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positive effects produced by the artillery of missions on the walls of the citadel itself. The consequences are curious:

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Mr. Lushington says: "Some of the students who have completed their education in the Hindoo college, and other institutions, are in the habit of holding debating societies, where they discuss topics of considerable importance in the English language, and read lectures and essays of their own composition, upon various literary and scientific subjects. At one of the meetings above-mentioned the question was, Whether posthumous fame be a rational principle of human action or not?' It is true, that the debate soon branched off into a consideration of the possibility and probability of human perfection; but the orators spoke with remarkable fluency, quoting Gibbon, Hume, Reid, Bolingbroke, Voltaire, Shakespear, Milton, &c. The forms of similar meetings in England were imitated; and the chairman having inquired the reason of the secretary's absence, a loud cry of Persecution!' was raised, and it was explained that he was prevented by his father, who was afraid that his principles of paganism should be corrupted in consequence of the other members being deists. Thus has the beginning of a most wonderful change been worked among a race, who for a long time were considered as sunk in a hopeless state of ignorance and the blindest idolatry. I should have mentioned before, that one of the young Hindoos in question, being called upon at the police to swear, as usual, on the waters of the Ganges, declined, averring, that he should just as soon swear by the waters of the Nile." It thus appears that there is some danger of deism becoming the popular faith. Of the authors mentioned by Mr. Lushington as familiar to the Hindoo students, four out of seven are advocates of deistical opinions. And Mr. Sherer states, that a large impression of Paine's works, which arrived in Calcutta from America, was eagerly bought up by the Hindoo youths, who had received instruction in English. Even among the Brahmins deism is making progress, and some opposition to christian schools has arisen from this source. Bishop Heber says, "Our chief hindrances are some deistical Brahmins, who have left their old religion, and desire to found a sect of their own."-Pp. 152–154.

We should see very little to apprehend in all this, if these Hindoos were becoming pure deists; pure deism is a middle term between Christianity and Paganism; and the adoption of it is bad or good precisely according to the previous position of the convert in respect of it. But the deism here mentioned is not that of Socrates or Plato, but a deism absolutely, bitterly, hostile to Christianity. The reception of such a deism would rather impede than advance the progress of Christianity; and its moral improvements would not be important. The morality of Voltaire's school may be found abundantly on the banks of the Ganges in the practice of millions who never heard of him. However there are doubtless now in India great numbers of deists of very different character, and who, we may hope, are on their road to Him through whom alone they can come to the Father. As European literature has done so much towards supplanting the old superstition, Mr. T. is of opinion that intellectual cultivation should, in order, be the first instrument of the conversion of India. Many very judicious and well-informed persons have thought the same; not by any means adopting the fashionable notion that mental improvement is as good, if not the same thing, as religious proficiency; but that it is calculated, in the peculiar circumstances of India, to be highly conducive to the

advancement of religious truth. Without venturing to controvert this opinion, we would not slacken, in the very smallest degree, those efforts which are properly termed religious. And we entirely agree with Mr. Thornton.

One most unexceptionable mode of advancing the cause of Christianity is, by the example of those who profess to believe it. If they display indifference to the religion in which they have been educated, there is but slender hope of conciliating the respect of the Hindoo towards a faith which neither he nor his fathers have known. Obedience should be yielded not only to the moral precepts of Christianity, but also to its positive institutions. The christian festival of Sunday should command that decent respect to which it is entitled. In a few instances, it is to be regretted, that the magistrates and revenue officers do not close their courts on that day. This is certainly wrong, and ought to be amended. There would, indeed, he little difficulty in procuring a general observance of Sunday, as the Hindoos and Mahometans mutually keep each other's festivals, and in such a climate as that of India, an invitation to rest could scarcely be unpopular.-Pp. 158, 159.

"Unpopular!" here we have the fear of man in all its turpitude. A christian government must break the fourth commandment because it would be "unpopular" to keep it! We never doubted, for ourselves, that true state policy every where was religious policy. We never doubted that Christians might always hold their creed in the face of their heathen subjects, and might even repress with the arm of power things contrary to plain morality, such as infanticide, suttees, public prostitutions, &c. &c.

Let the Indo-Europeans act as Christians, and let the Indian government supply christian example and christian teaching. A church commensurate with the spiritual wants of India ought to be established. So thinks not Mr. Thornton. But he is of opinion, as indeed every Christian must be, that a sufficient provision should be made for the existing Christians of India.

A curious provision, thrust into the late act, is quite in character with the follies of the party to which the government of this country has unhappily been of late committed :

Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the governor-general in council from granting from time to time, with the sanction of the Court of Directors, and of the Commissioners for the Affairs of India, to any sect, persuasion, or community of Christians not being of the United Church of England and Ireland, or of the Church of Scotland, such sums of money as may be expedient for the purpose of instruction, or for the maintenance of places of worship.-P. 161.

