emancipation Act, were great and many. It had
filled the schools with children, and the land with mission .churches,
attended by large numbers requiring and seeking pastoral supervision ;
it had roused the Dutch themselves to habits of industry, the cri-
minal calendar had greatly diminished, the occasion had been re-
moved for treason and desertion on the part of the slave, and for
tyranny and oppression on the part of his master. 'These,' observed
the chairman, 'are great benefits, but slavery has left a scar behind.
The coloured population are commonly excluded from the churches
of the Dutch, and even from schools, into which if one coloured
child were admitted, the school would be immediately broken up.'
Caste among the Hindus is offensive, but for Christians to shut out
their fellow-men from the means of grace, and to throw obstacles in
their way to the kingdom of heaven, on account of a distinction
which God has not made, this is a scandal to Christianity which all
should discountenance and seek to remove.

The Report was then read by the Secretary, and the following
Resolutions moved, seconded, and unanimously adopted.

Moved by the Rev. R. D. Griffith, and seconded by the Rev. J.
Braidwood, A. M.

1. That the Report now read be received and adopted : and that
this meeting desires gratefully to acknowledge the goodness of God,
vouchsafed to this and kindred institutions during the past year.

Moved by the Rev. F. D. W. JFard, A. M., and seconded by the
Rev. A. Leitch.

2. That this meeting regards the virulent opposition to the cause of
Christian missions, that during the past year has been manifested by
the Native community, and in some cases even by those who bear
the Christian name, as evidences, that the truth is effectually under-
mining the idolatry of the land ; and would earnestly pray for the
out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, that converts, numerous as the drops
of morning dew, may be the saving results of the missionary efforts
of the Christian church.

m5 - LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 181

Moved by the Rev. J. Anderson, and seconded by the Rev. /.
Ogilvie, M. A.

3. That this meeting recognizes the pure seed of evangelical truth
as that alone which Christian missions should scatter abroad ; and
ceasing from man, but humbly depending on Divine aid, pledges
itself to more simplicity of aim, more personal devotedness, and more
persevering and believing prayer, in the weighty matter of seeking
the world's conversion.

Moved by the Rev. H. M. Scudder, and seconded by the Rev.
W. Porter.

4. That the following gentlemen constitute the Committee and
Officers of the Society for the ensuing year.

REV. W. PORTER, MR. R, MITCHELL,

REV. A. LEITCH, MR. W. MILLER,

REV. E. LEWIS, MR. J. B. PHAROAH,

MR. P. CARSTAIRS, MR. G. VANSOMEREN,

MR. G. E. JOHNSTON, MR, S. SYMONDS,

MR. E, MARSDEN, MR. E. MAHONY, Treasurer.
MR. B. LACEY, Secretary.

The Rev. R. D. GRIFFITH moved the first resolutioh. He consi-
dered the Report as ably written, and as the better portion of the
evening's proceedings. He -thought it should be adopted, because it
was a record of Christian liberality, because it detailed the labours
of the missionaries, and because it gave evidence that the work in
which they were engaged was advancing.

The Rev. J. BRAIDWOOD, in seconding the resolution, spoke of
the way in which the Report was drawn up, it was just as it should
be, neither too short nor too long, it was of an interesting character,
and the interest was kept up to the end. It was a delightful fact
that so many children of both sexes (from 800 to 900) were receiving
a Christian education in Madras and the stations immediately con-
nected with it. It appeared from the Report that some cases in the
Native church called for discipline, this fact though painful in itself,
showed that the missionaries were mindful of the purity, which
ought ever to characterize the church of Christ, and would doubtless
work in the end for good. Mr. Braidwood was glad that his brethren
could present so interesting a report of their labours, and wished
them more abundant success.

The Rev. F. D. W. WARD moved the second resolution, and
spoke at some length on the virulent opposition manifested by the
heathen to Christianity during the past year. This opposition was
No. 3. z

]82 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. March

not to be wondered at, when the great difference between paganism
and Christianity was duly considered, the two systems were as far
removed from each other, as the east is from the west ; and were the
opposition ten times as fierce as it now is, we need not be surprised.
He thought the bitter opposition now shown by the heathen to Chris-
tianity, was less formidable than that death-like slumber in which for
a long time they were held, and from which it seemed impossible to
arouse them. He was glad to see a spirit of discussion at length
evoked, because he had no doubt that Christianity would ultimately
triumph.

The Rev. A. LEITCH seconded the resolution, and spoke with
great fervour of the enmity now manifested by the heathen to Chris-
tianity. It was more fierce than many imagined it to be, we were
not to calculate on an easy victory, but to give ourselves afresh for
the conflict.

The Rev. J. ANDERSOIV, in moving the third resolution, said he
did not feel himself called upon to express his views, of agreement or
disagreement, on what had been said by preceding speakers; it was
our duty he said to go on sowing 'the pure seed of Evangelical truth,'
though it yielded but little fruit, it was enough if only one soul were
saved. The seed must be scattered by man, man must have a hand in
it, and God must have the glory. Conversion especially in this country
is a standing miracle, it is a miracle too that our converts are not
only brought into the church but kept in it. The several points of
the resolution were distinctly brought out, and pressed upon the
attention of the meeting.

No time was left for the three remaining speakers, who simply
moved, or seconded the resolutions given them. The chairman
pronounced the apostolic benediction, which closed the proceedings
of the evening.

We wish we had space for a full report of this interesting meeting,
both for the benefit of those who were absent, and to refresh the
memories of those who were present. We are sure such meetings
will do good. The money raised is a small consideration, when com-
pared with the interest they create, and the zeal which they generate.

