than religious festivals. Large masses of people assemble on some open ground, where they have booths, and hobby horses, and clowns, and maskers, as you may see in England. The day is spent in all kinds of revelry and buffoonery, and in the evening the idols are brought out of the temples, often elevated on lofty cars drawn by the people, attended by a procession of priests and officers with torches, fireworks, and musical instruments. In this way they parade through the crowd with loud cries and shouts, finishing the show sometimes by washing the idol in a sacred pond or river. I remember once a young Missionary calling on me in Bangalore, who was very desirous to see the inside of one of these temples. There was a large one in the village near my house, to which I accompanied him. As we expected, admission was at first refused us; but on their chief man being acquainted that I was the Government Chaplain, he came out and brought us both in. On passing the gate I found myself in a large square court, where several priests and servants of the temple were lounging about. There was a great tank of water (which was none of the cleanest) for their ablutions, and a slender stone pillar, which is seldom absent from such temples. On the opposite side to that where I entered stood the Building, or Sanctuary, in which the idol was kept. It was of an oblong shape, the walls without doors or windows on three sides, and the roof flat, composed of large slabs of granite. The only opening was in the end facing our approach, where a gateway without any door in it admitted all the daylight that found entrance. Through this opening we could see the lamps, which dimly lighted the darkness of the upper end, and faintly revealed the idol before which they burned. As I was walking straight up to the sanctuary, a Brahmin interposed, and said I must not go in," the god would be angry." I asked where was the god he pointed to the idol. I then stepped behind a pillar, and said his god could not see me there. The man, who spoke very good English, instantly comprehended the sarcasm, and laughed aloud. It was evident he had no faith in his god. Retaining my post, I took a survey of the idol, which was a large hideous image of black stone, begrimed with the smoke of the lamps, and daubed with the oil which they use in abundance. I spoke freely to the Brahmin of his dirty appearance, and suggested he should be washed. I asked also what would be done if he fell down, and he replied, they would put him up again: and each remark was accompanied by the same scornful and intelligent laugh. Several of the natives had now gathered round, though only a few understood our English convervation. One of my companions observing this, began to address the Brahmin in the native language, telling him that he served the idol for the sake of his belly; that he lived by his god, and so forth. All this the man admitted with the most amusing impudence, and without the least appearance of displeasure. It was evident, however, that he did not approve of the publicity occasioned by discoursing in the language of the people, for presently the discordant instruments of music, which they keep in their temples, broke in upon us and drowned our voices. We waited in vain; there was no cessation of the clangour, and we took it for a hint to depart. We were followed by the Brahmin who first accosted me, renewing the conversation in English. I asked him, with earnestness, if he really thought that black stone, which they washed when it was dirty, and put it in its place again when it fell, was the GOD who made the thunder? which at that moment was pealing over head with all the violence of the eastern skies. The Brahmin replied with a more serious look: "No, the God that made the thunder is in heaven!" "Then why do you not worship the God of heaven, who makes the thunder, instead of that helpless, hideous stone?" He answered (as they always do) "It was his 'custom;' his father had done so before him, and all men follow their own customs." We endeavoured to show him that if the son follows the father in an evil custom, justice would require that he should share his father's punishment. This he assented to with listlessness, but it made no impression. What a striking comment was thus supplied on the judgment, denounced in the second Commandment upon idolaters, "and their children to the third and fourth generation!" You will observe by this man's replies, that the idolaters do not pretend that their idols are actually gods, but the images of their gods. They do not suppose the stock or the stone to be truly a god, though they fall down to it and worship it. The god himself they suppose to be in his proper heaven (for they fancy many heavens), but the image, after being consecrated with the due ceremonies, is believed to be pos sessed of a certain something which makes it holy, and the worship of it to be acceptable to the god it represents. I do not imagine that this distinction is understood by all the ignorant multitudes who bow down to the idol, but it is made by the educated, and often advanced in refutation of the Christian's arguments on the folly of worshipping a senseless block. The images of the Saints and the Virgin are regarded by many Roman Catholics precisely in the same way; and the worship of them is exactly as much idolatry as that of the Brahmin. In their own houses the Hindoos have smaller images and pictures of their idols. These they sometimes carry about their persons, with other things of the same kind, as charms. They draw certain marks also on the walls and before the doors of their houses, intended, I believe, for the same purpose. They have almost all a most conspicuous mark, made in white or yellow colouring, on their foreheads between the eyes, by the form of which the worshippers of one idol can be distinguished from another. Their marriages are the principal religious ceremonies in domestic life, and are often prolonged over several days. But, indeed, for almost every action, down to the putting on of their clothes and the choice of a walking stick, there is some ceremony" to add to the darkness of their understanding. I could not make out, however, that they ever prayed, in private any more than in public, unless the muttering over of some words or lines which they get written out of their sacred books, and call “muntrums,” can be regarded as prayer. They are far more like sorcery or conjuration. Evil spirits, as I have said, seem to the Hindoo to haunt all nature. The evil eye is a common superstition among them, and sorcery and witchcraft are firmly believed in. 66 Such is their religion in this life! For the next it is of course still darker and more perverse. It seems to be generally taught that after death men will live again in another shape; in that of some beast, bird, or reptile, according to their sins, or the power which any god or deified man may have acquired over them. By these successive transmigrations their sins are to be purged away, or increased. In the latter case their shapes and destinies become worse and worse at every death. In the other, they are successively promoted to conditions of more honour and happiness, till, as the supreme reward of the pious, they are altogether absorbed in that great nothing, which they suppose to be the Infinite Good. In plainer words, the spirits of the blessed are annihilated, or cease to exist! This is the account usually given of their expectations beyond the grave. But probably those expectations are really no more shared by the mass of the people than the clear and glorious Revelations of Heaven and Hell, made in the Gospel of CHRIST, are practically considered by many who bear His Name. Let us lift up our prayer that GOD would enlighten both our own hearts and the blinded idolater, with the knowledge of His glory in the face of JESUS CHRIST! NEWFOUNDLAND. The island which bears this name, like many other places and things which once were new, is now the very oldest of all our colonial possessions. It was discovered in 1497 by Sebastian Cabot, sailing under the orders of Henry the VII., but has never been colonized by agricultural settlers. The interior of this island, which is longer than Great Britain, and in some parts of a greater breadth, remains to this day without roads, cultivation, or inhabitants. The English settlements are on the coast, and wholly occupied in fishing and commerce. Of the native population, we believe not one now remains: they were very soon driven into the interior by the violence and cruelty of the settlers, and having gradually diminished in numbers, are now extinct. We heard the Bishop of Newfoundland state at a public meeting, that in former times a native was shot down by the white people in their journeys as if he were a wolf! It is hardly necessary to add, that the people who were guilty of these excesses were christians only in name. They appear to have had but a very scanty administration of the means of grace, and no missions were ever established among the natives. The island is principally valuable for the Cod fishery which is carried on upon the Bank; which is really a vast mountain under the sea, more than 300 miles in length, over which the cod are found in inconceivable numbers. The Portuguese, French, and Spanish, as well as the English, were engaged in this fishery as early as 1517. In 1623 a considerable tract of land was granted to Lord Baltimore for a settlement of Irish Roman Catholics, which, with the constant emigration subsequently carried on from Ireland, may account for the predominance of the Roman religion. The French, who had long laid claim to part of this island, ceded the whole to England in 1713. |