On which Mr. T. remarks

This strange provision is happily only permissive. The government are not restrained from thus granting money; but it is to be hoped that they will restrain themselves. To act upon this provision would be to open a door which, in a short time, it would be found impossible to close. To recognise the claims of one sect, would embolden all others to assert theirs. No distinction could be drawn, that would not give serious, and perhaps reasonable, offence to those who were excluded by it, whilst an unlimited compliance would drain the resources of India, excite serious dissatisfaction in the minds of the natives,

and prove a stumbling-block in the way of Christianity. A moderate provision is made for the Protestant Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches; and this is justified by the circumstance of their being established in the two divisions of the protecting country. The majority of European residents will belong to one of these churches. Those who do not, will generally be members of one of the denominations of Protestant dissenters, and such will feel no scruple in attending the worship of the Church of Scotland. But it must not be forgotten, that the provision thus made is the exception, not the rule; and that very weighty reasons forbid such exceptions to be inultiplied.-Pp. 161, 162.

A plan for extending schism in India would certainly be a wise provision for the promotion of Christianity. Surely even some of our Whig rulers have read--" Concordiâ res parvæ crescunt; discordiâ maximæ dilabuntur." Mr. T., however, thinks that no impediment should be thrown in the way of dissenting missionaries. So we think too, so long as their doctrine is orthodox; but our reason is that which influenced Bishop Heber:-lest the appearance of our differences should be fatal to our common cause. But happy should we be to convince the nonconforming missionaries (what is unquestionably the truth) that union with us would be the most effective possible instrument of realizing the conversion of the heathen.

The following is a curious specimen of the proceedings of the Jesuits -the present rulers of Ireland. (Mr. Thornton calls the Papists Catholics.)

The professed Catholics were formerly numerous, but by the acknowledgment of their own missionaries their numbers have been certainly decreasing for the last century; and there is reason to believe that many of the conversions of which they boasted were but nominal. The Abbé Dubois has endeavoured to account for the ill success of the Roman missionaries, and the first cause which he assigns for it is the Pope's interference with the practices of the Jesuits. The members of this order, never very scrupulous in the means they employed for the accomplishment of their objects, conformed to many of the idolatrous and superstitious customs of the Hindoos, in order, as they alleged, to conciliate their minds and lead them to embrace the Catholic faith. This was analogous to their conduct in China, where, finding that the fact of the founder of the christian faith having suffered as a malefactor was a cause of offence, they thought fit TO DENY IT, and to affirm that it was a false and malignant report, invented by the Jews and other enemies of Christianity. The members of those orders which retained a less pliant morality were not, however, prepared to follow such examples. The Capuchins, the Jansenists, and others, objected to the vicious conformity of the Jesuits, and appealed to the Pope. His decision was against the practice complained of; but as the Jesuits, though always professing the most unbounded reverence for the Holy See, were far from being the most obedient of its servants, it required repeated remonstrances from Rome to induce them to desist. The fact that such practices were adopted, as lures to the profession of the christian name, is quite sufficient to shew the character of a large portion, if not the whole, of the alleged converts. The Abbé Dubois, belonging to the Propaganda Society, is of course the advocate of the forbidden practices, and regards the decision of the head of the Roman Church as having mainly contributed to the decline of the Catholic religion in India.-Pp. 167,168. The following particulars, with which we conclude our notice of this work, will be read with interest.

The first Protestant missionary was Bartholomew Ziegenbalg, who was sent

to Tranquebar by the king of Denmark, in the early part of the last century. Finding himself in want of further protection than his own sovereign could afford him, he came to England, where he was introduced to George 1. and shortly afterwards returned to India, under the patronage of the king and of the bishops of the English Church. He was followed by other Lutheran missionaries, among whom the Venerable Swartz must not be forgotten. This apostolic man commanded the esteem alike of every description of residents in India, Hindoos, Mahometans, and Europeans. The sovereign of Tanjore, when dying, was anxious to make him the guardian of his heir, a trust which he declined. Hyder Ali received him as an envoy on the part of the English, and offered to take his word as the guarantee of a proposed engagement, when he would trust no one else. On two occasions during war, his character saved the garrison and people in the fort of Tanjore from perishing by famine. There was grain in the country; but the people refused to furnish bullocks to carry it, because they had formerly been defrauded of their pay. In this extremity the Rajah applied to Swartz, and that which the credit of the government could not command, was readily obtained on the promise of a humble foreigner, destitute of property, and whose income afforded him only a bare subsistence. These missionaries continued to propagate Christianity with considerable success, and a body of Christians, the fruits of their labours, are scattered over India south of Madras; their chief stations being Vepery, Tanjore, Tranquebar, Trichinopoly, Madura, Tinnevelly, Ramnad, and Cuddalore. The number of these Christians it is not easy to estimate; but it is both large and increasing. The amount of increase at one station, Tinnevelly, has been ascertained, and is most encouraging. In 1825 the native Christians in that province were only 4000; they now exceed 8000. In the south of that province are two villages entirely christian, and from which every vestige of idolatry has disappeared. Bishop Heber, who visited Tanjore and Trichinopoly, was greatly interested in the Christians whom he found in those provinces, and those who have visited Tinnevelly and other parts, have been impressed in the same favourable manner by the character of the christian communities which they met with. The Hindoo tehsildar of the district which contains the two christian villages already mentioned, when questioned by the visitor, testified to the quiet and inoffensive character of the inhabitants, and said that he should rejoice if all around him resembled them. The mission which has produced such beneficial effects has been supported from its commencement by the English Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