OVERLAND ATHE^UM. We have been favoured -with a copy of the first
number of the Over/and Alhenagnm. It is ;i valuable compendium of Indian
news, information of a religious kind is not overlooked, the type is excellent,
the editor's remarks are well written, and the epitome of news will be read
with great interest by our many English friends who take a special notice
of what is passing on this wide field of observation. We hope its enter-

1845 ECCLESIASTICAL MOVEMENTS. 183

prising proprietor will receive the encouragement he so justly deserves in his
new undertaking.

We have been requested to correct an error in our last number. The
collection at the anniversary meeting of the Madras Auxiliary Bible Society
was Rupees 223-8-1, instead of 233-8-1.

BOMBAY BAPTISM AT ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH. We are much pleased 1 to
be able to state that the Rev. G. Cook baptized, on Monday the 30th Decem-
ber last, a Native of Madras, named Ragoo, of Hindu parents. The following
particulars which have been kindly furnished us will be found interesting:

About nine years ago he entered the service of a gentleman in the Madras
Civil Service. During the period of his residence in the family of his master,
he had the privilege to hear every Sunday the preaching of one of the
AVesleyan Native preachers of the Negapatam Mission. Being a young man
of quick parts, he was soon observed to listen with marked attention to the
simple but energetic discourses of the missionary, delivered in the Tamil
language. In a short time he asked for a Tamil copy of the Scriptures, and
of the Wesleyan Tamil Prayer-book. These he constantly read, and soon
began to see the foolishness of heathenism, and to understand and appreciate
the pure and simple doctrines of the New Testament.

Shortly after this marked change had been wrought on his mind, he went
to England, and on his return requested that lie might be admitted by bap-
tism as a member of Christ's church on earth. Having accompanied his
master to Bombay, he was brought under the notice of the Rev. G. Cook,
who in frequent communications with him had ample opportunity of trying
the amount of his knowledge of the Christian religion, and was impressed
with the apparent depth and sincerity of his religious convictions. Being
fully satisfied on these points, he yielded readily to Ragoo's earnest wish to
be baptized; and accordingly on Monday evening the 30th December, 1044,
in the presence of the Kirk Session of St. Andrew's Church and a few friends,
on whom the modest, intelligent, and deeply serious demeanour of the
convert made a most favourable impression, administered to him the Sacra-
ment of Baptism, in the hope that, by the blessing of God, the name assumed
by him in thus formally forsaking heathenism, and professing the Gospel,
is written in the book of the Lamb in heaven. This is one bright example of
the advantage of affording to our heathen servants, when practicable, opportu-
nities of hearing the word of God in their own language on the Lord's clay in
their masters' houses a rule which, if more generally observed, might lead,
under God's blessing, to many such cases as that now brought under notice.
Bombay Witness, January 9.

ECCLESIASTICAL AND MISSIONARY MOVEMHNTS.

THE Rev. J. Bilderbeck, Mrs. Lewis, the wife of the Rev. E. Lewis of the
London Missionary Society, and four orphan children of the late Rev. G.
Walton, sailed for England in the Wellington, on the 8th of February. Mrs.
Lewis is compelled to visit her native land for the restoration of her health,

184 RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. March, 1840.

the four young Waltons will be placed for education, in the Mission Schools
tit Waltham Stow.

The three Missionaries from the Established Church of Scotland (the Rev.
Messrs. Grant and Ogilvie, and Mr. Sherriff,) whose arrival we announced in our
last number, have opened their 'Missionary and Educational Institution,' and
have taken for the purpose a suitable house on the Esplanade. We welcome
them as fellow-labourers in our Master's vineyard, and pray that a large por-
tion of the Divine blessing may rest upon their efforts.

Calcutta. We regret to learn that Bishop Wilson is compelled to leave
India on account of ill health. He is, we understand, to leave this country
for Europe by the May Steamer. He will, it is expected, be absent two years.
C. C. Advocate.

It is our mournful duty to record the removal by death of the wives of two
of our devoted brethren, Mrs. Shuck, the wife of the Rev. J. Shuck, of the
American Baptist Mission, at Hong-Kong; and Mrs. Batchelor, of the Ame-
rican Free- Will Baptist Mission, in Orissa. Mrs. Shuck died on the 23d of
November, and Mrs. Batchelor on the 20th January. Their end was peace.

The following friends sailed for Europe since our last : Rev. W. S. Mackay
and family, on the Agincourt; the Rev. W. IT. Meiklejohn and Mrs. M.,
Rev. R. C. Mather and family, on the Southampton; Mrs. Campbell, on the
Afaidslone; Mrs. Smith and children, and Mrs. Penny and family, on the
Gloriana. May the Lord Jehovah bless, guide, keep and restore them all.
C. C. Observer.

Bombay. The Rev. Dr. Stevenson, of St. Andrew's Church, Bombay, ar-
rived by last Steamer. He has returned among us in good health. May he
long be strengthened to help forward the progress of the gospel both among
Europeans and Natives.

The Rev. A. G. Eraser, Minister of the 'Free Scotch Church,' Bombay, is
expected out in the beginning of March.

The Rev. J. M. Mitchell has gone with the Rev. S. Hislop to Nagpur, to
advise with and aid him in the establishment of the new mission at that sta-
tion. The Rev. James Aitken, in the mean time, is happily present to supply
his place.

The Rev. E. Burgess, of the American Mission, Ahmednuggur, returns home
by the February Steamer for the benefit of his health. He will have much to
tell his countrymen of grace and joy in connexion with the station he has left.

The Rev. W. Flower, of Surat, has gone to sea for the benefit of his health.
Oriental Christian Spectator.

