barber here will not do it. He is run away lest he should be compelled. He says he will not shave Yesoo Kreest's people!-Ibid. p. 493.'

Success greater by importunity in prayer. With respect to their success, there are several particulars attending it worthy of notice. One is, that it was preceded by a spirit of importunate prayer. The brethren had all along committed their cause to God: but in the autumn of 1800, they had a special weekly prayer-meeting for a blessing on the work of the mission. At these ass mblies, Mr. Thomas, who was then present on a visit, seems to have been more than usually strengthened to wrestle for a blessing; and writing to a friend in America, he speaks of "the holy unction appearing on all the missionaries, especially of late; and of times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, being solemn, frequent, and lasting." In connecting these things, we cannot but remember, that previous to the outpouring of the Spirit in the days of Pentecost, the disciples" continued with one accord in prayer and supplication."'-Bapt. Miss. Pref. Vol. III. p. vii. What this success is, we shall see by the following

extract:

The whole number baptised in Bengal since the year 1795, is forty-eight. Over many of these we rejoice with great joy; for others we tremble; and over others we are compelled to weep.'-Bapt. Miss. Vol. III. p. 21, 22.

p. 38.

Hatred to the Gospel.

op

one, after I had made a beginning, through the violent position of the people. Coming to this, opposition ceased; and therefore I called it REHOBOTH; for Jehovah hath made room for us. Here I have raised a spacious bungalo.' Ibid. p. 59.

It would perhaps be more prudent to leave the question of sending missionaries to India to the effect of these extracts, which appear to us to be quite decisive, both as to the danger of insurrection from the prosecution of the scheme, the utter unfitness of the persons employed in it, and the complete hopelessness of the attempt while pursued under such circumstances as now exist. But, as the Evangelical party who have got possession of our Eastern empire have brought forward a great deal of argument upon the question, it may be necessary to make it some sort of reply. We admit it to be the general duty of Christian people to disseminate their religion among the Pagan nations who are subjected to their empire. It is true they have not the aid of miracles; but it is their duty to attempt such conversion by the earnest and abun dant employment of the best human means in their power. We believe that we are in the possession of a revealed religion; that we are exclusively in possession of a revealed religion; and that the possession of that religion can alone confer immortality, and best conter present happiness. This religion too, teaches us the duties of general benevolence; and, how, under such a system, the conversion of Heathens, can be a matter of indifference, we profess not to be able to

understand.

So much for the general rule :-now for the exceptions.

April 2. This morning, several of our chief printing servants presented a petition, desiring they might have some relief, as they were compelled, in our Bengalee worship, to hear so many blasphemies against their gods! Brother Carey and I had a strong contention with them in the printing-office, and invited them to argue the point with PetumNo man (not an Anabaptist) will, we presume, conber, as his sermon had given them offence; but they declined it; though we told them that they were ten, and he tend that it is our duty to preach the natives into an only one; that they were Brahmins, and he was only a insurrection, or to lay before them, so fully and emsooder!'-Ibid. p. 36. The enmity against the gospel and its professors is uni-phatically, the scheme of the gospel, as to make them versal. One of our baptised Hindoos wanted to rent a rise up in the dead of the night and shoot their instrucIf conversion be the greatest house: after going out two or three days, and wandering tors through the head. all the town over, he at last persuaded a woman to let him of all objects, the possession of the country to be conhave a house: but though she was herself a Feringa, yet verted is the only mean, in this instance, by which when she heard that he was a Brahmin who had become a that conversion can be accomplished; for we have no Christian, she insulted him, and drove him away: so that right to look for a miraculous conversion of the Hinwe are indeed made the off'scouring of all things.'-Ibid. doos; and it would be little short of a miracle, it I was sitting among our native brethren, at the Bensa-General Oudinot was to display the same spirit as the lee school, hearing them read and explain a portion of the serious part or the Directors of the East India Comword in turn, when an aged, grey-headed Brahmin, well pany. Even for missionary purposes, therefore, the dressed, came in; and standing before me, said, with joined hands, and a supplicating tone of voice, "Sahib! I am come to ask an alms." Beginning to weep, he repeated these words hastily; "I am come to ask. He continued standing, with his hands in a supplicating posture, weeping. I desired him to say what alms; and told him, that by his looks, it did not seem as if he wanted ang relief. At length, being pressed, he asked me to give him his son, pointing with his hand into the midst of our native brethren. I asked which was his son? He pointed to a young Brahmin, named Soroop; and setting up a plaintive cry, said, that was his son. We tried to comfort him, and at last prevailed upon him to come and sit down upon the veranda. Here he began to weep again; and said that the young man's mother was dying with grief.-Ibid. 1. 43. This evening Buvoo, a brother, who is servant with us, and Soroop, went to a market in the neighbourhood, where they were discovered to be Yesoo Khreestare Loke (Jesus Christ's people). The whole market was all in a hubbub: they clapped their hands, and threw dust at hem. Buxoo was changing a rupee for cowries, when the disturbance bezan; and in the scuffle, the man ran away with the rupee

