eo Lae oe ois LCL ia. THE URGENT CLAIMS OF INDIA | 9) 4: Vory & FOR MORE CHRISTIAN MISSIONS, Is there not a cause ? 1 Sam. xvii. 29. Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? 1 Chron. xxix, 5, oer BY \ A LAYMAN IN INDIA. LONDON: W. H. DALTON, COCKSPUR STREET. SS 1852. [Price One Shilling.) | iy) THE URGENT CLAIMS OF INDIA. A peep and affecting sense of the spiritual need of India, compels. me to plead for her claims. A resident among her people, cognizant of their sorrows and their degradation, I mourn over their state, and reflecting on their fearful prospects, I am constrained to ex- claim, “ How can I endure to see their destruction?” But remem- bering Jehovah’s promise to give to His Son the heathen for His inheritance ; and cheered by the thought, that in my native land there are thousands who rejoice to be employed in His service, I turn in prayerful confidence to Him; and having sought His aid and blessing, I turn with comfort to them, and entreat them dis- passionately and prayerfully to consider the case of India. “ Lord, what wouldest thou have me to do?” “ What saith my Lord unto His servant?” ‘These are questions to which every believer looks for an answer in the ordinary providence of God. He lives with a constant desire to know the way wherein God would have him to go, and his heart rejoices when the path is made clear, and he hears the plain command—“ This is the way, walk ye in it.” If then it can be proved, that hitherto India has been neglected, and that there is now a loud and distinct call to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, to correct past errors, and to give India her due share of thought, prayer, and labour, I am confident that this appeal will not be made in vain. An important pamphlet was recently republished from the Calcutta Review, on the Results of Missionary labour in India, in which the whole field was surveyed, and its entire appearance was, for the first time, placed at one view before the mind of the reader. I venture now to follow up the effort of my valued friend, the author of that interesting paper, the Rev. J. Mullens, of the London Missionary Society in Calcutta, and to state the grounds on which India may claim a greatly increased number of Christian Missions. It has been shown that, for nearly one hundred and fifty millions of people, there were labouring at the end of 1850 no more than four hundred and three Protestant Missionaries; and that this number is nearly treble the number labouring in 1830. It is my heart’s desire and prayer (oh! that many may share it), that before 1870 the four hundred and three B 4 may be augmented to twelve hundred, with the prospect of a rapid increase alike of European and Native Missionaries. The case of India may be briefly stated. It is a great empire, to some parts of which Christian Missions have been sent: while others have been entirely neglected. Our friends in Great Britain and America speak of their Missions to “ India,” when they might as well speak of their Missions to Asia. The greater part of the land is entirely unprovided with preachers of the Gospel. A very important step towards a correct discernment of the duty of Christians to India, would be an accurate knowledge of her geography. No Missionary ever comes to this country, without finding that his previous knowledge was insufficient, to supply him with a full appreciation of the magnitude and importance of India; and no one ever returns home without discovering, that provinces, which are hundreds of miles apart, are spoken of, as if within reach of the same labourers, and occupied by the same race of people. Were it known and well considered, that India is rather a large combination of countries than one country ; that there are more than twelve different languages spoken by her people ; that there are as great differences among her races as there are between the Malays and the Negroes; that a Missionary in Bengal is more distant from a Missionary in Scinde, in the Pun- jaub, on the Malabar Coast, or at Tanjore, than London is from St. Petersburgh ; and that the language of the people to whom he preaches is no more like the Punjaubee, the Scindee, the Marathi, or the Tamil languages, than English is to Dutch or German ; there would be a far more correct apprehension of the present position and prospects of India Missions. I will not attempt to describe India at length, but it is necessary that I should state some facts relating to her extent and population, if I would develope her claims; and I must ask the friends of Missions carefully to contemplate the brief statement I subjoin. India may be regarded either in her geographical or her political divisions. We may think of her wonderful Gangetic valley, probably the most fertile, extensive, and populous in the world; of the Deccan extending across the Peninsula; of Southern India; of Central India; of the plains of the Indus; or the vast mountainous regions. In this series of immense districts, we may find the highest mountains in the world, some of the wildest forests, some of the richest plains, some of the most ancient cities. We may find hilltribes with customs the most barbarous, and others with manners the most simple. We may see some territories that are the abode of the elephant and the tiger, mto which the feet of civilized man appear never yet to have entered. We may find the pestilential marsh, or heights of the utmost beauty and salubrity. We may see the courts of kings and princes, colleges 5 with advanced students, ports of trade, thriving manufactories, and all the symbols of power, refinement, and knowledge. Or looking to the political divisions, we find contrasts as strange, and may learn new lessons of the importance, and the spiritual destitution, of the country. The following table presents a brief view of them all, with the area, population, languages, and respec- tive numbers of Missionaries, according to the most recent accounts. BRITISH POSSESSIONS. Area. Principal Number of Mis- Sq. miles. Population. languages. sionaries. (102; namely, 69 Bengal Presidency, Bengali for Bengal, 12 including Bengal, © ae Hindui for the 8 mil- 173,000 38 AR Uriya 4 lions of Behar, | Assamese | and 21 for Oris- \ sa and Assam. ace pane As- sam . soo ee ) | | a | | y Agra _— Presidency, ( Hindui or North Western Poa 170,210 28 millions come 59 Provinces, includ- ing Bundelkund.. Tamil Presidency of Madras, 406 999 18 millions Telugu including Mysore.. C anarese Presidency of Bom- ae Marathi DDB ee ds a ciphe s | Azimghur Sena Jounpore oe Six Districts, A Miteanars . + 7,121,087. ' Banetzen, Benares AP Ghazeepore re, Total). 23,199,668 Total.. Forty-nine. The rest of the Missionaries in the Agra presidency are not in these settled districts. There are not less than Fifty-four thousand Towns and Villages in these North Western Provinces alone. We see thus, that the whole of the Eastern and Western parts of Bengal, and some of the best districts in the North Western Provinces, are wholly deserted. Some of the finest, some of the most populous parts of the country, are altogether neglected ; or if not neglected, supplied at the rate of one Missionary to a million, or to half a million, of people, scattered in great districts! Let any one study the map of India and allow his eye to affect his heart. He will find a district as large as Wales or York- shire, with a population probably greater, without a single Mis- sionary ; he may go on, and add to that, another district ; and then another ; and finally will discover a long range of fertile, populous countries, (I can scarcely call them districts,) as much neglected as if they were districts in Japan. I direct my appeal principally to Great Britain—not indeed that I am insensible to the zeal or to the important Missionary labour of the American Churches. But addressing my brethren in the first instance, I would ask them to observe, that of the names of the 403 Protestant Missionaries, who were labouring in India at the end of the year 1850, the names of no less than 106 were those of Missionaries connected not with British, but with American and German Societies. Of the rest seven were supported by local funds ; the remaining 290 were connected with British Missions. It becomes next an interesting and most important enquiry, what proportion of these was supplied by the Church of England: how has the special responsibility of that great national Church been discharged? I find that of the 290, 132 were connected with the ~13 ‘Church of England—through the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Church Missionary Society ; namely thirty- nine with the former and ninety-three with the latter. And of these 132, more than thirty were Germans, and at least twenty were East Indians or converted Hindoos or Singalese; so that the total num- ber of Missionaries given by the Church of England, from its own bosom in Great Britain, did not exceed Eighty ;—Kighty out of the 403 men labouring here ; EKighty for 145 millions. This calculation includes Ceylon; but for India alone the East India Company provides an establishment of three. Bishops, three Archdeacons, and I believe fully 132 Chaplains, at a cost including all charges, I have good reason for saying, of more than £130,000 a year ; and for whom? for 145 millions? no, but for the thirty thousand Europeans in their service. The 132 Church Missionaries cost alto- gether, with their schools and other expenses, about £65,000 a year, and they are provided for 145 millions of people. The East India Company provides, at more than double the cost, a larger number of clergymen for thirty thousand people; and pays several Romish priests besides, for the Irish soldiers who are included in that number. But this is not all. Let me speak the simple truth in this mat- ter. It is most important that those who have Christian obligations should be led fairly to weigh and consider them. By unveiling the spiritual destitution of English towns, and the sad negligence of some pastors, many have been stirred up to earnest action, and hence our multiplied Churches and Chapels, and Schools, and Dis- trict visitors. By exhibiting the spiritual destitution of the lowest classes, in the wretched abodes of crime and pauperism, many who gave no heed to such things before, have been awakened to permanent exertions that are already producing rich and abundant fruit. And so now, by speaking of what India requires, and of the amazing neglect of her, by too many who might be among her most efficient helpers, some at least, may be stimulated to consider again their duties. Let me not be counted an enemy for speaking the truth. I speak only because I feel certain that if the matter were weighed, there would be many to give themselves to God’s service in India. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.” Now, ‘what is the fact? Chaplaincies are taken, and are even eagerly sought for; but the work of Missions is avoided. ‘This does not look well. “ Oh! for a heart magnanimous to know Thy worth, poor world, and let thee go !” In an excellent work lately published, The Life of the late Rev. H. W. Fox, of the Church Missionary Society’s Madras Mission, a work which appears to be adapted to much usefulness, there are some admirable letters to friends in England, on the back- 14 wardness of qualified men to offer themselves to the Lord’s work in India. He says—“I rode 250 miles in a straight line through a populous country, passing through many villages every three or four miles, and seeing many others in all directions, and occasionally coming to considerable towns, but in all that district there was not a single Christian Missionary ; not one person from whom a Heathen might hear the word of life. My road lay paral- lel to the sea-coast, at no great distance from it, but I might have gone inland for 100 or 200, or 300 miles, and, exceptin one place, have found the whole land equally wanting in Christian teachers.” * * * «The excuse I used to hear in England about our large towns and their neglected state and their Heathen po- pulation, and so on, often occurs to my mind; I call it an excuse, because, except in one or two cases, I have observed it to be pal- pably no better. Young men say they can’t come out to Masulipa- tam, because the heathen thousands of Manchester and St. Giles have a prior claim on their labours, and so having pacified their consciences, they take a nice curacy ina village or country town.” Let me turn to the Church of Scotland. All her Missiona- ries seceded in the great secession of 1843. In all the inter- vening time how has she supplied their places? Two or three whom she sent out, soon left the field, and now, (and this has been true for the last two years,) she actually has no more than four Missionaries from her Foreign Mission Com- mittee to India; she has no other Missions to the Heathen elsewhere ; and these four Missionaries, with their schools, pro- bably cost about £3,000 a year; while the East India Company supports at the Presidency towns, six chaplains of that Church, at an expense (including salaries, pensions, and all attendant charges,) of more than £9,000 a year ; and this for a number of attendants, which does not reach the aggregate of 900 persons. It is scarcely credible that a Church should venture so much as to speak of its Foreign Missions, and yet do so little. I can wish nothing better for the Church of Scotland than that her Missionary zeal may be kindled, and that she may send out many more, like those who are labouring as her Missionaries in Calcutta. But at present her case is grievous and almost incredible. The very minimum of zeal and energy appears to be represented in her Foreign Missions. Well may we be thankful, that while so little is done by some, others are at work with more zeal; and yet, after all, how little is done altogether, if the wants and vastness of the country be fully considered! Some of the Churches that seem most anxious for India, and are more peculiarly associated with her—do not even they, fall short? Look at our Baptist brethren, who have been signally honored and encouraged in India. They have Missions in India still, it is true; and so far as I have observed, they a n wn nn wn n nw n “ “ tay nn an a nn 15 are fully as much favored in the piety, and zeal, and success, of their labourers, as any Church or Society whatever. But what is the fact? With a clear mcome, to spend on their Missions, pro- bably not exceeding £14,000 a year, they have, besides their Mis- sions in India and in Ceylon, Missions in the Bahamas, Trinidad, Haiti, Jamaica, the West of Africa, and in France! How then can they do justice to India? ~ And even my brethren of the Free Scotch Church, who also have been very greatly honored and blessed in their agents and im their work in India,—do not they divert some of their resources to Caffraria, where there are others to oceupy the field? In Caf- fraria, I believe, there are more Missionaries to every accessible ten thousand persons than there are in India to every million. And yet part of the strength of a Church, which has been eminently blessed in India, is diverted to Caffraria, and her labourers in India are left to be (such is the fact) overwrought, cumbered with much serving, and unable to break forth on the right hand or on the left. I cannot think that these things are wisely managed. We have claimant wants in India—we have a spiritually destituteempire. In Caffraria there are more Missionaries in proportion to the people, than we should have if our Missionary body were increased a hundred fold. Is this then a time to turn away from India to Cafiraria? I speak with no want of sympathy for the Cape Colony and its frontier. But I may be permitted to mourn over disproportionate arrangements ; over arrangements that direct into a channel which already is well supplied, resources, that might replenish another channel, which, comparatively speaking, is al- most dry. And may I not ask the brethren of other Churches to think of these things? It is exceedingly pleasing to see the atten- tion of Churches directed to India, when they first think of Mis- sions, and such has been the case in recent years with the Irish Presbyterian Church and the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists; but why isthe United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, (which has so interesting a Mission in Calabar) altogether insensible to India ? Why are the zealous Wesleyans confined to Madras and Ceylon? Why are the untiring, simple-minded Moravians unknown in India? Oh! that all men would lay to heart her woes, her many centu- ries of desolation and darkness, the wants of her great population throughout all her vast expanse, and considering well the awful picture, would solemnly dedicate their strength to the sacred work of her recovery! If I were speaking of China, the explanations of some of the facts I have mentioned would be easy. The melancholy truth to which I have before adverted, that there is access only