to doubt that God will raise up a people to praise him even here.

Persons who have never been out of England can form. no just idea of the moral state of a heathen country like this; accustomed from their infancy to an in plicit belief of their spiritual guides, who are in general of a crafty, insinuating disposition, the poor creatures receive as religious truths the most ridiculous, unmeaning, and not unfrequently immodest stories; and if one reasons with them on

the insufficiency of the system of which they are a part, they think they have given a conclusive argument by saying, The Brahmins say so," or, "It is in the Shasters." The speculative part of the Hindoo religion appears, as far as I have been able to judge, to be very inconsistent with itself: they say there is but one God, and again that there are three hundred and thirty millions of them; that God made the world, and yet the world is eternal; that it is necessary to make many prayers, and use a variety of repetitions in praying, to God; and again, that it is of no use to pray to him, it would only trouble and make him angry, and, besides, "What will be, must be," (an expression often occurring in their books) whether one prays or not; that outward bathings and ablutions wash away sin, and yet it can only be purged away by a number of transmigrations into different bodies. Many other instances of the same nature might be readily mentioned. The practical part of the system appears more inconsistent, being alike childish and profane; and almost every ceremony begins and ends with," You must give something to the Brahmun." It is easy to discover its origin! The priests display a great deal of dexterity in managing an argument, though it is in a sophistical manner; or in getting rid of one, by introducing fables and stories of their deities; these they have ready at every turn: so that it is a very difficult matter to get them to consider fairly any thing at all connected with religion. There are, indeed, some among the natives who, though rigidly attached to their own forms of worship, often make very particular inquiries respecting ours; this curiosity affords some hope of their receiving good. I have frequently conversed with a young Hindoo, of rather high caste, of whom I am inclined to form some expectations; two or three weeks ago, he asked me "What was the great difference between the Christian religion and theirs:" I answered to this effect, "That they differed in many things; such as the worshipping of idols, the

great veneration they paid to their priests, almost amounting to adoration, and other things of a like nature; but that I thought the principal difference was this: they expected to merit the favour of God, and to be rewarded with heaven for observing the ceremonies and rites enjoined in their Shasters; whereas we believed, that no man could deserve the favour of God, and that all who went to heaven, went, not on account of their own goodness, but the righteousness of another, even Jesus Christ." Here I explained, generally, the leading doctrines of the Bible, such as the universal depravity of mankind, their redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ, the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost, &c. &c. to all which he paid close attention. I told him, moreover, that a thousand years ago, or so, the religion of my own country was very much like theirs; but that some people came from another country and taught us the Christian Shasters, and after a time we laid aside idol-worship and embraced Christianity. Upon my saying it was foretold in the Bible, that all countries would, in course of time be converted to the faith of the gospel, he said, that their books also mentioned the certainty of all nations be coming of one religion, and he did not know but it might be the Christian as well as any; but shrewdly added, he supposed it would not be till towards the end of the Kaler Yug, a period, according to the Hindoo chronology, distant upwards of 400,000 years!

The Portuguese on this island are numerous; and though they go by the name of Christians, they appear scarcely a step above the original natives in point of morality. A gentleman, who has travelled in various parts in India, informed me, some days ago, that he had often known Hindoos make offerings in Catholic churches to ensure success in any particular undertaking, or as the discharge of vows which had been previously made, and that from his own observation he was persuaded, the transi tion from Hindooism to " Catholic Christianity," such as it is in India, was very easily made; as it is only relinquishing one system of idolatry for another equally palpable, though under a different name. Whether such converts are in a fairer way to receive the pure light of the gos pel than if they had remained in their native superstitions, or whether they are not farther off from it than ever, is a question; yet one that may be easily answered; for it must be far more prefer able to have no gospel at all than one that is false.

Extract of a letter from Mr. HORNER, to Mr. MARSDEN, dated Bombay, 15th July, 1817.

do

Tocca the pricipal part of the time I have been here has been taken up in the actual study of the language, I have not been altogether unemployed in other respects; but have taken frequent opportunities of conversing with individuals among the poorer sort; as well to acquire their manner of pronunciation and so on, as to explain to them the direct object of my coming to this country; and have found in them, as might be expected, an inveterate attachment to their national superstition; which they will defend by every argument, however ridiculous and contrary to reason, which they may have learned from their shasters or their teachers. As an instance of this; some weeks ago, being in conversation with a Hindoo, I asked him, "Why you worship your idols?" He answered, "Because they are gods." "But do they understand any thing?" "Yes, they da" "How do you know they do?" "In a city of Hindoostan (said he) there is a temple, in which is an image that every morning has the appearance of a child; at noon it looks like a youth; and at night like an old man." 99 "Well, and what then "Why, our idols are gods, and have understanding!!" Such are the ideas of the poor creatures to whom the gospel is to be proclaimed! When I consider the miserable ignorance and deeply rooted prejudices of this idolatrous people, how much must first be unlearnt before they can (humanly speaking) receive the pure, simple doctrines of the Bible; that the whole of their religious economy appears in opposition to it; and that it is the interest of the priests to keep them in darkness, among whom are many ofkeen and intelligent minds, and who possess a great deal of influence with the people. When these things and a thousand others present themselves to one's consideration, there is no room left to wonder that persons unacquainted with the power of Divine grace should pronounce the conversion of the heathen impossible; indeed there are difficulties enough to make a missionary feel most sensibly the insufficiency of human talents and abilities to accomplish the work; though they are not so formidable but he can confi dently expect and pray, that God will rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains may flow down at his presence. One great encouragement which I experience is, a persuasion that the work in which I am engaged, is of God, and VOL. XLI. FEBRUARY, 1818.

