Imatges de pàgina
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the period of Christ's appearing, when it will be given to them to be united with their bodies, and to live and reign with Christ in the earth a thousand years. It is not without the most abundant reason doubted, whether the Hades and Sheol, so often mentioned in Scripture in connexion with the souls of both the departed just and unjust, be really a single place. It appears to be a general name for the world of spirits, comprehending both heaven and hell. All the dead are in Hades, i. e. in the invisible world; but all are not in the same place, the wicked being in hell, and the righteous in Paradise or heaven. The following passages prove the latter. Acts vii. 55, 59." But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 2 Cor. v. 6, 8. Therefore we are always confident, knowing, that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." Phil. i. 23, "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better." The first of these quotations proves, that Christ is in heaven, and that thither the spirit of Stephen was received at death. The second declares, that absence from the body is presence with the Lord. And the third teaches, that a departure from this world is a being with Christ in glory. Where, then, is the topical Hades of the Millenarians? If in a controversy of this kind, it be lawful to cite from the book of Revelation, let the reader consider the following verses, and then he will be able to answer to himself, whether the saints be in heaven or not. Rev. vii. 9, 14, 15, "After this, I beheld, and lo a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. And he said unto one, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple." Rev. vi. 9, "And I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held."

III.-The grand Hope of the Righteous.-This, by the Millenarians, is stated to be the first resurrection, and the living and reigning with Christ, on the earth, a thousand The years. passages supposed to support this notion are very numerous; but as we think their language, when applied to such a sentiment, perverted, we shall not produce any of them here, but content - ourselves with exhibiting a few citations which prove, that the being with Christ in heaven is the grand hope and desire of the true Christian, and not the living and reigning with Christ on the earth during the millenial age. All the passages quoted under the

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last head unquestionably declare this, and the following no less so. Matt. v. 12," Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven." Matt. vi. 20, 21, "Lay up treasures for yourselves in heaven; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Col. i. 5, "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven." Heb. x. 16, "But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly." 1 Pet. i. 4, "To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." 2 Pet. iii. 12, "Looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." From these plain passages we infer, that it was not on the glory of the millenial age that the eyes of apostles and martyrs and patriarchs were fixed; but on a residence in heaven with Christ. That the millenial period will be truly glorious there can be no doubt; and every Christian believes, that blessed and holy will he be that hath part in this resurrection: but he sees something greater than this, for which he pants and for which he sighs.

[To be continued.]

VII.-Progress of English Literature and of the Roman Alphabet in various parts of India, with occasional notices of other subjects connected with Literature and Religion.

[The following extracts from recent correspondence with intelligent and influential men in various parts of India, and from the public journals, will be interesting to our readers, as shewing the gradual yet rapid progress which the desire to extend the knowledge of English Literature, and the expression of the Native languages in the Roman character, is making in different parts of this vast country. From the banks of the Sindh (Indus) to those of the Brahmaputra, the mind of the European authorities appear enlightening to perceive, and awakening to perform, their duty on this subject; and we feel persuaded, that with the other vigorous efforts now making to promote Native Education, we shall soon witness an advance most cheering to the Philanthropist and the Christian. We have been long expecting to see some enlarged system of National Instruction promulgated by His Lordship at the head of the Supreme Government; and earnestly hope, that should his attention have been necessarily diverted from it through the pressure of political circumstances, it may now receive that renewed attention which its paramount importance to the welfare of the countries he governs, demands. Numerous as are the honors which encircle His Lordship's brow, his being the Founder of the National Education of Hindustan would add to them one more, equally brilliant and more durable than all others. Happy shall we be, if soon permitted to witness and applaud an act so worthy of the Government and so beneficial to the people.-ED.]

I have distributed the copies of the Synopsis to the different officers in Assam, and to my own omlah, and I am persuaded we shall turn your scheme to good account when we have got a few elementary books for our scholars. I have not the least doubt myself, but that your plan will make immediately rapid progress and be of extensive utility. If it effects nothing more than to make us better acquainted with the native languages, and assists those desirous of learning English to acquire that more readily, your labours will be well bestowed. I observe there is a new paper to be issued in Hindustání and English. Might it not be made a vehicle for disseminating this mode of applying the Roman letters to the native languages?—If the

Hindustání was wholly or in part printed in English characters, it would I think, be very acceptable to all the military officers especially, almost every one of whom can or should be able to read the language thus printed with ease, and through them it would find its way to the sepoys and the regimental schools. Almost all officers could correspond readily in Hindustani thus written, but all nearly stumble at the native characters, whether Nágri or Persian. The mutiny act and elementary drill books, printed agreeably to your scheme, with a sufficient exposition at the head of each, of the pow ers of the letters, to enable the sepoys with little trouble to decypher the books themselves, would, I have no doubt, be of great service to the army, and through them to the best part of our population. Through the military schools, I think much may be done, and in no department of the state can it be of more consequence that the people and the officers understand each other. No other class of Europeans is brought so intimately in contact with the natives, except indigo planters probably, as the officers of our regiments; and as they are likely to adopt your scheme with great readiness and thankfulness, I think you should apply yourself to meet their

wants.