to a very small part, of that empire, would sufficiently account for the contracted spheres of the Missions. But in India, 16 an European Missionary, or even a Native Missionary, might travel into nearly every district, and would be received with courtesy, if not with kindness, by the people. He might settle in the countless towns that are now totally unprovided, and in them all, be safe and useful. From Cape Comorin almost up to Peshawur,. he would find a free course for the Gospel. In no coun- try inthe world, (as Dr. Duff showed in his lecture on India at Exeter Hall,) would he find the two elements of population and accessibility, exist in combination to such an extent as in India. Whereas, in many other countries, we can carry divine truth to tens of thousand, in India we can take it to millions. And yet in great parts of the country, the good seed is entirely unsown ; there is room and even a ready welcome for Missionaries, but none enter in at those doors of utterance to enlighten and to evangelize the people ! It will not be supposed by any one who is acquainted with the facts connected with India Missions, that the friends of Missions are halting through any want of encouragement. On the contrary, they are halting not only notwithstanding an open door before them, but also, notwithstanding vast and wonderful encouragements. I turn again to the valuable pamphlet on the Results, and collect facts like the following. | The earlier Missionaries have pioneered the way; they have prepared dictionaries and grammars of the Vernacular language, translated the Scriptures, laid a large foundation for a Verna- cular Christian literature, and in many places have completely out- lived the prejudices of the people and of their own worldly coun- trymen. The work of education has been carried on so vigorously, that a desire for knowledge has been created in a large number of principal cities ; the minds of large classes have been aroused and awaken- ed; native converts to the number of 103,000 have been gather- ed ; not a few faithful Native Ministers have been ordained ; many schools have been established, Churches built, and Mission pre- mises prepared; a general knowledge of Christianity, as a new and purer religion than their own, has been diffused among the people ; some of the worst customs and rites of the Hindus have been suppressed by law; and a widespread spirit of enquiry has. been excited. Abundant illustrations of these statements might be fur- nished ; but a few will suffice. At the last meeting of the Calcutta Bible Society, the Rev. A. F. Lacroix, a Missionary of great experience and ability, adverted to the remarkable change he had observed at one of the chief annual festivals, (that at Saugor is- land,) from which hehad only lately returned. Formerly he had seen nearly a hundred thousand attendants, with all the signs of enthu- siasm, but on his recent visit, he saw only about thirty thousand ; 47 he and his brethren were permitted without molestation or contro- versy to preach and speak to the people, and the aspect of the entire scene was that of carelessdull routine. Another respected Missionary, who had occasion to traverse a considerable part of Bengal about a year ago, expressed to me his conviction, that the whole tone and state of feeling among the people differed essentially, from that which he had noticed twenty years before. ‘The decided im- pression made on the great and “holy” city of Benares is confessed by all intelligent observers. In their last report, the Missionaries at Mirzapore too, state that “ multitudes are convinced that Chris- * tianity is the only religion that will bear investigation ; and the “ time is not distant when multitudes will embrace it.” In the last report of the Calcutta Bible Society, Mr. Bion of Dacca writes thus, after one of his tours :—‘“ I was two years ago at the Baronee, ‘ with two of my former brethren. I found an astonishing differ- ence between that time and this. ‘Two years ago, we hada great deal of dispute, and at night were provoked by the people. This year nothing of this kind oceurred, scarcely any disputes took place, no such scoffings as we experienced at that time: in every place we were enabled to preachwith all peace and comfort. I state this, because it is undeniable, that on the whole people think more seriously about the Gospel, and they are gradually becoming more persuaded of its truths. I hope, therefore, and pray to God, that the seed so frequently and richly sown, may germinate in the ‘ hearts of many and bear fruit.” In the same report we find the Rev. W. Pryse of Sylhet thus describes one of the scenes he witnessed in his tours :— “In one instance, with a congregation of, perhaps, 200 or 250,a young man was asked to stand on the boat and read audibly and deliberately the 115th Psalm and the 44th of Isaiah, verse 9, etc.: and to explain any passages which we might point out to himin the course of his reading. As he proceeded, his mind became greatly agitated, with his agitation his features brightened, the tones of his voice and his movements rose to a pitch truly eloquent. The mo- mentary effect produced on his own mind, and on his hearers, was thrilling. A burst of an indescribable feeling gleamed over every countenance.” Mr. Sternberg of Tirhoot notices, that a very aged Missionary, Mr. Smith, (of the Baptist Mission at Benares,) having visited a fair in Ghazeepore with some German brethren last year, ‘ could not refrain from expressing his surprize at the change in ‘ the people ; he said to Brother Zieman, ‘ Formerly they would not ‘ receive our books or listen to our discourse, now they listen, take ‘ books, and pay also for them.” And a Native Catechist of the Free Church, whose report of a journey taken with some other native brethren, appears in the Calcutta Bible Society’s report, says :-— “In visiting these places, there was certainly something to excite feelings of gtatitude to Him, who hath promised to give His son the Heathen for His in- D nn a a a a a « a a 18 heritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession; and from no source was the stream of emotions more largely supplied than from the review of the past with the present, the mountain of difficulties that stood in for- mer times in the way of preaching in these dark places, with the abundant fa- cilities that now exist for prosecuting the Missionary labours. A century ago, no man could preach without being pelted with stones or insulted, now he can do so in the assured hope, that he will be generally treated with respect. Then none of the respectable classes of the Hindus would entrust their chil- dren to Christian teachers or preachers for education, now hundreds of them are not only anxious to have Christian schools established in their own villages witb promises of aid in providing suitable accommodations, but some of them are also willing to send their children to Calcutta under the protection of the Native Christians. Of this description is the disclosure made in the following conversation, between Brother B, and a brahmin of some respectability :— ‘ I have heard something of your honesty You do not force little children of premature judgments to become Christians; I am therefore willing to let my brothers go down with you to Calcutta, to receive education with the promise of assistance in providing one-half of the expenses of their lodging.’ —‘ Sup- pose,’ asked B., ‘ your brothers, after a strict and searching examination of the truths of Christianity, are led to embrace it, would you in that case raise a cry against me?’—‘ Certainly not; for every man has a right to judge for himself.’” The last Report of the Bengal Auxiliary to the London Mis- sionary Society states, “ Never were the prospects of the Church ‘ brighter, or her hopes of the conquest of India to Christ based ‘ upon a firmer and more intelligent basis. The Lord is evidently ‘ working amongst the people. He is overturning and overturning, ‘ until He, whose right alone it isto govern, shall come to take unto ‘ himself His great power and reign.” The Church Missionary’s Report, published in London in 1851, speaking of Mr. Weitbrecht’s (alas! that I must now say the late Mr. Weitbrecht’s) tours, says :—“ The impression produced in the ‘mind of this experienced Missionary was that the day is rapidly ‘approaching when India shall hear the gracious call— Arise, ‘ shine, for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord has risen ‘upon thee.’ ” The testimony of Mr. Lamb of Meerut is very similar, and that of Mr. Pfander of Agra scarcely less encouraging. And from totally different parts of the country, statements are received of the same kind. Thus Colonel Jacob, at the Church Missionary Society's Meeting in 1850, spoke feelingly of the hopeful state of the district around Poonah in the Bombay Presidency, which in some parts appeared to be bursting with promise. __ In the Report of the Madras Bible Society, published in 1851, we find the Rev. W. Addis of Coimbatoor in South India writing :— “The Heathen of all classes read our Scriptures and have, in several ‘ instances, solicited a supply of Gospels for the use of the scholars ‘in their own schools, and thus in a measure assimilated them to ‘ those of this Mission.” And again he says—“ The sacred volume ‘is sought for by all classes, persuasions and ages.” * * * “T have 19 ‘made several Mission tours during the year, amounting to some ‘hundred miles in different directions in this province, and every- .‘ where found our Scriptures asked for, and also met with some ‘ persons, who had, in time past, received them, and from the know- ‘ ledge they evinced of their contents, it was very evident they had ‘read them with attention. They had also carefully preserved ‘ them.” The Rev. G. J. Martz, writing from Guntoor in the Telugu country to the same Society, says—“ My impression, so far as my ‘ observation enables me to judge is, that the desire to possess the ‘ Christian Scriptures is daily increasing among the Telugu people, ‘and that large portions of the word of God might be distri- ‘buted to persons who can read and profit by it if suitable agen- ‘cies could be employed.” Many similar testimonies might be added. The following is remarkable. In the last Report of the Wesleyan Mission in Mysore, Mr. Sul- livan writes—“ In journeying through the Mysore country, one ‘is encouraged to find in many, if not inevery town and village, ‘ the pride of Hinduism and Mahommedanism fast on the decline. * Temples are neglected, fallen, and crumbling into dust ; the wor- ‘ ship of idols rejected and left to decay ; and a variety of ceremo- ‘ nies abolished. Nothing appears to be wanted, but an increase of ‘ human instrumentality under Divine Providence. May the Great ‘ Lord of the harvest, in answer to the prayers of His Church, send ‘ hither a numerous band of labourers, men of earnest prayer, of ‘ strong faith, of self-denying zeal, willing to spend and be spent in ‘ His glorious cause.” | The facts that crowd upon the mind, when the encouragements to Missions have to be mentioned, are so numerous, that it. is dif- ficult to adjust them. We see a decided willingness on the part of parents to send their children to Missionary schools; there is a growing spirit of piety and sympathy among the European resi- dents, especially in the presidency of Madras; the Chaplains in most instances are favorable to Missions, and in some cases are cordial well-wishers and helpers; and the state of mind among the natives is ominous of change. Sometimes a baptism will take place, and neither relatives nor neighbour manifest even surprise, at other times they will be roused to alarm. There are other well-known faets of great significance. Last year it was pro- posed at a great public Meeting in Calcutta to meet the Mis- slonaries by relaxing the bonds of caste; but soon after, when a nephew of the celebrated Dwarkanath Tagore, a young man of intelligence, respectability, and property, was publicly baptized, and then proceeded to deliver lectures on Christianity, there ap- peared to be a kind of prostrate submission to the progress of Christianity, as an irresistible and necessary event. 20 And it must not be forgotten, thatin some districts there have been extensive publicand importantmovements, that have marked ashak- ing in the minds of masses of people. Such was the case at Krish- - nagur, and such too was the case in the Missionsof the Church Mis- sionary and Propagation Societies, and to a less degree in thoseof the London Missionary Society, inSouth India. Themost remarkablere- cent instance of the kind with which I amacquainted, was that in the district of Burrisaul or Backergunge, south-east of Calcutta. In that district, there was a movement about five years ago among a class of very poor and friendless agriculturists and fishermen, called Chandals, and from certain special causes it was necessary to scru- tinize it with peculiar care. The result at this time is that the Christian community amounts to thirteen hundred persons. Four years ago not ten could read, and some of their habits were still painfully revolting. Now there are fully two hundred who can read the Scriptures, and the moral deportment of the whole body is visibly elevated. It is believed that about one hundred and fifty persons are truly converted, and among the rest there is so much stedfastness, cheerfulness, and morality, that cheer- ing hopes are entertained by the worthy Missionaries of the district, that the grace of God is spreading among them also. Another important encouragement is that derived from occasional facts of an unexpected kind, which suddenly show that an unknown work has long been secretly gomg on. Thus the late Rev. C. Lacey of Cuttack, writing in his journal of 1846, said—“ In the market we ‘ visited at Thangee, a tract called The Ten Commandments was given ‘ away about seventeen years ago, which, falling into the hands of a ‘ devotee named Sundardass, produced a most extensive and impor- ¢ tant effect on all the surrounding country. More than a hundred ‘ persons have already embraced the Gospel as the fruits of this one ‘tract, and the Dasagya tract is celebrated throughout all these ‘parts. The devotee himself never believed the word to which ‘he had assisted so many others, and died a confirmed Bramha- ¢chari.” I might easily collect and quote a number of facts, illus- trating the quiet silent working of the truth in the case of indi- viduals, but to confine myself to neighbourhoods, I will add only that the Rev. J. Johannes of Chittagong was very recently greatly encouraged by finding that a copy of the excellent Bengali tract, entitled The True Refuge, had been the means of an awakening in a village in Tipperah, and that the enquirers had withstood with stedfastness considerable persecution. He was invited to visit them, and was privileged to admit seventeen persons into the Church of Christ by baptism. Would that such decided movements were more common in the land! But let us not be discouraged if we see not all the fruits of our labour, or see much to try our faith. “ If,” 21 says one of the last Reports of the Calcutta Bible Society, “faint yet pursuing, we are tried by the incidents of a tran- ‘ sition state ; if we behold the Gospel as a savour of death unto ‘ death, bringing convictions of the sinfulness and folly of idolatry ‘ only to heighten the doom of the fearful and unbelieving ; we may ‘ be certain that we see nothing new, and that in the four centuries ‘before the ancient idols were famished from the earth, there ‘ were myriads who halted between two opinions, like the educat- ‘ed natives around us, and died at last irresolute and self-con- ‘demned. The trials and discouragements, the anxieties of long- ‘ sustained suspense, and the conscious failure of patience, which we ‘ experience, others experienced before us, yet they went on sow- ‘ing and prepared for us a harvest ; and when we have entered into ‘rest, those who follow us will know in like manner, by fresh and ‘ augmented evidence of the Gospel’s progress, that we too have la- ‘boured not invain.” The chief feature in India Missions now, is the sign of an extensive preparatory work that meets us wherever Christian Missions are established. When we see a large class of educated Hindus breaking off from Hinduism and calling them- selves Vedantists; when we find that there are forty native printing presses, and fourteen native newspapers in Calcutta, where- as thirty years ago there was not one; when we hear of a zealous Missionary collectinga library of nearly seven hundred Bengali books, which in the last thirty years have issued from the Bengali press ; when we hear of one native offering a prize to encourage the re-marriage of widows, may we not say with Bishop Wilson, that “ Education is bursting the barrier of ages?” And when we find the same testimony from all Missionaries, that people hear them glad- ly, that they are willing to receive the Scriptures, that there are openings on every