without giving the cowries.'-Ibid. p. 55.

. an alms."

Nov. 24. This day Hawnye and Ram Khunt returned from their village. They relate that our brother Fotick, who lives in the same village, was lately seized by the chief Bengalee man there; dragged from his house; his face, eyes, and ears clogged with cow-dung-his hands tied--and in this state confined several hours. They also tore to pieces all the papers, and the copy of the Testament, which they found in Fotick's house. A relation of these persecutors being dead, they did not molest Hawnye and Ram Khunt; but the towns-folk would not hear about the gospel: they only insulted them for becoming Christians.'Ibid. p. 57.

Cutwa on the Ganges, Sept. 3, 1804.-This place is about seventy miles from Serampore, by the Hoogley river. Here I have procured a spot of ground, perhaps about two acres, pleasantly situated by two tanks, and a fine grove of mango trees, at a small distance from the town. It was with difficulty I procured a spot. I was forced to leave

A mission.

utmost discretion is necessary; and if we wish to
teach the natives a better religion, we must take care
to do it in a manner which will not inspire them with
lose our disciples altogether. To us it appears quite
a passion for political change, or we shall inevitably
clear, from the extracts before us, that neither Hindoo
nor Mahomedan is at all indifferent to the attacks
made upon his religion; the arrogance and the irrita-
bility of the Mahomedan are universally acknow-
ledged; and we put it to our readers, whether the
Brahmins seem in these extracts to show the smallest
disposition to behold the encroachments upon their
religion with passiveness and unconcern.
ary who converted only a few of the refuse of society,
might live for ever in peace in India, and receive his
salary from his fanatical masters for pompous predic
tions of universal conversion, transmitted by the ships
of the season; but, if he had any marked success
among the natives, it could not fail to excite much
more dangerous specimens of jealousy and discontent
than those which we have extracted from the Ana-
baptist Journal. How is it in human nature that a
Brahmin should be indifferent to encroachments upon
his religion? His reputation, his dignity, and, in a
great measure, his wealth, depend upon the preserva-
tion of the present superstitions; and why is it to be
supposed that motives which are so powerful with all
other human beings, are inoperative with him alone?
If the Brahmins, however, are disposed to excite a
rebellion in support of their own influence, no man
who knows anything of India, can doubt that they
have it in their power to effect it.

It is vain to say that these attempts to diffuse Christianity do not originate from the government in India. The omnipotence of government in the East is well known to the natives. If Government does not pro

Brother Carey prayed with them. No name amongst men | Difficulty which the Mission experiences from not being seems so offensive to them as that of our adorable REDEEMER-Ibid. p. 138.

'Nov. 18. One of the boys of the school, called Benjamin, is under considerable concern; indeed there is a general A Plan for procuring an order from Government te stir amongst our children, which affords us great encouragement. The following are some of the expressions used in prayer by poor Benjamin :

Many of the natives have expressed their astonishment 'After much altercation, I told him he might put the at seeing the converted Hindoos sit and eat with Europe-matter out of all doubt as to himself: he had only to come ans. It is what they thought would never come to pass. as a poor, repenting, suppliant sinner, and he would be The priests are much alarmed for their tottering fabric, and saved, whatever became of others. To this he gave no other rack their inventions to prop it up. They do not like the answer than a smile of contempt. I then asked him in what institution of the college in Calcutta, and that their sacred way the sins of these his followers would be removed; urgshasters should be explored by the unhallowed eyes of Eu- ing it as a matter of the last importance, as he knew that ropeans.'-Ibid. p. 233. they were all sinners, and must stand before the righteous bar of God? After much evasion, he replied that he had fire in his belly, which would destroy the sins of all his followers!'-Bapt. Miss. Vol. II. p. 401.

barber here will not do it. He is run away lest he should be compelled. He says he will not shave Yesoo Kreest's people!-Ibid. p. 493.