The progress of Christianity in India is not to be judged altogether by the actual number of converts. The number of these would have been much larger had the missionaries exercised less caution in receiving them. No temporal inducements have been offered to the profession of Christianity; and none are admitted to baptism until after a long probation. The apparent progress is thus rendered slow: but this is counterbalanced by the assurance that outward conformity is a sign of internal conviction, and that those who forsake their old religion are real and not merely nominal converts. In the mean time, the knowledge of the great truths of revelation is spreading far and wide, and where so many hear, some will be convinced.

The Church Missionary Society has, from its establishment, directed a large portion of its attention to India, and sedulously and usefully co-operated with the labourers whom it found already there. Its schools and stations are numerous, and the number of scholars in the former increased in seven years from 6,581 to 12,298. A lady, under the patronage of this Society, succeeded in introducing female schools, in opposition to the prejudices of the natives, which led them to regard the instruction of females with dislike. The excellent and exemplary Baptist missionaries have done much to advance the interests both of religion and learning, but the number of labourers is yet inadequate to the promised harvest. The worn-out superstition is obviously falling to pieces, to be replaced, either by what is called the religion of nature, or by a better faith, to which that may form a stepping-stone. It is for those

who take an interest in the diffusion of christian knowledge, to consider whether we ought not to avail ourselves of the moral movement, and give it the best direction; and whether the duty of extending the knowledge of divine truth is not especially pressed upon us, as well by the state of opinion and feeling in India, as by the position in which we stand towards that country.-Pp.

170-173.

ART. II.—'H KAINH AIAOHKH. The Greek Testament, with English Notes, Critical, Philological, and Exegetical, partly selected and arranged from the best Commentators, ancient and modern, but chiefly Original. The whole being especially adapted to the use of Academical Students, Candidates for the Sacred Office, and Ministers : though also intended as a Manual Edition for Theological Readers in general. By the REV. T. S. BLOOMFIELD, D. D. Second Edition, greatly enlarged and considerably improved. London: Longman and Co.; Rivingtons, &c. 2 vols. 8vo. Pp. xxxii. 1268. 1836. THE CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER, (vol. xiv. pp. 719-731,) was one of the earliest of our literary journals, in which the value of this work was introduced to the knowledge of the British public; and the sale of a large impression in little more than three years has confirmed the verdict we then gave of it. As we then entered into a minute detail (with specimens) of its plan and execution, we have now only to communicate to our readers the principal improvements and additions which the indefatigable industry and research of Dr. Bloomfield have enabled him to make.

1. We begin with the typographical execution. This far surpasses the former edition in beauty as well as correctness, and reflects the highest credit on the press of Messrs. Gilbert and Rivington; while, by employing a larger paper, and a new, small, but very clear and distinct type, room has been obtained, according to Dr. B., for 144 additional pages; according to a rough calculation, however, which we have made, the additions amount to little short of 200 pages. As the possessors of the first edition may imagine that they have some wellfounded cause of complaint on account of the extent of these additions, we annex Dr. B.'s apology for this part of his undertaking.

Much of what has been accomplished in this second edition might have been effected in the first; but that was rendered impracticable by the very great disadvantages, difficulties, and hinderances, (including ill-health,) under which it was formed, and the too short space of time allowed (from certain peculiar circumstances not necessary to be here adverted to) for its completion. Above all, it was the author's great misfortune, that his Biblical labours should, in this work, as well as in his Recensio Synoptica, have been carried on in one of the obscurest nooks in the kingdom, (which his old friend, the late Dr. Samuel Parr, used to call the Ultima Thule, " quæ a cultu atque humanitate civitatis longissime abest,") at 112 miles' distance from the metropolis, and consequently exposed to perpetual delays and disappointments, and where only one revise

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