hand, and that the people around them are desiring Missions in their villages, we may well thank God and take courage. It is another important consideration, that there have re- cently been remarkable movements among the Mahommedans, and that the effect of Mr. Pfander’s works has been considerable. The Frasies in Bengal, and the Moplahs, are new sects of importance, liberated from many of the old prejudices of their former creed. In many villages of Mahommedans of Bengal, the Mahommedanism is almost nominal—the people are simple, un- prejudiced, and unsophisticated, and in complete ignorance about their professed religion. It was mentioned lately by an active Missionary, who had visited one of these villages, that the head man in it could give no better account of Mahommed than that he was a Bengali born in the house of a Brahmin ! On the whole, I believe, it may be stated that there is a great change in a large part of India. That the change is not greater, and does not extend further, arises, so far as I can judge, 22 from the paucity of Missions and Missionaries. But where the influence of the Gospel has been fairly exhibited, where the truth has been vigorously preached, there the hearts of the people faint within them. Their rock is not as our Rock, they themselves being judges. There is an uneasiness in the mind of the bigoted Hindu and Mussulman, and a complete indifference to their old religions in many others; the progress of trade is breaking in on the boundaries of caste ; the influence of the Brahmins, and the habit of wasting money on them, and on idolatrous festivals, is on the wane; few new temples are built, many old ones are going to decay ; European habits and the Eng- lish language are certainly gaining ground in many powerful classes; and the hope seems to dawn on us of fields “ white unto the harvest.” But if the harvest be plenteous, the labourers are few. I have shewn that in some places there are none at all, and, it may be, that in those very places, which the Church of Christ has so long and so sadly neglected, there may be less pre- judice, and more teachableness, than in any of the places where our brethren now spend their strength. But year after year passes, and we are left in ignorance of a large part of the country; we know merely that great districts like Mymensingh and Midnapore, (probably the two largest in Bengal); that provinces like Bundel- kund; that cities like Lucknow, Hyderabad, and Delhi; that great countries like Sattara, Oude, and Rajputana; that frontier states like Cashmere and Thibet, remain untraversed, unvisited, and unknown, “ and how shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they preach except they be sent ?” And is there, then, a lack of pious and devoted men at home? Or are there such men who refuse to come over and help us? From no family, apparently, are members refused, to visit India in the civil or military services, or to seek gain in mercantile pursuits; but for Missions, few are allowed, few are disposed, to come. Our universities in England have not given I fear twenty men altogether to the Missionary work ; there have not, I think, been more than two men yet (I mean Mr. Wypbrow and Mr. Start) who have resigned a rectory or vicarage to give themselve to the Heathen. And yet what are the claims of India? The claims of suffering, dying millions, the claims of a great empire given to England, in the wonderful providence of God, as a sacred and awful trust. Alas, that we should “ keep back part of the price !” What are the sacrifices required of those whom we invite and implore to yield themselves in this field of labour to God’s service? Are they to come to dangers, such as Clive or Munro encountered in search of earthly fame and glory ?’—are they to enter with uncertain steps amidst a hostile population, 23 and to live in penury and in wretchedness, for a few short years, on their pilgrimage to a foreign unknown grave? No; they are asked to come to a land where all things are ready for their peace- ful labours, wherein certainly they may live in security and in happiness, in the most honorable service that man can undertake, and with the favour and blessing of God. The fears and fancies about premature death, and about the sufferings and dangers of Missionaries in India, are romantic creations of the brain. In some districts, I fear, that the Missionaries have been tempted to a life of too much ease ; in all, certainly, so far as I am aware, they may have abundantly enough of the comforts of life to render the cli- mate tolerable, and to keep them in health for their labours. It is true that some Missionaries have sunk into an early grave; but in some of those cases great imprudence was an_ evident cause, and in others they fell victims to diseases that might have been equally prevalent, and would have probably been fatal, at home. There are hundreds of faithful ministers of the Gospel in England, Scotland, and Ireland, who encounter equal risks with the Indian Missionary, and who live in a more impoverished condition. If then, it were right to argue this matter with the faint-hearted brethren at home on this ground, it would be easy to show that imaginary difficulties deter them. Oh, let such men— men whose hearts have often inclined them to pity, and to devote themselves to the Heathen, let them consider well the responsibility of their indolence and fears. If they be not valiant for the truth, the battle of the Lord will still be fought, and the victory be won, but it will not be to their honor. (Judges iv. 9.) Assuredly the Lord’s work will be accomplished, whether his people are faint- hearted, or whether they offer themselves willingly, with all that they have and all that they are, as areasonable service. “He will build the house, and He will bear the glory,” and great will be the grief of all who deny labour, which He has qualified them to give. Perhaps, already there are some, who have resisted the calls of the Blessed Spirit to give themselves to Missionary labour, who consequently have since “ suffered loss,’ and who, having thus grieved the Holy Spirit, have been left to labour languidly and live at ease in Zion, “not grieved for the misery of Jacob.” To such the questions—“ Where art thou?” “ What doest thou here, Elijah ?’—will ever and anon recur, amidst all the comforts of their chosen homes. Or it may be, that there are some who have deterred others from offering themselves to the Lord’s service,—parents who have checked their children, wives their husbands, sisters their brethren. It is well to advise all who think of this service to pause and weigh it well; to tell them that though they are mistaken about perils in the wilderness and perils from the 24 heathen, there are nevertheless other real trials to be encoun- tered ; but, from selfish love, to prevent those whom God seems to have qualified and called; to forbid them; to deny them, to dying millions,—* shall not the Lord visit for these things?” I would not have any one take up the work of Missions lightly, for though, indeed, there are not more dangers from climate than thousands encounter in the public services; and though it is an idle fancy that a Missionary in India lives a life of penury and severe physical endurance ; yet it is well that all should consi- der, whether they are prepared once and for ever to turn their backs upon the world; to forego all hopes of promotion, of a large income, and of worldly rank; and also if they understand, and have weighed the trial of faith that is involved, in bringing upa family with no pros- pects of worldly advancement, and perhaps in circumstances that preclude the hope of a liberal education. It is well for the friends of those who think of offering themselves as Missionaries, to bid them “ eount the cost ;” to reflect deeply if they are men likely to be content to abide in one sphere for life, and in the performance of one set of duties all their days. But to go further—to create fears of privations and hard life, which do not exist ; to entice those whom the Lord calls, to spare themselves; and to live on in selfish ease among all the endearing associations that entangle men in earthly affections, when they should be “ enduring hardness as good sol- diers of Jesus Christ’—this is assuming a fearful responsibility. Did those who pause and hesitate, those who shrink from the Lord’s service in India, know all the woes of the people, how hard it would be for them to keep back from this field of labour! There is here an immense and awful aggregate of suffering, of delusion, of moral ruin, of triumphant sin, that almost overwhelms the attentive and compassionate observer. Let me briefly sketch the evils that I speak of, and ask all who ean feel for others, all who will not selfishly say, “‘AmI my brother’s keeper?” to think of these things. First of all “they sacrifice to Devils and not to God.” The Great God is represented as manifested in Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv. Inallthese characters he is represented by a series of tales full of infamy and vileness. Theft, drunkenness, revenge, ignorance, lust, and murder, are written of these awful deities. Far be it from me to pollute the reader, with those things that are not fit to be so much as named among Christians, but which, being embodied in the sacred fables of the Hindus, are the objects of their devout contemplations. | “Professing themselves to be wise, they have become fools.” Their religious system betrays the utmost darkness and_ folly. Mount Meru is represented as the centre of the world and 600,000 miles high, 128,000 in circumference at its base, and 356,000 wide 25 at the top, with trees 8,800 miles high. There are said to be seven seas round the earth, of salt water, sugar-cane juice, wine, melted butter, milk, curdled milk, and sweet water. ‘The earth is describ- ed as nearly level, in the form of a lotus; and four thousand mil- lions of miles in diameter, resting on the back of a tortoise, or as some Purans record, on the hood of a serpent. Rain is said to come from the moon—lightning from the rain. “Their solemn meetings are iniquity.” It isundeniable, that human sacrifices have been practised under the authority of the shastras.* Their moral precepts are contradictory and absurd. The festivals of the Hindu religion in some instance celebrate crimes, and in others are attended with cruelty, with filthy prac- tices, and with wild fanaticism. A vast multitude of deities are offered for worship, and these are represented by disgraceful em- blems, and honored with worship in lascivious songs. ‘The priest- hood is exalted by extravagant laws, securmg them from public justice, protecting them in their vices, encouraging others to lie for them, and degrading all other castes into their slaves. Their religion provides, that to tax a Brahman is unlawful; that he only may read the sacred books or be a religious teacher ; and that gifts to Brahmans atone for all manner of sins. The se- veral gods, invented by the wickedness of man, and the guilty priest hood that are their earthly ministers, revel in the sufferings of the people. Toilsome pilgrimages, woeful penances, and incessant extortion from the rich and from the poor, mark the religion of the Hindoos. In examining their vile and monstrous system, we are reminded of the word of the Lord to his servant of old: “ Goin ‘and behold the wicked abomination that they do here.” * * * * Turn yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.” (Ezek. viii. 9 & 13.) Blessed be his glorious name for ever! for the promise—“ The Gentiles shall come unto Thee ‘ from the end of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have ‘ inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein is no profit.” (Jer. xvi. 19:) What is the practical operation of this wretched system? At the Churruck Poojah poor creatures whirled about in the air, sus- pended by iron hooks through their backs; others having their tongues pierced ; thousands upon thousands, throughout the land, sacrificing goats to the god in whose honor they torture one ano- ther and themselves. At the Hooley holiday, an universal cele- bration of a disgusting sin, with revelry, polluting songs, and filthy tales, recited even by women, as an acceptable service. These are some of the festivals of worship! The female sex, kept in constant degradation, preserved in ignorance as a religious duty, * Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 871, E 26 betrothed in early life, then probably doomed to perpetual widow- hood from childhood, and then surrounded by temptations and prac- tices the most foul: such are some of the results in domestic life. Their very tender mercies are cruel. If a rich Hindoo died be- fore the rite of suttee was abolished, in the British part of India, in 1834, how was his memory honored? His widow was driven as an out-cast into infamy, or had to die on his funeral pile ; the torch being applied by her first-born son. When Scindiah died in 1843, several women thus were sacrificed. When the depraved Runjeet Sing died at Lahore, about the same time, four of his wives and seven young slaves were together consumed as a holocaust, sanction- ed by the satanic wickedness of Hindooism. Yes, eleven helpless women were solemnly burned to death as a holy sacrifice! Is this custom extinct? Far from it. Inthe British dominions it is restrain- ed, but the recent occurrence of a suttee in Pachete (in Bengal,) shows the desire of the priesthood to preserve the custom; and its continuance in the states where British laws do not reach, is no- torious. | Then consider infanticide. The judgment of Jehovah on this horrible offence is stamped on many pages of the Bible. His righteous abhorrence of it is declared and reiterated, with striking expressions of intense feeling. “They have filled this place with ‘ the blood of innocents; they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offermgs unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it unto my mind.” (Jer. xix. 4,5.) “'They sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed mnocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sa- crificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.” (Psalm evi. 37, 38.) Surely if any one thing, more than all others, can prove the frightful malignity of sin, it is the pre- valence of infanticide. ‘“ Without natural affection” is one of the darkest depths into which man, with his boasted powers, can fall. But to sacrifice: children as a religious service, and to do so by cruel means, what is this, but the very triumph of satan, the very summit of all proof that “there is madness in the heart of man?” And yet in India, it has been known that mothers have hung up their infants in baskets among trees to be devoured by insects, snakes, or wild birds, as an oblation for the sin of their soul; and did we know this great country better, had we Missionaries enough to penetrate into all its dark places and habitations of cruelty, equal horrors might be detected still. It was not till Lord Wellesley by law interdicted the practice, that women ceased to throw their children to be devoured by sharks at Saugor island. And a Parliamentary Report in 1843 unveiled the frightful extent ¢ ¢ ¢ 6 ¢ ¢ ¢ 27 of infanticide in nearly the whole of the West of India. Let the following brief extracts be pondered :— “ The Agent,” writes the Lieut -Governor. of the N. W. Provinces, in September, 1841, “ reported that the destruction of female children was not uncommon among the Rajpoots of the Jubbulpoor district.” All the. Meenas as well of Boudee as of Oodeepore, have been the chief actors in the late aggression of Meenas, called Pungur,” writes the Kotah Agent to the Agent at Ajmere, ‘and are much more wild and turbulent than any other of the twenty- four tribes of Meenas enumerated to me. This tribe is distinguished from the rest by their very general observance of what they regard as the command of Heaven to destroy their female chilaren.”—* Independently of plundering, the Mhair had some other evil customs to relinquish; viz., Slavery, Female Infanticide, and the sale of women.’—*Since [ first heard of the existence of this crime,” writes Mr. Wilkinson, Agent at Sehore, “ shortly after my arrival in Malwa, about five yearsago, I have made constant and close enquiries, with the view of ascertaining the extent to which the practice still prevails in this part of Malwa; and the facts and statements now furnished will satisfy you, that’ infanticide is still (1836) extensively practised.”"—* Infanticide,” writes Colonel Sutherland, in 1841, ‘ prevails to some extent among the inferior Rajpoots of Marwar, but only in one of the principal houses, and that is of late introduc- tion.”