Success greater by importunity in prayer. With respect to their success, there are several particulars attending it worthy of notice. One is, that it was preceded by a spirit of importunate prayer. The brethren had all along committed their cause to God: but in the autumn of 1500, they had a special weekly prayer-meeting for a blessing on the work of the mission. At these ass mblies, Mr. Thomas, who was then present on a visit, seems to have been more than usually strengthened to wrestle for a blessing; and writing to a friend in America, he speaks of "the holy unction appearing on all the missionaries, espe cially of late; and of times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, being solemn, frequent, and lasting." In connecting these things, we cannot but remember, that previous to the outpouring of the Spirit in the days of Pentecost, the disciples" continued with one accord in prayer and supplication."'-Bapt. Miss. Pref. Vol. III. p. vii. What this success is, we shall see by the following

extract:

The whole number baptised in Bengal since the year 1795, is forty-eight. Over many of these we rejoice with great joy; for others we trenible; and over others we are compelled to weep.'-Bapt, Miss. Vol. III. p. 21, 22.

p. 38.

Hatred to the Gospel.

one, after I had made a beginning, through the violent opposition of the people. Coming to this, opposition ceased; and therefore I called it REHOBOTH; for Jehovah hath made room for us. Here I have raised a spacious bungalo.' Ibid. p. 59.

It would perhaps be more prudent to leave the question of sending missionaries to India to the effect of these extracts, which appear to us to be quite decisive, both as to the danger of insurrection from the prose cution of the scheme, the utter unfitness of the persons employed in it, and the complete hopelessness of the attempt while pursued under such circumstances as now exist. But, as the Evangelical party who have got possession of our Eastern empire have brought forward a great deal of argument upon the question, it may be necessary to make it some sort of reply. We admit it to be the general duty of Christian people to disseminate their religion among the Pagan nations who are subjected to their empire. It is true they have not the aid of miracles; but it is their duty to attempt such conversion by the earnest and abun dant employment of the best human means in their We believe that we are in the possession of a power. revealed religion; that we are exclusively in possession of a revealed religion; and that the possession of that religion can alone confer immortality, and best confer present happiness. This religion too, teaches us the duties of general benevolence; and, how, under such a system, the conversion of Heathens, can be a matter of indifference, we profess not to be able to

understand.

So much for the general rule :-now for the exceptions.