MISSIONARY PRAYER MEETING.

THE Address at the Meeting on the 3d ultimo, was delivered by the Rev. H. M. SCUDDER
at the Hall of the Free Church Institution, on 'The Character of John the Baptist as an
example for Christian Missionaries.'

The Meeting on the 3d instant is to be at the Davidson Street Chapel. Address by the
Rev. F. D. W. WAKD, M. A. Subject, ' JPusilion and Duties of Chrittiant residing in a
Heathen Community.'

KALIE

L ibkogra^hfd >r the, Madras Christian, I
'

KALEE. XXXI

i a I e e.

Plate 7.

SIVA, in one of his manifestations, is known by the name Kala, which
signifies, primarily, any thing of a dark colour, as black, or dark blue.
In its accommodated use this word means time, and hence the
Tamil word Mlum, snetiib. Kala is also one of the names of Yama,
regent of the dead ; and sometimes it signifies death itself. It is an
appellation given to Siva as the destroyer, and suggests the diabolical
and sanguinary deeds reported of him. As the Sacli, or consort of
Siva in this form, Durga is denominated Kalee. In the Puranas, as
well as in the more popular writings of the Hindus, minute accounts
are to be found of the bloody and malignant actions of this goddess.
In all respects she sustains her character as the associate of Siva in
his worst and most terrific aspects. Accordingly we find that in
the representation of her, no epithet is considered to be too degrad-
ing, and no symbol too loathsome. Sanguinary and malevolent as
she is, however, she is one of the favourite deities of the Hindus.

In this as in most other cases, the Sactis of the gods of the Hindus
are but modifications of their original ; the peculiarities of the pri-
mitive type are traceable in its various aspects. The differences that
appear between them are but historical and temporary ; and do not
extend to their essential and distinctive qualities. The features of
Kalee are to be found softened and subdued in Durga. The attributes
of the one are but the more bold and vigorous developments of the
other. N

Kalee, as her name implies, is black she has four arms, in each of
which she bears a weapon. The instruments with which she is
usually equipped, are the sword, the trident, the club, and the
shield ; from which it may be inferred that she was accustomed to
close combat, more than to any other mode of warfare. The wea-
pons with which she appears in the accompanying plate, are called,
attlrum, ^^^rrtb, in contradistinction to which, missiles of what-
ever description, are called sattcrum, &s;,nib. A dead body hangs
from each of her ears. Human skulls strung together form her neck-
lace ; and the hands of slaughtered giants interleaved with each
other, compose her girdle. Her eye-brows are matted and stained
with blood, and her breasts are represented as streaming with the
gore of monsters, whom she has just torn to pieces, and devoured.
Such is the thirst of Ka4ee for blood, that it is recorded, that, on one

XXXli KALEE.

occasion, when it could not be obtained from victims, she cut her
own throat, and drank the blood that gushed from it. With the
offerings of fruit and vegetables, we are told, that she is not to be
satisfied or propitiated. The male deities of the Hindus seldom
exact more than the oblation of milk and rice, and the other simple
products of the soil ; but Kalee demands the sacrifice of goats, and
other animals, and is believed to be especially pleased when her
altars are inundated with human blood. In the Kalika Purana, (a
work said to have been dictated by Siva himself) there is, a minute
detail of the manner and rewards of sacrificing to her, not only
animals, and birds, and fishes, but human beings also. To Kalee
more than to any other of the malignant progeny of Siva, the immo-
lation of men was acceptable. The offering of one man delights
her a thousand years ; the sacrifice of three together, prolongs that
delight as many centuries. It is stated by the Abbe du Bois that
"though it is not permitted to offer men in holocausts," the remem-
brance of those sanguinary sacrifices is in many places kept up to
this day, by "forming a human figure of flour-paste or clay, which
the people carry into the temple, and there cut off its head, or muti-
late it, in various ways in presence of the idol." The invocation
which the priest uttered before he slew the victim was as follows:
"Hail, Kalee Kalee ! hail, Devi, hail goddess of thunder, iron sceptred,
hail ! fierce Kalee, Kalee, cut, cut, slay, destroy the hateful, bind,
bind, secure, cut with this axe, drink blood, destroy, destroy. Salu-
tation to Kalee."*

The annual feast, known by Europeans as the Swinging feast, is
celebrated in honor of this goddess. In Bengal it is called Ckarak Pu-
jah : in the Camatic it is known by the name Cheddel, G<y (_&>, which
is properly the name of the instrument or machine used in the feast,
rather than of the feast itself. A lengthened description of the aus-
terities endured by the devotees, and the useless and brutal ceremo-
nies observed in this festival, were unnecessary, as they are more or
less familiar to residents in this country. It may, however, be inter-
esting to notice, that Brahmins, Kshatryas, and Vaishyas, do not
submit to the ordeal of the cheddel. Martyrdom by this process
were too painful, if not too humiliating for them. The preparations
imposed upon the patient are numerous ; he has to undergo extraor-
dinary ablutions, and to make offerings at the shrines of the temple ;
and what to a poor man would be yet less tolerable, he has to pay
out of his own resources the fees exacted of him by the priest and

* It is a singular circumstance that a man may be immolated by proxy by substituting
a bull, or a goat.

KALEE. XXXni

his underlings, for the degradation and exposure to which he submits.
At the appointed time he is supplied with potations of bang, under
the exciting influence of which, in conjunction with the fanaticism
induced by the occasion, he is worked into a state of phrensy, bor-
dering on madness. In this condition he is conducted into the tem-
ple, and after the customary muntrums are over, the priest grasps the
large muscles that lie on either side of his back (latissimus dorsi), and
inserts beneath them a long, and sharp pointed hook which being
connected to the arm of the cheddel, he is raised amid the shouts of
the people. The cheddel itself is a long beam planted perpendicu-
larly in the ground, on the top of which swings transversely another
beam about twice its length. It is to this that the devotee is fasten-
ed, and by a somewhat rude management raised to a considerable
height, and then by a circular movement of the lower arm of the
beam is made to move through a corresponding circle in the air.