—* From Returns,” writes Mr. Willoughby, in 1834, “ received from the Political Agent, stationed in Katteewar, it appears, that although a consi- derable degree of success has attended the measures adopted in that province for the suppression of infanticide, the crime is proved to be still committed by the great disproportion observable inthe number of male and female children.” — And again, “‘areport on the subject of infanticide in Katteewar would be incomplete without a brief allusion to the prevalence of the same crime in the adjacent province of Cutch.” Here again the British Government has interfered; and through- out Rajpootana, and in the other states within the Bombay presidency, and in nearly all the other allied states where it had been followed, the practice has been very greatly diminished in recent years. But what must be the character of the religion in which infanticide is a merit and a duty? ‘This, be it observed, is the case of Hindooism. I am not now speaking of the savage tribes of Khoonds in Orissa, in which the dreadful Meriah sacri- fices prevail,—the sacrifice of victims stolen, purchased, or captured as children, preserved with care to the day of slaughter,and in adult life torn to pieces in a scene of barbarity called a religious service. But something worse than infanticide is chargeable on Hindoo- ism. Consider next the iniquities of the Thugs, the organized assassins in India. These men were a religious sect, and found nothing in the character of their gods to discourage and upbraid them. Their practices are well known, and I need not detail them. They wandered about in search of prey ; waiting for the weary traveller, watching patiently for opportunities, careful to strangle only and not to shed blood ; and beseeching the favor and succour of their blood-stained deity. In the “recollections of 28 Northern India,” by the Rev. W. Buyers, is a tale of one of them, that serves as an illustration of their deeds :— “The late Rev. W. Bowley, a Missionary of the Church Society at Chunar, some years ago told me the following circumstances, as related to bim by one of his converts, and which he said happened to himself before his conversion to Christianity. In early life he had been an officer in the army of the king of Oudhe, but after his baptism, he was for years a useful and consistent member of Mr B.’s native Church. , When he was a soldier, being once on -ajourney, he said he had occasion to stop aday at the town of Chunar, and having nothing to do, after strolling for some time about the bazar, he went into a shop and sat down to rest himself. While there, one of these devotees came in, and joined in a conversation which happened to be going on, and which some way or other, perhaps as cunningly directed by the Jogee, took a turn to the subject of black art, or supernatural powers, supposed to be possess- ed by numbers of his fraternity. Having a great deal of curiosity about this subject, the soldier expressed his desire of being made acquainted with its secrets, or to have its powers conferred upon himself. Here the matter drop ped. After leaving the shop, however, the same devotee stepped up to him in the street, and whispered in his ear, that if he would meet him alone ata certain, bour in the evening, afterit was dark, on the sands below the fort, near the bank of the Ganges, he would communicate to him that mysterious knowledge which he seemed so much to desire, The soldier readily accepted the offer, and they parted, promising to meet in the night, at the time and place appointed. Late in the evening he accordingly went and met the devotee, who conducted him to a place at a considerable distance, where they were not likely to meet with any interruption in the mysterious rites which he said must be performed. Having selected a place to his mind, he struck a light and kindled a small fire, on which he placed a little lota, or brazen vessel, having cast into it some ingredients, like drugs of different kinds. He then gave the soldier a small stick into his hand, telling him to continue to stir the ingredients in the pot, looking intently into it all the time, without for an instant turning round, or allowing his mind to be diverted from it, till the charm should be completed, and then the mysterious revelationist, wished by him, would be received. Inthe mean time, however, he said he must leave him alone for a little, but would soon return, when the magical rite would be perfected. So saying, he vanished in the surrounding darkness, leaving his dupe alone, who continued assiduously stirring the contents of the little pot, and anxiously and intently peering into its mouth, through the smoke and steam, expecting every moment to see some strange appari- tion arise, to unfold to him the hellish secrets that he so much wished to penetrate. Alone, however, in such a place, under such circumstances, at the dead of night, his nerves began to quiver and his suspicions to rise; but still, as he had been assured that looking round, or withdrawing his attention from his task, would spoil the whole ceremony and be attended with awful danger to himself, he persevered in his efforts to fix his eyes and his mind on the cookery in which he had engaged. At last, however, he heard something creeping stealthily behind him, and his patience at once gave way. He in- stantly clapped his hand on his sword, and was in the act of springing up, when he felt the noose of the Thug thrown over his head; but he being in sudden motion at the time, it did not reach his throat, but was tightened round his face. Being a powerful man, and instantaneously roused to a state of great excitement, he broke loose at once, and with one stroke of his sword cut down his assailant, whom he had not even time to see. On dragging the body, however, to the glimmering light of the small fire, he found it to be 29 that of the pretended devotee, who had entrapped him by the promise of instructing him in the knowledge of occult arts. Being very much afraid that he might be arrested and tried for murder, he dug a hole in the sand and deposited the body, and leaving Chunar as soon as possible, he proceeded on his journey, no doubt somewhat cured of his love for magical arts. He kept the adventure secret, till a number of years afterwards, when he had been converted to Christianity and returned to Chunar, where he related it to Mr. Bowley, by whom he was baptized.” Not dissimilar to the Thugs, and scarcely less criminal are the Dacoits of Bengal. Some years ago an official report was pub- lished of tribes called Kechucks and, Budducks, who lived by plunder and in the wholesale commission of burglaries, attended in many cases by loss of life. Since that time dacoities or gang- robberies have increased to an alarming height, throughout seve- ral of the chief districts, and they prevail to a greater or less ex- tent in all. I take from one of the Indian Journals of 1843 a sketch of the system :— “The life of a Kechuck or Budduck may be briefly sketched. He is gene- rally born one of the body. His father lives nominally as a ryut on the es- tate of some landholder, who countenances the residence there of a body of these robbers, and shares their gains. Frobably ten reside on one property with their families ; and these are under some Jemadar, and are in connection with two or three other little bands; and these again are united under the control of a Sirdar, who employs spies to gain information respecting the houses of rich natives, or the passage of treasure through the country, When intelligence is thus gained, notice of itis conveyed to the several Jemadars, who meet at some convenient point, travelling to it as pilgrims, as bird-catch- ers, or otherwise disguised. When assembled, a bargain is made respecting the shares of the plunder; and if the different bands are not at the time in possession of sufficient money, one of the party, generally the leader, advances a subsistence allowance, and agrees for re-payment in the first instance, with large interest ; as for instance 250 rupees for the use of 200. The plan is then arranged and the bands separate, They travel in very small companies of three or four, sending on before two or three men with their spear-heads and axe-heads, to be hidden in some convenient spot adjacent to the scene of action. ‘Thus they escape the burden and the risk of carrying arms. When they arrive at the point of junction, they cut bamboos for their wea- pons, and arrange their attack. Frequently they boldly march in broad day- light to the intended house, and vi et armis plunder it, midst the shouts, but as it appears, nothing worse, of the villagers. At other times, they make a more circumspect arrangement. Ifa police guard be near, they set a chosen body to watch them, and then dividing into separate parties, who are stationed at the several outlets of the house, but reserving a body for the main attack, they proceed to action. Choosing a dark night, they proceed with care to the place, and then suddenly lighting a single torch, they break open the door with their axes, or climb the walls with their ladder ; and with or without being provoked by resistance, assault every person they meet, and carry off every- thing they discover. As the young Kechuck or Budduck grows up, he is initiated into the secrets of the trade, and accompanies the expeditions. When all is done, the body separates again and re-unites at some other place. The Sirdar then divides the spoil; re-paying himself for all expenses ; appropriat- ing a share for the Mustajirs, on whose land they live, and then distributing the balance according to the agreement. With this spoil, the robbers return home, each to his hut, and there live, for months, or perhaps for a year, till 30 some new dacoity is suggested by a spy ; and then again they join in the enterprize in the same manner. So in the course of thirty years, if one con- tinue engaged so long, he may be engaged in fifty, or more such outrages. The wealth gained in this way appears to be quickly spent in most cases ; but, in some instances, is hoarded, and soon becomes very great. One Sir- dar is mentioned in Mr. Dampier’s reports, who had bequeathed a lakh to his wife, out of which she supported her husband’s band, and then employed them as robbers in her service. But this system does not seem to have an- swered her purpose so well as the former plan of joint shares in the spoil. The secrecy of the combination is kept up partly by a private language, partly by the connivance of the police and landholders, and partly by the terror of the people. Its efficiency is maintained by its discipline, and its success by its numbers. ‘l’o what extent it has carried depredations, is impossible to determine; butit appears that it is not an exaggerated state- ment. to allow an average of twenty considerable dacoities in the year, to each district, and to calculate the average amount of spoil of each dacoity, at 1,000 rupees. ‘The Kechucks alone are said to have committed from 150 to 200 dacoities in Bengal, in the course of the last fifteen years ; but this seems to refer to one tribe only, of one caste. In the same period, the aggregate extent of the depredations committed by the whole number of the tribes was much greater in a single district, in which they have been more particu- larly examined; and in which the Magistrate's books show an average of ten a year, which were reported, these being known to be only a portion of the total number actually committed in that district.” These men seek to sanctify all by religion. They give offerings to devotees, take the auspices, and pray to Kali in these words— “ Tf it be thy will, O god, and thine, Kali, to prosper our under- ‘taking for the sake of the blind and lame, the widow and the ‘ orphan, who depend on our exertions, vouchsafe we pray, the call ‘of the female jackal on the right.” And having then prayed, they proceed to their ruthless work of violence. ‘The extent to which such atrocities are committed is far greater than the pre- ceding extract indicates, and the absolute necessity for very unu- sual measures to suppress them, has recently led to new laws of re- markable severity, and a power beyond the law has been found necessary for the same purpose several times before. I know well that Dacoity as a crime is not usually associated with Hindooism, but there is enough in the report onthe Kechucks to establish the connection, and the prevalence of the system be- trays the state of the people, and supplies an argument for re-dou- bled efforts to enlighten and sanctify them by the preaching of the Gospel. Abundant other symptoms exist of a widespread and fearful moral plague, which no other remedy can cure. I cannot pass over the universal falsehood of the people,—the notorious habits of carrying on litigation by perjury and forgery, and of ruining foes by deep-laid conspiracies in the Courts of Justice. Nor should the general subjection of all classes, to the most absurd calculations of Astrology, as the rule of nearly all their expec- tations of good or ill fortune, be forgotten. 31 ~ And let not the criminal records of the country be overlook- ed. Almost every where the crime of poisoning is common, and recently it is said to have well nigh superseded Thuggism, and to have become a system. The reports of the supreme criminal court (the Nizamut Adawlut,) record from every dis- trict, murders of the most barbarous kind, under circumstances the most tragical, and from motives of envy, hatred, and revenge. ‘The refined cruelty, the revolting crimes, the vile and prurient practices of which every magistrate hears, I need not pause to mention. 1 knew one who succeeded in rescuing from one house, and placing in a Missionary orphanage, five slave-girls, all of whom had been frequently and shockingly tortured with fire ; and repeatedly did he hear of cases scarcely less dreadful. The tale of the Begum Sumroo, who buried a female slave alive, and then placed her own bed over the vault and slept there, is notori- ous. The secret iniquities—iniquities sufficiently secret to go unpunished, yet well known as curses of the country,—I will not dwellon. Pages might be filled with records that stamp heathen- ism with an unchanged character of appalling and debasing wick- edness, and which show, at the same time, how suffering follows sin, how diseases the most frightful are entailed on successive gene- rations, and how myriads of people are made wretched by the vile lusts, and the “ earthly, sensual, devilish” that are tolerated, and even engendered, by Hindooism. But the practical wrongs of the population ‘should not be for- gotten, exposed as they are to the rapacity, and to the cunning and cruel oppression, of the zemindar and police. ‘The former (the landlord,) will extort every possible farthing from the culti- vator of the soil, and imprison and torture him if he refuse to pay. On every occasion of bereavement, of marriage, of burial, and the like, in his own family, he insists on a gift, and will force it by means the most foul. ‘The police officer again, (I speak of Bengal,) is the tyrant and dread of the village. He too can, and does, use torture. He gets up his cases by extorting confessions ; he proves his activity, when he cannot find the guilty by seizing the innocent; and he lives on the trembling creatures around hin, whose law is his licentious will. And add to these oppressors the wandering fakirs and sannyasses, the men who rove about the country unclad ; or covered over with filth, a necklace of snake’s bones, and a cloak of tiger’s skin; and who prey upon the igno- rance and the terrors of the people, to demoralize and corrupt every hamlet in which they exhibit their odious enchantments, and recite the horrid fables of their gods. Not less per- nicious (though the men themselves are more to be pitied,) is the influence of Hindoo ascetics. They live only to delude the people into false ideas of holiness. In the Wesleyan Mis- affections 32 sion’s Report from Mysore, which I have already quoted, Messrs. Hardy and Sanderson thus speak of a scene which they witnessed in the course of a very long and interesting tour : “ We ‘ visited a temple on the opposite hill, where we were shocked to ‘ find a Jaina devotee, who had been in the temple ten years ina ‘ state of perfect nudity. He fasts fifteen days and eats fifteen ‘days in the month. He was greatly exhausted and wasted from ‘ fasting,so much so, that he could scarcely look usin the face. All ‘ the people fell down at his feet, and appeared to worship him. ‘ We talked a long time with him, and though he listened, yet he ‘ addressed himselfto the people sitting by, and not tous. It was a ‘ most pitiable sight, as the people regarded him as strictly righte- ‘ ous, and an individual to whom the kingdom of heaven is opened.” Thousands there are of such devotees throughout India, at once the slaves and the agents of Satan, exhibiting in terrible forms the bitter cruelty of sin, and teaching us that the worst rites of Baal and Moloch were only signs of the infinite folly, wicked- ness, and wretchedness of man, without the knowledge of the only Saviour. Considering all these things,—the vast magnitude of the evils I have mentioned, and the vast multitude who are affected by them,—what country on the earth has stronger claims than India for more Christian Missions? But add to these considerations the facts, that hitherto little has been done by the Church of Christ ; that there are still large parts of the country entirely neglected ; that there is free access to nearly the whole of it, and that encou- ragements abound on every hand; what claim so strong in all the world can be presented to the love and zeal of those who call themselves the disciples of the Lord! I am met, however, by the suggestion, that in fact much has been done by many; and willing- ly and thankfully do I admit it. Osi sic omnes! I rejoice to think not only of the time-honored names of our Indian Apostles, of Swartz, Martyn, Corrie, and Carey, but also of many others far less known to fame; men, “of whom the world was not worthy.” I remember with thankfulness the humble names of Bowley and Friend, of the Church Mission ; Thompson of Delhi, and W. H. Pearce, of the Baptist Mission; Adam and De- Rodt of the London Mission; Macdonald, and the endeared Catechists, Mahendra and Koilas, of the Free Church ; and I mag- nify the grace of God in them. May the Church in India never want men of equal piety, zeal and holiness! Many other names recur to the recollection, fraught with tender and melancholy interest. If a worldly poet could say How shall I Wyndham, Pulteney, forget While Roman virtues please, or Attic wit ? 