April 2. This morning, several of our chief printing servants presented a petition, desiring they might have some relief, as they were compelled, in our Bengalee worship, to hear so many blasphemies against their gods! Brother Carey and I had a strong contention with them in the printing-office, and invited them to argue the point with PetumNo man (not an Anabaptist) will, we presume, con. ber, as his sermon had given them offence; but they declined it; though we told them that they were ten, and he tend that it is our duty to preach the natives into an only one; that they were Brahmins, and he was only a insurrection, or to lay before them, so fully and emsooder!-Ibid. p. 36. The enmity against the gospel and its professors is uni-phatically, the scheme of the gospel, as to make them rise up in the dead of the night and shoot their instrucversal. One of our baptised Hindoos wanted to rent a If conversion be the greatest house: after going out two or three days, and wandering tors through the head. all the town over, he at last persuaded a woman to let him of all objects, the possession of the country to be conhave a house: but though she was herself a Feringa, yet verted is the only mean, in this instance, by which when she heard that he was a Brahmin who had become a that conversion can be accomplished; for we have no Christian, she insulted him, and drove him away: so that right to look for a miraculous conversion of the Hinwe are indeed made the offscouring of all things.'-Ibid. doos; and it would be little short of a miracle, it I was sitting among our native brethren, at the Benga- General Oudinot was to display the same spirit as the lee school, hearing them read and explain a portion of the serious part or the Directors of the East India Comword in turn, when an aged, grey-headed Brahmin, well pany. Even for missionary purposes, therefore, the dressed, came in ; and standing before me, said, with joined utmost discretion is necessary; and if we wish to hands, and a supplicating tone of voice, "Sahib! I am teach the natives a better religion, we must take care come to ask an alms." Beginning to weep, he repeated to do it in a manner which will not inspire them with these words hastily; "I am come to ask... an alms."a passion for political change, or we shall inevitably He continued standing, with his hands in a supplicating lose our disciples altogether. To us it appears quite posture, weeping. I desired him to say what alms; and told him, that by his looks, it did not seem as if he wanted clear, from the extracts before us, that neither Hindoo ang relief. At length, being pressed, he asked me to give nor Mahomedan is at all indifferent to the attacks him his son, pointing with his hand into the midst of our made upon his religion; the arrogance and the irritanative brethren. I asked which was his son? He pointed bility of the Mahomedan are universally acknowto a young Brahmin, named Soroop; and setting up a plain- ledged; and we put it to our readers, whether the tive cry, said, that was his son. We tried to comfort him, Brahmins seem in these extracts to show the smallest and at last prevailed upon him to come and sit down upon disposition to behold the encroachments upon their the veranda. Here he began to weep again; and said that A mission. the young man's mother was dying with grief."--Ibid. 1. 43. religion with passiveness and unconcern. This evening Buvoo, a brother, who is servant with us, ary who converted only a few of the refuse of society, and Soroop, went to a market in the neighbourhood, where might live for ever in peace in India, and receive his they were discovered to be Yesoo Khreestare Loke (Jesus salary from his fanatical masters for pompous predic. Christ's people). The whole market was all in a hubbub: tions of universal conversion, transmitted by the ships they clapped their hands, and threw dust at hem. Buxoo of the season; but, if he had any marked success was changing a rupee for cowries, when the disturbance bezan; and in the scuffle, the man ran away with the rupee among the natives, it could not fail to excite much more dangerous specimens of jealousy and discontent without giving the cowries.'-Ibid. p. 55. than those which we have extracted from the Anabaptist Journal. How is it in human nature that a Brahmin should be indifferent to encroachments upon his religion? His reputation, his dignity, and, in a great measure, his wealth, depend upon the preservation of the present superstitions; and why is it to be supposed that motives which are so powerful with all other human beings, are inoperative with him alone? If the Brahmins, however, are disposed to excite a rebellion in support of their own influence, no man who knows anything of India, can doubt that they have it in their power to effect it.

Nov. 24. This day Hawnye and Ram Khunt returned from their village. They relate that our brother Fotick, who lives in the same village, was lately scized by the chief Bengalee man there; dragged from his house; his face, eyes, and ears clogged with cow-dung-his hands tied--and in this state confined several hours. They also tore to pieces all the papers, and the copy of the Testament, which they found in Fotick's house. A relation of these persecutors being dead, they did not molest Hawnye and Ram Khunt; but the towns-folk would not hear about the gospel: they only insulted them for becoming Christians.'Ibid. p. 57.

Cutwa on the Ganges, Sept. 3, 1804.-This place is about seventy miles from Serampore, by the Hoogley river. Here I have procured a spot of ground, perhaps about two acres, pleasantly situated by two tanks, and a fine grove of mango trees, at a small distance from the town. It was with difficulty I procured a spot. I was forced to leave

It is vain to say that these attempts to diffuse Christianity do not originate from the government in India. The omnipotence of government in the East is well known to the natives. If Government does not pro

empire is governed by men who, we are very much
afraid, would feel proud to lose it in such a cause.
who still retain the fear of God, and who admit that reli-
But I think it my duty to make a solemn appeal to all
gion and the course of conduct which it prescribes are not
to be banished from the affairs of nations-now when the
political sky, so long overcast, has become more lowering
and black than ever-whether this is a period for augment-
ing the weight of our national sins and provocations, by
an exclusive TOLERATION of idolatry; a crime which, unless
the Bible be a forgery, has actually drawn forth the heavi-
est denunciations of vengeance, and the most fearful in
flictions of Divine displeasure.'-Considerations, &c. p. 98.
Can it be credited that this is an extract from a
pamphlet generally supposed to be written by a noble
Lord at the Board of Control, from whose official in-
terference the public might have expected a correc-
tive to the pious temerity of others?