It is however an error to suppose that the sufferings of the devotee
are great The muscles under which the hooks pass, are so formed
as to sustain a greater weight than that of the human body without
much inconvenience. This opinion was confirmed by an examination
which we had opportunity not long ago of making, of the back of a
man, who had been on the cheddel the day preceding. His back
was not torn, nor disfigured; the muscles had recovered their posi-
tion, and the orifices of the hooks had closed, and become hard.
This man had "been up" six years successively, and on its being re-
marked that in a few years more there would be no part of his back
through which the hooks would not have passed, he observed, "when
there is no place here (pointing to his back) they shall thrust them
into my sides."

Cholera and other epidemics are supposed to be inflicted by Kalee.
The priest when propitiating her, wears jon each of his hands, an
oblong, hollow, metallic ring, containing slugs of the same material,
by shaking which a shrill clatter is created, which with the frantic
incantations of the priest himself gives an air of wildness to the
entire ceremony.* Kalee is the tutelary deity of the Thugs. For
their murderous projects they find in her an approving and ever
present patroness. To her they consecrate their instruments of vio-
lence ; and on their schemes of plunder, and blood-shed, they invoke
her aid.

* So the ancient raystagogne.

"Procul 6 procul cstc profani
"Conclamat vates, totaque absistite luco.
"Tantum effata, furens antro se immisit aperfo."

Vir. Lib. iri. 258.

KALEE.

The character of Kalee is replete with allusions that do not ap-
pear at first sight. She is Time ! As such, in some of her represen-
tations, two of her hands only are employed in the work of destruc-
tion, whilst one of the other two points to the desolation that sur-
rounds her, and the other points upwards, betokening the renovation
that shall eventually take place. Did the Hindu mythologist obtain a
glimpse of that which is so well understood by good men in our day
that there are cycles in God's moral administration, as well as in his
material works that the world is to be reclaimed ere it shall come to
pass that "time shall be no longer ?" If so, whence ? Of Kal, how-
ever, it is said in one of the Puranas, "Kal, devouring himself, shall
cease to be, and nothing shall remain ; but Brahm, the eternal one."
The accordance of this sentiment with that of St. Paul in 1 Cor.
xv. 28, is more than accidental.

As Siva corresponds with Pluto, so does Kalee with Proserpine,
who was queen of hell, and presided over death. Southey's des-
cription of the Mexitli of the Mexicans may, with some slight altera-
tions, be applied to Kalee.

"On a huge throne with four huge silver snakes
As if the keeper of the sanctuary
Circled, 'with stretching neck and fangs displayed,
Mexitli sate ; another graven snake
Belted with scales of gold his monstrous bulk.
Around his neck a loathsome collar hung
Of human hearts ; the face was masked with gold ;
His specular eyes seemed fire ; one hand up reared
A club, the other, as in battle, held
The shield , and over all suspended hung
The banner of the nation."

The following are some of the many names of Kalee : Algykodde-
yal, <?>{6065>,sffiGs/ito_uj;i6rr, the goddess whose banner has represent-
ed upon it a demon. Arane, g^trestf, goddess by law. Gungallee,
srasnerf. Gundalee, g6fort_ff5. Gumaree, gujff. Sandeekey, &&&
ip_60)<5. Samundee, &nLpefr>rty-. Suree, g^fi. Sulee, ggS. Taruga-
settal, ^nnjsrDGffrD/rjSTT. Nelee, /fetf, she who is black. Pathumey,
u!6v>LD. Patteree, upgfr. Mathupathe, wgiug. Mathangee, ten
piEi. Matharee, mn^if. Mayey, ujnsoii/. Malinee, LDneSevf. Muk-
kannee, /^aacecressf. Yamaley, mniDoen. Yaleeyoorthee, nj/ierfiynvf.
Yoginnee, Qm&eaf. Vallannange, 6U606\)655T/E/g. Veree, cSfr. Va-
thalee,

MADRAS CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTOR

AND

MISSIONARY RECORD.

Vol. III. APRIL, 1845. No. 4.

The Identity of Popery and Paganism,

An Address delivered in the Scotch Church, January 6, 1845.

BY THE REV. JOSEPH ROBERTS,

Author of 'Oriental Illustrations of the Sacred Scriptures,' and Corresponding Member of tha
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

(Continued.}

AND now, third, we call your attention to the penances of dif-
ferent creeds.

1. And here we observe that the Scriptures, containing the
most ancient records of primitive idolatry, give us indubitable
evidence of the requirements of paganism, to torture the body
to secure the favour of the gods ; thus with the priests of Baal, be-
cause they had not received any answer to their prayers, began to
'cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the
blood gushed out upon them ;' thinking if the blood of the bullock
could not bring compassion, that from their bodies might, and
would secure the blessing. We see also that those who were
mourning for the dead, in order to show the intensity of their
grief, to make an atonement for sin, and ease the departed, mu-
.tilated themselves, as we find in Leviticus, 'Ye shall not make any
cuttings in your flesh for the dead;' proving there had been some
inclination to that practice, and that it was displeasing to the
Most High. And the reason why they were prohibited the cus-
No. 4. A a