33 How much more may those who have associated in familiar Christian intercourse with holy men and women, believers of no ordinary standard, servants of God of no common order, cherish the recollection of them with thankful and hallowed affection ? I thank God that he has fixed the bound of my _habi- tation in this Missionary land, that he has allowed me to take sweet counsel, from the first, with much loved Missionary friends, and that he has permitted me in a humble measure to share their trials and their joys. And truly I admit, when I think of some who have departed, whose record is on high, and of others now surviving, who labour on in hope, that much has been done by some, for poor benighted India! Aud when I think, too, of friends at home, especially of the poorer friends of Missions, and of their hard-earned, hard-saved subscriptions to the Missionary cause, I rejoice in the thought, that they also give to the Lord, not that which “costs them nothing.” But let the truth on this subject also, be told and weighed. Most men, most even of those who do love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, have not yet thought aright of this matter. For years past I have mourned over the petty habit of guinea subscriptions. It is only a habit, it is not a settled purpose; but as a habit, it checks the impulse of ge- nerosity ; it limits to narrow bounds the resources of our chief Societies; and it cheats the giver into violating the command, that he shall give as the Lord has prospered him. It is strange that such a habit ever should have been formed ; stranger still, that it should so long have continued! That the rich and the poor alike, the man of two hundred a year and the man of two or of ten thou- sand, should each alike give one guinea and no more, is a singular anomaly indeed. There are many who give as much to the village dispensary, which is “ passing rich on forty pounds a year,”—or to the county hospital, which can do without them, and is helped every year by the dexterous device of a “charity ball ;”’—and these same persons, probably, give very largely, even munifi- cently, in special causes, to erect a new place of worship, to sup- port a new school, or to help a distressed family. But six hundred millions of Heathen, perishing for lack of knowledge, appeal to their liberality, and the answer uniformly is the single habitual fee of a guinea. I hope to see this system exploded. Methinks, that some, on looking at the reports of their Missionary Societies, and side by side with their guineas, seeing the same sum from men of less than half their incomes, might be expected to pause and consider. ‘To look down the long lists that sometimes meet the eye, and to see rich peers, wealthy commoners, poor clerks, and poor clergymen, all subscribing the same; the rich no more, the poor no less, is one of the most strange of refined anoma- lies!’ When a sort of universal understanding is acted on, that EF 34 the rich man’s offering and the widow’s mite shall be the same, the latter may be the gift of love, but how is the love of God marked by the former ? The first claim of India, the first claim of the Heathen is more adequate and effective sympathy from the people of God. There should be a final end of the guinea system, and every man should give as the Lord has prospered him ; then would there be no lack of means, and the outpouring liberality of some believers would arouse others, to offer not merely their nioney, but also themselves. ‘Che need of more men is obvious. One man to every 350,000 people is a proportion that ought to exist no longer. I heartily rejoice to think that that proportion is likely to be improved. The new Church Missions in Scinde, at Agra, in the Punjab, and at Bha- gulpur ; the gifts to India from Oxford, of Mr. French for Agra ; from Cambridge of Mr. Clark to the Punjab, Mr. D. Fenn to Madras,and Mr. C. Fenn to Ceylon ; from Dublin University of Mr. Stuart for Agra, and Mr. Fitzpatrick for the Punjab; the recent accession of German Missionaries at Chota Nagpore; the cheering prospects of Dr. Duff’s exertions to enlarge the Missions of the Free Church; the ordinations of Native Ministers in Calcutta and in several other Missions, are events of singular interest and of cheering promise. But enoughhas been said to show, that we, as yet, are only im the infancy of India Missions; and that we need ten men at least, for every one who is now in the field. But I hope that all the friends of Missions will remember what sort of men we want. It is aholy cause: not every hand may touch its sacred ark! Observe the words of the self-denymg Ziegen- balg : ‘* We would humbly propose to the Protestant Churches, to supply us with learned students in divinity, and send them here to be instructed in the Indian languages, to capacitate them for future service, under our direction, who have, by our long practice among these people, dived into their inclinations ; and know upon our own experience, what sort of arguments are most likely to gain their approbation, and persuade them to hear patiently the admonitions of the Lord ; but these students must be men truly fearing God, and hating covetous- ness ; disengaged from all earthly ties of self-seeking, and from the inveterate ecclesiastical ttch of ruling over God's inheritance : for if the ministers of the Gospel are otherwise minded, all their learning will have no other effect than to persuade Christians to turn Heathens, and confirm Heathens in their infidelity.” Hear again the apostolic Judson of Burmah :— * Tn encouraging young men to come out as Missionaries, do use the great- est caution. One wrong-headed, conscientiously-obstinate man would ruin us. Humble, quiet, persevering men ; men of sound, sterling talents, of decent accomplishments, and some natural aptitude to acquire a language ; men of an amiable yielding temper, willing to take the lowest place, to be the least of all and the servants of all ; men who enjoy much closet religion, who live - near to God, and are willing to suffer all things for Christ's sake, without be- ing proud of it :—these are the men we need.” 35 This is eminently true. We want holy men. “One sinner spoileth much good.” It is better to wait for a time and send . none, than to send hastily the wrong men. We require in India, not men who, if they had staid at home, would never, pro- bably, have been ordained,—men who are elevated into a position, greater in point even of worldly comfort, than they ever had before, in being made Missionaries ; but men who have surren- dered something ; men obviously superior to worldly motives; men of deep spiritual experience, who are likely to thrive even in the dry and thirsty soil of this spiritually barren land. Send other men and they will be full of thoughts of their families, and their savings; and they will be found capable of little that is - useful in schools or in preaching. I do not say, send not the poor and humble, if qualified ;—far from it. There may be men ofthe humblest position better qualified than any others, for this high and holy service :—some such I know. But from whatever class they come, we want for India men of enlarged mind, of matured intellect, of tried piety, and tried self-denial—men of elevated and noble spirit, men capable of stamping their own character on all around them. We do not want men who are merely clever scho- lars and ready teachers; nor men of secular tastes and feelings ; nor men of sluggish affections on the one hand, or of busy worldly- wise ways on the other : we want men of God; who love their Sa- viour ; who tenderly feel for the Heathen; who are resolved to give themselves up wholly to the Lord’s service, “armed with the mind that was in Christ.” And let them be men of one book, Bible-men, for that is the greatest and best guide and instructor: ‘“ When ‘ thou goest it shall lead thee, when thou sleepest it shall keep ‘ thee, when thou wakest it shall talk with thee.” (Prov. vi. 22.) And let them be men of faith—men who will “ endure as see- ing Him who is invisible,” who will“ attempt great things for God, and expect great things from Him.” Nothing but faith will do in India. Enthusiasm, romantic hopes, the excitement of novelty, will soon pass away, and in the languor induced by the climate, and in the experience of much that is trying from the native character, the believer here needs faith indeed. But with it, what can he not do? Let us notice a delightful and instructive illustration of its operation and results. In 1788 there were a number of simple, poor men, among the Baptist Ministers of England, “ unknown, yet well known,” who were longing to begin a Mission to the Heathen. The following is a simple record of one of their meetings, as enter- ed in the diary of one of them—Mr., afterwards Dr. Ryland of Bristol. “ January 21, 1788.—Brethren Fuller, Sutcliffe, Carey, ‘ and I, kept this day as a private fast,in my study; read the Epis- ‘ tles to Timothy and Titus, Booth’s Charge to Hopkins, Blacker- ‘ by’s Life in Gillies and Rogers of Dedham’s Sixty Memorials for a 36 ‘ Godly Life, and each prayed twice. Carey, with singular enlarge- ‘ ment and pungency. Our chief design was to implore a revival of ‘ the power of godliness in our own souls, in the Churches, and in ‘ the Church at large.” At the time of this meeting, I suppose that these four good men had not between them all, an income of £250 a year; or in all their four congregations, 250 members. But they were men of faith, and what followed? Carey became one of the greatest Missionaries of the age; Andrew Fuller one of the most useful writers; Dr. Ryland eminently successful in traming pious young men for the Ministry and for Missionary work ; and Sutcliffe, though far less known, “ fulfilled his course,” as a patient, wise, and faithful pastor, and died deeply and gene- rally lamented. Or take another illustration, which I find in an anecdote, narrated inarecent number of The Missionary, a periodi- cal published at Bishop’s College, from which also I took the extracts from Ziegenbalg and Judson. It relates to the entrance of a very eminent Missionary, (the late Dr. Milne of Malacca,) on his Master’s work. “When Dr. Morrison wrote out from Canton, requesting the Directors of the London Missionary Society to send him out a colleague, their attention was directed to Mr. Milne. When however he made his appearance before the re- porting Committee, his rough exterior and unpromising manners made them doubt his qualifications for being a Missionary; and one of the members suggested that the best plan would be to recommend him as a servant toa Mission, if he were willing to go out in that capacity. ‘At the suggestion of my worthy friend, says Dr. Philip, ‘I desired to speak with him alone. Hav- ing stated to him the objection which had been made and asked him if he would consent to the proposal, he replied, without hesitation, and with the most significant and animated expression of countenance ; ‘ Yes, Sir, most certainly ; I am willing to be any thing, so that 1am in the work. Tobe a hewer of wood and drawer of water is too great an honour for me, when the Lorn’s house is building.’” A few such men are worth twice the number of others with less depth and tone of genuine, simple faith. When a man, like Abraham, goes forth from hig kindred at the Lord’s bidding ; when amidst every “ opportunity to return,” he “ declares plainly that he seeks a country ;” when he deliberately “ chooses rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: “when, in faith, he takes up the Cross, and solemnly and calmly devotes himself to the Lord’s service, and “ holding on his way,” having “ respect unto the recompense of the reward,” follows Christ in proclaiming “ the day of salvation ; ” then we have a true Missionary, and the Lord assuredly will bless and crown his labours, “ though now, for a season if need be, he is in heaviness, through manifold temptations.” And we want men of this kind: of strong and lively faith, who realize things to come, and who rejoice in spirit at the prospect of a glorious future : 37 men who know, and practically act on the knowledge, that a Mis- sionary’s chief work is personal and out of sight, and consists in maintaining the life of grace in his own soul. Oh that the Lord would accelerate the Jubilee of India, by raising up and sending to her a thousand men of this stamp and character, to exhibit the power of Gospel, and to proclaim it with fervent affection ! And this brings me at once to a third great want—an efficient Native Ministry. I look upon the success of the Serampore Mis- sionaries, in finding out and training among the East Indian community, (the descendants of Europeans by native mothers), so many humble, diligent, spiritual men, who proved themselves worthy and laborious Missionaries, as one of the chief proofs of their remarkable sagacity. And it is not the least of the excellent and beloved Bishop Corrie’s titles to honor, that he discovered and brought forward William Bowley the East Indian,—one of the best, and one of the most useful of the Church Missionaries. But chiefly, I must point to the Scottish Missions,and ask all friends at home dili- gently to ponder the system originated in them by Dr. Duff. He came out at the age of twenty-four, commissioned to establish a school at Santipore, about fifty miles from Calcutta. On his own responsibility he chose Calcutta for his head-quarters; there he opened the first Missionary English school; there he began the great work of a Christian education for India, in the language of Britain ; and there defended, persevered in, and through the mercy and help of God, with the co-operation of his valued colleagues, caused to prosper, and triumph, the system, which had for its object the evangelization of the young and the raising up of a thoroughly qualified Native Ministry. There have been pub- lished some very interesting memorials of some of the young men who were trained under this system, and I wish that these unpretending works were better known and more care- fully perused, for they may teach us many things. But I may point to Madras, Bombay and Calcutta, for living evi- dences of its wisdom. I will not say much of these youthful Ministers, for they are living; but some of them I know and love. In two of the stations of the Free Church Mission near Calcutta, (Bansberria and Culna,) there are converted and educated Natives, who have been thus trained, in sole charge of important schools; and I could name some who are already as fully equipped in mental and spiritual endowment for the whole burden and res- ponsibility of the Missionary character, as most of those whom I have seen come from England to the Missionary work. To a small extent other Societies have followed this admirable plan; and the Church Missionary Society at Benares and Agra, and the London Missionary Society at Bhowanipore, near Calcutta, are pursuing it. But my surprise is great that so little is done in this 38 way. If I may speak of the respected Committee of the Church Missionary Society, I must state that I have never learned why, theirs should always remain the weakest of all the Missions in Calcutta ; and why, after having experienced the evil of being obliged to give up their European Missionaries to pastoral work in their Missions in Krishnagur, (instead of leaving them to Native pastors under the superintendence of European Missionaries, and employing them chiefly in further labour in the interior,) they still hesitate to take steps, by the establishment of a first-rate Christian schoolin Calcutta, for raising up a well-qualified Native Christian Mi- nistry for Bengal. In the report of the Bombay Church Missionary Society for 1850, I was truly glad to read the following passage : “ Another cause of heartfelt gratitude to the Lord és the commence- “ ment of a Native Ministry in this Western India Mission. 