hibit, it tolerates; if it tolerates the conversion of the natives, the suspicion may be easily formed that it encourages that conversion. If the Brahmins do not believe this themselves, they may easily persuade the common people that such is the fact; nor are there wanting, besides the activity of these new missionaries, many other circumstances to corroborate such a rumour. Under the auspices of the College at Fort William, the Scriptures are in a course of translation into the languages of almost the whole continent of Oriental India, and we perceive, that in aid of this object the Bible Society has voted a very magnificent subscription. The three principal chaplains of our Indian settlement are (as might be expected) of principles exactly corresponding with the enthusiasm of their employers at home; and their zeal upon the subject of religion has shone and burnt with the most exemplary fury. These circumstances, if they do not really impose upon the minds of the leading natives, may give them a very powerful handle for mis-present great professions of toleration, and express representing the intentions of government to the lower orders.

We see from the massacre of Vellore, what a pow. erful engine attachment to religion may be rendered in Hindostan. The rumours might all have been false; but that event shows they were tremendously powerful when excited. The object, therefore, is not only not to do anything violent and unjust upon subjects of religion, but not to give any stronger colour to jealous and disaffected natives for misrepresenting your inten

tions.

but to our existence.

The other leaders of the party, indeed, make at

the strongest abhorrence of using violence to the natives. This does very well for a beginning, but we

have little confidence in such declarations. We be lieve their fingers itch to be at the stone and clay gods of the Hindoos; and that, in common with the noble Controller, they attribute a great part of our national calamities to these ugly images of deities on the other side of the world. We again repeat, that upon such subjects, the best and ablest men, if once tinged by fanaticism, are not to be trusted for a single

moment.

such a degraded man is worse than death itself. To these evils an Hindoo must expose himself before he becomes a Christian; and this difficulty must a missionary overcome before he can expect the smallest success-a difficulty which, it is quite clear, they themselves, after a short residence in India, consider to be insuperable.

All these observations have tenfold force when ap 2dly, Another reason for giving up the task of conIn India, religion plied to an empire which rests so entirely upon opi- version, is the want of success. nion. If physical force could be called in to stop the extends its empire over the minutest actions of life. progress of error, we could afford to be misrepresent-It is not merely a law for moral conduct, and for ed for a season; but 30,000 white men, living in the occasional worship, but it dictates to a man his trade, midst of 70 million sable subjects, must be always in his dress, his food, and his whole behaviour. His the right, or at least never represented as grossly in religion also punishes a violation of its exactions, not the wrong. Attention to the prejudices of the subject by eternal and future punishments, but by present is wise in all governments, but quite indispensable in infamy. If an Hindoo is irreligious, or, in other a government constituted as our empire in India is words, if he loses his caste, he is deserted by father, constituted; where an uninterrupted series of dexter- mother, wife, child, and kindred, and becomes inous conduct is not only necessary to our prosperity, stantly a solitary wanderer upon the earth: to touch him, to receive him, to eat with him, is a pollution These reasonings are entitled to a little more consi-producing a similar loss of caste; and the state of deration, at a period when the French threaten our existence in India by open force, and by every species of intrigue with the native powers. In all governments everything takes its tone from the head; fana. ticism has got into the government at home; fanaticism will lead to promotion abroad. The civil servant in India will not only dare to exercise his own judg. ment in checking the indiscretions of ignorant missionaries, but he will strive to recommend himself to his holy masters in Leadenhall-street, by imitating Brother Cran and Brother Ringletaube, and by every species of fanatical excess. Methodism at home is no unprofitable game to play. In the East it will soon be In the year 1766, the late Lord Clive and Mr. Verelst the infallible road to promotion. This is the great employed the whole influence of Government to restore a evil: if the management was in the hands of men who Hindoo to his caste, who had forfeited it, not by any newere as discreet and wise in their devotion as they are glect of his own, but by having been compelled, by a most in matters of temporal welfare, the desire of putting an unpardonable act of violence, to swallow a drop of cow end to missions might be premature and indecorous. the case, were very anxious to comply with the wishes of broth. The Brahmins, from the peculiar circumstances of But the misfortune is, the men who wield the instru-government; the principal men among them met once at ment, ought not, in common sense and propriety, to Kishnagur, and once at Calcutta; but after consultations, be trusted with it for a single instant. Upon this sub- and an examination of their most ancient records, they deject they are quite insane and ungovernable; they clared to Lord Clive, that as there was no precedent to would deliberately, piously, and conscientiously ex-justify the act, they found it impossible to restore the unforpose our whole Eastern empire to destruction, for the tunate man to his caste, and he died soon after of a broken heart.'-Scott Waring's Preface, p. lvi. sake of converting half a dozen Brahmins, who, after stuffing themselves with rum and rice, and borrowing money from the missionaries, would run away, and cover the gospel and its professors with every species of ridicule and abuse.