186 THE IDENTITY OF A V ril

torn was this : they were not, as the heathen, serving false gods, but
as the Great Lawgiver said, 'Ye are the children of the Lord your
God, ye shall not cut yourselves for the dead.' It is also evident
from Jeremiah that the Jews in their idolatrous imitations had
adopted this practice to 'cut themselves,' and in the same book
there is an account of eighty men who had done this, as tokens
of their sorrow, and were actually at that time taking offerings
'to the house of the Lord.' And in predicting the defeats of
Philistia in the destruction of Tyre and Sidon, the question is
proposed to show the hopelessness of the case, 'how long wilt
thou cut thyself?' it is of no use, thy calamity shall not be avert-
ed. Then of the profligate Moabites whose country was to be
ravaged, and themselves given to be the sport of their conquerors,
it was said 'upon all the hands shall be cuttings,' to denote
the poignancy of their grief and the failure of their plans.
Lev. xix. 28. Jer. xvi. 6 j and chap. xlii. 5 j Ixvii. 5 ; xlviii. 7.

2. Babylon was the mother-city of Asiatic heathenism, and
all the leading features of that system are discernible in the east
at this day. Astrology, magic, demonology, gods and demi-gods,
the government of days, weeks, months, and years, the sacred
fires, propitiatory offerings, are believed and practised at the
present period. The oriental pagans assert that nothing can
operate so powerfully with the divinities and demons, as the
punishment and mortification of their own persons ; for seeing
this devotion in mortals they yield to their sufferings and grant
them all they can require. In the Scanda Purana, one of their
most sacred books, never yet translated, it is written 'there is
nothing greater than penance, there is nothing equal to it, there
is no treasure worth seeking in comparison to it. If I must say
it, to penance, penance itself is the only comparison.' And if
in a work almost equal in authority with the Hindus, as the
Bible is with us, such a statement is made and believed ; if
nothing done on earth can have so much influence in heaven, or
in hell ; if there is nothing greater or equal ; if all other treasures
and sacrifices are mean in comparison to it; if it is so great that
no terrestrial object can measure its value : then what must be
its claims, what its cntailments to those who obey ? Here is tho

POPERY AND PAGANISM. J 87

secret of the almost-unheard-of atrocities in tlie east, making
sinful man the atoning victim to a sinless God. Some of the
demons are described as delighting to welter in human gore, yes,
says the devotee of the evil spirit, 'he loves the blood and the
smell of food made by burning : here are incisions in my breast,
come, and I will give blood by cutting my throat.' Hence it is in
every country where Hinduism prevails, we meet with this fright-
ful exemplification of penance. Here is a wretch whose arm
has been lifted up to the heavens for many years, it points in
devotion to the gods and is believed to secure their favour. Its
size is now greatly diminished, as there is scarcely anything left
but muscle, skin, and bone ; the fluids have a lazy movement, and
to restore the whole to its original position would be impossible,
as it is perfectly stiff and the tension is so great, that nothing
but amputation could take away the unsightly object. There is
another, who has determined to swing : a long pole is fastened in
the ground, bearing one horizontally on its top, which turns
on a pivot ; two strong hooks are fastened in the skin, to which
cords are lashed, and then tied to the end of the pole. The
victim is now elevated in the air, and whirled round "three times,
amidst the songs and prayers of the Brahmins, and the exulta-
tions of ten thousand tongues. Again he descends to the earth,
and the maddened multitudes press to touch his sacred person,
or roll in his footsteps and his blood. There is a rival stepping
through the fire to propitiate the blessed or the damned ; there
stands one who has been for months in that position, without
ever reclining until his legs become so swollen and weak, as
not to be able to support the body; and therefore ropes are
fastened under his arms, to keep up his exhausted frame ; there
sits another with silver wires drawn through his cheeks, and here
a desperado holding a torch to his arms and breast with a coun-
tenance so fixed, so stern, he seems unmoved by his sufferings ;
and near his side there is one with a fire on his head : and there
stalks another in sullen pride whose tongue is slit in two ; and
at a short distance is a companion who has vowed perpetual
silence till he shall reach the abodes of the gods, nor would
ought on earth ever induce him again to utter a single sound of
human speech. There dances a spiritual maniac in honour of his

]88 THE IDENTITY OF A i )ril

deity with cords drawn betwixt the skin and the ribs. There is
one with a square frame about his neck like, some caitiff in the
pillory : and here reclines another who has been repressing his
breath till his eyes are ready to start from their sockets ; and
there paces a shameless monster who has sworn he will forever
go in nudity ; and never more cut his hair, or pare his nails ;
and there stands another on his head till, insensible, he falls on
the ground ; and here comes a poor groping creature, whose
eyes are sightless by gazing on the blazing sun ; there rolls a mise-
rable wight, with his naked body on thorns ; and there are others
who are striving to outrace him that they may first gain the conse-
crated goal. ! what a scene is that, how they pant and cry to
their gods ! And Abbe Dubois, papist as he was, tells us of a
fakeer he saw coming from a low shed with a handful of long
needles flattened towards the points and curved like those used
for packing bales. The hero of penance examined each needle
separately, and rubbed it carefully with cocoanut oil, having put
in the eye a coarse cotton thread. He then deliberately thrust
them one by one, through the fleshy part of his body, till it
looked like the back of a porcupine. Having done this he
danced about for several minutes with great energy till the per-
spiration rolled from him in streams. Now apparently over-
come by his exertions he called for a light, set fire to the threads
on his legs, which soon put the other in a blaze and for a few
seconds made the whole body appear in a flame. True it con-
tinued but for a short time, but when it subsided his back was
greatly scorched. He then took out the needles, rubbed the
wounds with cocoanut oil, and declared he was ready for another
torture.