'Two of the Divinity Students at Nasik, James Bunter and Dajee Pandurang, who had been trained for several years, under the Rev. Messrs. Farrer, Menge, Rogers, and Robertson, &c., especially, and while under intellectual preparation, had been afforded much opportunity in their employments as Catechists, to give full proof of their calling to the work of the Ministry, were, on having satisfactorily passed a preliminary examination,admittedinto Holy Orders as Deacon of the Church of England by the Lord Bishop of Madras, on Sunday, the 24th ultimo, at St. Thomas’ Cathedral. By this encouraging event, a great and important step has been gained for the Society in this presidency. The foun- dation has been lgid for that which must be considered as the crowning portion of the Missionary work in this country, the establishment of a Native Ministry, an instrumentality which under God’s blessing must tend greatly to strengthen, and to some extent to supersede European agency.” So again the Bishop of Madras, in his primary charge last year :—‘ I cannot help — expressing my fervent hope, that the time is not far distant, when a Native Ministry will be raised up to take the pastoral charge of the settled congregations in the towns and villages. No permanent good can be looked for till this is effected. The Societies must be relieved of the burden of supporting Euro- pean teachers as settled pastors. The duty of the Foreign Mis- sionary must continue to be that of an Evangelist to preach Christ to the Heathen, or at the utmost to take the general over- sight of the pastors and flocks, and to have a limited superinten- dence over them: but a body of Native Ministers must be raised up to be the settled pastors of the flock as they are collected. Thé eyes of the-friends of Missions at home are directed to this desired end. We must not disappoint so reasonable and just an expectation. It will doubtless be a work of time; but we must keep it steadily in view, and may our God soon fulfil the desires of n a wn n n n Ce n n Cay n na a n n na n La) Cay nn n a“ nr n n nn n n a n a“ a 39 ‘ His servants!’ It is interesting to notice that the Bishop after this found himself able to ordain five Native Catechists at Palam- cottah ; and that, after a careful examination. I wish that the importance of this matter were generally under- stood. So long as we depend on European agents, we shall always find the expense of our Missions im this country heavy, and their discouragements severe. ‘I'he delay in learning the lan- guages; the difficulty some have to master them ; the effect of the climate on European constitutions, are considerations on the one hand; and the adaptation of the Native Minister to his own countrymen’s mode of thought; the comparative economy of a Native agency ; the ability of Native Ministers to endure exposure to the heat, are considerations on the other hand ;—all pointing to the same result. I would not wish to see all our efforts devoted to schools, and the training of the young converts for Native Ministry. No; there are many Missionaries who are adapted to this department of labour, and others who certainly are not. If one labours in one department and others in another, all will be mutually helpful, and the body wiil “ grow by that which every joint supplies.” Let the man who is peculiarly qualified for evangelistic labours be permitted to devote himself to them ; but those who are gifted with the power of teaching the young, and whose weight of character and piety, fit them for traming up a body of sound, intelligent, zealous, and able Native Missionaries, should be permitted to fulfil that honorable and needful duty. We greatly require faithful Native Ministers as Evangelists, and as pastors of Native Churches, and those Missionary Societies will be wise that carefully attend to this desideratum. The work will be slow ; some years will elapse before the matured disciple will be fit for ordination ;—but ask the Scottish Missionaries in India, if they regret the time they have given to the training of their excellent young Native brethren, who are now laboring in the Ministry. ; India may further claim, from the friends of Missions in Great Britain, a more careful study, and a more correct apprehension of her wants and destitution. It would, be well if the Missionary Societies would send out wise and faithful men—men of discern- ment, men of firmness, and yet withal men “ gentle and easy to be entreated” to visit their Missions here. The Baptist Society lately sent out a deputation of worthy men to examine their Missions in Bengal, and much satisfaction followed. A deputation to India of men like Bickersteth, who so nobly performed his part in visiting Western Africa, might tend to the removal of a great number of painful and mischievous misconceptions; and now that steam has brought India so close to home, it would be easy to accomplish the object. It is a great advantage to the Church 40 Missionary Society to have for one of its Secretaries Mr. Tucker, who for so long, and with such eminent ability and usefulness,acted as Secretary at Madras; but other places besides Madras should be intimately known. And not only is it desirable that the Com- mittees should ascertain the whole bearing of the Missions, it would be well also, if all who pity the Heathen would consider more carefully their condition, their numbers, and their necessities. It has been very gratifying of late years to observe the interest taken in India by common tourists; but why is India not visited from motives of philanthropy as well as those of curiosity ? When we read such books, as the life of the benevolent William Allen, with all the details of his painful journeys; or the visits of Mr. Backhouse to the Cape and Australian Colonies, or the tour of John Joseph Gurney in the West Indies, may we not grieve that Christian men at home shrink from examining India, and learning by personal observation to plead her cause at home? The establishment of the Church Missionary Intelligencer was a great step in advance, and I trust that it will be followed with a bless- ing. It is well to continue to supply, as well for the young as all other classes, anecdotes illustrative of Missions, in a striking and popular manner, and to communicate the most recent news ; but it is highly important that the whole position of particular Missions—their history, their prospects, the nature of the country around them, and their relation to other Missions, and to other Churches or races of people—should be developed in a full and elaborate manner, as in the Intelligencer ; so that the mind may embrace the whole idea, which the name of those Missions should suggest. As to India, there are now happily many valuable works to supply satisfactory information. The works of Duff, Arthur, Clarkson, Weitbrecht, Wilkinson, and the like, are very valuable, and afford a mass of interesting and important intelli- gence. But after all what is known of India? What do the residents themselves know of some of the principal countries ? Draw a series of lines from Nagpore to Vizagapatam, to Cuttack, to Midnapore, to Bancoorah, and to Mirzapore; or from Agra to Peshawar, to Mooltan, to Surat, to Ahmedabad, and to Indore, and of all the intervening spaces, what is known, even here in India? Rajpootana, a great country, teeming with antiquities, with a race of brave and hardy men, what is known of it? -Who travels through Oudh ? ‘Till lately, even the tribes in the Rajmahal hills, which travellers up the Ganges see as the first elevated land after leaving Calcutta, were almost entirely unknown; and now it is to a military officer, and not to a Missionary, that we owe the news of them. Glance at the Bhopal State, at Bhawulpur, at Gwalior—all important and popu- lous countries, and then let any one say, where authentic and full 41 information about them is to be found. They are almost as dark and neglected as they were a hundred years ago,—before the battle of Plassey. But if we, in India, know little of some parts of the country, it must be confessed that the ignorance at home is dense in- deed. And what is the result? The lessons of experience are not gained, the real wants of the land are not understood, and the relative importance of different districts is not discriminated. But the time has surely come, when we may hope for a better and a more intelligent mode of dealing with a trust so solemn and so vast as this mighty empire. Let the past be weighed. Missions have been scattered too much: not too much for the wants of the people, but too much for the power of the Societies in their present feeble state. Missionary stations have been occupied by single labourers, and then after a while deserted; the great work of investigating the country by itinerancies, and the equally great work of raising up a Native Christian Ministry, have been neglected. Inefficient and feeble men have been sent out; excel- lent opportunities have been lost. Great parts of the country, which peculiarly needed Missions, have been overlooked. Let me illustrate two of these errors : and first, as to itinerancy. When Mr. Lacroix and the late lamented Mr. Weitbrecht tra- velled together in the zillah of Hooghly eighteen months ago, they found large towns within fifty miles of Calcutta, that ap- peared never before to have heard the Gospel! They went from place to place, and every where found some who had been in Calcutta, others also had been educated in Christian schools, or had heard the Gospel preached in the streets of Calcutta, and from these men they received the most cordial weleome; but to the mass of the people, they narrated strange tidings; they spoke to men whose minds were altogether unprepared. More recently the Rev. Lal Behari Dé, one of the licentiates of the Free ‘Church, stated, that in travelling in the district of Rajshye, he met a kindly reception, but the people all seemed in blank igno- rance of the whole subject of his preaching. So with the Rev. T. Morgan of Howrah; after several tours, he wrote to declare his conviction that “ the spiritual mines of Bengal remained un- explored.” Thus it is; the country is in many, and large parts of it, like a fallow field over which weeds have grown in profusion. And what is the result? Weare unable to depict to the friends at home the alarming destitution of the land. We can but reiterate tales of the same places from year-to year, and we do this till these places are taken for all India. So greatly was itinerancy neglected till lately, that in 1847, there were only 7,000 Bengali Scriptures circulated in all Bengal, (independently of those distri- G # 42, buted by the Baptist Missionaries), and the case was scarcely better the year before. And of this number of 7,000, many were for Calcutta, many for the Mission stations,—the out-lying Heathen had few indeed. District after district might be named that was not so much as entered. Now would this have been the practice, (I will not call it the policy,) of any Missionary Societies, had they known the land in all its length and breadth,—its wants and miseries? 1 cannot think that, if India were better known at home, the friends of Missions would be content till they heard of every part of it being visited habitually. Secondly, as to the relative importance of places. Would fifty-seven Missionaries be devoted to the tribes in Western _ Africa, and only sixty-nine to the twenty-four millions of Bengal, if Bengal were understood ? Consider what Bengal is,—a country nearly as large and populousas France. I speak of Bengal Proper. Add toit the beautiful province of Behar with Orissaand Assam, and there are thirty-five millions of people, and only one hundred and two Missionaries. And of these, some of our German brethren. in Behar have been brought out and supported by the liberality of one man, the Rev. W. Start, and after his death what may follow? Inever opena large map of Bengal and consider the great proportion of it that is wholly neglected, without wishing that our friends at home understood that we have more people in a single district here, than there are in all the South Sea islands, —or, I might almost say, all the West India islands, put together. We read in the memoir of Rev. H. W. Fox, which I have already mentioned, that he responded to Mr. Tucker’s appeal to become a Missionary to the Telugus, hearing that they were ten millions in number, and that no more than six Missionaries were among them. Suppose some separate country thus spoken of :—suppose the case of Egypt for instance. If Egypt were open to the Gos- pel—were a British possession,—were peopled by three millions of men who knew nothing of the true God,—would Egypt long be neglected? No. But name districts in India, and they are thought of only as counties; they are reckoned, it may be, next door to Burdwan or Benares, and they are left without any pro- vision. Or contrast the case of districts in India with the case of a separate insulated colony. New Zealand, with about a hundred thousand people, has forty Missionaries. Or take Ceylon, which is part of India: it is an island with a million and a half of people, and it has thirty-eight Missionaries. But in Bengal we have some districts like Midnapore and Rajshye, with fully as many people, and they have no Missionary at all: yet they are quite as accessi- ble as Ceylon. And we have district after district, as I have shown before, with a great aggregate of people amounting to ten times the population of Ceylon, and still no Missionary at all! I 45 cannot think, that if statistical facts like these were well known at home, this strange neglect of India would long continue. But here I must suggest a doubt, if the present system of Mis- sions is well adapted to make India known as she should be. I would speak with diffidence, but I hope the subject will be well considered. So long as great Missionary Societies embrace all the Heathen world as the object of their care, can their Committees, can any Secretaries, however able and zealous, be expected to do justice to the claims of all the lands? If all the Home Missions were thus consolidated ; if, instead of Societies for Irish Missions, City Missions, Ragged Schools, Sunday Schools, and District Visiting, and instead of Church Pastoral Aid Societies, and all the various machineries that exist for the purpose of home evangelization; there were but one Home Missionary Society, for all the several pur- poses of schools and preaching to all the various classes of people in all parts of the kmgdom, would the real. disproportion of such an unwieldy agency to the different objects of Christian solicitude be so great, as the disproportion of one great Missionary Society to the great object of evangelizing all nations? A division of labour is found to be desirable in Home Missions, for thus each man can pur- sue with peculiar zeal his own object, and the attention of the Lord’s people is called distinctively to each branch of operations? But when a Society has to compress in its reports, the tidings from great na- tions one after another ; when the sympathies of the people are sum- moned to embrace at once the case of various races the most diverse, and Missions in all possible stages of advancement; when the mindis hurried along from China to Jamaica, from New Zealand to the Punjab, from Red River to Caffraria, it becomes bewildered ; it fails to discriminate the relative importance and magnitude of the several Missions, and finally a single subscription is given to the aid of all, when each one, probably, requires, and should receive, fully as much for its own separate use. I would not venture to recommend the plan proposed some years ago, by Mr. Isaac Tay- lor, for apportioning out the world to different Christian bodies with their respective spheres; but 1 may ask, if the great increase of the responsibilities and labour of the great Societies, and the pros- pect of augmented and utterly impracticable duties, do not suggest the expediency of some new arrangements. I believe, that it would be well to have Societies for India Missions ; separate Societies for China, separate Societies for Africa, and separate Societies for the South Seas. I do not see how the work is long to be carried on, with the present system, if the present Missions are much expanded, and others are commenced. Taking India as an example, I believe, that many who now have little interest in the great mass of Missions, would heartily enlist in her cause, were it prominently and distinctively brought before them. 4A At present, in iy humble judgment, justice is not done to India ; she has not such a share of labour as the numbers and accessibility of her people require ; her claims are bracketed with those