The

If Mr. Hough can make little of the Ahom book I sent you, through his knowledge of Burman, I would suggest his trying to decypher it through the Tai language. I think Capt. Low says in his Grammar, which I have not at hand, that these Sháns are more nearly related to the Siamese than the Burmese; and our Máns, Khamtis, and Ahoms all call themselves Sháns. The Singphos, Cachárese, and Manipúrís are, I presume, of the same family. Lieut. Gordon at Manipúr, who is a tolerable Bengáli and Sanskrit scholar, says, the language of Manípúr has no connection with Sanskrit; and this I think is a proof that its origin and that of the people must be looked for amongst the Indo-Chinese nations and tongues. The other numerous tribes of mountaineers, who are called by the Bengális by names they know nothing of, or are of partial application, belonging to one race, and given to all the kindred races, as Garrows, Kásiahs, Nágas, Mikis and others, are possibly of Indian origin or mixed races. great family we call Nágas, who apparently have a score of distinct languages, I imagine may be allied to the aborigines of India, Coles, Gonds and Bhils. Of the affinities of the languages of these hill races, I believe, we are totally ignorant, and of course only by the study of their languages can there be any clue found to decide their relationship to the great families of man. You have the means of making a comparison of the Kásiah language through the works in it that have been printed at Serampore, and I feel curious to know what would be the result. Has it any affinity to the Sanskrit languages? and if not, has it any to the Tai?-The solv ing the question with regard to this one people might give us a ready means of discovering the origin of others. If the hill races here and throughout the centre of India do not use dialects that can be traced to either one of those sources, what has been their mother language, if they had one common source?

With regard to the printing of books in the Ahom language, my own opinion is, there would be little benefit from doing so. As far as Assam is concerned the dialect is nearly extinct, and I can perceive no advantage in keeping it alive. They have no books but a few catalogues of kings, which are most probably the forgeries of Brahmins, when the Ahoms at tained power and became converts to Brahminism. The Ahoms know not now whence they came, and they are cut off from their more immediate connexions by the barbarous multitudes of Singphos that have intruded between the Shán branches which have a written character and the literate Sháns of Ava and Laos. The Singphos and Cachárese have no writ

ten character, as the Ahoms and Khamtis. Within the period of tra dition the Cachárese are the first Sháns that came into Assam-the Ahoms pushed them onwards, and the Singphos replaced the Ahoms; and had we and the Burmese not contended for dominion, or rather not been brought into Assam, the Singphos would have had a good chance of contending with another branch of the family, the Mattocks, for supremacy in Assam. If the pressure of our power, at least, was now taken off, the Singphos would in all probability soon possess them selves of all Assam. They are a warlike race, and have power from their

numbers.

The Cachárese are the most numerous branch of the Shán family in Assam, but they are now entirely an agricultural people; a very fine and valuable body of peasantry, of which much might be made, as a great part of them are neither converts to Buddhism nor Brahminism, and such as profess Hinduism, scarcely know that superstition but by name.

Mr. B. writes me as follows:-"If you have any Assam school books or any Missionary tracts in that language, I should be obliged to you for them. Perhaps you have now influence sufficient below to induce one or two Missionaries to come up here. A finer and a larger field, and more hopes of success, they cannot find in any part of India. Will you oblige me by giving this a serious consideration."

I wish to call your attention to this paragraph, as I fully concur with Mr. B. in the feeling, that immense benefit might be derived from having at Sidaya a Missionary who is conversant with Burmese and Bangáli. The Khamtis, I have before told you I believe, are Buddhists; but the Singphos I believe are not converts to Hindúism in any form, nor the Mismis, nor Meris, nor Ahors, and the other 50 tribes of savages. All the Khamtis are taught to read and write by the Buddh priests, who according to their lights are inferior to no priests in the world in exemplary diligence in teaching the people, and abstinence from politics and covetousness. Any further Burmah books you can give me will be very acceptable. If you have any Bhoteah, I shall be obliged for a few.