3. The Greeks and Romans, mad as they were on their idols,
and indebted as they had been for much of their mythology to
Egypt and Asia, still appear not to have been so rampant in self-
mortification as their predecessors ; they had perhaps more sense,
were more philosophical than to go to such extremes ; but still
they had sufficient left to prove the connexion of the superstitions.
Amongst the Lacedemonians, when a king died, the people met
in a promiscuous assembly, and with pins and needles tore the

1845 - POPERY AND PAGANISM. 189

flesh from their foreheads.* They used also to lacerate their
faces and make furrows with their nails; thus the sister of Dido
'tears her soft cheeks, and beats her panting breast.' Then there
was the A//usT/y<y<r*s or the 'whipping feast,' when five youths
of noble birth were scourged before the altar in the presence of
their parents, who exhorted them to bear it with constancy."]" There
were others who ran about without clothes in the midst of winter,
and some marched with grotesque caps on their heads, j The
priests of Isis had to walk barefoot, and to repose on the ground,
having the leaves of palms for their beds, and a bench for their
pillow ; and during the time of sacrifice had to flog their own
persons. When once initiated they abstained from flesh and
wine, and refused to drink milk, calling it blood of another colour;
and also rejected eggs because they 'contained liquid flesh;' and
sometimes they had to fast two or three days.|| As to Bellona,
the goddess of war, her rites were very sanguinary, the priests
having to propitiate her with their own blood. They held in their
hands 'naked swords with which they cut their shoulders,' and
particularly made incisions in the thigh. In the feast of Luper-
calia they walked naked and masked and carried scourges.
And what is remarkable, some of the penances were performed by
proxy, so that others might participate in the merit of the suffer-
ing.U

4. And lastly we turn once more to Papal Rome, and see her
ravenous in her course ; dashing along with a fearful scowl, she
claims as her right our sighs and tears, and blood : remorse never
seized her soul ; pity has no place there, she revels in human woe,
and proudly points to her mangled victims, as the certain source
of heavenly wealth ; she insults Jehovah, throws the gauntlet
against Calvary, and impiously demands what God alone can
have, uncontrolled property in man. And this cruel usurpation
accords with the other parts of her domination, she has joined

* JEn. 1. III. Conf. Idem in JEn. 1. XII.

t Tertul. Apol. 1.9.

J Min. Pel. Octav. 24.

H Herodot. Euterpe. C. 40, also Du Choul.

Lactantius 1. I. C. 12 in Potter, M. Mussard and others.

<f Aler. Alen. f. 83. 85. Thorn, in 4. dist. 20. g. 13. Benedict. Summa de Pcccl ta. 5. C. 5.

190 THE IDENTITY OF A P vil

herself to idols, and to equal, if not rival her prototypes, she has
this monster also crouched in her dens. Penance is one of her
seven sacraments, and she rests as much on this, as do the hea-
then of any land. Challoner, her trusty friend, asks, 'Has the
Church of God always enjoined penance to sinners ?' Reply,
'Yes she has, and in the primitive times much more severe than
now-a-days, when three, seven, and ten years of penance used to
be imposed for sins of impurity, perjury,' &c. He inquires
again, 'Does the church at present approve of giving, ordinarily,
very slight penances for very great sins?' Answer, 'So far from it,
that the Council of Trent, Sess. 14, Chap. 8, gives us to under-
stand that a confessor, by such excessive indulgence, is in dan-
ger of drawing upon his own head the guilt of his penitents' sins ;
and declares that, a priest ought to enjoin a suitable penance, ac-
cording to the quality of the crime and the penitent's ability.'*
But this brazen mistress can remit the punishment by an 'indul-
gence,' the spiritual mulct can pass off into the temporal ; avarice
grasps her gold, and the culprit keeps his pleasures and his
blood.

Theodoret gives us an account of the wonderful Simeon who,
after having gone to great extremes in his austerity, resolved to
fast forty days. He told this to his friend Bassus, who in vain
attempted to dissuade him from his purpose, and with much dif-
ficulty prevailed on him to have ten loaves of bread, and a flagon
of water put in the cell, so that he might have something if
nature required. The door was plastered up and left for forty
days, after which on being opened, Simeon was found to be
still alive, though not one crumb of bread or drop of water had
he taken. He appeared to be nearly dead, but after his lips had
been moistened with a sponge, and the consecrated wafer put
into his mouth, he immediately recovered, and for 28 years sub-
sequently he annually performed the same thing. After this he
chained himself to a rock ; and thinking that insufficient, mounted
a pillar thirty-six cubits in height, and remained there many years,
to the admiration and astonishment of all who saw him. In his
prayers he used to be constantly bowing so that his head touched

* Catholic Christian, 218, 219.

POPERY AND PAGANISM. 191

his toes, and on solemn festivals his hands were stretched towards
the heavens from the rising to the setting of the sun. From three
in the afternoon he gave divine lectures, and answered all ques-
tions and petitions, to cure diseases and to compose differences.
Theodoret declares that to many of his miracles he was personally
a witness, also to his gift of prophecy, for he once foretold a pes-
tilence and famine. At last Simeon died, and the Emperor Leo
sent to Antioch for his body, but the good people knew its value
too well to part with it; and said their city being defenceless,
they had resolved to keep the holy corpse to guard them against
invasions.* But there was another saint who had a cage made
just large enough to admit his person in a stooping position, and
cooped in that prison he remained ten years, f

We have also a marvellous instance of the power of penance
in a nun who had disgraced her order by breaking her vow, but
she afterwards returned to her cloister, and whilst in great aus-
terity, she looked with agony at the image of the Virgin, and
heard a voice saying, thy sins are pardoned.J