of a minor character ; and her real case is altogether misunderstood. Whether it is not necessary, in order to do her justice, that some other plan should be adopted, I earnestly beg the true friends of Missions seriously to enquire. Another great want and claim of India is a more decided policy on the part of her Government. It is right that there should be toleration, but let not toleration be the cloak, I had almost said the sanction, of crime. Can it be seriously contended, that a paternal Government is justified in permitting those outrages on humanity, which Hindooism displays? If it were right to suppress Suttees ; if it were right to check Infanticide; on what ground are the public barbarities of the Churruck Poojah still permitted ? The Government may not be able to prevent the self-inflicted tortures of the deluded, or the artful, ascetic ; but when there are public exhibitions of barbarity, when poor deluded beggars, and ignorant helpless women, are bribed and drugged to consent, and then are hoisted up on spikes, and whirled around in the air amidst the frenzied shouts of a mob “ drunk but not with wine ;’ and all this, to win some religious merit for the wealthy baboos who hire these vicarious sufferings,—surely the Government might justly say, that this practice shall not, on the poor excuse that some people call it religion, escape peremptory prohibition. To call this religion, and then to claim toleration for it, is nothing better than it would be to pronounce it a duty to steal, and then to plead his sense of duty, as a sufficient apology for the thief. Then let me mention ghaut murders. An invalid is likely to die; he is hurried off to the side of the “ sacred stream,” exposed to sun and dew, and there he dies. No one who knows the facts on this subject doubts, that hundreds every year, who might recover, if they were carefully treated at home, are thus killed, in obedience to a superstitious fancy. It is undeniable that the removal of invalids to the side of the river is almost fatal in some diseases, which in themselves are not dangerous. It is equally well known, that very frequently the dying person does not wish to be removed from home, and struggles in vain for permission to return from the fatal river bank. Common humanity and common sense appear to demand, that the name of toleration shall not be prostituted to the sanction and protection of a practice so cruel. Ifthe habit were, to give to every person, who was supposed to be dying, a dose of poison to accelerate his end, would that practice be tole- rated? Would common sense allow the bye-standers the privilege of determining when death was inevitable, and entrust them with the fatal power of making it certain? And yet would that practice AS be worse, than the Hindoo custom of hurrying off ail who appear likely to die, to a river side, where the disease will be aggravated, and return from which is deemed by Hindooism a deep disgrace? I spoke of religion being permitted to palliate theft. But what is this system, but religion palliating murder ? In like manner, as to the connection of Government with Idola- try. Whata tale might be told on this subject! There was a time when men of high rank in India tampered with Heathenism, and with the Mussulman faith. One distinguished officer declared himself a Hindoo. We read in the life of Henry Martyn, of a chief civilian leading the Mohurrum procession, and beating his breast with signs of grief for Hossain. And Government employed Brahmins to pray for rain, and to bless their opium shipments. They supported Heathen shrines, and in their Regulation, No. XIX. of 1810 of the Bengal Code, declared it to be “ an impor- tant duty” to take care that Hindoo endowments and other “ pious and beneficial” trusts were rightly administered ! I need not enlarge on this subject, because, in another form it has lately been brought before the public in the Calcutta Review for last May, and a petition from the Calcutta Missionary conference, praying for the interference of Parliament has been published in various forms. But I may express my conviction, that the Court of Directors has, of late years, shown a laudable desire to disconnect their Government from the Hindoo and Mahommedan religions altogether ; that nevertheless there is, in various forms, a close con- nection, existing still, in many parts of India; and that a searching scrutiny would bring to light much that would ‘be made known only to be peremptorily abolished. Again, what name did the policy of Government merit in 1847, when the Missionaries at Nagpore were compelled to give up to the Heathen Rajah their first convert, on the ground that he claimed him asa “discontented subject,” andthe Government of India had bound itself, by treaty, to deliver up all such to him? ° Can it be deliberately said, that converts to Christianity are simply as such, to be treated as discontented subjects in the vocabulary of the East India Company, and are liable to be claimed, and if claimed, shall, under the command of the Government, be yielded up to the tender mercies of Hindoo or Mussulman prince ? Yet such was the policy of the Kast India Company in that remarkable and memorable case ! I must add, that. the Government recognition of Hindoo holidays appears also to be essentially wrong. Imagine a Christian Go- vernment giving a holiday to all its servants, in order that they may be free for three days, to worship Kali in the cruelties of the Churruck Poojah, and giving two more holidays in honor of the infamous abominations of Krishna’s worship at the Hooley! It 46 is well that there should be periods of relaxation in a trying cli- mate for all the public offices, but to give none but the Hindoo holidays, and to join with these, Good Friday, Christmas Day, and the Queen’s Birth Day, is a strange anomaly. Itis said that were these holidays forbidden, the Hindoos would not attend to their duties or to business on the days, and that great public inconveni- ence would follow. But this is merely “a weak invention of the enemy.” ‘The Churruck might be abolished and the Hindu festi- vals struck out of the list of holidays, and the Hindoos (at least I will answer for the Bengalis) would rejoice at the deliverance. It is at these festivals that they waste their money, ruin their health, and pollute their minds. It is idle to suppose that they are so besotted, as to love the bondage of ceremonies which lead only to rischief, vice, and great expense, among all who are concerned. But the Government might do more than suppress evil. It might educate the people in a better manner. I will not enter on the wide sea of discussion on public education. I am far from thinking even the present Government system of education an unmixed evil, but I may, at least, contend that the Government of India, while professing to observe neutrality in its education, should not lean against Christianity ; should not prohibit its teachers from exercising their private influence in favor of it; and should not refuse to allow those teachers to convey religious instruction, even to those who spontaneously apply for it and seek it. And as to the mass of the people, I have long thought the almost total neglect of their education, one of the worst features in the Go- vernment of the East India Company. It would be easy to con- vey to the mass of the people a cheap Vernacular education,—an education that would make them readers, that would give them self-reliance, that would make them bolder than they are, in resisting the oppressions of the Zemindars and the Police. But next to nothing is done in this way. The money bestowed on education, hardly suffices for a few of the “Colleges” for Eng- lish education; Lord Hardinge’s plan for one hundred Verna- cular village schools exists now almost wholly upon paper only ; and the proportion of readers even in Bengal is estimated at little more than three per cent. ! I name this subject in connexion with Missions, because it would undoubtedly be a great and important aid, if the people among whom the Missionaries travel, were more generally able to read the Scriptures, and were elevated in thought above their present ordinary level of helpless ignorance and degradation. And now that the period is drawing nigh for the discussion of a new Charter for the East India Company, I hope that this subject will receive the attention it merits. Many great improvements we may look for, but few appear to me to be more desirable 47 than an extensive system of Vernacular education; and with this an elevated general policy, that will effectually discountenance everything which cannot properly claim toleration. As it is now a matter of surprise, that the rite of suttee was not abolished before 1834, so it will hereafter come to be a matter of equal. surprise, that the other practices which I have mentioned were unnoticed by the Government so long. The friends of India may well ask that all such things should be suppressed, and that the connection of Government with Idolatry and with Mahommedanism should be promptly and boldly abolished for ever. | There are some other points of a more special and particular nature, to which I should be thankful, if I could secure the atten- tion of the friends of Missions; and in the hope, that some, at least, will candidly weigh them, as the thoughts of one who anxiously and prayerfully has considered the wants of India, I will endeavour shortly to state them. First of all then, the present Mission stations should all be kept up with greater vigour. I am aware of no exception. There have been many sad cases, in which Missions have been esta- blished and much labour spent on them, and then they have been given up. The records of the Baptist Missions show eighteen places which were occupied by single Missionaries and then dropped altogether; and Mr. Long’s Hand-Book of Bengal Missions enumerates many that have been relinquished in like manner by the Church Missionary Society ; and there have been other cases. But it is a painful thing to see labour wasted ; to see the candlestick taken away. The present spheres of Missions, all appear to me to be well chosen, and all ought to be so support- ed as to be occupied efficiently. But some are much more impor- tant than others. Take, for instance, Calcutta and Benares. Their population is great, but added to the fixed population, there are constantly very numerous temporary residents. The servants of various classes, and the traders, who visit Calcutta, leaving their families in various places, from Marwar down to Orissa; and the incessant flow and ebb of the tide ofpilgrims in Benares ; make these cities far more important than the rough estimate of the aggregate of their fixed population would lead us to expect. Were the Gos- pel thoroughly established in Calcutta and Benares, nearly all India would soon hear of it, asin the remarkable case of Proconsular Asia, when Paul had continued two years proclaiming the Gospel in Ephesus: (Acts xix. 10): “all that dwelt in Asia heard of it, both Jews and Greeks.” I earnestly long to see all our Mission stations put on a footing of full efficiency. It is truly lamentable to think of two Missionaries only at Dacca, one only at Patna and Surat, two only at Moorshedabad, and so on. What would be thought of Leeds, with two ministers of the Gospel, or Liverpoel 48 with only one! And so as to disfricts: only one in Sylhet, only three in Burdwan, only one in Birbhoom, only one in Sattara, only _ two in the Nagpore country,—how poor, how little like work in earnest, does this appear! It is true that some places appear to be well supplied, for they are so comparatively. Most places are so much neglected, that thirty or forty Missionaries in and around Calcutta, for instance, for 800,000 people, appear to be a large supply. But it is asupply at the rate of less than twenty for all Manchester and less than five for all Edinburgh; yes less than five for all the Christian schools as well as the ordinances of the Gospel. Proh Pudor! There should be three times the number of Missionaries in all our important cities. In fact, very few Missions are what they should be. So much has to be done by each man in some of them, that the spirits and energies sink ; or else, all becomes bustle and excitement, and the holy spiritual unction and influence, of men who have given themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word, are sacrificed. There are houses to be built, jungles to be cleared, and endless secular affairs to be attended to; and when Christian villages spring up, and the care of infant churches is added to the duty of evangelistic labour, and then, to all this is added again, the work of translations of scriptures and tracts, what a weariness is at times accumulated on the labourer! We urgently need an adequate number of men in each place, to do the work heartily, cheerfully, vigorously ; —and to provide for the work in all its departments, pastoral and evangelistic. Secondly, as to neglected large cities. So far as Iam able to judge, the very next duty, after providing satisfactorily for existing Mis- sions, is to occupy efficiently all the cities and great towns that at present are unoccupied. From Hyderabad in the Deccan up to Delhi, there are many that might be centres of action in great pro- vinees. The cases, I think, are very rare, in which Missions should be planted primarily, in rural districts, in preference to large cities. ‘The work of Missions, so far as we can judge by the infallible precedents in the Acts of the Apostles, should begin in the towns, and flow forth to the adjacent land. The country seldom acts upon the town: the town always on the country. And, espe- cially, we might expect this to be so in some parts of India. We can scarcely conceive of the centre of wealth, intelligence and power in any of the native states, for instance, being evangelized, and the Heathen priesthood around continuing to exercisea very decid- ed influence. Then, Thirdly, after the great towns, there are some spheres which peculiarly need, and I believe will peculiarly reward, the work of Missions. The fertile and salubrious province of Behar, with its eight millions of peaceful people ; the inhabitants of the eastern districts of Bengal, whom there is good reason to 49 believe to be remarkably ready to receive the Gospel; and the people of Rajputana appear to me to be the objects to which Christian benevolence should be next directed. I am thankful to hear that the Church Missionary Society is about to commence a Mission in Jubbulpore, (in the Saugor and Nerbudda territory,) where there are many Rajpoots, and this, I hope, will be the prelude to movement in the states of Rajputana. A commencement might be made at Ajmere, which is a British possession, but I believe that there would be little difficulty in entering Jyepore or Marwar. And debtors as we are to all classes, why should the millions of this great territory be any longer neglected ? They are the bravest, boldest, and I believe most enterprising people in India. But what is done for them? Spiritually, nothing. There is a Govern- ment College at Ajmere, there are British othcers at Nusseerabad, Mhow, and elsewhere, there are British political agents in most, if not all of the native Courts, but as a Christian nation, Rajputana knows us not at all. Fourthly, I must urge that, however numerous the Vernacular schools may be, every Mission should have at least one first-rate English School, in which the youths of the greatest promise may be trained. It is not well to leave those who have a thirst for knowledge, in any place, without a means of satisfying it, except in the Government Schools ; nor is it well, while a large class of educated men is being added to the community from those schools, that the pupils of any Mission should suffer by the comparison, and feel themselves unable to cope with them. A large body of in- telligent infidels is spreading through the land: it is well that our more hopeful youths should be trained till they become intel- ligent believers. It may be, that many will learn all that can be taught them, yet remain unconcerned about eternity ; but it is something to develope a conscience in those who, by their na- tural abilities, appear to be likely to have influence with their neighbours, and it is well to imbue their minds thoroughly with sound principles. If our Missions, (wherever they may be,) have no schools in which the youths of most promise can be carried forward in their education to an elevated standard, the general mental debasement will be stereotyped; there will be no rising class to lead the way through the bonds and forms of tradi- tional follies ; and there will be a scanty supply of efficient Native Catechists and Missionaries for the work among their countrymen. I might touch on minor points, but it is not advisable to descend into details. The points which I have mentioned ap- pear to me to be of importance, and I submit them for can- did consideration. But I must