must eventually succed: and the greater the difficulties, and the more violent the opposition, the more illustrious will be the triumphs of the cross of Christ. Animated by these hopes, I trust no obstacles will make me despond; my earnest desires, prayers, and endeavours are to become useful to the souls of these my fellow-creatures. If God should make me instrumental in bringing but one Hindoo, even a despised Shoodr, to an acquaintance with the "Redemption which is in Jesus," I shall not think that he has created me in vain. But why only one? when so many millions are perishing through lack of knowledge: may thousands upon thousands hear and believe the joyful sound, even salvation through the blood of Christ! May I cheerfully live to declare its truth, and willingly die, if it were the death of a martyr, to attest its efficacy, yea,

"Preach him to all, and cry in death,

Behold! Behold the Lamb "

The population of Bombay, amounting to nearly 300,000 persons, comprizes a great variety of nations, whose customs and religions are, of course, widely diver sified; there are Parsees, worshippers of fire; Muslemans, followers of Mahomet; Hindoos, Jews, Indo-Portuguese, Arabs, Persians, and others. To communicate generally with these, a knowledge of the Hindoostanee, Mahratta, and Portuguese languages, is absolutely necessary: the first of these may be theoretically acquired in England, so many excellent works having been published by Gilchrist, and may be had at Black & Co.'s, in Leadenhall-street. Missionaries destined to this part of India would do well to provide themselves with such works prej viously to their coming out, as they are very expensive here.

The religion of the Hindoos appears to consist, in a great measure, in the observance of festivals, instituted in honour of their deities; the accounts they give of their institution are, many of them, indecent enough, and most of them ridiculous in the extreme; and they do not at all mend the matter in their celebration. Some time ago there was a great anniversary-festival in commemoration of one of their goddesses: by what I saw, she must have been the very spirit of impurity itself; what surprized me not a little was to see the "holy Brahmins" indifferently mixing with the lowest castes of the people, whom, at any other time, they would avoid with the greatest carefulness; the reason which one of them assigned for such a promiscuous intercourse was, that

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generally superior to that of the Pagans. They are, for the most part, through long neglect, deplorably ignorant of not only the doctrines, but the principal facts of revelation; and though maintaining the profession of Christianity from motives of worldly interest, are too often in heart and secret practice wedded to their pagan superstitions. But even nominal Christianity has been for many years greatly on the decline, especially in the province of Jaffna, where the success of the ministers appointed by the Dutch government was most eminent, and presents an affecting proof of the conse quences of the neglect and supineness of European Christians; whose influence, had it been employed by fervent and persevering zeal for the cause of Christ, might have ripened the promising commencement of the success of Protestant missionaries, into the universal diffusion of a pure form of Christianity through the island. On this subject, which appeals so forcibly to every feeling of shame for past neglect, and jealousy for the name and honours of Christ, the Wesleyan missionaries have lately published interesting pamphlet, chiefly translated from the work of Baldus, formerly an Eminent Dutch minister in Ceylon, contabing an account of the state of religion the province of Jaffna, in his time; to which they have added remarks on its present state, and given a list, of distressing magnitude, of the number of heathen temples built in that province since the time of Baldus, now crowded with worshippers of idols, whilst the Christian churches, for the most part, lie in reproving ruins. From this account it appears, that owing to the disregard and pineness of European Christians to this part of the Lord's vineyard, so great has en the decay of Christianity, and so gorous the revival of paganism, that not fewer than 329 heathen temples have been erected in Jaffnapatam since the time of Baidus. In June, 1816, two of the missionaries (Lynch and M'Kenny) made the tour of the province, with a e of ascertaining its present condiIn this journey they were accomned by the Rev. Mr. Glenie, and they would have added their journal to the work in question, but that it was, in fact, but a mere repetition of the mournful reord, that here and there were the dering remains of a forsaken church or house, inaccessible from the surroundgjungle, and now become the undisturb dabode of howling animals and noxious reptiles. In most cases only a ruinous par or a desolate wall presented itself,

over which the aged ivy had spontaneously risen, as if to bespeak the atten tive inquiries of those who might pass by, and to stamp undoubted marks of an tiquity upon the decaying remains of ancient piety, on which the moderns for so long a time have continued to look with neglect, inattention, and unconcern.' They met now and then with a solitary individual who professed himself a Christian, though surrounded by hosts of images, mosques, pagodas, and brachmins, and were fully persuaded that a plentiful supply of faithful missionaries, zealously labouring throughout the province would, with the blessing of the Great Head of the Church, be followed in a very few years by the most pleasing results.'

"Nothing in the experience of mis sionaries has been found so useful an auxiliary to the preaching of the gospel among the heathen, as schools, and their efficiency has no where been more fully proved than in Ceylon. By them the Dutch greatly promoted Christianity in that island; and when they were neg lected, its influence declined. The Wesleyan missionaries have been so convinced of the importance of these institutions, as not only to increase their labour by undertaking the superintendance or reformation of some of the government schools, but to press upon the Committee, in the most earnest manner, for the means of establishing others in various places to which they have access, and where a large and constant supply of scholars can be obtained. Among the nominal and half-pagan Christians of Ceylon, the education of children will be the means of reviving the knowledge and influence of true Christianity; both of which, among those natives who still profess the Christian name, are almost entirely lost; and great advantages obtained for communicating the knowledge of true religion to the children of the pagan part of the population, from the readiness with which many of their parents suffer them to be instructed by the missionaries, and the school-masters they appoint. All the brethren agree in making such representations; and the Managing Committee have fully entered into their views, and voted the sum of £300 per annum for the exclusive support of schools in Ceylon; and they earnestly recommend this branch of the expenditure of the Ceylon mission to the liberality of the friends of religion, and the active zeal of the collectors, whose special applications for such a charity they are persuaded cannot be made in vain."