To walk barefoot was a most potent penance, and in this way
the Emperor Theodosius and the Patriarch Proclus proceeded at
the time of some earthquakes, but Heraclius went further ; for
he resolved to carry the cross on his shoulder, and bear the holy
burden during a long procession, though lie was almost over-
powered with the weight of it. There was also the blessed Rosa,
who was scarcely five years old when she consecrated herself to
God ; she lived on bread and water the three days of the week
which are sacred to the most holy mysteries of Christianity. She
sought every opportunity of mortifying herself; and used to rub
her cheeks and eyes with the bark and powder of Indian pepper,
that she might not be compelled to go to balls or appear in com-
pany. She also put a great chain, (with which she had given
herself discipline) three times round her waist, and not satisfied
with so galling a girdle, for a season she fastened it with a pad-
lock and threw the key into a well. Long did she bear the
, pain of this, but at last it became insupportable, and she ad-

* Theodoret. Religios. Histor. p. 880. Opcr. torn iii. in Middleton.

t Histor. Religios. C. 27.

t 'Weekly racquet.' Edit. 1679.

192 THE IDENTITY OF A f ril

dressed herself to the Virgin who released her. The girdle of
St. Francis is a thick cord and has large knots at some distance
from each other, especially at the end. With this the wearer in-
flicts salutary chastisement on his person. But penance with
those of the true faith ! as well as amongst the Greeks, is per-
formed by proxy. There was a hardy man called James Zeger,
who lived in different towns in Brabant, in the habit of flogging
himself in the presence of the wretch for whose sins he had to
atone ; and he had two daughters who suffered for the ladies.
There were fixed prices for most of his austerities, thus for a fast
on which he was not to eat meat, ten pence, thirty for one of
bread and water, but if he had to whip himself, then a bargain
had to be made. The one which prescribed four fasts, fifty-two
Ave Marias a day, twenty-five lashes, on Friday after midnight,
also five rosaries, seven penitential psalms, and the litanies of all
the saints, was very powerful and expensive; then there was
another to hear three successive masses in the churches of the
Jesuits, before St. Ignatius, bare kneed on the cold marble : to
stand upright with both arms extended before an image of the
blessed Virgin, from one to two o'clock at night, to go round
the holy sacrament barefoot without resting, but at every one
hundred steps to pull out one hundred and fifty hairs from the
head.

On Holy Thursday the processions have penitents to precede
them, who scourge themselves as they walk ; and all the reward
they have, or desire, is to see the sacred face of our Lord, the
lance and the true cross. At Courtray, on Good Friday, a poor
wretch suffers himself to be clothed in a purple robe, his loins
are girded with a thick rope, and his head is crowned with
thorns, after which he is made to walk without shoes, with a
kind of pack saddle about his neck ; on each side are six thick
ropes ; a long cross of great weight is then put on his shoulders,
with which he walks about the city. Six friars take hold of the
ropes and pull the victim till he is nearly dead : and were it not
for a mock Simon to assist him, lie could scarcely sustain such
sufferings. There are those also who have to drag a heavy can-
non ball chained to the foot, and in some places, they go through
the whole process of a mock crucifixion on a criminal who has

1845.

POPERY AND PAGANISM. 193

been liberated on this condition. The prisoner who personates
Christ is stripped and placed on the ground, and those present
cast dice for his garments. His hands and feet are fastened to the
cross with leather thongs, and bladders filled with blood furnish
the means of representing the effects of the nails and the spear.
The people weep and the monks sing anthems to increase the
excitement. Some clothe themselves in sackcloth or in garments
made of hair worn next to the skin and covered with ashes.
Such as had rebelled against the Pope, were beaten with wands
by twelve able bodied priests, who at the same time sang peni-
tential psalms. Others have to assist in building churches, to
pound flint stones, and men of rank to polish marble.* Middle-
ton also refers to the evening of a certain day when those of
every degree assemble in one of the churches of Rome, who
when the candles are put out, and warning given by a little bell,
strip themselves and use the lash on their own persons, for
nearly an hour. But I must notice the Earl of Poiters, who
gave up his domains, and put three large iron chains on his
naked body, and thus marched to Jerusalem ; and there was
John Bon who thrust reeds betwixt the flesh and the "nails; and
Stephen, the founder of the order of Granmont, who wore an
iron coat of mail next his skin ; and slept in a wooden coffin
some feet deep in the ground ; the skin of his knees was harder
than that of a camel, and his nose was turned up with kissing the
ground. The dear St. Catharine maimed herself every day for
the souls in purgatory, and the Capucin nuns were very expert
in the use of the whip ; the barefooted Carmelites used to pinch
their noses when they sang lest they should be too much pleased
with the tune."!" As to the penances of the inquisition a volume
would be insufficient to describe them. How did Satan revel there
in the anguish of the sufferers. O the deeds of darkness ! O the
fell insatiate rage of spiritual tyrants ! What on earth could com-
pare to those dungeons of woe ?

But we have no need to go to antiquity or the inquisition for
fvidence : having seen this dire apostacy on its own soil un-
der the crown of Portugal in the town of Funchal. There we

Picart in loco. j Emilliannc pp. 54, 55, 101, 15?. 245, 254.

NO. -1. B 1)

]94 THE IDENTITY OF A P ril

saw tiie Flagellantes, or self-whippers, parading the streets, and
amongst them were several highly respectable persons doing
penance, who were covered from head to foot with a coarse
black cloth having holes for the eyes to look through. They
were so disguised as not to be recognised, but this did not pre-
vent the merit of the duty. There was one poor sorrowful
looking wretch with only a piece of cloth around his loins,
having his arms bound at full stretch to an iron bar across his
back ; and another, who had on a crown of thorns which
pierced his temples, and a strong whip with which he flogged
himself as he marched along. There were also numerous
priests, and friars and soldiers accompanied by those of every
degree to witness the pious scenes.