repeat that it is, first of all, ne- cessary to maintain all our present Missions in efficiency. Yet H 50 a little while, and the long hoped-for blessing will descend upon them, and then it will be seen how all the machinery that has been so long and so carefully prepared, has become useful. Then, as the Spirit of God vivifies the knowledge which our Christian Schools have imparted, there will be seen the fruits of all the patient toil of many a faithful labourer, who seemed to have laboured in vain and spent all his strength for nought. I have thus mentioned some of the claims and some of the wants of India. But I am sensible that-her greatest want remains to be mentioned. India needs, most of all, the gracious outpouring of the Spirit of Christ, to convince her of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; to bring every thought into captivity ; to con- quer the hearts of the rebellious; to emancipate the bondsmen of iniquity ; and to reveal the glories of Immanuel exalted asa Prince and Saviour. She needs this for all her people ;—and not less is it needed in more copious effusion for the Missions: for all whe profess and call themselves Christians, and who do truly love and serve the Redeemer. Oh, if all who name the name of Christ, would imitate His example, and really show themselves tobe His - disciples; if our native converts exhibited more of the power of divine grace; if our dear Missionary brethren were enabled to preach Jesus, with more unction and evidence of their personal sense of His infinite loveliness and power; and if the spirit of grace and supplication were poured out on us all, so that we gave Jehovah “no rest,” but wrestled with Him unceasingly, for a blessmg on the labour of His servants, how soon should we see the wilderness turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field into a forest! How soon would the little one become a thousand, and instead of possessing one lot only, Israel would go up to possess the whole of the land in valiant and unfaltering faith! Many are the snares of a life in India—many of the Lord’s servants have here lan- guished and become cold and slothful. “ Nothing,” said holy Henry Martyn, “but constant activity, and continuing imstant in prayer, can keep us breathing.” “Oh, may I never prefer work for God to communion with Him!” “ Let me not feed on the manna of past experience, till it corrupts in my hand!” We greatly need here a devout spirit; earnest, diligent, con- stant prayer. There is much to try us; there is much to de- ceive us; there are few to help us by their sympathy and example. We may go on working in the way of routine; we may go on with our teaching, our preaching, our labours for various Christian societies ;—but if we are ourselves spiritually asleep, if we speak of fo ol + truths that touch eternity without a deep personal sense of their solemn import and value, what will follow? We may utter eloquent words; we may expend physical strength ; there may be energy, restless energy ; but without the sweet persuasive influence of a godly life, and that “ ointment of the nght hand that bewrayeth itself,’—the secret power of a prayerful spirit,—all will probably be labour lost. When“ the root is rottenness, the blossom will fly up like dust.” At best, we shall convince the judgments, without winning the hearts, of the people. Alas! who that knows India, who thatthinks aright of the awful commission of Christ’s ambassadors,— sent to “beseech” men to be reconciled to God—who that really is sensible of the responsibility of every professing Christian in this Heathen land, does not feel, and deeply feel, that wegreatly need for India’s Missions and India’s professing Christians, a mighty outpour- ing of the gracious Spirit? And who that thinks aright of the weak- ness of man in his best estate, is not sensible that even if he preach with the fervour and power of a Paul, all will still be utterly in vain, if the same Holy Spirit do not send the increase? I-must say that we greatly need more spiritual Christians,— more real Christianity in India. In our Missions, there should be more of united private prayer, as well as separate prayer and united. public prayer; and there should be a more plain and touching mani- festation of the mind that was in Christ, and a more simple, earnest, affectionate preaching to the heathen, of Jesus only. When Phillip went down to Samaria, he “ preached Christ unto them ;” when he was carried to the eunuch he “ preached unto him Jesus; when Paul was converted to the Lord, straight way “ he preached Christ in the synagogues;” the first band of foreign Missionaries, (they who were scattered abroad after the death of Stephen,) went to Antioch and “ spake unto the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus.” “ I determined,” said Paul “ not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified ;” and again, “ we ‘ preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the ‘ Greeks foolishness ; but to them which are saved, Christ the power ‘ of God and the wisdom of God.” And this is the true preaching of the Gospel. For what is the Gospel, the good news, thus conveyed in preaching Christ? The Apostle tells us, “ the revelation of the righteousness of God.” (Romans i. 17.) This is the sufficient refuge, shield and hiding-place—in a word, the one thing needful ; that righteousness without which no one can stand before the Glorious Jehovah, but which is unto all, and upon all, them that be- lieve in Jesus. We need preaching of this kind. The late Francis Goode (one of the greatest preachers of modern times,) in his sermon forthe Church Missionary Society, beautifully said,“ Need I remind you of the experience of the Missionaries to Greenland ?. 52 They went and spoke to the Greenlanders of God as awful and holy ; of the evil and misery of sin; they told them, and told them truly, of the vengeance that must overtake the transgressors, but all in vain. All this we knew before, said they ; they gave no heed to them. But at length they preached Christ. They told them of pardon and peace through his blood; of love in God that gave His Son to bea Saviour. This engaged their ear, this won upon their hearts. We never heard such things till now, they said, and hearing they believed—and believing they lived. The moral wildness rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. Listen again to the Apostolic Brainerd. “Still” (he writes) “this great awakening, this surprizing concern, was never excited by any harangues of terror; but always appeared most remarkable when I insisted on the compassions of a dying Saviour, on the plentiful provisions of the Gospel, and on the free offers of divine grace to needy distressed sinners.” Let this plan be more generally tried. Let us see what will be the effect of more preaching in faithful simplicity, of Christ and Him crucified, and that, by men who themselves do truly believe and daily live on Him, and to whom therefore He is “ precious.” But let me ask our brethren at home to consider their duty in this matter. Do we thus need a revival in the Missions of India, so that Christ’s spirit may be manifested in holy zeal and love, and that His Gospel may be preached with more effect? Then brethren pray for us! It is well to give; it is well to lay on that blessed altar that sanctifieth the gift, every thing that self-denial itself in its strongest efforts can supply; but if there were much more “ labouring together in prayer” for India’s Missionaries and for India’s benighted people, the Lord would refresh this weary heri- tage, and soon would India arise and shine in the beauty of holi- ness, and resound, not as now with the loud din of devil-worship, but with the anthems of sweetest Christian melody. The Christian Church has not yet done her duty to India. How few have prayed, how few have given of their substance, as they could. How many when attracted hither by the monitions of the Holy Spirit, have refused to come! But I write in hope that a better day is approaching; that many are being raised up for India’s service; and that many have been converted, endowed with gifts, and qualified for Christian labours “ for such a time as this.” Behold the wonders of the Lord upon the earth, how He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder, how He opens paths in the wilderness and springs in the desert—how He works marvels in the sight of men! Read the blessed work of grace in Madeira, five years ago, as recorded in the memoir of holy Hew- itson; of the power of divine truth in the Irish Missions; of the 53 ereat movements among the Armenians and Nestorians; and among the Karens of Burmah ; (among all of whom our American brethren have been so much prospered,) and then consider if these be not signs that greater mercies are coming to our Missions than we have ever known before. And consider, especially, the East. Here, where the beams of prophecy seem to cast a light, rendered more bright by the prospect of approaching judgments on the old Roman earth, we have Eastern Africa opening to the truth, Scinde, the Punjaub, and China, all recently opened too; and in the midst of the whole Eastern hemisphere, this great central country of India, possessed by a Christian kingdom, and already in part conquered for the Lord, seems destined to send forth her influence on all the surrounding nations. Look forward twenty years, and reflect on the probable issue. Oh, who will not this day consecrate his service to the Lord, and share in the glorious retrospect, when they who sowed and they who reaped shall rejoice together! I turn to those who hitherto have bestowed on India that which cost them nothing :—slight contributions, heartless prayers. From them I entreat a large heart-offering of all the substance that the Lord has blessed them with; and much heartfelt prayer for more of His Spirit on the Missions and people of India. I entreat their pitying love, and the cheerful sacrifices of love, on be- half of this sm-bound land. And I implore all those, whose hearts the Lord has made willing to offer themselves as Missionaries for this great and degraded country,—I implore them most earnestly, not to let unbelief, not to let fear, keep them back. Yet a little while, and the season of labour will be over, and we shall hear our gracious Master say, Come! ye blessed of my Father ! How then can we deny Him now, in this short space of fleeting life, the ardent service of allour powers, in the field to which His Spi- rit calls us?’ We love Him, and shall we refuse the substantial proof? True, He can work without means, and save by many or by few; but He has granted us the privilege of working for Him ; He bids us occupy till He shall come: He says, go work to-day in my vineyard; He says, go ye into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, and yet how many hesitate and shrink back! How many say “Igo Sir’—but go not! I beseech all who waver, to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. India stretches out her hands to God, He beholds her disease and agony; His soul is grieved for her misery (Judges x. 16); by His providence He points His believing people to her imvitations and her woe ; and yet (oh that it may be so no longer!) they hear as if they heard not, they leave her ery unheeded, and while her myriads are descending to the grave, day by day, they 54 shut hes the bowels of their compassion, and will not come to her relief. : : As yet we are only in the very infancy of our Missions. We are only now, as it were, beginning our great work; and we are working with feeble timid minds, as if we understood not the enterprize or the all-sufficient strength of our heavenly Helper. Few, very few do all, that they can; many, how many, refuse altogether to join in the labour! Think of the hundreds who have been preserved for many years in India; have accumulated wealth, and have returned home to enjoy it in such a spirit, that they seem to think a wealthy retirement, in England, and not the eternal joys of heaven, the ultimate hope and object of existence ; think of this large class, who never have done, and never have sought to do, any thing for this land of all their mercies. Great, I fear, is the guilt of retired Indians. There are some who have done much good while here, but have sunk down into selfishness, avarice, and faithlessness at home ; and very few who have gone to their native land, with enlarged hearts, to devote all their time, and powers, and experience, to the Lord’s service. Nearly all, nearly all even of those who here in India first heard the joyful sound, and were brought to look in faith to the Lord of life and _ glory, think little of their obligations to India. Those who have received mercy are many, those who show it few. “There were ten healed—where are the nine?” So few render to the Lord according to all that he has done for them! Alas, I grieve to say, that great numbers who have retired from India, never seem to think of her any more at all. But I believe that the greatness, the solemnity of the Church’s duty to India is now gradually becoming known; I believe that the thoughts of believersin America are turned to this mighty land ; and I believe also that the day is near at hand, when we shall see the Spirit of the Lord working in the midst of this people, touching with divine power the hearts that are alie- nated or are torpid now, and causing the trees of righteousness to spring up suddenly in all the spheres of our long-tried feeble Mis- sions. Brethren can talk of these things at home, and hope for them, and, if happy tidings come from India, connected with their own particular Missions, will almost boast of them; yet they will not yield themselves, in deep devoted earnestness, as personal sharers in the work. We have had enough of this sentimental sym- pathy ; we have had enough of romantic fears; we have had far too much of that, which I can only call indolent patronage of the cause of God. I appeal for men “ fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,” for whole-hearted sacrifices, for importunate prayer, for frank, zealous, laborious exertions; for men who can say as was. said, “ Lo, we have left all and followed Thee !” We need more Farru: Faith to realize that awful catastrophe, which now hangs over the guilty millions of India’s people; Faith to believe God’s promises in all their truth and preciousness ; and Faith to enable each individual to offer himself a living sacri- fice in the Lord’s service, so “ that by any means he may save some.” ‘ What,” isthe solemn quastion of a great writer, “ What would be the funeral obsequies of 2 lost soul? Where shall we find tears fit to be wept at such a spectacle? or could we realize the calamity in all its extent, what tokens of commiseration and concern would be deemed equal to the occasion? Would it suffice for the sun to veil his light and the moon her brightness ; to cover the ocean with mourning and the heavens with sackcloth? or, were the whole fabric of nature to become animated and vocal, would it be possible for her to utter a groan too deep, or a cry too piercing, to express the magnitude and extent of such a calamity?” Where, then, is the language to depict the approaching destiny of the countless myriads of India’s dying people? And what can be a just excuse for neglecting them, in the sight of Him, who in His holy and righteous judgment, has said, “ the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the people that forget God?” “Jf thou forbear to ‘ deliver them that are drawn unto death and are ready to be slain ; if ‘ thou sayest, behold we knew it not ; doth not He that pondereth the ‘ heart consider ? and He that keepeth thy soul doth not He know it? ‘ and shall not He render to every man according to his works ?” (Pro- verbs xxiv. 11—12.) _ | | The duty of the Church of Christ indeed is so plain, that he who runs may read it. Who hath hindered that we should not obey? Have we love for Christ? that will constrain us. Do we honour Christ? His last. command will bind us. Do we desire to pro- mote his glory? That will impel us? Do we mourn over all who know Him not? Then pity for them will compel us,— yes, all heavenly affections, all Scriptural convictions, all cbliga- tions of duty, will force us to shake off the lethargy and selfish- ness of by-gone years, to awaken all our powers in proclaiming “the glorious Gospel of the blessed God,” and to do this now, for “ now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” Much more would I say for India, but words fail to ex- press her woe, or to expose the Christian’s shame for past neglect of her. I feel that it is wise to cease from man and to look to Jesus. With His infinite power, He ca sway the hearts of those with whom all entreaties fail. He can raise up men of faith and holiness, constraining them to labour for Him, and at last He will give vietory to truth. The cause of Missions is His own peculiar cause, for He is the friend of sinners. 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