Upon the whole, it appears to us hardly possible to push the business of proselytism in India to any length without incurring the utmost risk of losing our empire. The danger is more tremendous, because it may be so sudden; religious fears are very probable causes of disaffection in the troops; if the troops are generally disaffected, our Indian empire may be lost to us as suddenly as a frigate or a fort; and that

As a proof of the tenacious manner in which the Hindoos cling to their religious prejudices, we shall state two or three very short anecdotes, to which any person who has resided in India might produce many parallels.

It is the custom of the Hindoos to expose dying people upon the banks of the Ganges. There is something peculiarly holy in that river; and it soothes the agonies of death to look upon its waters in the last moments. A party of English were coming down in a boat, and perceived upon the bank a pious Hindoo, in a state of the last imbecility-about to be drowned by the rising tide, after the most approved and orthodox manner of their religion. They had the curiosity to land; and as they perceived some more signs of life than were at first apparent, a young Englishinan poured down his throat the greatest part of a bottle of la

most ancient of the two, it is still to be proved, that the Ceylonese professed that religion before they changed it for their present faith. In point of fact, however, the boasted Christianity of the Ceylonese is proved by the testimony of the missionaries themselves, to be little better than nominal.. The following extract from one of their own communications, dated Columbo, 1805, will set this matter in its true light :—

vender water, which he happened to have in his pocket. | any other: and even if the religion of Brama is the The effects of such a stimulus, applied to a stomach accustomed to nothing stronger than water, were in stantaneous and powerful. The Hindoo revived sufficiently to admit of his being conveyed to the boat, was carried to Calcutta, and perfectly recovered. He had drunk, however, in the company of Europeans-no matter whether voluntary or involuntary-the offence was committed: he lost caste, was turned away from his home, and avoided, of course, by every relation and friend. The poor man came before the police, making the bitterest complaints upon being restored to lite; and for three years the burden of supporting him fell upon the mistaken Samaritan who had rescued him from death. During that period, scarcely a day elapsed in which the degraded resurgent did not appear before the European, and curse him with the bitterest curses-as the cause of all his misery and desolation. At the end of that period he fell ill, and of course was not agam thwarted in his passion for dying. The writer of this article vouches for the truth of this anecdote; and many persons who were at Calcutta at the time must have a distinct recollection of the fact, which excited a great deal of conversation and amusement, mingled with compassion.

It is this institution of castes which has preserved India in the same state in which it existed in the days of Alexander; and which would leave it without the slightest change in habits and manners, if we were to abandon the country to-morrow. We are astonished to observe the late resident in Bengal speaking of the fifteen millions of Mahomedans in India as converts from the Hindoos; an opinion, in support of which he does not offer the shadow of an argument, except by asking, whether the Mahomedans have the Tartar face? and if not, how they can be the descendants of the first conquerors of India? Probably not altoge. ther. But does this writer imagine, that the Mahomedan empire could exist in Hindostan for 700 years without the intrusion of Persians, Arabians, and every species of Mussulman adventurers from every part of the East, which had embraced the religion of Mahomed? And let them come from what quarter they would, could they ally themselves to Hindoo women without producing in their descendants an approximation to the Hindoo features? Dr. Robertson, who has investigated this subject with the greatest care, and looked into all the authorities, is expressly of an opposite opinion; and considers the Mussulman inhabitants of Hindostan to be merely the descendants of Mahomedan adventurers, and not converts from the Hindoo faith.