Your proposition for familiarizing the people of the Indus with our language and vice versa, encourages me to hope that there is still some anxiety to prosecute the original scheme. I shall be most happy to give my assistance and devote my time to the furtherance of the object, but I would suggest that the passage of two or three steam-boats up and down the Indus, loaded with white faces, would do more to familiarize our language to the rude people on its banks, than will the distribution of a thousand interlinear tracts. The mass of the population-the Jatt, Baloche, and Daúdpatra Zamindars, with their ryutts-have no written language, and are only able to reckon up to a score the sum by which they tell their heads of cattle; for instance, they will tell you 10 score, but do not know what 200 means. The wretched Hindu Bairals and Kiras (merchants) who form a great proportion of the population of the few towns on the banks of the river have a written language, a specimen of which I will send you; but it is as exclusively their own (the character) as the Mahajaní character is that of the merchants in Hindustan, unknown to the mass of the population. The educated among the Musalman class (very few in number) use the Persian in writing and transacting their affairs, but do not speak it. Among the Hindus the different towns have different dialects, but all more or less assimilating to each other.

I have received the Synopsis of the mode of applying Roman letters to Asiatic languages, to which I will give the most extensive circulation in my

power. Several copies have been despatched to Masson, and the learned natives to whom I have had an opportunity of shewing them highly approve of the system for facilitating the study of the English language.

The enclosed is the genuine production of Shahamat Ali, without a single word or hint of alteration from me, and I think it does him infinite credit. "I return many thanks for the favor which you have been liberally pleased to confer on me by sending a supply of elementary books by the dawk banghee. The books are very acceptable and suitable for the natives. I have made some of them who learn by me begin these books, and beyond all doubt they will prove very beneficial for them. May you meet with proportional compensation with the encouragement and zeal with which you have been patronizing to effect the general prevalence of the English knowledge throughout the Indians, is the ardent prayer of all the people.

"I continue to teach the natives, who seem very desirous to receive the English instructions, and I am assured that Mr. Lawrence [Lowrie] will be highly welcomed, as there is a great number of the people who are ready to prosecute the English studies.

"The synoptical forms which you sent to Captain Wade, are heartily received and welcomed by the natives, as it affords the assurances of acquiring the English language with more ease as well as speed than they can do otherwise. They have been generally circulated among the natives here and in the neighbourhood, who are fond of receiving the English instructions. I am happy to anticipate that our propitious days seem to return, and the civilization that some centuries since shed her benign influence over our ancestors, and was afterwards extinguished, is now proceeding towards us by speedy marches through the means of our generous rulers.

"You will be glad to learn that Abdul Ghias Khan, the son of Nawab Jábbar Khan, who some time back I informed you was coming to Ludianah for the purpose of being educated in the English language*, arrived here on

The following extract from the Dihli Gazette, relating to this subject, will be read with great pleasure by our readers:

"The only intelligence of any interest received from the Punjaub during the past week is that Jábbar Khan, Dost Mahammad Khan's brother, has sent his son from Kábul to Ludiana for the purpose of receiving an English education. The original destination of the young lad was Dilhi, but having learnt on his arrival at Loodianah, that an English Seminary was about to be established at that station, under the direction of an American Missionary shortly expected up from Calcutta, he has been induced to remain there instead of coming on to the Imperial City, as he had intended. This is the first instance on record, we believe, of a Native Chief sending his son from his home to be instructed in our language and literature; and the event is one which we hail with delight as the commencement of a new æra. The Natives, as is natural enough, imagine that Dost Mahammad Khan has sent his nephew for the purpose of forming a friendship with the English, and that the acquirement of the language is altogether a secondary object; but we do not believe the idea has been suggested so much by any political considerations, as by the respect and admiration which Jubbar Khan, the young boy's father, is known to entertain for our countrymen and institutions, and it was first conceived, if we are correctly informed, during the late sojourn of Lieutenant Burnes and his party at Kábul, when the encouraging example of Mohan Lál's proficiency in English, and the consideration with which he was treated, materially added to the impulse already felt in favour of our language and our nation and government generally. Be this, however, as it may, the circumstance is one, at which all who desire the diffusion of English, and the communication of the learning and civilization of Europe to our Eastern Empire, must cordially rejoice. The taste for our literature has latterly been increasing with astonishing rapidity, and people are now every where beginning to look to its acquirement as the source of wealth, honours, power, and distinction. But, how much will this feeling be heightened by the stimulus which the example set by the brother of the ruler of Kábul will impart to our Native nobility to send their sons to our colleges, and give them the advantages of an English education? Such an incitement has hitherto been the great thing wanting to overcome the backwardness evinced by the Native Princes, in instructing their children in our language and literature. Now, however, that the example has been afforded to them, there can be little doubt that it will be followed to an extent which

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