In Ireland where popery is on her own soil, you see her mad
in pilgrimages and penances, of hunger and thirst and bleeding
limbs, and deeply do we regret to add that there are some in the
English church who advocate these fearful insults to Jehovah, as
we have seen in the recent publication of the lives of the saints
by a Tractarian Clergyman,* and from which we make the fol-
lowing extracts.

' What is the first step which a rightly instructed Christian
must take, when it pleases God to give him the grace of com-
punction ? Clearly he must resort to the consolations of the
gospel, and the merits of the Saviour as laid up in the sacrament
of penance.' (Life of St. Adamnan.)

' Let us consider the dreadful nature of sin, even of what are
called the least sins, and would not any one wish to cast in his
lot with Stephen, and wash them away by continual penance ?'
(St. Stephen Abbot.)

Your attention has now been solicited to the identity of the
pagan and popish superstitions in votive offerings, and you have
seen there is nothing like them in the Scriptures, excepting those
of the idolatrous Philistines in the images of emerods and mice
to deprecate the wrath of God ; that amongst the Hindus,
Greeks, Romans (of olden times) and Papists of the present day

* Newman.

l845 - POPERY AND PAGANISM. 195

there are the same things; you have seen that superstition has
invested matter with supposed holiness, and a power to impart
virtue to those who shall touch it ; that from Genesis to Revela-
tion we have not a single instance of' this, saving the case of the
heathen general who wished to carry some of the soil of Israel to
his own country ; that the same belief is rampant among the
Orientals, inducing them to take long, dangerous and expensive
journeys : that they may however employ a proxy who will be
the spiritual conductor of merit to their souls ; that the Moham-
medans have precisely the same opinion, respecting certain spots
where purity is condensed, as at Mecca, Medina, and their tombs
(showing a reason why the old prophet wished his bones to be
near those of the man of God) ; that they also have the privilege
of sending a substitute : that old Greece and Rome had their con-
secrated objects where the divinities were believed to reside, or
to have left a portion of their essence ; that Roman Catholicism
has adopted all these superstitions, and affects to rival her predeces-
sors, that her toils and sufferings in this arena of crime have not
been inferior to others, that her sons also can send agents to
receive, and bring the heavenly charm ; that pilgrimages are still
held in high veneration in Ireland and all other regions under
papal sway. You have reviewed the fixed prohibitions in
holy writ against man lacerating himself; and have seen that
the Gentiles of all ages believed that their sufferings or blood
could atone for sin, secure merit or please the gods; that
the Romanists assert most wickedly that austerities are available
to the individual, or others, and that they can procure merit ;
that in their church they have an immense store from the sorrows
and privations of the saints, that they also have the right of
penance by proxy, and can receive through their mercenary agents
all they require ; that they still glory in the dogma 'penance is a
sacrament,' and practise this in Ireland and all countries under
their rule. And now I ask you Christians, are we tamely again
to submit to the reign of terror ? Are we ever again to be chained
to the car of popery : are we with downcast eye, and timid step
to haste to the confessional, where sits the creature in place of
the Creator ? Are we to bleed under the lash, to writhe on the
rack, and shrivel in the flame? Are we in silence to witness the

196 ON THE FACILITIES POSSESSED A P rii

stealthy advance of the adversary like a tiger from his lair ? Are we
to be told in dulcet language that the tyrant of a thousand years
has become gentle and loving ? What ! the old lion, whose roar
alarmed all nations, changed into a lamb. brethren ! is the
history of the past to be forgotten ? Are the signs of the times to
be despised ? Is there not a fatal delusion on many hearts ; a
fearful incantation from Satan, and who shall break the spell ?

Let us beware lest the denunciations of Meroz, and the woes
of Jerusalem come upon us, remembering who hath .said, 'My
glory will I not give to another.'

Now 'unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in
his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God
and his Father ; to him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen,'

On the Facilities possessed by the Primitive Church for the spread of
the Gospel, compared with those of Christians in modern times.

BY THE REV. E. PORTER.

IN a former number we endeavoured to show the difficulties
which the primitive Christians had to encounter in their endea-
vours to establish the reign of truth and righteousness, in compa-
rison with those of modern Christians. We come now to notice,
briefly, the facilities with which they were favoured in the prose-
cution of their work compared with those which we possess in
modern times.

Amongst the facilities which the primitive Christians possess-
ed for the spread of the truth we may notice :

1. The union of all the civilized world under the Roman go-
vernment. The nations that were brought under the influence
of this government comprised the fairest and most cultivated por-
tions of Asia, Europe and Africa, most of which were situated in
the temperate zone. The number of the subjects of this im-

lfM3 ' BY THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 197

mensc empire is computed by Gibbon at about 120 millions.
The extent of the empire was about two thousand miles in
breadth, from the wall of Antonius and the northern limits of
Dacia to Mount Atlas and the tropic of Cancer, the length more
than three thousand miles from the western ocean to the Red
Sea, and the mountains of Abyssinia on the south, and was
supposed to contain about 16,000,000 square miles, for the
most part fertile, and well peopled. At the time of our Lord's
appearance upon earth, this immense empire was united under
one head, whose authority was considered as limited by the Se-
nate, though in reality the chief power rested in the Emperor,
and the Senate was permitted to continue by Augustus chiefly
with a view of preserving in form the ancient Republic, so dear