6

The armies,' (says Orme) which made the first conquests for the heads of the respective dynasties, or for other invaders, left behind them numbers of Mahomedans, who, seduced by a finer climate, and a richer country, forgot their own.

The Mahomedan princes of India naturally gave a preference to the service of men of their own religion, who, from whatever country they came, were of a more vigorous constitution than the stoutest of the subjected nation. This preference has continually encouraged adventurers from Tartary, Persia, and Arabia, to seek their fortunes under a government from which they were sure of receiving greater encouragement than they could expect at home. From these origins, time has formed in India a mighty nation of near ten millions of Mahomedans.'-Orme's Indostan, I. p. 24.

Precisely similar to this is the opinion of Dr. Robertson, Note xl.-Indian Disquisition.

As to the religion of the Ceylonese, from which the Bengal resident would infer the facility of making converts of the Hindoos, it is to be observed that the religion of Boudhou, in ancient times, extended from the north of Tartary to Ceylon, from the Indus to Siam, and (if Foe and Boudhou are the same persons) over China. That of the two religions of Boudhou and Brama, the one was the parent of the other, there can be very little doubt; but the comparative antiquity of the two is so very disputed a point, that it is quite unfair to state the case of the Ceylonese as an nstance of conversion from the Hindoo religion to

Dutch congregation, came to see us, and we paid them a
"The elders, deacons, and some of the members of the
visit in return, and made a little inquiry concerning the
state of the church on this island, which is, in one word,
miserable! One hundred thousand of those who are called
Christians, (because they are baptized) need not go back
to heathenism, for they never have been any thing else but
heathens, worshippers of Budda: they have been induced,
for worldly reasons, to be baptized. O Lord, have mercy
Miss. Suc. II. 265.
on the poor inhabitants of this populous island!'-Trans.

What success the Syrian Christians had in making converts; in what degree they have gained their numbers by victories over the native superstition, or lost their original numbers by the idolatrous examples to which for so many centuries they have been exposed, are points wrapt up in so much obscurity, that no kind of inference as to the facility of converting the na tives, can be drawn from them. Their present num. ber is supposed to be about 150,000.

It would be of no use to quote the example of Japan and China, even if the progress of the faith in these empires had been much greater than it is. We do not say it is difficult to convert the Japanese, or the Chinese; but the Hindoos. We are not saying it is difficult to convert human creatures; but difficult to convert human creatures with such institutions. To mention the example of other nations who have them not, is to pass over the material objection, and to answer others which are merely imaginary, and have never been made.

3dly, The duty of conversion is less plain, and less imperious, when conversion exposes the convert to great present misery. An African or an Otaheite proselyte might not perhaps be less honoured by his countrymen if he became a Christian; an Hindoo is instantly subjected to the most perfect degradation. A change or faith might increase the immediate happiness of any other individual; it annihilates for ever all the human comforts which an Hindoo enjoys. The eternal happiness which you proffer him, is therefore less attractive to him than to any other heathen, from the life of misery by which he purchases it.

Nothing is more precarious than our empire in India. Suppose we were to be driven out of it to-morrow, and to leave behind us twenty thousand converted Hindoos, it is most probable they would relapse into heathenism; but their original station in society could not be regained. The duty of making converts, therefore, among such a people, as it arises from the general duty of benevolence, is less strong than it would be in many other cases; because, situated as we are, it is quite certain we shall expose them to a great deal of misery, and not quite certain we shall do them any future good.

4thly, Conversion is no duty at all, if it merely destroys the old religion, without really and effectually teaching the new one. Brother Ringletaube may write home that he makes a Christian, when in reality he ought only to state that he has destroyed an Hin doo. Foolish and imperfect as the religion of an Hin doo is, it is at least some restraint upon the intempe. rance of human passions. It is better a Brahmin should be respected than that nobody should be respected. An Hindoo had better believe that a deity with an hundred legs and arms, will reward and pu nish him hereafter, than that he is not to be punished at all. Now, when you have destroyed the faith of an Hindoo, are you quite sure that you will graft upon his mind fresh principles of action, and make him any thing more than a nominal Christian?

You have 30,000 Europeans in India, and sixty mill ions of other subjects. If proselytism were to go on as